and the property values just keep going up

[cross_and_bow]

Time passes. Juliet practices, Shell Bell makes squares - increasingly irritable about it, she really doesn't like the perpetual discomfort, but she bites down on that as best she can and churns them out - and Tony installs things.

Finally he has installed enough things.

Comments

[cross_and_bow]

"Ah," she giggles.

[pythbox]

He smiles dryly.

[cross_and_bow]

Studying happens, and study hall ends and classes happen, and more studying happens, and then Bella says, "Well, I presume you remember where the house is, as you have been there before and also technically own it."

[pythbox]

"You presume correctly."

[cross_and_bow]

Her phone beeps. "Well, if you show up any time after sunset you can come watch me sparring with two Sherlocks and try and guess which is which!" she says cheerfully, and off she goes.

[pythbox]

Giles shows up, a little while after sunset.

[cross_and_bow]

The sparring's already underway; Bella's worked her way twelve seconds into a one-minute sequence and barely manages a "hi" when Giles walks in between all the ducking and parrying she has to do to keep up with a set of Sherlocks.

[pythbox]

It's very impressive.



Also, he's pretty sure he can tell which Sherlock is which. Not completely sure, but pretty sure.

[cross_and_bow]

It takes about twenty minutes - including four pauses for written revisions - before she gets all the way through the sequence and pauses to catch her breath and sip from her water bottle. "So, this is Giles," she says, "Giles, one of the Sherlocks is Plus, and the house is now Jarvis instead of just a regular house."

[poeticterms]

"Pleased to meet you," Jarvis contributes.

[pythbox]

"Er," says Giles, adjusting his glasses. "Yes. Likewise."

[cross_and_bow]

"If you can tell the Sherlocks apart, do let on now, so I can stop trying to avoid giving you clues," laughs Juliet.

[pythbox]

"You're the local," he says, pointing.

[eversomuchfun]

Minus laughs. "What gave me away?"

[pythbox]

"The clothes," says Giles.

[cross_and_bow]

Juliet looks Minus up and down. "I don't think that's the same outfit he had on last time you met," she remarks.

[eversomuchfun]

"It isn't."

[dearsweetsoulful]

Plus looks from his own rather drab white button-down and navy jeans to Minus's black silk shirt and motorcycle boots.

"And yet," he says, "I can see why he might have guessed."

[cross_and_bow]

"Bells seem to trend towards default clothes. That's witch silks for Amariah and that leather flying outfit for Angela but the rest of us wind up in jeans and t-shirts, and eventually, when appropriate, crowns on top," says Bella. "I wonder why you have different styles."

[eversomuchfun]

"Because my better half is boring," Minus says fondly.

[cross_and_bow]

"In what conceivable way is having a soul supposed to render one's taste in clothes boring?"

[dearsweetsoulful]

"I dress closer to how we used to," says Plus. "Apparently not having a soul makes one more inclined to wear silk and leather."

[cross_and_bow]

"Wonder why," says Juliet, reaching out to pet Minus's shirt. (It's soft.)

[eversomuchfun]

"Haven't the foggiest," he says, leaning into her hand.

[pythbox]

Giles cleans his glasses.