"Yeah. Up a tree, only I can't climb a tree."

"I can climb a tree?"

"Yeah, if you want to do this while I wait here and make another fish trap or something sounds good."

"Okay," Lucien can head out with some food for bait to find himself some critters to spy on.

Isabella stays behind and weaves sticks.

Lucien can find a decent enough tree to climb - the branch he's perched on is a bit flimsy but isn't bending too far. He places the food in the forest clearing below and waits.

It takes half an hour, but something like a cross between a badger and a porcupine shows up eventually. Nosing the fish and bannish around a bit before-well he thinks its eating it but it moved the food to an awkward angle so he'll have to lean over to see it properly and-

- the branch was flimsier than he thought, and he is sent hurtling onto the animal from above, his shriek loud enough to be heard from quite some distance away.

[Lucien, what's wrong?]

[Fell -] "Fuck" [-on something with quills.]

[Can you walk or do I need to come find you?]

[I think I can walk fine?] He takes a step, and then another.

[Though not very fast so I might be a bit.]

[Okay. I really hope the bacteria on this planet are less biocompatible than the food is, fuck.]

[Ye-] Ow [-ah.]

[How many quills, how long?]

[Maybe eight inches - it had a bunch I'm not sure how many got in me, some are caught in my shirt but some others are in my back and two in my leg.]

[Getting them out is going to suck but I don't see a way around it. Is there anything you want to make it suck less - probably you should have something to bite down on, but like, is this something where it would help if we approached it like it was a scene, I'm not averse if the framing would improve your pain tolerance.]

[... Yes that would definitely help. If you wanted to do that.]

[The exact nature of quill removal is sort of not subject to negotiation, alas, but anything else I should know?]

[I um. Can't think of anything?]

[Well, I'll make it up as I go along, then, I apologize in advance if I'm terrible at it, I haven't dated much.]

How does Lucien politely say that he will be happy with almost anything she might want to do to him without coming off as having a crush that might bee inconvenient to have considering that they have only each other for company.

[I think whatever you end up doing will probably work well.]

[ETA?]

[Twenty minutes? Sorry I'm trying not to move the quills around too fast.]

In the end he makes it in nineteen.

"Yikes. Okay, lie down, they're mostly on one side of you at least."

"Yes ma'am."

Okay here he is lying down, having no feelings about anything.