"Well, dropping a bag of marbles is a good old standby," he says thoughtfully. "Not very original, of course. Caltrops, a bottle of oil, a smoke bomb... and when you get good, there's always..." he lets go, lightly zips a couple of hundred feet ahead, and turns 360° in three steps, like dancing. Before he's faced front again, Rincewind's hat is pinned (by the very tip, where it barely shows) to the side of the building by Xel's boot knife. Since Xel had been aiming for the tip, and Rincewind is much taller than he is, it's rather far off to the right and quite high on the wall. By the time Rincewind has finished taking this in, Xel is behind him again.
"I know," Xel croons, holding it where it is for just one blissful moment longer before relaxing his grip.
"I know it was!" Xel reassures him, surprised. "Scraggly-san, if I were angry with you, you'd know it by now. I just want you to stop. And since getting the entire world to stop picking on you is a task I'm not prepared to take on, the only answer is to make you less vulnerable to the things they'll do while picking on you. So you're going to practice and learn even if you hate it." He considers. "Expect? Saa, that's a little too strong a word. I think it's very possible, ne. I don't know if I expect it."