"Got one?" Belle asked, looking up from her book and carefully keeping it away from the wet. Al handed over a mug of hot chocolate to Andy, then got a towel out of seemingly nowhere, handing that over as well.

"I did," Andy replied, stripping off her wet hoodie and taking the mug and the towel gratefully. "Nearly got myself electrocuted, but that's okay."

Belle snorted and muttered a little "I told you so". "Least the hot chocolate is still hot. Go get dried off. There should be a bathroom over there that you can change in."

"Dry clothes sound amazing," Andy said, drinking some of the hot chocolate. She set the mug down. "I'll be back for that." Turning, she hurried off to change into something warm and dry.

Belle chuckled and moved the book again so Al could continue reading. Most everyone else had either retreated to their own rooms or were just lounging around.

Andy quickly went to change. She needed to get out of her wet clothes. Once she was chaged and dry, she released Tris and Briar and went back to retrieve her hot chocolate.

"There's hot chocolate for them, too," Belle said without looking up from her book. "Still warm, Al?"

"Yes," the demon replied, looking thoughtful as he read over her shoulder.

"I knew there was a reason I keep you around."

"You mean besides my wit and charm."

"And your amazing ability to bullshit your way out of a lot of things."

Andy rolled her eyes, but took the mugs back to Tris and Briar. The two were talking under a barrier Tris had made against the rain.

"Peace offering?" she said, holding out the mugs. Briar took one gratefully, but Tris was a bit skeptical.

"Why should I trust you?" she asked. The frames of her glasses were sparking slightly, and her hair was starting to stand up.

"You could have been caught by someone a lot worse than me," Andy pointed out. "Ask my group, they have it pretty good." She gestured vaguely to Tris's hair. "You're sparking." Tris ran her fingers through her curls and collected the sparks into a ball before snuffing it out. After a moment, she reached out and took the mug of hot chocolate.

"Trust me, dearies," Belle said, glancing over at the two. "Andy's probably as good as they get."

"She's probably better than you," Al quipped.

"Probably," Belle agreed easily. "She's not totally nuts like I am."

"Miss I-want-go-to-go-to-the-Ever-After," Al snarked.

"I still do, even if you won't take me, Gally." Belle grinned when he made a face at the name.

Andy just rolled her eyes.

"It's best to just ignore them," she said.

"Kinda figured," Briar replied. He was turning out to be more talkative than Tris, but Andy figured that was because Tris wasn't much of a people-person.

"If you can," Thomas added with a grin as he watched the two squabble. "I'm Thomas, by the way. If you need any help, come to me. I won't even charge for it."

Belle stole Al's smoked glasses, ignoring his indignant huff, and turned to look at Thomas. "You? Offering help? Why Thomas, I do believe we're rubbing off on you."

Thomas rolled his eyes and ignored his trainer.

Tris just rolled her eyes. She knew trouble when she saw it. Briar, on the other hand, was a bit more curious.

"Briar Moss," he offered. "Most everybody just uses my first name." He shrugged. "I'd offer to shake your hand, but you'd probably crush the flowers. Most people do." He held up one of his hands to show the tiny vines and roses growing just under the first layer of skin between his forefinger and thumb on each hand.

"Huh. Neat." Thomas grinned briefly. "I take it you're more used to people than miss weather over there." He grinned at Tris to show that he was only playing around, no harm meant, please don't electrocute him because he's too pretty to die.

Briar grinned as Tris turned around, trying to ignore them.

"She likes books more than people," he said. "Don't take it personal."

"Trust me, I don't," Thomas said, plopping down and motioning for Briar to join him. "Apparently when Belle first arrived here, she was the same way. Took Duo a couple weeks to get her to talk to him for more than five minutes at a time."

"Weird," Briar commented. Andy just glanced over at Belle.

"Really?" she asked. "That's so bizarre."

Belle shrugged. "That was a long time ago, for here," she said, glancing at them all and deftly ducking Al's attempts to get his glasses back. "I was an anti-social kid."

"That is so understated," Duo spluttered. "You caught me and had no idea what to do! You wouldn't even touch me for the first week!"

Belle just shrugged, obviously a little embarrassed.

"I think every trainer was the 'anti-social kid,' to one degree or another," Andy pointed out. "I know I was. My personal bubble had to have been three feet on either side of me. But still, I just can't picture you being that anti-social."

"Blame Duo," Belle said with a chuckle.

"First town we got to after she got me, I dragged her into the nearest club and made her stay and dance with me all night long." Duo grinned, very proud of himself.

"Literally all night long. We didn't leave until after sunrise. Then we slept for about twelve hours, got up, and things were much more comfortable." Belle rolled her eyes.

"That actually explains a lot," Andy said. She was far less touchy-feely with her group, but her group was made up of not-so-cuddly people to begin with.

Belle snorted. "Oh, you have no idea," she said. "Then there was this one when I got him." She pointed at Al. "He threatened to drag us all to the Ever After."

"You caught me at a bad time," Al said with a sniff.

"Yeah, when you were toasting more of those god-awful fake marshmallows."

"Kaelas stayed behind a sight shield for a week and a half after I caught him," Andy said. "It unnerved me so badly that I had to tell him to stop just so I would be able to sleep."

"Well, he's a giant hunting cat," Belle said with a shrug. "He never did as well with people as some of the others."

"Oh I know," Andy replied. "Doesn't mean it still didn't freak me out." She grinned. "I need to get my hands on that new book. I'm behind!"

Belle snorted. "See, I'm catching up on my series," she said, waving the book around. Al's eyes followed the book, and as soon as he could he pulled it back into place and kept reading.

"Yeah, this happens every time he's in one of the books." Belle rolled her eyes at the demon.