Author: self_composed | School plods along. Bella is native-quality fluent in Spanish, professor-level at math, well and thoroughly versed in the workings of the United States government, capable of doing actual independent research projects in biology, and she's been speaking English since she was one. Alas, these skills only make classes easier for a short time. After the novelty wears off they're just tedious. Bella winds up squaring her homework done more often than not so she can work out the kinks in her design for telekinesis, or play music, or attend soccer practice, or write little computer games, or read, or just fly around. This works out fine. Magic is pretty good at homework.
She winds up not attending most of the dances, but she does want to go to the end of year one, as she will be leaving Forks High School forever and it has some good points. Alice promised her a dress... |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice did promise her a dress.
He's been working on his sewing; the materials are conjured, but the dress itself is the product of genuine physical labour. The fabric is light and floaty, black veined with silver; the design is sleek and minimal, not a stich wasted, with exactly enough room to move and just enough skirt to twirl.
And, because he can, he makes himself one, too. It's nothing like hers at all. Miles and miles of skirt swirling around his ankles, blood-red and unapologetically beautiful. He looks gorgeous in it. |
Author: self_composed | The night of the dance, Bella rolls it up, puts it in Tegu's saddlebag, and changes at school - she wouldn't want to try cycling in it, just one of the many disdvantages of dresses in general. But she likes it. She shimmies into it, in the bathroom stall, and stalks out in matching conjured ballet flats.
She goes stag, she dances with everyone who passes within arm's reach, even Mike, because grudges are silly and he hasn't bothered her or Alice in months - and none of them are at all good at it, more's the pity.
Well, Alice is good at it.
[Wanna bet we can reduce the entire room to staring at us if we do something ridiculously ballroom to the upcoming techno music?] She snuck a look at the playlist. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Let's do it,] he says happily. |
Author: self_composed | So Bella leads him around, indulging national-contest-level tricks and indeed reducing much of the surrounding population to bewildered stares. (How much of this is due to their ability to recognize skilled dancing, and how much of it is due to no one having gotten used to Alice in dresses, is unclear.)
And eventually the dance is over, and Bella changes back into her leathers.
But she keeps the dress. She likes it, and you never know when you're going to need a little black dress, shot through with silver like spindly frosted tree branches. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice considers the night a thorough success. Especially the part where Bella enjoyed her dress, and also the parts where she danced with him.
Everyone is going to get the wrong impression about them all over again. But there is no longer really any reason to care, is there? |
Author: self_composed | The year ends. There is a summer to dispose of.
Bella's stepdad makes okay money, and Renée was so thrilled about Stanford that she insisted on buying Bella a round trip to Europe. Bella tells everyone that she plans to spend this trip "backpacking".
This means "flying".
She doesn't want to leave Tegu sitting in the airport parking lot for three months, so she leaves it in Charlie's garage and lets him drive her to the airport. She flies away. She fully expects Alice to follow her and leave his mom and Hilary to wonder where in the blazes he went off to. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | His exact words to his mother are, "I'm gonna fuck off for a while, dunno when I'll be back, see you," while standing in the foyer with a backpack containing his favourite book and not much else. Since he never announces absences as short as a weekend, his mother correctly interprets this as meaning he will be gone at least several weeks, and hugs him. He hugs her back, walks out, and takes off as soon as he is out of sight. |
Author: self_composed | Ultimately, Europe is reached! Bella flies around Ireland, doing touristy things and admiring scenery and puzzling out the accent. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice tags along, sometimes visibly and sometimes not, getting in manageable amounts of trouble and admiring scenery and enjoying the proximity of Bella being Bella. |
Author: self_composed | Bella hits every country in Europe - why not? She can fly fast enough - and picks up languages as she goes. ("I was never anything special in Spanish class really, good but not great," she imagines saying, "but for some reason, put me in a country with native speakers and I can pick up anything...") She takes up a habit of sitting on top of high things. Like the Eiffel Tower. Or Mount Everest. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice takes up a habit of sitting on top of high things with her, just below her if he can get away with it, right beside her if he can't. |
Author: self_composed | It is on Mount Everest that she looks speculatively at her companion, and tilts her head thoughtfully, and decides that she may as well try kissing him.
So she does. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | ...Alice did not expect that at all!
It is the very best surprise she has ever given him, out of some stiff competition.
He falls in love with her all over again, kisses back, and hugs her impulsively, all at once. |
Author: self_composed | Bella decides that this was a pretty good idea.
Mountaintop makeouts: totally a thing now. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | It's possible that Alice should be thinking about whether or not this means she is redefining their relationship somehow, and it's possible that if he were anyone else, he would be. But he is Alice, so he is thinking pretty much entirely about mountaintop makeouts and how much he loves Bella. |
Author: self_composed | Her modeling of Alice as being liable to do that is a fair fraction of why she decided to kiss him at this time instead of in several months. She has not come to all relevant conclusions, just the conclusion that kissing him would be nice. With any non-Alice, actually following through on that would have required more thinking first. With Alice she can just do whatever she wants and not do whatever she does not yet know she wants. She likes that.
She decides some of that might be worth articulating. [Only have this much figured out,] she says. [In case you wonder, when you have more of your brain online,] she adds teasingly. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I like this much,] he says happily. [This much is good.]
And Alice has all of his brain online, thank you. It's just largely devoted to processing kisses at the moment. |
Author: self_composed | That's all Bella has to say.
Actually, no it's not, she's not that good at shutting up. [The top of Mount Everest has to be the best place for a first kiss ever.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Of course she thinks that.
[It's pretty damn cool,] Alice agrees fondly. |
Author: self_composed | [I mean, there are other iconic locations, but I bet a million people kiss each other at the Eiffel Tower.]
There. Now she is probably done talking. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | In which case Alice is also done talking.
Mountaintop makeouts! Mountaintop makeouts and boundless, unselfconscious, radiant love. |
Author: self_composed | Bella indulges in some feedback-looping.
It turns out it's more seductive during kisses. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | That is not really a big surprise. |
Author: self_composed | Some time - some considerable amount of time - later, Bella breaks off, grins brilliantly, and shoots up into the sky. [Race you to Karachi!] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Laughing, Alice chases after her. With his person-compass trained on Bella, he can follow her by feel and watch the landscape sliding away underneath them while he does it. |
Author: self_composed | Karachi is all the way in Pakistan. It's a long flight, and it's good Bella doesn't need to breathe and isn't bothered by the cold.
She learned Urdu on the way east, and she has not yet decided to risk traveling visibly in heavily Islamic countries anyway, but she zips around the city looking at things, playing hide-and-seek with Alice. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Hide-and-seek becomes especially interesting when one party can read the other's mind and the other can locate the first via absolute directional sense. Alice decides that this way is much more fun.
Also, when they catch each other, there are hugs! |
Author: self_composed | Eventually it is dark.
Bella has not yet killed the need for sleep - she's considered it, but she doesn't yet have quite enough things to do to fill the time. (She'll see if the novelty of making out with Alice wears off or not before declaring that to be "enough things to do".)
She finds a flat roof - of a business, not a house - and sprawls out, conjuring a mattress and a pillow half-consciously. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice touches down on the same roof and curls up invisibly beside her conjured bed. |
Author: self_composed | In the morning, Bella starts for Iran, which she hopes to cross (sightseeing en route) by the end of the day. It is time to head back west so she can catch her plane out of Heathrow, and see her parents before going off to college.
The next day she traverses Iraq and Syria and Turkey, and checks into a hostel in Greece. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Is there room for Alice on the floor by her bed? He likes it best when that happens. |
Author: self_composed | There is room for him under the bed. He'll get tripped on anywhere else. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Works for him! |
Author: self_composed | Bella travels around Greece for three days, using a fair amount of standard transportation to do it. Then she takes a boat to Italy. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice stays invisible the whole way across, although he spends most of his time perching on various sections of the boat.
At the end of the trip, when all the passengers disembark, many of them are met by locals or fellow travelers waiting at the docks. There is one nondescript Italian fellow standing a little apart from the rest, peering anxiously at everyone as they get off the boat, as though he is looking for someone he doesn't know well and isn't sure of recognizing. |
Author: self_composed | Bella is pretty sure that she is not looking for a nondescript Italian fellow. She ignores him, and carries on through a tour of various cities in Italy. She is particularly fond of Venice.
Next is Switzerland! |
Author: edgeofyourseat | And in Switzerland, while Bella is on a train and Alice is keeping pace in the air, the engine makes a coughing noise and then gracefully shuts down. The train comes to a halt on a long, curving track through some very pretty forest.
[Damn,] says Alice, pulling up to hover beside Bella's window. |
Author: self_composed | [Huh. I could wish it fixed but I don't know who's looking at the broken part, if anyone - could be obvious - I'll wait for the announcement, I guess, I'm sure there'll be one.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | The announcement, when it comes, cites engine failure of unknown cause, promises the attention of onboard mechanics to the problem, and apologizes most sincerely for the inconvenience to travelers. Alice isn't sure he believes it, at least not about the last part. |
Author: self_composed | Bella starts wondering how long the wait is going to be. She consults her map; if they're within vaguely plausible hiking distance of a town she might just ask to get off here. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Barely plausible, yes. |
Author: self_composed | Eenh. She'll wait for four hours and then seek someone to ask for disembarkment permission. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | After one and a half, the train starts up again, limps along for a few minutes, and then coasts to a halt.
They are now farther from the town. |
Author: self_composed | Rrrg.
Well, the fact that they were able to get it started at all suggests that they have an idea of what's wrong, now. They'll either fix it, or determine that they can't fix it and have to send another locomotive to pull them out of the way of other trains, soon enough.
[I'm going to sleep,] Bella announces. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Sweet dreams,] says Alice. |
Author: self_composed | Bella goes to sleep, and manages to stay that way for about five hours, and then wakes up and looks out the window to see if they are moving. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | They are!
All is well for the rest of the trip. |
Author: self_composed | Hurray! Bella enjoys herself a Switzerland.
She has already been to France, so she goes through Spain on her way to Heathrow (a bus breaks on her, but it's on a densely traveled route so everyone can just cram into the next bus), and then she flies to Florida, where she will spend a week with her mom before popping up to Forks for one more week and then going to school. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Hey, can I meet your mom?] wonders Alice halfway through the flight.
It is genuinely the first time he has thought of the question. |
Author: self_composed | [Do you have a reason to be in Florida?] Bella asks. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [To meet your mom?] he suggests. It's not like anyone other than Bella has a clue where he's been for three months. Might as well be Florida as anywhere. |
Author: self_composed | [I suppose. I'll call her when we layover in Baltimore, but I don't imagine it'll bother her.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Awesome,] says Alice. |
Author: self_composed | Bella calls Renée in Baltimore and says "my friend who I think I mentioned, Laney only he likes to be called Alice because he's weird, will be around Jacksonville same time I am - wanna meet him?" And Renée says "of course, I'm always happy to meet your friends" and Bella says "great!" and hangs up.
[Yep,] Bella tells Alice. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Awesome!] says Alice. |
Author: self_composed | Bella gets on her new plane and flies to Florida. Renée is there to pick her up and is thrilled to pieces to see her. Phil is not there because it is the middle of baseball season; normally Renée would accompany him but for Bella's visit.
Renée compliments Bella's outfit and remarks on the length of her hair (it's only about half an inch longer than the last time they saw each other, but Renée does this anyway) and chatters excitedly about all the things they need to do while Bella is here, including visiting Renée's favorite restaurants and seeing that one museum and making paper chains just like they did when Bella was six, for some reason. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Holy shit, your mother is adorable.] |
Author: self_composed | [Rather, yes.] Renée's car is decorated by gifts from her students - half-recognizable tokens of paper and yarn and glue, taped to the dashboard and dangling from the mirror and, in one case, tied to the antenna. Bella moves Renée's sewing bag from the front seat to sit down, and Renée drives away from the airport.
"When does your friend want to come by?" Renée asks.
"I think our most recent plan was dinner tonight, but we can tweak it if that's not going to work for you." She echoes the conversation to Alice. [I just made that up - that work for you? We can have a more observable phone conversation to change the "plan" if you want.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Sure!] he says cheerfully. [Just tell me where to 'meet' you.] |
Author: self_composed | "That's fine, dear," Renée says. "Does he know where to find the Atlantic Beach Seafood Shack?"
"Well, he can find it online if nothing else," Bella says.
"Then he should meet us there at six-thirty," Renée says.
"I'll call him," Bella says.
She goes through the motions of phoning and informing Alice of all this. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Okay,] says Alice. [Should I go find the place, or follow you there and be fake-late?] |
Author: self_composed | [Second thing seems easier.]
Bella half-unpacks, in the guest room; this is not the old house in Phoenix and she does not have a room here. Renée makes tea and chatters away, with Bella occasionally uttering sentences too. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice sprawls out on the roof.
[Hey, Bella, what's the name of that superpower where you can set things on fire?] |
Author: self_composed | [Pyrokinesis. I don't think I approve of it, if that's what you're asking.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Why not?]
He expands the principle in his mind: not just set things on fire, but control fire, so he can play with it without it getting on anything and put it out when he's done. |
Author: self_composed | [I suppose if you're only going to set yourself on fire it's not a big deal. Just mind you aren't breathing normally at the time if it's more than a little burn - you don't want to pass out from smoke inhalation and catch on something and torch everything around you.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Cool,] he says, and thinks about the power some more. Might as well add in the ability to sense fire, which is surely related, probably generally useful, and will come in handy if he somehow manages to accidentally light up something that isn't himself without noticing.
And, notably, he does not want it to come with immunity to fire. That would just negate the entire purpose. |
Author: self_composed | [Well, of course,] Bella remarks dryly. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He laughs.
Hopefully no one hears him. |
Author: self_composed | At a quarter past six, Bella and Renée pile in the car and drive to the seafood shack. It's a divey little place on the beach. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice finds somewhere to land and de-invisible, and then trots up to the shack in question while the other two are still outside.
"Hi!" he says, waving. |
Author: self_composed | "Hi!" Bella calls back, waving. "This is my mom, Renée. Mom, this is Alice."
"Hello, Alice," says Renée, not batting an eye. "It's so nice to meet you. What brings you to Jacksonville?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Awwwwwww he really really likes her. Alice bounces a little.
"Do I need a reason?" he asks cheerfully. |
Author: self_composed | "Well, it's a happy coincidence, I suppose," Renée laughs. "Won't you join us?"
They all sit down and get menus. The prominently advertised special is a giant basket of deep fried shrimp. "So how did you two meet?"
"At school," Bella says. "We had gym class together." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Yep!" says Alice.
[Does she want the real story? I like the real story.]
The one where Bella called him a freak and he fell in love on the spot. That story. |
Author: self_composed | [Eenh, I'd save that for later, but maybe eventually.]
Bella orders swordfish and Renée orders salmon, and then informs Alice that it's her treat and he should get whatever he likes. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Giant shrimp basket it is," he says, grinning. |
Author: self_composed | "What do you do with your time?" Renée asks Alice. "You look a little older than Bella. Are you going to college in the fall too?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Nope," he says. "Not my thing."
He wonders if he's going to end up explaining to her why he is independently wealthy at eighteen. |
Author: self_composed | "What is your thing, then?" Renée asks.
"He likes to sew," supplies Bella, "and cook."
"Ooh. I'm taking a quilting class at the moment," Renée confides. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Ooh!" says Alice, perking up. "Is it fun?" |
Author: self_composed | "It's very fiddly work!" laughs Renée. "But I'm enjoying it, yes, and my sewing machine got a nice dusting-off, and the quilt will be warm even if it isn't terribly pretty." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Yeah, it takes a while to get to where it's actually any good. But you do get there!" [Can I brag about our dresses?] |
Author: self_composed | [Sure, why not?]
"I keep putting things down before I'm good at them," laughs Renée. "Haven't any patience." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "I know the feeling," Alice assures her. "But it pays off, I swear. You wouldn't believe the dresses I made us for the end-of-year dance." |
Author: self_composed | "I sent you a picture of me in mine," Bella says. "He made it for me."
"Goodness! I would never have guessed it was homemade - so carefully done, you must be so proud of yourself," says Renée. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "I really, really am," he says happily. "I just love making pretty things, you know?" |
Author: self_composed | "Well, maybe you'll grow up and you'll be a famous designer," declares Renée, as the food arrives.
Bella swipes one of Alice's shrimps. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Go right ahead," he tells Bella fondly.
To Renee, "Maybe I will! That would be kinda awesome." |
Author: self_composed | "Wonderland Designs," says Bella, gesturing and starting on her own food. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice giggles and starts devouring shrimp. |
Author: self_composed | Dinner concludes pleasantly, and Renée asks Alice if he has somewhere else to be or if he'd like to come see the house. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Nah, I'd love to!" |
Author: self_composed | So they all go to Renée's house. "Are you from Forks originally, Alice?" Renée wants to know. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Nope," he says. "I grew up in New York." |
Author: self_composed | "Ooh, New York. I've been there just a couple of times, but isn't it a lovely city?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "It's pretty great," he acknowledges, although the highlights he thinks of are probably not things he should tell Renée. |
Author: self_composed | "I saw Cats there, and I tried authentic New York cheesecake from a precious little shop, and went up the Empire State Building and saw the Statue of Liberty... Why did you move? To Forks of all places?"
[Mom doesn't like Forks much,] Bella says. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "You know, I don't think I've ever had authentic New York cheesecake," Alice muses.
[How much should I lie about why I moved?] |
Author: self_composed | [Lying's unnecessary - just omit. "My parents were looking for someplace quiet and out of the way", like that. She won't pry, she'll move on.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice slightly makes a face. [Yeah, that's lying.]
Which for some reason he doesn't feel like doing right now, but he also doesn't feel like dumping the whole actual truth on her. |
Author: self_composed | [Well, why did they pick Forks and not Kalamazoo?] Bella asks. [That reason, whatever it is, will be satisfactory, even if I didn't guess it right.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He doesn't know that reason. And even just saying 'my parents' sounds like a fundamental misrepresentation of his life, to a degree that makes him uncomfortable. |
Author: self_composed | [Then say you don't know; that's fine too,] soothes Bella. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He shrugs, which is probably close enough. |
Author: self_composed | Renée, as promised, doesn't pry. "It's a dreary little town," she remarks. "Safe for children, it has that virtue - but I'm glad Bella's going off to school somewhere more interesting, even if going to Forks was up to her to begin with." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Safe for children.
He can't help it; he grins.
(He doesn't believe in safety, but he believes in Bella.) |
Author: self_composed | [She's mostly just referring to the low crime rate,] Bella says.
They pull up to the house and Renée bustles into it to show Alice all the rooms, as she showed Bella hours before. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "It's so little and cute!" he says, laughing. |
Author: self_composed | "It's just perfect for me and Phil," says Renée. "Even if he's out of it most of every year." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "It's adorable," says Alice. "I love it." |
Author: self_composed | "I'm so glad," enthuses Renée. "Now, I was thinking I would try to talk Bella into playing checkers or something, but I bet we have a game for three in the closet if you'd like to pick something out." She gestures at the closet that contains the board games. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Sure!"
Alice investigates the selection. |
Author: self_composed | There are various standards - Monopoly and Connect Four and a few decks of cards and checkers and chess and parcheesi and Apples to Apples. "Hmm," Renée says, peering around him. "Perhaps we don't have anything good for three after all. Unless you know a good card game for that many." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "I don't know that many card games," says Alice. "What the hell is that one?" He points at Apples to Apples. |
Author: self_composed | "That's also a card game, but not with normal cards," Renée says. "I suppose it could work with three, but it's really better with more... there are adjectives and nouns, and one person draws an adjective and the others play appropriate nouns and the person who played the adjective awards that card to whoever played the best noun." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Ooh. Sounds fun," says Alice. |
Author: self_composed | "Well, we can see if three can work," says Renée, fetching the box from the shelf and carrying it to the table. She deals out cards. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice takes a seat and a pile of nouns. |
Author: self_composed | Renée draws the first adjective and gets "Lovely".
"Oh, how lovely," she remarks, tittering and closing her eyes so she won't know which noun came from where.
Bella plays "A Sunset". |
Author: edgeofyourseat | After considering the selection for a moment, Alice plays "Jodie Foster". |
Author: self_composed | Renée opens her eyes, peers at the cards, squints at "Jodie Foster", and says, "I think I'll go with A Sunset, whose was that?"
Bella waves, and wins "Lovely". It is her turn, and she plays "Patriotic".
Renée offers "The Midwest". |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice offers "Plane Crashes". (His other cards were worse. At least this one's sort of horrifyingly funny.) |
Author: self_composed | Bella blinks at these cards, and slowly picks up The Midwest. Renée claims her prize. Alice's turn! |
Author: edgeofyourseat | His adjective is "Heartless". |
Author: self_composed | Bella plays "Los Angeles", and Renée chooses "Deer Hunting". |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Ooooh," says Alice. "Tough one."
He thinks about it for a bit, and then selects Deer Hunting as the winner. |
Author: self_composed | Renée again! Hers is "Cute". Bella plays "A Tree House" out of her limited hand. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | From the available options, Alice goes with "Boy Scouts". |
Author: self_composed | Renée picks her daughter's card again, and then it's Bella's turn and she gets "Insulting". Renée doesn't have anything good and uses the turn to throw away "Black Velvet". |
Author: edgeofyourseat | This is the perfect place to put "Cabbage". |
Author: self_composed | "Cabbage?" Bella says incredulously.
It's marginally preferable to Renée's throwaway. Alice wins! |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice giggles and scoops his point. "You don't know my hand," he explains.
This turn's adjective is "Sexy"! |
Author: self_composed | Renée earnestly hands over "Captain Kirk".
Bella's hand has got to be really lousy if there's nothing in it Alice will find sexy. She looks and looks... Ah.
She gives him "Taking A Bath". |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "I get all the tough choices," says Alice.
He deliberates a little, but in the end, Taking A Bath wins. Sorry, Kirk. You're hot, but you're not as hot as what Alice gets up to in the shower. |
Author: self_composed | Renée looks confused but does not ask.
Her adjective is "Masculine".
Bella gives her "Watching Football". |
Author: edgeofyourseat | How about "Al Pacino"? |
Author: self_composed | Alice wins it.
Bella gets "Dead". Renée plays "Infomercials", giggling to herself. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Funerals". |
Author: self_composed | Alice wins again! |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Whee!
This round's adjective: "Tough". |
Author: self_composed | Renée: "Having An Operation".
Bella, snorting: "My Body". |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He cracks up and selects "My Body" as the winner. |
Author: self_composed | Renée draws "Unforgettable", and Bella gives her "My Bank Account", laughing. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Hot Lava", after some perusal of his hand. |
Author: self_composed | Renée mulls this over, then says, "Charming, Bella, but you know I forget my bank account all the time," and gives the card to Alice.
Bella gets "Sensitive" and Renée gives her "Wine Tasting". |
Author: edgeofyourseat | ...Man, Alice has no good cards for this one. He puts down "Surfing the Net" just to get it out of his hand. |
Author: self_composed | Wine Tasting wins, then. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | The game progresses. Alice awards cards for such charming combinations as "Apple Pie"/"Misunderstood" and "Corvettes"/"Refined"; he plays "Choir Boys" against "Irresistible" on Renee's turn and acquires only a raised eyebrow for his trouble; and on two consecutive turns of Bella's, he plays "My Love Life" against "Squeaky Clean" and "My Bedroom" against "Peaceful", winning both.
No one is tracking scores, so they all have more cards than the defined limit when someone finally bothers to notice, but Bella has the most. |
Author: self_composed | "I win," Bella says merrily, and she reads off all her cards, ascribing them to herself in turn. Renée applauds softly and starts putting away the game. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "That was awesome," Alice enthuses. |
Author: self_composed | "It really does work better with more people," says Renée, "but yes, that was fun. Oh, it's late, I'm sure you want to go back to wherever you're staying, Alice. Do you want a ride?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Nah," he says, "thanks, I'm good." (And grins at Bella. He can't help it.) |
Author: self_composed | "All right. Well, I'm sure we'll see you again later this week," Renée says cheerfully, showing him out.
[I'm glad you and her get along,] Bella says. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Me too! She's awesome.]
"See ya," he says, and trots away out of sight, and turns invisible and circles back through the air to land on the roof. |
Author: self_composed | The next day is beastly hot - Bella isn't bothered, but she can sure tell - and so Renée takes her bathing suit shopping, buys her a red and blue flowered bikini, and drags her along to the beach! They set up a big beach towel to sit on and a big beach umbrella to sit under and apply sunscreen. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice approves of this outing, although he does independently wonder whether invisibly flying to invisibly hover over the beach qualifies as creepy. It's not like he's watching anyone who doesn't know he's there. |
Author: self_composed | [It's a public beach; everyone knows that you or someone like you could be looking at them even if they don't have the means to actually detect you in particular,] Bella says.
She flaunts, just a little, craning around to put sunscreen between her shoulderblades. Her mother might ask an uncomfortable question (probably only one, but still) if Alice appeared to help her with that. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [You're really pretty,] Alice asserts. |
Author: self_composed | [Thanks!]
When Bella is fully sunscreened - she's not going to get burnt, but she would like to be able to explain that to her mother, who had plenty of trouble keeping her pale child uncrisp in years past - she runs out and dives into the water. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice wonders if his invisible self will remain really-invisible underwater, or if there will be an obvious Alice-shaped absence of water zooming around. Perhaps he should test it! |
Author: self_composed | [If you copied mine, you won't show up in water,] Bella says. [But you can still make visible splashes and stuff.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I'll try not to,] he says cheerfully, and wish-replaces his clothes with, whimsically, a copy of Bella's bikini.
Invisible swimming time! He ceases to breathe while he's underwater, just because it makes things easier. And if he doesn't interact with the surface, he can't make a noticeable splash. |
Author: self_composed | Bella meanwhile floats on the surface, letting waves bear her up and down. [I haven't been to many beaches before. I mean, besides freezing Pacific beaches near Forks.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I haven't been to any,] he says, grinning up at her. [This one's fun!] |
Author: self_composed | Bella dives under. She can open her eyes, but... not see. It's dark and murky. She's been designing herself enhanced vision anyway; now's a fine time to burn the hex on it.
Ooh, fishes. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice waves. It is somewhat easier to see things that are between you and the surface; Bella is a blurry silhouette. Also, he's using his compass again. |
Author: self_composed | She waves back, and swims around pretty aimlessly. She pokes her head up periodically; she doesn't want a lifeguard trying to save her. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | For lack of anything better to do, Alice follows her.
...It occurs to him that it is dark and murky underwater, and that he is invisible anyway, and that Bella doesn't need to breathe.
[Wanna make out?] he asks. The fact that this is an acceptable question these days still gives him happy feelings, regardless of the answer to any given instance. |
Author: self_composed | [Hm, sure!]
Saltwater turns out not to taste nice, but a triangle will make that go away for the duration. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Underwater kisses!
Magic is so much fun. |
Author: self_composed | [It really is. It's the best thing,] Bella sighs happily.
She still pokes her head up now and then, and waves at her mom, who is reading a book under the umbrella. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice pokes playfully at the ends of her hair floating in the water. |
Author: self_composed | Bella's hair is braided; it'd only take a triangle to untangle it, but her mom would wonder. [That's not a bellpull,] she informs him, diving back down for more kisses. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Laughing underwater is, Alice discovers, really bizarre. It also means he has to triangle water out of his lungs.
[I love you,] he says happily.
How about underwater snuggles? Are those good too? |
Author: self_composed | Underwater snuggles: also pretty good! |
Author: edgeofyourseat | They are.
Snuggly underwater kisses: pretty much the best. |
Author: self_composed | Bella and Renée spend all day at the beach, in and out of the water, and eat boardwalk food for lunch. Then they head home. [Mom wants to know if you want to join us for dinner again. She's cooking; she's doing risotto. She's better at food than my dad but not as good as me.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Love to!] he says, predictably. |
Author: self_composed | [Cool. Be at the house at six-thirty,] Bella says.
At six-thirty, there is risotto on the table, and also warmed up leftover pork medallions and some bag salad to make the table look a little fuller. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | And there is Alice, ringing the doorbell!
He changed his bikini back into a full set of clothes, somewhat reluctantly. Perhaps relatedly, said clothes include a long floral-patterned skirt. |
Author: self_composed | Renée is a little more thrown by the skirt than by the name, but she doesn't say anything about it and welcomes him into the house. Bella waves from the dinner table, with the hand that isn't spooning mushrooms and rice onto her plate. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Hi," he says cheerfully when Renée lets him in; and, "Hi, Bella," when he comes to sit down at the table. |
Author: self_composed | [It just occurred to me that kindergartners probably ask her to call them random things all the time,] Bella says wryly, [but they show up to school in what their parents dress them in.]
"Hi!" she says aloud. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Huh? Oh,] he says, looking down. [Yeah, I just wished up what I felt like wearing.]
"Do anything cool today?" |
Author: self_composed | "Went to the beach, swam around," Bella says. "You?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Hung out," he says, shrugging. "Not much, really."
[I'd say 'made out with you underwater', but I'm betting you don't want those awkward questions.] |
Author: self_composed | [Indeed, not at this time.]
"Where are you staying? Have you got family in the area?" Renée asks, serving Alice some risotto and a medallion and a generous bowlful of leaves. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Nope," says Alice. "I don't have family much of anywhere, actually. Ooh, this looks tasty!" |
Author: self_composed | "No?" Renée asks, tilting her head, deerlike in puzzlement. "Oh, thank you, risotto's one of a handful of things that I can sometimes turn out nicely..." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Yeah, my mom still lives in Forks and she's the only one I'm in touch with."
At least, he's pretty sure his mom still lives in Forks. She seemed very fond of that stupidly huge house last he checked. He'll find out when they go back, anyway. |
Author: self_composed | "Oh, I see." And Renée does not pry.
[Yeah, I don't really know where my curiosity came from,] Bella remarks. "This is great, Mom, thanks."
"Oh, thank you, Bella." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I think it came from you,] Alice says fondly.
Nom! |
Author: self_composed | [Ah, spontaneous generation theories. How nostalgic.]
Nom indeed! |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Nostalgic how?] |
Author: self_composed | [It's not really the same thing - spontaneous generation supposes that maggots just happen by themselves when meat is left around, and so on. People didn't catch flies laying eggs until later. Still, my curiosity has to have come from some combination of genetic and environmental factors - it's not like I have an immaterial soul or something.] Pause. [You don't believe in immaterial souls or anything, do you?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I don't not believe in them,] he says. |
Author: self_composed | [What's that supposed to mean?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [It means how the fuck should I know?] |
Author: self_composed | [Right, but I mean, you have no personal interactions with the surface of Pluto either. Do you think it has pandas on it?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [You have no idea how tempted I am to wish for pandas on Pluto right now,] he says, although it wouldn't exactly be hard for her to find out. |
Author: self_composed | [The pandas would die, Alice. But you still think you'd have to wish for it, right? They are not there yet.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Not if they were magic pandas! But that's kind of my point,] he says. [I don't know that nobody else has wished for pandas on Pluto, and you don't either. The only way to actually find out would be to take a look at Pluto and check. If magic didn't exist I'd say there'd be no way a panda could've gotten to Pluto, but it does, so literally anything we can think of is possible because if we can think of it then so can somebody else and they might have a star.] |
Author: self_composed | [...Are you saying the only reason you don't not believe in immortal souls is because it seems like the kind of thing somebody might have wished for?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Yeah, basically,] he agrees. [I mean, they might exist because of magic for some other reason I haven't thought of because I don't really care that much. Maybe they're what coins are made of.] |
Author: self_composed | [Okay, fair enough. But why would coins be made of souls?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [No good reason,] he says with a slight shrug. [They're probably not.]
...Has Bella's mom noticed that they are having a totally silent conversation while eating their food? |
Author: self_composed | No, Renée has been making intermittent remarks about a television show she picked up in the middle and does not understand. She expects no participation from either. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Okay, cool. |
Author: self_composed | "But anyway," Renée shrugs, "all I'm saying is that if the character is so important they could have reminded the audience who he was - oh, are we ready for dessert?"
"Popsicles?" guesses Bella.
"Right in one," replies Renée, heading for the freezer. "I know Bella wants grape; what about you, Alice?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Dunno," he says. "What kinds are there?" |
Author: self_composed | "Let's see... lime, blue raspberry, cherry, orange, and lemon," Renée says. "And grape." She tosses Bella a wrapped purple popsicle and Bella unwraps it. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Lime!" he decides. |
Author: self_composed | He gets a green one. Renée takes a red one. Soon they are all enjoying some popsicles, which are pleasant in the heat. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Yes. Alice is definitely enjoying his popsicle.
The particular way in which he is enjoying his popsicle is perhaps not wholly family-friendly, but it is probably difficult to pick up on that unless you happen to be reading his mind. |
Author: self_composed | Bella sighs, very quietly. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [...What? C'mon, like you've never thought that. Doesn't everybody?] |
Author: self_composed | [It's never occurred to me at random, but now that you mention it I suppose it's a staple of popular culture.]
"You two must be so close," Renée says happily. "It's like you're having entire conversations, just looking at each other." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Yeah," Alice agrees, and gives Bella that unrepentantly adoring grin of his. |
Author: self_composed | "He's got an awfully expressive face," Bella points out.
"I suppose," laughs Renée. "Who wants to go see a movie? I wonder what's playing..." She hunts for her newspaper to look at the listings. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "That sounds fun!" says Alice. |
Author: self_composed | "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is still out. With Johnny Depp," muses Renée. "Phil didn't want to see it so I haven't yet..."
"Sounds good to me," Bella says. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Me too," says Alice. |
Author: self_composed | And so: they go watch Johnny Depp be a chocolate-manufacturing manchild and various odious children meet cartoonishly grisly fates. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Johnny Depp is a pretty, pretty man. Alice appreciates that about him.
He also thinks the horrible things happening to the kiddies are hilarious.
[Who the hell thought this shit up? It's amazing.] |
Author: self_composed | [Roald Dahl,] Bella supplies. [He wrote kids' books. Ostensibly. They're worth reading and my copies should be here, since I didn't bring them to Forks; wanna borrow some?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Love to!] |
Author: self_composed | So after the credits (which Renée insists on sitting through - she has plenty of short-term patience), they go back to the house, and Bella digs through boxes of books and eventually finds a few Roald Dahl ones: she has Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Witches and James & The Giant Peach and The BFG and Danny, the Champion of the World.
"It should have occurred to me before that this would be the sort of thing that would appeal to you," she says, handing over the stack. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "If they're all like that movie, I am gonna fucking love 'em," he asserts. |
Author: self_composed | "Of these, Danny is least similar," Bella shrugs. "But I liked it. I wasn't born reading Austen and Shakespeare and stuff." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Weren't you?" he teases. |
Author: self_composed | "Nope," Bella says. "Turns out they don't give newborn babies books no matter how pleadingly they ask." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | ...The mental image of tiny baby Bella waving her arms and imperiously babbling for books is just the cutest thing. |
Author: self_composed | Bella laughs. "My mom's probably going to insinuate that you must be wanted wherever you're staying in a few minutes. Have fun with the books." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "I will," he says, hugging them. |
Author: self_composed | Renée does shoo him, and Bella goes to bed. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice sits on the roof, invisible, with his pile of books.
He reads The BFG, and thinks it is adorable.
He reads Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and thinks it is just as great as the movie was.
He reads James and the Giant Peach, and thinks it is fucking awesome.
He reads The Witches, and thinks it is amazingly twisted.
He reads Matilda.
He sits for a long time with his eyes closed and his arms wrapped around the book. Then he puts it carefully with the rest in his independently invisible backpack, climbs down to Bella's bedroom window, and knocks. |
Author: self_composed | Bella's eyes flutter open and she looks at the source of the sound.
[What?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I just read Matilda and now I really really want a hug,] he says, hovering with his hand on the wall. |
Author: self_composed | Bella opens the window, and steps back and holds out her arms, and reads for more detail. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice swoops in and hugs her, going to his knees on the floor so he can lean his head against her stomach.
His thoughts and feelings are all over the place. He thinks Matilda is amazing. He thinks her parents are shitheads. There are ways in which her dad is familiar and ways in which he really isn't. He thinks that if he'd read that book when he was thirteen, his father would be dead by now. He doesn't know whether he wants to laugh or cry, but the second one definitely seems to be winning. |
Author: self_composed | Bella hugs his head, since that's what's near enough, and pets his hair. [Matilda's father doesn't die in the book. Why would yours have if you'd read it earlier?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Because Matilda got her own back. Matilda made the crucial realization that as much as your parents have power over you, you can have power over them, with the right resources. Alice came to that one a little late.
If he'd come to it earlier, before he'd had so much time to learn to be afraid... well, putting his dad in jail was never his first idea. |
Author: self_composed | Bella goes on petting him. [You'd most likely have gotten caught. At thirteen, with no magic to cover anything up - you'd still be in juvie, maybe transferred to a regular prison by now.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Maybe. Maybe not. It's not like he would've stuck around to take the heat. In fact, he'd have been likelier to end up dead on the streets than in jail.
Anyway, if all that had happened, he'd never have met Bella. And that would just be immeasurably tragic. |
Author: self_composed | Pet, pet, pet. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I love you,] he adds. He really really does. She doesn't have to do this; he could just go off and be sad and conflicted and generally emotional by himself. But she's helping, and he loves her. |
Author: self_composed | Bella leans down to kiss the top of his head. [It's not like I've got anything to do in the morning.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He presses his face into her stomach and loves her some more. |
Author: self_composed | Bella stands there, petting and reading and waiting in silence. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Can I sleep on your floor?]
For that matter, can he sleep in her bed? Because he really, really wants snuggles. |
Author: self_composed | Bella contemplates this - that would certainly be awkward to explain to Renée, who is as likely as not to poke her head into the room at seven in the morning and offer waffles. Finally Bella triangles the alarm clock into setting itself to go off quietly at six-thirty - she's too tired to figure out the controls - and pulls him into the guest bed with her. [You'll have to skedaddle first thing in the morning.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Okay,] he says agreeably, and squares himself cuddly pajamas, and snuggles up.
And loves her. But he never really stopped. |
Author: self_composed | Bella decides to see if feedback-looping is a useful sleep aid.
The answer: yes.
At six-thirty in the morning the alarm clock cheeps quietly and she opens her eyes. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice is still sleeping, curled up around her, dreaming about flying on silver wings. |
Author: self_composed | She prods him in the ribs. [Alice, sorry to interrupt, but my mom will wake up any minute. She keeps school-ish hours even in summertime.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He blinks awake.
[G'morning,] he says, and yawns quietly, and kisses her shoulder, and de-cuddles. He never stopped being invisible, so all he has to do is slide out of bed and float out the window. So he does that.
[Thanks,] he adds on his way out. |
Author: self_composed | [No problem.]
Bella closes the window lazily with a triangle and naps another half an hour.
And then Renée pokes her head in. And offers waffles.
Bella has hers with strawberries and whipped cream on it.
After one week in Jacksonville, Bella flies to Washington, finds Tegu in the parking lot, and zooms home to Charlie. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | And Alice zooms home to his mom and Hilary, both of whom feel the need to hug him at least ten times in the first hour after he walks in the door. He hugs them back. Hilary decides they are going to bake a pie, so they do.
[Want some pie?] |
Author: self_composed | [Maybe. Can Charlie come?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Why don't we invite Bella and her dad?" suggests Alice.
Hilary raises her eyebrows at him. "Oh, is she back from Europe?"
"One way to find out," Alice says cheerfully.
"Sure!"
[Yep!] |
Author: self_composed | [Are you planning to actually call us?] Bella asks archly. [We don't want to be known to be telepathic.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Yeah, that was the next step,] he says, and goes to find his phone where he left it in his room.
Ring, ring. |
Author: self_composed | Bella picks up her cell, in full view of Charlie. "Alice! Hi. What's up?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Pie," says Alice. "Pie is up. Wanna come have some? Your dad's invited too." |
Author: self_composed | "Ooh, lemme check," says Bella. "Hey Dad! Wanna go over to Alice's and have pie?"
"Sounds good to me," Charlie says.
"We'd love to," Bella tells the phone. "When should we be there?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Soonish? The pie'll be done in like half an hour." |
Author: self_composed | "Cool. See you soon," Bella says. She hangs up.
"Wasn't he out of town," Charlie says, "somewhere?"
"Yes," Bella says.
Charlie fixes her with a bit of a look. "Did that boy go to Europe with you, Bells?"
"Yeah. He didn't get a ticket on the same plane or anything, but he was in Europe at the same time and we went around together a lot," Bella says. Pause. "I think we might be sort of dating? A little? Not exactly? It's weird."
"Weird's right," mutters Charlie. "Er... I know you just spent a week with your mom... maybe she covered this..."
"Dad. Mom covered the birds and the bees years ago. I am fully informed," Bella says loudly. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | If only Alice knew of this, he would be giggling so much.
Instead he is... having a remarkably similar conversation with Hilary, actually.
"So, you knew she'd be back."
"Mm," says Alice.
"You went to Europe with her."
"Mm," says Alice, and adds a shrug for good measure.
"Are you two...?" She makes a vague cyclic gesture with both hands.
"Screwing? Nope," says Alice.
"And that is simultaneously both more than I wanted to know and less than I asked. Congratulations."
"Heh," says Alice. |
Author: self_composed | "Well, all right," snorts Charlie.
"I promise not to make you a grandfather until I am at least twenty-two and probably quite a bit older," Bella says.
Come to think of it, given the propensity of things to happen without her explicitly planning them... Pentagon proves able to suppressibly sterilize her. She can undo that at will, as with the regeneration, without even expending another wish. Splendid.
"That's good," Charlie says. "Not the only thing that can happen, though -"
"Dad. Do you desperately want to add this conversation to your life? Because I don't, and I promise it is not required for my well-being now or in the future, cross my heart."
"All right, Bells," Charlie says, after a long pause. "Let's go get some pie."
Tegu is a one-person vehicle; they take the cruiser. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | When they arrive, Alice is there to open the door.
"Hi guys! Pie's not ready yet," he says, and considers hugging Bella. |
Author: self_composed | Bella hugs him first. It is a friendly-hug, but still a hug. [Charlie now knows that we are maybe-sorta-dating-or-something-it's-complicated,] she tells Alice. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Okay,] Alice says cheerfully, and idly wonders if this will result in Charlie threatening him with violence. |
Author: self_composed | Well, it doesn't immediately, anyway. Charlie comes in and greets Hilary and sniffs the air. "What kind of pie?" Bella asks. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Apple-pear-caramel!" says Alice.
"I believe in ambitious pie," says Hilary. |
Author: self_composed | "That sounds divine," Bella sighs, and Charlie nods in agreement. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Smells even better," Alice says happily, and indeed it does. |
Author: self_composed | In due course: pie!
Nom. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Piiiie.
Alice enjoys the pie very much. It is excellent pie. |
Author: self_composed | "So did you enjoy Europe, too?" Charlie asks Alice, slowly. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Yep!" says Alice. "It was fun!"
"Hah," says Hilary.
"You were in Europe?" says Judith.
Alice laughs. |
Author: self_composed | "Got off my plane, and there he was," Bella says.
Technically true. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "I can't decide whether that's adorable or creepy," says Hilary.
"I think that's Bella's call," Alice says cheerfully. |
Author: self_composed | "I was happy to see him," Bella says contently. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice beams.
Hilary looks between them.
"Adorable it is," she concludes, and glances at Charlie for his take. |
Author: self_composed | Charlie's expression is neutral, and he's mostly looking at Alice, occasionally flicking his eyes over to Bella. He doesn't say anything.
"Do I taste nutmeg?" Bella asks. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "You do!" Hilary confirms. |
Author: self_composed | After pie has been consumed, Charlie wishes to go put in a half-day at work. On his way out, he catches Alice's eye. Too quietly for anyone else to hear, he says, "As long as Bella's happy, so'm I. You make her unhappy, and you will be too. Clear?" |
Author: edgeofyourseat | "Yep," says Alice. And does not point out that Bella being unhappy is itself worse than any threat Charlie could possibly make, except maybe breaking his dad out of prison. |
Author: self_composed | "Right now I bet you care a lot about keeping Bella happy. But you're eighteen, and you might stop even if it seems like you never could. I'm her father, and I'm not going to," Charlie says.
And with that he leaves to catch up with his daughter and drive her home. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Well, that just happened.
He doesn't really get it. Well, he gets that Charlie is threatening him to protect someone he cares about, and he gets that Charlie would be particularly inclined to give advice about falling out of love; what he doesn't get is what he is supposed to do if he ever, somehow, inconceivably, stops loving Bella. He cannot plan for that. He has no idea how or why he ever would. But he is pretty sure, regardless, that Charlie Swan's vague threats would continue to mean nothing to him. |
Author: self_composed | [He doesn't know that you have magic powers - or at least has no details,] Bella says. [The fact that he can't really do anything to you isn't something that occurred to him. I think what you're supposed to do if you fall out of love with me - according to him - is let me down easy.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Yeah, I wouldn't really care if I didn't have magic powers, either,] says Alice. [What's he gonna do, shoot me?] Which Charlie probably wouldn't do, and which Alice does not find to be a motivating factor even if he would. [Bust my dad out of prison?] That, he'd care about, but he still doesn't think Charlie would do it. [Anyway, it's not gonna happen, and if it does you'll have way bigger problems than my feelings.]
Problems like rains of jelly beans and things being on fire that probably shouldn't. |
Author: self_composed | [No, he wouldn't shoot you. More like watch you and be sure to catch you if you do something illegal. I know you don't drive, at the moment, but if a cop wants to pull a driver over, they have to follow the average person for two minutes before a genuine traffic violation will appear. There are probably similar things in other domains. He might look into the prostitution accustaion,] she adds thoughtfully. [If he were really pissed off.]
Pause.
[I'm not going to tell you my plan for what happens if you go rogue.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Why not?] he asks cheerfully.
Bella is smart. She probably has a better plan than he himself could come up with. Also, she can read his mind, and will continue to be able to read his mind even if he stops wanting her to.
But anything he can think of that she might use to stop him from wrecking things - wishing herself a pain power and hurting him until he sits down; killing him outright - are things that he thinks it would be fun to talk about, and wouldn't defend against, unless he fell out of love with pain when he fell out of love with Bella. And he has been in love with pain for much, much longer. He has no idea what could possibly make him stop loving Bella, but he admits it could happen; he could not stop loving pain and stay himself in any meaningful way. It is a fundamental part of his life in a way that very few things are. |
Author: self_composed | ['Cause you haven't thought of it, you wouldn't like it, and while me telling you about it might either make you fall in love with me all over again or hate me forever, the first outcome is sufficiently redundant and the latter sufficiently inconvenient that I'd rather avoid the discussion. I did think of both options you did, but I don't know how easy you'd be to actually incapacitate with the first thing - or how long I'd have to keep it up, for that matter - and if there's any chance you could be un-rogued I'd rather avoid the second thing. Death: Not a fan. News at eleven.]
Pause.
[How easy you are to incapacitate with a pain power might afford... testing,] she tosses out. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | ...Alice really, really likes that idea.
Also, if she thinks telling him her plan will either make him fall in love with her all over again or hate her forever, he thinks it will definitely be the first one. But he doesn't expect that to change her mind, so he won't bug her about it, or dwell on it any longer. |
Author: self_composed | [You really wouldn't like it. Whether you're enough of a Möbius strip of twistedness to like it because you don't like it the way you are about many other things, I am unsure,] she muses.
[Are you going to make a new lair near Stanford or just a door to your current one?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | ...What the hell is she planning to do? No, not dwelling, not dwelling. Although 'Möbius strip of twistedness' is a beautiful phrase for which he definitely loves her some more.
[Dunno,] he says, and considers the question. [Depends if I find a really good place to put a lair that's close enough to wherever you'll be. It's probably way easier to stick a magic door somewhere.]
And by the way, just how hypothetical was that offhand reference to testing out incapacitating him with a pain power? Because he is all for that. Anytime she wants. Yes please. |
Author: self_composed | [Just wondering about how challenging it would be to slip off to your lair once I'm at school. Probably best to conduct the test this week, though. Charlie's still working most of the days I'm home. Tomorrow morning?] she suggests.
Pause.
And then because he has such entertaining reactions: [Gosh, I wonder if a hex-made Cruciatus Curse power will even come with a ceiling, if I don't install one on purpose. I think maybe I won't.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | It turns out that it is possible to transmit incoherent vocal sounds over brainphone! This one goes something like: [Mllrrrrrrrrgh.]
Yes. Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning is good.
Also, he is heading upstairs right now to go take a shower, and if Bella doesn't want to witness the aftermath of her obvious and very successful attempt to gratuitously turn him on, she might want to quit reading him before he gets there. Or not. Her call. |
Author: self_composed | Hmmmm. She decides she may as well go on reading him.
'Cause why not?
Charlie drops her off and goes to work for his afternoon of paper-pushing.
Bella lounges on the sofa. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He hasn't really had the chance to put his pyrokinesis through its paces yet. He's toyed with it, but he hasn't tried to reach its full potential.
Alice decides that is going to change.
He closes and locks the bathroom door behind him with a triangle and gets in the shower with all his clothes on, because he doesn't care enough about them to save them and doesn't want to waste any time taking them off. Another triangle turns on the shower to a not-quite-scalding temperature, and as the spray hits his face he closes his eyes and sets himself on fire.
His clothes are ash swirling down the drain. If his flight power didn't default to hover, he'd fall down. He pours hexagons; the chain looped around him lengthens noticeably. Alice stands under the water and burns. And as he bites through his lip trying not to scream, he imagines it's Bella doing this to him, Bella making him hurt more than he has ever hurt in his life. Fuck, he loves her so much.
He runs burning hands down his burning chest and pulls the fire deeper, closer, hotter. Keeping it burning while the shower continually tries to put it out is hardly even an effort. He's not sure he has any skin left. He's not sure he cares. It hurts incredibly.
And then, finally, he puts out the fire and wraps his hand around his dick while they are both still healing. That, and the shower spray hitting his burned-raw chest without any of it boiling off first, is a whole new universe of pain. The rest of his skin growing back is almost anticlimactic in comparison, although under other circumstances that alone would probably be enough to give him a spontaneous orgasm.
Healing is over in a flat second, and so is Alice. He drops to his knees and takes a deep breath just to feel it in his lungs, presses his hands against the (now somewhat filthy) shower floor, as he slowly regains awareness of his body through senses other than pain. Water running down his back. The taste of blood and char. The smell of smoke and steam.
When he hauls the new loop of his necklace up from where it dangles insubstantially through the floor, he is not surprised at all to see that the parade of hexagons ends in three glimmering black stars. |
Author: self_composed | [You're gonna set off the smoke alarm,] Bella says faintly. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Laughing, he expends a triangle. [Am not.] Another one cleans up the mess on the shower floor; he sits back and wraps his arms around his knees.
While he was doing it, he wasn't at all thinking about being observed; now that it's over, he kind of wonders what she thought. |
Author: self_composed | [Tomorrow morning,] Bella says. Still vaguely faint. [Mmm-hm.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Oh, so she liked it, didn't she. Alice grins.
[Okay,] he says happily. He reaches up to run his hands through his hair, only to discover that he no longer has any. A square fixes that. He also, running his hands over his back and sides, discovers that all his scars are gone—burned away and healed back clean.
He is not sure how he feels about that part. |
Author: self_composed | [You could wish those back too, if you want,] Bella points out. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Yeah, that's the thing,] he says. [I don't know if I want.]
He likes his scars, but partly as a record of intense experience. And not having them anymore is a record of a more intense experience than (almost) any of them. |
Author: self_composed | [Interesting. Well, you can always change your mind, whatever you decide now - since magic is awesome.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [It is,] he agrees, leaning against the shower wall and humming to himself. |
Author: self_composed | [So you can make stars. Even without... help. I should start thinking of ways to learn about what the matter with them is supposed to be,] muses Bella. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I wouldn't wanna to do it like that all the time,] he says, [but yeah, I can make stars.]
He runs his hand along the line of new hexagons, clicking them together, and then counts the points of the stars with his fingertips. It's really something, having these physical manifestations of pain.
(She meant something else with that pause, he's sure, but—she did help, in a way. She was absolutely a part of that experience, and not just because she was watching. It was for her and about her even if it wasn't with her.) |
Author: self_composed | [If there's a level of pain that makes you say you wouldn't wanna do it all the time, should I install a ceiling after all?] Bella asks. [I haven't wished up the power yet.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Nope,] he says happily. [It's like—you liked that maple-caramel-coconut-butter cake we made, but you wouldn't wanna live on it, right?] |
Author: self_composed | [Fair enough, but if that's all you meant I'm not sure why you mentioned it. Seems to go without saying.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Maybe it doesn't mean the same thing to you, then.]
What he meant by it was: there are things that are intense, and glorious because they're so intense, but by the same token too intense to make a casual part of your daily routine. Cutting a half-dozen hexagons out of himself is a casual part of his daily routine by now; this never will be. But it's still something he likes and wants and would hate to miss out on. |
Author: self_composed | [Oh. I wouldn't mind having desserts as nice as that cake on a daily basis.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [So I guess it was a bad example,] he says, amused. |
Author: self_composed | [Apparently. I'd get bored of Disneyland if I went too often?] Bella suggests instead.
She pauses, then says, [You realize that a primary benefit of the pain power will be the ability to jack up volume for when I can start doing big obvious things like curing malaria, so ideally that wouldn't bother you. But you already pour out way more coins than I could reasonably ask of anyone, so if it does I'll see about getting creative. It's possible that I could just render mosquitoes extinct without damaging the ecology too much, if not with a direct kill-the-bugs wish then with a designer virus or something.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Awww. Alice loves her. He loves her because she wants more coins out of him and he loves her because she doesn't just want to take them; he loves her because she's going to cure malaria and he loves her because she has no experience that relates sensibly to what it's like to set yourself on fire and burn through skin into flesh.
He suspects, though, that he's going to like it even more when she does it. And he already liked it a lot.
Humming to himself, he gets up and turns off the shower. |
Author: self_composed | [Well, antagonizing you with unwanted all-consuming pain attacks and then swiping your coins? Probably not the best recipe for long-term cooperation, which is more important. That and I like you, and liking you precludes torturing you without you being into that. Heck, if you asked me last year I'd say it precluded torturing people at all, but you're just that weird.]
Pause. [And I could know what it was like, sort of, if I opened up the memory - just have no reason to do that.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [You were looking,] he says. [How much did you get?] |
Author: self_composed | [It was a very very large lightning-bolt symbol,] Bella says. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | He laughs. [Yeah, I'll bet. But I mean—how much it hurt and what it was like to hurt that much are two different things.] |
Author: self_composed | [What do you mean?] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | ...Alice begins to think they might be speaking at cross purposes a little.
[Okay, what did you get, other than a great big lightning bolt?] |
Author: self_composed | [It was surrounded in its affect-gray, and there were some verbal tracks - mostly in my color or the magic's, not yours, so I guess you weren't really generating words - and there was the emotion-blob. I could open the emotion-blob,] she suggests. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Might help. What was in the verbal tracks?]
Because no, he was definitely not generating words, but he wonders what words were getting generated for him. |
Author: self_composed | [My name, a few times, tagged with footnotes I didn't open and surrounded in a very lovely pale affect-gray. Stuff about the quality and location of the pain - that it was fire or that the water was interacting with it in various ways, like that.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Huh,] says Alice, musingly. [Well, maybe it'll be in the emotion-blob, then.]
It'd be kind of weird if her mind-reading managed to miss the quality of that experience. But Alice finds that he can't even really figure out whether it was a thought or a feeling or what. It's important, he knows that much. Maybe it wasn't something he thought at the time, but only occurred to him later? |
Author: self_composed | [Here goes.] Bella scans backwards in his memories, finds the blob, and pokes at it.
Ecstatic submersion in experience bursts across Bella's mind like a paintball to the gut. It's crushing and drowning and utterly fantastic.
It doesn't last forever. [If there was a drug that did that, it would be illegal and everyone would take it anyway,] Bella opines. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice cracks up.
[Yeah, now you've got it.] |
Author: self_composed | [I think, like, enlightened Buddhist monks are supposed to be able to induce that state. Only that's about not-experiencing things more than it is about experiencing things. Also it takes them a long time to figure out how to do it.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Looks like I found a shortcut. Maybe not, though, 'cause that was definitely about experiencing things.] |
Author: self_composed | [Yeah, I think you just did it backwards,] Bella says. [Dang. I might feedback-loop on that, tomorrow morning.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Oooh, fun,] Alice says happily, snuggling into a towel. |
Author: self_composed | [That's a word for it, yes. Say, as long as I'm designing the power - I'm inventing arbitrary units so I can compare various instances of it with each other, and so on - remember the test with the square? That was just - plain. Would you like the power to be not-plain? Come in various flavors? Like ice cream.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Yeah!] he says enthusiastically. [That would be awesome.]
Ice cream pain. Bella is the best. |
Author: self_composed | [Such as?] Bella says. [I'm liable to neglect something, but presumably you know what you like.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I like everything,] he says. [And I am nowhere near as good as you at listing stuff. And there's bound to be stuff I haven't even tried yet that I'll like.]
(And he is not totally sure that she really wants him to start listing ways he likes to hurt, because it is all about the details, and Bella has historically seemed to think the details are kind of gross. Also, it gets pretty sexual in a lot of ways, but that seems to be less of a problem now.) |
Author: self_composed | [Okay. If I miss anything, a pentagon'll add it in if we want,] Bella says. And she composes a list. [Whether you gave me ideas or I come up with them myself they still enter my head, you realize.]
Let's see. There's heat, obviously. Cold. Acid. Is base meaningfully different? Meh, she includes it as its own thing; may as well. Electricity. Various flavors of more mechanical injury - cuts, bludgeons, puncture wounds, crushing, tearing, cramping, scraping. She's not sure how some of these will scale up, but magic is very good at that sort of thing.
And she includes "plain", too. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Well, now Alice is thinking about all the subtle flavours of sharp: knife, glass, wire, different kinds of knives, where you put it—it all makes a difference. |
Author: self_composed | [Ah, so we're not going vanilla-chocolate-strawberry here, you want mango gelato with coconut flakes too.] Bella goes back to her mental list and adds shades of nuance. If Alice sees a meaningful difference between being incinerated in a furnace and branded with a soldering iron he may as well be allowed to enjoy those fine distinctions. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I love you,] he giggles, hugging himself, and finally heads back to his room to curl up in bed. |