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]

"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."

[subtly_artistic]

"Talk to you. Look at anything you wanted to show me."

[growcrooked]

Nona hugs Etty some more.

[pythbox]

Celo comes back with another pair of mugs. He hands one to Bella and one to Etty.

[subtly_artistic]

Slurp.

[mute_pen]

Sip?

Blink blink.

"This is delicious."

[pythbox]

"I know!" says Celo, beaming. "I love this place."

[mute_pen]

"It is such a strange place. What is it?"

[pythbox]

"I'm not really sure," says Celo. "Some kind of interplanar bar or something. I tried to ask a couple people but mostly they're interested in the party, and I like the party too, so I didn't pester anyone about it."

[subtly_artistic]

"An interplanar bar. I guess stranger things have happened. It just appeared to you?"

[pythbox]

"Yeah! And then I saw her coming out of the door," he gestures to Nona, "and - I don't know, does she look like me to you? She looks like me to me. She looks a lot like me. And we compared histories and she's pretty much me, you know, accounting for species and stuff."

[subtly_artistic]

"She looks like you could be siblings," decides Bella after a long look at both faces. "Awfully similar siblings." She turns to Etty. "We should compare life histories."