"Aww!"

"That's precious," giggles Bella. "We'll take you to the Golden Empire next time we get an in there and you can see if anybody else's mate bond snuggles with their witchcraft."

"I don't think it will, actually," he says. "Most people's powers aren't about the same things as Alice's. But I definitely want to see."

"I bet you'd love having a brain like this," Alice says to Bella. "It's not just faster, it's bigger."

"Yeah, I'm serial, not parallel," Bella muses. "Next time I want an upgrade I'll go... horizontal, so to speak."

"I'm gonna go hug Lazarus now," Alice announces, and disentangles himself very carefully from Bella.

Bella giggles. "So cute."

"Yes he is," says Lazarus, hugging back.

"It's weird hugging somebody I can't smell properly," says Alice. "Do you squish?" He squeezes a little bit tighter. "Nope, you don't. You are unsquishable."

"You aren't any less able to smell humans than you were before," Bella says. "Although I suppose it's comparing against everything else."

"My nose thinks he's not really here," he says, and lets go, and turns to investigate the bubbly stuff.

Lazarus blinks after him.

"When I said we'd arranged for him not to eat people," Bella says, "I meant that he's got a human-specific air filter so he doesn't instinctively lunge for the carotid just from being in the room with us. But since you've got your defense on, if the idea of Alice ineffectually gnawing on you happens to amuse, say the word and he can turn it down."

...He looks like he may be considering it.

Alice interrupts himself mid-drink to singsong, "You waaaaaant me nibbling on you, don't lie."

"Shush," says Lazarus.

"Poking the repressed ingot isn't very nice, Alice," Bella says serenely. "How's the bubbly? There might be other kinds, this is just what Elspeth brings home from Milliways."

"It's tasty, I like it," he says. "Can I make you unsquishable for a bit so I can hug you?"

"Sure," says Bella.

He spends a hex to make Bella impervious to squishing in a way that is fully at her discretion to control, and then scoops her up and twirls her around and hugs her as hard as he possibly can.

"Eee!" laughs Bella, extricating one arm from the squeeze to put over his shoulder and have some measure of control of how she's held up.

"What, in front of Lazarus? I'm already reading you, and opening up the details sometimes has side effects," laughs Bella.

He flutters a hand at Lazarus. "Shoo unless you want a threesome."