So, Promise is pretty much indefinitely pleased with neck-kisses, and wouldn't know what to do next even if she weren't. If Ari wants to do anything else today he may have to suggest it on his own.

Well, Ari is also pleased with neck-kisses, but not quite indefinitely so. Slowly, and thoroughly, and very, very carefully, he expands the range of activities involved. (She's not panicking, so he doesn't have to be quite so feather-light about it, but he's orienting this adventure around "don't freak out the roommate" rather than "rollercoaster ride of pleasure" for a while.)

A good time is likely had by all.

Eventually, activity concludes. Ari limpets himself to Promise somewhat, as is his wont.

"So. How was that as, uh, an introduction?"

Snuggles.

Time wears on. Promise obtains some paint, and paints murals on the interior walls of the house - plants in bright colors, crowded in with each other, compositions planned on paper and transferred to wall. They receive occasional visitors looking for frostberries - this makes Promise nervous; she doesn't want to become famous enough to attract notice from her masters, and she scales back attempts at trading and instead goes on longer foraging trips in the forest.

Promise sings, sometimes, wordless music, perched on a spire of the house.

When Promise voices her worries, Ari wishes immediately he'd thought to get some of Yellow's hair when they were leaving the house, so he could make a larger-scale ward that could exclusively repel him. In the absence of that as an option, he decides to make a general ward around the edge of their "property." It makes their home look like just another patch of snow with nothing in particular near it, it's impenetrable to sound both ways, and anyone who isn't him or Promise or willingly allowed in by one of the two (on a case-by-case basis) will have one hell of a time finding it or getting anywhere close to it without the Sight. It takes a few days worth of both roommates' blood, almost a pound of a particular leaf native to a nearby area that he's confirmed to have warding potential, and an intricate circle two weeks' nonstop scribbling in the making that takes up the entire first floor of the house. It's quite a thing.

The irony does not occur to him that he has created an inimitably beautiful house that no one else is allowed to see. Pretty things are their own reward.

He sets up a clearly labeled post by which people can contact them (for frostberry-related business or similar) about a mile away; when spoken to, it causes vibrations inside a simple device in their home which transcribes that speech into writing. He's been assured by Promise that it would be several kinds of impossible for this system to deliver orders, but he likes being a bit paranoid. And he's always willing to provide Promise with invisibility or an illusion when she goes foraging. He thinks that he might have managed to get them to "safe."

He listens to the singing while he works. It makes him feel like he's doing something right.

Promise accepts illusions gratefully whenever she leaves - although this does mean she needs a new identity at the library. She draws Ari a picture of a painted tailwing and pretends to be one of those - "I'm taller than them, but their wingbeats are most similar to mine of kinds of fairies I think I could pretend to be, and people who'd notice the second thing are more dangerous".

She appreciates his safety concerns immensely. And thanks him for them. Profusely.

Ari becomes familiar enough with the tailwing disguise that he can perform it casually.

His attention turns to more permanent methods of dealing with their masters. One day, when Promise comes down from her spire, he asks "Do you think any of our neighbors would be willing to try kidnapping Yellow for us? Given I can pay in alien magic."