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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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cross_and_bow
cross_and_bow
"Yes. It might take a while, or a shorter while moving in more hazardous circles. So I suppose I can see after all why you wouldn't want to take on the project if it didn't hold much intrinsic interest."
cross_and_bow
"I'm sure this information will come in handy later, probably in act four in some ironic manner," says Bella.
cross_and_bow
Bella grins and lets him finish his tea so he needn't let it get cold or try to drink it while walking her home. And then she gets up with all her possessions and they depart the crypt.
As they pass a fire hydrant she knows she scratched, she says, "What do they feel like? The crosses."
As they pass a fire hydrant she knows she scratched, she says, "What do they feel like? The crosses."
eversomuchfun
"I'm not sure," he says. "I would describe it almost like... pressure. Like they exert a very slight outward force to push me away. Except that they don't, and it is in fact all in my head."
cross_and_bow
"The way I've seen other vampires react to them it looks like it's value-laden. Aversive. Not just neutral pushiness like an air current."
eversomuchfun
"Yes," he says. "But the pressure metaphor is the one that springs to mind. The original emotional content has been worn away by months of stubbornness."
cross_and_bow
"That's not very specific. Do you not want to talk about it?"
eversomuchfun
"It's difficult to analyze something I reject so thoroughly," he says.
cross_and_bow
"I guess not everyone is me. I have to know what I'm getting rid of before I can make it go away."
eversomuchfun
"The actual experience of encountering a cross, before the aforementioned erosion, was very much like watching someone sidle up to my basic emotional processing and say 'I'm going to make you feel like shit now', and watching my basic emotional processing reply 'The fuck you will', and being a bystander to the ensuing argument."
cross_and_bow
"I am glad you have gotten it to go away. I do not harbor a desire to drive you out of town in the course of shooing the bitier ones."
cross_and_bow
"Good. I would miss you if I'd wallpapered the town with something too aversive and you moved away."
cross_and_bow
She smiles.
There's her house. "I'll see you tomorrow," she says.
Pause. A quick check to see if this impulse has any pointy bits. Nope.
Impulse hug!
There's her house. "I'll see you tomorrow," she says.
Pause. A quick check to see if this impulse has any pointy bits. Nope.
Impulse hug!
eversomuchfun
...Sherlock hugs back.
"You're just full of surprises, dear Juliet," he says. "Goodnight."
"You're just full of surprises, dear Juliet," he says. "Goodnight."
cross_and_bow
"G'night!"
And in she trots.
She is a happy Bella.
Now she has to write in her notebook for at least an hour about that before she will be able to sleep, but that is okay.
The next day, Bella spends study hall at the library, and she finds some books on witchcraft, and she sidles in the most attention-attracting way she knows how to pretend to not want attention with them up to the checkout desk. "Um, hi, Mr. Giles."
And in she trots.
She is a happy Bella.
Now she has to write in her notebook for at least an hour about that before she will be able to sleep, but that is okay.
The next day, Bella spends study hall at the library, and she finds some books on witchcraft, and she sidles in the most attention-attracting way she knows how to pretend to not want attention with them up to the checkout desk. "Um, hi, Mr. Giles."