we are invariably pleased to welcome tourism

[cross_and_bow]

Sherlock is usually very puncutal. He's only one minute late, but that's still not quite as punctual as usual. Bella peers out the window, not yet allowing herself outright concern.

Comments

[pythbox]

"I have no idea," he admits. "Well, I have some idea. But 'not that kind' isn't much of an answer."

[cross_and_bow]

"It's not. Do you have an idea where we're going to start? Or are you stalling for time with the huge stack of demonological texts?"

[pythbox]

"The huge stack of demonological texts is full of crucial, valuable information," he says. "...And yes."

[cross_and_bow]

Juliet laughs.

"Hey, maybe you can answer a theory question for me," she says, when she's recovered. "You said I was lucky the only way I've had a spell fail is by not working at all. Does magic do a lot of uncontrolled stuff? Swirl around in random eddies breaking the laws of physics at random, stick to people who didn't especially solicit any, escape from poorly-worded spells and turn the local wildlife pink? Or is it all spells and sometimes exploding spells?"

[pythbox]

"It depends," he says. "Any spell that invokes a deity or demon—the difference isn't always perfectly clear—runs some risk of the named entity, ah, failing to cooperate. The results of that can be catastrophic, depending on whose attention you caught and how powerful and capricious they might be. Some spells, especially powerful ones, can backfire on the caster if done improperly. And magical artifacts of various kinds can have unpredictable effects. In general, no, magic doesn't do anything unless someone somewhere was trying to use it."

[cross_and_bow]

"A lot of the spells I saw invoked deities-or-demons - they're basically the same, really? - but that just pushes the question of how the magic works back one step farther. Do the deities-or-demons do their own magic when no one's bothering them to do someone else's? And what's this about artifacts, let's hear about artifacts," says Juliet.

[pythbox]

"Some do; some don't. If you want to know about them, or about artifacts, I can give you more books."

[cross_and_bow]

"I would like that," says Juliet decisively.

[pythbox]

He smiles tentatively and retreats behind the counter to haul out another armful from his personal collection.

[cross_and_bow]

"Did you expect me to need those?" Juliet asks. "For that matter, why did you bring your personal demonology collection, yesterday?"

[pythbox]

"I always bring my personal demonology collection," he says.

[cross_and_bow]

"To school with you?" Bella asks. "In case a demon attacks you and this is a problem that can best be solved by available reference books?"

[pythbox]

"You never know when you might need a cross-reference," he says with dignity.

[cross_and_bow]

"Maybe you can read these beautifully illuminated page numbers more easily than I can," she says. "Say, how did you get all these books? Where do demonology books even come from?"

[pythbox]

"Private collections," he says. "And, apparently, the Sunnydale High school library."

[cross_and_bow]

"Whose private collections? Are you obtaining books from people who are..." She attempts his accent. "Evil in some way?"

[pythbox]

He gives her a disapproving look over his glasses.

[cross_and_bow]

[pythbox]

"Perhaps I should have gone with my first explanation," he says. "Sometimes, when two demonology texts love each other very much..."

[cross_and_bow]

Juliet cracks up. "You know, at this point, that explanation for at least a handful of them wouldn't floor me? But seriously, who's collecting these things, who's writing them?"

[pythbox]

"Demonologists write them," he says. "And collect them. And occasionally give them up to other collectors, or researchers, or I don't know who else. If it's any consolation, I can't tell you where I found most of the mundane books on my shelves, either."

[cross_and_bow]

"How do people wind up being demonologists? Is that the sort of field you can fall into? Perhaps literally - is there a secret demonology department down in a cellar at UC Sunnydale and if you trip in the right place they offer you a scholarship?"

[pythbox]

"I can't think of a demonology book off the top of my head that was published in the last four centuries," he says. "So if there is such a department, I'm not who you want to ask about it."

[cross_and_bow]

"That explains the archaic language. Lucky I'm up on my Shakespeare and so on," says Juliet.

[pythbox]

"Yes, that is lucky," he agrees. "I have relatively recent translations for most of the older and more obscure texts, but if you want to make a serious study of demonology—or magic, for that matter—I recommend learning Latin."