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Azem is left for dead on a deserted island right before the Trojan War
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"Well, sex is way more fun with romance, as you put it. I suppose I had not given the idea of anything very long term too much thought but..."

He does not look mispleased by the thought.

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She peeks at him from behind her hair to look at his expression, and fidgets more.

"Oh," she says, for lack of a better idea. She doesn't sound unhappy, just. A little overwhelmed.

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"Good time for you to say you hate the idea, by the way."

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"No," she blurts, immediately. "I don't hate the idea, I just. Um. Are you... sure?" She motions to herself, as if expecting this to... explain anything.

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"...are you trying to point to the fact that you are really hot as if that is somehow related or...?"

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"Wh—" Well, now she's blushing a fetching shade of red, "I'm half fish! I have no legs!!"

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"...legs are not typically a focus of either sex or romance. I mean, there are some people, and they can be strong and attractive, but..."

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"I mean, yes, but. Realistically speaking I can't just go with you anywhere, I won't be any good inland unless I suppose you found me a very large pond or perhaps a lake, and probably human civilization would be a bit... alarmed. At your lover being half fish."

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"They are already annoyed at me for being such a young boy," he says, scratching his cheek. "—I should shave. This is not gonna grow nicely."

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She blinks at him in confusion.

"... What?"

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"It is unmanly to have a soft boy's unbearded face. And it is unmanly to be unwed, and not leave a horde of children for your woman to take care of, and so on so forth. What's one more disappointment to add to their list? It would make me even more special."

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Eutelia tilts her head. "Oh. I see. I suppose that explains all of the hair on all of the other men I've seen. ... I think I prefer your unbearded face, I could tolerate something neatly kept but it's so." She waves a hand, vaguely. ".... Fuzzy. Like algae, except on a face."

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"And mine grows terribly, I tried having a beard like Herakles's and it just did not work."

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She giggles. "Was it all wispy and scraggly and sad?"

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"Yes."

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"Aw." Eutelia looks terribly charmed. "Well, I like you better without a beard. And... siring a lot of children isn't appealing?"

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"I do not want to leave the raising entirely for someone else, my heirs are mine and I want to have a hand in their life. And I do not have time to have a hand in the lives of many children."

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"Oh."

It's not hard to tell that, despite the one syllable reply, she is very delighted by this answer.

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He beams at her.

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Eutelia apparently needs a little while to just be pleased before she can start saying words again, but soon enough:

"... So, um," she begins, returning to fidgeting and smiling shyly at him, "should we decide to, er." She doesn't seem to be able to say the next part, and instead waves a hand vaguely and skips over it so as to manage to say anything at all, "I think it might be smart to leverage the opportunity to try and gain some generosity from Hera."

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His eyebrows raise up very slowly at the mention of the goddess. "Go on."

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"S-so," she repeats, more than a little nervous, "It occurs to me that Hera is the goddess of, of marriage, and that it might, er, explain our transgression," she's clearly being very careful with phrasing, concerned that the queen of the gods might be watching, "if it were for love and duty of a wife towards her husband. If we showed all, um, respect possible towards her domain and kept all vows made and were loyal to one another, it'd be... deferential towards her position and power."

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Zotikos swallows his first reply. And his second. And another three of them. Instead he furrows his eyebrows and inhales deeply. "That... is not a bad idea," he says carefully. "I do not know if I will want to marry you. But the possibility has crossed my mind." Pause. "And before you misinterpret me please note that my reluctance has nothing to do with you and everything to do with..." And he gestures at his ankle.

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"Being... injured?" she says, blinking.

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"The person who caused the injury," he tries.

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