"Nothing to apologize for, sweetie. Was a really nice study sesh," she says with a smile.

Then she tilts her head thoughtfully and frowns a bit. "And you're probably still making up the sleep debt of service industry life."

"I mean... It was a running joke that we had 'sleep' 'schedules'." She makes air quotes with a finger. "And needed coffee to be basically functional..."

Hrmm. She shifts her legs off the bed and slowly starts to sit up. "...You make a nice blanket."

She nods at the service industry commentary and adds, "It was similar when I worked retail, before I started taking writing jobs. Schedule gets weird? Too bad." She shakes her head at that.

And at the blanket comment she blushes and grins. "I'm glad. You're pretty delightful to cuddle with too."

"What, you mean you didn't check the modified schedule the manager scrawled on the door at 11 PM Sunday night, and missed your Monday shift? Shame. On. You." She enters a period of frustrated, high pitched and surprisingly mouselike mutter-squeaking.

Sable nods, then reaches in and cups Lenora's cheek. "You're really pretty when you're righteously angry at how awful capitalism is," she says when the interrupt lands, and then leans in and kisses her.

"Um! That's not capitalism though, it's just a terrible manager."

She rocks from side to side sitting up on the bed.

Sable leans back a bit and takes Lenora's hand. "I've seen an awful lot of terrible managers, but we can get into how much of an absurd leftist I am another time. Are you okay? I'm sorry if that was too far or something."

"...Entering serious mode."

She takes a deep breath and un-hugs the tail. "Being pretty is supposed to be a good thing, but mostly it's just... A thing? Context matters a lot here. I like you, and you know that. But I also have a whole new body I'm not used to, and I can't get the old one back. Was the old one pretty? Yeah, kinda. Enough that people are casually sexist about it, at least. Anyway it's nice to be called pretty, it just also calls up lots of related stuff. You're pretty too, though the stylization is a little incongruous - aaaand I guess I might be bringing up the same stuff."

"Okay. Serious time it is. First, I'm sorry for reminding you of that, that's definitely something that could be stressful. I forgot that the service industry would naturally be full of casual sexism like that, even more than just the world in general, so you've probably seen a lot of that. I was aiming to maybe pleasantly surprise you a bit and take your mind off the old stressors, but instead I reminded you of more of them. My bad, seriously.

"As for being called pretty myself, I have stuff about it too. Different stuff, though. I'm trans, Lenora. I grew up thinking 'pretty' was something i wasn't allowed to be, all on the basis of societal baggage about my assigned gender."

"Everyone has hangups I guess. Different ones from each other, even. And I feel like I've said it a million times today but there's just so much going on now. New body. Magic. New house. Back to school. Wow you have The Strong Magic. New scary facts about the world and big questions. Fucking gods being real! How are you supposed to know what's the right thing to do with so many curveballs at once? And the new body and new life loom larger than all the rest of the huge stuff somehow..."

"Yeah. Curveballs a-plenty. Hit what we can, I guess, and for the rest? Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge. I have two days of wiki-diving's headstart in learning about this madhouse, and I still have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just running on 'find people I like, grab hold of 'em, and get us as much fun and level-grinding as I can' while I make the rest up as I go along. Frankly 'keep running and figure out the route as you go' has been my pattern for a long time."

"I mean, that's called life." Hug. "You do what you can with what you have. You make friends. You try things and sometimes they work."

Hug. "Heh, yeah. It's a mess and becoming Witches doesn't seem to change that, just add new flavors for it to be complicated in. Oh well."

"I'm honestly... Kind of mad about the Veil. There must be some trade between mundane and magic, but there's so much potential here... I guess there might not be that many witches, especially strong ones, in comparison..."

"I know, right? We could do so much for the mundane world, alleviate so much human suffering! I think I read something about needing mundane consensus reality for some reason, but still."

"What you can, with what you have."

"Kinda want to go back asleep - or something - but should we go see what Abyssia is up to?"

"Probably a good idea, but you've piqued my curiosity with that 'or something' now."

"Like I said earlier, I'm just really antsy and also worried I'll be a mediocre witch."

Sable hugs Lenora tighter, wrapping her tails around her. "Hey, that's a really relatable worry, and a really understandable one. But also I disagree completely. It's day two of witchdom for you, and you've already made some money, created extremely pretty paving stones, and discovered that you're basically the Avatar. You're starting at a level of capability that other witches feel accomplished to even reach. Give yourself some credit and some slack, sweetie."

"Brain does what brain wants. Let's go see Bys."

Abyssia is in the kitchen, fussing over a cauldron - well, a pot - and surrounded by a slight mess. In two bowls off to the side lie something white and green, and a bowl of pepto bismol pink liquid that is also glowing, with trails of light on nearby surfaces.

"Valid," she says to Lenora, giving her one last squeeze as they get up,

"Oooh," Sable exclaims to Bys with a delighted grin. "You've been busy!"

She jumps slightly.

"-Oh hi. Yes. I trawled recipes until I found interesting looking ones that we had the stuff for. That's toothpaste, that... Glows, that's all it does. And I'm finishing this like, and soap slash antiseptic thing. I think there's an order to this and it's not just willpower and belief, but it kind of feels that way..."