yarn

[the_very_best]

Bella leaves in due time. She calls Sherlock a week later with one of her father's Pokémon on the other end of the line; it is learned that being boxed is sort of like having almost fallen asleep or woken up but not quite, a drowsy half-conscious state with little attention to the passage of time. It is not unpleasant, at least in this 'mon's opinion.

Three weeks later, Bella flies to Lake Acuity again.

Comments

[the_very_best]

Bella opens her mouth.

Bella closes her mouth.

Bella says, "Today is Fantastic Revelation Day, is it?"

[bitofafiction]

He quirks a smile. "Apparently so."

[the_very_best]

"You're very tall for a three year old. Tall and also articulate."

[bitofafiction]

"I had the normal amount of childhood in an abnormal amount of time, and caught up to Tony about when he turned fourteen."

[the_very_best]

"Is it the patching DNA that lets you understand Pokémon? - Is it rude to ask questions about this?"

[bitofafiction]

"That's my best theory, yes. And no, at least so far it is not."

[the_very_best]

"Does it do anything besides that?"

[bitofafiction]

"Oh, no, not a thing," he says, in an exact copy of Bella's voice.

[the_very_best]

She blinks.

"Wow. That sounded - exactly like me, or anyway how I sound on recordings, not how I sound to myself."

[bitofafiction]

"It did sound exactly like you," he says, resuming his normal voice. "I can do that. With anyone I've ever heard speaking."

[the_very_best]

"That's awesome. Does it do anything else? Not that that's not plenty."

[bitofafiction]

"Nothing so obvious. It might have had an influence on this or that other characteristic."

[the_very_best]

Bella nods. "Well, this certainly explains a bunch more odd remarks. I might actually be out of weird things about you to explain, now."

[bitofafiction]

"It is very likely that you are."

[the_very_best]

"I -" Bella frowns, starts counting on her fingers. "I can't remember when you said your - Tony's? How does that work? - parents died. Did you overlap with them at all?"

[bitofafiction]

"I never met them. And yes, they are Tony's parents and not mine. Insofar as I have parents, I suppose they are Tony and Mycroft, but Jarvis has filled that role more than either."

[the_very_best]

"Mycroft. Wow." She glances up at the ceiling. "So Jarvis predates you?"

[bitofafiction]

He nods.

[the_very_best]

"Does Mycroft get that this happened?"

[bitofafiction]

"More or less. He's not very interested in what you might call the wider social implications."

[the_very_best]

"That's fair, yeah. Wow. Why did Tony clone himself, or would I have to ask him?"

[bitofafiction]

"He was an extremely lonely child with a talent for making things and a poor grasp of long-term consequences," Sherlock says dryly. "He did it more or less to satisfy himself that he could."

[the_very_best]

"...How are you on the 'wider social implications'?" Bella asks.

[bitofafiction]

"Slightly uncomfortable."

[the_very_best]

"I don't suppose there's anything I can do about that, is there?"