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There's a new high school librarian. The old "high school librarian" was a cash-strapped student aide of sorts; apparently it's hard to keep staff working on the Hell Orifice. His name is Mr. Giles. He is British. And sort of old. And sort of crusty. And when Bella takes out certain books he looks at her with certain scrutiny.
"Is my new librarian a Watcher?" she asks Sherlock the day after Mr. Giles joins the faculty.
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"Oh, good. So is there a big correlation here? Should I be worrying about you being evil in some way, since you acknowledge the same fact that makes me suspect?" she asks with a winning smile.
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"I don't think you're evil in some way," says Bella. "But seriously, how much of a correlation is this, is the world going to be forever mostly divided into people I can't be fully open with and people who might try to..." She glances at her book. "Sacrifice me to the Nameless Nine-Faced God?"
He opens his mouth.
He closes his mouth.
He cleans his glasses again.
"...I can't fault your logic," he says at last.
He closes his mouth.
He cleans his glasses again.
"...I can't fault your logic," he says at last.
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"I am pretty good at logic," she says, adding a period to the end of a sentence in her notes that she'd earlier paused in writing. "Also, I can't help but thinking that even if they're really that dirty, your glasses would still do more net vision correction if they spent more time on your face."
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She grins.
"Is suspecting that I'm evil in some way why you didn't give me anything on magic, or is it really just that dangerous? Why is it so dangerous? How does it work? I'm just asking theory, not practice," she adds before he can answer.
"Is suspecting that I'm evil in some way why you didn't give me anything on magic, or is it really just that dangerous? Why is it so dangerous? How does it work? I'm just asking theory, not practice," she adds before he can answer.
He comes out of the little area behind the counter and leans against a railing near the table where she sits.
"It really is just that dangerous," he confirms. "It can open you up to all sorts of unpleasant influences."
"It really is just that dangerous," he confirms. "It can open you up to all sorts of unpleasant influences."
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"Influences," she repeats. "Like... okay, now I'm imagining shoulder-devils whispering bad ideas in witches' ears. That's probably not what you meant."
"No, but attracting the attention of powerful demons is not unheard-of. And some of them do have the power to corrupt an unwary mind."
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...Bella does not wish to explain to him why she thinks she'd be just fine against that particular threat.
"Yuck," she says. "It seems really counterintuitive for defenselessness to be a better idea, though. Like, what am I, a sardine? Schooling with a lot of other sardines trying not to be special and hoping the barracuda goes for the other sardines instead of me because I don't stand out?"
"Yuck," she says. "It seems really counterintuitive for defenselessness to be a better idea, though. Like, what am I, a sardine? Schooling with a lot of other sardines trying not to be special and hoping the barracuda goes for the other sardines instead of me because I don't stand out?"
"Well... yes," he says. "Although when you put it like that, I can see why you don't like the idea."
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"I don't really want the barracudas to get the other sardines either," Bella says. "I'd take a somewhat worse chance of getting eaten if it meant that life became unpleasant for local barracudas and my sardine friends were safer."
"...Do you really want to learn magic?" he asks, taking off his glasses so he can rub the bridge of his nose.
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"I really want to learn magic insofar as it will not eat my brain or otherwise have drastic consequences. I acknowledge that you are an expert at least relative to me at this time," Bella replies at once.
"It could very well eat your brain," he says, putting his glasses back on. "But it might not. And I am definitely not the best teacher you could ask for, but I might be the best you can find."
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"What precautions exist against brain-eating?" Bella asks. "I'd like to get the risk somewhere down to car-accident-in-the-rain levels, although I'd settle for worse, since not being a sardine is slightly more important than being all out of milk and really wanting pancakes and running out to the convenience store."
He spreads his hands.
"If there are any precautions besides 'don't do magic if you can avoid it', I don't know about them."
"If there are any precautions besides 'don't do magic if you can avoid it', I don't know about them."