"They really are. If we managed that, we can probably manage the moose and the bandits at this point, too. So much additional flex we can give our abilities now."

"I've been skilling up so much I even unlocked a second girlfrie - nah, I shouldn't tease. But yeah, it's good to make progress."

That gets a delighted laugh. "I mean, you're not quite wrong. Hailey would like to maybe go on a date first, but she's not exactly objecting."

She blushes a little and nods. 

"It's a little hard to parse it all, but after the fight where she defended me so well..." 

She ducks her head. 

"Yeah, I think I can give her more than a chance."

She smiles tenderly and squeezes Sin's hand.

And here comes Jorem with two plates of lunch, each with a roll, and two glasses of water. "Here you go, lovebirds, fresh from the oven."

"Thank you!" She smiles and tucks into the fresh, warm bread, mmming softly, then goes over to work on the boar. This is good. This is tasty. She is having lunch with her beautiful girlfriend (girlfriends?) and everything is okay. 

Sable slips one of her legs against Sin's, just for additional contact, but does the same. Happy lunch with cute girl she's falling for. What a nice day.

Once she's put away some of the meal, she looks back at Sable. "So we've got like... another six nodes, right? Gosh, that's so much. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed by choice already."

She shakes her head. "Nine. Levels four, five, and six. And yeah, it's a lot."

She opens her interface again. 

"That's enough to get Minor Lingering Spell without even spending all my points. Is there a max level in CORA or can you just keep earning nodes forever? I'm torn between power and utility right now."

She tilts her head for a moment. "I think there isn't a max level. Or at least I haven't seen one. I know I've seen people get over one hundred, for sure."

"That's exciting! Getting to learn magic as far up as I want to is cool."

She grins and takes another mouthful of boar. 

"Agreed. There's so much to learn and explore. And then for more room to grow, you can spend in-game or outside money on more trees."

Sable puts some boar and some veggies in her roll and then has a bite of that.

She looks across the table at Sable. 

This girl fought for her...

And so did Hailey... 

She pulls up the system dialog again. 

I'd really like to learn more about your other selves - Hailey and all the rest of them. I'd like to meet you all. And, um. I kind of would like to make out with you a bit. Could we go back to our room for a little while after lunch?

We like that idea. I'll make sure we're extended for another night real quick, and then we can head up as soon as we finish eating.

And with that, she brings Sin's hand to her lips for a moment, brushing a little kiss to the knuckles, before standing up and having a brief word (and exchange of coins) with Jorem.

She is not over that!!!!

She blushes, and tries to focus on finishing off her lunch. It's a little difficult. 

Sable quickly sits back down and works on finishing her own lunch. "Booked through two mornings from now. I can get a refund if we wind up heading out tomorrow."

"Makes sense." 

She's going to hurry through the rest of her meal and stand back up, taking her staff with her. She smiles at Sable, a little hesitantly, as if afraid that the fluffy cotton-candy thoughts in her brain will all spill out if she tries to express them even a little. 

And what happens if Sable responds by standing and lacing her fingers through Sin's, then kissing Sin's hand one more time?

That gets a much deepened blush. 

This girl... 

She's so tender with her. 

She's pursuing her. 

She's caring for her. 

She's... really, really good. 

It's hard to stay objective. She doesn't know much, in the grand scheme of things. 

... but she's her first. 

Isn't it okay to be a bit of a hot mess? 

She squeezes Sable's hand and steps in beside her to link arms with her. 

Their room isn't far. She'll follow where Sable leads. 

Sable leads the way up to their room with a warm, soft grin. She unlocks the and lets them in, shutting it behind them.

If being a hot mess who falls hard and fast is wrong, Sable's a master criminal. Whoops.

Hyacinth steps in just inside the door and very gently kisses Sable's lips again. She lingers there for a long moment, recalling the touch of her lips a day ago, her first kiss with this remarkable woman... Her first kiss ever, in fact...

She leans a little more of her body weight against Sable and rests her head on her chest.

Sable returns the kiss softly, then wraps her arms around Sin and holds her tenderly. There's no rush.