[Ajax is thankful for her understanding, even if he feels more at fault here than her. With luck, they can put this episode behind them and be more careful in the future, especially now with his suspicion that they're being heavily influenced by some sort of magic here. He only wishes he knew why it functioned the way it did, maybe that would give them a better grip on themselves...]

There's no need to apologize, you hardly did anything wrong. What is frightening to me is that we both fell under the same spell...and no doubt it's because of our special marks.

[He begins to prepare a pot for the brine, waiting patiently for Yoimiya to be done with the stovetop so he can use it once she's done. He's got a feeling they're going to need a lot more pickled cucumbers for the future after what they went through. Hopefully stress doesn't turn them into a couple of alcoholics.]

Even now, there's a compulsion I feel to take you to bed for the express purpose of impregnating you...even going so far as to overwriting my logic whenever I try to question that motive in the moment. It makes me wonder if my feelings really are my own...is it making me feel attracted to you because of its strange power, or are my emotions genuine...?

[It really bothers him, and its visible on his face. Yoimiya's a great gal, he's sure he can objectively say that much, but he barely knows her. Just practically met her by unfortunate circumstances. Love at first sight is a thing and all, but what if that attraction wasn't real? What if it was all just a machination of their brands? And why in the world would it make him get baby fever?]

I just don't know...