bellfounding: (Default)
Author: bellfounding
Pattern still doesn't know what her aura does. This is getting annoying. It's not like she's short on stuff to do - she's been writing letters to various heads of state (which appear on their desks or their inboxes by magic or Jane; she wouldn't expect to get through by normal channels) to convince them that she exists and is willing to take immigrants to Saturn and bring back dead people, she's catching up on what her parents and the world have been doing for the last four years, she's chatting through Jane with various other Bells and fielding Downside help requests her share of the time.

But she wants to know what is up with her aura, dangit.

[Hey, Jane, can you ask Stella if I can go visit Eos and talk to her magic seeing guy about my aura? And ask the magic seeing guy if he'd be up for that?]

[Stella says yes,] says Jane after a moment. [And...]
nonbird: (2. a baker's dozen)
Author: nonbird
The magic seeing guy also says yes!
bellfounding: (reading)
Author: bellfounding
Pattern goes to Eos. [Hey, Lazarus, can I just teleport to you or are you busy?]
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
[Just a minute,] he says.

About thirty seconds pass.

[Now I am unbusy!]
bellfounding: (talkative)
Author: bellfounding
Poof!

"Hi." Pattern has her aura out at normal strength; no one seems to notice it so she has no reason to keep it withdrawn.
self_composed: (skyward)
Author: self_composed
Stella shows up a moment later. "Me too, me too, mine also remains mysterious."
nonbird: (4. particular to the moment)
Author: nonbird
"Hi!" says Lazarus to Pattern.
ignorable: (6. good times.)
Author: ignorable
"Hi who?" says Kolya.
bellfounding: (fretting)
Author: bellfounding
"Ack!" Pattern exclaims when Kolya appears. "Me, of course."
self_composed: (go on)
Author: self_composed
"...Could you not see her?" Stella asks Kolya. "Oh, weird, maybe you have some kinda stealth aura and that's why we couldn't figure it out? And you didn't know he was there so you didn't want him to see you -"
bellfounding: (quizzical)
Author: bellfounding
"Isn't a stealth aura a contradiction in terms?"
self_composed: (eyebrow)
Author: self_composed
"Well, I don't know, maybe it has settings, you've been trying to figure out your special features and not just use generic aura stuff," Stella shrugs, "try wanting, let's play with it."
bellfounding: (pealing)
Author: bellfounding
Pattern tries wanting. And all of a sudden she's every bit as noticeable as Stella is, every inch a powerful enchantress who warrants attention.

"...Is anything happening?"
nonbird: (1. quantities of fluff)
Author: nonbird
"Yep," says Lazarus. "You're doing the normal aura thing now."
bellfounding: (lipbite)
Author: bellfounding
"Okay, but if I..." The aura diminishes, and then Pattern makes a face and then she's gone.
self_composed: (fascinated)
Author: self_composed
"Hooooly shit, you're not even just invisible, I can see invisible things," Stella says. "Either that or your aura beats my coin. You're - I have no idea what the hell you are. Come back? This is weird."
bellfounding: (talkative)
Author: bellfounding
Pattern unflares, and she's subtle, like she has managed to hide behind a bookshelf or something in spite of standing in the middle of the room, but she's no longer imperceptible.

"Okay, that's weird, but I can work with it. What's going on exactly, O Magic Seeing Guy?"
nonbird: (6. proving more intricate)
Author: nonbird
"Your aura responds to how much you want people to see you, per person per sense," he says. "While you were gone, I could see your magic but not the rest of you. And since you didn't know Kolya was there until he spoke up, he couldn't see you until you did. Apparently your visibility defaults to off."
bellfounding: (heh)
Author: bellfounding
"Am I beating up Stella's see-invisibility or going around it somehow?"
nonbird: (Default)
Author: nonbird
"Um... yes," he says. "If you dialed it down slowly, she'd see you before other people did. But you're not exactly invisible, you're something else."
bellfounding: (quizzical)
Author: bellfounding
"Something else?"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"You're a ninja," laughs Stella.
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
"There's invisible, and then there's unnoticeable," he says, gesturing to the last known location of Kolya. "You're imperceptible."
bellfounding: (talkative)
Author: bellfounding
"Weird," laughs Pattern. "So, okay, is that all my aura does? Most of them that we know for sure about do two things."
nonbird: (6. proving more intricate)
Author: nonbird
"It's also decided to be your own personal cinematographer, apparently. When it's letting people see you, it's going to make sure the lighting and so forth know you're the star of the show."
bellfounding: (heh)
Author: bellfounding
"Okay, that's funny," snorts Pattern. "That's really cute. In a contradictory sort of way."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Me next, what'd I get and why's it hiding?" Stella asks.
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
Lazarus peers at her.

"It's not hiding," he says, "you just haven't given it anything to do. It wants to sort your coins for you and make technology behave itself in your presence, and you already have a coin bandolier and don't hang around with misbehaving technology. But you should give it all your coins, because it works much better than the bandolier."
self_composed: (fascinated)
Author: self_composed
"Works better how, and how do I give it coins?"
nonbird: (2. a baker's dozen)
Author: nonbird
"You give it coins by having them on your person but not on your bandolier and wanting it to have them!"
self_composed: (go on)
Author: self_composed
"And then it will - what?"
nonbird: (7. I've got a theory)
Author: nonbird
"Keep them for you. A lot like the bandolier, but without them hanging off you all the time. And it'll give you the right size coins for whatever wishes you want to make, and nobody else will be able to get at them unless you want to give some away."
self_composed: (fascinated)
Author: self_composed
"Oh, cool." Stella unclips her bandolier and lets coins, starting with the smallest, spill into her hand. They never accumulate more than two or three at a time; after that they tuck away into nothing. Eventually she's emptied her entire chain. "Er - what happens if I withdraw the aura, does anything happen to the coins?"
nonbird: (a. well hmm)
Author: nonbird
"They're not in the part of the aura that does withdrawing and flaring," he says. "It won't make a difference."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Okay, good. I pretty much have it out all the time but that might change at some point."
nonbird: (2. a baker's dozen)
Author: nonbird
"Well, consider yourself informed."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Thanks! Best magic-seeing guy." Lazarus gets a hug and a peck on the cheek and Stella then teleports away.
bellfounding: (beam)
Author: bellfounding
"Yeah, thanks," says Pattern merrily. "I guess I'll go home now. And... be a ninja movie-star? Or something."
nonbird: (1. quantities of fluff)
Author: nonbird
Lazarus giggles.

"Good luck!"
bellfounding: (inhale)
Author: bellfounding
"Thanks!" Pattern taps her earpiece and reappears in her palace, and goes on composing her letter to the the Australian Prime Minister.
gunpowdergelatine: Half in shadow, looking up; sincerity, vulnerability. (♣7/got me on my knees)
Author: gunpowdergelatine
The following night, around two in the morning East Coast time, Pattern gets a brainphone message from Queenie.

[Hey, you busy?]
bellfounding: (Default)
Author: bellfounding
[Not especially, why?]
gunpowdergelatine: Leaning forward, hands together, elbows on knees. (♥8/traces of me in your veins)
Author: gunpowdergelatine
[Mm, the Bat found me and she's awful grumpy.]
bellfounding: (fretting)
Author: bellfounding
[Oh, for crying out loud. I'll be right there.] Bella leans on her aura and teleports in to assess the situation.
gunpowdergelatine: Hand touching face, thoughtfully. (♥a/I don't know wrong from right)
Author: gunpowdergelatine
A growling Bat has Queenie pinned against an alley wall with a gauntleted hand around her throat.

Queenie is unruffled.
bellfounding: (bored)
Author: bellfounding
She toggles her aura from ninja to movie star. An obliging gap of the clouds aims a moonbeam right at her and a bit of a wind kicks up.

Bella clears her throat.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The Bat whirls and glares.
bellfounding: (ugh)
Author: bellfounding
"Will you kindly put my employee down?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"This is your employee?"
bellfounding: (inhale)
Author: bellfounding
"Yes. Please put her down. Or I suppose we could make this conversation even less civilized?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox




The Bat puts her down.
gunpowdergelatine: Reclining, leaning back on elbows, shirt partly unbuttoned. (♦c/you will never break me)
Author: gunpowdergelatine
She dusts herself off theatrically.
bellfounding: (bored)
Author: bellfounding
"Thank you. Now, do you want to explain why you were assaulting her? Because I'm pretty sure her plan didn't involve intersecting you at all."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
She darts a glance at Queenie, then says,

"I don't want the Joker in my city. I don't think I need to tell you why not."
bellfounding: (pealing)
Author: bellfounding
"Were you elected mayor and nobody told me? Or are people just claiming places now, because if that's the rule, I have pretty much already claimed this entire universe and my deal with her is that she can go where she likes."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The Bat scowls.
bellfounding: (right)
Author: bellfounding
"I think you've met a couple of me before. I'm not one of those. I'm actually native! Hi!" Pattern waves. "I was dead for a while, but now I'm not."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox


She stares flatly.
bellfounding: (reading)
Author: bellfounding
"That's not a native," Bella adds, aiming a thumb at Queenie. "Had to import her. Golden's employing the one from here. Frankly, we didn't think you'd notice her, what with the lack of scarification and so on. Wanna tell me what's up with that?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"No."
bellfounding: (bored)
Author: bellfounding
"Okay, can you think of a convincing argument suggesting that it would be unethical for me to find out?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
...She stares some more.
bellfounding: (Default)
Author: bellfounding
"I will take prolonged silence as a 'no, go ahead and satisfy your curiosity with magic'," Bella adds.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I don't understand you," says the Bat.
bellfounding: (pealing)
Author: bellfounding
"You don't want Jokers in your city. I don't want random assaults in my universe. If there's no reason for me not to, I'm going to find out what predicated this one, so I will know how to reduce the future incidence of random assaults. It's not that complicated," says Bella.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"...I recognized h—er," the Bat says reluctantly. "I asked him what he was doing here. He didn't have a good answer."
bellfounding: (quizzical)
Author: bellfounding
"See, I'm boosted for vision, so I can tell that a Joker with scars or one who's younger-looking or whatever is the same template underneath. Is that what you did with the unaccounted-for hexagon?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"No. I know that face," she says flatly.
bellfounding: (right)
Author: bellfounding
"Does this all sound plausible to you, Queenie?" Bella inquires.
gunpowdergelatine: Half in shadow, looking up; sincerity, vulnerability. (Default)
Author: gunpowdergelatine
"The question is," says Queenie, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, "why she was following me in the first place."
bellfounding: (bored)
Author: bellfounding
"You want to explain the following part?" Bella asks the Bat. "...What should I call you, anyway? Stella didn't tell us your name and Golden didn't know what to match your face to, but I could get it if I felt like it."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I don't think you should call me anything," she growls.
bellfounding: (quizzical)
Author: bellfounding
"You keep growling at me and I have no idea why you're bothering, it sounds really uncomfortable. It would be entertaining if Juliet were here, she could aura and you could growl. Look, I don't particularly mean you harm, the word out about you is 'generally a white hat in spite of the actual color scheme', I just want to minimize conflict between you and my mint, tell me what's going on."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
She shoots Queenie a venomous glare.
gunpowdergelatine: Smirking faintly, touching thumb to lips. (♣5/don't want the devil to)
Author: gunpowdergelatine
"If you two wanna talk without anybody punching anybody, I better get lost," she says, and teleports away.
bellfounding: (lipbite)
Author: bellfounding
[Bye,] Bella says to Queenie.

"I'm going to be even more confused by Stella deciding to give you three wishes than I already was if your entire repertoire is growling, glaring, and violence," she remarks to the Bat. "Is a civil conversation about how people should conduct themselves out of the question, here?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Not here," she says, looking around.
bellfounding: (inhale)
Author: bellfounding
"Where to? I have a lovely palace on Titan if you don't have a better idea," suggests Bella.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox


Warily: "Fine."
bellfounding: (reading)
Author: bellfounding
Poof!

"Welcome to Tethys," Pattern says, gesturing around. "In a way I suppose it's a good thing, if you can in fact recognize unscarred instances of the Joker template, that you found that one instead of by some chance running into, say, Rose's husband - Rose has issues with people attacking her husband. At least I got Queenie to agree to call me in instead of dealing with it herself if she ran into anything sticky."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The Bat scowls.
bellfounding: (quizzical)
Author: bellfounding
"Look, if you don't want to make conversation, there is a currently unoccupied terraformed asteroid in this world, and I can be quite sure you won't assault - or murder - anyone from there. You gotta understand - you have both crimes on your record, you've got a history of making a particular nuisance of yourself to Bell staff, and now this world has a Bell, and it's me. I don't want my staff to have to work around a costume-clad nuisance. I would rather work something out with you that leaves everybody content. If all you can do is frown, I am somewhat limited in my ability to accomplish that goal."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"...I'm not in a good mood right now," she understates. "The Joker is dangerous. I don't know how you're not seeing that."
bellfounding: (ugh)
Author: bellfounding
"Assorted Jokers have been mints for a total Joker-mint time of at least a couple years, spread out over nine Joker-mints," says Bella. "And the only person I know of who's ever directly killed someone with a wishcoin is you. Why do you think you're special?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I genuinely believed that man was about to kill me at the time," she snaps. "And I still didn't try to kill him. No, I don't think the fact that I'm willing to use potentially lethal force to defend myself puts me on a level with a man whose idea of a joke is torturing someone to death and then dangling their corpse from the roof of City Hall!"
bellfounding: (quizzical)
Author: bellfounding
"Okay... did you think Queenie was about to kill you, ten minutes ago?" asks Bella. "Or about to do... anything to you at all? Anything to anyone? For that matter, you know about alts. You didn't recognize Queenie specifically, did you? There's a couple Jokers who haven't killed anybody."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"He acted like he knew me," she says, looking away. "He acted like the Joker, not just a Joker."
bellfounding: (bored)
Author: bellfounding
"Except," says Bella, "that the city of Gotham has not been particularly terrorized lately, has it. As it happens, Queenie does have a history matching the local Joker's up to a point, presumably with her own Bat off in some other world. But then Queenie died and then Stella fetched her out of the afterlife when we took over managing the place and then I hired her and now she's on her best behavior. She was never going to bother you."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"She was always going to bother me," the Bat mutters.
bellfounding: (right)
Author: bellfounding
"What's that mean?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"He makes me sick just by existing," she says flatly. "He tore my city apart for fun."
bellfounding: (bored)
Author: bellfounding
"Okay, well, even if I liked you more than her and considered making people cease to exist an appropriate reaction, that's metaphysically implausible, people in this universe don't cease to exist. They go Downside, which is where I came from and also where Queenie came from. But what I meant is she wasn't going to resume her reign of terror or knock on your door or anything."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"I can deal with him as long as he's contained. I was fine with him in Arkham. I was fine with him on that asteroid. Walking around my city and taunting me when I stop him - no."
bellfounding: (pealing)
Author: bellfounding
"So basically you'd like to psychologically torture her, not for anyone's safety, because safety's covered, but for your comfort?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"How is safety covered," she says.
bellfounding: (lipbite)
Author: bellfounding
"My deal with her was checked out in advance by a precog, and if she decides to run amok unexpectedly anyway, I can move her out of the universe and address any damage. There is one Joker who couldn't be effectively socked away in another universe like that because he can universe-hop, but it's not Queenie."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"...fine," says the Bat, with deep reluctance.
bellfounding: (talkative)
Author: bellfounding
"Now," says Bella, "I'm working with various heads of state to set up something systematic that will scale, but speaking of people the native Joker killed, I can jump them past the queue - if they have a place to go as opposed to just being liable to appear and be awkwardly legally dead. Any requests?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"...What," says the Bat.
bellfounding: (inhale)
Author: bellfounding
"...Okay, now I'm kind of offended, have you been paying that little attention? I'm dead. Got hit by a car. Queenie's dead, I never asked her how. Hell, the Joker who originally bothered you also managed to die a while ago even though he was all kinds of regenerative. But me and the other Bells have taken over the management of a shared afterlife and we can get people out of it."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox


"Does—does that include people—who died a long time ago," she says hoarsely. "Decades. Two and a half decades."
bellfounding: (talkative)
Author: bellfounding
"Arbitrarily long ago - I could go sifting through the Stone Age - but we're putting the standard cutoff a bit nearer because we don't want to overwhelm the infrastructure. People who have a place to go are mostly going to be people who died not so long ago. But if you have a place to put whoever you have in mind I don't see why you shouldn't have them, as long as you have my attention."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
She swallows.

It takes her several tries to say,

"Thomas and Martha Wayne."
mind_game: (just a program)
Author: mind_game
Jane's Janepoint is in this room. She manifests a face. "Those're pretty common names," she says. "I need a date of death to narrow it down."
bellfounding: (pealing)
Author: bellfounding
"Batlady, meet Jane," says Bella. "She does the afterlife sorting and interworld transit."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
She closes her eyes and recites the date in a monotone.
bellfounding: (fretting)
Author: bellfounding
"Can you think of any reason I might regret queue-jumping these people?" inquires Bella.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"No."
bellfounding: (inhale)
Author: bellfounding
"Okay. Jane, see if they'll let you check them out anyway."
mind_game: (green eyed)
Author: mind_game
"Sure thing."

Thomas Wayne wakes up first.

[Hello!] says Jane. [This is the afterlife. You and your wife have been nominated for a return to the world of the living. It has been twenty-five years since you died. Please take this pamphlet.] (Jane has been given the ability to generate pamphlets when and where they are needed.) [With your permission, I'd like to vet you for resurrection; this will involve a low-fidelity scan of your memories. I'm a computer program, albeit a very smart one, and won't tell anybody any personal details unless they're relevant to whether it's safe to have you walking around on your Earth again.]
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
...He takes the pamphlet.

"...Okay," he says, blinking.
mind_game: (Default)
Author: mind_game
Jane staaaares into his soooooul.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He loves his wife. He loves his daughter. He wants to do what's best for his city.

The next words out of his mouth are, "Where's Martha?"
mind_game: (calculation)
Author: mind_game
[She's next! You check out; just sit tight and I'll have a look at her.]

Martha awakens and gets the same speech and pamphlet, edited where necessary.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Fine," she says distractedly, flipping through the pamphlet.

She is just as benign as her husband.
mind_game: (dea in machina)
Author: mind_game
"They both check out. You want me to put them right here right now?" Jane inquires.
bellfounding: (heh)
Author: bellfounding
"Maybe Batlady would rather greet them while not in her Halloween costume?" says Bella.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Put them in Wayne Manor," she says. "It's theirs. I'll - just take me back to Gotham."
mind_game: (Default)
Author: mind_game
"I haven't got eyes in Wayne Manor."
bellfounding: (pealing)
Author: bellfounding
"I carry one of her eyes with me but I'd have to, you know, go there, that okay?" Bella says, tapping her earpiece.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Yes."
bellfounding: (Default)
Author: bellfounding
Bella nods.

She stealths, teleports the Batlady back to the alley, and teleports into Wayne Manor.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The main hall of Wayne Manor is large and very imposing, and contains one white-haired old man with glasses. He appears to be dusting a statuette.
bellfounding: (quizzical)
Author: bellfounding
[Hey, Batlady, cool to appear them in front of this guy in the house who's dusting or should I put them in another room?]
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
[...I'm sure he'd appreciate being warned first.]
bellfounding: (Default)
Author: bellfounding
[Sure.]

Bella unstealths. "Excuse me."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The old man looks at her over the tops of his glasses.

"Yes?" he says politely.
bellfounding: (lipbite)
Author: bellfounding
"Hi, have you met one of me before? I'm a different one, I'm local - anyway, I'm here to raise a Thomas and Martha Wayne from the dead, thought I'd warn you."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He blinks.

"Thank you," he says; apparently blinking is all the surprise he's going to exhibit. "Much appreciated. Do I need to do anything in particular to prepare for their return?"
bellfounding: (right)
Author: bellfounding
"Uh, you don't need to be involved in the relevant mechanics, I suppose they might arrive thirsty or something but you'll have to ask them," Bella shrugs. "They'll have copies of pamphlets explaining how being their kind of dead works, and so on."

And she taps her earpiece.
mind_game: (just a program)
Author: mind_game
And Jane picks up the Waynes and drops them between Bella and Alfred.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The Waynes immediately rush to hug each other, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Thank you, miss," says Alfred.
bellfounding: (Default)
Author: bellfounding
"No problem," says Bella, and she heads back to her palace.

[All done,] she tells the Batlady.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Her busy message says, [Traveling.]