extradimensional space

[thaumobabble]

Here is a house.

It is pretty and trim and green-and-cream and really ought not to be able to hold itself up like that, and yet here it is, somehow defying the laws of architecture. It is surrounded by a neatly bordered garden of ornamental and useful plants of all sorts: here vegetables, there herbs, there spell components, there rows of flowers.

There is a sign out front. It says only: Magic. Not, Beware, Magic or Magic Emporium or anything like that. Just: Magic.

Sitting on top of this sign is a cream cat with smoke-dark points of color on each paw, his ears, and his face and tail.

All in all, you could be forgiven for thinking that a witch lives here.

Comments

[thaumobabble]

"Uh, pros and cons, basically," says Bella, squirming a little. "It's a complicated subject, I have complicated opinions, I'm trying to break them up into little bits so I can weigh them and see if any of the cons can be patched and whether the pros add up to enough."

[calendarofcrime]

"I see," says Sherlock. "Do you care to name any... bits?"

[thaumobabble]

Bella evaluates the contents of her page.

"The fact that there's two of you is in both columns," she volunteers after a moment. "I've never seriously considered a - plural arrangement before."

[calendarofcrime]

"What is it doing in each of them?"

[thaumobabble]

"On the one hand, I really don't know how it'd work. Logistically. It's hard to be unreservedly pleased about something I can't picture. I mean, I have a naive picture but I am completely making it up. On the other hand, sparks and fumes there's two of you."

[calendarofcrime]

"Presumably it would work much the same as being married to either of us," says Sherlock, "in turns."

[thaumobabble]

"That's about the naive picture I have," agrees Bella. "I dunno. Maybe it really isn't that complicated."

[calendarofcrime]

"If you were expecting us to have trouble sharing," she offers, "you may stop expecting that."

[thaumobabble]

"Duly noted," murmurs Bella, smiling. "...Will I also be learning a valuable lesson about sharing here? I don't personally know anyone who's plurally arranged but it seems likely that some of the setups are more symmetrical than that."

[calendarofcrime]

"...Ah," says Sherlock.

[thaumobabble]

Bella tilts her head. Pen poised.

[calendarofcrime]

"You would," she says, "also be sharing."

[thaumobabble]

"With specific people, or just random individuals Tony feels like kissing, or what?" Bella asks, noting this in the left column with a question mark in the column.

[calendarofcrime]

"Tony does often feel like kissing people."

[thaumobabble]

Bella writes this down.

"That's not a complete answer to the question, is it," she says quietly.

[calendarofcrime]

"I need to think," says Sherlock, and she sits still and shuts her eyes.

[thaumobabble]

Not everybody thinks into notebooks. Bella doesn't pry, she just goes on writing things. ("Politics" and a little smiley face are on the left.)

She fills up her page, turns it, starts drawing a flowchart. "Sherlock?" she prompts when it's been a silent few minutes.

[calendarofcrime]

"Yes?"

[thaumobabble]

"Are you likely to finish thinking about it before I go to sleep? I need to calibrate my impatience."

[calendarofcrime]

"I do not know."

[thaumobabble]

"Should I just ask Tony in the morning?"

[calendarofcrime]

"That," says Sherlock, "is an excellent plan."

[thaumobabble]

"Okay then."

Bella writes this plan down.

She ruminates a little further on pros and cons, and then she puts her light away, and her notebook, and shucks excess worn objects and snuggles down to sleep.

Then she sits up again.

"D'you want a goodnight kiss too?" she asks shyly. "Since you did just about propose to me and all."

[calendarofcrime]

"Yes, I do."

[thaumobabble]

Bella retrieves her light so she can walk carefully over thataway and plant a sweet kiss right on Sherlock's mouth.