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]

[I didn't mention it, but an addon failed for redundancy once,] said Bella. [So I figured.]

[nonbird]

[What was the...? Oh, never mind, I see. That's elegant,] he says, smiling at an anonymous non-portal patch of wall.

[self_composed]

[Beg pardon? I don't think you ought to be able to see an addon that failed for redudnancy; what are you looking at?]

[nonbird]

[Your power—the native one. It's very, hmm, self-contained, which I guess is appropriate.]

[self_composed]

[Self-contained?] prompts Bella.

[nonbird]

[Yeah! Why am I standing here rambling, I can ramble while I go look for Kolya,] he says, turning and heading for the stairs. [Anyways. Your power. You know what it does, don't you?]

[self_composed]

[The thing that failed for redundancy was a mental defense against spying and tampering,] Bella says. [That's the only way I know it exists at all; it doesn't make itself otherwise known to me, so I don't have much detail.]

[nonbird]

[Well, it's very pretty,] says Lazarus. [Almost floral. And it's not inward or outward; I'd call it, hmm, exact. A defined boundary between your mind and the rest of the world. The farther away from that door I get, the weirder it is to look through it.]

[self_composed]

[Floral,] repeats Bella, deadpan.

[nonbird]

[Yes. Floral. Is that a problem? Would you rather I compared it to a motorbike?]

[self_composed]

[It's just an amusing description.] Bella waits patiently to be told if the place is clear of unobtrusive folks.

[nonbird]

He doesn't say anything, at least not to her, for about a minute.

Then he says, [Nope, not here.]

[self_composed]

Bella steps invisibly through the door, looks around, and says, [What's the apartment number? Or are you going to come all the way back and escort me?]

[nonbird]

[514. Oh, hi, you're here now, aren't you.]

[self_composed]

[Yep.] Bella's still invisible; she might as well fly up the stairs. She does.

[nonbird]

[You're flying!] says Lazarus, delightedly.

[self_composed]

[I am! That's just about the first thing I did once I had a good hex supply,] laughs Bella, landing on the fifth landing. [Here I am at your door. Can I come in?]

[nonbird]

[Yes you can!] he says, and opens the door.

"I suppose at the point where I'm letting an invisible person into my apartment I can stop trying not to act weird," he adds out loud. "Hello."

[self_composed]

Bella giggles and floats in and inspects the place.

[nonbird]

Lazarus laughs and shuts the door and inspects Bella.

The apartment is small and moderately cluttered, mainly with loose books. Some of them are on furniture; others are being used as furniture. The couch has two free cushions and one pile of mixed fiction and non-. There is a bookshelf, but it is over capacity and then some.

[self_composed]

Bella de-invisibles as she skims his book titles. "You," she diagnoses, "are a reader. Or Kolya is. But given this quantity I'm going to guess both."

[nonbird]

He laughs again.

"Correct!" he says, perching on the arm of the couch in a clearly familiar posture. "That stack of powers you have there is fascinating. It's hard to look away. What did you say your coins were? Red and glowy? Can I see one?"

[self_composed]

Bella nips the edge of her lip and appears the triangle in her hand instead of on her bandolier; she throws it to him. She could square some off the chain but that seems excessive when he didn't even specify a size. "Behold."

[nonbird]

"That's fascinating," he says, closing his hand around it, studying the glow.

Then: "You don't happen to be wearing a few hundred more, do you? That aren't yours?"

[self_composed]

"My boyfriend makes most of 'em," Bella nods. "And there are a few that I just found."