our real estate is a great investment

[cross_and_bow]

"Welcome to Sunshine," says Juliet. "And to my front porch and whatever you do don't hit the light, it'll set Sherlock on fire."

Comments

[she_sells_seashells]

"I'll go read Juliet's old notes," says Shell Bell. She turns invisible and teleports and reads fast and comes back. "Okay, I don't think I can convincingly do anything to make it seem like she doesn't have, say, bone marrow, but Juliet, how would you feel about smelling like vanilla or something all the time?"

[cross_and_bow]

"Does it have to be all the time? Can I just turn that off and on at will?" Juliet asks. "I'm not sure I want to be that distinctive."

[she_sells_seashells]

"I don't think I can make it will-operated with a square. I might be able to do something complicated where it's based on the temperature or the phase of the moon and you wind up flipping through ten different smells effectively at random, but I might not."

[cross_and_bow]

"If you can do the complicated version let's go with that, if you can't let's skip it," says Juliet.

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell tries.

"Can't," she sighs.

[pythbox]

"But you could have made her smell like vanilla?" says Giles.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Yes. Why, do you want to smell like vanilla?"

[pythbox]

"My interest is theoretical," he assures her.

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell and Juliet giggle in identical unison.

[pythbox]

He laughs a little.

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell returns to browsing. She gets through a noticeable fraction of the section, reading at superspeed.

[cross_and_bow]

Juliet takes notes on demons, then packs up to go to next period.

They're back after school.

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell checks for supervising presences besides Mr. Giles before reappearing.

[cross_and_bow]

"All clear?" Juliet asks Shell Bell, and at the replying nod, she says, "So... Mr. Giles. I'm... the... Slayer. Thought you might want to know."

[pythbox]

He takes off his glasses.

He cleans them.

He does not exhibit surprise.

[cross_and_bow]

"Yeah, I figured you had an inkling. I didn't know right away. I'm mentally opaque so I don't get the dreams, which is great, they sound awful. A Power That Is dropped by one night and explained some stuff. I think this is also why the Watchers couldn't find me when I activated."

[pythbox]

"Well," he says. "That does make sense."

He sighs.

"The next appropriate thing I should do as a Watcher is tell the Council I found you. Are you planning to run away if I do?"

[cross_and_bow]

"No, you were kind enough to tell me in advance that you had to do that, so I'll stay put, although I'll be really irritated if they do something like replace you with someone I haven't vetted for being personally compatible."

[pythbox]

"They're not likely to," he says.

[cross_and_bow]

"That's good. Can I tell you something else without it getting back to the Council?"

[pythbox]

"...Yes," he says, with some reluctance.

[cross_and_bow]

"I have acquired a friendly vampire boyfriend who has been teaching me to fight and has not tried to kill me even a little bit. I will be very annoyed if anything happens to him."

[she_sells_seashells]

"He's an alt of my girlfriend!" volunteers Shell Bell. "It's a nice template."

[pythbox]

"...I feel compelled to ask," says Giles, "even though I know the answer: are you sure he isn't plotting to kill you in some horrible way?"

[cross_and_bow]

"If he's running a con, it's a long con, that held up when we went to another world and he met an alt of his dead twin and that involves teaching me to beat the crap out of him even though I started out unable to hit him with a crossbow bolt and held up even when he got surprised by my porch lights that one time and doesn't involve trying to wheedle his way into my dad's house and is wholly compatible with him introducing me to alts of myself who'll share their magic with me and leaves him acting recognizably like the non-vampire alts of him we've met including Shell Bell's girlfriend."