"Oh, huh," Johnny comments, stupidly, as if he has any remotely insightful thoughts about that.

Nova is delighted to be allowed to climb up on Venia's head, and she wastes no time nestling comfortably in little hollow where feathers meet fur on their back. Johnny watches as Venia approaches him, sort of subconsciously avoiding eye contact with Gabriel.

Venia's question, however, blows that right out of the water.

"Uhhhh," says Johnny, blushing hotly, feeling suddenly and tremendously exposed. "Um, I don't know. Weird. Kind of like... nothing I've ever felt before."

"Zagreus did it too," offers Nova. "He picked me up. That felt horrible. This was different."

"Yeah," says Johnny, stepping in before she can, mortifyingly, say more (and just after she got on his case for blurting things out, god). "Yeah, it was... way different."

He looks at Venia, wondering without asking if Gabe would let him return the gesture.