the sacred and the profane? no, just the profane

"Let's continue with that, then." Snuggle. Pet pet.

Mezeidai

Yeah. Snuggles and language lessons.

Elsewhere Jiorthkir finds Nerine.

"There are some guys who I think could be helped by hugs."

through-the-pages

She hops out of Khythen's lap immediately. "Where?"

"They're a bit scattered, but I can take you to the closest one."

through-the-pages

"Yes please."

He brings her to a demon with dark purple skin and neon blue hair, who is sufficiently not catatonic to be sitting up with his arms wrapped around his knees. "This is Xathrek," he introduces her.

through-the-pages

"Hi, Xathrek. I'm Nerine."

She sits next to Xathrek and hugs him.

"...Hi."

through-the-pages

She cuddles up to his side and leans her head on his shoulder. "Nice to meet you," she says. "Admittedly kind of awkward, but hey."

...He sort of awkwardly puts an arm around her shoulder. "I can't imagine why."

through-the-pages

She giggles. "Complete mystery," she agrees. "Mm. I'm fine, I promise."

"I'm glad you're fine. But thirteen women aren't."

through-the-pages

"Yeah. But..."

She trails off, searching for words.

"...You fucked up real bad, I'm not gonna deny that. But you didn't - there's - there's not some kind of cosmic threshold where if you make this big a mistake you're not allowed to be okay anymore. Everybody gets to be okay. Everybody." Hug. "Okay?"

...Hug. "That's not...that's not really the point?"

through-the-pages

"It's - it's why I'm trying to help."

"...Okay. Thanks." Hug.

through-the-pages

Hug. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

He shrugs. "What is there to talk about?"

through-the-pages

"Well, you said 'that's not really the point', which implies there's something that is..."

Snuggle.

"...I feel like shit, and it would be fine if I didn't, but given why I feel like shit I don't really have a right to complain about it?"

through-the-pages

"So on the one hand, I definitely see your point. On the other hand - if there's anybody who gets to say 'hey, you feel like shit and that sucks, I'm sorry, you deserve to be okay, have a hug', it's gotta be me, right?"