in between moments

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell has not found Milliways by herself since the occasion on which she first met Sherlock.

Today, after eight months, she does.

She makes sure that Sherlock and Tony are both awake, finds that they are but do not want to join her in the bar today unless she finds something interesting, checks her coin supply and finds it sufficient, and steps through.

Comments

[pythbox]

...He laughs.

[she_sells_seashells]

"What?" asks Shell Bell.

[pythbox]

"I could not even begin to tell you."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Ah, fine. You seem less stunned than I was when I first found out about alternate worlds," Bell observes. "But then, I was six at the time."

[pythbox]

"Alternate universes are old news in physics," he says with a shrug.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Does physics have an explanation for alts? 'Cause none of mine know why there are half a dozen plus of us running around."

[pythbox]

"In theory, if there are infinite alternate universes, multiple versions of the same person in different settings isn't impossible," he says. "As to how you'd all end up meeting each other, your guess is as good as mine."

[she_sells_seashells]

"How and when the doors appear is not at all a known thing," says Shell Bell, "alas. Although there's one - well, two, now - Jarvises who can open doors at will, which is very convenient. And my Tony can summon it on purpose one try out of three."

[pythbox]

"Good for him," Tony says dryly.

[she_sells_seashells]

"I was floored when I heard about that. When I was little I lived for trips to Milliways - I'm sure I'd be brain-damaged from malnutrition by this age without it, actually - and it would only come by after months, sometimes longer. I was so jealous. But neither him nor Sherlock started finding it until after they won their respective Hunger Games."

[pythbox]

"...That just sounds mean," he says.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Oh, trust me, if I knew who ran the place that wouldn't even be the first thing I complained to the management about. Although it'd be the second," says Shell Bell.

[pythbox]

"Dare I ask...?"

[she_sells_seashells]

"If you ever open a door and it leads to a bar instead of where you thought you were going? And it's decorated for - you have Valentine's Day here? Lace and pink and red and white and -" She makes the heart shape with her hands. "If you find Milliways and it's decorated with that crap you bolt."

[pythbox]

"Uhh," he says. "Okay."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Milliways thinks it's cute to celebrate the holiday with little darts of mind-affecting love drugs," Shell Bell explains.

[pythbox]

"Creeeeepy," Tony opines.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Ayep. Me and Sherlock managed to sleep through most of it, and I found it useful - I was straight, they gave me the material to go straight-with-an-exception - but it was awful. I cried."

[pythbox]

"Hey, I'm sorry," he says awkwardly.

[she_sells_seashells]

"Not your fault, I'm just warning you, run if Milliways is decorated for Valentine's. I'm fine, now."

[pythbox]

"Consider me warned."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Good good." Pause. "Hey, I should probably apologize - I didn't know where you were, so earlier, I just teleported to the-place-you-were, invisibly - I have to specify a unique location or I can't go anywhere. I wound up in your bedroom, but I left to outside the house right away and talked to Jarvis. I don't know if he told you or not, but he noticed me, invisibility notwithstanding."

[pythbox]

"Yeah, he mentioned," says Tony. "We're cool as long as you didn't take pictures."

[she_sells_seashells]

"I didn't take any photos, but I have perfect recall," says Bell.

[pythbox]

"Then we're cool as long as you don't draw any pictures," he amends.