many people move here to start families

[cross_and_bow]

Bella is hanging out in a Jarvis - the familiar one - handwriting a nonaggression proposal-slash-bribe. Has to be handwritten. Damn fussy demons. At least it's okay for her to conjure rather than personally harvesting the weird ink she's supposed to use.

Comments

[eversomuchfun]

"Fine, then let us extend this beyond the two of us," he says, and brainphones Tony and both Jarvises, with Soph and Bella included in the call.

[Indulge me for a moment: how many siblings would you say Juliet has?]

[toblameforit]

[...Is this a trick question?] says Tony. [One.]

[poeticterms]

[My sentiments exactly,] says a Jarvis.

[What on Earth is going on?] says the other.

[cross_and_bow]

[I am an only child! I always have been! None of you are mentally opaque, something must have happened to you.]

[poeticterms]

[We've met Soph,] says a Jarvis. [You can watch the video yourself. I don't know of any spell both powerful and sophisticated enough to alter my recordings. A mind-affecting spell might alter my personal memories, but the data I have on file is a separate matter, and I'm verifying the records as we speak.]

[cross_and_bow]

[Yeah, she's got a bunk bed in my room too, but why and how would somebody go through my memories - my protected memories - to subtract a sister?]

[keyed_up]

"I'm cold," murmurs Soph.

[cross_and_bow]

"If you were my sister I would've wished you up protections, like Aurora gave Lexi, and you would not be uncomfortably cold! We're only in Canada, not the South Pole!" Bella points an accusing finger.

[eversomuchfun]

"Your sister, like yourself, has a bloody magical immunity," says Sherlock. "To torching, interworld travel, and any coin above a pentagon, as well as a haphazard assortment of local spells."

[cross_and_bow]

"What? No, I could make her torchable right now, I can see it. I'm not going to because I have no clue what we're dealing with, but I could."

[eversomuchfun]

"Are you sure?"

[cross_and_bow]

"That's what the magic is telling me, anyway, do you remember me incredulously reporting this discrepancy before?"

[eversomuchfun]

"You raised an admirable fuss and went to the administrator, who said that what you were describing seemed impossible, but declined to come here to investigate. And if she's suddenly become torchable before now, you haven't mentioned anything."

Since the weather dispute is getting nowhere, he spends a coin to raise the local temperature to something Soph would find more pleasant.

[keyed_up]

"Thanks," Soph murmurs.

[cross_and_bow]

"Well, she looks torchable now, and I have no memory of her now, and I still think it would be easier to edit Jarvis's records and a handful of unprotected memories than to hack into my brain."

[eversomuchfun]

"Jarvis's records, the physical contents of your bedroom, and my internally consistent recollection of the past eleven months, all at once. Yes. Fucking trivial," says Sherlock.

[cross_and_bow]

"Oh, come on, I could do that with a star, maybe an evil, if I had any reason to want to," says Juliet. "You know what I couldn't do with a star or an evil, I couldn't edit my brain, I'm next least friendly-headed after Golden and not even Stella can make mental edits!"

[eversomuchfun]

"And who, in this scheme, do you imagine got their hands on an evil and decided to donate you an extra sister in case you were running short? The sun hasn't exploded recently, so they would've had to know how to use it, to boot."

[cross_and_bow]

"I don't know! Who would have decided I ought to forget I had one, if I did?"

[eversomuchfun]

"I don't know. Shall we find out?"

[cross_and_bow]

Bella clenches her teeth and nods. "What'd you have in mind? I like my crystal ball, but it's not simple to interpret."

[eversomuchfun]

"Try it anyway," he says. "We can all three give it a go."

[cross_and_bow]

Bella chews her lip, but then blinks away and back, bearing her crystal ball - apparently she still doesn't want Soph in a Jarvis. She holds it in her hands.

[pythbox]

It shows her a pretty blonde woman taking a bath.

[cross_and_bow]

"Today is Voyeurism Day, apparently." Bella hands Sherlock the ball.