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]

"Okay," he says. "Those're messier, though. And slower."

[self_composed]

Bella does not scrunch her eyes shut. Because she is driving.

"I will be able to turn my head, if need be."

[edgeofyourseat]

"...Should we not be talking about this right now?" he wonders. "'Cause I mean, I'm sure my dad is gonna go on other trips this year..."

[self_composed]

"I'm not even planning to attack my disinterest in supervising self-mutilation. I just need to be able to hold still and not tell you 'stop'."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Okay," he says, but he sounds unconvinced.

[self_composed]

"If I don't manage to pull this off tomorrow," she shrugs, "we'll have to wait for another trip, and I can think of something else."

They're pulling into Forks. "Back to your house?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"Sure," he says.

"...I just don't think you know how bad not pulling it off could get."

[self_composed]

"What do you mean?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"Maybe it's different. It's probably different."

He sighs.

"Just—really bad shit isn't over when it's over."

[self_composed]

"Wouldn't that apply if I do accomplish what I have in mind, too?" Bella asks.

[edgeofyourseat]

"If you make yourself not hate it the way I don't hate it, you'll be fine," he says. "I don't think you'll do that."

[self_composed]

"I'm not even sure if - wait. What am I even thinking? I have fucking magic powers. I have Elias's stash. It worked for cryptanalysis, hell, that only took squares, maybe it works for masochism. It's at least worth a try, and then," she laughs, "I don't even have to wait overnight."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Sure," he says, surprised.

"We'll have to be fast, though. Or you'll have to keep wishing yourself kinky, but I bet it won't be fun if it slips."

[self_composed]

"The cryptanalysis lasted a minute, maybe a minute and a half? That should be enough time, shouldn't it? Smash foot, create hex, heal foot with pentagons if I can't stand it. Hand off the hex and you have magic powers."

[edgeofyourseat]

"It could easily take more than a minute and a half to get you to hex-level pain by smashing your foot with a hammer," he says. "Especially if we stop to test that it works at all first, which you know, we probably should."

[self_composed]

"Well, what's faster? And don't say 'blowtorch'," Bella says. "And yes, of course, squares are cheap, I'll try a dry run. I could definitely tell when I did and did not have cryptanalysis powers."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Squares can wish up small things," he says. "Can a square wish up a jar of lye? You wouldn't need a lot, that shit burns like a motherfucker."

[self_composed]

"Like a hex-sized one?" Bella asks. "I can try that too, when not driving."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yeah, that's the idea."

[self_composed]

"Mkay." She sighs. "I could probably make it a permanent hack with a pentagon - but - I don't know if those are reversible. It doesn't say in the book. And I don't really want to keep the... predilection... forever."

[edgeofyourseat]

"...Why not? I mean, you know, it would kinda come in handy."

[self_composed]

"Yes, it would. But I haven't fully thought it through, it would probably have other effects, and I take alterations to my brain very seriously."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yeah, I guess," he says.

[self_composed]

"Also," she says, "I'm not sure if it counts as a skill. If I worked really hard for some months or years and then got good vocal training I could speak fluent Spanish without much accent. Same thing if I studied and practiced the piano or got serious about being really good at cooking. If I wished on a pentagon I could do the same thing. I'm simply not clear on how one could, sans magic, turn into you - which means it could be a hex problem, to do it permanently - which means this doesn't solve the current problem and will be nearly redundant after the current problem is handled."

[edgeofyourseat]

"...Getting used to pain and liking it aren't the same," he offers. "First one sounds like more your kind of deal."