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Azem is left for dead on a deserted island right before the Trojan War
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Rrrrrgh she will not be beaten!!

And she isn't. The copious smoke and dull orange light eventually gives way to the first tiny, fragile tongues of flame.

"Ha!" she exhales triumphantly, then resumes gently blowing on it so as not to lose her precious little proof of victory.

Soon enough, there is a little fire that doesn't need her constant, unwavering attention to avoid spluttering out. Eutelia sits up, beaming and looking pleased and proud.

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"Congratulations!"

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"Thank you!" She gives a little happy squirm, still grinning, then pauses and gives him a contemplative look. ".... Does touch make, er, it harder? Can I hug you without making things difficult for you...?"

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"—hm? Oh, no, not particularly. Or, maybe, but I do not think this is the kind of thing where it becomes difficult or uncomfortable."

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"... Really? But you do the whole..." She motions downward. "... Thing. Isn't it supposed to be maddening and uncomfortable and, uh," she's blushing a little, "like a sword that very much wants to be sheathed?"

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"...it is a little bit uncomfortable but mostly to move, and it draws my thoughts to certain places more insistently, but it's not any harder to ignore than... than the heat if I were walking barefoot on sand that's very hot but not hot enough to actually burn."

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"Huh. Okay. Then, in that case!" She scoots closer to him, holds out her arms for a hug and smiles at him.

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Awwwwww she is too adorable help. He hugs her back, leaning down as she is smol and does not have legs.

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Hug! She is very little, and also a little chillier compared to a similarly sized human. ... Her skin's also a strange sort of texture, which is interesting.

"Mind my spines, I'm keeping them tucked in but they're still a bit sharp," giving a little happy squeeze, "but also eeeee I made fire!!"

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"Congratulations," he repeats, grinning and very very deliberately not thinking about the sharpness.

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Huuuuuuuggg!!! Hughughughughug actually this is kind of a surprisingly snuggly and insistent hug for someone that's as apparently as twitchy about being sexually accosted as she is, she kind of seems like she wants to curl up in his lap? ... In a platonic way, she does not seem anything more than just an ordinary sort of happy.

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"You sure seem happy," he comments, not letting go of the hug.

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"Mhmmmmm," she hums. "I've missed hugs. ... And now I'm also kind of about to cry because apparently I'm complicated! Um. Hold on, let me get the fire more wood so it won't die out while I'm being complicated."

Fire! Wood! Studiously keeping emotions in a little jar until they are convenient to deal with!!

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He watches her with some bewilderment.

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She very carefully makes sure the fire will not die out while she's busy being complicated. It is very methodical and systematic.

Then she takes a deep breath and gently flings herself back at Zotikos for more hugs.

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Okay yeah sure hugs.

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Yep she's now crying on him. That's a thing that's happening.

"... Sorry," she mumbles. "I um. I miss my sisters."

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"Oh. Oh, Eutelia... I'm sorry..."

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"They're, um, probably fine? Except, um. Chrysanthe. Chrysanthe is not fine. Obviously. She's the um, one who had a bad encounter with a man and a rock." Sniffle. "I was just upset after, uh, things, and got into a huge fight with Zosime about, uh, related things, and. I-I left. Is what happened."

Yep back to crying on him.

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That's okay he can hug her for as long as she needs him to.

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Apparently she needs a lot of hugs!!!

"That explanation was probably, um. Very confusing. Sorry. There's kind of a whole set of nesting cause and effect going on and it's. A lot. I'll um. I'll try to start explaining." Huuuuug hughughug. "So when we first tried to meet people, we uh, popped out of the water near a village and tried to say hi, and that worked for a little while? And then someone had the bright idea of trying to catch us, so they made an ambush with nets. It didn't work, and nobody was hurt on either side, but it was terrifying and we decided not to do that again without a better plan besides just.... popping out of the water to say hi."

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"...what. Was going. Through their heads. Why did they want to catch you."

Zotikos is Judging Some People here.

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"They didn't exactly say, it was just kind of. Surprise! But with nets."

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"I have seen people make some very, very stupid decisions in my life but this one seems pretty up there."

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"They didn't realize there were as many of us as there were, because not all of us thought it was a good idea and we're not all the same level of social, and we hadn't mentioned who our father was, and. It was still pretty stupid, yeah."

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