among her own kind

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell finds Milliways once when she is eighteen. She has been there for two days now, setting up her sign ten minutes out of every waking hour, wiping down tables for her quarters in the staff area, eating buttery potatoes (she has been told that this is a complete nutrient package, for humans). Her wand is holding a bun of hair in place on the back of her head. Her shells are stashed safely in her room; she's budgeting carefully and she'll pay her tab when she leaves.

No one's talked to her due to the sign yet. They don't always. She sets it up anyway, like clockwork, so everyone gets the chance.

Comments

[sicaria]

"Should we list the other services, I wonder?"

[she_sells_seashells]

"I don't think so. If clients have strong opinions about how they want to conduct their world takeovers or whatever, they might start lying to me to get me to call you or Tony in. Then I can't evaluate cost-benefit correctly or even give the best advice. Most of my business isn't directly from word of mouth but it's not negligible."

[sicaria]

"A valid point," says Sherlock.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Besides. I haven't met any others of me personally, but I've met folks who live under their empires. I think they're mostly... not the sort to call in assassins. Not as an advertised service, anyway. It can't help if my parallelism is doubted."

[sicaria]

"I see."

[she_sells_seashells]

"They build pretty utopias and style themselves Empress. Sometimes there are Emperors too. There is at least one Princess. Which is weird to me. At this time I'd consider accepting any risk of having children unconscionable. I guess it might be different if I lived in a pretty utopia."

[sicaria]

"Most things are."

[she_sells_seashells]

Bell chuckles.

[sicaria]

Sherlock smiles.

[she_sells_seashells]

"I wonder why I've never met one of me. I bet if I met one, she'd help."

[sicaria]

"Perhaps that is why."

[she_sells_seashells]

"You think Milliways or whoever... pilots it... disapproves of overthrowing the Capitol?"

[sicaria]

"They might. Or they might find it less entertaining if you had imperial help."

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell makes a disgruntled noise.

[sicaria]

Sherlock shrugs.

[she_sells_seashells]

"What is it like?" Bell asks, folding her arms on the table and putting her chin on them. "Having money, I mean, and enough food that isn't clams for every meal forever and salmon most Tuesdays and Fridays."

[sicaria]

"Relaxing," she says after a moment. "Fewer things to worry about."

[she_sells_seashells]

"It sounds it. I haven't been exactly worried since I built up my stash of nonperishables. Even after I started bringing them to Lynnis's family occasionally too. I'm not likely to run out. But I still have to spend so much time on the clam boat and poaching to get a reasonable baseline of calories on the table."

[sicaria]

She has to ask.

"Why do you go back, besides scarcity of clamshells?"

[she_sells_seashells]

"My parents would wonder where I'd gone," she said. "If I just never came back. I don't think Panem would pause in eternal stasis if I just never came back. They would worry. They love me. And they eat the clams too. I'm a net positive calorie source."

[sicaria]

"I was wondering if the cause might not be better served by your coming to live with us," she explains.

[she_sells_seashells]

Bell blinks at her.

"After I... fake my death? Pretend to try to run away to Atlantis? Magically obtain a relocation visa? It's a good idea if you're willing. But I don't know how to explain to my parents. Or make sure they get fed. I think they'd get by, but not... simply."

[sicaria]

She shrugs.

"Parents are not my area of expertise."

[she_sells_seashells]

"If we lived in Eight, Tony could stop there on his tour and announce that he wanted to spend a staggering amount buying a dress for you or something and hire Ranae. But we don't. It would be weird to go to Four and ask for a dress there after having passed through Eight. And having access to the Capitol, more to the point. And Ranae isn't even very good at making clothes from scratch. She does more in repair." Shell Bell chews her lip. "Actually, I shouldn't be worrying so much about the food part. On your tab - if you don't mind - I could buy a big old chest full of cans and bags of things, say I found that on the beach, and trust them to sort it out. The question is how I then slip away."

She sighs. "Maybe it would actually work best to fake my death. Then the question is how to get me to your place when I can't count on Milliways to appear for me anytime soon after I pretend to drift out to sea."

[sicaria]

"Certainly something of a logistical problem."