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Bella thinks and thinks and thinks. It takes some getting used to not to have to write everything down in order for it to be where she left it when she wants it again. [You going to school today?] she asks Alice, when the time he arrived yesterday has been and gone.
Because that would make some of the thinking she has to do easier, and some of it trickier.
self_composed
self_composed
[Up to you, just curious. Suppose I could've just done this.] And she reads. [For some reason, it takes getting used to, all this having supernatural powers.]
edgeofyourseat
He is hanging out in the art room, waiting for that class to start. When Bella starts reading him, he smiles and hugs himself.
[I like it when you do that,] he says happily. And very redundantly. [Yeah, tell me about it. I only figured out this morning that if I want to I can go invisible and spend the whole afternoon in my lair, which I am totally gonna do, because fuck class and fuck cafeteria food.]
[I like it when you do that,] he says happily. And very redundantly. [Yeah, tell me about it. I only figured out this morning that if I want to I can go invisible and spend the whole afternoon in my lair, which I am totally gonna do, because fuck class and fuck cafeteria food.]
self_composed
[Don't turn invisible in front of anyone. Or in any location where someone could have a narrow range of possibilities for where you could've gone from there. Are you sticking around for art?]
edgeofyourseat
Not being noticed is kind of the entire point of going invisible in the first place, but he chooses not to point that out in words.
[Yeah, I think if I skip it one more day in a row Finch'll think I'm actually dead,] he answers instead.
[Yeah, I think if I skip it one more day in a row Finch'll think I'm actually dead,] he answers instead.
self_composed
[And that would be bad. What are you doing in art lately, anyway?]
edgeofyourseat
[Calligraphy—ooh, speak of the devil,] he says as Ms. Finch walks into the room.
"Good to see you, Hammond," she says. "Less good to see you while you should be in another class, but I'll take what I can get."
He gives her an indolent wave. "Hi."
"Good to see you, Hammond," she says. "Less good to see you while you should be in another class, but I'll take what I can get."
He gives her an indolent wave. "Hi."
self_composed
[You don't even have art this period?] Bella asks, amused. [Heh.]
edgeofyourseat
[Nah, it's next. I like hanging out here, is all.]
"Where were you?" inquires Ms. Finch. "Don't answer if it's something I don't want to know about."
[You care if I tell her?]
"Where were you?" inquires Ms. Finch. "Don't answer if it's something I don't want to know about."
[You care if I tell her?]
self_composed
[That's fine. I was rather publicly hit by a car and she knows we're friends.]
edgeofyourseat
"Bella got hit by a car," he says.
"I noticed. And you were what, assassinating the driver?"
Alice snorts. "Nah, I was visiting."
"Well, that's sweet of you," Ms. Finch remarks. "Does she know you have a crush on her? I'd assume so, because it's probably visible from space."
He cracks up. [I dunno, do ya?]
"I noticed. And you were what, assassinating the driver?"
Alice snorts. "Nah, I was visiting."
"Well, that's sweet of you," Ms. Finch remarks. "Does she know you have a crush on her? I'd assume so, because it's probably visible from space."
He cracks up. [I dunno, do ya?]
self_composed
[Gosh, that might explain why you tell me you love me about five times a day,] Bella says. [Don't assassinate Tyler. Maybe aggressively de-ice the parking lot.]
edgeofyourseat
"Yeah, I think she's figured it out," he says aloud.
[I don't give enough of a shit about Tyler to assassinate him. Didn't even know that was his name.]
"Colour me surprised. If you're going to hang around, want to make yourself useful and clean some brushes?"
"Sure," he says, and gets up.
[I don't give enough of a shit about Tyler to assassinate him. Didn't even know that was his name.]
"Colour me surprised. If you're going to hang around, want to make yourself useful and clean some brushes?"
"Sure," he says, and gets up.
self_composed
Bella has nothing more to say. She keeps up the read - it was cleverly designed, if she does think so herself, and doesn't distract her.
She's gonna take over the world.
But she thinks she'd best do it in small pieces.
She's gonna take over the world.
But she thinks she'd best do it in small pieces.
edgeofyourseat
Alice cleans brushes, humming to himself. The activity is enjoyable on a not-quite-sexual level; he doesn't think about much other than his direct sensory experience.
When class starts, he gets out paper and a pen and forms beautiful shapes on the page. His mind wanders. The letters and words he writes don't make any kind of logical sense as a sequence, unless you happen to be reading his mind and see the sentences he picks them out of. Song lyrics, mostly, with the occasional foray into poetry. And now he doesn't even have to look up the words; in fact, once he realizes he can do it, he sets remembered songs playing in his head for the duration of class.
When class starts, he gets out paper and a pen and forms beautiful shapes on the page. His mind wanders. The letters and words he writes don't make any kind of logical sense as a sequence, unless you happen to be reading his mind and see the sentences he picks them out of. Song lyrics, mostly, with the occasional foray into poetry. And now he doesn't even have to look up the words; in fact, once he realizes he can do it, he sets remembered songs playing in his head for the duration of class.
self_composed
Bella laughs, opens up one of the songs, and hums along in her room.
edgeofyourseat
It happens to be Queen—Alice likes Queen—but not one of the songs that he, ahem, likes. He feels the deeper read and grins at his paper; the loop of the y in shady twists into the shape of a heart.
self_composed
Bella giggles. She decides not to bother him while he's arting, beyond the read alone.
edgeofyourseat
After class, he conscientiously puts everything away and then goes outside and finds one of his favourite places to linger when he's supposed to be in class. Except that this time, as soon as nobody's around to see him turn invisible, he uses it as a launch pad.
Wheeeeeeeeee!
Wheeeeeeeeee!
edgeofyourseat
[No shit,] he says cheerfully. He briefly considers crashing into the ground just to see what happens, but decides the risk wouldn't quite be worth it.
[How 'bout you? How are the world conquest plans coming?] And by the way, he loves her.
[How 'bout you? How are the world conquest plans coming?] And by the way, he loves her.
self_composed
[They're coming along okay. I think I need to take over the world in bits, check those bits over for nasty surprises, and then move on. And I don't mean geographical bits. I mean I'm seventeen and don't know everything about the world - and even a million pentagons won't help me navigate an area that I don't know I don't know. Handling this trial's probably a good place to start, since it grows out of a nearly unrelated goal - I want to look like a fairly natural player to any wishcoiners who notice I exist, like everything could have happened without magic.]
edgeofyourseat
That is fascinating and confusing! He ponders it for a moment as he soars toward his lair.
[What do you mean if not geographical bits?]
[What do you mean if not geographical bits?]
self_composed
[Well, there'll be some geography in there, but like - once I know something about how the law works, I'll know where to push to get things I want. And I'll know what parts of it are difficult - maybe it turns out I need to pentagon myself rhetoric or encyclopedic legal knowledge or really good posture. One trial might not do it, but maybe there'll be a series of appeals, and I can lurk invisibly near the ceilings while others go on, and eventually I'll know enough about what to poke where that I'll be able to steer anything like that whichever way I want as needed. Poof, I have the ability to take over the world of law as practiced in the United States, if not necessarily the attention or the interest. And by then I'll have an idea of what's next, but the answer probably isn't "Australia", it's probably more like "finance".]
edgeofyourseat
...Alice marvels a little.
[See, I knew you'd be good at this,] he says, basking in the warm happy glow of being in love with the future ruler of the Earth.
[See, I knew you'd be good at this,] he says, basking in the warm happy glow of being in love with the future ruler of the Earth.