Hailey blushes, her breath catching. "Um. Yes. Yes, it is."

A beat.

"...We do too, by the way. Well, Sable and I are the only ones who've spent enough time with you directly to know for sure, but the others are pretty fond of you so far."

"Yeah, I figured it'd be more complicated for you all. But..." She smiles. "You're the first people in my life I've been able to talk about all this with without even a trace of fear. I'm going to get a house with you and be your sister and your lover and your girlfriend and... a lot of things."

She grins at Hailey. "Way, way, waaaaaay too late to back out now."

"Oh no, whatever shall we do," Hailey teases with a grin.

"Be exceedingly happy until the servers shut down in another twentysomething years, probably."

"And hopefully find other servers to live on by then." She shakes her head, smiling wryly. "What's wrong with me, I'm cheerful and happy, this'll ruin my bitchy reputation."

"My dastardly scheme is working perfectly!"

Mock despair twists her face. "Oh no! I'm ruined! I will never recover from this betrayal!" She buries her face in her hands and fake-sobs.

Hyacinth can't help it, she cracks up.

Hailey stops the fake sobs and grins, giving Sin a hip-bump. "Heh."

Hyacinth grins and hip-bumps her back.

She giggles for a moment, then tilts her head and hums. "Just thought of an argument for an eventual apartment or house rather than endless inns: no questions about bloody sheets if we have an interesting night."

"I will confess that was already on my mind, yes. Think I could lock a cleaning spell? I bet there's something for it in persistent magic if I look..."

"Good thinking. It's certainly worth a shot."

"Then I shall return to my first love: mechanical optimization."

Hailey laughs and squeezes Hyacinth closer. 

The town walls start to become visible in the distance.

"Do you wanna risk the darkling thing, or should I expect Sable to show up any minute now?"

"I'm tempted," she replies, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Parcosia is chiller about it than some places, for sure."

"I'll support you. Whatever happens."

"Let's try it," she finally decides, and she keeps walking toward the gate with her horns and wings and tail showing.

Hyacinth nods, squeezes Hailey's hand, and walks on with her. 

The guards arch an eyebrow at the darkling walking in, but after a moment they nod. The girls are allowed inside without incident.

Hailey gives Hyacinth a small grin once they're past the gate.

Hyacinth grins back. "D'you want to explain to our friend at the inn, or should I just say you're with me?"

"I'm down to just say I'm with you, but Sable's betting he's going to figure it out somehow."

"The purple outfit's probably a hint. But far be it for me to prevent you from having some fun."