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

[dark_light]

"Angels where she's from fly around and pray for weather, or sometimes medicine or seeds, by singing," says Amariah. "The place otherwise has nearly unlivable weather. And she is good at singing. I'm almost surprised she harbors ambitions that go as far up as Archangel, although I'm not sure if the living conditions for the non-angels are quite where she'd like them to be, so there's that."

[eversomuchfun]

"What's the significance of useful luxury?" asks Sherlock.

[dark_light]

"Okay, think about it," says Amariah. "We are both selfish and altruistic to the point of near-contradiction. Usually, this results in taking over the world. Golden was a revolutionary, I think Shell Bell's going that way too, Stella's going a sort of sideways route by colonizing Mars first, I've got a longer plan underway but it's definitely on the agenda, Juliet's still in the point in the Bell life-cycle where she's collecting resources and not moving forward on world takeover but I bet it sounds pretty good to her too."

[cross_and_bow]

"Not gonna deny it."

[dark_light]

"Being the benevolent dictator of the world is kind of the pinnacle of useful luxury, altruistic self-interest, power and service. Empress Bellas are comfortable, they are surrounded by people they like who acknowledge that they are in charge, they get to accomplish all kinds of valuable results for their worlds while also getting to wear elaborate crowns to boot. But we've all done this from a starting point of mediocrity. Most of us have divorced parents; Shell Bell's and mine are together, but Shell Bell grew up in oppressive poverty and my parents have this disastrous on-again off-again marriage. We attend public schools that are only adequate judged against other public schools. I've been half in witch culture, which is better - I get to learn magic and fly and stuff, which I'm good at - but there aren't any real affordances for doing things. Experiencing stuff, sure, I can always hop on my cloud pine and see the Taj Mahal or whatever, but doing stuff out in the world? Useful stuff? Fewer obvious routes, so of course I'm going to just claim the entire planet as my own, piecemeal, and declare the entire thing my responsibility. But Angela..." Amariah shakes her head. "Angela's parents are happily married. She never had to move or split herself between cultures or summer at one parents' house and spend the rest of the year at the others. She has friends, close friends, who she's known since she was born. She's high-status and she can fly and sing and all anyone wants from her is for her to fly and sing. Her god has more to say on the subject of how to live a good life than any of my goddesses do, so she's got an absorbing self-improvement project. She was born with everything she needed to ascend to the highest political office of her land and all she has to do is something she's good at, something she enjoys, something that visibly helps people who need it, under the direction of people she respects. I'm not surprised she wants to be Archangel, but I'm also not surprised she doesn't aspire beyond the standard-issue twenty-year term after the current Archangel is good and done with his."

[eversomuchfun]

"World conquest. Oh, what fun," says Sherlock. "Don't tell the Watchers; they'll have kittens."

[cross_and_bow]

"Mum's the word. I'm not even at that point in my life-cycle yet," snorts Juliet.

[eversomuchfun]

"That just makes you sound like some manner of insect," he says. "A monarch butterfly, perhaps."

[cross_and_bow]

Juliet cracks up.

[dark_light]

"There's no analogous period spent in the chrysalis," laughs Amariah. "It's a smooth transition from caterbella to bellafly."

[eversomuchfun]

...Sherlock cracks up.

[dark_light]

Amariah, meanwhile, has finished her next diagram. She summons a rat; rats are not in short enough supply for this to take very long, and when it scurries up to her she seizes it, pulls her dagger, and speaks another poem before stabbing it through.

[eversomuchfun]

"If you two are going to be occupied with this for some time, I think I will go and fetch some tea," says Sherlock. "Please don't get eaten while I'm gone; I would be terribly disappointed."

[dark_light]

"You said fire works? I can do fire if anyone besides you barges in," Amariah says.

[cross_and_bow]

Juliet picks up her laser pointer out of her messenger bag, tosses and catches it, and says, "You go ahead."

[eversomuchfun]

He grins at both of them and exits the crypt.

[dark_light]

When he's back within word-discerning hearing range, one of them - Amariah, on sufficient analysis - is midsentence:

"- to tell you while he was here, because there is some chance you'll flip before you calm back down again, but me and Kas kinda slept with Sherlock. Yours, I mean, not one of the others floating around."

[eversomuchfun]

...What timing.

He pauses in the doorway; if she does flip, he doesn't want to be an available target.

[cross_and_bow]

"I have no grounds for flipping. It's not like I'm dating him," says Juliet.

[dark_light]

"Oh, I know, but he liked you first, and I bet you like him even if you haven't decided to act on it so far, and while obviously we can do nonexclusivity just fine if we want to it doesn't come standard with being a Bell. So I wanted to make sure you had a minute to process first. Whistles don't come in monogamous; I don't know if Sherlocks do, but it's not default, at least."

[eversomuchfun]

He should probably either admit he's listening or go away.



He steps inside the crypt and closes the door.

[dark_light]

"He's back," says Path.

[eversomuchfun]

"Yes, with exquisite timing as always," he says, dropping into the hidden room to deposit his stolen tea. "Should I go away again?"

[dark_light]

Amariah and Juliet exchange a look.

"No, it's all right," says Amariah. "Unless Juliet's squeamish about you being in the room while I paint on the tattoos."

[cross_and_bow]

"Not especially," says Juliet. "They're just going on my shoulderblades, I don't even have to take my shirt all the way off as long as it's hiked up in back and held out of the way."