"Sally! I believe you had a forge to go smith!"

Sally takes her tray to the return pile and then sashays smugly out towards the Workshop.

Ariel turns back to Bella, blushing very, very slightly. "I apologize for her. She was raised by wolves and lead paint."

"A unique combination. I will avoid taking her seriously."

"And for that, I thank you."

"My sister teases me about fictitious crushes all the time," shrugs Bella. "Anyway, tips on how to stay up? Or should I just wander around the library, get a jump on my homework, and organize my thoughts, and hope that does the trick versus mad-science-lag and delightfully positive stress?"

"I mean, there's energy drinks and shit. Or there's blessed, blessed coffee. Other tips, I don't have in great supply."

"I think I'd rather avoid a dependence on coffee until I really need it, just so it's full strength in said extremity. Oh well. I bet the library's great."

"It's alright. The Mystic Arts folks have a better one for just magic, if that's what you're thinking."

"I will probably want that one for the homework purpose, but I want to explore the main one too. I am a libraries fan."

"Oh, sure. Like I said, it's alright. I can catch up on my trashy vampire books while I'm there, there's a whole little section for 'em. I've made it my personal goal to read every single Vampire Chronicle and Diary and whatever the hell else that they have."

"Alli likes a series called," Bella picks up her tray and pops over to put it where trays go, reappearing a split second later, "Type A, which might exist here in some form, but would have to be substantially altered, because the main characters are twins who were born after 1947."

"I've never heard of it. We've got this delightfully trashy series with vampire single moms living in Oklahoma that I could recommend her. No mutants, unfortunately." Ariel also deposits her tray and returns.

"Alli isn't specifically fixated on vampires. She likes Type A because she saw the movie and liked the lead actor and picked up the books as a consequence." Bella puts them outside the campus library. "By the way, I appreciate you accompanying me places, it's nice to have somebody to ask things and bounce stuff off of. You didn't have to and it's really nice of you."

"Aw, come on. You're cool and I like making friends. And, again: slow night."

"What do you do on fast nights?" Bella asks, heading into the library and looking around. "Drag racing?"

"Nope! Lovingly simulated superheroic battles royale. Combat sims, my friend. They are our future."

"I don't think they'll be my favorites. Lucky me I arrived when they were unavailable or I'd have had to settle for someone else as my native guide."

"Yep! Would've been a shame. I mean, you'd have probably met me eventually, especially if you landed one of my teammates or something, but I'm probably the most enthusiastic guide you were likely to find."

"Landed one of your teammates in what sense, are they fish? For what purpose do you have teams?"

"If you'd ended up with one of them guiding you around! And the teams are... eh. I mean, it's sort of... between sports team and club and clique? We fight together in the sims when that's up, we have meetings about tactics and stuff, sometimes we patrol as security auxiliaries and that's a club thing, and we're just generally friends. And we might end up a hero team after we graduate, but I kind of get the vague feeling Xan and Leo might want to go the other way. Just this vague feeling I get from the black-and-red plate armor and fondness for sorcerous napalm."

"Huh. Some twinsets collect if they dovetail well but nothing so formal. What are your personal feelings on the, uh, aesthetic and its implications?"

She sighs. "I mean, it's not my favorite thing that two of my friends are gonna switch teams, but... I mean, how much I hate that lady down at the store and everything she said aside, there are better and worse villains. And Xan... He's not, like, Deathlist or Plaguemistress or somebody. He has ideals, and he really wants to make things better, and he just... feels like the law would get in the way. And Leo's his conscience, even though he can't really do much. But, like... half of the worst supervillains have ideals and want to make things better too. I'm kinda worried. But I've got two and a half years to beat some sense into that head. So, there's worse ways to have it."

"Another person with an external conscience, huh? Alli uses me for hers. If she did not in fact listen to me with strong reliability it would worry me."

"...Yeah, if Xan listened to Leo I'd be a little less worried."