Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 7: Downtime

Chapter 10

Sorry boys, you’ve seen a lot, but someone new has claimed the title for “biggest existential crisis”.

-Llox

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“I… di-… did we just…??” Lykou stammered, unable to take his eyes off the newly-anthropomorphic squirrel in front of them.

Kuna clapped his hand over his mouth and just stared in disbelief. “...I...I can’t believe-”

Suddenly, the squirrel’s eyes shot wide open. She blinked a few times, then her eyes darted over to the two strangers standing next to her. There was a brief, tense moment of silence. Then she let out a loud scream and jumped up to scrabble away, only to end up falling over the far side and down the stairs in what looked and sounded like a painful tumble.

“Shit!” Kuna blurted out. “That didn’t look good.” He started to circle around to help her, but Lykou quickly stopped him as soon as they both got to the other side.

“Careful, Ku,” the canid warned him quietly. “She might look like a person, but for all we know, she’s still got the mind of a wild animal. And with her new body, that makes her potentially dangerous.”

Kuna glanced back and forth between the konuul and the squirrel curled up at the base of the steps, then frowned. “...f-fair enough, but... she’s gotta be injured after that. If she is a person now-”

“Owww…. Fuck…” a shaky voice suddenly spoke up from the bottom of the steps.

Lykou and Kuna both exchanged another look, then wasted no time rushing down to help the stranger as she was starting to sit up. But as soon as they got close, she suddenly panicked again and scrabbled back, eyes wide with fear and confusion. They both froze, unsure what to do. Luckily, as far as they could tell, she wasn’t seriously injured. There was a nasty cut on her forehead, but otherwise, she probably just had some nasty bruises under her fur. Her hair and fur were a mess, too, although that wasn’t much different from when they first saw her, either. In any case, she clearly wasn’t keen on letting them get too close.

“Hey, easy,” Lykou said in his most soothing tone, setting the axe aside and holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. “We’re friendly, okay?”

Before Kuna could chime in, the squirrel’s eyes locked onto Lykou- particularly his mouth as he spoke. She let out another shriek and started scrambling away. “Sh-sh-sharpteeth sharpteeth gottagetawayGONNAEATME-!” she blurted out as she turned to try and flee. Her movements made it clear she wasn’t used to her new body, however. She couldn’t seem to make up her mind between running on all fours like an animal or just on her legs like the biped she’d become. And the way she stumbled and wavered suggested she might’ve been a bit more hurt than she at first appeared. The end result was her tripping and falling several times. She managed to get a half dozen or so yards away before flopping down and rolling over into a sitting position, eyeing her hands and feet with an utterly bewildered and pained look.

Kuna winced and looked over at Lykou awkwardly. “Umm…”

“Riiight,” Lykou said with a similarly awkward expression. “Maaaybe you should talk to her first? Something tells me she’s more like a mix of both… or something.”

“More like she hasn’t had a chance to overcome her instincts,” Kuna pointed out. “She might look like an adult, but she hasn’t exactly been… well…”

“A person?” Lykou suggested.

“Yyyeah. That,” Kuna suggested, rubbing his neck uncomfortably. “She hasn’t been that for long.”

“Good point…”

Kuna gulped, then took a deep breath to steady his nerves before slowly moving over to the squirrel girl. “Uhh… hey there,” he said as quietly and non-threateningly as he could, kneeling down a short distance away from her.

She immediately jerked up and pushed herself back a bit as her eyes jumped back to him fearfully, as if having momentarily forgotten their presence in her confused fascination with her new body. Still, she didn’t try to get up again just yet. She just stared at him silently with those big, wide eyes.

He realized after a moment that she was trembling constantly, and he immediately felt even worse for her. “You don’t have to be afraid of us, alright?” he said softly, his own nerves melting into sympathy. “We’re not gonna hurt you. You… you can understand me, right?”

After a moment, she slowly nodded. “Y… y-yes…?” she said. Then suddenly her eyelid twitched as her gaze drifted down to the ground. She suddenly clutched her head with both hands and curled up a bit. “I… w-words? Words… wordswordsWORDSWORDS howdoIknowwhattheyare what is HAPPENING so much how do I NNNGGH,” she suddenly started chattering out, looking incredibly uncomfortable, only for her eyes to roll up. Her hands shifted from clawing through her hair to tugging on her ears in frustration, then she flopped onto her side and curled up unceremoniously.

Kuna flinched a bit and leaned back as he watched the girl have a small freak-out. After letting her have a moment, he glanced back towards Lykou, who just shrugged and shook his head in confusion.

“She’s… upset that she understands us?” the konuul hazarded.

The sereva thought for a moment and scratched his head. Gradually, he started to develop some suspicion about what was happening, and it made him grimace a bit. “Oh you poor thing…”

“What is it?” Lykou asked, cautiously stepping a bit closer. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, think about it… she wasn’t just transformed physically,” Kuna pointed out. “But apparently mentally as well. And… I guess, whatever that magic was, it… taught her a bunch of stuff real quick, too, seeing as how she can talk. No idea how much, though…”

Suddenly, the squirrel looked back up at him, her eye twitching again. “M… m-magic?” she asked hesitantly. “T… taught?” She furrowed her brow. “Th-that’s ONE way to put it!” She clutched her head again and clenched her eyes shut. “So… much…”

Kuna sat in awkward silence for a moment, then cautiously slid a little closer. She immediately sat back upright and opened one eye towards him warily. “Hey, I just want to check how badly hurt you are, alright?” he said, holding his hands up. “That’s all.”

She stared at him nervously for a moment. “Pain. L… l-lot of pain. Ow. Lot… lots of ow.”

“Right… I just want to see how bad it is. I, uh… I can at least help with the cut on your head if you let me,” Kuna offered. “And… if you broke anything, I can maybe help with that, too.”

“B… broke?” she asked nervously. “I’mbrokewhatisbrokehowwhy-?!”

Kuna winced. “Okayokay, easy… slow down a little. You took a nasty tumble down those stairs over there, so it’s possible to broke or dislocated something. Anything hurt more than the rest? Like, a lot more?”

She thought for a moment and experimentally poked herself in a few spots, wincing in the process. “...not...really. Just. Allover,” she said, then tensed up again and rubbed her head.

“Alright, I’m going to come sit next to you, okay?” the sereva informed her. “Remember, I want to help, not hurt you.”

She stared at him nervously, then slowly nodded. Her entire attention was apparently on him. If she remembered the konuul standing several yards away, she didn’t show any sign of it. Kuna slowly moved over next to her and reached out to brush some hair out of the way of the cut on her head, making her flinch.

“Hmm… yeah I better take care of that,” he said, then gently laid a hand on her shoulder when he noticed her starting to get a little panicky again. “I… I’m going to have to use some magic to heal-”

She immediately jerked away and shot him a look. “M-more… ‘magic’ shit??” She quickly shook her head, then winced again. “Nonononono… nope. Nopenope. Nuh-uh.”

“If you leave it like that, it could get infected and you’ll get sick,” the sereva pointed out. “You don’t want to be sick on top of being in pain, do you?”

She frowned. “...sick is…” She paused to think for a moment, then shook her head. “Sick is bad. Don’t want sick. No.”

“Right. So just sit still and try to take slow, steady breaths, okay?” Kuna said. After she nodded slowly, he grasped his life energy and reached over to her forehead. For a moment, she jerked away again, staring with wide eyes at the glowing hand. But eventually she calmed back down slightly. “Seriously, this’ll go faster if you sit still. And uh… it might feel a little weird, but trust me, you’ll be better afterwards.”

“...’kay,” she said weakly. Her eyes never left his hand, which gave her an awkward, somewhat silly expression when he reached over to her forehead and began focusing on closing up the cut. She immediately started twitching as the magic started taking affect. Fortunately, she managed to restrain herself until he finished- albeit just barely.

“There, all better,” Kuna said as he slowly pulled his hand away with a faint smile. “See? No reason to be afraid.”

“Easyforyoutosay,” she muttered, her eye twitching again as she frantically rubbed at her face, as if searching it for any unexpected flaws. Afterwards, she rubbed her arm with a small wince. “Everything… still hurts.”

“Yeah, you’re probably pretty bruised up,” Lykou spoke up from a little way away. “That was a nasty spill you took.”

Her gaze snapped over to him as she was suddenly reminded of the konuul’s presence. Her eyes widened to their maximum again and she started to hyperventilate. “D… d-dangergonnaeatmeGOTTA-”

“Hey!” Kuna said, quickly grabbing her gently, yet firmly. “Take it easy. Look at me. Don’t look at him, look at me for a minute. Okay?”

Her eyes rapidly darted between them for a moment. “B-but-”

For his part, Lykou just tried to smile and look as non-threatening as possible, kneeling down on the ground as well to emphasize the point.

“No buts,” Kuna insisted, doing his best to try and look her in the eye. “I know you’re… really, really overwhelmed right now, but neither of us wants to hurt you.”

She stared at the canid nervously, still trembling a bit. “...p…pred…”

“Listen. I know he may be a predator, but he doesn’t eat people,” Kuna pointed out, then looked her over a bit awkwardly. “Which, uh. You are now. And believe me, that predator is quite possibly kindest, sweetest person you’ll ever meet. Please just let him come join us and don’t try to run away again, alright?”

Lykou blushed slightly at the sereva’s words and waved a little to the squirrel. “Flattery aside, he’s right. I have no interest in hurting you, much less eating you or anyone else. Promise.”

She continued staring at the konuul anxiously, then slowly gave the subtlest of nods. “...kay…” she said in the tiniest voice.

Kuna smiled over at Lykou and gestured with his head to come join them. The konuul happily got up, holding the axe by the top to make it clear he didn’t intend to use it, and slowly walked over, careful not to make any sudden movements, then sat down on her other side. She shied away a little, but didn’t burst into a mad dash to escape again.

“My name’s Lykou,” the konuul said softly, then gestured to Kuna. “He’s Kuna. What’s y-…”

She shot him a flat, unamused look not dissimilar to some of the ones Kuna was known to use sometimes, especially early on in their journey- usually preceding some snarky comment. “…yeah. Go on. Ask.”

Lykou blushed and smiled sheepishly. “Uhhh… riiiight. Sorry, habit. I uh… didn’t think that one through.”

Kuna blinked a few times and scratched his head as the implication dawned on him. “Oh. Right. Guess you wouldn’t even have a name yet, would you?”

“Until a few minutes ago, I didn’t know what words were. T__hefuckdoyouthink?” she quipped, her eye twitching again. After a moment, her expression dropped and she clenched her eyes shut, then rubbed her head and groaned. “S-sorry… that was… r… rude? That… that’s a word, right?” One eye poked open again. “D’Iuseitright?”

Lykou frowned. “Er, yeah. And kinda.”

“But it’s understandable,” Kuna added. “I can’t even begin to imagine what you must be going through right now.”

“Nnngh howdoIevenknowthesethings,” she moaned, then sighed and held her face in one hand, muffling her voice slightly.

“We’re, uh… not entirely sure ourselves, to be honest,” Kuna said awkwardly. “We’re not from around here, so this stuff is a big mystery to us, too.”

“Whatever that magic was, it was from whoever built this place,” Lykou added. He looked her over, then cautiously, gently took her free hand in his. Her eyes immediately shot back open and she looked at him nervously, tugging her hand back in the process. He just continued to hold his out with a sympathetic smile. “Hey, I know your instincts are pretty hard to fight, and you’re really having a hard time right now, but we’ll be glad to help you through it.”

She looked at him uncertainly, then over at Kuna briefly. “W… well.. I uh… mm,” she mumbled, as she looked down to examine herself again, still struggling to wrangle all the new thoughts and feelings bouncing around in her head.

Kuna gently rested a hand on her arm. “Let us help you. What’s on your mind?”

“EVERYTHING,” the squirrel blurted out, fidgeting again. “That’stheproblem. N-notusedt-” She paused after catching a look from the sereva, then took a slow breath to try and steady herself. “S-sorry. Headsamessan-” Again, she paused and cleared her throat. “M-my head’s a mess, and… it’s hard to think… clearly? Everything’s still… new. Allatoncehardto-” She brought her palm to her face and clenched her eyes shut again. “Ugh.”

“It’s alright, I think we get the idea,” Kuna assured her. “Most people learn things gradually as they grow up. Can’t imagine what it’s like to have so much dumped on you all at one time.”

“No kidding,” Lykou agreed, then cautiously rubbed her back comfortingly.

The squirrel tensed up for a moment and shot him a nervous look, but then settled back down after a moment. “Th-that… that feels… nice?”

“Told you he’s a sweetheart,” Kuna said with a small grin.

“Just trying to help you relax a bit,” Lykou explained. “I understand being freaked out, but being all tense constantly is going to wear you out pretty quick. You can just… talk a bit, if you want. As things come to you. Might help.”

She glanced back and forth between them for a moment, rubbing her arm a bit more. “I… I guess it… couldn’t hurt,” she replied, then took another deep breath and stared down at the ground. “N-no idea where to start though…”

“Well... the magic gave you some understanding of things, but no memories to go with it?” Kuna asked curiously. “Must be pretty disorienting.”

She nodded a little. “To put it mildly. E-even stranger, itfeelslikethingsar-…” She paused for a moment to collect herself. “-it feels like things are still… settling? I… some words I know but don’t know what they mean… somehow?”

“Like what?” Lykou asked. “Maybe we can help.”

“...w-well, like that ‘magic’ one. I… I know it’s… glowy stuff. And… something else. But that also feels… wrong? Not… all of it?” she hazarded.

“Welll, yeah, it’s a lot more complicated than that,” Kuna said with a small smirk. “But don’t worry about it too much right now. Only some people understand even some of it. I didn’t learn to use the bit of it I can do until around a month and a half or so ago.”

“Month… that’s… that’s another one,” she replied, fidgeting some.

“Er… it’s… time?” Lykou answered awkwardly. “Like about five weeks or so.”

“Weeks…” she said, furrowing her brow.

“...seven days?” the konuul hazarded. “You... you do know what days are, right?”

She glanced up at the sky, then back at the canid. “W-well, yeah… f-from one morning to the next, right?”

“Right,” Kuna said, then shared a perplexed look with Lykou for a moment. “Weird. Seems like it left random gaps for no reason. You usually learn that pretty early on.”

“Great,” she muttered, twitching again. “S-so not only is my head full of stuff all of the sudden, it’s still missing things, too.”

“Hey, don’t worry, we’ll help you figure things out,” Lykou reassured her with a smile, rubbing her back some more at the same time. “In fact, to start with, why don’t you pick a name for yourself?”

“A… a name. R-right,” she replied, anxiously glancing around. “...how?”

“Well, I guess think of things you like or something and we can work from there,” Kuna suggested. “A color, or plant, or just something in general that you wouldn’t mind being associated with.”

“Believe it or not you’re the second person we’ve met and helped figure out a name for,” Lykou said with amusement. “We’ve got a friend far away from here who goes by Daisy now.”

The squirrel thought for a moment. “...fuck. What do I even like?”

Kuna frowned. “You don’t even have any memories from… you know, before?”

She pondered a bit more, then shrugged slightly. “Kinda, but it’s really… vague and blurry,” she said, fiddling with her tail. “I mean, I… I was just a, uh,” She thought for a moment, then looked over at Kuna questioningly. “D… dumb… animal…? Right? That’s… those are the right words?”

The sereva smiled awkwardly. “Uhh, well…”

“Yeahhh, technically,” Lykou answered for him. “Although I don’t think that’s really worth dwelling on now.”

“...ffffuck this feels weird,” she muttered, then perked up slightly. “Nuts. I… I think I like nuts. They’re… they’re tasty, right?”

Lykou shot her a flat look. “Oh yeah, you definitely liked nuts,” he said, smirking. “Liked stealing ‘em, too.”

“I… did…?” she asked with a slightly confused and sheepish expression.

“Let’s… not dwell on that right now,” Kuna said, shooting a brief, only semi-serious glare before turning back to the squirrel girl. “Anyway I’m not sure food makes for good names. Look around and think about it for a bit if you need to. There’s no rush. And remember you can change it if you end up not liking it.”

The squirrel looked around, taking in her surroundings. From her expression, it was clear she hadn’t really done so much before that point- not since she’d gained sentience, anyway. “...wow. Th-this place is… uh…”

“Pretty impressive, yeah,” Lykou said. “You should see the inside of that big one over there. Huge murals on the walls.”

“M… murals?” she asked curiously.

“Er, yeah. Big pictures, basically,” Kuna explained. “Of… well, animals, mostly. But the one also shows animals turning into people. We weren’t sure what to make of it, until… well, now.”

“Still plenty of questions there though,” Lykou said, glancing up at the altar. “Like how that thing even did this.”

The squirrel looked up at the altar as well and fidgeted a bit. After a moment, she suddenly started unsteadily getting to her feet and moved towards the steps. Lykou and Kuna both quickly got up to join her.

“Woah, easy,” Kuna said, gently grabbing her arm. “Where are you going?”

“I… I want to see it again,” she said, then shot him a sheepish look. “Y-you know, n-now that… uh…”

“Now that you feel a little calmer?” Lykou suggested with a smile. “You do seem to be doing a bit better.”

She immediately responded with a slightly manic laugh. “Ehehehetrustme, my head’s still a mess,” she said, clutching it again with one hand, then took a deep breath and stumbled slightly as she tried walking forwards. “I… just wanna see what did this to me.”

“You sure you can walk?” Kuna asked, looking her over with some concern. “I only got the cut on your head, and I know you looked pretty unsteady earlier.”

She took a few shaky, experimental steps, then wavered slightly. “Y… yeah just… s-still getting used to things,” she said, then paused. Out of instinct, she started leaning down, then stopped and stood back up, looking at her hands. “...fuck…”

“What’s wrong?” Lykou asked.

Kuna smirked faintly, having picked up on it. “Can’t decide how to walk, right?”

“Exactly,” she huffed in frustration. “Both ways feel… wrong, somehow.”

“Oh,” Lykou replied, somewhat amused. “Well that makes sense. You’re used to your old way of getting around, but the new body makes that pretty awkward.”

“Yeahhh…” she said with an embarrassed look as she tried to take a few more shaky steps. She almost tripped, but Lykou quickly caught her. “...th-thanks.” She sighed. “Can’t even move around right.”

“Hey, it’s a huge change,” Kuna said, resting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “All things considered, I think you’re doing pretty damn well so far.”

“You can lean on me if you want,” Lykou offered, offering her his arm.

After a brief hesitation, she did so. “Th-thanks,” she said as they slowly continued forward. Kuna helped her from the other side and they gradually, carefully ascended the stairs again so they could look at the altar. When they got there, she hesitantly reached out and touched the surface, only to jerk her hand back again. After nothing happened, she touched it again and slowly ran her hand over it. “S...smooth… and kind of pretty… w-what exactly is it?”

“Well, it looks like some kind of altar,” Kuna explained. “Built by whoever built the rest of the stuff here. The symbols in the middle are spirit signs. There was a glowing ball… thing, but it kind of… well, vanished into you when the magic kicked in.”

“It was originally in one of those little spots,” Lykou said, pointing at one of the divots. “I’d picked it up to look at it, then you, uh… well, you came down and snatched it, startling me in the process.”

“And I’d already imbued part of the runes by mistake and when he bumped into me, it made me imbue the rest. And it all started glowing real bright and you got caught up in it,” Kuna explained, rubbing his arm with an awkward smile. “And, well, here you are.”

She arched a brow and ran a hand along the silvery ring around the edge. “Glowing ball? About this big?” she asked, inspecting a divot. “...why would…” she murmured, then sighed and looked annoyed. “…fuck, was I really that dumb??”

“Huh??” Kuna frowned. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You can’t help-”

“I probably thought it was a fancy oversized nut or something,” she continued, bringing her hand up to her face in exasperation. “So it’s all my fault.”

“Wellll, no,” Lykou said sheepishly. “None of that would’ve happened if we hadn’t been up here poking around with it in the first place.”

She looked at her hand thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Well, I am what I am now. Guess that’s what matters.”

“Would… would you go back if you could?” Kuna asked curiously. “To, you know… how you were before?”

She thought for a moment and twitched. “...what, a fuzzy little idiot that steals food and mistakes glowing balls of magic for nuts?” she snarked, then slowly shook her head. “I… don’t know. Probably not. Was probably simpler, but for some reason the idea feels… bad.”

“Well then, we might want to get away from this thing before anything else weird happens,” Lykou suggested, giving the shiny surface an uneasy look.

“Doubt it will without another one of those balls or me using my magic,” Kuna pointed out. “But yeah, standing here isn’t going to do us any good.”

Before they turned to head back down, the squirrel ran her hand over the surface again thoughtfully. “Hm… I… do kind of like how shiny it is,” she said, then turned to Kuna. “Maybe… maybe I can get a name from that, somehow?’

“What, shiny?” Kuna asked, rubbing his chin. “Hmm, maybe…”

“Oh, hey, what about ‘gleam’ instead?” Lykou suggested. “It doesn’t get used as much anyway.”

“Gleam? Gleam…” she responded, then mulled it over for a moment before perking up. “I… I kind of like that one. Gleam…”

Kuna smiled. “Well, Gleam it is, then.”

“Gleam…” she repeated, her tail twitching a bit. She turned to the sereva. “Kuna.” She then looked at the konuul. “Lykou.”

“Yup,” Lykou replied. “Welcome to… well, peopledom, I guess.”

“People...dom?” she asked in confusion. “I don’t think it gave me that one.”

Kuna facepalmed and snickered. “That’s because it’s not a real word.”

“Hey, it is now!” Lykou said, crossing his arms in mock-indignation, then stuck his tongue out at the sereva.

“Goofball,” the sereva retorted, then turned his attention back to Gleam. “Well, with that out of the way, uh…” He paused and looked her over with a slight blush. “There’s one other thing we should address. Hang on a moment.” He took his main pack off his back, then temporarily set it on the altar as he rummaged around inside.

“Oh… right, the naked thing,” Lykou said in amusement, looking their squirrely new companion over as well. “Honestly, with all that fur I don’t imagine you’ll get cold anytime soon, but he has a point.”

“N… naked?” Gleam asked curiously as she looked herself over. She then compared herself to Lykou and tilted her head. “Oh… something… I think…” She shook her head, then rubbed it. “Something’s stuck.”

“Stuck?” Kuna asked in confusion, pausing to look back up at her. “What’s stuck?”

She bumped the side of her head in frustration. “I… think I know what you mean, but also don’t,” she explained, then furrowed her brow and hesitantly pointed at Kuna’s rube. “...that. That’s… that’s what you’re talking about, right?”

“Yeah, clothing,” Kuna answered and went back to his pack. After a moment, he pulled out his old poncho and lifted it up. “Alright, I think this’ll fit you alright. Better than nothing anyway.”

She eyed the garment skeptically for a moment before hesitantly taking it. After looking it over, she looked at them each in turn with a questioning look. “R… right. You have… other stuff… on you. Not just your fur.”

“Mhmm. They’re called clothes,” Kuna said. “Specifically, that’s my old poncho I made back at the start of our journey. I’ve got other stuff to wear now though, so you can use that until we can get you something better.”

“There’s also that sareo from the islands,” Lykou pointed out.

Kuna tilted his head and examined the squirrel as she awkwardly tried to wrap the poncho around herself the wrong way. “Not sure it’d fit her right. Might be a little long,” he said, then smiled awkwardly. “And… this is, uh, simpler, too…”

Gleam huffed and shot him a look. “Yeah I get it. I’m still kinda dumb. Don’t rub it in.”

“Not dumb, just ignorant,” Lykou pointed out. “Important difference.”

“Exactly,” Kuna said with a smile, then reached over to take the poncho back. “Here, just hold still and I’ll help you. Your head goes through the hole, see?”

Gleam looked over the poncho after she had it on properly and blinked a few times. “...sooo… what’s the point of this again?”

“Well, clothing protects you a bit. And can help keep you warm,” Kuna explained, then rubbed his arm sheepishly. “A-and, uh… well…”

“There’s a whole… social… thing about it,” Lykou added with an awkward smile, then shrugged. “Hard to explain, really. Just generally kind of taboo to show everyone… uh, certain parts.”

“Taboo?” Gleam asked in confusion. “What’s that mean? And what parts?”

Kuna coughed. “Uhhh… y-you know. Your um. Intimate. Bits.”

Lykou arched a brow and shot the sereva an amused look. “Stop dancing around it Ku, we have to be direct here, remember?” he said, then turned back to Gleam and pointed at her crotch. “He means the bits you mate with. And your butt, usually, too. People generally expect you to cover them up most of the time when you’re in public.”

She lifted the bottom of the poncho to glance at it quizzically, making Kuna facepalm. “Oh. That? Why? And what’s ‘public’?”

“Oh boy,” Kuna groaned, rubbing his face.

Lykou snickered. “It’s… complicated. C’mon, let’s get down from here and I’ll try to explain.”