Calliope's breath catches when his hands touch her shoulders and her eyes snap open to stare into a face that looks just as distressed as she feels. She's quite unsure about the meaning of this, the way he is holding her and looking at her as though she was a very fragile thing, as though he's afraid she might fall or run away. It's enough to startle her out of nearly crying, though she stiffens noticeably for lack of any sort of instinctual understanding of what is happening or how to react to it.

The snake is the one to break the surprised silence, weaving around her shoulders until his head is level with her ear canal, while staring at her friend consideringly. "He is right," the snake decides. "The game is not over until our purpose is clear and creation is safe. There are a few moves left." She glances at the reptile before looking back at her friend, wringing her claws and trying to take both their words to heart. Absently she notices that she isn't carrying her gun anymore, at some point having forgotten to keep imagining it. Not that she needs a weapon when she has such kind and protective company.

"I suppose so..." she begins, though she can't quite hold his painfully concerned gaze, not when she feels like his encouragement and confidence would be better placed elsewhere. "But I find it hard to believe that you know very much about being scared. You are not afraid of this forest, or my brother. You aren't even afraid of my hideous appearance," a very small sound like a sob escapes her at that, shamefully aware that he has been looking directly at her.

"It does not feel like a strategically calculated move. It just feels like blasted cowardice, and letting down my friends." She seems to be shrinking in on herself as she goes on, so perhaps that's what he is holding her shoulders for. Though she wishes he was still holding her hand instead.