Eelesia nods, nuzzling Laurent's ear.

"Do you want to talk through the whole battle? We don't have to, or we could wait for all four of us."

Snug.

"I think the full tactical analysis is best done with the whole team, but if there's something you want to say before then, feel free."

She shakes her head.

"Let's leave that aside for now, then. It's over. We won."

She just continues to hold him. It's gotten quiet, the only sound the soft patter of raindrops against the window. Everyone who needed healing is probably healed by now, but Coventina hasn't stopped her spell. She's curious why, but the soft rain also makes for a rather cozy ambiance.

He closes his eyes again and holds Eelesia and softly smiles.

He's still hard, even now, she can feel. Doing anything physically encouraging would be unhelpful, she decides. He's turned on, it's just that being turned on doesn't matter to him right now, so making him more turned on wouldn't accomplish anything.

It's... surprisingly easy, to be patient. Eelesia doesn't usually think of herself as a patient person, but she gets it, on a gut level, that he can't engage that part of himself right now. She's in a weird headspace herself, empathizing with that, simultaneously feeling the throbbing in her core where her groin is pressed against his skin, feeling the urge to grind against him... and yet being caught in a shared moment that seems to be generating an endless well of patience, like something outside of herself is holding her still. It feels fragile, but so long as nothing breaks the delicate balance, she feels like she could remain like this forever and be content.

"Hey," she idly speaks up after a while, her voice a whisper-soft murmur into his ear. "Coventina and Sky. How do you feel about them? You trusted me enough to let go of your tears with me. If you imagine letting go like that with either of them, what does that feel like?"

"...scary," he admits. "For... reasons. I don't know. I don't think I could cry on them but I think I could talk about my feelings with them, which is also a thing I generally don't do."

"Scary in the same way? As each other? As me? Were you scared, to cry? It's okay if you were."

"Yeah, I was. And no, it's different. Coventina... it's a long story and not all of it is mine to tell, but we started adventuring together under awkward circumstances and I'm still untangling that. Sky, I think, I... don't feel like I understand how to be good to her? When I say that out loud I imagine her telling me that it's not as hard as I'm making it sound, but... being told that doesn't make the uncertainty go away."

"I wonder. Sky seems to aspire to existing as a masturbation aide. To be trusted in the way one would trust an inanimate object. Early on, I would've guessed that she'd be the easiest of us for you to trust, because of how she conceptualizes her own role like that, so I'm kind of wondering why that didn't work."

"Well... she's not an inanimate object? It's possible to upset her and I have even empirically verified this by joking about us being her battle harem that one time? And it is also possible to treat her poorly in a sexual context and I managed that one too, before we met you—she wasn't hurt or upset about it but Coventina told me off for letting myself fall asleep on her while she was subject to ongoing mana paralysis from a monster egg, and I agree that it was short-sighted and irresponsible of me. So."

"Oh."

Pet. Nuzzle.

"I like Sky but I don't know what she'd say if she were here. You're right, though. Unlike an inanimate object, you can ask Sky herself what's good for her. I know it's really easy not to, and I think she makes not-asking easy on purpose because she's insecure about anyone ever prioritizing her. I suspect that she'd even find it cathartic to have clear answers dragged out of her by force. Unless you were going to be judgmental about those answers. Which is the part of it that I think you two have in common, actually, that fear of judgement. So I know you wouldn't be."

"Forcibly befriending someone, now there's an idea. I think I see what you mean, though." Snuggle.

Snuggle.

"I think, to me, Coventina is someone I feel completely safe turning my back to, so to speak," Eelesia eventually comments.

"That makes sense. If we hadn't somewhat gotten off on the wrong foot I might feel similarly."

He hesitates, then says with uncharacteristic shyness, "...do you think you could help me drag answers out of Sky? I'm afraid if I try it on my own I might not be firm enough."

"Yeah! Of course. I should maybe have encouraged that sooner, even."

Conveniently, that's about when Sky shows up.

The door to their suite opens and shuts, and then Sky comes into view, her face relaxed in contentment. She's entirely naked from the knees up, her hair plastered to her head, the water dripping down her body having not entirely washed away the streaks of white on her chest and face and back.

She sees them on her way into the bathroom and pauses, giving them a small smile. "Hi."

"Hi. It looks like you had a good time out there," he says, smiling back.

Shy smiling nod.

"Coventina went around to organize a sort of... therapy orgy? Or, probably, several different therapy orgies, by now. That Ranger girl is helping her. I think maybe they know each other?" She peers at him and Eelesia with a bit of uncertainty, opens her mouth again, then holds back the question she wants to ask. "I'm gonna," she points at the bathroom, then proceeds to bathroom.

He nods agreeably when she goes, and quietly snuggles Eelesia.

Sky emerges a short while later, clean and dry. She's nude, of course, since Eelesia and Laurent are.

At Eelesia's prompting, she comes over and sits next to Laurent, leaning on him comfortably.

He unwraps an arm from Eelesia and settles it across Sky's shoulders, pulling her a little closer.

Snuggle!

Always happy to be included, she doesn't express her concerned curiosity about what Laurent and Eelesia haven't gotten up to, but her face isn't subtle.

...he sighs. "I've got some explaining to do, haven't I."

"Um?"

"...I think I broke my sexuality during the crisis and I'm not sure what I did to it or how to fix it."