"I love it when people eat my cookies," says Celo, leaning against the counter again. "Makes the whole thing feel that much more worthwhile."

"That's why recipes make so many."

He laughs again.

"Can I take a couple for later? I get munchy around an hour before bedtime and the vending cabinets are highway robbery."

"Sure!" he says. "Take as many as you want, nobody else seems to be showing up for the cookies anyway."

"Did you advertise that they're for sharing?" Bella asks, forming a stack of six of them.

"Sure, but I guess everybody figures 'cookies' is a euphemism," he says with a roll of his eyes. "I'm a nymph, for fuck's sake, I don't need to eupheme, if I wanted to advertise that I was hanging out in the kitchen waiting for someone to fuck me I could just say so."

Bella rolls her eyes. She tucks her homework under her arm and holds her stack of half a dozen cookies. "Well, more for us, then. Thanks. I'll tell anyone who asks me where I got these."

"Thanks," he says, casually blowing her a kiss. "I'm making more kinds if you wanna come back in an hour, and leftovers are going in the fridge if you don't."

"I might come back for more kinds and I wish you'd warned me before I ate three of these," she says. "No blowing me kisses, please, that's weird."

"Okay," laughs Celo.

Bella goes off with her cookies and does homework in her room with the door open. She goes back into the kitchen an hour later.

There are platefuls of three more kinds of cookies lined up on the counter, and Celo is watching over a fourth as they bake.

"Hullo again," says Bella, taking one of each sort.

"Hi!" beams Celo. "That nice girl from the other end of the hall came by and ate a bunch."

"Uh, Miki or Corrine?" asks Bella, trying to remember girls from the end of the hall who she'd describe as nice.

"Don't remember her name," he shrugs, "probably shouldn't tell you how I think of her."

"What color is her hair?" suggests Bella.

"Um... kinda dark brown I guess?"

"Corrine," identifies Bella. She has taken discreet notes on her hallmates. "These are all really good, I'm having trouble imagining you actually need any of your domestic studies classes right now."

"I totally learn things in my classes!" he says. "I don't need them, but I want them."

"Fair enough." Om nom nom.

Celo nabs a few cookies, too, but mostly he leaves them on the plates.

"These cookies," Bella determines curiously, after going back for a second lemon one, "are not vegan, either that or you loaded them up with some serious magic. I thought nymphs were vegans? Is that a myth?"

"It's a choice," he says. "A lot of nymphs choose it. I don't." He grins. "I'll spare you the jokes about whether or not I eat meat."