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

[poeticterms]

"Then I suppose we wait," says Jarvis.

[cross_and_bow]

"Suppose so. Nothing the others didn't have to live through last time." She sighs. "You want to tell Sherlock and Tony, or did you already, or should I?"

[poeticterms]

"They're in the other house," he says. "They've been informed."

[cross_and_bow]

Bella nods.

[So, we're stuck, anyone you want torchable that you haven't gotten round to asking about because you figured Downside would get them?] Bella asks the pair.

[toblameforit]

[...Not really, no,] says Tony.

[cross_and_bow]

[Just checking. Aegis went on the new Bell meet-and-greet, which probably has something to do with it, but this isn't just 'Aegis torched', I don't think.]

[eversomuchfun]

[Yes. Last time Aegis torched, there were no charming joke error messages.]

[cross_and_bow]

[Unfortunately, I think we're kinda devoid of avenues of investigation.] And she summarizes what she found in the Belltower.

[eversomuchfun]

[The best we can probably do is to keep checking every so often, then. And think about it.]

[cross_and_bow]

[Yeah.] Sigh. [Well, back to treaty handwriting for me.]

[eversomuchfun]

[Enjoy.]

[cross_and_bow]

Calligraphy, calligraphy. Bleh.

Eventually the writing is done, she's handed it over for review, and she decides to head home, get a mug of hot cocoa the old-fashioned way, and sit in her room and revise her future plans to accommodate more limited high-end coin output.

There's someone in her room.

She doesn't drop the mug, but she does shriek. "Christ! Who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

[keyed_up]

"Pfff," says the stranger. "You're not a good actress, you know that? You should pentagon it. Is that cocoa?"

[cross_and_bow]

"Who are -" Bella starts to repeat, and then she notes other features of the room.

There are bunked beds.

There are clothes on the floor that don't belong to her. And a sweater that does, but which she hasn't worn in two months. A box of tacky jewelry that definitely isn't hers, including an array of costume-colorful crosses.

"Who the fuck are you and what did you do to my room?"

[keyed_up]

"Okay, that one was better, nice double-take, what's got you in such a mood though? Did you not make me any cocoa?"

[cross_and_bow]

Bella doesn't know what's going on, but she doesn't like it. She doesn't have her Mercury palace yet - it's definitely a low priority now that she can't siphon coins from Aurora and Stella - but she has the whole Earth to play with. A flex of her teleportation power lands the pair of them in the middle of some random Canadian wilderness.

"Who are you?"

[keyed_up]

"...Where are we? What're we doing here? Are we playing some kind of, I dunno, scenario, was Sherlock supposed to brief me -"

[cross_and_bow]

"I don't know who you are and I found you in my bedroom. Explain."

[keyed_up]

"I'm - I'm Soph. I'm Sophia."

[cross_and_bow]

"I don't know anyone named Sophia."

[keyed_up]

[...Sherlock? Bella's gone nuts.]

[eversomuchfun]

[In what way has Bella gone nuts?]

[keyed_up]

[She - she doesn't know who I am, I thought she was fooling the first few times she asked me who I was and what I was doing in her room but I think she's serious. She's interrogating me in some random - place - it's cold as balls - she says she doesn't know anyone named Sophia.]

[eversomuchfun]

Sherlock sighs.

He teleports to the current location of Bella and Soph.

"Dear Juliet," he says, "describe to me the problem."

[cross_and_bow]

"Do you know who this is? Because I don't, but she was in my room anyway, and there was an extra bed in it, and stuff that doesn't belong to me, and I know I haven't been home as much since I stopped needing to sleep but I'd think Charlie'd tell me before taking in a boarder."