"No, no, it's okay, stringbean!" To hell with anything anyone else is saying if she's hurting Ethan now too. "You didn't know they were wrong, okay, none of this is anything you did..."
After a few moments with his head buried in his hands, Nul looks over to Legion. "Okay, I can almost buy that they knew about me and Mutt, but how did they know about you?"
"I... I don't know, I'm so sorry," Arie babbles, and if Ethan doesn't start feeling like he can't breathe then she's exercising considerable self-control. "But, but I think maybe I made some friends that might have an idea, all right?" She did hear Even, after all. "There's a drawer under the oven. Skillets."
"...I need you to get them. I can't touch cold iron. Neither can Legion, Mutt, or Nul. It'll burn our skin." He says quietly. "If you show me where oven mitts are?"
"I.... don't know," Legion frowns, then slowly starts unwrapping the gift. She lets out a quiet gasp of delight as the paper rips away to reveal a sleek looking shotgun with an etched inlaid handle.
"They're hanging right over the-" No. Even if almost the last thing she wants in the world right now is for Ethan to be out of her sight for a second, Arie's getting the feeling that whatever happens next is going to be deeply unpleasant. The actual last thing she wants in the world is for Ethan to be hurt. "Look, stringbean, I think this will help, but if you could go at least into the other room for now, okay?"
"Yes, that's good, I'll be sure to let you know when everything's safe, okay?" Everything is never going to be safe again, but that's the kind of realization she needs to spare him. With that she goes to the kitchen. She doesn't even need to open the drawer, it turns out. That stupid iron fish they'd bought when Mom was pregnant with Ethan and got anemic is propped up on a counter, mostly decorative now. It's small enough to fit in her palm. But if it burns, that should be enough, right?
Even follows behind her, looks at her uncertainly. "...that's cast iron?" He looks around, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his hand. "....let me do it. If I'm right..." He goes silent, then shakes his head. "...just trust me, I think it's better if I do it."
"You're supposed to boil it with your food if you have an iron deficiency," says Arie, feeling obscurely as if she ought to defend her choice of tool. "You can get the skillet if you don't like this."
"....I need to test something." Even stares, slowly, then nods. "...no, just wanted to make sure. It should be enough. May I?"
Even stares, breathes out slowly, and thrusts the fish forwards towards the her bare skin of her hand.
