In what has become a common occurrence, Bella and Celo are hanging out in the hall kitchen, eating something Celo has baked (today: blueberry handpies).

"How's the squinting coming along?" Bella asks, after she has finished her first and is contemplating a second.

Author: subtly_artistic	In what has become a common occurrence, Bella and Celo are hanging out in the hall kitchen, eating something Celo has baked (today: blueberry handpies). "How's the squinting coming along?" Bella asks, after she has finished her first and is contemplating a second.
Author: pythbox	"It's going fine," he says. "It's pretty much just staying in the habit of not looking too close, now. And it's actually kind of interesting, looking at this stuff just for what it's like and not for what it means."
Author: subtly_artistic	"Like - when you're kinda dozing off and you can hear the sound of someone's voice but not the words?"
Author: pythbox	"That's a pretty good way to put it," he says, "yeah."
Author: subtly_artistic	"Neat. I'm glad that's going well."
Author: pythbox	"Yeah," he says. "How about you, anything cool going on in your life?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"Those elves are still following me. I'll probably need an escort to get off campus when I graduate, if they haven't given up yet."
Author: pythbox	"I'll do it," Celo says cheerfully. "I fucked 'em up once, I can do it again."
Author: subtly_artistic	"Thanks," laughs Bella. "Now I'm imagining introducing you to my parents."
Author: pythbox	"I have no idea what your parents are like but I can't imagine that as anything other than hilarious," he says. "'Hi, this is Celo, my nymph buddy, I promise we haven't fucked'? Unless we get around to it in the next few years, I guess. Or would they even care? I'm kind of hazy on parents."
Author: subtly_artistic	"My dad would absolutely care."
Author: pythbox	He snorts. "In a 'congratulations' way or in a 'going to knife me' way?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"I would not expect either of us to be congratulated. He probably wouldn't knife you."
Author: pythbox	Celo giggles. "Okay, so what would he do?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"Probably he wouldn't want to definitively know. If he suspected he'd make sure I had some ridiculous number of rings of protection and, I dunno, tell you to be nice to me."
Author: pythbox	"Yeah," says Celo, "funny thing, everybody's pretty sure I can't actually get anyone pregnant, but I carry rings anyway." He grins. "And I'm already nice to you. If we had sex I wouldn't suddenly stop."
Author: subtly_artistic	"Noted."
Author: pythbox	He beams.
Author: subtly_artistic	"Speaking of carrying things, how does that work? It's very nifty."
Author: pythbox	"How should I know?" he shrugs. "I just put stuff away, and then," a foil-wrapped ring appears between his fingers, "take it out again." He flips the ring back and forth a few times and disappears it back to wherever it came from. "It's great. There's nothing more fun than using sleight of hand to make it look like you're pulling something out of thin air when you're actually pulling it out of thin air."
Author: subtly_artistic	"I'd like to be able to do that," says Bella. "It seems really handy. I suppose it's just a nymph thing?"
Author: pythbox	"Just a nymph thing," he confirms.
Author: subtly_artistic	"Oh well."
Author: pythbox	"You could still learn the sleight of hand, though!" he says, grinning.
Author: subtly_artistic	"I think I'd rather learn telekinesis. Less prep time, at least as practical," she winks. And she manages to nudge a pie onto her plate without touching it.
Author: pythbox	Celo applauds.
Author: subtly_artistic	Bella grins. (She has to pick up the pie to eat it, though.)
Author: pythbox	That is okay. It is a tasty pie. While they are enjoying their tasty pies, one of their hallmates - Corrine, the girl who spoke with Celo in the lounge the day he and Bella met - sidles into the kitchen. Celo grins and offers her a pie. She grins and takes it, along with a comfortable seat in his lap. He wraps his arms around her waist and tucks her shoulder under his chin. "Hi," he says affectionately. "Do you guys know each other?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"We've met, yeah," says Bella, "I don't think we have any classes together or anything."
Author: pythbox	Corrine shakes her head. "No, I'm in design and Domestic Arts," she says. "You're sutble arts, right? Mm, Celo, this is really good." "I know," Celo says cheerfully, still snuggling her. "I'll give you the recipe later."
Author: subtly_artistic	"Subtle arts," agrees Bella, nodding. She is still nibbling on the second of her pies.
Author: pythbox	Corrine beams. "You're my favourite," she says to Celo, giving him a one-armed hug because her other hand has a pie in it. "I know," Celo repeats, grinning.
Author: subtly_artistic	Aww.
Author: pythbox	Cuddly! "Anyway," Corrine says to Bella, "what's subtle arts like? I bet you don't make a lot of pies. That must be terrible."
Author: subtly_artistic	"I don't make a lot of pies, no. I can cook some but I'm not as good at it or as serious about it as Celo. Mostly I learn about minds and how to poke them."
Author: pythbox	Corrine giggles. "It sounds really funny when you put it like that," she says. "Is it hard?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"Some of it is. I'm not very good at telekinesis, for instance. Most of the rest of it is just like - learning to orient myself in an unfamiliar location, over and over until unfamiliar locations aren't."
Author: pythbox	"Oh," says Corrine. She doesn't seem like she understood that very well, but she also doesn't seem like she's bothered by it. She nibbles on her pie. Celo cuddles her.
Author: subtly_artistic	Bella finishes her pie, decides against taking a third, and starts on a set of flashcards, glancing at the cuddling pair now and again.
Author: pythbox	The cuddling pair continue to cuddle! Celo has his eyes closed and a happy smile on his face. Corrine looks generally contented, especially once she starts on her second pie.
Author: subtly_artistic	They don't seem to be absconding - or for that matter not absconding - to go have sex. Huh.
Author: pythbox	Eventually, Corinne finishes pie number two and flops her head onto Celo's shoulder, closing her eyes. He hugs her. She appears to nap.
Author: subtly_artistic	She asleep?
Author: pythbox	Yeah, she does that, he says fondly.
Author: subtly_artistic	Falls asleep on you? Routinely?
Author: pythbox	He nods, smiling.
Author: subtly_artistic	That's really cute.
Author: pythbox	It iiiiis, he agrees. She's a sweetheart, I love her. 'Love' here apparently meaning 'want to snuggle with a lot'.
Author: subtly_artistic	Aww.
Author: pythbox	Aww is right! Aww is the correct response here!
Author: subtly_artistic	Bella finishes her deck of flashcards, and then peers at them again, and then departs the room to do some thinking.
Author: pythbox	Some time after she leaves, Corrine wakes up, and she and Celo clean up after the making of the pies. They leave the remaining pies out for other hallmates to eat, and go into Celo's room to have another cuddlenap.
Author: subtly_artistic	Bella wanders by the room on her way to the bathroom, and the door's open. Cute. Huh.
Author: pythbox	Celo doesn't wave, because that might disturb his cuddle buddy.