and we are conscious of a long town history

[cross_and_bow]

Prom arrives.

Bella wears her indigo dress and her indigo heels with their straps that go all the way up her calves, and she nukes Sherlock some breakfast, and she waits.

Comments

[cross_and_bow]

"He's not a student," Bella says. "Why?"

[pythbox]

She tsks and shakes her head. "Bad news, you know," she says.

[cross_and_bow]

"Bad news? What do you mean?"

[pythbox]

"What is he, a dropout? You can get in trouble with those."

[cross_and_bow]

"Sort of homeschooled," says Bella. "Why are you concerned with my boyfriend's education?"

[pythbox]

"You never know about those guys," she says vaguely.

[cross_and_bow]

"How does their being enrolled in a public high school help one know about them?"

[pythbox]

The strange girl shakes her head, curls bouncing this way and that.

[cross_and_bow]

"...What's your name?"

[pythbox]

"Minnie," she says.

[cross_and_bow]

"Minnie," says Bella, looking around and finding that there are no nearby witnesses, "are you by any chance a vengeful ghost who kills people who go stag to prom?"

[pythbox]

She giggles.

And steps back, directly through the wall.

[cross_and_bow]

Oh, lord.

Bella hunts down Sherlock, who is presumably still in the middle of dancing with Kayli. "Hey sweetie!" she says. "Can I cut in? I found Minnie and we should go say hi!"

[eversomuchfun]

"Certainly," he says, giving Kayli a final twirl and bowing over her hand as he steps back.

[cross_and_bow]

[She went through that wall,] Bella adds, and she describes what Minnie looks like, [presuming her appearance is stable, anyway. She talks like a person, up to the point where I got her name and asked her if she was by any chance a vengeful ghost - I don't know how reasonable she is, she laughed and backed away when I said that.]

[eversomuchfun]

[I see,] says Sherlock. [I wonder if I should hang around the afflicted sink. She can't exactly drown me.]

[cross_and_bow]

[Good idea. Here - you should be carrying squares anyway -] She unclips her chain and shakes four of the coins into her hand and presses them into his, then clips the chain back on. [I'll go around and see if she's in the room she appeared to go to, though I'm not betting on it.]

[eversomuchfun]

[Right.]

He kisses her cheek quickly, just because he can.

[cross_and_bow]

She flashes a smile at him and she's off at a run.

That wall leads to a science classroom.

The ghost is not there. Or at least is not visibly there. "Minnie?" Bella tries. No luck.

She heads back into prom, scanning the crowd for that face, that dress.

[pythbox]

No sign of either.

[cross_and_bow]

Okay - headcount. People were only admitted in pairs. Is there an even number of people in the room?

[pythbox]

Yes, not including Juliet.

[cross_and_bow]

[Is the coast clear by you?] Bella asks Sherlock. She goes to check the other bathroom; if two people have gone to the bathroom at the same time that would also yield this mathematical result.

[pythbox]

There is, indeed, someone in the bathroom.

She's not wearing her mask anymore, and she's a little translucent now, with dark bruises on her neck.

"What are you doing?" she wonders.

[eversomuchfun]

[Yes.]