Author: cross_and_bow | This vampire nest was supposed to have six vampires in it. This trip to L.A. was supposed to involve this nest as the first stop of several. This time Sherlock's information is imperfect.
[Fuck,] says Bella, after having burst through the door, masked and armed with her stake, [they're having all their friends over today - help -] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Happy to oblige.]
With Sherlock on her side, things are looking much better.
On the other hand, with Sherlock on her side she can't use her laser pointer. He can, but against such overwhelming odds, sooner or later someone is bound to... run full-tilt into him after he sets them on fire. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Shit. But the wand can put out fire as well as start it; she brushes her hand against the handle where it's poking out of her jeans and douses it. [You okay?] she asks, switching to a defensive stance to keep further assailants away from him instead of proceeding deeper into the vampire party. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Singed,] he says dismissively. But: [Time to put the death laser away, I think.]
And after giving himself a few more seconds to recover, he dives right back in. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Everyone present seems to think is very interesting that the Slayer is protecting this vampire. Everyone present seems to think that he'll present a softer target than she will.
With him burnt, they're - not far wrong.
She does her best to keep them off him, but there are too many, they would never have deliberately launched an assault on so many - |
Author: eversomuchfun | Sherlock is very, very good. One ordinary vampire is nothing to him. Ten are by and large a minor distraction, if he can take them in small groups.
There are upwards of fifty here, and not nearly enough of them have been killed so far to make an ultimate difference.
One vampire rips the leg off a chair and comes at him with the splintered end. He takes it away and uses it to stake that one and two more.
The other three chair legs are a problem. |
Author: cross_and_bow | He's not going to be able to turn around fast enough, not engaging four on the far side of the one who's got the chair in hand. And Bella's wrestling with one of her own, who's slippery and quick - she's got him staked near the heart twice and he's laughing at her -
Shouting "look out!" won't have him redirecting his attention in time. Setting it on fire will the opposite of help.
Bella wishes the chair out of existence before the vampire can turn it into two separate objects requiring another wish.
And then she takes hold of her fire wand and takes careful note of Sherlock's location and clears the half of the room they're not in with a five-second solid mass of flame, held steady and then dismissed, and then she goes up to mop up the other half of the room with him. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Thanks,] he says lightly.
With their numbers so drastically thinned, the remaining vampires do not pose nearly such a problem. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Bella lets the last one flee into the night to tell the tale, and she stands in the overwarm den, still clutching her stake, panting.
"Down to one," she murmurs. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Would you like it?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I think that's probably best - solely by virtue of being out and about during the day I'll be present in a higher proportion of situations that might need it," Bella says. She peers at his burns. "Those look nasty - you're sure you're okay? How long will they take to heal? We should go straight home, the other nests can wait for another day, half the inhabitants were probably at this party anyway." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I'll be fine by tomorrow night."
He produces the square. |
Author: cross_and_bow | She puts it on the string to replace the one she spent, and heads for the door. She's parked around the corner and down the block.
"Am I wrong in thinking that I saved your life? Maybe you saw or heard that guy breaking the other leg off the chair and you had a clever plan? Please tell me you had a clever plan, if we keep running into situations where we need squares that makes it much worse that there's only one left." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I certainly noticed him. 'Clever plan' might be overstating the point. Mostly I planned to kill the rest of them fast enough." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Nnng."
She looks up and down the street for witnesses, pulls the concealing cover off her license plate so she won't get pulled over, and hops into the truck and divests herself of her mask. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Sorry," he shrugs. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Not your fault. Maybe we should cut out visits to L.A. until visits to Milliways produce more results. School starts back up soon anyway." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "All right." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "My birthday is soon too," she says, happier. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Happy imminent birthday. Should I get you a present?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Yes. Yes you should." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "What sort of a present?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "A good present. Can't you think of anything?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "A rare demon's head on a platter," he says whimsically. "A powerful magical artifact of some kind." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Oooh, yes to the powerful magical artifact," says Bella. "I like powerful magical artifacts." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Duly noted." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "You are clever, I bet you will come up with something neat," says Bella as she pulls onto the highway. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I can only hope." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I should tell Giles, too. I bet he gets me a book," says Bella. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Sucker's bet." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Oh, I don't know, he might come up with something else." [Hey Giles! D'you know it's almost my birthday?] |
Author: pythbox | [I did not!] he says. [For your birthday, I will get you... more stalling homework.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Of my very own?] exclaims Bella in mock glee. [Oh, it's just what I always wanted!] |
Author: pythbox | He laughs. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [But I think it might be a good occasion to stop stalling, if we can do that. We are down to one solitary square. There were way more vampires than we were expecting at the first nest for the night. We're not even going to hit the others, we're just on our way home now.] |
Author: pythbox | [I... yes,] he says. [That's reasonable.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I'm cutting out L.A. trips until Milliways yields results or I have local magic backing me up. I nearly died back when it was Defenders and probably would be dead now if it weren't for Amariah's stuff; Sherlock might have died tonight if it weren't for the square I used. I'm increasingly unclear on how Slayers without extradimensional help manage to live as long as twenty-six years.] |
Author: pythbox |
[They usually don't,] Giles admits. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [What's more typical?] |
Author: pythbox | [Between eighteen and twenty.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Yeah. I can see that. Well. The next time anything on the order of a couple thousand Defenders is after me, I hope you won't take it amiss if I grab Sherlock and make a run for Jarvis and beg a door out and don't come back unless I can find somebody who'll help me. I realize that sticking around to die would have some benefit in the form of giving the next girl in line a shot, but I really, really don't want to die.] |
Author: pythbox | [I wouldn't blame you at all,] he sighs. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I'd get you and Charlie too if you were close enough,] she volunteers. |
Author: pythbox | [...Thank you.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Hey, I don't want you to die. I don't want anybody to die, it's just that Sherlock's the only person - besides Jarvis, who's sadly not portable - who I'd expect to be right with me in this situation, and you and Charlie are the only ones who might be in remotely plausible radii and also listen if I said "quick, through this magic door into the interdimensional bar!".] |
Author: pythbox | [Sometimes,] he says, [you're a very surprising person.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [What did I say that was surprising?] asks Bella. [Everything I said sounds perfectly reasonable to me, except that if I were slightly more altruistic and significantly more comfortable with enlisting non-volunteer teenage girls in the fight against demonic stuff I might agree to conveniently die here to allow the Slayer line to continue.] |
Author: pythbox | [You're... more logical than I'm used to people being,] he says. [Myself included.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I'm not exactly doing Aristotelian syllogisms over here. I just - did I ever tell you my favorite three questions?] |
Author: pythbox | [I don't think you did, no.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [They're: what do I want?, what do I have?, and how do I use the latter to get the former?. They crop up in all instances of the Bell template we know of, actually, but my point is - I want to live. If I have to weigh this against other wants, then I'll do that, because that's the only way I'm going to be able to decisively reach for whatever it is that I most want. I have access to Jarvis and therefore Milliways. Jarvis is not portable, but Sherlock and you and Charlie are. I want you all to live, too. The results of my questions are pretty clear.] |
Author: pythbox | [I can't imagine it hasn't occurred to you that most people don't have such a streamlined process for finding those answers,] he says after a moment. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Oh, it's occurred to me. I just don't know how you not-me people can live in such untidy brains or get anything done.] |
Author: pythbox | [Very inefficiently.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Maybe I should write a self-help book. Figuring Out What You Want In Order To Get It By More Than Sheer Coincidence Sometimes.] |
Author: pythbox | [I think you want to work on that title,] he says dryly. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Nope! I don't! It is a dramatically lower priority than all kinds of other things.] |
Author: pythbox | He snorts. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Anyway. Birthday. September thirteenth. Gonna be eighteen. Get me a present or I shall look so terribly disappointed at you.] |
Author: pythbox | [A book on magic,] he promises. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Yay!]
"I'm totally getting a book," she reports to Sherlock. "But it may well be about magic and not about more kinds of demons." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "So predictable." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "A bit. I will like the book on magic, though, I bet. And hopefully I'll be able to use it to reasonable effect in the absence of squares. If, before I have learned enough magic to have a reasonable shot at surviving the next apocalypse, another apocalypse threatens - I'm asking Jarvis for a door and I'm taking anyone who'll come with me, especially you, and not coming back." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Good plan."
Except that it will leave Jarvis behind.
Well, he hopes it won't come to that. |
Author: cross_and_bow | She's not unaware of that disadvantage. But Jarvis isn't a laptop; they can't grab him on the way out. |
Author: eversomuchfun | And if it actually happens, they will have plenty of time to plan a rescue from the other side. |
Author: cross_and_bow | They get home. They quit the excursions to L.A. Bella works on her fire wand at increasing levels of background distraction; she makes steady progress. School starts back up and her schedule slips back to where it was, diurnal sleep cycle and visits to Giles in the library and all.
Bella's birthday falls on a Tuesday. She doesn't have a study hall this year, but she can still go hang out with Giles after her last class. She expects a present. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Unbeknownst to her, Giles received a visitor earlier in the day.
"Hello, Rupert." |
Author: pythbox | "Hello, Arthur," he says, adjusting his glasses. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Why, young Isabella's birthday," says Arthur. "It's time for her test." |
Author: pythbox |
He blinks.
"Is it?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Yes, of course, Rupert. She's turned eighteen. We would have given you notice, but you didn't inform us of her birth date, and so when we looked it up and it was so soon there was a bit of a scramble." |
Author: pythbox | "Is the test really necessary?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Rupert," says Arthur. "I'm surprised you have to ask. It's been ongoing for centuries. It's a structured way to determine how the Slayer handles herself in a situation where she can't rely on her usual tricks. If she's not up to the task, certainly it's best to roll the dice again before leaving the demons with a subpar Slayer to become complacent about? We are talking about the protector of the entire world, she who stands against the darkness, are we not?" |
Author: pythbox | "Arthur," says Rupert. "Not to put too fine a point on it, this Slayer is smarter than you are. She was standing against the darkness just fine before I found her, and would no doubt continue to do so just fine if the entire Watcher's Council were wiped off the planet by a very choosy plague." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Well, then," says Arthur mildly, "if you're right, and not simply blinded by your particular closeness to this girl, then she should have no problem with the test, should she? Now, I've brought you the suppressants; do you believe you'll be able to convince her to hold still for a syringe or should I show you how to load them into the blowdart?" |
Author: pythbox | "I'm not doing it," he says flatly. "The test is pointless and cruel. She'll never trust us again, and she'll be right not to, and all to find out information that I already know. So you can take your, your foul concoction, and get the hell out of my library." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Oh, Rupert," sighs Arthur. And he begins to turn around and then he spins and strikes Giles in the back of the head with the briefcase containing his foul concoction. |
Author: pythbox |
He doesn't even have time to warn her. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Bella arrives to find the library devoid of Giles, but with another man present. "...Where's Giles?" she asks. She tries the brainphone, and he's unresponsive, although he didn't put up a busy message; maybe he's distracted.
"He's not feeling well today," says the man behind the counter. "Are you Isabella?"
"I prefer Bella. You're a... substitute librarian?"
"Of sorts," says the man. "But I'm actually a... colleague of Mr. Giles. Another Watcher. And I believe it's your birthday, Slayer Bella, am I right?"
"You're right - oh, wow, did Giles get me a magic teacher for my birthday instead of just a book, that would be the best thing -"
The man looks amused. "I'll pass on a report of your delight when he's well enough to answer the phone, you may be assured. You seem very keen. Do you want to begin right away? This library doesn't appear to get much traffic."
"Oh, it never does, I learn about demons and stuff in here all the time," says Bella, putting down her messenger bag and sitting at a table raptly. "Where do we start?"
"A simple exercise," says the Watcher, and he gets up and produces a clear white crystal and sets it on the table in front of her. "If you will peer into the center of this crystal, and concentrate very absolutely - no matter what distractions I concoct for you - and look for the small flaw inside of it - you will find the resulting mental state invaluable later on."
"Okay," says Bella, and she sets her chin on her arms and stares into the crystal intently.
Arthur circles her, and she ignores the footsteps. There's some sort of clicking noise, which she ignores. Sherlock won't be awake now, but she can tell Jarvis, the teacher won't be able to chide her for distraction he can't see: [Hey Jarvis, Giles got me a magic teacher for my birthd-]
In goes the needle. Out like a light goes Bella.
Initial unconsciousness is an occasional, known symptom of the suppressants. Arthur is unconcerned. He has his car ready to transport her to the field of battle. And no one comes into the library after school. |
Author: poeticterms | [...Congratulations?] he tries after a moment.
Then, [Giles?]
No response from either direction.
He wakes up Sherlock and reports these facts. |
Author: cross_and_bow | It is well before sunset, and the chosen building has windows. She'll have plenty of time to wake up before the time-release locks on the test vampire's container set it free.
And the fact that she's still unconscious means that Arthur can divest her of those items that glow so oddly to his witchsight. This wand, this bracelet with the mother-of-pearl square bead on it, and - the rest of the magic seems to be coming from her directly, in spite of the fact that she fell for an utterly fictitious magical exercise; what has Giles been doing to his Slayer? Trying to extend the natural lifespan of the breed with excess magic? She did find it plausible that Arthur was a teacher of magic.
Well. He's got the still-unconscious Giles handcuffed to a chair in his hotel room. He can ask him a few questions when he wakes up.
Arthur carefully locks the Slayer in the building and leaves her be. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Sherlock, meanwhile, lets fifteen minutes go by with thirty-second checks on both Bella and Giles.
That's quite enough for him.
At the end of those fifteen minutes, with sunset still an hour away, he calls Charlie Swan. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Charlie's cell phone says:
"You have reached the cell number of Charlie Swan. I can't pick up the phone right now. If this is an emergency police matter, please call 911. If this is a personal matter, please leave a message on my home answering machine, at 555-6701. If this is a non-emergency police matter, please call the Sunnydale Police Department at 555-2199."
Beep. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Oh, joy. No option for 'emergency personal matter', he notes. And advising people to call 911 in Sunnydale is rather like advising them to carry umbrellas on a deep-sea dive. But the chief of police is bound to have a slanted view of the matter.
He calls the police department. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Sunnydale Police Department." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I need to speak with Charlie Swan," he says pleasantly. "It's about his daughter. Is he available?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "No, he's tangled up in some business right now and can't come to the phone, sorry. Can I take a message?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "You can give him my name and phone number," he says, and provides both. "And tell him that it is moderately urgent." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "...'Sherlock'," says the secretary. "Literary parents? What's the last name?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Literary parents with a deeply annoying sense of humour," he says. "If I told you my last name you would only think I was joking, and then you might not deliver my message, and then all three of Bella and Charlie and I would be greatly inconvenienced." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I'll tell Chief Swan that Sherlock called about Bella and give him your number, when he's back, but it could be a few hours," says the secretary. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "That is unfortunate, but thank you all the same. I appreciate it." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "You're welcome," says the secretary, and hangs up. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Purely on the off-chance, he also calls Charlie's home number and leaves a message stating that he called his cellphone and the police department looking for him, that it's about Bella and is moderately urgent, and his own name and number.
And then he goes back to those thirty-second checks. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Bella wakes up just a few minutes before sunset.
[shrlok?] she says, sounding slurred and groggy. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I called your father but he was busy. What happened?] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [dunno. 'm in a - place.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Something I don't know, dear Juliet.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [was a man - 'nstead 'f giles - a watcher - 'n the libry - 'm all weak 'n shaky -] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [What can you tell me about where you are now?] |
Author: cross_and_bow | ['s a - house - 's a mess - s'mthing upstairs 's rattling -] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Do you have your square?] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [...no. m' wand neither. gone.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [In that case, please describe to me any identifying features you can discern about your location, so that I can find you and help you escape whomever has kidnapped you. It will look terrible on my bodyguarding resume otherwise.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | ['s... got... trees, outside? tall ones.] She reaches a weak, trembly hand for the door handle, which doesn't turn. ['m locked in. lotta dust. small room. stairs. wood floor.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Tall trees. How many? What species? Anything noteworthy about the architecture?] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [maybe magnolias, dunno my trees. lots. can't see 'em without getting up, don't think that's a good idea. 's... old? lot of wood?] Pause. [th' rattling's louder -] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I don't suppose you feel up to breaking the door down?] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [couldn' even squish a spider right now. spider'd win.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | He checks Giles again.
[Well, I strongly suspect you are not going to like whatever is rattling up there. Perhaps a window? If the building is as old as you say, they shouldn't be too hard to break.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | Bella hauls herself to her feet. She pushes experimentally against a window. She draws her hand back in something that is shaped like a punch but taps against the glass with barely a sound.
[window wins.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Well. Fuck.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [mmhm.]
The rattling stops. It is replaced with footsteps.
[stopped rattling. started walking. 'm scared.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [As am I, love. As am I.] |
Author: pythbox | And, elsewhere, Giles wakes up. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Hello, Rupert," says Arthur. "It's very unfortunate that you opted to behave as you did. Even if she survives her test, now, you can't be allowed to go on as her Watcher. Your judgment is compromised."
Meanwhile, Bella is trying to find a way to simply open the window, and is failing. [thing's painted shut - 'm scared - love you, love you -] |
Author: pythbox | He just stares incredulously.
Well. Not just.
[Bella?] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I love you too,] says Sherlock. |
Author: cross_and_bow | She's startled into somewhat better coherence. [Giles! Giles - where am I -] She conferences him into the brainphone call. [Where am I, I don't know and Sherlock doesn't either, I'm locked in - there's something upstairs - I'm weak as a bug, I can barely walk -]
The something descends a step.
[It's coming down the stairs.]
Arthur says, "Perhaps you can explain to me all the magic I found on her person. And on yours. I'd thought you were quite turned off the use of witchcraft? Have you fallen in with bad company again, Rupert? She seemed terribly excited when I agreed that I was there to teach her magic for her birthday. Slayers aren't meant to be witches; why haven't you taught her that?" |
Author: pythbox | [The something is a vampire,] he explains. [It's a test, from the Watcher's Council - until a few hours ago I thought it was a particularly nasty myth. The man from the Council knocked me out before I could warn you. He's given you something to suppress your Slayer powers.]
And aloud: "I don't feel the need to explain anything to you at all." |
Author: cross_and_bow | [How am I supposed to do anything about a vampire without my powers, my wand, my square, my laser pointer - I don't even have a stake or my crossbow - he left my crucifix but that'll just annoy a vampire, not kill one -]
"Rupert," says Arthur sadly. "We understand feeling - parental, towards Slayers. But it will not go well with you if you continue to act as an obstacle even now. Wouldn't you rather tell me what I need to know, wish Bella the best of luck on her test, and retire peacefully, than see what the Council will make of you having bedecked yourself and her in bizarre magic on top of having refused to administer her test?" |
Author: pythbox | "No," he says, almost cheerfully.
And adds into the conference call, [The name of the man who kidnapped you is Arthur Mallory. He'll have put you in an abandoned house somewhere as remote as possible.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | Bella cannot talk to him right now.
Bella has summoned all of her scattered brainpower to do the one thing she can still do with this vampire.
"You too, huh?" she says to the vampire, sitting against the wall of the house and trying to look disaffected.
"Rupert, be reasonable," says Arthur. |
Author: pythbox | "I am being reasonable," says Giles. "Unreasonable would be expecting you to anything with any information I could give you about my Slayer other than betray her. Again."
The vampire raises his eyebrows. "Me too what?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "They locked you up in this house, too?" Bella prompts. "Fucking Watchers. It's bullshit. They probably want you to kill me so they can put you back in your box for next time and get a Slayer who'd rather stake vampires than make friends. I bet my Watcher told all the others about the vampire boyfriend, I just bet, and they're too chicken to do it themselves." (Keep him listening, keep him listening.)
"Rupert, this test has been going on during every Slayer's eighteenth birthday for centuries. Most of them pass. And I have no intention of interfering with her while she makes the attempt, so I don't see what has you worried about me betraying her." |
Author: pythbox | "...Vampire boyfriend," the vampire repeats.
Giles just shakes his head. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Mm-hm. The things he can do with his fangs... But that's probably TMI, huh?"
"What does the wand do, Rupert? Why does this bead radiate a magical signature?" |
Author: pythbox | The vampire grins. Fangily. "Oh, no, tell me more."
"Why do you think I know these things?" wonders Giles. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Operation: Talk To The Vampire has not gotten me killed yet,] Bella reports to Sherlock and Giles under cover of a smile. "We-e-ell, I don't know if you're originally from around here or what, but there's a bite shop downtown, and once my boyfriend told me about that I was all kinds of interested, you know, the business model they must have going... I can show you the place if you wanna bust us out of here."
"Because," says Arthur, "she was your Slayer - alas, no more, we can't have this kind of sentimentality - and the magic that was on her person that I could not remove is, oddly enough, duplicated on you." |
Author: pythbox | "I've heard of those," says the vampire, nodding along. "Is that why he hasn't turned you?"
Giles shakes his head again. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "That and my scintillating personality and the fact that if I die even a little bit, the Slayer gets replaced with somebody who probably doesn't have my enlightened view of race relations," Bella says, trying not to speak too hastily.
"Rupert, what has she done to you?" says Arthur. "Did you even know about the spells on you? They're not quite the same as hers - perhaps she was only pretending to be interested in learning magic, perhaps she's got another teacher and she's ensorcelled you somehow..." |
Author: pythbox | The vampire raises his eyebrows. "Uh-huh," he says.
Giles, meanwhile, rolls his eyes. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "They'd probably prioritize hunting me down, too, and then he'd not only have no dessert but no girlfriend at all," she says. She's babbling at near-random now. [Sherlock, are you looking for me - I don't know how long I can keep him conversing civilly - he didn't take the bait when I suggested that he bust the door down -] "Fucking Watchers."
Arthur picks up the wand, waves it experimentally. "I can only imagine that she knows what it does. This isn't a continuous effect, so it must be activated. I have heard rumors that the demons believe the current Slayer is pyrokinetic. Perhaps these aren't hysterical inventions. You know me and artifacts, Giles... experimental." |
Author: pythbox | "You know," says the vampire, "I'm getting the sense you're not giving me the whole story here."
"Go ahead," Giles invites. "I sincerely hope you set us both on fire." |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I am looking for you,] he says. [As fast as I can.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Hm? What else do you want to know?" asks Bella. "Me, Slayer with vampire boyfriend, you, vampire locked in a house with me to bump me off so they can see if the next in line is better-behaved, what's missing?"
[I love you.]
Arthur may or may not be trying, but he doesn't get any fire out of the wand, and eventually he sets it down and picks up the square. |
Author: pythbox | "Well," says the vampire, "I've heard that if you turn a Slayer you get the most powerful vampire ever seen."
Giles lets out a slightly exaggerated sigh of relief. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I love you too, dear Juliet.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I think they'd probably run this test with some other kind of demon if that were true," says Bella quickly.
[Operation Talk To The Vampire may be about to drastically backfire -]
"This one has a very puzzling signature indeed," Arthur says conversationally. "I don't recognize anything about it." |
Author: pythbox | "Test?" says the vampire. "What test?"
"Oh, no, Br'er Rabbit," says Giles. "Don't touch that one." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Shit. "Well, they gave me something, but they didn't break my legs or put me into a coma or even take my crucifix, I bet they hope I lose but they're pretending it's a contest - maybe if I walk out of here docile and scared I get to tell them that I understand now that vampires are bad and not for dating and they see if I'm salvageable?"
Arthur rolls his eyes at Giles and turns the square over in his hand. |
Author: pythbox | The vampire looks thoughtful.
Giles laughs. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "But," says Bella, "I bet you could break down that door, or a window, and be long gone by the time they show up to herd you into the box again."
"Is something funny, Rupert?" |
Author: pythbox | "Maybe so," the vampire muses.
"Nothing," Giles says innocently. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Oh, probably. Wouldn't that just drive them nuts, if they came back later to find the place deserted?"
Arthur attempts to break the square. He scratches his hand in the attempt and it remains obstinately intact. |
Author: pythbox | "I bet it would," says the vampire, eyeing the door.
Giles laughs again. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I don't know how much time they're going to allow," Bella adds. "For all I know they'll be back in a minute."
Arthur begins studiously ignoring Giles as he inspects the wand and the square. |
Author: pythbox | The vampire casually kicks the entire locking mechanism out of the door and doorframe. The door creaks inward on shuddering hinges.
"Let's go find your boyfriend," he suggests.
Giles ignores Arthur right back. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Let's," says Bella, and she gets up, wobbly as a newborn colt but capable of putting one foot in front of the other. [Sherlock where are you I talked him into breaking down the door for us and now he wants us to go find my vampire boyfriend that I told him about.] "Let's see, where do I expect him this time of day..." |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Not far, I hope,] he says. [North end of Chester. You?] |
Author: pythbox | The vampire laughs and picks Bella up with one arm. "Just tell me where to go." |
Author: cross_and_bow | She shivers. "I need a look at a street sign. I don't know where we are," she says. "Unless you know your way around here, in which case we're looking for Chester Street."
[Don't know. He's also not letting me walk on my own.] |
Author: pythbox | The vampire peers toward the end of the street and reads off a sign. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Turn left," Bella says. [We're about six blocks off from the Chester Street Market. You'll meet us sooner if you go south.] |
Author: pythbox | He turns left. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Going,] says Sherlock. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I'm not sure he believes me that I have a vampire boyfriend. Or what. I don't know what he wants.] "He's a little taller than I am, looks about eighteen, black hair," she says to the vampire who's carrying her, "let me know if you spot him." |
Author: pythbox | "Will do, princess," the vampire says amicably. |
Author: cross_and_bow | It's only six blocks. Bella tells the vampire to turn right onto Chester Street. |
Author: pythbox |
"Is that him?" the vampire says, a little nervously. "Man, he does not look happy." |
Author: eversomuchfun | (There is indeed a distant figure coming down the street at a flat-out run.) |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Maybe you could put me down," Bella suggests. |
Author: pythbox |
He puts her down and starts edging away. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Bella finds her footing and starts in Sherlock's direction. (She doesn't run. She'd just fall on her face.) |
Author: eversomuchfun | He very nearly runs straight into her, but stops at precisely the last moment and hugs her gently instead.
"All right, love?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Except for the drugs and the missing possessions and a bad scare and utterly torpedoed willingness to consider the Watchers benign. Yes." She wraps her arms around him and presses her face into his shoulder. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I found her,] he reports, to both Giles and Jarvis. [She's safe. More or less.]
"May I kill Arthur Mallory?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Would it put you - or me or Giles - at any added risk to see what he has to say for himself first?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "...It might conceivably," he says. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "For that matter, might it be dangerous to kill him?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "It will annoy the Council, but so will your future rejection of whoever they replace Giles with, as they undoubtedly will since he has now proven he gives half a shit about your welfare." |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Giles, have you got an opinion on how safe it would be for three of us if Arthur Mallory were to go home in a body bag?] Bella asks in a conference call, lightly. |
Author: pythbox | [It could go either way,] he says consideringly. [But he was playing with your fire wand earlier and now he's trying to bite through your square, so he might manage it even without our help.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Oh, for the love of - do you know how long these drugs are supposed to last?] Bella sighs, flexing a hand experimentally. [Where are you?] |
Author: pythbox | [In a hotel room, tied to a chair. I think it's a Holiday Inn, if that helps.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [That it does.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Is Arthur dangerous? I expect he caught you as off guard as me, but assuming we're paying attention and Sherlock is there should we wait to show up until I'm feeling stronger again?] |
Author: pythbox | [He can see magic, and he probably has some theoretical combat training, but I don't think he'd give Sherlock any trouble.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Okay. To the Holiday Inn, then.]
Bella leans on Sherlock as he leads the way. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Now and then, he kisses her forehead. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I love you," she sighs. "And I feel really, really dumb for falling for that guy's trick. Ugh, I handed it to him." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "What exactly happened?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I walked into the library. Giles wasn't there or answering the brainphone, but Arthur said he was one of Giles's colleagues and Giles wasn't feeling well, and he knew I was the Slayer and that it was my birthday, and I said - ugh, I asked him if I got a magic teacher for my birthday. And he said that yes I did and he had me staring into a crystal and then I guess he injected me with whatever cocktail of drugs is this year's gold standard for crippling Slayers. I passed right out. I should've been suspicious that Giles would've stayed home from school without telling me, even if a surprise birthday present seemed innocently traditional." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Well, somehow I don't think that's a mistake you'll make twice." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "It is not. Anybody besides Giles shows up claiming to be a Watcher, and they get to spend that conversation with their hair on unconsuming cool fire being informed that if I stop paying attention to it the fire will do as fire does." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I love you," he says with great fondness. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I love you." |
Author: eversomuchfun | He kisses her forehead again. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Is that the Holiday Inn over there? |
Author: eversomuchfun | Why yes it is! |
Author: cross_and_bow | [He hasn't figured out how to work the wand or the square, has he? Or displayed any understanding of the laser pointers?] Bella asks Giles, with Sherlock conferenced in for common knowledge. |
Author: pythbox | [He has not done any of those things, no.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Sherlock, can you find them?] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Oh, yes.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [The Holiday Inn might resent it if we break down their door,] observes Bella. [I don't suppose you know another way in? Somehow knocking and saying 'housekeeping' seems unlikely to work.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [But it would be such fun,] he says brightly. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Do you want to spend part of your inheritance paying damages to the Holiday Inn? They're innocent, and it's not unavoidable collateral damage like what happened to the orange grove.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Ooh, I know,] he says cheerfully. [Let's tell your father this fellow kidnapped you. Then he can break down the door.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Ooh, you're smart!] He gets a kiss on the cheek, and she goes in to borrow the front desk's phone.
She's better than Sherlock at getting past the secretary, who recognizes her voice. "Hello, Mr. Greer - yeah - no, it really was very important, he hasn't taken any messages yet? - yes, please put him on the phone right away if you can - hi, Dad - is your arm okay? - that's good. No, I'm fine now, but earlier I was kidnapped. Yes. He was -"
"Shouldn't you be calling the police?" asks the front desk lady.
"This is the police," Bella tells her. "Anyway, me and Sherlock found where he is currently keeping Giles captive, it's at the Holiday Inn, can you come? Okay, see you in a few."
[Five minutes and Charlie'll be here,] Bella reports to Sherlock and Giles. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I'm smart,] Sherlock declares happily. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Five minutes, Charlie arrives.
"Where are they?" he asks Sherlock and Bella.
Bella looks to Sherlock. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Room 415," he says, having checked the records while the front desk lady was asking Bella if she shouldn't be calling the police. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Up they go.
Charlie hammers on the door. "POLICE! OPEN UP!" he hollers.
"Arthur Mallory," says Bella helpfully.
Arthur adopts the general demeanor of a startled rabbit. |
Author: pythbox | Giles grins. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Just a second, officer!" calls Arthur, and he drags Giles's chair into the bathroom, applies a makeshift gag, and answers the door. "Er, what seems to be the tro-"
He sees Bella, and he double-takes at the family resemblance to Charlie, and goes white as a sheet.
"Dad, this is him," says Bella. "He kidnapped Giles and drugged me and locked me in a house with a vampire I had to talk my way past."
"You," says Charlie, "are under arrest -"
While Bella's fire wand is sitting on the hotel room nightstand, the square is in Arthur's hand.
And he looks at Bella with absolute venom, and, knowing not what he holds, wishes that the vampire had torn her throat out.
Bella slumps to the floor. And there is blood everywhere. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Oh, well fucking done," Sherlock snarls, crouching down beside her. [Juliet, dear Juliet—] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [don'twannadie]
"Bella," exclaims Charlie - but he's not a paramedic. "Ambulance to the Holiday Inn," he snaps into his radio, and he sets about cuffing Arthur, who is at least as stunned as everyone else. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I've only the one solution, love, and you know the risks.]
But if it weren't the only way out he sees, he wouldn't even be bringing it up. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [don'twannadie] She coughs up blood; it joins the general font. [maybei'dbelikeyou] |
Author: eversomuchfun |
He bites a small wound in the side of his wrist and presents it to her mouth. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Sherlock," says Charlie, as Bella makes a valiant effort to swallow, "what are you doing?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Vampire first aid," he says. "Just in case." |
Author: cross_and_bow | [loveyou]
She's gotten a few mouthfuls down.
She can drink no more.
Charlie barks more detailed instructions for the paramedics into the radio. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I love you too," he murmurs, kissing the top of her head.
And, standing up: "If it's all the same to you I'd rather not hang around to distract the paramedics." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Charlie nods once. He attaches Arthur to the hotel bed, and goes to release Giles, and then he radios for a backup car so that he'll be able to ride in the ambulance with Bella.
But when he takes her pulse there's nothing. He weeps over her until the paramedics arrive, to go through the ritual of rushing her to the hospital and pronouncing her dead.
Charlie's backup escorts Arthur away. |
Author: eversomuchfun |
A scant hour later, Bella's body mysteriously disappears.
The safest place to put her, Sherlock decides, is Milliways. |
Author: cross_and_bow | A few days later, someone opens her eyes. Is it Bella? Maybe! |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Good morning, sleepyhead," he says affectionately. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Mmmmm, hello," says Bella, stretching. "Well. Probably time to find a new place to -" She snickers. "Inhabit. Fucking Watchers would never let me be. Best of luck, new girl," she drawls, raising an imaginary toasting glass. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "So," he prompts, "what does the new Bella think of the old Bella?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Should've broken Shell Bell's arm and apologized after if she felt so bad about it," snorts the new Bella. "Megalomania and no follow-through, bad combination." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Do I take it that you mean to take over the world?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Pfft. No. And do what with it? That was her gig. She wanted to take over the world and keep it as a pet, be sweet to it, cute li'l world she could take for walks and bring to all the Bell parties to be smug about and win the blue ribbon for best in show? Or 'most improved', maybe, what she had to work with. I don't wanna do that. Don't see the point." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Then what is your life's ambition, pray tell?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Who says I have one? For one thing wouldn't I need a life, wasn't it you saying we're not alive - But why're we talking so much, that's dull, luv, c'mere." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "A tempting suggestion," he says, "and yet, I feel I must decline." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Why's that?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Because, delightful as you admittedly are, I don't love you." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "That shouldn't stop you. I know you fucked Amariah, hon. I haven't got a little owl for whatever kinky craziness that wound up being, true, but I look right and I want you and the precious li'l megalomaniac isn't coming back. C'mere." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "You're not going to argue me into it." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Oh."
Bella considers this.
Then she shrugs. "Okay then."
And she stops trying to argue, and starts trying to see if that rumor about Slayers becoming the most powerful vampires is true. |
Author: eversomuchfun |
Much to Sherlock's regret, it is. |
Author: luminous_regnant | The initial part of the... altercation... transports them out of the bedroom and into the main part of the Belltower, and if someone cares about that, it's not what's left of Juliet.
This means that when the door opens, Golden gets an eyeful.
"...Is this happy not-me-Bell behavior?" she asks, unbalanced. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I'm having fun," purrs the ex-Juliet. "I'd ask if you wanna play, but I think I know the answer, and you'd be hard to convince." |
Author: eversomuchfun | [no]
says Sherlock, over text-only brainphone.
After a very small delay, during which he makes absolutely no voluntary movement of any kind, he adds,
[help] |
Author: luminous_regnant | Golden can be very fast with wishes. A few of them see ex-Juliet locked up in one of the Belltower bedrooms forbidden from leaving, and Sherlock in all of his clothes again.
"What," says Golden, "happened to Juliet?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "She died," says Sherlock. "Before she bled to death she asked me to turn her, on the chance that she might end as... agreeable as I am. In the event, she did not." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Let me ouuuuut," complains Juliet, pounding ineffectually but with increasing loudness on the door. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "No," Golden tells that door. And to Sherlock: "Did you catch up on the Bellbook while you were here?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I did not." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Sufficiently large coins can raise the dead. Glitchily. The glitch is that in at least some worlds, dead people wind up in a terrible afterlife called Downside, which doesn't let them go even after resurrection. Shell Bell and one of my employees both got themselves killed, were brought back, and - on Shell Bell encountering her Sherlock here after several decades Downside - resumed their singleness. Merged back into single people. If I can force the door to Downside, we can check for a Juliet there, and if she's been luckier than Shell Bell was or if it hasn't been very long we can simply get her out and repatriate her, but I don't know what to do with - that." She waves a hand at the door behind which ex-Juliet is still howling to be let out and pounding. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "It is supposed to be theoretically possible for a vampire to regain their soul and thereby their original personality," he says. "I'd consider that not dissimilar to the merging you speak of." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Perhaps. I don't see this one consenting to the merger, though, and I don't know what the results would be like, especially since Juliet, unlike Shell Bell, has an instance of mental opacity and may be able to resist editing." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "What is behind that door is a creature with extensive combat training, a hefty double dose of superpowers, all of Juliet's memories, and no ethical restraint whatsoever. Do you want her to continue existing in that form? I don't." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "My point is that if we find that there is one in Downside, and unlike the split of Shell Bell who came to very thoroughly deserve the name 'Shell' she has retained her sanity, there may be no good reason for the one behind the door to continue existing, and yet I am not fully comfortable with killing her - are you?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Yes." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Charming. All right. Let's see if I can force the door; if I can't, I can summon Nathan through mine and he can. And we can check Downside for a Juliet." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Splendid," says Sherlock. |
Author: luminous_regnant | Golden puts a sign on the door that reads this room contains a version of Juliet who is not safe to interact with due to loss of soul (Sunshine-style); do not release her --Golden and marches to the door.
She can't force it - she hasn't been there - so she sticks her head into Aurum, and calls Nathan over.
"He'll be here in a minute," she says. "Are you all right? Can I help you in any way beyond having interrupted?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I am not especially all right," he says, "but I don't know what to do about it besides get Juliet back. Thank you, in any case, for interrupting." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Are you going to tell her?" asks Golden. "About what happened?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "In the event that she does not wind up remembering it herself, you mean?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "In that event. If we retrieve a perfectly intact albeit technically deceased Juliet from Downside and I hand you a pentagon to deal with the other." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Well, she'd hardly thank me for keeping her in the dark." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "That's true. And not an answer." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I have no idea if I will be capable of bringing it up." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "I can, if you prefer, although I can only tell her the part I saw." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I would appreciate it." |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan turns the corner. "Hallo, Your Majesty and extradimensional friend of the template," he says. "You realize just because Shell Bell can door to Downside now doesn't mean I can?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "I realize. Please make the attempt regardless. Shell Bell is not present." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "You got it." He ushers them out of his way and tries three times, getting Aurum each time, before on his fourth try he makes the door reveal Shell Bell's cluttered apartment. "Here we are. Downside." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Thank you. Hold the door until further notice." Golden looks at Sherlock. "Do you want to accompany me?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Yes." |
Author: luminous_regnant | Golden turns them both invisible, leads him through, and attempts to teleport the pair to Juliet, should there be a Juliet. |
Author: cross_and_bow | There is a Juliet. |
Author: luminous_regnant | Since there's no one awake around, Golden simply wishes her awake and out of the catacomb. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "- wh - where -" |
Author: eversomuchfun | Sherlock hugs Juliet.
"Turns out there's an afterlife," he says succinctly. "Shall we leave it?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "...An afterlife? But didn't you turn me? Did it not work? Did someone stake me before I could rise?" She blinks at Golden. "...Golden, what are you doing here?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "I'm your escort. We should go back to Milliways, by the way. There aren't enough of us collected in one spot yet to launch an assault on this place." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Yes, do let's get out of here." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "...Wait, but didn't you turn me, if I'm here too or instead mightn't there be one of you, Sherlock?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "...ah," he says. "Point. And if it's as bad as has been implied, I do feel compelled to rescue him." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Well, I don't know whether to expect him to be awake or still in pre-processing like Juliet, but Shell Bell's tale of woe was an utter disaster," says Golden. "Do let's."
Port, wish. |
Author: bitofafiction |
The first words out of his mouth are, "Where's Tony?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Also dead," says Sherlock, "come to think of it. We are accumulating quite the entourage." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Well, let's collect him, too, then," shrugs Golden. And she teleports them all again and wishes again. |
Author: toblameforit |
He immediately clings to the nearest Sherlock. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "And now," says the nearest Sherlock, patting him on the back, "we can leave." |
Author: bitofafiction | "Tony's parents," says the other Sherlock. "And I do honestly believe we can stop there." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Can we really, or do they also have an assortment of dead friends and relatives? We can check that they have not yet been woken, but really, if they haven't, this is getting absurd. We are going to take care of this entire place, we just need more of us to do it, and before we are ready we had best not attract attention from the nebulously defined 'management'." |
Author: toblameforit | "I've been living without my parents for a while, I can keep doing it," Tony volunteers. "But thanks, Sherry. I love you, Sherry." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Out we go." Port. "Thank you, Nathan, you may return to Aurum," she tells her Imperial Minister of Temporal Affairs when everyone is back into the bar. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "No problem, Your Majesty," says Nathan. "Welcome to not being Downside anymore, folks!" He shuts the door, opens it, and goes home. |
Author: luminous_regnant | Golden teleports everyone back to the Belltower.
"I suppose a round of explanations are in order," she says. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Did turning me not work or -"
Juliet goes very still at the pounding noise from the door.
She gets up to read the sign.
She turns around and looks at her Minus-Sherlock.
"What happened?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I turned you," Sherlock says with an absolute lack of inflection. |
Author: toblameforit | ...
"Oh, shit," Tony murmurs, hugging him again. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I thought I might - might turn out okay. Like you. I guess I didn't?" says Juliet, looking edgily at the door. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "No," says Golden shortly. "Here, come away with me for a bit, I have something to tell you that you won't like." And she ushers Juliet into the other bedroom and shuts the door. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony continues to hug Minus. |
Author: bitofafiction | Sherlock looks from Minus to Tony and back.
"So... you're a vampire," he says. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Yes I am." |
Author: bitofafiction | "Glad we've cleared that up." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I killed them all the moment I woke up," he adds, conversationally. |
Author: bitofafiction | "Ah, I knew I could count on you." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Liar." |
Author: bitofafiction | He laughs.
Then he joins the hug. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet emerges from the room a bit later.
She looks like she's being eaten alive by some admixture of guilt and revulsion.
"Do you want to kill her or should I?" she asks Minus in a small voice. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "All the same to me, love," he says softly. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet's not sure what to make of 'love'. Reflex? Is he really that able to separate her from the creature in the other room? She swallows, and goes and gets a pentagon from Golden, and stares fixedly at the door that conceals ex-Juliet.
The pounding noise stops.
Juliet finds a corner to scrunch herself into, and she cries into her knees. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Sherlock gently detaches himself from the other two and goes over to Juliet and sits down beside her. |
Author: toblameforit | "So, um..." says Tony, turning to Golden,
"...who are you again?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Bella Cullen, Empress Regnant of the Golden Empire in the world that I have named Aurum," says Golden. "My nickname when there's more than one of me around is Golden. That one is Juliet. There are lots of several people, including you, and not all of them stem from forks due to the afterlife - I've met one other instance of you in particular, but Shell Bell is familiar with more." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet doesn't seem to be able to look Minus in the eye. Or form a sentence. |
Author: eversomuchfun |
He rests his hand lightly over one of hers. |
Author: toblameforit | "Nice to meet you, I guess," says Tony. "Uh, thanks for taking me out of the creepy death tunnels."
And he hugs the not-vampire Sherlock. |
Author: cross_and_bow | That startles a moment of eye contact out of Juliet.
[I don't see how you can stand to touch me, after -] |
Author: luminous_regnant | "You're welcome. We're going to see about conquering the afterlife and installing something less appalling. You all got out easy, not having been processed yet." |
Author: toblameforit | "Well, that's nice." |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Because you are not she,] says Sherlock. [And she is not you. And it does not please me to see you so unhappy.] |
Author: luminous_regnant | "It's what we do," says Golden. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [The... the fallout shouldn't be about me feeling guilty. How are you, what do you need?] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I am... not well,] he says. [And I don't know what I need. But I know I would rather be with you than anywhere else right now.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet hugs him.
He may notice that she doesn't have her old strength anymore.
But that's all right. They finally found a mint. |
Author: luminous_regnant | Golden starts making notes in the Bellbook. When she's finished - it only takes a few seconds to describe those of the events that are for public consumption - she offers the book to Tony and non-vampire Sherlock collectively. "A summary, albeit one skewed towards the interests of my template and not either of yours." |
Author: bitofafiction | Sherlock picks it up and starts reading. |
Author: eversomuchfun | And Sherlock hugs Juliet some more. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [I know,] he says. [I love you.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I love you too.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | Snuggle.
While Golden is still here, they should probably deal with some practical matters, but they don't have to deal with those right this second. |
Author: luminous_regnant | Golden's not going anywhere. Golden has all the time in the world. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Snuggling, by contrast: fairly urgent.
[I can't believe she - I thought she'd be me. At least a bit me. Golden only knew a little - was there any me there, at all, or am I just entirely my soul, or...?] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [...She had hints of you,] he says. [If I had never met you before, I would have found her fascinating. But she did not think the way you think.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet's full of questions but she can't tell if Sherlock would prefer to field them or not. |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Yes?] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [What hints? What did she say? What did she do, before...?] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Oh, she trash-talked you for a while, and then she suggested we had better things to do than talk, and I declined, and she tried to argue me around.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [Christ.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Yes.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I don't suppose any of the trash-talk contained worthwhile insights.] |
Author: eversomuchfun | [Not especially, no.] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I think I'll take your word for it.]
Snuggle. Grateful guilty snuggle. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Snuggle snuggle [I love you] snuggle. |
Author: cross_and_bow | [I love you too.] |
Author: luminous_regnant | "The gist of the book," Golden says, mostly for Tony's benefit, "is that there are a bunch of us - I'm the vampire one, but a different kind of vampire from the ones in your world, and there is also an angel one and a witch one and a Martian-of-sorts and the Slayer over there and Shell Bell who does not have such a convenient descriptor, and unknown numbers of us who've yet to find this place, although there's a space soldier one whose friend made some notes about her for us. Some of them have Sherlocks and Tonies, more of them have instead instances of a template referred to as 'Whistles' to our 'Bells', and I'm the odd one out - there is a Whistle in Aurum, but I had to import him; my husband is of different extraction entirely and is called Edward." |
Author: toblameforit | "...Okay," he says, "that is... a little weird." |
Author: bitofafiction | Sherlock snorts. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "There are also several of you without accompanying Bells, just as there's the Whistle who was available for import," says Golden. "I suspect that there are substantial numbers of most people, and most people simply are not interesting enough for Milliways to visit them. My daughter finds it often. At least one Jarvis, and possibly the copy of that one that now lives in Juliet's world, can make doors appear at will. Other people have to wait. Milliways has been showing up for Shell Bell since she was very young, but only with sharply limited frequency. The distinction Bells have is that we are particularly interested in coordinating. Hence, the Belltower. Amariah and Shell Bell made it, although as far as we can tell, Stella and I met first - we just didn't know there were going to be so many, whereas Shell Bell had been mistaken for our alts for some time and knew to expect a crowd." |
Author: bitofafiction | Sherlock continues to read the book. |
Author: toblameforit | "Is 'Bells and Whistles' supposed to be as adorable as it sounds?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "It was Stella's invention. Whistles don't like their given names. She had cause to invent a nickname for her boyfriend. It is now, within her empire, his legal middle name, and it's spread from there." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Our Jarvis can do doors to Milliways anytime, too," Juliet murmurs, lifting her face from where it's buried against Sherlock's shoulder to speak and then putting it back. |
Author: eversomuchfun | He hugs her some more. |
Author: toblameforit | "It's really adorable," says Tony. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "If you like that sort of thing. I'm not the biggest fan of Whistles. The first time I met Stella's boyfriend, he threw a tantrum in my throne room, and the one I imported is what amounts to retired from a life of terrorism, although he's been very well-behaved since moving to Aurum and a fair fraction of my staff have worse records. I believe Angela's version is pleasanter, though I've not met hers, nor Amariah's." |
Author: toblameforit | "...A tantrum like, what?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "One of my bodyguards, Allirea - I don't tend to use them much anymore, now that I have coins, but they were once very necessary parts of my organization - has the power to be supernaturally unobtrusive. Those of us Bells blessed with mental opacity, which is all of us from worlds with magic plus the space soldier, can see her and continue to think about her unimpeded even after having been around her while she's deploying this power. And so could Stella's Whistle. This bothers Allirea. It was very hard to get her to agree to work as my bodyguard instead of arranging to not be on the same continent as me ever again, and she was, until I minted, one of the very most valuable members of my staff. And she's touchy about a handful of things. I have to pretend she doesn't exist most of the time. And she objects in principle to nicknames - she's the only person who calls me Isabella. She could probably have done without asking Stella's Whistle's original name, except that he could see her. And then, while Stella and I were trying to figure out a way to placate my employee and her boyfriend at the same time, Allirea was pestering my mind-reading husband for the information, and Whistle was swearing and contemplating setting things on fire and generally acting like the world was coming to an end. I'm hardly proud of how Allirea acted either, but that doesn't make his reaction particularly mature." |
Author: toblameforit | "...Do you have any idea why he was swearing and contemplating setting things on fire?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Whistles don't like their given names. I've never quizzed one about why, and what Edward reported didn't contain a coherent explanation." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Amariah said to me that it's because of their dads," says Juliet. "They have terrible dads." |
Author: toblameforit | "Yeahhhhh," says Tony. "I would totally buy that as a reason to swear and want to set things on fire. I mean, not as a reason to actually set things on fire, but definitely as a reason to want to." |
Author: bitofafiction | Sherlock hugs him. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Yeah - Golden, isn't your species, like, immune to trauma," says Juliet vaguely. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "That is perhaps overstating the case, but we have - strong psychological set points," says Golden. "To which we will return if not actively traumatized at any given time. You think I didn't make enough allowances for him having been a human at the time? Because he has since become my sort of vampire, and from what I have since learned of the template it wouldn't surprise me if his reaction were just the same should something similar occur." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Well, he and Stella had perfect recall even before he turned, maybe that's part of his psychological set point even though it's about something that happened before he turned," Juliet suggests. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Maybe." |
Author: toblameforit | "Speaking for the 'people with shitty dads' contingent," says Tony, "although names aren't my particular problem, there are totally other things that could make me swear in inappropriate situations if they came up unexpectedly. I mean, I'm not proud of that or anything, but I don't think it's some kind of major character flaw. Lots of people have some stuff they're not really okay about, and if it hits them at the wrong time—" He makes an exploding motion with his hands. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "...Was it not briefly considered to fetch your parents away from Downside?" Golden asks, puzzled. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "All that means is he doesn't want them dead," says Juliet. "He doesn't yet know us well enough to know that we're going to fix what ails the place. What kind of quorum are we waiting for there, anyway?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "It's not so much a specific fortuitous collection of Bells in Milliways that we're waiting for as it is about Shell Bell - or some hitherto unknown Bell - working out how to use nine-pointed coins for interdimensional travel that is more cooperative so that we can collect everyone we know about." |
Author: toblameforit | ...The conversation seems to have moved on from the resurrection of his parents, so Tony does not air his complicated feelings on the subject. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Speaking of which," says Sherlock, "do you suppose it is time to provide Juliet with a coin press of her very own?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Ah. Of course. Here you are, Juliet." An invisible bandolier is made, stocked, and handed over; Juliet takes it and twists it on, smiling slightly. "Who's going to be her helper-mint?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I am the obvious candidate." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Can you handle all the relevant - boosting and testing and the like, by yourself?" Golden says delicately, making him a bandolier and minting him too. "I prefer not to be too close to the details of minting-as-it-tends-to-go." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I think we'll be fine. Shell Bell explained everything," Juliet says. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Everything?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I know how to use stars-and-up - guys, that's not safe unless one of us tells you how, don't try it - and how to handle a rogue mint; is there more?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "All of the other accumulated advice appears in the book. Make sure you're caught up before you do anything significant," shrugs Golden. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Will do." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Define 'not safe'," says Sherlock. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "I don't know how hard your sort is to kill, but suffice to say you and anyone standing next to you and possibly anyone a few blocks away would not have good odds of surviving the experience, and I don't believe you want to trust Downside to catch you, both because it has Milliways's issues with time and you could easily spend decades trying to exist there without getting tortured before anyone fetched you and because it may simply interpret you as already being dead." Golden gestures at the human Sherlock in the room. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I'll probably wind up telling you. Shell Bell told hers," says Juliet. "It's the Whistles who don't generally know." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "It's a good idea to have someone who knows, or there wouldn't have been a sane, live version of Shell Bell for the dead one to fold back into because her Sherlock wouldn't have been able to wish on an evil," says Golden. "Two of Stella's staff know, my Edward knows, I don't know who Angela and Amariah may have told." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Can I get you to give us the executive version of Shell Bell's story? I've been coming here on a daily basis trying desperately to run into a mint since I ran out of squares from her and I guess Milliways has been temporally stretched through that time or something because I didn't see anything about it. Or should I just read the book?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Shell Bell was assassinated, and the dead one of her was captured, kept in a basement, and tortured routinely for twenty-five years with no access to any form of recordkeeping until she could remember nothing, not even her name beyond 'Shell', and then she was released for some forty years of aimless wandering and intermittent further torture, until she found an alt of Sherlock who she'd looked up in Downside's directory immediately on waking who happened to remember her and where she was supposed to reside. He showed her to her apartment, which perhaps would have been sufficient for her to recover her sanity if not her memories, but she promptly found a door to Milliways, went through, and found her Sherlock. She and the live Bell worked out a merger protocol and are now a single entity." |
Author: eversomuchfun |
Sherlock glances at Sherlock. |
Author: bitofafiction | "How fine-tuned are these merger protocols, do you suppose?" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Arbitrarily so. Shell Bell wanted to be mostly sane-live-Bell and not so much less-sane-dead-Shell. One of my staff members - Nathan, who was holding the door - also underwent a merger after he managed to get himself killed, and his parameters are different." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "...Are you going to be able to agree on whether to have a soul?" Juliet asks. |
Author: bitofafiction | "Not if it's a binary proposition, I imagine." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Many of the effects of soullessness are ultimately beneficial to me, but I'm not wedded to all of them. If we could transfer the perks and leave out the rest..." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "I would recommend," says Golden, "that whichever one of you currently possesses the desired end state of soul-ness attempt to wish up the desired cocktail of features before trying to merge, to ensure that they can all coexist, and then we can just specify that that one's relevant characteristics are the ones to be present in the merged Sherlock." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Um," says Juliet, looking away. "The one who's not a vampire never even met me before today - how does - will -" |
Author: luminous_regnant | "I don't have a specific case study to refer you to," says Golden apologetically. "Obviously Shell Bell met her Sherlock - and her Tony, for that matter - before she was killed, and that Sherlock has never died in any sense of the word. Nathan's dead version's afterlife affections never escalated to a point where he was uncomfortable with trading them in for a mate bond again in the merged version. But anything they can agree on is presumably workable." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet peers between Sherlocks, shrinking slightly. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Sherlock makes a 'speak up' gesture at Sherlock. |
Author: bitofafiction | "The end result is going to have the complete set of both our memories," says Sherlock. "It's not as though I've had time to develop a competing interest in the half an hour it's been since I died. Whatever reasons he has for being fond of you, and it's obvious there are many, are going to transfer just fine." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "But on top of - of -"
Juliet is looking at the door that once barred her vampire version from exiting. The sign is still on the door. It has not been unlocked. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Dear Juliet," he says, hugging her again. "I am going to continue loving you whether I merge with him or not." |
Author: cross_and_bow | She throws her arms around him and hugs as tight as she can, which is not very tight, anymore. "I love you so much," she murmurs, "and I am so, so sorry, and I am going to vivisect my mind and find where she was hiding and kill her again, and I love you." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I love you too," he says. And now they are back to snuggling. |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Is my presence still required?" Golden asks. "I had several evils on my person and gave a handful to Juliet, so she can pull off the merger as long as she reads Shell Bell's notes about it and you decide amongst yourselves how to design it. Can I be of any further help here?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Only if you want to wait around to see if more Bells show up so we can storm Downside," says Juliet, still snuggling Minus-Sherlock. "And even if they do, I'd want a while before taking on a project like that. I'm kind of a mess right now, and I'm missing - most of my superpowers. And I have done no minty things with Sunshine yet." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I don't believe you're needed," says Sherlock to Golden. "Thank you for all your help." |
Author: luminous_regnant | "Goodbye, then, all," says Golden with a wave of her hand, and she departs with the perfect-level walk of "diamond" vampires. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Bye, Golden." |
Author: toblameforit | "Bye," Tony echoes.
And then...
"Now what?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Now they decide if they want to have a soul, or not, and whichever one has the correct box checked in the metaphorical form wishes - or tells me how to wish, maybe - for the tweaks they want to make it a good compromise, like Golden suggested?" says Juliet. "Unless there are other points of potential disagreement." |
Author: bitofafiction | "I, of course, prefer the end result to have a soul. And I prefer it to be stuck in place as thoroughly as we can make it, although my intuition is that if I am the base template for the merge, that will be the case regardless." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Since you are, in a sense, my soul," Sherlock agrees. "No objection. And you make a better template than I do in any case, since you're closer to the point of divergence." |
Author: bitofafiction | "So tell me of these 'perks'," says Sherlock. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Well, for starters, I don't hate myself nearly as much." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Self-loathing is basically unproductive. Mostly. I don't know how anybody who wasn't a me would turn it into something actionable, anyway." |
Author: bitofafiction | "Speak for yourself," Sherlock says wryly. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony hugs him. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Do you get much use out of your self-loathing, then?" inquires Juliet. |
Author: bitofafiction | "Until I met him," he says, gesturing to Minus, "I would've said I'd never get anywhere without it." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Well, now you know better. Do I take it that's not a keeper, then?" |
Author: bitofafiction | "Indeed." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Heh. What else?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I don't believe we need to adjust your base willingness to kill people or do generally nefarious things." |
Author: bitofafiction | "So glad we agree." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Are you still going to want my permission to kill Arthur Mallory, then, or will leaving him in police custody be fine? Only it may be a bit difficult for Charlie to press the full set of charges, when my corpse has mysteriously vanished and I'm trying reclaim my identity, what, an hour later, and even just the kidnapping part involves things that don't officially exist... I suppose they could get him for kidnapping Giles either way. Unless Watchers have legal pull." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I am still going to want to kill Arthur Mallory, but I will not actively seek to unless it is practical for other reasons. Which is more or less identical to the situation as it stands." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "All right then. I guess I'll have the tools to do whatever I want with him, anyway, if I don't like the look of the default." Juliet looks at her bandolier, stocked with all sorts of glassy color-flecked coins and some smaller ones in glowing gold. Experimentally, she nibbles on her lip. She gets a triangle in luminous indigo. "Neat. What do yours look like?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | He bites his lip and produces a smokily translucent grey square. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Biting. Hm.
"Are you going to be a vampire?" she asks.
(Considering why she's asking and what happened not an hour ago, she doesn't think she has a right to any more than a practical interest in this question, but she's the one holding the evils and the knowledge of how to use them, so the practical interest is there.) |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I'm in favour of keeping all the salient benefits," he says cheerfully. "But - immune to sunlight, I think." |
Author: bitofafiction | "My form of being dead apparently comes with a highly convenient mechanism for immortality," volunteers Sherlock. "If we layer that with the vampirism we shouldn't need to patch more than sunlight and crosses, and that only for convenience." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Holy water?" asks Juliet. "And what, pray tell, is this new form of immortality we have?" |
Author: bitofafiction | "We can't die; in otherwise fatal circumstances, we briefly lose consciousness and regenerate on the spot with the help of some illusory fire." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Holy water," says Sherlock, "sounds like an excellent way to get coins." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "...I think the traditional way for Bells to get coins out of our helpers involves something called an 'agony beam'," says Juliet. "Although Angela supposedly sings for hers. But if you wish to be vulnerable to holy water I'm not gonna stop you." |
Author: eversomuchfun | He laughs. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I'm going to perfect-recall myself so I don't fumble any of these details when I pull off the merge," Juliet says. And she spends a hex on it - and it won't go. "Weird," she mutters. "Uh, Sherlock-over-there, are there any notes on being dead interacting with installing superpowers?" |
Author: bitofafiction | "If you want them to persist through the aforementioned regeneration, you need an evil, but you can load quite a plateful onto same. So you might want to think up a nice stack. Perhaps give yourself temporary perfect recall while you think about it." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "All right. I do remember seeing a Chart Of Suggested Uses For Hexes in there." Hex. "Ah, there we go, that's lovely. Hmmm." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Do you want to staple your Slayerishness back on?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I still have the autopilot. I don't think I want to spawn a new Slayer every time I do something that resembles dying. I'm already going to want to give the one I've undoubtedly called up a heads up before the Watchers find her," says Juliet disgustedly. "So the only parts I'm missing that I want are the speed and the strength, which, yes, I do believe I will help myself to, along with the other popular Bell standards." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Which are...?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Well, I'll want to check the book again - if I need an evil to get anything to stick, I can't just edit the powers later if someone's come up with convenient revisions to the designs - but in brief, I'm gonna be able to fly and teleport and turn invisible and regenerate and go without sleeping and detect lies - at will, off by default so that ordinary smalltalk isn't awkward - and endure pretty arbitrary weather conditions comfortably and I'll have the agony beam and I'm going to speed up my brain and I'll take a few layers of armor against assorted magical attack." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Sounds lovely." |
Author: bitofafiction | "Let's steal a few," says Sherlock. "Teleportation is convenient. Flight is fun. Invisibility is mildly redundant but fun nevertheless. Regeneration likewise. Going without sleep is an excellent idea. Lie detection would take all the fun out of things, but we can leave it off when it's not important." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Do you need an evil for that too? Golden only gave me three. Or will it work if we stick them to this one -" She indicates the nearest Sherlock - "with hexes, of which I have a number, and then just incorporate that in the merge? Shell Bell ought to have written about that, if her dead version didn't have any magic." |
Author: bitofafiction | "She did; it will. Are we appropriately well supplied?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "If not, do please hand me a hex when you are finished giving yourself an agony beam." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I have a fair number of hexes -" Juliet counts. "I have thirty-two hexes." |
Author: bitofafiction | "Enough to be going on with." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Yes." Pause. "Tony, how terribly confused are you?" |
Author: toblameforit | "Uh, actually I'm following pretty well," he says. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Oh, good. Sherlock, are you done with the book yet?" |
Author: bitofafiction | "The book and I have concluded our business." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet makes herself a square just for the novelty and summons the book from across the room to catch up. (Snuggling with vampire-Sherlock all the while.) "Okay, I'm glad I thought to check this before stacking up some powers, apparently version one of teleportation had no safeguards against appearing with somebody not in a state to be appeared to," she says mildly. "Shell Bell invented a patch, though - oh, she was visiting a one of you when she came up with it, Tony - and she's got a revision to some of the defenses, that makes sense after she got killed by that nuke - and of course I want to be able to add nodes to the brainphone network, I'd almost neglected that - and -" She closes the book. "I think I'm all set to evil me some powers, unless anybody has last-minute suggestions or somebody wants me to be able to read their mind like Stella and Shell Bell do theirs or what have you." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Do we want dear Juliet reading our mind?" |
Author: bitofafiction | "I don't know, do we?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Well, which state is the easier to change our mind from later?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "You can certainly always tell me to stop. Neither Stella nor Shell Bell leaves theirs on all the time. And apparently Shell Bell has to ask her Sherlock to slow down the adjustable brain speed thing in order to be able to catch more than half of what's going on anyway, if she hopes to work in real time. Or we could design the power backwards - projection instead of inspection - and stick it to you before you consolidate, and then you can change your mind at will without having to rely on my ability to suppress my curiosity - although I don't know if that will work with me, because mental opacity. Or," she shrugs, "you'll be making the evils anyway - I won't object if you ask me to remove it, or decide you don't want it now but want to go ahead and incorporate it later, as long as it's understood that not adding it with my first batch will take a separate evil." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Skip it for now, then." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Okay. Am I forgetting anything else? Oh, I know. I want to be immune to drugs as a general class of thing unless I decide otherwise," she says disgustedly. "Arthur Mallory oughtn't have been able to do what he did. I'll fold that into my version of the regen, I think, they'll just dissolve on contact if they try to touch my metabolism without an invitation." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Good plan." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I may as well see if I can fit Stella's past-viewing power onto the same evil. Could come in handy. I hope I blind Arthur Mallory when I attend his trial with his stupid magic-seeing power. Sherlock, do you know what happened to my fire wand? Did Giles grab it, or what?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I took it while no one was looking and left it with Jarvis." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Okay, good. The fact that it now belongs to a mint means it probably can't be usefully passed along - I'm going to try to avoid making Shell Bell's mistake that led to it ever making sense to give it to me in the first place - but it could've been bad to have it floating around." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Yes indeed." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Okay. I'll evil me some stuff, I'll hex you some stuff, are there any more details you need to work out between you about how you want to consolidate yourselves?" |
Author: bitofafiction | "No, I don't believe so." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Do you want to wait a bit to see if you think of anything, or shall I just rapid-fire everything under discussion?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Go for it." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Evil on herself. Ah, that feels better, that feels much better. All of Sherlocks' requests, applied to the vampire one. "There's me and you powered up, and -" She focuses on the parameters of the merger. Human Downsider one as the template for the torching and the soul, plus vampire's memories, lack of self-loathing, magic grafts, technical vampirism plus the new immunities - and the vampire one loves her, she is sure to note in her wish design that this is to be included -
She takes a deep breath.
She closes her eyes.
She wishes on the evil. |
Author: eversomuchfun |
"Well," says Sherlock. "Look at me." |
Author: toblameforit | "Lookit you," Tony agrees. "Being all one of you and stuff."
He claims first hug on the new Sherry. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet allows it without protest.
The previous non-vampire Sherlock might have guessed something about what vampire-her did, but he did not remember it, and she is not sure to what extent the consolidation may feel like learning something new. |
Author: eversomuchfun | He picks Tony up and spins him around and sets him down and kisses him on the cheek.
Then he sits down by Juliet and scoops her into his arms. |
Author: cross_and_bow | That answers that. At least partly. Hugs! |
Author: eversomuchfun | Hugs. Definitely hugs. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Home to go tell Charlie and Giles and Jarvis that I am - well, I guess I technically am dead, but that I will not be behaving in a manner befitting a dead person? And Jarvis will be interested to see Tony, I imagine. And I should warn the next Slayer. Definitely have to give her a heads-up." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Home," Sherlock agrees. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "...Ah, no, I'm wrong, Golden didn't write about this in the Bellbook. I will do that first."
But she can now do it very, very fast!
"Now we can leave." And she leads the way out of the Belltower. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony follows.
"Have I mentioned I'm glad I'm not dead? Well—you know what I mean. Whatever." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I'm glad you're conscious-and-capable-of-affecting-the-world too!" says Juliet merrily. [Giles, am okay now, will explain later,] she adds as they step into the brick building. "Hi, Jarvis! This is the local Tony, rescued from the afterlife, and a slightly remodeled Sherlock, and I was also rescued from the afterlife but am not remodeled except for some superpowers!" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I have a soul now," Sherlock says brightly. "It is not a significant encumbrance." |
Author: poeticterms | "Congratulations to all of you. Would you like to call your father now, Bella?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I was thinking I'd go see him in person," says Bella. "Sherlock, Tony, either of you want to come along?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Pick me! Pick me!" |
Author: toblameforit | "I'll sit this one out," Tony decides. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Invisibility! Teleportation!
Charlie is in his house. The invitation thing, while having been previously useful for comforting Charlie about his daughter's vampire boyfriend, went with the other inconveniences, so Sherlock comes along without complication. "Hi, Dad! I am okay! Sherlock found someone who could help me. Complicated magical things happened and now all's well."
"Bella," breathes Charlie, and he gets up and hugs her tight. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Awwwww. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Thank you, Sherlock, what are you doing in my house," says Charlie, still hugging Bella.
"Complicated magical things," says Bella helpfully. "He can do that now. He will not be doing anything nefarious." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "My already negligible nefarious tendencies have been drastically reduced," he agrees. "Because of the complicated magical things. Also, I can now walk around in sunlight without catching fire, I'm quite looking forward to that part." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Ooh, let's stay up all night and watch the sunrise," says Bella.
"...Bella, you have school -"
"Complicated magical things, Dad, I will appear at school just fine, promise."
"...Right."
"Have you been sufficiently reassured that I am okay, so that I can go do other stuff?" Bella asks. "I need to go warn a person about a thing, and I also need to talk to Giles so that he too can be clear on my being fine. Can you handle my being not legally dead, I'd find it potentially inconvenient to be legally dead."
"...I can do that. Since it doesn't look to me like you're dead."
"Thanks, Dad, I love you," says Bella with a brilliant smile. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Now! Where might Giles be? Because now that's where Bella and Sherlock are! |
Author: pythbox | Giles is at home, drinking tea in his living room. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Hi, Giles! I am only technically dead!" says Bella brightly. |
Author: pythbox | He yelps and drops his tea; the mug bounces off his knee and thumps onto the carpet, spraying tea everywhere.
"Good god," he says. "What have you got into now?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Mint powers," says Bella gleefully, unspilling his tea for him with a wave of her hand and a triangle. |
Author: pythbox | ...He grins.
"Well," he says. "Congratulations."
And he peers dubiously into his unspilled tea for only a moment before shrugging and taking a sip. |
Author: cross_and_bow | He will find it still hot and uncontaminated by any of the flavors that may be present in his carpet.
"Since I did, technically, die, I am going to go warn the next Slayer of what's to come before your old friends find her," Bella says. "But I don't think she's got much to worry about. I am awesome. Also the form of technically dead I am makes me invincible. It's kickass." |
Author: pythbox | "Let me know if you need any help," he says. "Although while you're doing me favours, would you mind reinforcing me against further knocks to the head?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | She is in a whimsical mood, so she does this by briefly conjuring a fairy-godmother sort of wand and tapping him on the head while she applies the hex. "There you are. Will you want anything else in the next little while?" |
Author: pythbox | He laughs.
"No, thank you." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Goodbye, fairy godmother wand.
"Sherlock, do you want to meet the new Slayer too, or go catch up with Tony?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "You go on," he says. "Tony and I do have some catching up to do." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Sherlock gets a kiss. Giles gets a wave.
The new Slayer, wherever she may be, gets a visitor. |
Author: neverbeatme | The new Slayer is lying in bed with an open calculus textbook propped on her stomach and her feet halfway up the wall, drumming her fingers on the book's spine while loud rock music plays in the background. She is wearing Captain America pajama pants and a plain white T-shirt. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Please don't panic," says Bella, first, "I'm here to help." |
Author: neverbeatme | She blinks.
She lowers the textbook until it's open flat on her chest.
She looks at Bella.
"Okay, talk." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I'm technically dead, and you have the fortune or misfortune to have inherited my job slash mystical destiny. You'll find that you're now many times stronger and faster and instinctively better at fighting than you were -" Bella glances at the clock. "An hour and a half ago. And you might also get bad prophetic dreams and, if you go out at night, notice that certain people seem off, although I was lucky enough to avoid those symptoms. This office is called being the 'Slayer'; the things you are supposed to slay are vampires and demons. I am not technically meant to be telling you about this. I am technically not meant to coexist with you at all, because of how the title passes. But the people who are supposed to find you and tell you what's what are not as friendly as me. They're why I died." |