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

[pythbox]

He takes off his glasses, makes no pretense of cleaning them, and rubs his face with his free hand.

"All right," he says, "I'll see what I can do." Pause. "...You're reasonably sure he's not eating people, I hope?"

[cross_and_bow]

"He stopped eating people when he encountered me on the grounds that it would probably otherwise be hard to get me to talk to him civilly instead of trying to shoot him, yeah. After his fridge broke he started storing jars of blood - labeled from a butcher shop - in mine. Pig and cow."

[pythbox]

"That's... civilized, for a vampire," he acknowledges.

[cross_and_bow]

"Yep." She decides this is not the time to mention or defend him killing Obadiah in that other universe. He didn't eat him, anyway.

[pythbox]

"Any more surprises?" he inquires.

[cross_and_bow]

"Apart from Sherlock and the building and all the interdimensional goings-on and me being the Slayer and having a do-not-enter sign up on my brain, nope, all's dull and boring." Pause. "I killed a demon last night? One of those unpronounceable things you have to twist to take apart? Would've taken me much longer to figure out if not for the stalling homework, so thanks."

[pythbox]

"That is, very literally, what I'm here for," he says. "And your stalling homework is now your official Slayer training."

Slight pause.

"So there," he adds, with dissonant stuffiness.

[cross_and_bow]

Juliet laughs. "Well, you won't have to come up with a combat training regimen that you can implement without me having to hit you, Sherlock's got that covered and he doesn't mind if I hit him. But I do still want to learn magic. I can't count on getting minted any time soon and a finite supply of Shell Bell's squares can only do so much."

[pythbox]

"I still intend to teach you magic," he says. "Eventually."

[cross_and_bow]

"I'll try to be conservative with my squares," says Juliet dryly.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Stella managed to force the door once," Shell Bell says encouragingly. "We don't know if it works consistently, but maybe someone will be able to come to you even if you never run into one of us at Milliways."

[cross_and_bow]

"Here's hoping," agrees Juliet.

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell bends one of her fingers backwards again, mouth set.

[pythbox]

Giles frowns slightly.

[cross_and_bow]

"What?" Juliet asks.

[pythbox]

He continues frowning for a moment, then shakes his head.

[cross_and_bow]

"I bet you want to know why Shell Bell's doing that and you're concerned she'll answer you and this will offend your librarian sensibilities," says Juliet.

[pythbox]

He cleans his glasses.

[cross_and_bow]

"I'm right," concludes Juliet, humming, and she goes back to plowing through her demonology texts for a minute before adding, "So I was thinking of getting, like, a mask, probably a conjured one so it'll fit and have good visibility and not come off easily and stuff, and fighting demons in it. So they can't accost me at least based on my face when I'm trying to attend Latin or whatever. I was also thinking I'd go to L.A. first before fighting any demons I don't plan to completely wipe out for rumoring purposes, so it looks like I live there - within apocalypsey reach of Sunnydale but not leading would-be-Slayer-killers right to my door. I'll bring Sherlock, and Shell Bell if she hasn't gone home, they can help if I get in a spot - would it be good or bad if there were rumors I can teleport?"

[pythbox]

He blinks.

"Good," he says. "Probably. It's never come up."

[cross_and_bow]

"I can't, but Shell Bell can, and she can be invisible and take passengers," explains Juliet, "and she thinks faster than I do, so she can simulate my reaction time."

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell responds to this by flickering around the room at high speed.

[pythbox]

Giles tries to follow her movement with his eyes, but almost immediately gives up.

[she_sells_seashells]

She comes to a stop in front of him. (Floating in midair.)

[cross_and_bow]

"We'll be able to keep you updated on goings-on in L.A. via brainphone," Juliet says, "in case we run into something we don't recognize and want you to look it up. Sherlock's the other person on the network, by the way. I think he's probably asleep now."