"The magical notebook thing is definitely peculiar," says Helen. "And I'd kind of have to be cavalier about tucking Kal away if we weren't separated, especially if I lived somewhere that people mostly didn't know about daemons, but I guess I'm a special case."

"Yeah. I'd expect the same thing if Juliet got a daemon; a lot of big-cat daemons here are kind of shrunk to travel size but hers was anything but when she got an illusion. But Shell Bell has a smew, and yet." She shrugs.

"What's a smew?"

"It's a kinda duck." Isabella produces an illusion of Neptune.

"Ooh, he's pretty," says Helen. "Soph said that Juliet picked a name for her tiger and that means she might maybe hypothetically get one, but she doesn't know why she hasn't yet or what might get her to."

"I have a guess," says Isabella after a moment.

"What is it? Unless it's private. Then forget I asked."

"If I'm right you probably shouldn't tell Juliet's Sherlock, but I don't think she'd care if you knew."

"Okay, I won't tell," she says.

"She doesn't have one, so acquiring one would be about what she could do with him that she couldn't otherwise; he looks terrifying but she doesn't live in a place where that gives her any advantage in, say, a fight - which is particularly relevant to Juliet - because there aren't any other daemons for him to engage with and anyone else she meets at home won't know that they mustn't touch him, or if they found out they'd have an entirely incorrect reaction to the information. She has no strong incentive to separate, so she doesn't expect to be able to send him on errands without inconvenience and unpleasantness she could more easily skip. The only thing she could do with a daemon that she can't without is send him to snuggle up to her Sherlock. I think she's waiting to see if Steph will touch her."

"Oh," says Helen. "That does make sense."

"After a fashion, yes, but I suspect Sherlock would feel pressured if he figured it out. If he hasn't already."

"Well, maybe he doesn't know about the name. Or maybe he's trying not to," she says hopefully. "Because aren't they supposed to be really good at figuring things out?"

"Sherlocks are extremely good at figuring things out, yes."

"Goes with the name," says Helen. "Which is also peculiar."

"Yeah, they're a weird case. Some of them actively model themselves after the book character - well, the version found in their worlds' literature, without a Stephirashal attached - but some of them just sort of happen."

"Other worlds are funny that way. - Wow, and of course their books wouldn't have daemons in them either, I hadn't even thought of that."

"I imagine it must make casting actors for television shows and so on a lot easier."

"No kidding," she laughs.

"But I haven't watched any offworld TV, so I don't know how much it matches or fails to match. I'm more than half a century behind on media from this world."

"I don't watch a lot of movies, so I can't recommend anything," says Helen. "Are you going to start going after the people who make bad movies about you?"

"For what value of 'going after'? I'm not going to hurt them or anything. They might get made fun of at a press conference or something."

"I was thinking getting them to stop. You don't seem to like it very much."

"I have no idea what the current legal state of public figures not wanting movies made about them may be. And I have no power to change that. So there's not a good way to stop a determined person, but I can make it clear that I don't approve and hope that torpedoes ticket sales."

"Here's hoping," says Helen.