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]

"That sounds better - but -"

[subtly_artistic]

"He already saw you. Unless something changes, he can't get any new information," says Bella, shaking her head. "Otherwise do you think I'd hang around him? I can't even block it with subtle arts." She follows the nymph to the outdoors.

[mute_pen]

Etty goes after her alt.

[pythbox]

By the time they get outside, Celo is not visibly nearby.

[mute_pen]

Etty and Bella sit next to each other on the grass.

[subtly_artistic]

I can relay you conversation, if you want. And I explained that you've already got what you're going to get off her.

[pythbox]

I got that she's you plus trauma and some different stuff, he says. I didn't look at which stuff was different. Which means you're wrong, by the way, I could slip up and see her properly anytime, it's just easier not to when I already know somebody. And I knew about the trauma already; Nona didn't exactly say, but - it was just obvious. So whatever. Why even talk to me? I'm just the nymph. Give me a shout when somebody needs a good fuck.

[subtly_artistic]

[Name], what'd you want me to tell her? I couldn't not tell her. I'm sorry I got it wrong, I'll let her know, it'll make her feel better. I wish Nona had warned her but she didn't.

"Apparently he was squinting some and didn't get everything," Bella reports quietly. "He's going to stay away, at least for the time being. He says you look like me plus trauma and some details he didn't get."

[mute_pen]

Etty nods.

[pythbox]

The way you said it, it ended up feeling like you were using me to hurt her, Celo sighs. And I know perfectly well that's not what you were aiming for, but it's what you hit.

[subtly_artistic]

I - don't understand why that would be, but I am sorry I upset you.

[pythbox]

I know.

He sighs.

Just - the way you ended up telling her was pretty much the perfect way to make sure she came off the worst from hearing it no matter what I'd actually read. And it's me who's the problem even if you're the one telling her about it. So I end up feeling like I'm a club you're hitting her over the head with, even though I know you didn't mean it that way.

[subtly_artistic]

I was trying to present it neutrally.

[pythbox]

You should maybe work on that, he says.

[subtly_artistic]

What would you have wanted me to say?

[pythbox]

Ask me privately if I'd got anything off her, and if I hadn't, which I pretty much didn't, lead with that. It's nicer that way.

[subtly_artistic]

Okay. If we meet any - more of me - then I'll do that. I didn't realize you were that accomplished at squinting.

[pythbox]

I've been getting better, I just don't run and brag to you about it every time I manage not to catch somebody, he says.

[subtly_artistic]

Understood. Pause. I wouldn't expect her to "look" that much like me the way you said she did. I mean, we're the same, but she's gay and traumatized and I'm straight and not-traumatized, are those not relatively overwhelming features?

[pythbox]

I told you before you're too hung up on the information part, didn't I? There's a lot more to it than just - features, like that. Stuff that doesn't tell me anything directly, and doesn't really turn into words. And on that level you're almost the same. It's like... if you saw somebody you knew, and then you saw them again and they'd been beat up pretty bad and they were wearing totally different clothes and had different-coloured hair, you'd still recognize them, wouldn't you? It's a little like that.

[subtly_artistic]

Huh.

Meanwhile, Etty's talking about what it's like to fly.

D'you want me to relay what we're talking about to you?

[pythbox]

Sure.

[subtly_artistic]

Bella sets herself up as a relay. "I'll bounce everything we're saying to Celo," she informs her alt and Nona.

[growcrooked]

"How's that work?" she says curiously. "I don't think your magic is the same as ours at all. There's less - drinking blood and peeing on things, from what I've heard."

[subtly_artistic]

"...Ew? The subtle arts aren't like that. Some of the darker arcana might be, I guess, but I'm only a dabbler in arcane magic. I know nothing about divine magic to speak of - well, except common knowledge for my world, which I guess might be more than you have - but I don't think that involves any of that. My subtle arts are just a matter of me being able to focus my mind in certain ways that tend to produce effects in the world. Usually in minds, mine or others' - it's pretty trivial for me to talk to people mind-to-mind from a reasonable distance - but I have a little bit of telekinetic potential that I'm working on training, too."