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

[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.]

[lifes_sake]

[Rose says her aura does healing, but the rest of us have never had cause to test that aspect.]

[subtly_artistic]

[Don't trust it. Local healing is pretty good, though. And if anything complicated goes wrong with you that Celo can't handle, Amariah and Aegis at least could borrow my student ID and get into the healing center.]

[pythbox]

[Yeah. Anybody want cookies?] says Celo. [They just came out of the oven.]

[subtly_artistic]

[I could definitely use a cookie.]

[dark_light]

There is general Bell agreement on this point.

They congregate, 75% of them invisible, and have cookies.

[pythbox]

Celo snuggles his one.

Jellybean cuddles his.

[lifes_sake]

Cam hugs Jellybean back, pensive.

[subtly_artistic]

Aether appears to be feeling clingy.

[dark_light]

Amariah and Aegis will be over here, Aegis floating weightlessly and Amariah sitting in the air, eating cookies, missing their own boyfriends.

[pythbox]

Jellybean feeds his invisible boyfriend an invisible cookie.

Celo kisses the top of Aether's head and produces a strawberry tart out of nowhere in particular, which he offers to her.

[lifes_sake]

[So, Celo,] says Cam, just to Celo and Jellybean, [in the interest of distracting myself from being stranded on an unfriendly world, I feel inclined to mention that you are currently the only Joker I have met and not had sex with.]

[pythbox]

[We should fuck!] says Celo, cheerfully. [How much did Aether explain about nymphs, anyway?]

[I didn't hear her say anything about the sex thing,] Jellybean volunteers. [Or the other sex thing, actually. Maybe I forgot.]

[lifes_sake]

[I know little about nymphs. Please explain nymphs.]

[pythbox]

[Okay,] says Celo. [I'm a divine being. My mother's a goddess. But what actually made me is a bunch of horny guys jerking off into a garden. The deal is, I'm tied to my field - as far as I know I'm the only urban nymph as well as the only one with a dick; everybody else has a field, so that's what they're called - and the more semen I receive, the healthier it gets, it's a whole fertility symbol thing. If I don't get any for a while, I starve eventually. It's supposed to be my sacred duty to fuck anybody who wants a piece, but I bet you can figure out for yourself how fucked up that is; it's why Mom and I don't talk anymore.]

[Tell him the other thing,] says Jellybean.

[Yeah, and as a nymph I embody sexuality, so I can read people's sexualities if they're close by enough - see what they like in bed, how horny they are, that kind of thing. Mostly all I get these days is how horny somebody is right now and maybe a couple highlights of the rest, because I got in the habit of backing off on it, but if I'm gonna actually have sex with somebody I'd rather they let me look.]

[lifes_sake]

[That's definitely an interesting take on the template. And yeah, if we're going to have sex anyway you can read me, but when we get out of here and you're going to Bellparties I think that's going to upset some people. Especially Golden. Although I guess the fact that you go around naked all the time would probably shoo Golden and Bells on her end of the spectrum away pretty effectively all on its own.]

[pythbox]

Celo giggles.