[He sort of stiffened and held still when she hugged him. It was clear by his tenseness he definitely wasn't used to this kind of contact. He blushed and it took him a few moemnts to respond. Despite hsi tail being wounded, it thumped on the wall lightly after she hugged him]

I...uh... well... ahem, Arthur got dragged into the water. I was just bringing him back. I managed to get him back onto the ship and helpe dhim start breathing again, but before I got out of the water the monster chomped down on my tail a bit.

[He finally relaxed just a tiny bit, worried he would offend her by his strnage reaction]

I kicked it in the eye though, so it let go before doing any serious damage.