cheated

[mute_pen]

The castle is livable indefinitely. Etty flies over the space around it, but she's not as fast as the Baron was in his owl form, and she can't fly for very long if she's hungry and can pack nothing if she travels as a swan; she doesn't range farther than she can travel in a half-day, and she doesn't find Astgabels or anyone who knows where it is. (Not many people are willing to talk to a girl in a feather dress from out of nowhere, but a few are.) She flies home to Nona after each failed journey. They feast on what appears on the dining table. They snuggle. They pick through the library. Etty writes her thoughts. They sleep, curled up together in Nona's bed.

One morning they wake up together and are lying there in comfortable silence when Etty scoots up and kisses Nona.

Comments

[mute_pen]

Etty nods. "That's me. Hello."

[pythbox]

"Nice to meet you," he says. "Wow, yeah, you're definitely another one of Bella. You wanna come in? I need the door so I can go to my world and get the person I know who I think is one of you."

[mute_pen]

"...There's more of me?" Etty steps inside, tucking herself under Nona's arm. "Yes, please - I'd like to meet - her? Is it a her?"

[pythbox]

"Yeah, her name's Bella," he says. He closes the door and opens it again, and on the other side is a hallway; he leeeeeeeeeeans as far out as he can, looking at another door a short distance down the hall. "Bella! Hey! You in? I found a thing!"

[subtly_artistic]

I love how you're so specific. What is it?

[pythbox]

It's a - look, just come here, he laughs. You'll like it, I promise.

[subtly_artistic]

All right, all right. Up she gets, and out of her room, and, "Kheez!"

[mute_pen]

"...Hi."

[pythbox]

Celo beckons, grinning. "C'mon in! Can't hold the door forever, it's rude and stuff."

[subtly_artistic]

"What in the screaming abyss is this place?"

[mute_pen]

"I don't know. Before the door opened on part of our castle."

[subtly_artistic]

"You have a castle?"

[mute_pen]

"...Yes. But you wouldn't want it the way we got it."

[pythbox]

Celo shuts the door behind Bella.

"Should I go get more hot chocolate?" he wonders. "Anybody want some?"

[mute_pen]

"What is hot chocolate?"

[subtly_artistic]

Bella blinks at her. "Yeah, hot chocolates for us too."

[pythbox]

"Cool," says Celo, and off he goes through the crowd.

If anyone is looking, he stops to give a guy a blowjob on the way.

[growcrooked]

Meanwhile, Nona is peering curiously at Bella.

[subtly_artistic]

Bella waves at her. "So, I'm Bella, who are you?"

[mute_pen]

Etty was looking, but she soon stops and turns her face into Nona's shoulder. This would not be her kind of party if it weren't apparently the only way to visit versions of her from other worlds.

[growcrooked]

Nona wraps her arms around Etty and murmurs, "I love you," into her hair.

To Bella, she explains matter-of-factly, "I'm who Celo is in our world. I'm not a nymph, I'm a sorcerer's daughter, but he was the same way with me that the man who planted Celo's garden was with him. My father kidnapped Etty and put a curse on her and then we killed him."

[subtly_artistic]

"Well, I'm who Etty is in my world, I guess, and I'm a subtle artist - I have mind magic, I don't use it without permission except that I can always tell if an unshielded person is around - and me and Celo go to school together. Although we don't share any classes."

[mute_pen]

"You're a scholar?"

[subtly_artistic]

"...I think calling myself a scholar would suggest it's less common than it is to go to school where I'm from. I'm a student. I'm going to be a mental healer." She pauses, peering at Etty. "I... haven't taken any classes on mental healing yet, but you seem to be not in great shape, and if we're as alike as we look, maybe I could do something?"

[mute_pen]

"...That would depend on what you were going to do."