A second ago she was at work in the temple of Erastil in Sothis, which was actually going pretty okay, all things considered. Now she's in a grassy field with a couple fruit trees and a table and chairs and some notebooks and pens.
This is unexpected and requires a ton of power and is therefore sort of inherently terrifying. And she's alone, and defenseless, and she doesn't know where Verita is.
She mills around in steadily increasing amounts of distress until Hagan appears, just as suddenly.
"He likes me. Or - not even really likes me, I don't think, just is attracted enough to impulsively flirt with me. I don't care about it, but I guess he's never - dealt with anything like this before? So I guess he's kind of sad right now. That I don't, um, also like him."
" - I mean I like him, sure, he's great, he's - my friend. I think. He's - trustworthy and reliable and kind and thoughtful, and Verita loves him, and - I guess in a lot of ways I trust him more than anyone else here. In some arenas more than you. But I'm not gonna - throw that all away for a hookup, you know, obviously?"
"This would be a more meaningful statement if you literally ever hooked up with anyone, but yes, I agree."
"He wouldn't either. He's more responsible than that. I think. I guess it's just - he's tempted, a little bit, on some level, and - maybe it kind of hurts that I'm not also tempted. I guess. I think Osirians tend not to have a lot of experience with these things, so - it feels like a bigger deal than it is."
"Oh yeah. Might be awkward for a while, but - I mean everyone else does, right? Not that I'd know anything about that."
"He's not in love, Asmodia. He's just - inexperienced with girls and probably kind of unaware of how normal this is. But he's - he's not gonna stop talking to me just because of an awkward kind of painful conversation. He wouldn't do that. I think."
"All right, sorry. Just wanna make sure you're okay.
"You're really sure he doesn't like you?"
Sigh.
"He is not going to marry me. He's an Osirian and therefore doesn't have other models of romantic relationships with the opposite sex. If he liked me I guess he would be pretty stuck on religious grounds."
"Yeah, I guess that removes that obstacle, sure, why not get married then."
" - sorry. Didn't mean to make you sad. Just never really gotten to talk to you about boys."
Sigh.
She stabs the paper again.
"It's not a big deal. Just - we're from different cultures. We're going different places. I could - tell a nice story about Hagan liking me, if I wanted, but why hope for stories that don't have satisfying endings? And why confuse myself, just because biological imperatives aren't as sensible as people?"
"No! I don't! Not in the - why does everybody keep - ugh.
"He's important to me. And maybe you don't know what that is, okay, maybe you've never had any friends you didn't want to fuck, but I have it on good authority that it ever happens to people. And I don't see why I shouldn't get to have it just because almost everybody else around here is obsessed with who wants to sleep with who."
"Sorry." She gives her a hug. "I'm very curious, but you shouldn't have to be sad because of it."
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