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

[calendarofcrime]

"Everything."

[thaumobabble]

Bella laughs. "Most people can go on thinking I'm a witch for a long time. Sorceress stuff isn't widely recognized, I have to adapt anything from fire-witches or elves or unicorns till it's unrecognizable, nobody expects a girl to use wizard magic in any form, and everybody uses a dragon spell or two. A witch could do most everything that's left over, and I do dress like one."

[calendarofcrime]

"And yet," she says, "you are not a witch."

[thaumobabble]

"D'you know what I am?" Bella asks, grinning.

[calendarofcrime]

"You are yourself."

[thaumobabble]

Bella giggles. "Of course I am. But there's a technical term for a student of all kinds of magic. I'm a magician."

[calendarofcrime]

"There you are, then."

[thaumobabble]

"What else can you tell about me, Princess Observant?" inquires Bella brightly.

[calendarofcrime]

"You're very cute."

[thaumobabble]

Bella laughs again. "Thank you. You are both also cute."

[allthebrightest]

"We know!"

[thaumobabble]

"Good! Self-knowledge. Important stuff."

[allthebrightest]

Tony laughs.

[thaumobabble]

"Are we going to be avoiding running into anybody on the hike to the castle, too?"

[calendarofcrime]

"Do you prefer not to?"

[thaumobabble]

"I'm usually perfectly happy to encounter strangers, but on the other hand I don't know why you weren't."

[calendarofcrime]

"I find them tedious most of the time, but it's not a strong preference."

[thaumobabble]

"Well, then," says Bella, "I suppose what I'd rather comes down to how well your status as interesting conversationalists holds up."

[calendarofcrime]

"Do let us know."

[thaumobabble]

"What do the both of you do with your time apart from quest without much interest for one or more husbands?"

[calendarofcrime]

"Tony made this armour," volunteers Sherlock.

[thaumobabble]

"It's nice armor."

Ah, an excuse to check Sherlock out. That's nice.

[allthebrightest]

"It's great," agrees Tony. "I'm proud."

[thaumobabble]

"Do you tend to have much call to be armored, if you avoid everyone before you could get into a fight with them even if they were unfriendly?"

[calendarofcrime]

"It is always possible I might detect someone or something I would prefer to intercept."