Author: cross_and_bow	"Welcome to Sunshine," says Juliet. "And to my front porch and whatever you do don't hit the light, it'll set Sherlock on fire."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Thank you," says Sherlock. "I am very fond of not being on fire. It is a state I intend to maintain."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I agree completely," says Juliet. "Now let's go scope out the brick place and see if it's suitable for squatting in while we work out obtaining it."
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell, bending one of her fingers backward for squares again, nods.
Author: eversomuchfun	"What are the odds we can take your truck without anyone falling out?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"I drive careful, if no demons attack and the people in back hang on they'll be fine."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I can teleport. With passengers. And I'm sped up and if we fall out of the truck I'll just put us back."
Author: toblameforit	"Okay, let's take the truck," says Tony.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet drives. Shell Bell and Sherlock go in back, Tony in the passenger seat, and she takes them to the brick building.
Author: she_sells_seashells	A triangle suffices to open the padlock on the door. In they go. This used to be a bakery, and then it was converted into a house, and then it was abandoned and most of the windows were bricked over. It's dusty, but the extra bricks served their purpose and nothing seems to have moved in. Shell Bell triangles away the dust, waving her hand so her companions know it's her doing it. "Looks squattable," she says.
Author: toblameforit	"It'll take some fixing," says Tony. "But yeah, I can totally do this."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Need coins?" Shell Bell asks him. "Or are you all set?"
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet yawns. "Are you guys set? Because I am tired."
Author: toblameforit	"I will need coins," says Tony. "I need, like - power tools, and I'm gonna have to rip out some walls, and install all kinds of shit..."
Author: eversomuchfun	"But you do not need to do all of this tonight, do you."
Author: cross_and_bow	"They can do it tonight, but if they're squatting, and don't need anything from me, I can just go back home, yeah?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Go get some sleep," Shell Bell says.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Can you be invisible? You gonna follow me to school like Amariah did?" yawns Juliet.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Can and will," responds Shell Bell. "Go sleep. I - here." She makes another square and hands it over. "This should wake you up enough to let you drive home safer."
Author: cross_and_bow	The square disappears and Juliet blinks, perked up. "Thanks. I'm gonna go before it wears off. Night all."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Night, love."
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet gets back in her truck and drives home.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell bends back her finger again, and appears her squares off her bandolier for Tony's use. "Are you crashing here or back wherever you normally live?" she asks Sherlock. "I bet you're going to move in here eventually because of Jarvis."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Here, I think," he says. "But not for a while. Need any heavy lifting done, Tony?"
Author: toblameforit	"You bet!"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I don't have to sleep at all, copied that from Stella," says Shell Bell. She frowns at her hand and switches fingers.
Author: toblameforit	"...Can't decide whether that's awesome or scary," says Tony, and he starts going over the walls and muttering to himself.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I can sleep, I'm not like Golden, I can just skip it if I want," says Shell Bell. "I still do sleep when there's not anything important to do. Especially when I've got my Sherlock to snuggle up with. She thinks it's cute when I talk in my sleep." (Shell Bell is so gone over Sherlock. She's not making any effort to conceal it.)
Author: toblameforit	"That is so adorable," says Tony.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"It's apparently what other Bells hear about me before they meet me, is that me and my Sherlock are adorable," giggles Shell Bell. She switches fingers again.
Author: toblameforit	"I can see why!"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Do help yourself to the squares," Shell Bell adds, nudging the pile that's accumulating in a rain from her entwined hands with one foot. "To make your power tools and whatever."
Author: toblameforit	"Thanks," he says, and then looks at her directly and smiles. "I mean, really—thanks."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"You're welcome," says Shell Bell. "It doesn't hurt that bad, though, low end of squares, it's not a big deal."
Author: toblameforit	"Still," he says, "I appreciate it." And back to muttering at the walls.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Construction happens. Shell Bell supplies coins, Tony supplies knowhow, and Sherlock supplies supernatural strength to haul things. In the morning, it finally occurs to Shell Bell that she can put them all on the brainphone network without an extra coin expenditure. So she does, and then she follows Juliet to school, invisible.
Author: cross_and_bow	At Study Hall, Juliet leads Shell Bell to the library, a running conversation in her head, and - this isn't as much of a revelation as her being the Slayer is, which she'll save for after school. He's already met one of her doubles. "I met a couple more mes and brought one home," she tells him casually. "Can you see this one too? She turns outright invisible."
Author: pythbox	"No," says Mr. Giles, "this one escapes me."
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell turns visible and waves. "Hi, Mr. Giles, it's nice to meet you. I'm Shell Bell."
Author: pythbox	He adjusts his glasses. "Likewise," he says. "How many of you are there?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"We know of six and there's no reason not to expect more. Me and this one and Amariah who you met, and Golden and Stella and Angela. I've met all of them now, I think I might be the only one who has - some are close, but Amariah and Angela haven't met Golden and Stella hasn't met this one." She sighs. "Unfortunately, I was caught in the bar without my big magic-coins, so I can give out lots of little ones that I can make myself, but I can't give away my kind of magic to anyone outright, I gave everything big to Angela and my girlfriend who makes most of the coins for me is home asleep."
Author: pythbox	"That... does sound unfortunate," he says.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"It is. I could explain in more detail but apparently you have librarian sensibilities?" Shell Bell says. "But I can do a few things without coins with stuff I already have set up, like turning invisible and flying and also I can add people to a telepathy network that'll go on existing even if I leave, do you want on that?"
Author: pythbox	"...Are there drawbacks?" is the first thing he asks.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"To using the coins? None at all, as long as you're good at designing wishes, and we absolutely are. The coins are just - tricky to make."
Author: pythbox	"Are there drawbacks to the telepathy network?" he clarifies.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Oh. No, not really, if someone annoys you on it or whatever you can put up a busy message and then on your end it's like it's not even there. It only supports text and talking, not, like, mind-viruses or anything."
Author: pythbox	"Then I suppose I might as well. Who else is on it?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Me," says Juliet, "Shell Bell and someone else we brought home from the bar, and a friend of mine you haven't met. So for your purposes, me."
Author: pythbox	He shrugs.
Author: she_sells_seashells	[Ta-da,] says Shell Bell.
Author: pythbox	"Remarkable," he murmurs.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Stella's invention," says Shell Bell cheerily. "So I'm making as many squares as I can while I'm here and I'll be leaving Juliet a long string of them."
Author: cross_and_bow	"That's the nickname I went with for multi-Bell purposes," Juliet says.
Author: pythbox	He looks at Juliet quizzically.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Long story," she says. "You can go on calling me Bella."
Author: pythbox	"I am very happy to," Giles says dryly.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet giggles and gets out her demonology homework.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell does not help her with the notetaking like Amariah did; she scans the bookshelves instead. "Magic from here sounds nasty," she comments. (This is clearly a reference to her previous conversations with Juliet; she's looking at a shelf of YA novels.)
Author: pythbox	"Yes it does," he agrees.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Long term protections against any of that would probably require a pentagon or a hex or even a star, but if there's any straightforward, relatively simple things that could stop it from hurting Juliet, we might be able to work out a way to do it with squares. A square would make her hair grow out blue forever if she wanted it; maybe it can trip some other variable on that scale that'll help? Can you tell me how it works?"
Author: pythbox	"How... what, precisely, works?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"The magic around here being nasty. If she doesn't run into me again, or Stella or Angela, or someone else who can mint her, then it only makes sense for her to pick up the local stuff. Bells are supposed to have magic, we work best when we've got it. But maybe it could be less nasty to her with something clever I could accomplish with squares."
Author: pythbox	"...Nothing springs to mind," he says. "Unless you can make her luckier, or, or less appetizing to demons."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Less appetizing is a probably, although with only squares I might have to find out what kind of nutritional value they're looking for," says Shell Bell speculatively. "I think any kind of permanent luck charm would take a pentagon at the least... and I don't have my amulet with me, I stopped wearing it... and I have my fire wand and I could part with it now I'm a mint, but it takes a lot of practice to use safely and I don't know if that's the best use of Juliet's time."
Author: pythbox	"It varies by the species," he says. "Handily, I have plenty of books on the subject."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I'll go read Juliet's old notes," says Shell Bell. She turns invisible and teleports and reads fast and comes back. "Okay, I don't think I can convincingly do anything to make it seem like she doesn't have, say, bone marrow, but Juliet, how would you feel about smelling like vanilla or something all the time?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Does it have to be all the time? Can I just turn that off and on at will?" Juliet asks. "I'm not sure I want to be that distinctive."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I don't think I can make it will-operated with a square. I might be able to do something complicated where it's based on the temperature or the phase of the moon and you wind up flipping through ten different smells effectively at random, but I might not."
Author: cross_and_bow	"If you can do the complicated version let's go with that, if you can't let's skip it," says Juliet.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell tries. "Can't," she sighs.
Author: pythbox	"But you could have made her smell like vanilla?" says Giles.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Yes. Why, do you want to smell like vanilla?"
Author: pythbox	"My interest is theoretical," he assures her.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell and Juliet giggle in identical unison.
Author: pythbox	He laughs a little.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell returns to browsing. She gets through a noticeable fraction of the section, reading at superspeed.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet takes notes on demons, then packs up to go to next period. They're back after school.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell checks for supervising presences besides Mr. Giles before reappearing.
Author: cross_and_bow	"All clear?" Juliet asks Shell Bell, and at the replying nod, she says, "So... Mr. Giles. I'm... the... Slayer. Thought you might want to know."
Author: pythbox	He takes off his glasses. He cleans them. He does not exhibit surprise.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yeah, I figured you had an inkling. I didn't know right away. I'm mentally opaque so I don't get the dreams, which is great, they sound awful. A Power That Is dropped by one night and explained some stuff. I think this is also why the Watchers couldn't find me when I activated."
Author: pythbox	"Well," he says. "That does make sense." He sighs. "The next appropriate thing I should do as a Watcher is tell the Council I found you. Are you planning to run away if I do?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"No, you were kind enough to tell me in advance that you had to do that, so I'll stay put, although I'll be really irritated if they do something like replace you with someone I haven't vetted for being personally compatible."
Author: pythbox	"They're not likely to," he says.
Author: cross_and_bow	"That's good. Can I tell you something else without it getting back to the Council?"
Author: pythbox	"...Yes," he says, with some reluctance.
Author: cross_and_bow	"I have acquired a friendly vampire boyfriend who has been teaching me to fight and has not tried to kill me even a little bit. I will be very annoyed if anything happens to him."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"He's an alt of my girlfriend!" volunteers Shell Bell. "It's a nice template."
Author: pythbox	"...I feel compelled to ask," says Giles, "even though I know the answer: are you sure he isn't plotting to kill you in some horrible way?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"If he's running a con, it's a long con, that held up when we went to another world and he met an alt of his dead twin and that involves teaching me to beat the crap out of him even though I started out unable to hit him with a crossbow bolt and held up even when he got surprised by my porch lights that one time and doesn't involve trying to wheedle his way into my dad's house and is wholly compatible with him introducing me to alts of myself who'll share their magic with me and leaves him acting recognizably like the non-vampire alts of him we've met including Shell Bell's girlfriend."
Author: pythbox	"All right," says Giles, "I'm convinced." Although he does feel the need to clean his glasses again.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Also, he's Sherlock Holmes."
Author: pythbox	"...Er," says Giles. "In what sense?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"You didn't hear about this? A couple years back the heir to Stark Industries produced a twin brother out of nowhere who called himself Sherlock Holmes. Then Tony died under mysterious circumstances and Sherlock's body was never found. For the obvious reason. He had to tell me to look him up too, I never really followed corporate celebrity types."
Author: pythbox	"No," he says, "I must admit I missed that one."
Author: cross_and_bow	"It's all on the internet if you want to check."
Author: pythbox	"I'll take your word for it," he decides.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Okay. So does the Watcher's Council actually fund Slayers, because I want to buy an abandoned building and it'll be less of a waste of squares to take their money than to have Shell Bell conjure a lot of jewelry and clear out the tills in all the pawn shops in town."
Author: pythbox	"...We... usually don't fund Slayers directly," he says. "What do you need the abandoned building for?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"To install an AI in. Also Sherlock will probably move there," says Juliet. "The AI was also killed, when Tony was, but we brought a copy home from another world for the local Sherlock."
Author: pythbox	He takes off his glasses, makes no pretense of cleaning them, and rubs his face with his free hand. "All right," he says, "I'll see what I can do." Pause. "...You're reasonably sure he's not eating people, I hope?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"He stopped eating people when he encountered me on the grounds that it would probably otherwise be hard to get me to talk to him civilly instead of trying to shoot him, yeah. After his fridge broke he started storing jars of blood - labeled from a butcher shop - in mine. Pig and cow."
Author: pythbox	"That's... civilized, for a vampire," he acknowledges.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yep." She decides this is not the time to mention or defend him killing Obadiah in that other universe. He didn't eat him, anyway.
Author: pythbox	"Any more surprises?" he inquires.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Apart from Sherlock and the building and all the interdimensional goings-on and me being the Slayer and having a do-not-enter sign up on my brain, nope, all's dull and boring." Pause. "I killed a demon last night? One of those unpronounceable things you have to twist to take apart? Would've taken me much longer to figure out if not for the stalling homework, so thanks."
Author: pythbox	"That is, very literally, what I'm here for," he says. "And your stalling homework is now your official Slayer training." Slight pause. "So there," he adds, with dissonant stuffiness.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet laughs. "Well, you won't have to come up with a combat training regimen that you can implement without me having to hit you, Sherlock's got that covered and he doesn't mind if I hit him. But I do still want to learn magic. I can't count on getting minted any time soon and a finite supply of Shell Bell's squares can only do so much."
Author: pythbox	"I still intend to teach you magic," he says. "Eventually."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I'll try to be conservative with my squares," says Juliet dryly.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Stella managed to force the door once," Shell Bell says encouragingly. "We don't know if it works consistently, but maybe someone will be able to come to you even if you never run into one of us at Milliways."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Here's hoping," agrees Juliet.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell bends one of her fingers backwards again, mouth set.
Author: pythbox	Giles frowns slightly.
Author: cross_and_bow	"What?" Juliet asks.
Author: pythbox	He continues frowning for a moment, then shakes his head.
Author: cross_and_bow	"I bet you want to know why Shell Bell's doing that and you're concerned she'll answer you and this will offend your librarian sensibilities," says Juliet.
Author: pythbox	He cleans his glasses.
Author: cross_and_bow	"I'm right," concludes Juliet, humming, and she goes back to plowing through her demonology texts for a minute before adding, "So I was thinking of getting, like, a mask, probably a conjured one so it'll fit and have good visibility and not come off easily and stuff, and fighting demons in it. So they can't accost me at least based on my face when I'm trying to attend Latin or whatever. I was also thinking I'd go to L.A. first before fighting any demons I don't plan to completely wipe out for rumoring purposes, so it looks like I live there - within apocalypsey reach of Sunnydale but not leading would-be-Slayer-killers right to my door. I'll bring Sherlock, and Shell Bell if she hasn't gone home, they can help if I get in a spot - would it be good or bad if there were rumors I can teleport?"
Author: pythbox	He blinks. "Good," he says. "Probably. It's never come up."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I can't, but Shell Bell can, and she can be invisible and take passengers," explains Juliet, "and she thinks faster than I do, so she can simulate my reaction time."
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell responds to this by flickering around the room at high speed.
Author: pythbox	Giles tries to follow her movement with his eyes, but almost immediately gives up.
Author: she_sells_seashells	She comes to a stop in front of him. (Floating in midair.)
Author: cross_and_bow	"We'll be able to keep you updated on goings-on in L.A. via brainphone," Juliet says, "in case we run into something we don't recognize and want you to look it up. Sherlock's the other person on the network, by the way. I think he's probably asleep now."
Author: pythbox	"That does sound convenient, then," he says, ignoring Bell's showoffery.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yup," says Juliet. "I have excellent alts."
Author: pythbox	"That's true," he allows, smiling a little.
Author: cross_and_bow	"At what time are you going to inform the Council? Will they want me on the phone too or do they only talk through you as far as I'm concerned?"
Author: pythbox	"Tomorrow morning, I think," he says. "And you're right, they won't care to hear from you."
Author: cross_and_bow	"That would probably bother me, if I felt like talking to them," she muses.
Author: pythbox	"I don't think anyone involved in that conversation would enjoy it," Giles predicts.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Agreed. What're you going to tell them, exactly? If I were them I'd have questions if all you said was 'found her'."
Author: pythbox	"I'm going to tell them that I found the Slayer, she's safe, healthy, and beginning official training immediately. I don't think they'll have many questions about exactly how we met; it's not completely unheard-of for a teenage girl to enter a high school library of her own free will."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Can you get me on the brainphone to let me know if the conversation deviates from expected parameters?"
Author: pythbox	"Yes, I suppose so," he says.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Thanks! Hey, if Sherlock doesn't object, do you want to come and watch us beat each other up tonight? See how I'm coming along?"
Author: pythbox	"Yes," he says. "If he kills me, I will be very disappointed in your judgment."
Author: cross_and_bow	"He's not going to kill you. I mean, even if he decided he wanted to kill you, which he is not going to do unless you do something awful to me, I don't think he'd do it in front of Tony, or when Shell Bell's right there and could stop him."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Although I wouldn't stop him if you did do something awful to Juliet," Shell Bell adds. Then something occurs to her. She tries Sherlock on the brainphone, in case he's awake. [Sherlock?]
Author: eversomuchfun	Sleepily: [Yes?]
Author: pythbox	"I don't plan on doing anything awful to anyone," says Giles.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Good." [Were and/or are you and Tony involved in any way Juliet might find surprising?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Were. This Tony and I have been a little too busy to have any sex,] he says dryly.
Author: she_sells_seashells	[Okay, but that's still something you want to consider fessing up to. As opposed to, say, waiting for your Bell to unexpectedly fall down a flight of stairs and fetch up staring directly at you in any Tony's lap, liplocked. I realize yours is less likely to fall down stairs, but. She did mention an absence of a monogamy conversation having occurred.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[I will tell her at the next convenient opportunity, and before indulging myself similarly again,] he says. [Thank you for the no doubt directly-from-personal-experience warning. Feel free to mention it to her in the meantime.]
Author: she_sells_seashells	[Will do if there's a suitable lull in the conversation. Mr. Giles is taking everything very well, by the way, wants to come watch you spar tonight.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Must be the drugs,] he says. [Sure, why not.]
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Sherlock says it's fine if Mr. Giles wants to supervise," Shell Bell reports.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Oh good," says Juliet, grinning. "I look forward to showing off for a larger audience. Not that Sherlock's not appreciative."
Author: pythbox	Giles reaches into his pocket for his glasses-cleaning cloth, pulls it out halfway, and then changes his mind and puts it back.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"If I wished your glasses permanently clean," says Shell Bell, switching fingers to bend, "that would probably defeat some purpose, wouldn't it."
Author: pythbox	"Go ahead," he says, deadpan, "but don't tell Juliet."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I heard that," says Juliet. "Waste of squares anyway. I only get as many as Shell Bell can make before we find her a door."
Author: pythbox	He chuckles.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Going as fast as I can," says Shell Bell, but she pushes a little harder on her bent finger.
Author: pythbox	Giles decides not to ask. Not that he doesn't have a pretty good idea.
Author: cross_and_bow	Time passes. Juliet studies demons. Shell Bell makes squares. And ultimately the sunset timer rings. "Well, time to head home so I can meet Sherlock at my house and give him breakfast," says Juliet. "I don't think teleporting me and my truck home would be worth the questions."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I can't teleport large objects with me anyway, unless you're picking them up, which wouldn't be very good for your truck," Shell Bell says.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Mr. Giles, you want to come home with me and meet Sherlock there? Shell Bell can just be invisible and fly. Or you could meet us later at the abandoned building I want where our extradimensional guests are squatting."
Author: pythbox	"If you don't mind," he says, "I think I'd rather meet the vampire after he's had his breakfast. Where's this building?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I could teleport you there," offers Shell Bell.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet just gives him the intersection.
Author: pythbox	"Thank you," he says. "When should I be there?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Half an hour," says Juliet, packing up her belongings. And out she goes, Shell Bell turning invisible and following in the air.
Author: she_sells_seashells	[There is a thing you'll wanna know, says Shell Bell, [and your Sherlock said I could tell it to you.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Yeah, what?]
Author: she_sells_seashells	[In general, Sherlocks and Tonies have sex. With each other. It's not the best surprise to get, so when I thought of it I asked your Sherlock, and this world's not an exception. Your Sherlock and Other Tony haven't with each other, too busy so far, and your Sherlock says he'll clear it with you beforehand if an opportunity even crops up. So, note that when you have your monogamy conversation.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Uh. Okay. That's one reason to reject the "brothers" descriptor.]
Author: she_sells_seashells	[No, not really. Mine are actually twins, same deal. I fell down the stairs before they expected me to arrive on their floor and spotted them making out. It led to a difficult conversation.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[I'd imagine. Okay. ...You can probably imagine my questions.]
Author: she_sells_seashells	[My Sherlock loves me,] says Shell Bell in a sigh. [So much. She loves Tony too, she loved him first, but she loves me. Sometimes I open that up in my mindreading and I can barely breathe. It's okay. It's really okay.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Okay,] says Juliet, after a silence. [Thanks for letting me know. You're right, that would've been a hell of an awkward surprise.]
Author: she_sells_seashells	[You'd've done the same for me if our positions were reversed,] says Shell Bell. And there is Juliet's house. Juliet parks and goes in to microwave some blood; Shell Bell parks in the air, still invisible. [Told her, she's fine,] she reports to Sherlock.
Author: eversomuchfun	[Thank you.]
Author: she_sells_seashells	[You're welcome. You almost here?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Nearly, yes.]
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell zooms out to intercept his path and trail him back to Juliet's. She imagines he can smell her; this is fine.
Author: eversomuchfun	He gives her a little wave.
Author: she_sells_seashells	[Hullo.] And there is Juliet's house and Juliet with a cup of blood.
Author: eversomuchfun	Slurp. "Delicious breakfast," he says. "Though not as delicious as you, dear Juliet. Back to my future home?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yes, I think so. I believe Mr. Giles's librarian sensibilities would be offended if any tasting occurred, though." But Mr. Giles's librarian sensibilities will just have to live with a certain amount of handholding, apparently.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Ooh, remind me to kiss Tony in front of him, then," he says brightly.
Author: cross_and_bow	"I don't think offending Mr. Giles's librarian sensibilities is the object of this evening," snorts Juliet, "is it?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"Only in fun, harmless ways," he assures her.
Author: cross_and_bow	"All right. So I guess that was our version of the monogamy conversation, was it? Are there -" She gestures vaguely. "Rules, to this? Expectations that should be clarified?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"Unless you object, I pretty much plan to fuck who I like and tell you about it as it comes up. You're free to do the same, although I am almost certainly going to find out whether you tell me or not. If you have other rules or expectations, we can of course talk about those."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I think it'd be awkward if you wound up screwing anyone or anything I'd feel obliged to kill if I met," she says after a pause. "Whether or not such a meeting is likely."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Hmm, really?" He shrugs. "All right."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I think it'd require significantly more processing to disentangle suspect motivations," she shrugs. "Nothing else leaps to mind, I guess." Pause. "I'm glad it'd matter if I objected."
Author: eversomuchfun	He smiles. "Of course it would."
Author: cross_and_bow	He gets a kiss on the cheek for that as they approach the brick building. It's about when Giles is due to meet them.
Author: pythbox	And there, indeed, is Giles. His car is a terrible old grey wreck, but it coughs along adequately. He parks it front.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Hi, Mr. Giles," says Juliet. "This is Sherlock. Sherlock, this is Mr. Giles." She knows that they could both figure that out, but it's polite.
Author: pythbox	"Hello," says Giles.
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock grins toothily, but doesn't show fang.
Author: pythbox	Giles adjusts his glasses. "Something was said about Slayer training, I believe?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yeah. Let's go in. There's room for it in the front bit," says Juliet. She opens the door. "Hi, Tony!" she calls. "We brought my Watcher. This is Mr. Giles."
Author: toblameforit	"Hi, Mr. Giles!" calls Tony's voice from upstairs. "Don't mind me, I'm just ripping out a couple walls!"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Do you need more squares?" calls Shell Bell, stepping into the building and becoming visible again.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Anyway," says Juliet, dropping her messenger bag and divesting herself of her crucifix, "Mr. Giles, you'll wanna stand clear on the other side of the room." She wants to show off, and she's best starting off defensive - playing black, as it were. "Surprise me," she tells Sherlock, dropping into stance.
Author: pythbox	Mr. Giles puts himself as far from the action as possible.
Author: toblameforit	"Nah, I'm good for now," comes Tony's voice drifting down the stairs.
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock is happy to oblige.
Author: cross_and_bow	It doesn't count as showing off if Giles doesn't know how good Sherlock is. She passes up one opening early on and lets the fight go on a little longer - she's good enough to have that flexibility, now, useful if she ever has to favor an injury or stall for time - and only pins him after a solid minute and a half. (He winds up with his face on the floor, so there's no question of whether Mr. Giles's librarian sensibilities will also have to live with a certain amount of kissing.)
Author: eversomuchfun	"A pleasure as always," he says, slightly muffled.
Author: pythbox	Mr. Giles rolls his eyes. But: "You're very good," he says. "Both of you."
Author: cross_and_bow	She lets Sherlock up. "Thanks!" And then she gets out her notebook. She thinks she should have gone with a right cross instead of the elbow thing she did. She writes that down and meditates over it for a moment, then gets up again.
Author: pythbox	Mr. Giles observes this, but doesn't comment.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Again?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Absolutely." And so it goes. A few sequences in, Juliet cracks her knuckle with a missed punch that hits the floor instead; normally this would require calling it a night and letting it heal overnight, but Shell Bell just tosses her a square - she's sitting in front of quite a heap of them by now - and Juliet fixes the fracture and leaps for Sherlock again.
Author: pythbox	Giles raises his eyebrows, but doesn't comment.
Author: cross_and_bow	It gets to be rather late. "I usually call it around this time, depending," says Juliet, checking the time on her phone and taking a swig of water. "And go home and do some modest amount of minimally-demonic homework and crash for the night. Does that sound reasonable to you?" she asks Mr. Giles.
Author: pythbox	"Entirely," he assures her.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Excellent, I was worried you'd stomp all over my well-oiled routine," says Juliet. "I hope you are satisfied that Sherlock does not plan to eat any of us, as well."
Author: pythbox	"It doesn't seem to be on his to-do list," Giles agrees.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Questions or comments before Sherlock and Shell Bell respectively walk and fly me home?" inquires Juliet.
Author: pythbox	"I'm going to look into buying this building tomorrow," he says. "Perhaps I can spin it to the Council as a handy training room. I'm hardly going to have you punching a bag in my library, after all."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Bags and demons have little in common anyway. Thanks," says Juliet.
Author: pythbox	"In the meantime," he says, looking around, "I don't think you'll have any trouble moving in."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Neither do I."
Author: cross_and_bow	"There's a reason abandoned buildings are called that," Juliet says, nodding sagely and putting her crucifix and messenger bag back on.
Author: pythbox	"Really? I thought they just assigned the label at random," Giles says innocently.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Nope. The term has a lengthy and noble history." She cleans imaginary glasses. "I can loan you seventeen books on the subject," she adds in a bad English accent, "but some of them are in Latin."
Author: pythbox	He snorts.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Your accent is fucking terrible," Sherlock informs her kindly.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yes, I know. Out we go," she says, making for the door. "Oh, and as long as Shell Bell's still here tomorrow, she can teleport us to L.A., we won't have to go early and put you under a tarp after all."
Author: eversomuchfun	"How convenient."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Very." Strolling ensues.
Author: she_sells_seashells	So too do invisibility and flying.
Author: eversomuchfun	And handholding. That too.
Author: cross_and_bow	Yes indeed. "You didn't wind up kissing Tony in front of Giles," observes Juliet, when they're out of the Watcher's earshot.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Tony was busy," he says serenely.
Author: cross_and_bow	"How's Jarvis's installation coming along, anyway?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"First Tony must be satisfied that the house will not fall down," he says. "Then he will install the nonessentials and check them over. Then he will conjure and install the crucial hardware."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Ah, I see. So he's doing architecture first," laughs Juliet.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Yes. Architecture and swearing."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I bet the swearing is essential to the process," says Juliet, nodding.
Author: eversomuchfun	"You are correct."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I wonder how long it'll be until we find Milliways again for them," asks Juliet, more soberly.
Author: eversomuchfun	"To be honest, I've been trying not to think about it."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Sorry."
Author: eversomuchfun	"It's all right."
Author: cross_and_bow	There's her house. "I told Charlie this morning on my way to the morgue. He wasn't thrilled but he'll live and not shoot at you," she says, and she gives Sherlock a kiss goodnight.
Author: eversomuchfun	Grinning, he kisses back. "Night, love," he says ever so cheerfully when they are finished kissing.
Author: cross_and_bow	"G'night." The next day, she does homework of various sorts - catchup from classes, demonology - and she chats with Shell Bell. When night falls, she and Shell Bell teleport to the brick building. Juliet has conjured herself a mask. It looks like a more practical version of something suited for a Viennese carnival, all indigo and black and very understatedly decorative; her hair tucks up in back of it where it slips over her head, and it shadows her eyes to the point of uncertain color while leaving her complete peripheral vision as well as free breathing. "What do you think, am I at least slightly challenging to identify?" she asks Sherlock when she and Shell Bell land.
Author: eversomuchfun	"To anyone who isn't me, yes," he says.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Spiffy."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I was thinking about the scent thing, and as long as I'm there, I can just flood the room with vanilla or whatever," says Shell Bell. "Also, do we know where we're going any more specifically than L.A.?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"Yes."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"You're going to have to actually tell me. I'm the one who can teleport," says Shell Bell.
Author: eversomuchfun	He gives an intersection, and names the northwest corner.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"All right. Indoors or out? I can't make you guys invisible, I can only do that for me. Am I taking you separately so Sherlock can just pretend to be some random vampire not in any way affiliated with Juliet?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"That would probably be best. Outdoors will do; you can check first if anyone is watching, I assume."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Yeah. I could do that even better if I went visible - Stella had a problem with spies one time and I batch-copied her powers when I met her - but we don't want Juliet's face involved, and I have it. So I'll just scope out the place. I'll do that now." Shell Bell vanishes, and then she vanishes in a different sense.
Author: cross_and_bow	"So what have we got me walking into?" Juliet asks Sherlock.
Author: eversomuchfun	"A nest of bored, complacent vampires," he says. "By the way, Tony keeps forgetting to mention it, but he brought you half a dozen laser pointers. He's got them squirreled away somewhere. You probably won't even need the one you've got tonight, provided you bring something wooden and pointy."
Author: cross_and_bow	"A supply of them is still good. I'll hold it in reserve; we're already going to produce the rumor that I can teleport, so after I can't back that up anymore it'll be nice to be able to produce the rumor that I can make a vampire burst into flames at a hundred paces to supplant it. How many vampires?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"Fourteen," he says cheerfully.
Author: cross_and_bow	"You think some of them will bolt while I'm dusting the others, or will I have to explicitly let somebody go?" she asks, reaching under her mask to scratch her eyebrow.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Some of them will bolt," he assures her. "If they are all foolish enough to continue attacking you, I suppose you can kill them all and we can find you another batch."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Mkay. There's more spots in L.A.?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"Plenty."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Spiffy. I'll hit one every weekend and most holidays, I guess, and a few on random Thursdays or wherever just to keep them on their toes."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Delightful," says Sherlock.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell reappears in both senses of the word. "I looked around and I went in real quick - scentless, not breathing, they didn't notice me. There's fourteen vampires in there, just sort of lying around, one's asleep. On the street there's one homeless guy sitting around but he's so high he could probably see you teleporting in even if you didn't. Nobody else, although someone could come around the corner if we wait, are we ready to go right now?"
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet conjures a stake, polished with a grip designed to fit her hand exactly, and says, "I'm ready. Sherlock?"
Author: eversomuchfun	He nods.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Who's going first?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"Me."
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell turns invisible again and ports him to the corner. [There you go.] And she makes a second trip for Juliet.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet is landed right into the nest - Sherlock is her backup; if she can handle this without people wondering who her friend is it'll be clearer she's the Slayer. She dusts the first vamp before anyone knows she's there. Shell Bell has killed the scents in the room and the air has a weird tastelessness to it even through her mask. Juliet lunges for the next nearest vampire.
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock watches. Oh, she is a glory.
Author: cross_and_bow	They're all ascramble, evenly divided between those who want to run and those who want to take her apart. She stakes the second one, whirls and blocks a grab from the third before dusting him too, and then says to Shell Bell [Now,] which is Shell Bell's cue to teleport her across the room. (This is part of the rumor they're spreading, of course.) She dusts two more vampires who weren't expecting her in that section and then she stalks menacingly towards another, who joins the knot of them all trying to get out the door at the same time. He's not fast enough. He gets a stake in the back.
Author: eversomuchfun	...Well, now he's just feeling inappropriately attracted to her.
Author: cross_and_bow	Nothing inappropriate about it. She kills ten. Four scatter; they go in all directions, so she goes ahead and picks one and gives chase and gets him half a block away. [Brick place?] she asks Shell Bell, and Shell Bell vanishes her. (One of the fleeing vampires is still within sight of her and makes a despairing noise when she goes.)
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell fetches Sherlock next, and they are all right back where they came from, not five minutes later.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Beautifully done," he says, grinning. "I'm a terrible bodyguard; I spent the latter half of that spectacle thinking about how unreasonably attractive you are."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I didn't wind up needing bodyguarding, no harm done," she says, sidling up to him from where Shell Bell landed her. "Not a scratch on me. They were slow. Even startled they could've done better."
Author: eversomuchfun	"I," he says, "would like to show you my nice comfortable new basement. And then make out with you in it."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I would like to be shown this basement. And make out with you in it," Juliet agrees.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Let's." And down the stairs they go. The basement really is comfortable. All the windows are blacked out, but the lights work. Tony has managed to put together a respectable bed and populate it with respectable blankets. Sherlock leads her straight there.
Author: cross_and_bow	Ooh. A surface that is not a stone crypt floor on which to make out. That's new. Kisses kisses kisses. (...Is being turned on after dusting eleven vampires a Slayer thing, Juliet wonders but doesn't ask.)
Author: eversomuchfun	Apparently being turned on after watching someone dust eleven vampires is, at the least, a Sherlock thing. So wherever their respective things are coming from here, it all works out very nicely.
Author: cross_and_bow	It really really does.
Author: she_sells_seashells	... The next day, when the gang's all hanging out at the brick building and Juliet has gone on another quick masked demon-busting excursion in L.A. to show off that "she can teleport", Shell Bell says: "The critters you fight are nasty. I think... I had better leave you my fire wand, Juliet. And teach you to use it."
Author: cross_and_bow	"How long did it take you?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"About a year, but I could only practice at odd hours - I was holding down a job and sometimes showing up to school and poaching on the side and while there was plenty of beach there wasn't plenty of deserted beach. I can just teleport us all to the nearest - nighttime - beach with nobody around to watch you play with fire for hours," says Shell Bell, "and I'll help, too, I got instructions ahead of time but no in-the-moment teaching. And before you ask: no, it won't break, it can't, and you have to know something about how it works to use it at all so even a random demon who suspects it's a fire wand and gets it away from you won't be able to make even an uncontrolled fire with it unless it knows how to concentrate on it."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Exciting," says Sherlock.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell winks at him. "Very," she murmurs. "I'm going to duplicate the power the next time I have my hands on a hex."
Author: cross_and_bow	This doesn't go unnoticed. "Oh, is that why he's coming along," Juliet snorts. "I don't know if it'll be so much fun when I'm fumbling around with the fire and periodically stop-drop-rolling in the surf, but whatever floats your boat."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Failure is cute. Success is sexy. Either way, I am pleased to be a spectator."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"My Sherlock was nearly only interested in people who could beat her up, and then she watched me burn down a train station," says Shell Bell merrily. "The Memorial Dome a bit later didn't hurt either."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I think I've cleared that barrier already, but sure, spectate away," snorts Juliet.
Author: eversomuchfun	He laughs.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Before even finding them a beach, Shell Bell gives Juliet a rundown on how to control the wand: "You're in control of a bunch of things. Shape, location, temperature, how fast it consumes available fuel - it doesn't need fuel at all, you could have a floating fireball in a sealed chamber and it wouldn't take your oxygen if you didn't want it to let alone die for lack of stuff to oxidize, but it'll take anything you do want to feed it. If you lose attention on any of those things, the fire will be out of control on all counts and go on according to the laws of physics. You can get it back as long as it's contiguous. But you can't control more than one piece of fire at a time, so until you really have the hang of it and never lose your fire before you're ready, don't let it spread too far where it'll burn out intermediate patches."
Author: cross_and_bow	"If it doesn't need fuel, can it burn in places where you wouldn't expect it to be able to?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Yeah. I used to practice cooking minnows from the inside - I couldn't do anything out where the bigger fish swim, but you can put fire inside of a demon if you want, it'd look funny on an autopsy but it'll add to your aura of mysterious power."
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock giggles.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Kickass," says Juliet. "I always wanted an aura of mysterious power. What else do I have to know?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"You probably want to learn the usual temperatures of fires that burn on various substances. You don't have to know it in degrees or anything, which is good because this comes from a world that doesn't use degrees I recognize and I sure don't know if they match yours, but if you've been near something burning it'll be easier to refer to it."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I've been around wood fires, but not, like, thermite," says Juliet.
Author: eversomuchfun	"If you want to have a thorough knowledge of the behaviour of all kinds of accelerants and explosives, talk to Tony," suggests Sherlock. "When he is less busy."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"It won't be necessary to start with anyway, holding the temperature constant at wood-fire levels will be good for initial practice," Shell Bell says.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Okay," says Juliet. "Should we just start now, then? Find a beach in this time zone for me to throw fire at?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I think so," says Shell Bell, and she teleports all three of them to the largest unobserved beach on the west coast of the United States.
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock claps his hands.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet accepts the wand from Shell Bell, and... composes... a fire in her head. She would like it to be over there - yea big - woodfire hot - not consuming fuel. It takes her a minute, but eventually she holds all these parameters in her head in the right sort of stack, and it appears, and she grins.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Ooh. Pretty."
Author: cross_and_bow	This distracts Juliet enough that she loses something - temperature, she thinks, or the no-fuel thing, since she can see size and shape. The fire falls away from her and - since it has nothing to catch on - dies. "I need to be able to do this when distracted," she says before Sherlock can ask her if he ought to shut up, and she brings it back into existence again and stares at it intently.
Author: eversomuchfun	"How distracted?" he inquires brightly.
Author: cross_and_bow	"...Well, eventually, in-melee-with-enough-demons-that-busting-out-the-fire-wand-is-a-better-idea-than-hand-to-hand distracted," she says. The fire doesn't die when he talks this time. She starts coaxing it taller until she's got a ten-foot column of the stuff.
Author: eversomuchfun	"In that case, I foresee you setting things on fire while making out with me."
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell laughs and laughs. "But then it'll be hard to look what she's doing. Try the back of her neck or something."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I'm not sure I want you making quite as many suggestions as you're making," Juliet says mildly to Shell Bell, swaying her column of fire back and forth with unnecessary motions of the wand to remind her what she's doing.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Regardless, I suggest not getting into the habit of moving the wand if you ever want to be able to use it without letting everybody know that you're using it," Shell Bell says, unapologetic.
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock just snorts.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet flips the wand around in her hand so she's still clutching the handle, but the wand is pointed backwards along her arm, and she stares down the column of fire. She splits it, not all the way down - she wants it contiguous - but she forms it into the bright warm equivalent of swaying blades of grass, adding one at a time until she's managing ten at once and loses all of them.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"You're doing really good. If you want tendrils like that, try to find a way to think of the shape in a higher-level abstract pattern," says Shell Bell, "move a few of them in parallel if you can, or lean them all counterclockwise at once, or whatever."
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock listens with interest.
Author: cross_and_bow	Practice continues, and Juliet improves considerably, although when she hands the wand back to Shell Bell and asks for a demo, she's blown away by the fire-octopus Shell Bell has dancing through the air, all different colors informed by the heat of the flame.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"You can get this good," says Shell Bell. "It'll just take practice. And you don't need it for lightshows, anyway," she adds as her octopus swims in a lazy bright circle. "Just for fighting. I could cook swimming minnows reliably after just a couple of months practicing half an hour a day on average. And it's not like it's boring, is it?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Not boring," agrees Juliet. "If I swipe the wand from you now does the fire go uncontrolled or just out?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"If I drop the wand, it goes uncontrolled. I'm not sure what happens if I hand it off. Try taking it, the octopus is over the ocean now, no real danger."
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet takes the wand out of Shell Bell's hand. The octopus stays, although she doesn't try to move its tentacles or retain the colors, just focuses on the shape and place and woodfire-warmth and that it should not consume fuel.
Author: eversomuchfun	That is fun. Sherlock smiles.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet slowly adds spots of hotter colored fire to a few places on the octopus, and then starts moving its arms in a coordinated pattern, although she doesn't combine this with swimming it through the air. She maintains this for five minutes and then loses it with a gasp of temporarily forgotten air. "Hard, though," she mutters.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Fun things often are."
Author: cross_and_bow	"It's true." She makes a more modest shape - a snake - and starts flying it around over the water, rippling patterns of heat/color along its length and undulating it in a sine wave. She manages a minute and a half. "I think I'm getting tired."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Don't operate the wand tired," says Shell Bell at once. "I'll take us home." And she does.
Author: eversomuchfun	"What special terrors occur if you operate the wand tired? Or are you just more likely to fuck it up?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"More likely to fuck it up, less likely to notice right away if it goes out of control," says Shell Bell. "I don't have any permanent scars but I did have to dive into the sea a couple of times."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Aha."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I will avoid wanding when I'm tired," says Juliet. "Unless it's an emergency and I have at least one square on me. Square can probably conjure a fire extinguisher or just outright kill the flame if it splits up out of control, right?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Yes, unless it's really huge, then you might need a couple," says Shell Bell. She's been continuously bending various fingers backwards throughout all this time; her hands would certainly be swollen with accumulated distress at this point if it weren't for her regen.
Author: cross_and_bow	Come Monday morning, the Bells return to school after the usual stop at the morgue. (Vampires take long enough to rise, and there are few enough of them in Sunnydale now anyway, that Juliet has scaled back her visits to Monday-Wednesday-Friday only.) After Juliet's first classes, there is study hall in the library. "I busted some demon nests in L.A. with a mask on and scent in the room killed, let a few go, made sure they saw me teleport, and started learning to use Shell Bell's fire wand that she's going to leave here for me," Juliet chirps to Mr. Giles after a check for bystanders.
Author: pythbox	"I bought you a house," is how Giles chooses to return this greeting. "It's officially in my name, but you can do what you want with it, since I assume that turning part of it into a training area is on the agenda."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yup. Install the AI, have Sherlock move in, beat each other up in it, when I'm good enough with the wand that I don't have to practice on the beach I can do that there too." Pause. "Shell Bell, do you think squares could conjure copies of arbitrary demonology books?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I could probably conjure a copy of Johanna Mason's unauthorized biography," says Shell Bell, "even though this universe doesn't have any copies and I have never read it before, so I assume demonology books that have actually been written in Sunshine would only be easier."
Author: pythbox	Giles looks stunned. Then he says, very rapidly and intently, "Can I write you up a list?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Uh, sure," says Shell Bell, amused.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Try it on one book first, to make sure it works," snorts Juliet.
Author: pythbox	He rattles off a title as though he has been waiting for this day all his life.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell switches from bending her finger to biting her cheek, so that she can catch the conjured book and present it to him. "Is this what you were looking for?"
Author: pythbox	"Yes it is," he says, and immediately hauls out pen and paper to start composing that list.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Er, please do remember that Shell Bell's only here for a finite amount of time, can make only a finite number of squares, and every book you request will cost a square of its own," says Juliet. "I might or might not find another me with mint powers before I run out even if I only use them for emergencies, since Slayers encounter, you know, lots of emergencies. And the squares and the fire wand are the only safe magic we have access to right now."
Author: pythbox	"That," he says without looking up from the page, "is why I am not just naming titles as fast as I can think of them."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"It's not any more expensive to conjure a big book than a small one, so if any of them might have been omnibused or otherwise combined..."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Your conservatism is appreciated, Mr. Giles," says Juliet.
Author: pythbox	He starts scribbling on the list, linking titles with arrows or brackets. Eventually, he has it down to fifteen, written neatly in order on the back of the page. He hands it to Bell.
Author: she_sells_seashells	Shell Bell conjures him a stack of those fifteen books, easy as pie. They appear on his desk. "There you go. I hope they help!"
Author: pythbox	"Immeasurably," he assures her.
Author: cross_and_bow	"What sorta books did you pick out?" Juliet asks, peering over her shoulder instead of at the book she's currently notetaking from.
Author: pythbox	"Ones I wouldn't be able to get any other way, but that I know exist. and want to own. Not all of them are demonology; a few are about magic."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Ooh." Pause. "It's possible I should have mentioned earlier that we think the reason I haven't gotten magic from here to work for me is that various demonic-and-or-divine entities cannot inspect the contents of my skull to figure out what I am trying to do."
Author: pythbox	"...Luckily, I don't think that will have too much impact on the usefulness of the selection."
Author: cross_and_bow	"That's good! What kinda magic books?" inquires Juliet.
Author: pythbox	"Historical, theoretical, and one practical. Just one. But I think you might find the theoretical more interesting."
Author: cross_and_bow	"More interesting, maybe. Not necessarily more so by enough to keep me away from the practical once you're out of stalling homework. I want to stretch my square supply and I don't care to base my entire fighting-the-forces-of-evil strategy on being able to punch holes through brick walls."
Author: pythbox	"I would say it's worked for hundreds of Slayers before you, but I can already imagine your reply," he sighs.
Author: cross_and_bow	"It didn't work well enough for any of them to live past twenty-six," says Juliet.
Author: pythbox	"...Who told you that number?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Sherlock. Is it wrong?"
Author: pythbox	"No," he says, frowning. "But I want to know where he got it."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"It's possible to follow Sherlocky trails of evidence, but they're sometimes very lengthy and complicated," says Shell Bell. "Sherlocks are good at knowing things based on stuff everyone can see but doesn't put together right."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I'm pretty sure he's still nocturnal, but come evening you could always brainphone him about it," shrugs Juliet.
Author: pythbox	"...I see," says Giles.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Shell Bell would know, at least about Sherlocks in general. She can read her Sherlock's mind when they're in the same world," Juliet puts in. "Of course, twenty-six is specific enough that I'd bet someone just told him or something; he didn't say mid-twenties."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"And we are meant to live forever," says Shell Bell, "so mid-twenties is not going to cut it."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Oh yeah. I am going to beat that record. I am going to beat that record so hard."
Author: pythbox	"I hope you do," Giles says sincerely. If uncomfortably.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Something wrong?" Juliet asks him. "You don't think I ought to live forever or you just don't think I can?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"If I had a better pain tolerance I could arrange it," volunteers Shell Bell, switching bent fingers. "She's not guaranteed to run into a better-equipped mint Bell, but it's pretty likely."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I'm not planning to turn into a local sort of vampire," Juliet adds to Giles, "if that's what has you worried. Sherlock's an exceptional case and I have no reason to expect that my personality would survive the experience. It's possible I should've asked Golden to bite me, but I'm holding out for the option that doesn't have even her much more limited set of drawbacks."
Author: pythbox	"In this universe, the search for immortality has never led anyone anywhere good," he says. "And I have extensive sources to back that up. But clearly the rules are different for... you," with a gesture to Shell Bell and beyond.
Author: cross_and_bow	"You may as well tell me cautionary tales anyway for in case I run into a tempting shortcut," suggests Juliet.
Author: pythbox	"Some evidence suggests that the Greek myth of a would-be immortal shrivelling into a cricket was based on actual events," he says. "For a start."
Author: cross_and_bow	"That sounds suitably horrifying," says Juliet, nodding gravely.
Author: pythbox	"There are also legends indicating that the original union of human and demon that created vampires was an attempt at immortality on the part of the human involved," he says. "But that's one mistake I definitely don't expect you to repeat."
Author: cross_and_bow	"...Should I be elaborating in my head about the union there or is it purely a magical glomming-the-demon-onto-the-soul thing?"
Author: pythbox	"Blood was shared," he says, looking at her overtop of his glasses. "In the usual vampire way, as far as sources can determine."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Noted."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Does that only cause vampiring if the human in question is also dead?" asks Shell Bell.
Author: pythbox	"It's not completely clear," he says. "The traditional method is for the human to drink some of the vampire's blood, and the vampire to drink all of the human's blood. We know that works. It's hard to make a reliable study of the edge cases."
Author: cross_and_bow	Hm. Sherlock is still probably asleep. Juliet will ask him what he knows about edge cases later. It seems like the sort of thing that might become relevant later. She has no plans to drink any of his blood, but if there's any danger from the "tastes" she has allowed - well, he'd probably have told her, but she should ask regardless. She goes back to her stalling hom- her official Slayer training. And then the bell rings, and Shell Bell invisibles and Juliet goes on to her next designated place-to-be. They are back after school. "Mr. Giles, our estimate is that it'll take me a few months - let's call it six - of practicing with the fire wand a few times a week for a couple of hours each time before it'll be a good idea for me to use it in a live fire situation. In your opinion is it a good idea to prioritize that to get it into play sooner, or a better idea for me to spend less time on the wand and more on sparring with Sherlock and studying demons?"
Author: pythbox	"...My instinct is to distrust the magic," he says. "But it's not necessarily a good instinct. Sparring with Sherlock, studying demons, and acquiring a powerful secret weapon are all important goals. I'm not immediately sure how exactly to prioritize them."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"The only hazard of the wand is that you can set things on fire with it, which you handle by practicing near water," Shell Bell says. "I'm perfectly fine. Juliet'll be even safer because she'll have my squares if something does go wrong."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Out of curiosity," says Juliet, "who would I be practicing fighting with if it were not for Sherlock? Do Slayers usually just get thrown directly at demons who want to kill them? I killed vampires exclusively with a crossbow and preemptive morgue staking until I met Sherlock for that reason." Pause. "Oh, Giles, did I tell you that I have covered the entire town of Sunnydale in hidden crosses that should make vampires find it vaguely unpleasant to be here? I don't think I told you that before."
Author: pythbox	He blinks. He opens his mouth. He closes his mouth. He cleans his glasses. "Prioritize the fire wand over your other training," he says at last. "The answer to how you would be getting trained in combat without him is 'not nearly as well'."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I'm not sure I followed all the subtext there?" says Shell Bell.
Author: pythbox	"I am ashamed on behalf of the Watcher's Council that none of us in a thousand years of strategizing for Slayers has thought of the obvious strategies this Slayer apparently comes up with in her sleep," Giles explains.
Author: cross_and_bow	"I was awake. Also crossing the town took me a long while, I could only cover one neighborhood per night." Pause. "I also used to rinse my hair in holy water, but I stopped when I started letting Sherlock anywhere near my personal space. I still have water balloons of it though."
Author: pythbox	"Water balloons," he repeats, shaking his head.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Well, I wanted ranged weapons because I had no combat training and ranged means a few tries before screwing up kills you," she shrugs. "I haven't used them, so far everybody but Sherlock has gotten dusted while still out in crossbow range, which is good because the priests in the local churches were starting to look at me funny."
Author: pythbox	...He snorts. Then he laughs outright.
Author: cross_and_bow	"And I was letting them assume I was Catholic, too," laughs Juliet, "wearing the crucifix outside my shirt and doing that crossing gesture thing - Please tell me that crucifixes are standard Slayer issue and you would've got me one or at least told me to get one if I hadn't already located and started wearing this?"
Author: pythbox	"They are," Giles assures her.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Okay, that's good, because if they weren't that would be really dreadfully negligent. Even if Sherlock proves that a vampire can with sufficent effort learn to find crosses not-aversive. They do still burn him and - not bother him, but repel him a little in a way he can ignore, so I take it off when we spar."
Author: pythbox	"...I am never sure whether I should be reassured or terrified when you tell me something new about Sherlock."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I think the happy medium between the two is being glad he's on our side?" offers Juliet.
Author: pythbox	"That's where I usually settle," he agrees.
Author: cross_and_bow	"He could've easily killed me but some combination of snarky banter and my clever trick with the crosses made him find me interesting, when we first met," shrugs Juliet. "So yeah. I did spend a while asking him if I'd get a head start if he ever found me boring, but I think he's in for the long haul, now."
Author: pythbox	"How reassuring," he says dryly.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Hey, when we met, I started shooting at him," Juliet says. "He's never actually moved to harm me. Or my dad even though my dad shot him once when Sherlock was saving his life. I think if there's any reason for mistrust at this point some of it would be aimed in my direction."
Author: pythbox	"...Touché."
Author: cross_and_bow
Author: she_sells_seashells	"The alts help, too," says Shell Bell.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yeah, although at the time I found out about alts I already trusted my Sherlock," says Juliet.
Author: pythbox	"How do the alts help?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Because he acts recognizably like the other Sherlocks," says Juliet, "even though he's a vampire. Sort of like Golden is recognizably like us even though she is a vampire, albeit one that doesn't usually come with a soul renovation. When I hear things about other Sherlocks who aren't vampires, I don't have to take them with a clove of garlic because vampires are usually evil - and then, insofar as my Sherlock is similar to those Sherlocks, I can assume that he will continue to be so."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I guessed on my first try that this Sherlock was a Sherlock and not a Tony," adds Shell Bell, "even though they look alike apart from their habits and the Sherlock I'm most used to is a girl."
Author: pythbox	At 'take them with a clove of garlic', he snorts.
Author: cross_and_bow	Homework goes on until dusk approaches to the point where it is time for the Bells to depart. On her drive home - even with Shell Bell around, Juliet drives; she doesn't want Charlie or her classmates wondering, and besides, Shell Bell could find a door home at school and want to take it right then - she brainphones Sherlock. [You up?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Arguably. What is it?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[It's not urgent, if you want to go back to sleep. You could put up a busy message - or if you want to be wakeable by brainphone in case of emergency you could just give me a range of hours. But Mr. Giles doesn't know anything useful about edge cases of blood exchange with vampires and I wanted to know how you know - if you know - that "tasting" when I get scratched up sparring is safe.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[You have to drink some of my blood, or another vampire's, in order to turn,] he says. [And I'm not sure the other way around is required at all.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[How much is enough? If there's splatter when I'm fighting some random vampire - or you, though you're much harder to hurt and I would try to pull back before gouging you that bad if I got a lucky hit - and I have my mouth open...]
Author: eversomuchfun	[At this point I'm guessing, but my guesses tend to be reliable. I don't think a few drops will cause you any trouble. And I think you would need to be dead before it became a problem in any case. The ideal condition seems to be completely exsanguinated but otherwise relatively intact. I've never heard of a living, uninjured person being fed vampire blood and turning from it, or for that matter of someone's midnight snack getting their teeth in and waking up three days later. All instances of turning seem to involve someone's deliberate effort, and more blood than you are likely to accidentally ingest. I'd even venture to say that it's not cumulative: if you get a little here and a little there over the course of your Slaying career, and have a heart attack when you're ninety, you won't end up a wrinkled little bloodsucker.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Okay. Do you know anything about the mechanism behind all this or does it just - add up right?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[I have a data point you're not likely to get anywhere else,] he offers. [I was force-fed the blood of about eight vampires, in considerable quantity, and I turned in just shy of six hours after they killed me.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[...that is interesting. Do you know why they did that? If the motive is common or the possibility is known someone could bypass my trips to the morgue.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[I didn't leave them alive long enough to ask,] he says unapologetically, [and I haven't heard of it since.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Okay. I think this town is probably depopulated enough and unpleasant enough for vampires to walk around in by now that you couldn't easily collect eight of them now, anyway...]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Have I neglected to mention the Bleecker Street bite shop? I'm sorry, I assumed you knew. Most of the vampires left in Sunnydale don't go outside. Their meals walk in on their own two feet, pay them for the privilege of a nibble, and walk out again afterward.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[...Bite shop. No, I've never heard of such a thing. People pay for that? Like, in quantity? I guess that's pretty unobjectionable, if the business model works.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[It can be made pleasant for everyone involved,] he says. [I don't need to go into detail. Alternately, I can go into lots.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[...How about medium to start,] she says. [I'm driving.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[A vampire can choose to make being bitten a physically pleasurable event for the snack.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[That is an interesting ability indeed. This isn't, like, a special skill, any vampire can do it if they want?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Any vampire.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[And this is pleasant enough that there is a nest of vampires in town who are able to make this their primary if not sole source of nutrition and charge for it,] confirms Juliet, intrigued, [drawing solely from the potential customer base of the humans-in-the-know and suffering all the usual limitations of word-of-mouth-based advertising for businesses, plus what I assume is some amount of embarrassment from their clientele. That is very interesting indeed.] Pause. [I'm still driving, so we can pick that conversation up a bit later, I think... I don't know if Giles is going to ask you on his own, but he wants to know where you got the number twenty-six regarding Slayer life expectancy.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Oh, spying on a Watcher, of course.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Giles is probably gonna want more detail than that. Especially if it was him.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[It was not Giles, and I did not kill or even injure him, in fact he never knew I was there. And that is as much detail as Giles can have.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[How much detail can I have?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[More than that,] he says. [How much would you like?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Enh, I don't actually have specific questions about it right now.] She parks her pickup. [And now I'm not driving. ...Although I should probably still warm you up some animal blood to teleport over because if I shouldn't operate the wand tired I probably also shouldn't operate it woozy. But I'll take the detail on that, now, if you have as you said lots.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[I do have lots,] he says cheerfully. [I've done it myself once or twice. It's not difficult. A matter of attitude, mostly. And it makes being snacked on pleasant instead of painful. Sexually or otherwise; it seems to vary with context. The effect fades when physical contact is broken, and then the bite is just a bite, no special lingering qualities. Pleasant means pleasant, though, occasionally to the point of spontaneous orgasm.]
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet ruminates on that for a bit, watching a jar of blood rotate in the microwave, and then she says: [I am duly fascinated. But... You know, I might not have thought to ask if it weren't for my induced paranoia about local magic of all things being addictive, but is there any particular risk of pleasant biting being the same way? Because I do wonder a little about that establishment's business model, and if it's nice as all that... and it's not like one could keep upping the dose, so to speak, indefinitely, even with access to a... cooperative supplier.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Not that I've ever heard of,] he says. [And I have heard of magic addiction.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[I wonder if the occupants of the bite shop would tell me. No, not really, if I were presenting as the Slayer they'd lie to get out of a staking and if I were presenting as a prospective customer they'd lie to keep business. I wonder if they'd tell you.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[I can ask,] he says cheerfully. [For curiosity's sake.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[While you're there anyway, can you see if there's, I dunno, a poorly concealed skeleton or something lying around? I have no objection to their continued existence if their means of getting along is as stated, but it'd be kind of remiss of me to not even ask you to keep an eye out.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Yes,] he says. [I will determine if they are committing regular murders. What shall I do about it if so?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Let me know the details, we'll figure it out,] she says. [They're halfway peaceable already, maybe they can get the rest of the way there if I print them some flyers and hide them in library books about demonology or something, I don't want to gratuitously kill civilized creatures.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Agreed. You're going to revolutionize Slayerdom, love.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[It's due,] she says. The blood's done. Teleportation occurs and Sherlock is presented with his breakfast.
Author: eversomuchfun	Slurp. "All those times you've made me breakfast, and I haven't cooked you a single meal," he says. "I should really do something about that."
Author: cross_and_bow	"You can cook?"
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Mine can! She bakes me cakes," says Shell Bell, utterly self-satisfied about this pleasing facet of her life. "And stuff. But do vampires even eat? I guess if you learned before you wouldn't've forgotten."
Author: eversomuchfun	"I can cook," he confirms. "I can, if you so desire, bake you cakes."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I may desire to be baked cakes. I guess this place has cake-baking facilities, or at least the outlets for stuff if they stripped the place of ovens and so on before the bakery closed."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Then cakes there shall be. Someday. When we have refurnished the kitchen."
Author: cross_and_bow	"If you like, I'm not going to complain. I'd find it disappointing to bake a cake I couldn't have any of, but maybe that's just me."
Author: eversomuchfun	"The joy of baking a cake and the joy of eating it are separate things, and the latter being closed to me forever, I won't miss it any more if I indulge the former."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"If you ever find a mint who wasn't silly enough to get caught in Milliways with no big coins," says Shell Bell, "and don't need to hoard squares anymore, you could probably fix that."
Author: cross_and_bow	"And all kinds of other inconvenient vampiric side effects. And possibly being a vampire at all, if you wanted," says Juliet.
Author: eversomuchfun	"On the whole," he says, "I rather like being a vampire. But I'd prefer not to be such a flammable one, if I had the option."
Author: cross_and_bow	"What d'you like about it?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"All my misery is circumstantial," he says, "instead of being a fundamental aspect of my personality. And the superpowers are nice, too."
Author: cross_and_bow	"You could substitute all the perks with minting. Of course, I'm assuming you won't want to treat those size coins like they're scarce, whereas that would be your prerogative if we wound up falling into the same pattern as the other minty Bells."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Likewise I could patch the drawbacks," he points out.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Fair enough. You just didn't want to be a vampire in the first place and seem to find much of it irritating, it wasn't obvious that you liked it as a baseline from which to make improvements instead of a mixed bag from which you'd like to take some interesting toys and otherwise and go home to what you were before."
Author: eversomuchfun	"If I get my soul back, I expect to become a much less cheerful person."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Why?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"Because in addition to all my previous doubts about my worth as a person, I will also start to care about all the people I have killed."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Mine had to kill twenty people on live national television," murmurs Shell Bell. "She is very sad about it sometimes."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Is that how souls work?" muses Juliet. "I mean - I'd expect there to be some of that but - Golden's vampires don't undergo a personality change, before she took over most of them ate people anyway 'cause people are just so darned yummy, now they don't anymore because she's in charge, I don't think there was an epidemic of guilt about it..."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Well, Golden's vampires aren't me," says Sherlock.
Author: cross_and_bow	"I'm aware. You wouldn't be a suitable sparring partner if you were one of those. Golden let me punch her in the face just to see and she just stood there, didn't flinch or anything, and I needed a square to fix my hand." This is an attempt at levity. It doesn't work very well. "Well. You seem to be pretty good at not-killing-people without being plagued by conscience. But I'm kind of worried about what happens if something happens to me, before we find someone to mint me, if I'm not fast enough, if I walk into the wrong nest or start doing magic and try the wrong spell or - whatever. I'm being your external not-killing-people module, last I heard. Maybe Jarvis'll substitute if called for."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Jarvis will not need to do anything to keep me from killing people. He will merely need to exist."
Author: cross_and_bow	"And yet," says Juliet, "it is not strictly impossible for him to stop doing that, again."
Author: eversomuchfun	"And with both of you dead, assuming I don't give up and kill myself, I will probably go back to eating people," says Sherlock. "Is there a reason you particularly care?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Well," says Juliet, "yes, as those scenarios all seem to include more death than originally postulated."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"You could go into Milliways and wait there," says Shell Bell. "I don't think my Sherlock or my Tony would mind if I brought you home so you wouldn't be lonely. I don't know about the other pair, or any others that might wander around the multiverse, but if you waited for me and mine I could give you a place to go."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Or he could bring you back to Sunshine and you could see if you can raise the dead," Juliet says.
Author: she_sells_seashells	"I don't know if I can, yet. I'd like to, but if a star can do it at all, I don't think it'll matter if I wait a year to have a better-stabilized empire to put the resurrected people in," says Shell Bell. "I don't think the other mints have tried it either. Angela would think Jovah takes charge of the dead and Stella - doesn't know that many dead people, although I think it's on her list for after things are stabilized, too."
Author: eversomuchfun	"All right," he says. "I'll try Milliways before suicide or murder."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Thank you."
Author: she_sells_seashells	"Time to go to the beach and play with fire?" asks Shell Bell.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yes, do let's," agrees Juliet. And they go, and she plays with fire.
Author: eversomuchfun	She's so lovely when she does that.
Author: cross_and_bow	Juliet does notice the way he's watching. When she's starting to flag from fatigue, she kills her dancing fireball and seizes him for a kiss.
Author: eversomuchfun	Mid-kiss, he says, [Later tonight I will research the addiction potential of pleasant biting.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Oh good. Because then we will know, and knowing is half the battle. The other half will be getting past Amariah's bayleaf.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Which I've done,] he says cheerfully.
Author: cross_and_bow	[Oh yes, I suppose her boyfriend probably has one. Then the other half will be getting a reasonable block of privacy without Shell Bell winking at me.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Impossible.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Well, possible, but only if I actually ask her not to wink at me, which would be just as bad really.] Mmmm kisses. [She's probably winking right now in spite of the fact that I've got my eyes closed.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Learn to ignore her,] he suggests. [Or wink back.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[I suppose. ...Hey, is Tony putting Jarvis-cameras everywhere...?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Yes. If you don't want him watching us, you can ask him not to look.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[And he won't, as opposed to just pretending not to but actually doing so anyway. I've barely met him, perhaps I wouldn't ask that if we were old friends.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[And he won't. Any room without cameras and sound pickups is a room he cannot enter; he prefers to have as few of those as possible, but is willing to leave temporarily on request.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[That's fair. Does he usually come with moving parts - little robots - or does he just be a house?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[He is a house. He doesn't like the idea of having little robots.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Why not?] They're not kissing any more, just hugging - snuggling-standing-up, more like - and brainphoning. Shell Bell has been flying around, cackling at her own speed, since the fire wand practice concluded.
Author: eversomuchfun	[Ask him. Perhaps he'll tell you.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[I will when he boots up. What's the ETA on that?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Soon. A few more days,] he says.