She hunches over, and flinches down a little more as Sable's fingers touch her head. Her eyes are scrunched tightly closed and she's got her arms and her wings wrapped around her legs. 

She smoothly brings her hands to her knees. "It's okay to be scared, Pigeon. Would a hug help, or a listening ear? I've got two big, fluffy ones~."

"Please don't hug me. I'm just... getting used to it, okay?"

"That's absolutely fine. I'm going to stay right here and not do a thing other than hug one of my own tails until you're ready for me to do something more. When you're ready, you tell me what'll be the most comfortable, and we'll do that."

She brings one of her tails into her lap, taking care not to brush it against Pigeon at all, and snugs it tightly, breathing deliberately slowly.

"I already told you to pat my head don't make this difficult please?" 

She hunches down even further.

For a long moment Sable freezes completely — she's clearly ruined everything and has no idea what she's doing and doesn't belong here among people who learn how to relate to each other or how to heal themselves and others — and then everything falls away. She has a task, and she'll do it gladly. Pigeon's scared and hurting about both touch and being assertive. Do what was asked, trust her to safeword.

She lets go of her tail, wraps it and the other two tightly around herself, and brings her hands back to the winged girl's head, slipping her fingers through the dark tresses to scritch gently along her scalp, prepared to follow through the now-expected flinch and maintain contact uninterrupted.

She shivers a little, and presses her face into her knuckles - but she doesn't safeword. 

Okay then, she's still half-expecting to get told off, but... She keeps scritching, gentle strokes of her fingernails spreading out to cover the whole back of Pigeon's head.

She sighs, and shifts her position, stretching out her legs a bit more. That makes it awkward to hug them, so she lets her arms fall into her lap, crossed close across her chest.

Something in Sable unclenches at that sigh, and a tiny smile slips onto her face. She keeps scritching the back of Pigeon's head a bit longer, then starts spreading her range out a bit, nails reaching up to the crown of her head and dragging back down to the nape of her neck, then back up.

Pigeon keeps hugging herself and holding very still, but... was that a slight lean into Sable's touch?

Maybe? She certainly hopes so! But for all that her tails are loosening up around her — one even spilling out alongside both girls — Sable is still not going to call her petting a success until she sees some more blatant relaxation and contentment. She scritches small circles that start from Pigeon's hairline and slowly walk all the way back and then forward again.

That smile on Sable's face sure does look a little wider and softer, though.

Pigeon still has her eyes closed, but they're not all squinched up anymore. 

She's definitely leaning into the petting a bit now.

Oh that leaning is just really satisfying to feel. She widens her hands a bit, spreads out to cover the sides of Pigeon's head better. Scriitch, scriitch, scriiiitch...

How long has it been? Did she leave her phone out where she could poke it with a tail and check? Nnnoo, boo. Should she say something? Probably make the winged girl nervous again if she brings up the time or switching to her wings. Oh well. Keep scritching and let her suggest it if she wants to. It's not like she isn't enjoying giving this head-scritching.

She smiles, lets out a faint, contented sigh, and keeps scritching.

Pigeon lets out another deep sigh, and unhunches a little bit. Now that her face isn't buried in her legs, her blush is very obvious. 

"... um. You can... touch my wings, a little, if you want to. Just be careful of the bases, alright?"

Sable smiles and nods — then realizes Pigeon probably can't see her face very well. "Okay! I'll take care to avoid them. You're really cute, but this isn't even a first date, let alone whichever date a girl could earn the right to pet there."

...Did she really just flirt with the absolutely adorable nervous winged girl? Did that just happen?

Well, Pigeon is definitely not the only one blushing anymore. Sable gives a few more scritches to Pigeon's head, then gently brings her hands to her wings, stroking gently down the feathers, starting from where the texture looks like it changes just a little past the base — and taking care to not to let her hands slip if the girl flinches again.

She smiles wider. Wow, she can really feel a kind of springy strength in the feathers' structure, even though they're still so soft. Pet pet pet.

Her eyes widen. "You - um - what? Did you just - what???" Her blush is even deeper now. "I... hold on with the petting, I'm trying to think -" She flicks a wing irritably. "- you think I'm cute??"

She stills her hands, hugs a tail, and nods, vivid violet coloring her cheeks. "Um, yes? Extremely?"

Eep! Is she mad about being flirted with, or disbelieving in her own cuteness?

"Why??"

Okay, definitely the latter. "Well, um, your hair is really pretty and dark, it contrasts gorgeously with the grey of your wings, your eyes are a beautifully vivid violet (which is totally my favorite color if you hadn't noticed), you're totally rocking that tiara, your nerves are an enormous mood, the way you started leaning into the petting was really sweet and sincere and innocent and satisfying, your height only adds to the cuteness, something about the way you talked about hiding makes me think you've probably got really great taste in chill-out homebody activities, and I don't know something about your whole cute vibe just makes me want to hold you close and growl at the whole multiverse, and oh my Goddess I just started talking protective about a cutie I literally met less than half an hour ago shutting up now."

She shrinks down a little, then straightens back up, fighting the urge to hide her face in her tails. It's not like anything she said is a lie. Definitely hugs the tail in her arms tighter, though, blushing even brighter.

"... are you, like, crushing on me...?"

Oh no, is she!? Yep, that breaks the resistance to hiding and with a squeak she buries her face in her tails.

"Um, I don't know, maybe? It sure looks like that, huh."

A faint, embarrassed whine slips out of her.

Pigeon giggles. 

"I mean, I guess, it's the Rose Bowers right, so, um..." 

She looks back at Sable. 

"... keep petting me and we'll figure out what it means later, okay?"

A faintly disbelieving squeak, and then she peeks blushily out of her tails, grins, and starts petting Pigeon's wings again — slow, gentle, smooth strokes along the pretty grey feathers.

She smiles, and leans into the petting, and closes her eyes again...