"Mhmm," Andy replied distractedly. She snickered at the book. "Oooh, finally, the mud-wallow!" She looked up and glanced at Sebastian and Teaser. "You have no idea how long we've been waiting to see Glorianna and Lee arguing in the mud! Bishop teased us with that tidbit and now we finally get it." She grinned, pleased.

Sebastian snorted. "I've seen that before. It was highly entertaining."

Teaser rolled his eyes. "Better than them storming around being pissy," he said feelingly.

"Not like you didn't try to calm them down once or twice."

"Only once or twice. I like my parts where they are."

Andy giggled.

"I've been waiting to see the mud wallow for so long," she said. "And I love how apparently Ephemera is acting on its own to put the mud pit there. It's amazing."

Sebastian just snorted again before he settled down, watching Niko curiously. Niko had settled down cautiously, apparently not entirely at ease, but Belle wasn't surprised. She figured it would take him a few days to get used to the group.

Andy glanced at Niko, a little curious for a moment, and then turned back to her book. She was in Bishop-world at the moment rather than Thurman-world. She would reread Doubletake afterwards to get back into the right universe again.

Belle snickered when she noticed that. "Maybe you didn't catch anyone 'cause you're not in the right world yet," she teased.

"I'll get back to it," Andy replied, glancing up from the book and then back. "Almost done with this. I'll read Doubletake tomorrow or something."

Belle snorted but settled down near Niko, keeping part of her attention on him as she pulled out her knitting supplies. Niko watched silently, one eyebrow raised, but he didn't comment.

It didn't take Andy long to finish the book, and dove back into her bag to get Doubletake. She'd read it before, but that didn't mean anything. Like Belle, she was big on re-reading things. Every so often as she was reading, she would glance at Niko. It was easier to picture things if she knew what people looked like.

Niko looked at the book for a moment before he snorted quietly and went back to his quiet perusal of the people there. So far no one presented a big threat.

So far, anyway.

Belle looked over at him before she shrugged and went back to her knitting, already trying to figure out what she could give him. She was a little backed up at the moment, but she always gave her bishis at least one hand-made gift each. They didn't usually complain too much, and even if they did she knew it was mostly for show.

Andy glanced up when Niko snorted.

"You may as well settle in," she advised. "We're probably hanging around for a couple of days or so."

Niko nodded, relaxing where he was. He didn't try to talk to anyone, but Belle wasn't surprised by that. At least he hadn't decided anyone was a threat.

Yet.

Andy turned her attention back to the book, getting back in the zone. She was able to switch gears pretty quickly, and she wanted to make some comments about the book, but she knew Belle hadn't read it yet. Spoilers weren't kosher, after all.

She couldn't help but snicker a bit (a lot) at the revelation of where all of the brothers' weapons come from, though. That was just too funny.

Belle looked over at her before rolling her eyes and going back to work. She'd get around to reading it eventually. She just couldn't settle on one book at the moment.

Which was probably sort of a bad thing, since she'd started four new books in the past two and a half weeks.

As Andy was reading, a thought occurred to her. Wouldn't Cals and Nikos travel in pairs? Given the context of the book and the characters themselves, it was a definite possibility. And all things considered, they only had one half of the 'set' at the moment. Which meant, to Andy's mind, that this particular Niko's Cal was probably hanging around fairly close. She glanced at him again, this time tilting her head to the side a bit as she studied him. Yes, it was a very distinct possibility.

Niko looked at her evenly, just watching her for a few moments. Apparently she'd just had an epiphany, and he was already guessing what she might have guessed.

Now hopefully his idiot brother would be smart for once and not get too close and get caught.

The more Andy thought about it, the more sense it made, and she glanced around, trying to see past the ring of firelight. Not that it would help any, given the choice of colors Cal tended to wear bookverse, but she was still turning over ideas. Not that she would try anything until daylight, anyways.

"I don't suppose I could ask Belle to have you sit out as bait, hm?" she asked Niko. "Because that would just be too easy."

Niko raised an eyebrow. "You can ask," he said, watching her. "Whether or not it will work is an entirely different story."

Because if it did work then clearly his brother needed more lessons.

"Well, one of two things is happening at the moment," Andy reasoned. She marked her page in the book with a finger. "Either I'm really overestimating what Cal might do in this particular situation, or you're really underestimating how much information I get when I read." She shrugged. "One of us is right, may as well find out which one."

Niko looked over at Belle. After all, he knew how this worked, and he didn't actually want to piss her off. She had bishis that could probably actually hurt him.

Belle looked over at him before looking at Andy. "Huh? What'd I miss?"

"Plotting, scheming, that kind of thing," Andy replied promptly, grinning. "Alongside a minor epiphany, nothing to worry about."

Belle rolled her eyes. Yeah, she was used to that. "So what did you need to ask me about?" She looked at Andy.

"The gears in my head have been turning and presented me with a bit of a plan," Andy explained. "Given what we know-- well, up until book six, given what we know -- one," she gestured to Niko, "never strays far from the other, and vice versa." She grinned. "So do you think it would work if we had him sit out as bait, kind of?"

Belle was quiet for a few moments, turning that thought over in her head. She paused before she snorted.

"Go for it. If it works, let me know. Could be good to keep in mind later, if it ever comes up." She grinned.

Andy grinned.

"Cool," she said. "Thanks, Belle!" She turned to Niko, beaming. "I'll have Kaelas sit out with you, though," she said cheerfully. "You and he might get along." And it wouldn't hurt to have a furry, invisible hunting machine there to tackle Cal if he ended up getting close enough.