for the world slows and the stars falter

[jovahs_heiress]

Isabella sings harmonics - including with Micaiah, once he's learned the mass to performance quality; there's a forty-five minute section in the middle that's perfect for extracting and presenting to the wee hours of the morning at the Eyrie.

She flies on intercessions, and generally brings him along, for rain, to halt a blizzard, to calm a storm, and once she finds a plague flag and puts Micaiah down far away from the settlement while she quizzes the healthier community members about their symptoms. Angels rarely catch the plague; she feels safe enough picking Micaiah up again so he can listen to her sing through the verse designated for each complaint (this for fever, that for cough, the other for the rash) and watch the pills fall to earth. The flag comes down and they continue home.

She keeps half an eye on Nathaniel, and quietly informs Baruch of the situation as well so he'll be mindful of the boy's potential sensitivities.

She falls into an assistant role with Delilah - nothing so formal as the situation she had with Linus, because Isabella would be living at the Eyrie either way, but Delilah sends her to greet visitors and has her take notes at meetings and occasionally even asks her opinion on questions about this or that.

And one morning, Isabella opens her door to leave her quarters and sing a pre-dawn duet with Serah - and the hallway is not there.

"Micaiah," she murmurs.

Comments

[eversomuchfun]

He smiles.

"A lovely bunch you Bellas are."

[dark_light]

"Sherlocks seem to be friendly sorts as well," says Amariah pleasantly. She finishes her lunch. "I think I'll leave it up to Juliet whether you get a Belltower key, but d'you want to come see the place and read the guestbook?"

[eversomuchfun]

"Love to."

[dark_light]

Two Isabellas and one Sherlock proceed up the stairs and into the Belltower. Amariah waves at the bedroom with the closed door. "Don't go in there. Our boyfriends are each other, and any time one of 'em meets another of 'em there's going to be kinky carryings-on. I mean, unless you want to participate in kinky carryings-on with our boyfriends, in which case you could inquire."

The guestbook contains profiles and a visit log of which (isa)bell(a)s encountered which other (isa)bell(a)s, and Stella's secondhand description of Golden, her empire, and her world standing in as a placeholder until Golden appears in person or authorizes her and Edward's daughter Elspeth to do it for her.

[jovahs_heiress]

Angela sighs slightly at the mention of their boyfriends participating in kinky carryings-on, but she shakes it off and murmurs very softly about Jovah having a plan.

[eversomuchfun]

"I won't interrupt them in the middle, anyway," he says. "That would just be rude."

The guestbook is fascinating. Sherlock reads it through.

[dark_light]

"Are you anywhere near your Juliet on your end?" asks Amariah. "If you are you could just stick your head out the door and yell and we could do the bayleaves and stuff here and she could see the place and add a picture. Oh, Angela, you haven't added a picture yet -"

The walls are now decorated with more pictures than there are (isa)bell(a)s apart from Angela, since Amariah put up two, one of Forks and one of the cloudpine forest; Stella added an aerial view of Olympus and Shell Bell has at some point been here and encountered no one but did decide to show off her Coral Palace.

[jovahs_heiress]

"I think I have the hang of the bar. I'll go get a nice view of the Eyrie," says Angela, and out she goes.

[eversomuchfun]

"Unfortunately, no," he says. "The other side of the door for me is the inside of the aforementioned crypt; I was just stepping out to walk to her house. I assume the location is variable? Some other time it might decide to usurp the door to a janitor's closet or public bathroom?"

[dark_light]

"On the way in, yes, it can be any door."

[eversomuchfun]

"But the way out remains fixed until I take it. Convenient, that."

[dark_light]

"It is, yeah. Some things can reportedly screw it up, but if all you do is come in, order some food, talk to people, and go home, you'll be fine."

[eversomuchfun]

"I see."

[jovahs_heiress]

Angela returns with a lovely poster - matching in size and type the others in the Belltower - with an aerial view of the Eyrie, and hangs it up just to the left of the door. "There," she says. "That's where I live."

[dark_light]

"Pretty," comments Amariah. "Carved into the mountain like that, too, neat."

[eversomuchfun]

"Yes, it's lovely," Sherlock agrees.

[dark_light]

"So you and Juliet," says Amariah. "Why do you call her Juliet? I did attend human school a little and now I'm wondering... Also, in case you were wondering, Shell Bell and her Sherlock are the cutest thing of all time."

[eversomuchfun]

"Oh, a while ago I threw a rock at her window and then recited the opening lines of the balcony scene because it seemed hilarious at the time. It hasn't stopped seeming hilarious yet, and she likes the name. The fact that one of her is dating one of me is, I admit, a fascinating piece of information."

[dark_light]

"Until you showed up I thought Kas and his alts were the only repeats, since Golden's husband is unique and the other Sherlock I met besides you and Shell Bell's didn't have a Bell of any sort, but maybe Sherlocks are interdimensionally popular among Bells too," says Amariah. "So you like Juliet but you're not dating her? Yet?"

[eversomuchfun]

"That's about the size of it."

[dark_light]

"Doesn't she know you like her? Why hasn't she jumped you yet? You're cute." Pause. "Is it the parasitized soul thing, is that freaking her out?"

[eversomuchfun]

"It may very well be," he says. "Vampires and Slayers are not exactly traditional allies; there was a certain amount of distrust when we first met. Distrust and crossbow bolts. And she certainly knows I like her, but she has not expressed any interest in return since I mentioned it."

[dark_light]

"Huh. I'd sleep with you except - my problem isn't that your soul's got a parasite, it's that it's got you in the way of it, and Path'd be sitting in a corner with nothing to do, and unoccupied daemons do not pleasing encounters make."

[jovahs_heiress]

"Sweet Jovah singing," mutters Angela.

[dark_light]

"Relax. If it's any consolation, Golden and her husband, totally monogamous," says Amariah to her counterpart reassuringly. "You can hang out on that end of the spectrum and I'll be over here hitting on cute boys trying to figure out what to do with my Path."