"What sorts of things are occupying you these days?"

"School and portals, mostly. B- Flicker had the idea of using portals to transport trains, I've been doing that more often lately. It's a bit finicky to line up the tracks, but worth it, considering."

"How's settling back into school going for you after the time away?"

"It's good to hear things are going back to normal. What about your twin, how is she doing?"

The interviewer laughs politely. "Well, better your spot on the sofa than your boyfriend, am I right?"

The interviewer laughs like Adana has made another joke.

Adana raises an eyebrow.

"You're quite a wit, huh? I'm sure some of our viewers will be interested to know that you don't have a boyfriend," winks the interviewer. "You're very popular, you know."

"I'm, very flattered," she says, delicately. "But I'm not looking to date anyone else right now." Just my girlfriend, she doesn't add.

"And I wouldn't advise you to. You're still quite young, aren't you?"

"Seventeen," she agrees. "But I'm also in a relationship."

"Married to your schoolwork?" sparkles the interviewer, amused. "I bet you're college-bound."

"You and Flicker are really close friends!" says the interviewer, impressed. "Are your respective twins going to go too or is it mostly just the two of you who get along that well?"

"Do you know what you want to do in and after college, or is that up in the air for you?"

"I'm a little excited to see the combinations of engineering and portals," she says. "And I'm going to be helping Flicker out a lot with her teleportation business."

"Business partners! Isn't that cute. So you have a job lined up, that's nice of your friend, although I'm sure it's not all generosity."

"What a charming basis for a friendship - talking shop! It'll probably outlast high school, that's for sure."

"It must be extremely convenient to have an in with Flicker," says the interviewer, smile starting to look a little strained. "So - have you seen the plans for the memorial? Your name will be on the plaque dedicated to the rescue workers."

Bella looks up from the game of cards she is playing with two of Alli. "And this is a sign of being super pissed? Uh, okay, I'll - I take it this isn't just for my information and you think I could contribute to the situation."

"Don't take too long or I'll lose my split," says an Alli, "and then even if I do it over I'll both know what cards I'm holding and we'll have to re-deal."

"No promises," says Bella, and she gets up and flickers downstairs. "Hey, Adana."

"The red pepper will survive its miscategorization as an herb."

Bella goes up to her and takes the garlic powder out of her hands and hugs her. "What happened?"

"Hoo boy. That's gonna be interesting. I mean, I'm out to the world, but - that's gonna be interesting."

"I'm sorry."

Squeeze. "It's okay. I'm not mad or anything. I just have no idea how to - navigate this. Maybe we need an agent or something."

"An agent would be great. I - should have realized, first, kept it private before we talked about it, or - sorry."

"No, it's fine, I would've let you know if I needed it to be a secret for some reason."

"Okay. I'm fine with it, too. It's just. She was being really idiotic about it and - and - dismissive, and it was upsetting..."

"Some people are extremely dense. I don't think it would have improved matters if I had appeared in your lap and kissed you."

"Probably not, no."

"I'm sort of curious how far she could've taken the 'la la la no lesbianism here', though. 'Oh, you're such good friends you feel comfortable practicing CPR on each other!'"

"I actually came out and mentioned you taking me on a date in Italy," snorts Adana. "And that didn't even work."

"Clearly we are just having friendly pairwise candlelit dinners in Italy. People do that all the time, right?"

"Obviously. And CPR was definitely required. Often."

"Platonic friendly CPR. Clearly we're just in it for the oxygen."

"Yup. And the handholding was for stability."

"Which would've been very plausible, before my basics came in!"

"Yeah, you wanted to be extra sure!"

"If my twinly grace and my enhanced reflexes and my literal ability to teleport didn't suffice I wanted to be sure you were there to steady me! Platonically! As friends!"

"Yup. And then we go to dances and public events together as a couple because we're both too young for dating."

"Probably we spend the entire time talking about boys, right, what else would we do."

"I mean, of course, our lives revolve around men. Duh. We can't date each other, that would set a bad example."

"We're probably actually going to catch crap about that one."

"Yeah, I figured," she sighs.

"Think of the children. The innocent bigoted presumed-straight children."

"Yes. Because it definitely spreads. You see, my sister is gay, and then she asked you out, and then obviously you made me gay too."

"You're not even, like, actually gay per se."

She snickers. "There's still hope for me. I can be saved. With the power of - of - I don't even know, what can save me?"

"Extremely heterosexual kissing, probably."

"That you can be saved by heterosexual kissing? Ugh... probably. Portal away if you get harassed?"

"Yeah. Same to you, but with teleportation."

"Yeah, absolutely. I will probably not haul off and slap them."

"Good, that would be bad."

"I am not, however, above encouraging them to overbalance so my sudden absence makes them fall over, especially if anybody proves persistent."

"Ha! Well. That would be their own fault, really."

"Yes. Yes it would."

Kiss?

Kiss!

"Thanks," says Adana, snuggling a little. "I'm - not in danger of organizing everything within reach now."

"Good. It's not like we have that many spices anyway."

"I did the DVDs first," she laughs.

"I noticed. Where will I find Love Actually next time Alli is wondering where it has wandered off to?"

"It's in the romcom section! I organized it by genre and then by title within the genre."

"Good to know." Kiss.

"Nah, it's fine. As long as I'm not blindsided by a Love Actually emergency."

"That could be an emergency?"

"Alli is very serious about her Love Actually."

Adana giggles. "I seeee. I should have made another category. Just for Love Actually."

"Would that make it appreciably easier to find?"

"Possibly! I can make it super easy to find if you want it to be easy to find."

"It's actually not the only movie in the 'Alli sometimes wants it very suddenly' category, so the existing organization system is probably fine, anyway."

"Aha. Well, I can give the 'Alli sometimes wants it very suddenly' category its own alphabetized section."

"Nah. The category shifts over time."

"Of course it does. Alas. I can't manage that one."

"Not a precog?"

"Nope. Just portals. I've failed you, I'm sorry."

"But then what will I tell the dense reporters who want to know where my," cough, "best friend is?"

"Tell them you needed a precog best friend for organizing movies for your sister."

"This makes perfect sense."

"Of course it does. We make sense."