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

[pythbox]

"And people's phones these days," she says with a sigh of envy.

[cross_and_bow]

"Yeah, phones are neat!" says Bella. "Are you solid enough to hold stuff - d'you wanna see mine?"

[pythbox]

"If I even try to touch it, it'll die," she says regretfully. "But you could show me!"

[cross_and_bow]

"Okay," says Bella, and she gets out her phone, and says to Jarvis, [Are you good enough at multitasking to not be slowed down if I call you by way of showing the Prom Ghost my phone?]

[pythbox]

Prom Ghost claps with glee.

[poeticterms]

[Entirely,] says Jarvis.

[cross_and_bow]

"I'll call my friend who's looking on the Internet for stuff," Bella suggests, and she scrolls through her contacts and hits call and then sets it to speakerphone.

[poeticterms]

"Hello," says Jarvis.

[pythbox]

Minnie beams.

[cross_and_bow]

"Hi, Jarvis," says Bella. "This is Minnie. I wonder if you'll be able to hear her through the phone? Minnie, you want to say hi?"

[pythbox]

"Hi!" says Minnie.

[poeticterms]

"Hello, Minnie," says Jarvis.

[cross_and_bow]

Bella smiles. "My phone's not particularly fancy, but some people nowadays have phones that cross with books a little bit almost like the machines that go on the internet," she says to Minnie.

[pythbox]

"I've seen those," she says, nodding.

[cross_and_bow]

"You seem like a nice person. I really don't understand why you'd kill people, even if you've been stuck in a really annoying situation for a very long time," Bella says to Minnie.

[pythbox]

"I get mad," she says, crossing her arms in front of her and rubbing her hands along them above the opposing elbows. "I just get mad, that's all."

[cross_and_bow]

"At people who go stag to prom," prompts Bella.

[pythbox]

Minnie nods unhappily.

[cross_and_bow]

"Because... they can't get hurt the same way you were?" guesses Bella.

[pythbox]

"I don't know," she says frustratedly.

[cross_and_bow]

"Has it been this way since you died? Were you ever that angry before?"

[pythbox]

"I don't..." She falters, then shakes her head. "I don't think so. Except that night. I was that mad then, for sure." Minnie shivers.

[cross_and_bow]

"I bet. If anything could make somebody mad enough to kill it'd be getting murdered."

[pythbox]

"I was mad before then," she says. "I dumped him in front of everybody and chased him into the bathroom and then," she swallows, "it turned out he was madder."

[cross_and_bow]

Bella nods solemnly. "He's probably dead," she says.