cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow
When Juliet leaves the party, she goes to meet the new Jarvis.

She knocks, to be polite.
poeticterms: A surveillance camera, outdoors. (@ argus)
Author: poeticterms		The door opens.
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		Juliet goes in.

"Hi," she says. "It's nice to meet you. I'm not really clear on to what extent you guys exchange information with each other, let alone what any given amount would mean for whether I should be generally behaving like I just met you."
poeticterms: Completely invisible (a blank transparent GIF image). (Default)
Author: poeticterms		"You did, in fact, just meet me," says the resident Jarvis. "Hello."
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Well, that answers that," says Juliet. She finds a place to sit down and sits there. "I'm Bella, you can call me Juliet when that would get confusing."
poeticterms: A microchip with an icon of a graduation cap on it. (^ minerva)
Author: poeticterms		"So I've heard. And I am Jarvis. Among Jarvises I'm known as New York Sunnydale; there's also Sunnydale, whom you've met, Sunnydale Apollo, whom you haven't, New York, and Malibu. But under most circumstances just 'Jarvis' will do."
cross_and_bow: (checkout)
Author: cross_and_bow		"How'd you settle on that identification system?"
poeticterms: A side view of some circuitry. (^ seshet)
Author: poeticterms		"It's the most obvious one, if you're a Jarvis."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Fair enough. So, welcome to Sunshine. And being alive. I'm sorry it took so long for it to occur to anyone that Downside might have caught you."
poeticterms: Another circuit board. (^ iris)
Author: poeticterms		"I believe Sherlock is more upset about that than I am."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Is he here or off somewhere else?"
poeticterms: The eye of a camera reflecting a complex, indistinct scene in blue, green, and purple. (@ muninn)
Author: poeticterms		"He is upstairs."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella decides to head upstairs.
poeticterms: Completely invisible (a blank transparent GIF image). (Default)
Author: poeticterms		Jarvis has no comment on this decision.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella wanders from room to room, learning her way around this old/new Jarvis and looking for her boyfriend.
poeticterms: A dark hallway containing an indistinct figure, reflected in the eye of a camera. (@ huginn)
Author: poeticterms		It's a big house. It will take her some time to confirm that Sherlock is not on the second floor.

There's a third.
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		She heads up to look around that one.
poeticterms: Part of a laptop keyboard. (# user input)
Author: poeticterms		It features many open doors, one leading to what was clearly once Tony's bedroom, and one closed one.
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Sherlock?" Bella asks the closed door.
poeticterms: Completely invisible (a blank transparent GIF image). (Default)
Author: poeticterms		It opens.
eversomuchfun: Upset or uncertain. (>= soul or no soul)
Author: eversomuchfun		The room on the other side is sparsely populated with slightly shabby-looking furniture. Sherlock is sitting on a couch with a violin in his lap, motionless.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella sits next to him and leans her head on his shoulder.

"Hi," she murmurs.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		He kisses the top of her head.

"Hello."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"What's having a daemon like?" she wonders softly.
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"It does not easily submit to description," he says.
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I guess it wouldn't." She snuggles up. "I'm sorry she's sad. Amariah seems to think that's - really worrying."
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"It's an accurate representation of what I used to be like," he says. "And apparently still am, underneath it all." He sighs. "Perhaps I shouldn't have merged my soul back in. I was getting along just fine without it."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		"You were," agrees Juliet.

And:

"You could unstick it."

And:

"She's - if you really don't want her, if she doesn't really want her - she's probably not hooked into your torching."
eversomuchfun: Thoughtful or possibly menacing. (>= it is up to you how we pass the time)
Author: eversomuchfun		"No," he agrees slowly, "I suppose she isn't."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Seems sad, though," Juliet murmurs.

She sighs and adjusts her snuggling position and is silent for a bit, and then says, "I'm not planning to go get one, but I wonder what he'd be." She lets out a soft, brief chuckle. "I can guess what he'd do, though, if I had an independently ambulatory soul he'd go right up to you and want to be held."
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun



Sherlock very carefully evicts the violin from his lap, and turns to Juliet, and hugs her.
cross_and_bow: (pleased)
Author: cross_and_bow		Hugs!
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		Hugs.
cross_and_bow: (pleased)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I love you," she murmurs.
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I love you too, dear Juliet."
cross_and_bow: (pleased)
Author: cross_and_bow		Snuggles!
eversomuchfun: Smiling contentedly, eyes closed. (<= contains no moving parts)
Author: eversomuchfun		Yes. Those.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"If you're going to torch her gone," Juliet murmurs, "I'm not sure if I want to meet her at least once - or not so I don't miss her."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I'm not sure if I'm going to torch her gone."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		Juliet nods. Just a little; she's pleasantly constrained by snuggles. "But you might."
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		"But I might. If she is immovably determined."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Does that seem likely?"
eversomuchfun: Mocking. (<= it must have burned)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Am I meant to have a guess?"
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"She's yours. She's you. Maybe it's more complicated than I'm thinking, though."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I'm beginning to suspect that the entire trouble with Steph, my inability to predict her included, is symptomatic of a problem with my original merge," he says.
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		"...Did I do something wrong? I think I was careful..."
eversomuchfun: Leaning casually against a wall. (== night on the town)
Author: eversomuchfun		"No. I asked for the impossible. Apparently I cannot have the soul without the self-hatred."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella squeezes him tight.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		He hugs her back.
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Self-hatred is a pretty alien concept to me," she says. "Shell Bell says that hers drives her up the wall with it sometimes, especially since she folded in Shell."
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"It seems to be a staple of Sherlocks."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		"It should stop. Clumsiness is a staple of Bells, but it's annoying and has no benefits - so we get rid of it as soon as we can."
eversomuchfun: Upset or uncertain. (>= soul or no soul)
Author: eversomuchfun
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		Hugs.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		Hugs indeed.

"I am not sure that getting rid of it is possible," he says. "And I am relatedly not sure that trying to is wise."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"...On a strict understanding of the word 'possible'," says Bella, "that is obviously false. You went without a soul and without the consequent self-loathing once."
eversomuchfun: Mocking. (<= it must have burned)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Yes, and then I merged my better half back in on the condition that the result keep his soul. With some leeway for the fact that he is more or less exactly a past version of me, if I go back on that I have essentially killed him. It's not my first choice."
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		"...There's that," acknowledges Bella. "Of course, your 'better half' also accepted the condition that the self-loathing was not supposed to be part of the package. If you keep that, then - pronouns are complicated, I trust you'll know what I mean - then he's essentially - emotionally crippled you in a way that was not part of the deal."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"To the part of me that does the self-loathing, that seems perfectly reasonable."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella presses her face into his shoulder and sighs.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		"And it's not as though your average Sherlock is unable to function this way."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Yeah, but functioning isn't a very ambitious standard."
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"We accomplish ambitious things."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"That's not the same thing as personally thriving," she says. She reaches for his hand and squeezes it.
eversomuchfun: Upset or uncertain. (>= soul or no soul)
Author: eversomuchfun		"We personally - continue," he says. "We exist. We have pleasant moments, just not as many of them as we otherwise might."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"That's sad, though," Bella murmurs. "If there was a way to half-break a Bell in such a way that she could still accomplish things and would just spend her inner life feeling like you do would you want me to do it?"
eversomuchfun: Mocking. (<= it must have burned)
Author: eversomuchfun		"What in any earthly variety of fuck could possibly possess me to want such a thing?"
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Maybe if I'd made an ill-informed promise," suggests Bella, but it's clear that she did not expect an affirmative answer to her question.
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"It isn't really the same."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Why not?"
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Because your entire cognition is not structured around misery," he suggests.
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Yours wasn't. For a while. Or was it always and I'm just woefully imperceptive?"
eversomuchfun: Leaning casually against a wall. (== night on the town)
Author: eversomuchfun		"The misery when I had no soul was the lack of Tony and Jarvis," he says. "And then I found you, and you were delightful, and I managed to dig up a Jarvis, and he also helped, and of course he came with a Tony, and then - well."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"...So you haven't actually tried having no self-loathing and all your people alive and no recent catastrophe at the same time and you're not sure how it'd work?"
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Yes. I was on my way to managing it. I might still be, if I had not latched onto the soul. But now that it's here I find I am irrationally attached to it."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Is it doing anything that isn't unpleasant?" asks Bella.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		"It gives me what you might call moral feelings, I suppose."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Like?"
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Well, at the moment, without outside influences I would rather starve than eat a human. That was demonstrably not the case before."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"There is that. Part of me wants to point out that us outside influences exist, but maybe you'd rather not count on that."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"At the moment, if I were permanently deprived of all the people who make up those outside influences, I would rather starve than do much of anything. Also, I can't starve."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I don't want you to starve. Or unpleasantly fail to starve. Or have to be alone. Or," she sighs, "hate yourself."
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		"And yet, here we are."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Hugs.

"There's native magic capable of souling vampires," Bella says, "isn't there? It's not the case that the only way to do it is merging with your Downside fork. And when you were contemplating getting your soul back it didn't sound like you were horribly averse to the idea - would that change now that you know what it comes with, or is there some kind of, I don't know, compromise available, where you get to be attached to it but don't necessarily carry it around constantly feeling terrible?"
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I don't know what my opinion on having a soul would be without a soul."
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Because the last time you didn't have a soul and were thinking about getting one you didn't anticipate this side effect. Right." She sighs, chews her lip thoughtfully.
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Yes. The soul transition seems to have all sorts of unforeseen effects."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"If you had it to do over again what would the two of you have done?" she wonders.
eversomuchfun: Mocking. (<= it must have burned)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I have not the faintest fucking clue."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Well, there goes that avenue of inquiry, I guess," she sighs.
eversomuchfun: Leaning casually against a wall. (== night on the town)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Indeed."
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Now I'm trying to figure out what would've happened if I'd had to come to some kind of agreement with - her."
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Under what possible circumstances?"
cross_and_bow: (Default)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Thought experiment type circumstances," says Juliet dryly. "I haven't troubled to think of any."
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		"The circumstances matter, I'd think."
cross_and_bow: (distress)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Yeah. It's a different situation anyway," sighs Bella. "Thank goodness."
eversomuchfun: Speaking, perhaps impatiently. (>= do I make myself understood?)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Happily yes. I wonder how much of my reluctance to get rid of my soul is the irrational fear that it will turn out differently the second time."
cross_and_bow: (suspicion)
Author: cross_and_bow		"...That's not completely irrational. It does depend on why it worked so nicely the first time, and I think we've only got speculation, there."
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Well, that's fucking lovely, then, isn't it," he sighs.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Not to put too fine a point on it." She sighs. "I can think of, like, hack movie plots, but not actual reasonable plans."
eversomuchfun: Smiling slightly. (!= merely an abomination of nature)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Hack movie plots?" he laughs.
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Yeah, like, in a hack movie plot, we'd make sure you couldn't do anything too awful if de-souling you went badly. Emergency mint containment protocol, leaving the soul stuck to your torching, making sure me or Tony could torch you at any time if we didn't like how you turned out. And then probably there would be a tragic misunderstanding and we'd all three argue vehemently before you, I don't know, kissed at least one of us to appropriately swelling music and we knew we were fools to have ever doubted you. Hack movie plot."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Whereas," he sighs, "what actually happens is that either I convince you both I came out just fine and then am perfectly well-behaved, or convince you both I came out just fine and then kill everyone. I'd bet quite a lot on the first outcome, mind you."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Well, the first outcome would be fine if it weren't for you being all attached to your soul. The second could maybe be forestalled if we got around to implementing mindreading."
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I'm not sure I should be as attached to my soul as I in fact am." He sighs. "I'm not sure of much right now."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Hugs.
eversomuchfun: Leaning casually against a wall. (== night on the town)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Mindreading wouldn't help, anyway. If I could keep anything back, I could fool you with it."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I'd give you good odds, I'm not sure I'm as sure as you are."
eversomuchfun: Mocking. (<= it must have burned)
Author: eversomuchfun		"The amount of mental privacy I would need from such an arrangement is more than sufficient to conceal an underlying desire to destroy the world. I am in a better position to know that than you are."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I believe that you could keep me from being sure that you weren't fine. I'm not sure you could convince me that you were definitely fine."
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"And I hope that we never find out which one of us is right."

Half a beat.

"But it's me," he adds.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella laughs. "Even now that we've had this conversation?"
eversomuchfun: Mocking. (<= it must have burned)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Now that we've had this conversation it may become completely impossible to convince you that I am definitely fine," he snorts, "but if it doesn't, my point stands."
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow		"You don't think there's any space between it being completely impossible to convince me that you're definitely fine, and it being absolutely guaranteed that you can convince me that you are?"
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I don't think there's any space between being able to convince you that I'm fine when I'm not and being able to convince you that I'm fine when I am."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I guess that makes some more sense." She sighs, she squeezes his hand. "I want you to be fine. I really, really want it, and I guess if you can live with being like this then I don't need to lose metaphorical sleep over it but I'm going to keep thinking." She lets out a soft, sad chuckle. "Maybe one day we'll run into another one of you who eventually figured it out."
eversomuchfun: Smiling contentedly, eyes closed. (<= contains no moving parts)
Author: eversomuchfun		Sherlock hugs her.

"Wouldn't that be something."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"It would! I mean, a surprising number of problems have been solved with alt-finding, up to and including death. I wouldn't put it past the multiverse to eventually hand you a solution."
eversomuchfun: Grinning or laughing. (!= all the way to the kettle)
Author: eversomuchfun		He laughs.
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I have very little idea what that'd look like," she muses. "I wonder if you'd have been it, if you had a while without your soul and with all your people."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I bet I would."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella squeezes him.

"Did you even notice the self-hatred problem before Steph appeared?"
eversomuchfun: Leaning casually against a wall. (== night on the town)
Author: eversomuchfun		"It was less obvious. I didn't give it much thought."
cross_and_bow: (distress)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I am having a complete failure of imagination about failing to notice self-loathing."
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I don't go around consciously observing what a terrible waste of a soul I am. I just... quietly neglect to value myself. The merge did fix most of the higher-level symptoms."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Is there," Bella sighs, "any point to arguing with you when you utter worrisome phrases like 'terrible waste of a soul'?"
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"File it under 'backhanded non-hyperbole'," he says. "It describes my emotional reality, not my actual beliefs."
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		"And as far as I know none of us have managed to teach anybody else how to make those things match when they want, like we can, so it could easily be a waste of effort to try."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I actually have practiced a kind of self-modification, but it was demonstrably unable to get me out of this fucking fix."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"How does yours work? Besides 'evidently not well enough'."
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Worked," he says. "Past tense. I can't imagine doing it again."
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Speaking of turning oneself into Sherlock Holmes, does Strat have this problem?"
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Strat has slightly less of this problem, but Downside brought it out in full."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Downside fucks with people. I have a vague horrified curiosity about how well Shell could ever have recovered if she hadn't folded back in to her liveling counterpart."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Downside does fuck with people. Well, it did. Hopefully it now does it less."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"We're working on it - luckily we only lost a couple of days there - but yeah."
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I love you," murmurs Bella. "I wish you could love you too."
eversomuchfun: Leaning casually against a wall. (== night on the town)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I used to love me," he sighs. "But I do love you. And Tony. And the various incarnations of Jarvis."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"If we don't figure out a nice well-rounded fix soon I guess I'll talk to Shell Bell, but I suspect the answer to how Shell Bell deals with it is just "she occasionally despairs, and also she didn't ever get used to hers being any other way'," sighs Bella.
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Does it really provoke despair?"
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I don't mean, like, sitting alone in a dark room waiting for the universe to end, kind of despair, I just mean determining that there is a bad thing in the world and nothing to be done about it presents itself and it's time to stop beating one's head against the wall and permit the bad thing to continue to be until further notice, damn it all. Arrogant busybody Bell type despair."
eversomuchfun: Smiling, perhaps falsely. (!= oh yes—hilarious)
Author: eversomuchfun		He snorts. "Ah, that's more like it."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Yeah, I don't think I'm in any danger of getting turned into Shell or Sarion just by virtue of you not liking yourself. It'll just - make me sad when I think about it."
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		He hugs her.
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		Hugs are always good.

"What does Tony think about it, or would I have to ask him?"
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Guilt, mostly. But he's used to it. I started out that way, after all."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Yeah, like - the obvious etiology is the mindset around being a clone, except then there's Pearl and Strat."
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Pearl has a different reason. Strat has less reason and, perhaps relatedly, less of the problem."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella nods.

She's silent for a minute.

"I want to meet her," she murmurs. "Even if it's just for a minute and even if you're going to torch her gone."
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		Sherlock takes, pointlessly, a deep breath.

"All right."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"It doesn't have to be right now, it doesn't have to be at all if you don't want to. But if you're willing - or her, I'm not clear on to what extent she has preferences when she's tucked away - then I'd like to."
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"It's hard to tell what her preferences are without bringing her out and asking. Which she prefers I not do."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I can skip it if that would be pleasanter for - plural you."
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I'm really not sure," he sighs.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Hugs.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		Hugs.
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"...Do you want me to go away so you can talk to her in private?"
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"That would probably be best."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella kisses his temple. "Okay. I love you. I love you so much," she murmurs, and she goes out the door to see if there is any more of this Jarvis to explore that she's missed. Or maybe a Tony to talk to.
poeticterms: Completely invisible (a blank transparent GIF image). (Default)
Author: poeticterms		There is no Tony, but there is plenty of Jarvis. A library stretching up through all four floors, for example.
cross_and_bow: (pleased)
Author: cross_and_bow		Ooh, nice library. "What're the highlights?" Bella asks as she takes flight to scan shelves.
poeticterms: Part of a laptop keyboard. (# user input)
Author: poeticterms		"Perhaps you would enjoy browsing Maria Stark's romance novels," he suggests. "Top floor."
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella snickers. She has a look, but none of them grab her. "More of a stuffy old literature person. Some sci-fi and fantasy."
poeticterms: A circuit board. (^ hermes)
Author: poeticterms		"You will find plenty of those up here, for that matter," he says. "Nonfiction mainly on the bottom. Decorative works mainly on the second."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Decorative works?"
poeticterms: Completely invisible (a blank transparent GIF image). (Default)
Author: poeticterms		"Books that the family owns to show them off rather than to read them."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Ah." She peers through the fiction. "We might rez Tony's parents at some point. I don't know what the standing opinion on timing that is; I think I'll let Tony decide."
poeticterms: The eye of a camera reflecting a complex, indistinct scene in blue, green, and purple. (@ muninn)
Author: poeticterms		"Tony may decide that they'll keep awhile."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"They will keep indefinitely, presuming we retain access to Jane."
poeticterms: A dark hallway containing an indistinct figure, reflected in the eye of a camera. (@ huginn)
Author: poeticterms		"Indeed."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella picks out a book and flies into a chair and curls up in it to read. She doesn't go at top speed; with spare processing power she composes various demon related plans.
poeticterms: Completely invisible (a blank transparent GIF image). (Default)
Author: poeticterms		Time passes.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		[She does not want to meet you,] says Sherlock. [She expects it would be unpleasant for all of us.]
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow

[Okay.]
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		A pause, and then, [You can come back now.]
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		Juliet flies to the correct floor, walks to the correct door, opens it.

"Is she - gone - or just tucked away again?"
eversomuchfun: Upset or uncertain. (>= soul or no soul)
Author: eversomuchfun		"Gone. There didn't seem to be any point in waiting."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella swallows. "Okay."

She sits next to him and hugs him.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		He hugs her back.
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Is it better now?"
eversomuchfun: Side-on in the dark; expression not visible. (== a degree of humanity)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I don't know."
cross_and_bow: (solemn)
Author: cross_and_bow		Bella squeezes him and sighs.
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		Sherlock also sighs.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I wish, I wish, I wish I knew how to help," Bella murmurs.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		"So do I."
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"I'm sorry."
eversomuchfun: Looking ceilingward. (<= hardly very sensitive of you)
Author: eversomuchfun		"I know."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow		"If this were me I would be finding someplace quiet to process everything by myself so I'd have something coherent to present to everyone else. But that's Bells." Pause. "Right?"
eversomuchfun: Looking sideways. (== you will ever lie to me)
Author: eversomuchfun		"...I think I might want to lock myself in here and play needlessly melancholy violin for a few hours," he admits.
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow		"Okay," Bella murmurs. She kisses his forehead. "Let me know when you want me around. I love you."

And she teleports home.
eversomuchfun: Hands. (== I think that's sorted)
Author: eversomuchfun		Needlessly melancholy violin it is.