He flinches instinctively when Gabriel's hand transfers from his cheek to Nova's fur; his pulse quickens, anticipating the pain and intense violation he felt when Zagreus held her. But it's not like that at all. It still feels fuckin weird, like Gabriel just casually grabbed his crotch, or... something much more than that, something he doesn't really have an analogue for. But there's something warm and comforting this time, something that, for a moment, draws him inexorably closer (his legs are too stiff to move but he wants to, for that instant).

Nova feels it too. She shivers slightly, not with fear but with a strange sort of exhileration. He's not like Zagreus, she's thinking, transmitting to Johnny, somehow. We trust him.

She's right. Maybe that makes all the difference. Johnny reaches up to stroke absently at her fur, a little bit like a reclamation. This is simple: it feels right when he touches her, and wrong when Zagreus does. Gabe's passing contact was something altogether different.

Words are a struggle; he wants to address what just happened, but at the same time he really, really doesn't. "Well, that sounds appropriate," he says weakly.

He can feel Nova wanting to get down, so he lets her down. For a moment he's irrationally nervous she's going to scurry over to Gabriel, but she cuts for Venia instead, brazenly clambering up on top of the griffin's massive front paw.