peryton

[shesepankh]

Summer vacation elapses, and sees their storefront doing one heck of a business in the Avalon with the help of their griffin employee. There is a suggestion box for new spells they should invent, some of which have to be long-term projects but others of which are converted into new product fairly promptly.

School starts up again. Darren and Bella are both skipping straight into twelfth grade. (Bella looked into just starting college early, but while she does technically have the sort of resume that can lead to that kind of thing, she can't exactly write an essay about how she saved the life of another person and this caused her to have Moral Character, let alone about how she started a small business - so skipping one grade it is.)

They apply to colleges. They both get into University of Washington and get sufficient scholarships to accommodate both going there.

Summer ensues again.

One afternoon, Bella is over at Darren's, and has fallen asleep - in purring fullform - across his lap on the couch.

Comments

[morethanimaginary]

"Is the thing dead?"

[castmyown]

"I have no idea. I put it in darkness but it's not like there was a way that I could check. I'm waiting for it to wear off and then seeing if it's gone or not."

[morethanimaginary]

"And if that didn't work?"

[castmyown]

"... We never ever get a nightlight?"

[morethanimaginary]

"I mean how do we kill it?"

[castmyown]

"If I knew that, it'd be dead already. If that didn't work I'll - try something else. I'll kill it."

[morethanimaginary]

"I know you will," agrees Savannah.

And then they silently agree to spend the time waiting for Bella to wake up in silence.

[shesepankh]

Eventually, Bella wakes up.

[castmyown]

"Hey," says Darren, gently. "Got your medallion back, figured out a - weakness the ink monster has. It doesn't like darkness, so I hit it with a darkness spell, we're not sure if it's dead now or not. Thus, why the lights are off."

[shesepankh]

"No idea how to domesticate it?" Bella yawns, scooting closer to him.

[castmyown]

"No idea. Kind of don't want to, useful as it would be if we managed it. It ate you."

He wants it to die because of that. It's a subtle thing, now, he's not as angry now that Bella is obviously safe and healthy, but it certainly hasn't gone away.

[shesepankh]

"I don't think it was very smart. Maybe a little brighter than a dog." She puts her wing around him, tucks her head under his chin, sighs.

[castmyown]

"If I didn't kill it with the darkness spell, we can see about - trying to domesticate it," he says, dubiously.

[shesepankh]

"I'm - patching together clues - Savannah, did you eat that one guy's heart?"

[morethanimaginary]

"Yup."

She doesn't sound like she regrets it.

"Tempted to eat some others, here, since they're all dead anyway."

[castmyown]

"Don't," winces Darren. "Please."

[shesepankh]

"And that let you pass for him - do you know how he was directing the monster?"

[morethanimaginary]

"Nope, no idea. I got - flashes of memories, but not all of them, I know he likes pumpkin pie, for instance. But not how he directed the ink monster. Sorry."

[shesepankh]

"Who he was working for?" tries Bella. She extends claws, scratches the ice with a horrible sound.

[morethanimaginary]

"I - don't have enough to go off of. I got the voice, it was soft and quiet but it echoed across the entire room, almost like a whisper but sweeter. Rather unforgettable, so that's - something. I know dead-person was terrified of him, that he scrambled to do everything to make the boss happy. But other than that... Not much."

[shesepankh]

"Do you know if any of these people were critters?"

She's squeezed very tight to Darren, trembling a very little.

[castmyown]

Darren kisses Bella's forehead, and then wraps his arms and wings around her. Some measure of comfort.

[morethanimaginary]

"If they are, they were in human form. We'd have to check for medallions. Which we should do, we'd make a killing if there were any."

[shesepankh]

"Sure. Loot the corpses," sighs Bella. Snuggle. She will obviously not be participating any time soon.

[castmyown]

Darren does not want to participate, either. Snuggle.