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

[subtly_artistic]

"Celo suggests that I could read Nona and then try to explain you to each other," says Bella.

[growcrooked]

"Sure," says Nona.

[subtly_artistic]

"Is there anything I should not look at?"

[growcrooked]

She shrugs. "There's some stuff you might not like, but I don't think there's anything I'd be upset about you knowing."

[subtly_artistic]

"Okay."

Bella touches her temple and reads.

[growcrooked]

Nona is mostly wondering what she should be thinking about. How do you explain something when you don't understand the thing it's supposed to be different from? Loving Etty and having sex with Celo don't have anything more to do with each other than loving Etty and masturbating do. Slightly less, actually.

[subtly_artistic]

Bella picks her way through thoughts. She gets a brainful; the detail isn't graphic but it's not something she'd have asked for.

"...Okay," she murmurs eventually. "What I'm getting amounts to - you would be just about as bewildered if Etty were deeply hurt by you trying hot chocolate - you don't have so much a sex drive, an impulse to be lovey with someone, as you do an arbitrary number of these things that may or may not be operative at any time, and Etty gets her very own over here -" Bella gestures - "and it's just completely failing interact with whatever you do with Celo -" gesture far away from the first. "Am I putting that into words in a recognizable way?"

[growcrooked]

"Yeah," she says. "I guess. Do most people just have the one impulse to be lovey and they can only point it at one person at a time? That's weird. I think I have - well, one per person I feel lovey about."

[subtly_artistic]

"Most people at least approximate the one-impulse model," confirms Bella.

[mute_pen]

Etty nods.

She looks at what she has written, which includes notes on what Bella reported.

"Is there a way I can see what you see?" she asks Bella.

[subtly_artistic]

"...Difficult. But not impossible. If Nona doesn't mind. I don't think I can do that and filter content at the same time, so Nona will have to present me with anything she wants to show you, on purpose, specifically."

[growcrooked]

"Okay!" says Nona. "...What do you want me to show you? Specifically?"

[mute_pen]

"I'm not sure. I don't know what there is."

[subtly_artistic]

Not a sex therapist, not a -

Today, a sex therapist. Okay. Fine.

"I'm gonna tentatively recommend," says Bella, "how you feel about Etty. I think that's probably the best thing."

[growcrooked]

"Okay," says Nona agreeably. "There's a lot of that."

[subtly_artistic]

"Concentrate on some for me and I'll do my best to bounce it."

[growcrooked]

Okay.

She thinks about Etty. That's easy.

She thinks about how much it hurt to know she made Etty upset, and how much it scares her that Etty might not like her anymore, and how much she wants Etty to be safe and happy and okay. She thinks about the lovely warm feeling she gets when they snuggle, and the other lovely warm feelings she gets when they kiss. She thinks about - Etty. Just Etty. Lovely warm snuggly Etty.

[subtly_artistic]

Bella focuses, hard, and reads and projects, and these are two things that are not her natural affinity and she has to do them at the same time, but she can just - about - manage.

[mute_pen]

Etty makes a soft noise, almost like the trill she sometimes does when she's happy and a swan.

[growcrooked]

Awww, does she like it?

Nona blossoms.

[mute_pen]

She does like it!

[subtly_artistic]

Bella can't keep this up for long.

She falters; the bounce stops.

[growcrooked]

Nona hugs Etty, then turns to Bella and holds out her arms.

[subtly_artistic]

Bella shakes her head. They are not hugging friends.

[mute_pen]

Etty will take another hug! If Nona wants!