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The school year ends. Bella's routine goes from wake - morgue - school - Giles - school - Giles - Sherlock - sleep to a version of same without the "school" parts, although she mostly keeps up with Giles via brainphone instead of in-person visits except when she needs to swap out stacks of books, and she hangs out studying and playing with fire in the house that is Jarvis a fair amount even during the day while Sherlock's sleeping. (Her schedule, unanchored by regular attendance at Sunnydale High and enticed by Sherlock's necessary nocturnality, shifts a few hours later, and Charlie has calmed down about the curfew issue; as long as she calls before eleven to report on her whereabouts and usually sleeps in her own bed, all is well.)
Long-term experimentation shows that, at least as long as she's not getting bloodily injured in regular fights with Los Angeles's demon population (and she can generally make it through unscathed, and now every supernatural creature in this hemisphere knows that the Slayer can set you on fire with her mind and some demons keel over with no visible injuries if she just looks at them), she can operate in fine and suitably Slayery condition while being nibbled on most days. It would probably not be a wise exercise for Sherlock to attempt to subsist solely on her, though, so the brick house does acquire a fridge and a microwave thanks to Sherlock's slightly stolen inheritance.
This afternoon, Bella is sitting in an armchair in the house that is Jarvis, reading about some neutral demon species and taking dutiful notes.
cross_and_bow
A cheerful young woman with bouncy brown hair and strangle marks on her neck appears standing a few feet away.
"Boo!" she says, grinning.
"Boo!" she says, grinning.
cross_and_bow
"...Minnie? Hi. How've you been keeping?" Bella asks.
Minnie, who has inexplicably changed narrators, says, "I've been very well-behaved and you should definitely be glad you untrapped me. I haven't spied on anybody in the shower at all."
"Well, that's reassuring."
"I can go anywhere now! As fast as I like! I've been all over the world." She pauses. "Mostly invisibly. Most people wouldn't talk to me if I appeared to them, and one person tried to have me exorcised instead of just asking nicely for me to go."
"That's a pity."
"So I think I should hang out here more," Minnie says. "Since I like you and maybe I can convince your boyfriend to let me spy on him. It's okay if he lets me, isn't it?"
"That... would be between you and Sherlock, who is currently still asleep but will be up any minute," says Bella.
Minnie, who has inexplicably changed narrators, says, "I've been very well-behaved and you should definitely be glad you untrapped me. I haven't spied on anybody in the shower at all."
"Well, that's reassuring."
"I can go anywhere now! As fast as I like! I've been all over the world." She pauses. "Mostly invisibly. Most people wouldn't talk to me if I appeared to them, and one person tried to have me exorcised instead of just asking nicely for me to go."
"That's a pity."
"So I think I should hang out here more," Minnie says. "Since I like you and maybe I can convince your boyfriend to let me spy on him. It's okay if he lets me, isn't it?"
"That... would be between you and Sherlock, who is currently still asleep but will be up any minute," says Bella.
cross_and_bow
"That's the other kind of vampire," says Bella.
"What other kind of vampire?" asks Minnie.
"Kind from another world. There's several," Bella explains.
"Are there other kinds of ghosts, too?"
"Not that I've ever met, but probably."
"What other kind of vampire?" asks Minnie.
"Kind from another world. There's several," Bella explains.
"Are there other kinds of ghosts, too?"
"Not that I've ever met, but probably."
eversomuchfun
"Hello again," he says to Minnie. "If you're still keen on spying on me in the shower, you're about to have an opportunity."
But first, he swoops down on Bella and gives her a kiss on the cheek.
But first, he swoops down on Bella and gives her a kiss on the cheek.
cross_and_bow
"Ooh, may I may I?" asks Minnie, clapping her hands soundlessly.
Bella giggles and returns the kiss happily.
Bella giggles and returns the kiss happily.
cross_and_bow
Minnie winks out of sight. (It's hardly spying if she's just standing right there, visibly gawking.)
Bella returns to her reading.
Bella returns to her reading.
cross_and_bow
"This species of demon is believed to be neutral because at least five of them have married humans," says Bella. "I'm not sure, from the circuitous way this is written, if the humans were on board with all those weddings, so I'm not sure how I should feel about this sort of demon, but at least it is statistically more likely to try to marry me than dismember and stew me."
eversomuchfun
"I'd ask about their divorce customs before I got too complacent, if I were you," he jokes.
cross_and_bow
"I will certainly try to avoid marrying a Gvaribflerx." She makes a creditable attempt at pronunciation. "Met a Whistle, earlier," she says. "Found Milliways in my house, met the one with the Bell who hasn't been there herself yet. Sue, goes with Aegis. He wanted to walk around not-really-demon-hunting, we sparred in the back, he managed to give me a bloody nose so I figured I'd have a fine shot of returning him to his own Bell without him having been folded, spindled, or mutilated. Didn't find anything, though, and he woke up after a while."
cross_and_bow
"It was cute," she agrees. "He's scrappy. Maybe we'll run into him again sometime."
cross_and_bow
"It didn't bleed all that much. By the time I got to Bar for tissues and peroxide it'd stopped. But yeah," she sighs tragically, "wasteful. Whatever, I've been completely fine on daily dessert duty for months now and I'm not even taking iron supplements, I don't think it'll make a difference. ...Possibly I should take iron supplements."
cross_and_bow
"You sure they won't make my flavor go off? You don't have dietary hangups, 'no added sugar' so to speak?"
cross_and_bow
She snorts. "I will buy some iron supplements next time I take a turn grocery shopping. Probably best not to send Charlie's mind to that place by putting it on his list."
eversomuchfun
"By all means, keep your father in ignorance. Otherwise he will probably shoot me again."
cross_and_bow
"I don't think he'd shoot you again, but he'd consider attempting to put you under arrest. He knows me well enough to know I wouldn't be buying iron supplements for nibbles I did not approve of, and he's not stupid, and he's - a dad. I think I'm under the age of consent for this state, and he doesn't know how far under same you are."
eversomuchfun
"And your father attempting to arrest me would not be a pleasant experience for anyone. I salute your wisdom."