"Hi Bored, I'm El." She shifts Bellona's arm out of the way so she can keep writing. "But I surmise you knew that already."

She snorts. "You also think you're funny." And she squints at what El's writing. "Is that really more urgent than your most wonderful little sister, El?"

"It's multitasking, Lion. I find the practice quite helpful in staving off boredom, myself."

"Witchcraft," she says, mock serious.

"Oh dear. You had best run and get your stake and kindling, then," El says, voice dry as dust.

She hums, thoughtfully. "But then who'd entertain me?"

"Truly a quandary for the ages. Try not to strain yourself while pondering it."

"Hm... I think I'm fine keeping the witchcraft a secret. I'd probably have to go peel Estel away from his girlfriend, otherwise."

Pfft. "Yeah, good luck with that."

"You doubt my charm?"

"Compared to that boy's particular combination of hormones and drama? Yes."

She makes a serious face. "Maybe I'll seduce Arwen away, instead."

"Then you'd have her sighing all over the place. I think she got her dad's broodiness."

Giggle. "I do like the dark silent types..."

El shrugs, forcing Bellona to shift around.

"So did you actually have something to ask me about or are you just poking me until I poke back?"

"Well..." she drawls. "I did have an array project I finished... But if you're not interested..."

She pokes Bellona in the side. "Next time lead with that. Show me."

She laughs, pulling out and handing over her notes. "I've been playing with the interdimensional array."

She starts reading. "Okay, talk me through it."

"Basic modification is so it can take us to arbitrary universes with set traits, not just one very tightly defined universe per version. There's parameters it'll take, and it'll choose a universe and location within that universe that fits all the parameters at random - getting it to optimize for certain parameters is harder, I haven't figured that out yet. It fails gracefully if no universes fit the parameters, though without much feedback for now. I haven't found any parameters it can't take, as long as I define them sufficiently in the array - 'compatible with our life' is a basic one, obviously, as is 'alchemy works there'. Right now it also tags things I send through it so another array can fetch them back - that's this one - and that second array should be modifiable to pull similarly quasi-random things from other universes to us, though we'd want to be careful experimenting with that..."

She hums. "Looks right... Have you tested either?"

"Not on myself, but I've been testing with increasingly complex objects and then life forms - got a human volunteer sent out and brought back yesterday, finished finalizing my notes right before I came to see you."

"Is this your way of asking for a vacation?"

"How'd you know?"

"I have known you since before you were born," she says sagely.

Giggle. "Well, my utter predictability aside... What do you say we go exploring a bit?"

"Okay."

Hug! "Awesome - I have so many ideas for places we could look for - "

"How about you work on deciding about one, and I'll go pack?"

"Seems fair to me."

Off El goes to do that. And also write some letters to let people know they'll be gone for a few weeks and not to panic immediately.

While Bellona creates a set of parameters that should land them in a technologically advanced civilization. One with space travel.

Fun.

Very!

It takes a while, of course, to triple and quadruple check her math and array placement, but it's not significantly different than the process for moving between Arda and Amestris.

Soon enough -

They have a completed array, awaiting only activation to begin their adventure.

El has a pack for each of them; clothes, food, some useful books and raw material.

"Ready."

"Ready!"

And she moves with her sister to activate the array.

Clap!

Clap!

The array lights with power - the sense of transit is nearly identical to the base array, perhaps lasting slightly longer -

The brilliant light clears, and they seem to be in an industrial - and empty - warehouse of some kind. There's distant noises of life, and a faint hum of machinery.

"Well, we're not dead..."

"Nope! And they're not medieval peasants..."

"So far, so good."

"Promising, at least." She stretches. "Hm, which way to investigate first..."

"Let's try through those doors, how about?"

"Sure," she says, grinning.

The doors don't seem to have handles or even hinges - and they slide open silently when the girls approach, revealing what's possibly an office type of center beyond. There's a heavier door, with an actual handle, on the opposite wall. There's not a lot of light - no windows, the only artificial lights from low strips.

"Think that one goes outside?"

"Hopefully. I'd assume they have an outside... Maybe they're built inside a moon..."

"You were trying for space travel. Maybe they can do that kind of thing."

"That'd be fun!"

"One way to find out!"

She heads over to the door, turning the handle...

And it's locked.

Bellona sighs, clapping her hands and touching the handle - "The lock on this's weird, I think magnetic... There's wires all through this."

"Huh. Maybe it does go outside, but outside is space, so they keep it locked."

"Or they don't want people breaking in..."

"That's a little bit more boring, don't you think?"

Nudge. "Okay. I promise to only offer fun exciting hypotheses from here on out."

Hee. "Are we going to try unlocking it anyway?"

"What's life without a little risk?"

"Longer?"

But she gets ready to open it anyway.

Giggle.

The door is rather easily opened via alchemy! And also messing with the lock seems to cause heightened electrical activity around it.

Beyond is: a much larger hallway, at least a hundred feet across, the ceiling arched and maybe fifty feet tall at its highest, made out of what looks like frosted glass. This seems to be a major thoroughfare. It's currently dim out, lights along pathways and tracks providing illumination but nothing in between those. Vehicles whoosh by on occasion, and there's beings about on the paths - a mixture of body plans, most of them wearing clothing. No one right near them.

"Well. That's- something."

"Yeah... It's cool. Definitely advanced technology..."

"I think it's night time."

Nod. "Fits with that building being deserted."

"Maybe there's an entertainment district or something."

"Oooo, fancy space nightlife. Sounds like my jam."

Shoulder bump. "Let's go for a stroll."

Onward!

They seem to be in a manufacturing or industrial district of some kind. The place is large, and densely populated - there's some indications the buildings they're passing are significantly taller than the tunnels' fifty feet. There are plants, at least, all growing in water in planters, and some of the lights illuminate artwork. Outside of the industrial district - probably a housing district, with a lot of shops and restaurants apparently open even at night, their signs illuminated, many showing moving images (presumably advertisements) or scrolling text. There's a brief well of noise a few streets over - deep beats like drums, probably music.

"Want to check that out? Could be dancing."

"Let's."

Towards the maybe music!

The streets fade into an increasing number of restaurants open at night, gradually resembling more pubs and bars - and even dance halls, though the silhouettes of scantily clad men, women, and other beings on some advertisements imply slightly less formality than Amestris's dance halls. Some of the buildings are probably also places you can gamble, judging by the imagery. The streets here are busier, and Bellona and El are rather under dressed - or perhaps over dressed, depending on if you're looking at fanciness or coverage.

Bellona, of course, is utterly fascinated and more than a bit delighted.

El is... maybe a bit out her depth.

Bellona grabs her hand.

"Want to head back somewhere less crowded?" she asks.

"Just... quieter, a bit."

Tug, away from the entertainment district, towards a quieter residential area and then stumbling on a park.

Nice.

"Sorry, that was just- more than I was expecting."

She pulls El down onto a bench, hugging her. "It's okay. Sorry I didn't notice sooner."

"Mm, it's okay. You're allowed to look at pretty things."

"I like looking out for you more, though."

Bump. "Thanks."

Lean. "You're the best sister, so I gotta try hard and keep up, you know. Keep my title of second best."

"You're doing all right at that, Lion."

She squeezes El's hand. "Good." And she leans more fully against her sister, resting her head on El's shoulder. "It's a bit weird, but... This isn't that bad a park. Bet this all looks neat when it's properly lit up."

"Yeah, it's got... benches, foliage, playground equipment..."

And a suddenly appearing tiger! Who yelps and falls into a fountain, splashing water everywhere.

And a cat made of lightning, who falls on top of the tiger!

"What the fuck," El says softly.

"What the fuck?" Bellona says, a bit louder.

"Let me up!" whines the tiger, flailing and trying to dislodge the lightning cat, and mostly managing to splash more water everywhere. (The tiger's voice sounds kind of familiar.)

"I would if you would- stop splashing!" The cat's is a familiar brand of tetchy.

She quiets down a bit, grumbling.

The cat hops into the air, sizzling a bit, and flits out of the fountain.

And notices the two observers. "Well hello there."

She jumps out. "Hello!" And squints, tilting her head a bit.

"...Hello?"

"... Hi?"

The cat purrs and rubs up against the tiger.

"Do you think we died and went to heaven, pet?"

She nuzzles the cat, a deep rumbling laugh building in her chest. "I'd expect more pillows and less clothes for that, darling."

Bellona scowls. "Leave off. And this isn't an afterlife." Probably; that'd be a bit outside the parameters.

"That's all right too. I wasn't ready to die just yet."

Humph. ...Also though. New magic? " - So you weren't intending to appear there?"

"Not really, no. We were intending to carve our names into the moon. Which this is not."

"Well, not yours, I'd guess. We haven't figured out yet if this is a moon colony or a space station or an underwater station - we're not local - how are you maintaining a cat shape with electricity?"

"How are you maintaining a human shape with lumps of meat and sticks of bone?" the cat snickers.

"Mostly via adhesive protein fibers between cells - and some collagen. Presumably there's pathways of least resistance for your electricity, right, so it's arcing in a consistent pattern - but how are you generating those?"

Her, nerd sniped? Always.

"Ha! Good answer." The cat nudges the tiger. "In my case, through judicious- which is to say, copious- application of magic."

Nudge back. "It's even a right answer! And we're absolutely, one hundred percent, made of biologically and probably physically impossible bullshit." She flickers into a smoke and flame tiger briefly.

"Cool. What's the basic function of your magic?"

"Making us look like this, as you see. Everything else follows from the basic form."

"-So, what did you look like before?"

The tiger wiggles a bit, laughing, and -

Turns into a very familiar human girl with a dramatic curl of embers and smoke.

The cat transforms similarly.

"A cookie to you for asking the question."

"What the fuck?"

" - This has fascinating implications for determinism given that meeting two people with our faces is insanely statistically improbable - I guess unless dad has interdimensional bastards somehow, though a chance meeting's still massively unlikely - "

Giggle.

"She is a nerd. What're your names?"

"Bellona and Elizabeth Elric." She gestures to herself then her sister. "What about you guys?"

"I'm Ellie." she cocks her head to the side. "And this is my girlfriend, Burning Ruby Tiger Decima."

"Or just Ruby," she says, laughing. "The full title's reserved for formal occasions."

" - Girlfriend?"

"Meeting a new you is a formal occasion."

"Um, what?"

"Are you not-?"

"She's my sister."

"Ah, the other explanation for the name."

She flinches a bit.

The El(lie)s hug their respective cat-adjacent person.

Bellona leans into El pretty heavily, squeezing her hand.

Ruby snuggles her girlfriend.

" - Sorry about the awkwardness."

"Not your fault. I think."

Shrug. "My initial comment was a bit inappropriate. But, uh, yeah. I didn't like orchestrate an interdimensional plot purely to cause awkward moments."

Bellona's in a bad mood for objectively no good reason. Okay so it's awkward, but, like, life's awkward.

Doesn't stop the sick feeling in her stomach, but, well. Her body's been intermittently stupid since she got it back.

"It's fine," she says, a bit grouchily, pressing her face into El's shoulder.

She pats the back of Bellona's head.

"So, um. What's your world like?" she offers. "This is the, uh, third one we've visited."

"Huh. This's our - second, I guess. Our world's not in contact with any others. We have near space travel but not, like, farther than our solar system. Magic's not well known's, a big thing - it's secret from just about everyone, so society just runs on normal technology."

"The height of transportation in our world is pretty much the steam locomotive. And the other one we visited was still working off feet and maybe horses."

"Huh! Yeah, we've got flying machines and really expensive space machines."

"So was getting here an unfortunate train mixup, or...?"

"Nah," Bellona says. "We've got an interdimensional transit array - took me a while to modify it so it can take us to unknown worlds, but I managed and now we're exploring."

Pet pet. "She's very clever."

She grins, snuggling into her sister's side, the sick feeling in her stomach unwinding a bit.

"Sounds a bit more advanced than steam locomotives."

"It's alchemy."

"Like lead into gold?"

"No, that's impossible. The first rule of alchemy is equivalent exchange. You can only get out what you put in."

"Nothing can be gained without sacrificing something of equal or greater value," she recites. "I bet you could turn elemental lead into elemental gold with the right array and a deep enough understanding of atoms, but the energy requirements would be astronomical, it'd be dangerous, and, if wide spread, gold would deprecate in value so quickly it'd be pointless."

"Huh."

"It's a science, subject to the laws of physics, same as everything."

"Our magic is a lot more... metaphorical."

Small grin. "It just hasn't been sufficiently investigated and defined, then."

"Maybe."

"Science is a method, not a state of the world. There's nothing that can't be subject to experimentation ever."

"She's you but extra nerdy," she says to Ruby.

Ruby laughs. "I never thought I'd be the bimbo version," she teases.

"You wear it well."

"Exceptionally! I'll have Doctor Ruby Bimbo written on all my business cards."

"Paging Dr. Bimbo... Dr. Bimbo to the OR."

Giggle. "Maybe I can get in that name change before graduation."

"If we go back for graduation."

"Maybe I can get an interdimensional medical degree, then."

"We can... probably get you back."

"Origin worlds might be a uniquely definable parameter."

Thoughtful pause. "I definitely don't want to, like, suddenly and inexplicably and permanently vanish on nearly everyone I know? Or on all my stuff, I have so much art in my apartment I'm very attached to... But, like, I don't mind exploring the multiverse some, our world was sometimes boring."

"It's a whole new world."

"We can probably summon things too. Or people."

"Huh. That has some possibilities. Even if you can just send a note, actually, that'll patch things in the short term..."

"It'll take some tweaking, but it doesn't sound in-principle impossible."

"Cool. There isn't a huge rush, though, we were on a long vacation..."

"Ah, good."

Bellona tucks her feet up under her a bit, leaning more into El. A bit abruptly - "So if you guys aren't sisters - how'd you meet?"

"First week of college- secondary school. I was sitting by myself at a meet-and-greet and Ruby came over to talk to me. She liked my sass, I guess."

"...Huh. I would've guessed - childhood friends or something."

"Growing up without El sounds weird."

"Mm, neither of us had really happy childhoods..."

...Awkward unhappy shrug.

"The early bit of ours was mostly good. Didn't get bad until I was nine, and that was mostly tolerable for like two years anyways." Being eleven had sucked and being twelve had really sucked and the next few years after that had mostly been a slow jagged recovery, but, well. Happy young childhood. (Her skin is crawling a bit like it sometimes gets when she's reminded of being in the armor. She snuggles into El's side more.)

Pat pat.

"Better when we were together."

Nuzzle. "Yeah. Wouldn't trade El for anything."

"It's good that you have each other, then."

Small smile. "Yeah. And it's good you guys found each other eventually."

Ruby grins and squeezes her girlfriend. "Very good."

"It's been an exciting time, that's for sure."

Heeeeee. "The best time."

"Do you two have a place to stay here?"

"Nah. I don't think we've even been here a whole hour yet."

"So we're only a bit behind you, huh?"

She nods. "Dunno yet what they do for currency, but alchemy's been pretty easy to make a profit off of before."

"Let's go exploring, then."

She turns to El. "Up for more of that?"

Nod. "I don't think anything else is going to be as disconcerting as, uh, this," she gestures at their alts, "so my scale is recalibrated a bit."

Giggle. "They definitely put 'weird' and 'new' in perspective."

Smile. "So yeah, let's go back out on the scene."

She keeps hold of El's hand when they stand. To their alts, "We came from that direction when exploring," with a gesture. "It's pretty much residential around here, but there was like an entertainment district, then a worker's residential district, then an industrial district."

She elbows Ruby. "Feel like going clubbing?"

"Any excuse to dance with you, darling."

Quick kiss.

"Okay, let's go. There'll probably be hotels near there, too."

Bellona nods. (The flirting and - kissing - is so weird.)

She leads the way back toward the entertainment district, still clinging to El's hand. "Figure we should try and blend in with the locals more?" she asks her sister when she spots someone else out late, in the sort of clothes Bellona's starting to recognize as 'futuristic dance clothes.' (Transmuting clothing is, fortunately, pretty easy.)

"Might be good," El replies, casting about for more examples to copy.

Some of the materials they might need a sample to actually copy - some of the fabric definitely has weird effects (shifting colors when it moves seems to be pretty common), and more than a few people have glow in the dark patches or small lights outright incorporated. Skin coverage is pretty low, probably partially because it's warm out, but the parts that're actually covered are mostly loose and flowing, and a lot of people's outfits incorporate gossamer cloth (sometimes with sparkling things embedded). The fabric doesn't move exactly like anything El or Bellona have seen before - and the sheen's definitely very different, natural fibers usually aren't that glossy. Lots of people have tattoos the fabric's cut to reveal. Hair accessories are also pretty wild and colorful, lots of unfamiliar materials - some might be plastics derived, though. Color schemes are mostly 'black or dark primary color with bright highlights.' There doesn't seem to be any kind of distinct gender divide in fashion. They could probably pretty easily transmute their own clothes into at least a more subtle version...

Bellona hums thoughtfully.

El, after some thought, turns her clothes into a swishy skirt and loose sleeveless blouse, in a dark green.

"That's alchemy?" Ellie asks interestedly.

"Yup!" Bellona says. "Alchemy's variously fancy applications of transmutation."

She copies El's lines and color so they're matching, highlighting her dark green with flecks of golden accents, modifying it so her blouse is gossamer over a solid crop top, showing off her stomach and shoulders, her hair piling itself into an aesthetically sloppy bun secured with sparkly metallic hair sticks that used to be her buttons.

"Pretty," El says.

Ellie hums. "Could you do that for us?"

She grins at her sister, shoulder bumping her. "I'm gorgeous. And, sure, alchemy's not costly. Any design requests?"

Ruby sticks her hands in the pocket of her jacket. "Keeping my collar's mandatory," she says, tilting her head a bit so the blood-red collar's obvious, making the tiger-head bell chime a bit. "And I want to match my Ellie. Other than that, have fun."

El tilts her head, considering Ellie.

She grins. "You can probably guess my taste."

"Well, okay then."

She gives Ellie flared pants with slits up the side, and a filmy lace-up overshirt with an abstract, loopy pattern.

Bellona copies the base design, modifying the shirt so it falls off Ruby's shoulders, anchored by a barely visible strap, dramatically emphasizing her collar - especially once her hair is swept up into a pony tail. The loopy pattern's in shades of red that complement the collar well, with black gossamer in the negative space. A bit of focus gets Ruby some earrings in the shape of leaping tigers, the material stolen from her zippers and modified to a golden sheen.

...She's not sure she wants to ask about the collar. It's probably healthier for her brain to just aggressively assume it is a weird foreign universe fashion statement. That Ruby considers essential for weird foreign universe reasons. Really.

Ruby grins and hooks her arm around her girlfriend's waist. "Oh, our alternate selves have taste," she says.

Hee.

"They do indeed. Well done."

She laughs a bit. "We're all around geniuses."

"Almost too good to be true." She hugs her sister.

She shifts so her arm's around her sister instead of tangled in her hand, leaning into her. "Pretty, intelligent, funny, sweet... Definitely perfect."

"Let's make sure everyone knows it, then."

"Sounds like my kind of time."

"Any of these places speaking to you?" (There's a variety to choose from, as well as a variety of different snatches of music heard every time a door opens - different amounts of interior lighting, different implied levels of sexiness, different crowds, different age distributions...)

"I like that one," she says, indicating an establishment with music that has a touch more melody audible than typical.

"Looks good to me. El?" It seems to be more dance focused than 'bounce around looking at scantily clad people' focused, too. No one seems to be showing ID to get in, or paying an entry fee.

"Sure," she nods.

Onward, then, still keeping a hold of her sister.

There's apparently a distinct dance floor, well lit (relatively; it's still fairly dim inside) and booths around it, varying levels of private. People are buying multicolored drinks and food at a bar (payment method unclear, apparently contactless or they're outright not using money) and mostly taking them back to tables (claimed ones seem to have a little card raised), though there's also bar seating - people right around the bar seem disproportionately single. It's loud inside, enough they might have to shout if they're not right next to each other. People are dancing, of course, mostly in pairs; there seems to be a popular dance associated with this particular song (or maybe this particular place).

Bellona peers around, interested. "Bet I can charm some drinks off a few people," she says into El's ear, leaning in close.

"Go try it, then. We'll get a table."

Squeeze. "I'll be right back." And she detangles herself from El, weaving her way through the crowd up to the bar.

And the rest of the group can go snag a table with space enough for them all. (Perhaps a generous definition of 'space enough', Ellie and Ruby are certainly squished cozily together.)

Bellona gets a drink in her, enough extra for the table - she knows El's tastes pretty well, figures that extends to Ellie, and probably her own tastes extend to Ruby - has a lot of fun flirting, gets several people's contact information and even an invitation of somewhere to sleep for the night (which she turns down for now).

Her own and Ruby's drinks are, of course, the most bizarre fruity flavors she could find, and she sets them all down with a flourish, then slides into El, cuddling up nearly as closely as their alts. "I, apparently," she says, voice serious, "Am hot." She's not even buzzed yet, the drink wasn't that alcoholic, but she's got a warm pleasant glow in her chest.

"Is this news?" Ellie teases, taking a sip of her own drink, something light and refreshing.

Sip! "I don't get out and flirt a lot!"

"Poor baby."

She laughs and leans her head against El's shoulder. "Hanging out with El's more fun."

"Hey, I'm taking her out now, aren't I?"

Ellie laughs.

Giggle. "My keeper's designed my enrichment program well."

"Keeping a Lion happy's no mean feat."

Cuddle. "You excel at it, though."

"I'll stick with my pet tiger."

Ruby giggles and kisses her Ellie's cheek.

"Oh, if I'm a tiger, and you're a lion... I'm tempted to make a bear joke except you haven't seen that movie..."

"Eh, bears are lame," she says. "Panthera's where it's at."

Laugh. "We can expand to Felidae if we meet a house cat us."

"Hm, I think a house cat us should only be allowed in if they learn to roar. An important trait, that."

Ellie makes a dismissive noise. "Roaring's overrated."

"Prefer it when I purr?"

"Immensely."

Nuzzle purr.

Giggle.

...That is both incredibly awkward to witness and also weirdly cute?

Bellona finishes her drink, perhaps a bit quickly, and squeezes her sister before detangling to go charm a stranger out of another. Definitely not running away, nope.

"Hey." She catches Bellona's arm. "Do you wanna dance?"

Pause, and -

Small smile.

"Yeah!" she says. "Sounds fun."

Yay!

Up and to the dance floor.

A new song's on, this one with a simpler version of the dance - one they can pick up from watching other dancers, especially if they stay in a clearer part of the dance floor near the edge. The speed's a good medium pace, not so energetic they might hurt themselves, and Bellona gets into it, holding El and dancing around with her. Improvising a lot, of course - just copying everyone else would be boring.

This is actually a lot of fun. Bellona's good at dancing.

She missteps, turns it into a spin, and starts laughing, face lit up under the soft lights. Keeps dancing, of course, even as the song changes and it takes her a second to reorient their pattern. This one's got a bit fancier footwork, and Bellona's hand shifts to the small of El's back for balance at one point, staying at her waist even as they move on.

-Oh my. El almost misses a step, but covers it well. She does giggle.

The next song's slower, more of a swaying song, and Bellona leans into El, beaming and holding her close.

Hum.

"Aren't they cute," Ellie says, back at the table.

"Absolutely adorable," Ruby says, watching them.

"Should we tell them...?"

"Nooo! They have to figure out themselves."

Giggle. "That might take a while..."

"What if we arranged for their room to have only one bed?"

"A classic. I like it!"

Grin.

She giggles and kisses her girlfriend.

And the song Bellona and El are dancing to slows down as it finishes, Bellona drawing El closer, resting her forehead against her sister's (ignoring all the couples around them kissing).

"Up for another few songs?" she asks, voice low, as the music dies down for a moment.

"Maybe in a bit," she murmurs. "I want to sit for a while."

She grins, taking El's hand and walking back to the table with her.

Ellie applauds for them. "Nice moves."

She bows, grandly. "I need to work on my footwork a bit..." And flashes a grin at her sister. "Clearly we just need more practice."

"Clearly."

She laughs.

"Want another drink while we recover?"

"That'd be nice."

Quick hug. "I'll be right back, then." And she slips off.

She sits down with a bit of a sigh.

"Had fun?" Ruby asks.

"Yeah, I did. We haven't really done stuff like this before..."

"It's a good use of a vacation. Gets you out of your routines."

"I suppose so."

She leans into her girlfriend. "And lets you notice things you wouldn't have otherwise... Like dancing being fun."

"Are you two going to take a spin?"

She grins at her girlfriend. "I'd like to. Darling...?"

"We'll show you how it's done."

She giggles and stands up, letting Ellie lead her to the floor.

Dancing! Ellie is not shy about getting into Ruby's personal space, or leading on the slower dances.

Excellent.

Bellona, meanwhile, returns to El with their drinks.

"Those two wander off?"

"Decided they wanted a turn," she says, nodding to the floor.

She snuggles into her sister, turning to watch.

"...Huh."

(Did she and El look like that?)

"They're good dancers," she says, after a moment.

"Better than us?"

"Hm. More practiced, maybe, but we'll win in the end."

"We always do."

She laughs and leans her head back onto El's shoulder, sipping at her drink and watching their alts dance.

"...Watching them's kinda weird..." she says, as Ruby and Ellie draw particularly close together at one point.

"It's like peeking into an alternate universe."

"Somewhat literally."

"Mm." She rests her head on Bellona's shoulder.

Snug.

"It's reassuring, I think? That even if we weren't sisters, we would've found our way to each other no matter what..." She squeezes El's hand. "But being your sister's better than any alternative. I'm glad that's the universe I'm in."

"You're the best sister a girl could ask for."

Her chest feels so warm and glowy, it's great.

"Love you."

"Love you too."

She sighs, happy, and sips at her drink a bit more. She's building up a pleasant buzz - this one's more alcoholic than the last, probably, and she's never actually really drunk more than a bit of celebratory wine before...

Eventually, the other two return, arm in arm.

Bellona hums, nuzzling El - her head's getting a bit fuzzy by now. Very pleasantly so, and her sister's so very warm and cozy...

"Hey," she says to her and her sister's alts, grinning.

Ruby eyes her. "...Okay, you need to stop drinking stuff that isn't water," she says, sounding highly entertained as she sits with Ellie. 

"That's a good idea," El says, pulling Bellona's drink over in front of her. She concentrates for a moment before clapping her hands. A small puff of fire burns off the top of the cup.

"I'm not drunk," Bellona whines.

"Lion, you're drunk," El says, passing her glass of fruity water back to her.

She harrumphs, but takes the fruity water and drinks some obediently enough. "You're being a meanie head."

"There, there dear." Pat pat.

Nuzzle. "But I love you even when you're a meanie head. Bestest El."

"Yep, that's me."

El doesn't look super happy like she definitely should, which Bellona clearly needs to fix right now, so Bellona leans up, steadying herself on El's shoulder, and kisses her cheek. A bit clumsily, but, well. "You're my favorite El. Prettier and smarter than any other El."

"Pfft- Lion!"

"El!" she responds, cheerfully.

"They're so cute!" she whispers in Ruby's ear.

"I want to pat them on the head," she whispers back, as Bellona snuggles into El. "Though Bellona's probably going to fall asleep soon, if she's at all like me..."

"No more dancing for her, I guess."

"At least not until tomorrow night."

"Maybe she'll pace herself better."

"Spending more time with El should be enough of a motive. Or avoiding another hangover."

"Live and learn, as they say."

She grins.

And, to their alts: "Feeling like finding somewhere to crash yet?"

Bellona grumbles. "Wanna dance with El more..."

"I think you'll just fall over yourself, Lion. We can dance tomorrow."

Nuzzle and yawn. "Wanna dance with you always..."

Aw. "How about I carry you out, then?"

Heeee!!! "That sounds great. Best strongest El."

"Okay, up we get." She slips under Bellona's arm to steady her.

She stands, a bit woozy, and leans heavily into her El, humming a cheery tune.

Off they go.

Bellona is no help at all! But she does keep her arms around El's neck, nuzzling her.

"Finding somewhere to stay might be a small challenge..." Ruby says as they leave. "I bet it won't take me much to break into their financial system, though a cheap place might look askance at us less..."

"Let's go cheap for the night; it's late."

She spins up a quick precog of smoke - enough to figure out what they're doing for finances, and hotels fitting 'cheap' and 'nice enough' in the area. Creating a debit account with money is a bit more fiddly, but the magic's adaptable, and she's old hat at this in her own world.

Soon enough, she's leading the group to a small hotel a few streets from the center of the entertainment district. It isn't the fanciest place, but she gets them two adjacent rooms - with a door between them that can be unlocked, since they're a party. Each has a small bathroom, some basic appliances, and a single large bed. No good views, but there's no bed bugs, so it's good enough to crash in.

El gently deposits Bellona into their bed.

Cling!!! (El should definitely join her.)

She'll just tug off their shoes first...

She successfully gets her hair sticks out after one pokes her in the skull, too, then wraps herself around El like a limpet and buries her face in her neck.

"You're warm..."

"And you're clingy." She squirms a bit to a more comfortable position.

She squirms, too, so El's draped over her a bit - helps when she doesn't have any heavy blankets. Then yawn and snuggle, eyelashes fluttering as she starts to drift.

"Night, El..."

"Good night, Lion."

And Bellona drifts off to sleep.

- And to dreams -

- Echoes, of the time when the Ring had El, when El was being -

Except they're adults like now, Bellona's in her body, El isn't obsessed with the ring - she's turning away from Bellona anyways, though, avoiding her, and it's the same pattern, what did Bellona do to make her sister mad -

- The dream scenes don't make much sense, shattered and stitched together and weirdly warped, but Bellona knows, in the way she knows things in dreams, that El's looking at - someone else - like how Ellie looks at Ruby - and Bellona's armor emerges from under her skin and traps her again -

Her actual sleeping body freezes, at that point, limbs unnaturally stiff, face twisting.

"Mrph." Lion? "Lion?"

Poke poke.

She jerks awake, eyes wide, shaking.

"E-El?"

"'re you 'kay?"

Her head hurts and she's gotten not much sleep and her heart's racing and she's still really drunk and nauseous and thirsty and dizzy and also now she's inexplicably scared and crying apparently???

She hugs El tightly, whining. "Nightmare..."

"Shh, shh, I'm here, it's okay..."

Whine and nuzzle. She shakes a bit, crying, but eventually El can get her back to sleep. (Even as confused thoughts spin through her head...)

She doesn't have a second nightmare at least - actually dreams she and El are in a desert palace and everyone's acting like Bellona is a tamed lion even though she's human shaped, and El keeps petting her - and wakes up groggy and nauseous and still kinda drunk and very hungover.

Also still remembering both dreams rather vividly. Seriously brain. The palace one was so much nicer...

She clings to El until El wakes up on her own.

"G'mornin..." she mumbles sleepily.

"Morning, sleepy head," she says, nuzzling her face into El's shoulder. Actually maybe that was a bad move, now the bed's spinning.

Vague unidentifiable waking up noises.

Vague unidentifiable dizzy nausea noises!

She's going to hunker down and not move. El's probably gonna have to get her own coffee.

...If Bellona lets go of her.

Nudge.

Firmer nudge.

She whines.

...But lets El out of her grasp. A bit reluctantly, but.

Tough. El's got things that need seeing to before she will admit to facing the day.

But maybe she can try for a hangover cure while she's up. What's that need, water and electrolytes and something to convince Lion to drink it...

El can find the ingredients for those pretty easily - there's cups and tap water, and also Ruby seems to have snuck in and left a gift basket on the counter at some point in the night. It has things that are probably fruit, for one, and a powdered sports drink mix with bonus electrolytes, for two, and coffee and a coffee machine with instructions for how to operate it, for three and four. There's also a closed insulated box with some ice in it.

Bellona also actually seems willing to drink just about anything El puts in her hands. (She's feeling weird and anxious on top of all the hungover, and desperately wants to cling to El more...)

Very considerate set of alts they have.

Respective morning drinks acquired, El is willing to sit and cuddle. (She figures she owes it to Bellona at the least, to make up for lost time.)

Bellona's very snuggly, though kind of miserable.

"I'm never getting that drunk again..." she mutters.

"Good to know you're a two-drink maximum."

"Or drinks here are really alcoholic but lie by adding sugar."

"Deceived by the sugary spectre, alas."

Soft giggle.

"It was terrible."

"You seemed to enjoy it at the time, at least."

"Yeah. Dancing with you was the nicest part, though..." Gentle nuzzle, so her head doesn't start spinning again. "Was nice until that nightmare..."

"It looked pretty bad."

"Yeah... Feel like it - shouldn't have been - it's silly it hit me that bad - "

Pat pat.

"You are a silly drunk."

Unhappy noise.

"Hey, hey now. It's okay. I'm right here."

Whine.

"Dreamed you weren't."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Snug.

She's still kind of drunk and really anxious so her thoughts don't make a lot of sense even to her, though - "But what if you met someone you really liked like Ellie likes Ruby and - stopped spending time with me - "

"But the one Ellie likes is Ruby, and Ruby is you, so if I end up liking someone it'd be you, and I've already met you, so I wouldn't be going off to spend time with someone else who isn't you."

"...There could be a me alt who was - single - though..."

"Lion," El says. "That sounds like a lot of extra work."

Nuzzle. "Love you."

"Love you too."

She grins, snuggling El. "Sorry I'm silly..."

Snuggle. "It's okay."

Happy hum.

...Eventually the fact that she has a body reasserts itself, meaning she can't actually stay in bed all day cuddling. Tragic. She sighs.

"Breakfast?"

"Sounds good. We can see if the others are up."

She gets up, yawning, and blinks down at her kind of rumpled clothes.

A quick clap (and finding her discarded hair sticks) gets them back to their normal condition.

Luckily they don't have to go out in the hallway to check on Ruby and Ellie - the door between their suites is unlocked. Bellona knocks.