This is Halloween!

[we_bring_hell]

The Bar loves her holidays, but she is also capable of respecting religious strictures. That's why she put a lot of thought into finding a Halloween costume for Harrow that works with her face paint and general insistence on the monochromatic.

Harrow, for her part, is baffled by the white-pinstriped black suit and the oversized bow, but the gloves are very cool, and the buckled shoes suit as well. She has no idea what's going on but she can live with this.

The Bar seems even more unusually populated than usual, and there are a lot of gourds around. Hm.

Comments

[we_bring_hell]

"Lady Ingress!" she yelps, burying her face in her hands as the blush consumes her whole.

"Oh, I am blessed beyond reckoning."

[herald_ingress]

"Yes, and you'd best get used to it, silly," she says. She almost reaches out to pat her on the shoulder, but thinks better of it at the last minute, gripping the lasso on her hip instead.

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow does not look around the room, but her furtive manner gives that impression. She says in a low voice: "She loves me, Lady Ingress."

"I had to tell someone."

[herald_ingress]

That gets her a full on "awwwwwwww".

"You deserve it, Harrow. You both do. I'm happy for you."

[we_bring_hell]

"I am entirely out of my depth," she confesses.

[herald_ingress]

"If it helps, everyone usually is, no matter whether they've been in love or not. I certainly feel like that each time."

[we_bring_hell]

"So you have been before?" she asks. "How old were you?"

[herald_ingress]

"I thought I was. I was 17 the first time, and it was here. I'm fairly sure the second time was true love, but there were things in Haven that got in the way, and it didn't last much longer than a year or so."

[we_bring_hell]

That's a comfort; she doesn't seem too far behind, then.

"I must seem very foolish to you," she says. "It is... not something I have ever contemplated."

[herald_ingress]

"Harrow, you are the farthest thing from foolish that I can imagine. You're definitely not the first teenager at Milliways to have never contemplated love."

[we_bring_hell]

"I have contemplated love," she says. "Of higher things. Of God, and my patron of the Locked Tomb. Of my people and even my cavalier."

"It is... other things... I have left out of my reckoning."

Sex. It's sex.

[herald_ingress]

"That's okay. You know that, right? Some of the people our age have no idea about anything, depending on the world you're from. I had a friend called Mary who wouldn't have known a date from a hole in the ground, and I'm pretty sure she'd be more interested in the hole in the ground."

Actually Harrow and Mary Lennox are quite similar, when she stops to think about it.

"You'll pick it up as you go."

[we_bring_hell]

"Holes in the ground can be quite interesting," says the queen of graves. Not, perhaps, as interesting as a well-turned bicep, she is forced to admit. Although it pains her.

"But yes, I believe you are right. I hope I am... getting the hang of it."

[herald_ingress]

She raises her eyebrows knowingly. "Do you have questions about any of it?"

[we_bring_hell]

She has billions, but the expression on her face seems to convey that she will choke on her tongue before asking any.

"Lady Ingress, I could not."

[herald_ingress]

"I have a book in my old room in the House that I'm going to bring for you. My friend, Lilly, gave me a copy when I turned 13."

It's called Our Bodies, Ourselves!

"It was helpful when I couldn't ask about things I wanted to know."

There were a few things. Not a lot! But a few.

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow relaxes immediately; she is infinitely more comfortable with old books than discussion. "I will not scorn a gift from you," she promises. "Whatever it may be."

[herald_ingress]

"I'll leave it with Bar the next time I come back through. I think it will be most informative."

It may blow Harrow's mind. But in a good way!

[we_bring_hell]

she inclines her head. "My thanks. And if I may be so bold--Gideon's, too, I am sure."

That might have been too far for her, she looks like she's burning alive.

[herald_ingress]

"It's important to have correct information about one's chosen activities," Ingress says, somehow not breaking into a cheeky smile.

[we_bring_hell]

"Indeed," Harrow says, in a strangled voice. "I have always been determined to excel in any subject to which I put my mind."

"I do not accept second place," she says, with a certain amount of heat.

[herald_ingress]

"Um, it is helpful not to look at it as a competition," she says, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. "But I understand wishing for expertise."

[we_bring_hell]

"The most meaningful competition is always to surpass yourself," she says calmly, her composure restored.

"But truly, I thank you. It is good to be among friends."

[herald_ingress]

"It is, isn't it?"

She smirks, playful. "I think I'm going to make a new friend tonight."

A make out friend!

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow frowns, and then a moment later the implications filter through. "Oh--ohh."

"Good luck to you then." How does anyone hook up without ten years of foreplay first? It is a mystery.