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'll probably ask you anyway. Maybe we can figure out the right questions if we try,] Bella says optimistically.

[nonbird]

[I have a hard time believing that, but I guess we'll see.]

[self_composed]

[So, speaking of retaining you, you now have a magic door in your building that leads to my dorm,] Bella says. [Provided I can either become comfortable spilling the beans to Kolya or you're pretty sure he will not attempt to follow you - he can't get through the door, but he could see you disappear - you wanna job?]

[nonbird]

[I think I very well might!] he says. [And I could always just ask him not to follow me. It's not like he objects in principWHAT THE HELL]

The abrupt switch from conversational tones to startled yelp occurs very shortly after Lazarus disappears tracelessly from the room.

[self_composed]

[Where the fuck did you go,] Bella says. Her spy sense isn't tingling, nothing happened except him disappearing.

[nonbird]

[I don't know!] he says helplessly. [Far enough away that I can't see you. I can't see anyone with powers, actually, but—oh, dear.]

[self_composed]

[What? What is it? Should I try yoinking you back?]

[nonbird]

[You can try,] he says. [Whoever put me here left some magic on me. I can't leave this building—I'm in an empty warehouse, I think. There's some more, too, I'm figuring it out as we speak.]

[self_composed]

Bella tries. Twice.

[Pentagon won't go, hex won't go. Defense wins I guess. Keep me posted. I'm magic dooring home; I don't want to be here if someone kicks your door down. You want me to email Kolya or anything?]

[nonbird]

[You can email him to tell him I've been magically kidnapped if you're prepared to answer all his questions about why and how and general fussing. Also, apparently I've been rendered imperceptible and un-wish-on-able except to... one or a few people, I'm not sure, I can just tell there's an exception. I guess brainphone doesn't count.]

[self_composed]

[I do not think I am prepared to answer such questions till I know more about what's going on. Un-wish-on-able to even you? You had triangles and a square with you; can you use them?]

[nonbird]

[Not on myself,] he says after a moment. [Haven't tried anything else.]

[self_composed]

[I don't want to ask you to use them all up, since they might come in handy if you find an opening somewhere, but is it possible to use one to change the color of the others?]

[nonbird]

[No,] he says after a moment, and then after another moment, [but I can make them look like they're a different colour. My pile of triangles is now to all appearances transparent and non-glowy.]

[self_composed]

[Thank you. The warehouse is just empty?]

[nonbird]

[There's... stuff,] he says. [Empty crates, abandoned forklifts, inexplicable marks on the floor, that sort of thing. It's deserted as far as I can tell, but who knows who might be hiding behind a crate somewhere.]

[self_composed]

[You don't sense any coins? I would be very surprised if you encountered a person who didn't have coins on them, under the circumstances.

[nonbird]

[I'm not sure I could sense coins that far away, unless they were big ones,] he says. [I would love to experiment on that sometime when I am less kidnapped.]

[self_composed]

[Can you walk around and see? And - more detail on that ward, if you can get it. I might be able to think of a way around it.]

[nonbird]

[Sure,] he says. [Commencing aimless wandering.]

[self_composed]

[I'm trying to figure out why they yoinked you - whoever did - and why now. It would be a little too coincidental if it had nothing to do with me, but my spy-detection didn't go off at any point, you weren't being watched when I checked, you didn't get yoinked as soon as I appeared where you were at...]

She brings Alice up to speed in a rapid-fire summary with half her overclocked brain while she slips through the magic door back to Stanford.

[nonbird]

Lazarus is briefly distracted from examining his ward.

[Your spy detection only detects nonmagical spying, right?]

[self_composed]

[Yes, but the spot check would have detected magical spying... But if they were only spot checking you I could have easily missed them. And then they wouldn't have been able to see you when I was in the room with you and they panicked and yoinked. Ack, I'm sorry.]

[nonbird]

[Mainly what I'm worried about right now is who exactly 'they' are,] says Lazarus. [I must say, the world of secret magical conspiracies is turning out to be less pleasant than I'd hoped.]

[self_composed]

[Sorry,] Bella says again. [I don't know very much about them. I'm working on inferences from very limited clues. But this so confirms that there's a "they", so I'm not crazy or anything.]