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Time passes. Juliet practices, Shell Bell makes squares - increasingly irritable about it, she really doesn't like the perpetual discomfort, but she bites down on that as best she can and churns them out - and Tony installs things.
Finally he has installed enough things.
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And Jarvis boots up.
His first words in his new home are a thoughtful, "This is new."
His first words in his new home are a thoughtful, "This is new."
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"Well," says Juliet, smiling. "Renovated, anyway. Welcome to Sunshine."
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"This is the first time I've had a voice synthesizer capable of producing laughter," says Jarvis. "Tony installed me here with a few upgrades."
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"Oh, nice," says Juliet. "Congratulations. So how do you like the house?"
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"It's a little smaller than I'm used to," he says, "but very charming all the same."
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"I - not this second, I have to give Juliet all the squares - Juliet, where do you want to keep them?"
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"Here's probably safest for most of them, and a little string of them to keep on my person all the time," says Juliet, "so I can quit stuffing them into my socks, which is uncomfortable."
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Shell Bell makes a box big enough for most of the squares - it's hundreds of them, maybe thousands by now, and they make a jingling noise when they settle into the box. And she makes a chain, with a clasp that will let more be strung on and long enough to have it loop around Juliet's waist and contains a couple dozen squares, few enough that they can lie flat.
"I'll miss you," she says.
"I'll miss you," she says.
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"We don't have to say goodbye right now. We can come to Milliways with you, write in the Bellbook, see if there's a better-equipped mint around to render all your irritating square-making unnecessary," says Juliet lightly. "But even if there is - and especially if there's not - I really, really appreciate it."
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Bell hugs him back. "So, you've got all my squares," she says over his shoulder to Juliet, "if we meet yet another unminted Bell I'll have to go stay with her for a few weeks and give her squares too," she adds ruefully, "and if we're lucky we find a minted one. You should probably go to Milliways a lot now that you can whenever you want, improve your chances."
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"Now that all the squares are boxed up, we should probably just go now, no point waiting," says Juliet. "Even if Tony wants to stay a little longer than Shell Bell does, doors-at-will make things much more convenient in that department."
