"Am I missing some subtext here?" She asks, having finished the offered bite of fish.

"Nothing important."

"Mhm, nothing important," Sable says with a giggle, "just Bys repressing her loneliness and longing under the mononormativity and slut-shaming mortal society tried to teach us, that's all."

"I don't want to butt in! It's just, seems nice, that you like each other. Cute, I guess."

"Hmmmm. You need hugs."

"I do not Need hugs."

Sable focuses for a few moments and conjures a spare Hat in her hand, under the table, while she keeps talking.

"I could argue the question of 'need' with the consequences of touch starvation, or the fact that even if none of us are 'human' anymore we're all derived from them and need interpersonal connection just as much, but even if we set 'need' aside, you crave them."

She tosses a Sending to Lenora:

Duck across to the empty spot between her and the wall when I distract her, then wrap her in a hug at the same time I do.

She lifts up slightly and slides her hat underneath herself, masking the motion by leaning in to look intently at Bys.

"You're in a new world, you've been isolated from everything you knew, you've been dealt an isolating hand, and you're surrounded everywhere you look by pretty people sharing warmth and affection and companionship. It's okay to want to be a part of that."

She pulls her primary Hat off her head and tosses it lightly over the table, catching it in her TK to have it end up hovering over the empty bit of Bys's bench seat between her and the open end. At the same time, she sits back down and falls through one Hat and out the other, landing next to Bys with a soft whumpf.

"It's also okay not to know how to ask, at least when you're still starting out."

And then she wraps her arms around Bys in a warm hug.

Well if Sable insists, she will help with the hug! It's surprisingly easy to duck under the table. Perk of being small, perhaps.

She joins the hug from the other side, capturing the dragon. Heheh.

She opens her mouth and manages a 'tch' when she realizes in a moment of half-formed instinct what they're about to do, but it's already too late to do anything about it. She is promptly hugged. Quite thoroughly.

She tenses, sitting up straight, and holds her arms close.

...

She sighs and slumps back, looking up at the ceiling. "That's the kind of roomies I picked, huh? Not everyone's so touchy-feely. Well, whatever." She pushes against Sable a bit, the hug-engulfed equivalent of a friendly shove. Her hands fall to the tail that's across her lap and she breathes deeply. "I'm fine, you know. Really am. You can stop hugging me now."

She loosens the hug a little, but doesn't let go, and throws another quick Sending to Lenora.

Mind if I explain the nonexclusivity thing to her?

Don't push too hard? I don't want to actually make her hate us.

"Bys, I've seen the way you resist eying the hot springs. I've seen those occasional longing looks. You're used to resisting, used to holding yourself back because maybe your advances will be rejected and you'll lose a friend, used to a world that usually told you no."

She looks up into Bys's eyes. "Lenora and I had a talk about not being exclusive. She's already used to the possibility of sex being casual, while I'm polyamorous and full of more love than I know what to do with. Witch culture seems to be more sexual than the mundane world, too. So the barriers you're used to facing aren't there. And honestly? You're a good friend, I like you a lot, and I think dragons are hot."

And on "hot" she bounces up to kiss Bys on the cheek.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, or anything you're not ready for, but I don't want you holding back from a sense of not being allowed, either, okay?"

She blushes deeply.

...Sigh. "It's not even about sex. Not entirely right at this moment anyway. Or if it is, only because everything is a tangled mess. Because I'm a teenager. And kind of a bitch. And how are we good friends? We've known each other for all of a day, you two seem sensible and fun, but a day."

She starts tugging away from the double-sided hug.

She blurts out the next part before she can think better of it, "Anyway, a threehug is way too lewd for my first time."

Sable giggles happily and lets go. "Valid as fuck. You set the pace you want."

She hums thoughtfully as she scoots back. "I make friends quick. I get attached easy. And you seem pretty great, after I account for the lies the stupid aura is trying to tell my brain. Take all the time you need, but don't let the mortal world's bullshit hold you back from something you want, okay?"

Lenora un-hugs as well. And then clambers under the table again when it's still kind of crowded.

"I see both of y'alls points here. Cautious and not wanting to jump into things and screw up or get hurt... Taking things moment by moment and just having fun. Honestly... I really feel both sides here. I'm coming down closer to Sable's side than you, but yeah. Valid as fuck."

"Yeah, well."

"Let's just finish eating for now. I'll think about this stuff."

"...You were a waitress, Lenora? I was just a high school girl. Senior year, the scary loner stalker, or the trashy country girl, set to go to a community college. General studies. Maybe business, maybe some sort of science. I guess I wasn't really any less lost a month ago, than I am now."

Sable walks back around to her seat. "Yeah, I get that feeling. I hated high school. Trans girl with basically no friends in person, not until college, and even then only the other creative writing nerds. So it's okay to be lost, and it's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to take your time."

She spears a bite of fish. "And It's okay to enjoy the hell out of this delicious food." And digs in again.

"We're swearing a fucking lot today aren't we."

"-Pffft! Hell yeah we are. It's our right to free speech. Also yes, high school was hell."

"Maybe point one, point two Hells. It's pretty bad."

"Hah. Fitting metric, and fuck yes we are. I am not a Saturday morning cartoon. More Adult Swim at the minimum, or maybe something you had to order online."

"I'd order you online! Wait no, that came out creepy..."

"Because of being in Japanese and using foreign tropes, or because of questionable rating standards made up by conservatives or both?"

She cackles delightedly at Lenora's comment, "no, please do," and grins at Bys and just says "Yes."