in a supposed democracy

[she_sells_seashells]

Snow's death is announced on television the day after it happens. The announcer speaks of "sudden illness".

There are going to be emergency elections to replace him in three days. Without advance notice and the standard scheduling of elections, they're going to be setting up polling places in the Capitol at a limited number of sites. Some outlying neighborhoods will be served by schools and the like. But most of the city will be congregating at the Memorial Dome to cast their votes for the next president.

(There follow thirty solid minutes of campaign ads. The district imports comptroller, the chairman of the traffic control commission and former Gamemaker, the deceased Snow's personal assistant, and a handful of lesser individuals are running. Bell hates them all.)

"Suppose the Memorial Dome caught fire," she says to Sherlock and Tony, frowning at the TV.

Comments

[ferratus]

"What—oh," says Tony.

"Um. Hi, Bell! So, we have something awkward to tell you..."

[she_sells_seashells]

"...Yeah?" Bell says, blinking. "Do you now."

[sicaria]

"The awkward thing in question would be that we have been fucking since we were sixteen," says Sherlock.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Ah-huh," says Bell. "I'm guessing that you didn't plan for me to find out at all and if I hadn't fallen on the stairs there would have been several feet of distance between you by the time I got down here. That's swell." She doesn't even muster a sarcastic tone for that last remark; it's as deadpan as the rest of it.

[sicaria]

"We did not know how to tell you, or when," says Sherlock, extricating herself from Tony's lap. "Or how strongly you would disapprove."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Well. It wasn't any of my business before the other day. But 'since you were sixteen' incorporates a period of time between us getting together and having that perfunctory monogamy conversation. And I'm under the impression that even when people are not being monogamous they're at least entitled to information on the subject of how they're being not-monogamous. So there is some disapproval. Yeah. The 'when' should've been 'before saying you wanted me to hack my brain so I could date you'. Sometime before then."

[sicaria]

[she_sells_seashells]

Bell plants her elbow on her knee and her forehead in her hand. "I don't know what to say," she says. "Did you think I'd care that you're siblings, is that it? I didn't kick up a bit of fuss about the alts thing; if you didn't expect calm sanity from me on the subject before that you should've after."

[ferratus]

"Look," says Tony, "right now, you are the only person that knows. Because people in general would care that we're siblings, they would care a lot, and it would be a whole big disgustingly public problem. So we just—don't. Let anyone find out. Ever."

[she_sells_seashells]

Bell leans back against the stairs. "And that would be fine if neither of you were trying to date anyone else. Except maybe your alts and each other's alts, I suppose they'd understand."

[ferratus]

"I don't really date," says Tony. "I fuck a lot, but it's kinda not the same thing."

[sicaria]

"I did not think of it," Sherlock says quietly.

[she_sells_seashells]

Oh, that stings. If she'd been actually planning to cheat on Bell that would have been better; Bell would have felt like something about her presence in the situation even mattered. Bell looks away, biting her lip.

[sicaria]

"I did not think of Tony, during our conversation. And then we just... didn't," she says, gesturing between herself and Tony. "Until the other Sherlock."

[she_sells_seashells]

"That's something, I guess. I guess it's more than something. Technically there has been no cheating. Just... omissions."

Omissions aren't great either, but adding technical cheating (instead of the vague, non-technical cheating of Having A Thing With Tony that persists even between acts) would be worse.

[sicaria]

"Yes," says Sherlock.

[she_sells_seashells]

Bell still doesn't like it. But she can't think of anything else to say.

It would be much easier to decide what to do at this juncture if only she hadn't stopped pretending yet. If that were true, she could just... abort. Apologize for insinuating her person where she was superfluous and withdrawn into herself.

[sicaria]

[ferratus]

Tony sighs.

And gives Sherlock a gentle push Bellward.

[she_sells_seashells]

Bell looks quizzically at this behavior. What's Sherlock going to do? Kiss her and make it better?

(Why does that have to still sound so comforting?)

[sicaria]

Sherlock regards the floor with intense expressionlessness.

[ferratus]

"You guys," says Tony, "you are so sad it hurts me, please just like - have feelings at each other or something."

[she_sells_seashells]

Have feelings at -

Well.

Ostensibly, Bell's the one who's good at that, here.

She closes her eyes. She tries to pretend she's talking to her recorder. (It's not recording incriminating secrets; it's upstairs.)

"I hate not knowing things. It's an effort not to be hurt by it even when the things have nothing to do with me. I need information to know what to do; the idea of blundering around not knowing what's going on is one of the worst things I can think of. I mentioned about how I was scared of tracker jackers and that's why, they make you not know things because all of a sudden anything could be a hallucination. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt about that, I try to assume that people who like me won't want me to fall down the metaphorical stairs because I didn't know there were metaphorical stairs there. And every time I find out that isn't true - when I was nine and of all the trivial things found out that my dad's real name was not in fact 'Shark' and that was just what everyone called him, every time I find out that I've been misled even for the most benign reasons, I hate it. Because all of a sudden, anything could be a lie."

[ferratus]

"My full name's Antony," Tony offers.

[sicaria]

"I'm sorry," says Sherlock. "I don't feel like that is enough, but it is true."