Presented in a different way, the poking and prodding might have bothered Ben, but after all Cho's outrage, he believes her when she says she's as gentle about it as possible. He says, "Yeah, that's just like they're going to the doctor for a checkup, it's not..."

But he trails off with a shrug, and doesn't elaborate on the sorts of things he'd worried she might have had in mind. He is afraid that the specificity of any example scenario would (further) betray that he has some experience of this and his objection wasn't coming only from a moral place, but a vulnerable and personal one.

"So are you a biologist?"

Together they round a corner, Ben walking a little ahead of Cho. A little distance in front of them, nosing around on the floor, is a tiny creature, shuffling and snuffling around, with its long hair glowing faintly turquoise, with some light lavender patches. Ben stops in his tracks. Tells himself it's because he doesn't want to startle it off. Which is half of the truth, anyway.

It's not going to be a problem. He isn't going to let it be a problem. He's only a little rattled because of what he and Cho had been talking about, but it's all good, and he's going to be totally cool, and it's fine.