i'm just that fascinating i guess

[self_composed]

The first day Bella spends out and about with her new who's-watching-me powers, she is rather alarmed.

Maybe she's just mistaken about how much time people spend looking at reasonably pretty eighteen-year-old girls. She kills a pentagon to try it on a nearby control - who's looking at that girl over there?

Fewer people. Fewer people are looking at that random girl, and less intently. They're looking at her familiarly - they know her - or casually - they're checking her out.

[I have a spy problem,] Bella says. She makes a faintly exaggerated show of snapping her fingers in frustration and turning around. She's going back to her room to get a mirror and bobby pins and barettes, so she can spy back on the pretense of checking her hair, without making it overwhelmingly obvious that she knows what's going on.

Comments

[self_composed]

Yes. Yes I do.

Magic is kind of scary.

[nonbird]

Sometimes, yeah.

[self_composed]

[I'm going to see what I can do about getting you a sinister experimenter for Christmas,] Bella decides, and informs Alice.

She spends a pentagon. She doesn't know if his email is being watched, but whoever her nemesis might be can hire a dozen people to spy on her on campus; they can hire one decent cracker.

[Boo.]

[edgeofyourseat]

[You're the best.]

[nonbird]

Lazarus squawks.

[self_composed]

[Sorry, I couldn't resist. This is Bella. Please don't freak out. You can think back at me, text or voice-equivalent - it's a very intuitive interface really.]

[nonbird]

[Bella,] he says cautiously.

[What. Why, and also how.]

[self_composed]

[Ooh, my turn to answer questions,] laughs Bella. [First of all - you're not going to run off and tell the little bird, or anyone, that I said hi, are you? Or rather, that I said "boo"? Because you're right. She's kinda scary. Someone has been watching me, by suspiciously numerous proxies, and I don't know if it's her or someone else but I'd rather not chance her finding out. But I don't think you're working for whoever - a smart spooky force with you working for them would give you a lot more information to work with, I think. It would just be terribly inconvenient if you chose now to sign on with whoever wants so badly to spy on me.]

[nonbird]

[I am definitely not going to tell Chris anything about this conversation,] he says, sitting back and running his hands through his hair. [I'm still kind of stuck on the fact that you're doing magic, to be honest. Didn't you not have any a minute ago?]

[self_composed]

[I was lying,] Bella admits. [I mean, it's not like it's hard to hack into an email account. I don't know why they're interested in me, but on the off-chance that it's not my mad minting skills, I'd like that to continue. So yeah. I am minty fresh.]

[nonbird]

He laughs, a little incredulously. It comes through on the brainphone.

There's a beat of silence, and then he asks, [How much was I right about?]

[self_composed]

[The pain thing is totally a thing,] Bella says. [Wishing for it to be sunshine instead does not work. The mint who gave you the square was a cheat if he was trying to get any substantial concession for it; you can get one of those by just biting the inside of your cheek decently hard, they're cheap. Well, not you, but mints. My coins are glowy and red, if you want to know. More sides do mean more power. There are triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons, and seven-pointed stars. I don't know about anything beyond that. Stars are overkill for all practical purposes I have encountered thus far. More pain equals a "bigger" coin - I came up with a scale for it, and each tier of coin is a new power of ten. One through nine gets you a triangle, ten through ninety-nine gets a square, and so on.]

[nonbird]

[I wonder why the change in shape,] Lazarus says musingly. [An exponential scale? Really? How do you measure...? Or do I even want to know?]

[self_composed]

[I dunno, do you?] Bella asks, sincerely curious.

[nonbird]

[I don't know,] he says helplessly, shaking his head. [No, curiosity wins over squeamishness, it generally does.]

[self_composed]

[This part involves the biggest secret to my success, so to speak,] Bella says seriously. [I also don't know how closely you're being supervised - I don't know why the folks spying on me aren't using your valuable powers, but if they have a fraction of a brain they are paying attention to you. You can't do anything weird. You can't tell anyone, even Kolya, till I've had a chance to evaluate him myself. Capisce?]

[nonbird]

He sighs. That comes across, too.

[Okay.]

[self_composed]

[My boyfriend is the most masochistic masochist ever,] Bella says. [I've only ever made one hex. It made him a mint. He can make even stars all by himself - you know, recreationally - but I also hexed up a power that lets me help him out, and it comes with the units, where one unit is the bare minimum of pain to make a triangle.] Pause. [He has expressed an interest in having sinister experiments performed on him, by the way. I don't know if that would be discomfiting more than it would be curiosity-satisfying.]

[nonbird]

[Recreationally,] Lazarus repeats. [Oh my. What kind of sinister experiments, or does he just like the phrase?]

[self_composed]

[That was my phrase, actually. Whatever kind of sinister experiments would be informative for your magic-sense. Information is useful. I do not understand why you have not been eaten by a shadowy magical conspiracy already. Wanna be in mine? I'm nice, I promise.] Pause. [We could also make this a conference call if you'd like to talk to him directly.]

[nonbird]

[Not yet,] he decides. [What exactly are you shadowy-ily magically conspiring to do?]

[self_composed]

[I want to take over the world,] Bella says. [And make it behave itself. For example, at some point, when I can either do it inconspicuously or no longer need to be discreet, I intend to eradicate malaria. I'm lying low for the time being specifically because I don't know where all the world's mints and natively magic people are or what they are doing, but whatever they are doing does not meet my exacting standards.]

[nonbird]

[...That is a good conspiracy,] says Lazarus. [I like that conspiracy. I am on board with that conspiracy.]

[self_composed]

[I'm so glad,] says Bella merrily.

[nonbird]

[My sinister experiments are probably just going to amount so sitting still in the same room with both of you for a while,] he says. [I'm really not a very exciting person. Well, and I might want to watch someone make a coin, but not, ah... recreationally.]