in which the narration is suggestive, yet vague

[subtly_artistic]

Neckrubs become a more regular part of Bella's life. And she does not tell him to stop until she is good and done. There is hugging. There is snuggling. There is kissing. There are some impressively sappy looks from his end, some fascinated mindreading from hers. The semester wraps up, Bella goes home for a week, and she comes back (now signed up for Utility Psionics 2, Intro to Mental Healing, Arcane Defense, Intro Cognition, and her survival credit, a lecture entitled "Wilderness Triage" (subtitled: Quick And Dirty Mechanisms For Identifying The Lesser Of Several Evils).

She missed Celo! She seeks him out at once. Hugs.

Comments

[pythbox]

[Tough shit,] says Celo. [Look, you're all more or less adults. If you want to go pester Callahan, I'm not gonna knock you down and sit on you until you think better of it. I'm just saying, you could die. You could seriously permanently no-takebacks die. Up to you if you like the risks.]

[lifes_sake]

[I haven't gotten to my afterlife yet. There's billions of people on Syntropy who are disappearing to some unknown fate. Don't think I don't understand the urgency of being able to go home. But, look, they find doors here. We can wait for a door. It could've been years, but it could've been less time than we've spent, too.]

[autokinetic]

[...If I for-real-forever die Jane probably does too.]

[dark_light]

[Ugh.]

[pythbox]

[Anyways,] says Jellybean, [there's no indication that how long we spend here matters at all to how long it will have been back home, right? Once Jane's down, it's all up for grabs. She was out for three seconds from her end last time and some of the gaps in other worlds lasted years. ...I guess if it is proportional, that's a big problem.]

[autokinetic]

[It's probably not proportional, but it probably is monotonic. If we got home now, less time would have passed than if we got home tomorrow.]

[pythbox]

[How do we know?] says Jellybean.

[autokinetic]

[It's the simplest explanation for what Jane noticed about her clocks when she came back last time.]

[pythbox]

[Why is it the simplest - you know what, never mind, I don't care,] says Celo.

[autokinetic]

[What did Scary Fighting Teacher even say?]

[pythbox]

[I stayed after class and she asked me if I'd met anybody interesting lately. I said 'like who?' and she said 'like anybody'. It's the same thing she asked me and Bella when we ran into her at Milliways that one time.]

[dark_light]

[...She knows about Milliways?]

[lifes_sake]

[Is there any way to interpret that which doesn't make it sound like she wants to meet us?]

[pythbox]

[Yeah, there's the interpretation where she's yanking my chain because she knows something I don't know she knows,] snorts Celo.

[autokinetic]

[Was Jellybean there when you talked to her? Did she notice him?]

[pythbox]

[I am not even slightly interested in going down that road,] says Celo.

[dark_light]

[How are you even alive, Aether, how did this world not drive you to take your own life when you were five,] despairs Amariah.

[subtly_artistic]

[I can still do things! Just not - big things!]

[autokinetic]

[I am giving this world three days to present us a door before I go talk to Callahan, if one of you better-than-me-at-socializing types wants to preempt me you're welcome to it.]

[subtly_artistic]

[No - no, please don't,] exclaims Aether, [that is such a bad idea, please, this is not just your life you're playing with.]

[pythbox]

[Yeah, for fuck's sake, if one of you guys is gonna talk to Callahan don't send the extra cocky one,] says Celo. [Unless you think getting nailed in the face with an axe will tone her down a little.]

[autokinetic]

[I don't know what happened to Jane! This world might've killed Jane and I don't even know! I know we don't usually act like she's my kid but she kind of is, and she might be dead!]

[dark_light]

[I know, I know, but - Celo's right, you are not the best Bell ambassador, not to anyone besides more Bells or Jokers. And putting yourself in possible physical danger is not the best way to keep Jane safe if she's not dead.]

[lifes_sake]

[Yeah. Let's - not do anything nuts, okay, let's find our bearings, and if we're desperate after a few days me or Amariah can go talk to this person.]

[pythbox]

[Thank you,] says Celo. [Fuck. And let me introduce you, okay? If she fucks you up she might let me heal you afterward.]