we will seek my buried inheritance

[self_composed]

Bella fixes French toast for breakfast to salvage stale bread, and, having seen Charlie off to work, hops in her own car and makes for Alice's house. She arrives at nine-thirty, and goes up to the doorbell and rings it.

Comments

[edgeofyourseat]

"Cute or hot," Alice says musingly, "I can't even decide."

[self_composed]

"Can things not be both?" she asks, setting back towards their footprints in the soft ground.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Okay, yes," he acknowledges, "they can."

[self_composed]

There is a stretch of silence.

They approach the enormous rock again.

"Well," she says. "I guess I should climb this thing."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Do you want to?"

[self_composed]

"It's not the sort of thing I'd do purely for recreational purposes."

She swallows. "I want to lots more than I want to offer you a hammer and one of my limbs, though."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Aww," he says, smiling wryly. "Okay."

[self_composed]

"Look," Bella says. "I think you can think of at least one thing you do not like and would hesitate to invite even for magic powers."

[edgeofyourseat]

He hesitates.

[self_composed]

Bella walks up to the rock.

It's really not designed for climbing.

"Scratch that," she says. "I don't think I can get high enough on this thing for a fall to do more than twist my ankle."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Well, okay."

[self_composed]

She turns back to their trail. Walk walk walk. "I'm glad it's clear today."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yeah, making this trek in the rain would be pretty annoying."

[self_composed]

"It's so rainy here."

Pause.

"Ugh, we are talking about the weather."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Is that bad?"

[self_composed]

"It's dull." She sighs. "Why couldn't he leave one more hex?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"I don't think he expected me," says Alice. "I mean, people usually don't."

[self_composed]

Bella laughs. "What if I was twins? Or just had a sibling? Two descendants could have conceivably fallen into his hole at the same time!"

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yeah, but they probably wouldn't have been one person who's kind of a wuss but willing and able to take over the world and one person who doesn't really give a shit about ruling the world but really likes pain. And, you know, maybe he was kind of a wuss too. Although I gotta wonder how he fixed himself a star if he was."

[self_composed]

"Considering what he wrote about stars, I bet he was going for a hex and overshot, and then freaked out and didn't try whatever that was again."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Maybe. Oh hey, can I borrow the book while we're in the car?"

[self_composed]

"Sure, why?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"'Cause I wanna copy some parts," he says. "Now that I've got a big pile of little ones, I think I'm gonna go home and experiment."

[self_composed]

Bella shudders involuntarily. "Okay," she says.

[edgeofyourseat]

"...Does that bug you?"