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Alice eventually goes home for the evening.
Bella goes up and sits in her room.
She has five hexes.
Five.
That's rather a lot of hexes.
She gets out her notebook, with the lists, and she makes some wishes.
And then she goes to bed, grinning.
In the morning it will be time to make plans.
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self_composed
edgeofyourseat
When the weight of the necklace around his neck has definitely, noticeably increased, he takes his hand away.
There are now thirteen pentagons and ten hexes on his necklace, and Bella's stove looks and smells like a small animal was cremated on it.
Make that fourteen pentagons, and then fifteen, both accumulated in the time it takes his arm to heal. He lifts up his necklace and looks at it, counting (one, three, four, and two is ten) the coins he cares about.
"That enough, you think?"
There are now thirteen pentagons and ten hexes on his necklace, and Bella's stove looks and smells like a small animal was cremated on it.
Make that fourteen pentagons, and then fifteen, both accumulated in the time it takes his arm to heal. He lifts up his necklace and looks at it, counting (one, three, four, and two is ten) the coins he cares about.
"That enough, you think?"
self_composed
"Ah, yeah," Bella says. "I don't have that long a list. Your regeneration power hurts all by itself? Why did you do it that way?" She wishes away the gunk on the stove and the smoke in the air with a pair of triangles.
edgeofyourseat
"I didn't do it like that on purpose, but I'm fucked if I'm gonna complain," he says cheerfully. "You can take 'em all, if you want." All his hexes, all his pentagons, hell, all his squares and triangles too if she feels like it. Being wishcoiny makes life so easy.
self_composed
"You realize you're not going to have time to make anything big in a time-critical emergency, should one occur," Bella points out. She leaves him two each of the hexes and pentagons, and all his squares and triangles because she has lots of those too, but she takes the rest, smiling like a satisfied cat.
edgeofyourseat
"Someday when we're not near anything obvious like the stove, remind me, and you can tell me to make a hex and time how long it takes," he says, idly considering methods (square up a jar of lye is the first to come to mind, although it might be too obvious if he had to do something fast with people around, but if he had to do something fast he might not care...) and echoing her smile because fuck, does he love that smile on her. "Bet it won't be that long. Like, a minute maybe."
(The thought of her reminding him of things reminds him of his semi-promise to find her another friend, which he hasn't yet remembered to do. Oh, well. He'll have lots of time while she is fake convalescing.)
(The thought of her reminding him of things reminds him of his semi-promise to find her another friend, which he hasn't yet remembered to do. Oh, well. He'll have lots of time while she is fake convalescing.)
self_composed
"I didn't have a minute when I saw Tyler's van go out of control," Bella says. "If I'd been a little less stunned-rabbit about it, I would have had time to make a wish, but not to make a coin and then make a wish."
edgeofyourseat
"Yeah, I guess." He shrugs. "But I'd like getting hit by a van."
(He didn't like watching Bella get hit by a van. He the opposite of liked it. He remembers the whole event clearly: the sight of her getting hit, the sound; air biting his lungs as he ran, cold asphalt under his knees and his hands buried in his hair; the feeling like something had been ripped out of him, the frantic gnawing ache of knowing he could fix it if only he could get to her if only if only.)
(He didn't like watching Bella get hit by a van. He the opposite of liked it. He remembers the whole event clearly: the sight of her getting hit, the sound; air biting his lungs as he ran, cold asphalt under his knees and his hands buried in his hair; the feeling like something had been ripped out of him, the frantic gnawing ache of knowing he could fix it if only he could get to her if only if only.)
self_composed
"The van could have killed me. It could kill you if one shows up and hits you. I don't think hex regen powers will revive you from instant death-on-impact. A star might, but I am very wary of my star."
And... she pokes at some of those thoughts.
She notes that she is kinda self-centered. She's noted this before, so it's not surprising.
And... she pokes at some of those thoughts.
She notes that she is kinda self-centered. She's noted this before, so it's not surprising.
edgeofyourseat
Alice shivers happily. The thoughts aren't pleasant, but knowing that she's reading them is.
"Okay," he concedes. "So I'll keep a few around."
Not that he really intensely desires not to die. He wouldn't like to, especially not now that he gets to watch Bella take over the world (love, love), but for a long time now he has been operating on the assumption that it is going to happen, and probably not that far in the future, and he might as well be okay with that because there's not much he can do to change it. Getting hit by a van sounds like a pretty nice way to go.
"Okay," he concedes. "So I'll keep a few around."
Not that he really intensely desires not to die. He wouldn't like to, especially not now that he gets to watch Bella take over the world (love, love), but for a long time now he has been operating on the assumption that it is going to happen, and probably not that far in the future, and he might as well be okay with that because there's not much he can do to change it. Getting hit by a van sounds like a pretty nice way to go.
self_composed
"Y'know," Bella says, "when I take over the world? Mortality is so on my hit list."
self_composed
Bella closes her eyes again and pokes that and basks. She doesn't know how to purr, but she's thinking it.
She notes that she is selfish. She made peace with that awhile ago.
She notes that she is selfish. She made peace with that awhile ago.
edgeofyourseat
He looks at her.
He wonders if that is her reading him loving her and concludes that it really obviously is.
He loves her very much some more, and is also completely delighted.
He wonders if that is her reading him loving her and concludes that it really obviously is.
He loves her very much some more, and is also completely delighted.
self_composed
"Well," Bella says. "That certainly has the potential to bog us both down for hours in a feedback loop."
self_composed
"A pleasant one, but we've got plans to make," Bella says briskly. She unpokes the thought, but keeps up the cursory scan for communication-facilitation purposes. "About your dad."
edgeofyourseat
Ooh, watch the love and joy drain out of him.
Literally, watch that happen, because it does.
"Yeah," he sighs. "Okay. ...You know, hell, I'm almost tempted to tell your dad now that I know he doesn't suck? Would that work, you think?"
Literally, watch that happen, because it does.
"Yeah," he sighs. "Okay. ...You know, hell, I'm almost tempted to tell your dad now that I know he doesn't suck? Would that work, you think?"
self_composed
"That's... a maybe," Bella admits, deflating somewhat now that she has nothing to actively bask in. "My dad can make an arrest, press charges, get it to trial - and maybe yours can bribe the jury or the judge. Or get a ridiculously good lawyer and get actually not-convicted. The evidence boils down to you turning up at a hospital in November with injuries. Would Theo say where he picked you up from? What would your mom do - she can't be compelled to testify against her husband, but would she? Does Hilary know anything?"
edgeofyourseat
"Hilary knows squat," he says, rubbing his face. "No fucking idea which way Mom would swing, but I wouldn't bet on her coming down in my corner. I could always piss Dad off some more and go to the hospital again." (There's no particular positivity or negativity attached to that idea; it's just an option.) "Harder to pull off now that I heal, but not totally impossible."
Other ideas, other ideas... "I could show off all my old scars, I guess." Wryly, "Didja know Dad used to smoke?"
When he remarked on the difference between liquid nitrogen and cigarette burns, he was speaking from experience. Experience that left permanent marks on his back.
"Some of 'em ain't from him, though." A knife in a New York alley, twice, once under his jaw and the other biting deep into his hip—he's still proud of calling that bluff, of knowing that a knife to his throat means nothing to him, even if it helped shit-all in the end.
Other ideas, other ideas... "I could show off all my old scars, I guess." Wryly, "Didja know Dad used to smoke?"
When he remarked on the difference between liquid nitrogen and cigarette burns, he was speaking from experience. Experience that left permanent marks on his back.
"Some of 'em ain't from him, though." A knife in a New York alley, twice, once under his jaw and the other biting deep into his hip—he's still proud of calling that bluff, of knowing that a knife to his throat means nothing to him, even if it helped shit-all in the end.
self_composed
"You could wish away the scars if you wanted," Bella points out quietly. "Later - if we need them for evidence - but you can."
And: "What about Theo?"
And: "What about Theo?"
edgeofyourseat
Alice smiles. "I like my scars," he says, closing his eyes for a moment and experiencing the truth of that statement. Even the ones where he doesn't like what they remind him of—and that is most of them—are his, part of him, a physical record of the experience of his life. He likes himself, and he likes the totality of that experience even when he doesn't like the individual pieces that make it up.
The scars can stay.
"Anyway, Theo," he says, and considers what he knows of Theo. Damn little, really. "If he can possibly get away with keeping quiet, he'll do it, but if they drag him in there and sit him down and put him under oath, he'll probably admit he picked me up at home. Pretty sure he knows more than that, but he pretends he doesn't."
The scars can stay.
"Anyway, Theo," he says, and considers what he knows of Theo. Damn little, really. "If he can possibly get away with keeping quiet, he'll do it, but if they drag him in there and sit him down and put him under oath, he'll probably admit he picked me up at home. Pretty sure he knows more than that, but he pretends he doesn't."
self_composed
"I'm trying to think if there's a good way to counter either the bribery possibility or the slick defense lawyer possibility," muses Bella. "I don't think you get to pick your own prosecuting lawyer in a criminal trial, though I could be wrong. And if we bribe or coerce or appear in the dreams of or impersonate the judge or jury or defense lawyer then I don't think we ought to bother with the trial approach at all - we have plenty of extralegal options, no need to dress that up like a procedural if that's the plan."
edgeofyourseat
"We could use magic to catch him bribing somebody, if he does," Alice suggests. "And then figure out a way to nail him for it. If we can. Okay, but what are the" (he likes her phrase, it's cute) "extralegal options?"
Besides wishing the fucker off a cliff. Which is the thing they're trying to avoid here. It would be kind of viscerally satisfying, but it wouldn't really be that much better than any other option that took Alice out of his dad's power for good.
Besides wishing the fucker off a cliff. Which is the thing they're trying to avoid here. It would be kind of viscerally satisfying, but it wouldn't really be that much better than any other option that took Alice out of his dad's power for good.
self_composed
"Well, where do you want to go, besides away? You can live anywhere. Wish yourself all the things you need and want. You don't need his financial support, his stupidly huge house, his permission. You could just pick up and go - like I suggested before, but now with added self-defense capabilities. Where would you go?"
edgeofyourseat
"...I wanna be where you are," he says. Was that not obvious? He thought it was pretty fucking obvious. "I mean, if I didn't, I'd just... go." He makes an expansive gesture with both hands, thinks about hitchhiking and open roads with big cities at the ends and whether he'd rather try hooking again or maybe strip or maybe just wish himself diamonds and sell them. "But I do. So I kind of wanna keep the stupidly huge house at least until you go somewhere else."