she_sells_seashells | among her own kind

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sicaria

"I believe that is a solid plan."

From:

she_sells_seashells

"Okay. So a day before Tony's due to arrive, I leave a note, swipe a canoe - that'll be easy, I can melt the lock off the shed and bury it - push it off, make for the train stop, and - what is the plan for getting me onto the train? Are you allowed to travel with him? Will he and I have to figure it out ourselves? How obnoxious is his prep team and escort and mentor and so on? Were you his mentor?"

From:

sicaria

"I was his mentor," she says, which answers multiple questions at once. "His prep team and escort love him and fear me. I will find you if you are there to be found, and convey you to our compartment."

From:

she_sells_seashells

"Okay. I'll leave that end of it in your hands. I would like to know what happens if I'm caught, though, so I know how quickly to start setting things on fire."

From:

sicaria

"I will try intimidation first," Sherlock says dryly. "I am very good at it."

From:

she_sells_seashells

"Good enough that they won't promise compliance and then go home and tell their spouses, or their friends, or Caesar Flickerman's friends...?"

From:

sicaria

"Not if you are caught by someone who expects to ever see me again."

From:

she_sells_seashells

"And that is everyone on the train."

From:

sicaria

"It is likely to be."

From:

she_sells_seashells

"All right then."

Bell smirks. "But first, let's hang out here for a while and see if we can get anybody to give us a teleporter."

From:

sicaria

"A splendid idea."

From:

she_sells_seashells

The sign is sitting there so enticingly, after all. "How long are you and Tony likely to stick around?"

From:

sicaria

"At least until Tony is finished... whatever it is Tony is doing," she says, glancing around to see if he can be located from here. He cannot.

From:

she_sells_seashells

"How long does he usually take to make... stuff? Of the sort that he will suddenly decide to make at the bar."

From:

sicaria

"Variable. It shouldn't be more than a day, unless he is somehow distracted."

From:

she_sells_seashells

"Cool," Bell says admiringly. "If you don't mind - I think everyone who's looking has had a chance to see this sign now, so I'm gonna put it down and prowl around talking to recent arrivals." She pauses. "Actually - do you want to mind it for me? I can put up a back soon note on a bit of card and you can call me over if anyone looks interested."

From:

sicaria

"I would be happy to."

From:

she_sells_seashells

"Thanks!" Bell obtains a bit of card, writes Up and about - back soon - consult my colleague with requests, puts the sign back up and props the note on a blank part of it, and goes a-wandering.

From:

manofmyword

How 'bout him?

Over by the lake door, tucked into a booth, sorting an improbably large jar of jelly beans into a number of small bowls by some impenetrable algorithm that definitely doesn't take colour as a primary feature in any straightforward way.

From:

she_sells_seashells

Bell does talk to everyone. Even if they look like they might be spinal-fluid-drinking types.

"Hi," she says politely. "I'm Shell Bell. Panem, Earth, year 72 by our count and something else by everyone else's. Who're you?"

From:

manofmyword

He chuckles.

"We-ell," he says, tipping his head to one side (no makeup today, but smudges remain here and there) and smiling. "You're familiar, is what you are."