"...that sounds like a weird comic book premise but I followed a wandering waffle bar for a day on my way here so why not, I guess." 

"People are like 'ha ha, you're from Eros, you're slutty' and I'm like 'uh, I'm Catholic? Like half the people in Eros?' and they're like 'give us a blowjob.'" She stabs her wild greens. "The name doesn't help."

"I bet it doesn't. How big is Eros?" 

"Few hundred people."

"Wow." 

"We mostly grow our own food these days, so a big population is helpful."

"I bet." That'll be a change — if they keep him, he doesn't want to get too comfortable in the assumption that they'll keep him. 

"There's a whole speech I'm supposed to give you but most of it's obvious or dumb. Don't attack people or fuck with their stuff, don't shirk work, don't try to overthrow Lev."

"I will not attack people or fuck with their stuff, shirk work, or try to overthrow Lev," he agrees. 

"Are you Catholic?"

"I'm not, my family was Jewish and I'm — something, probably, but Jesus is not involved." 

"Oh. Catholicism is true, you know. God performed a miracle and now we have the pope."

"And Orion protects you from the Something in winter when the nights are long and it's bad luck to touch oleander, so what?" 

"Okay, but the previous pope miraculously didn't succumb to the bliss until he gave permission for a priest to ordain a nine-year-old a bishop, and then that nine-year-old survived until today. That's a solid miracle right there."

"And once we figured out to ask Orion for help the Something didn't get any of us all winter long any winter after that. You have your miracles and I have mine." 

"I guess." Loki, seeing that conversion is not going to work super well today, continues to eat in silence.

The food is really, really good. 

They've going to scavenge for two more days, then it's three days to canoe back.

He'll stick around for as long as they'll keep him around! He has not been in a canoe before but he can try to pick it up. 

Canoeing is not terribly hard and Loki is patient but it requires more upper-body strength than he generally has. He's going to be really hungry when it's mealtime. 

Yes, well, being useful enough to keep around is worth being hungry. 

He's not really sure where he's expecting Eros to be based out of but it has to be big. 

It's a prison!

There's a sign that says LAKE ERIE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY and everything.

Big, hard to get into, he doesn't know what prisons have in them but probably the answer is "a lot," that tracks actually. 

"...lot of space, that'll be a change." 

"Yeah, you get your own room unless you want to share."

He hasn't slept in a room alone in — he has no idea how long it's been since he slept in a room alone. "Wow."