Bella returns to Sunshine with her aura fully withdrawn - this is a little like keeping her eyes closed; not default, but not effortful either. It's just past dark when she reappears.

[I'm home,] she announces to everyone who's likely to wish updates on her whereabouts.

Author: cross_and_bow	Bella returns to Sunshine with her aura fully withdrawn - this is a little like keeping her eyes closed; not default, but not effortful either. It's just past dark when she reappears. [I'm home,] she announces to everyone who's likely to wish updates on her whereabouts.
Author: eversomuchfun	[How was it?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Saturn looks great. Lots of neat bubbles of enchanted residential area and enchanted commercial area and enchanted resort area, floatily intersecting and splitting off in a lively fashion.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[That sounds very charming,] he says. [And the other main objective of the expedition?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[We've all got auras now. We don't know what all of them do apart from being auras - turns out the wind and plants are a Rose thing, not an everybody thing.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Juliet,] he says, [dear Juliet, did you by any chance acquire an aura of obtuseness?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Thaaaaat is not the word that Stella picked to describe it when she looked me over, no. I don't really like what I got.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[I would be ever so grateful if you would tell me what word she did pick.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[...Do you just want to see it?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[Yes, that is also an acceptable solution.]
Author: cross_and_bow	Teleportation. Juliet holds herself very small. This doesn't actually affect the vengeful hellgoddess of flames and danger effect that pours off her when she lets her aura out; it's been built up more than enough to override body language. She withdraws it after a second. "Stella called it an aura of menace," she mutters.
Author: eversomuchfun	"Yes," he says slowly. "Yes, it is that."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Yeah. Um, the flames don't catch - at least not by default, they might do if it was convenient for me somehow. Auras are supposed to be convenient. Just, I wouldn't've asked for this one."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Yes," murmurs Sherlock. "I can imagine you wouldn't."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I could see it coming in handy if I have to convince demons that I'm a force to be reckoned with. Which I'll probably have to do. So there's that. But I think I'll probably just keep it withdrawn otherwise."
Author: eversomuchfun	"Its effects are not entirely unwelcome," says Sherlock.
Author: cross_and_bow	Bella blinks. "...Uh?" she says eloquently.
Author: eversomuchfun	"I am sexually attracted to your aura of menace."
Author: cross_and_bow	"...Oh." Pause. "I probably would've predicted that under other circumstances."
Author: eversomuchfun	"It is rather obvious in retrospect, isn't it?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"It is a bit. I probably still don't want to walk down the street with it on, but, um, what are your preferences for when it's just us?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"I think I would be quite fond of it in small doses."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I didn't even turn it up all the way. It's like having my eyes open or closed, apart from there being no equivalent to blinking - I can also flare it, like opening my eyes extra-wide." Pause. "Wanna see?"
Author: eversomuchfun	"Yes please."
Author: cross_and_bow	Aura out. Aura up. There's a line of fire from her middle fingertips up her arms and across the back of her shoulders and her eyes glow - Just a brief burst, and then she tucks it away again and squirms.
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock kisses her.
Author: cross_and_bow	Mmmmkisses!
Author: eversomuchfun	Yes. Yes indeed kisses. Considerably kisses.
Author: cross_and_bow	Bella feels so much better about her aura now. She might be letting the teeniest bit of it peep out. All the auras react to emotional state, if their enchantresses let them. It turns out a happy aura of menace likes to wrap itself around its enchantress's loved ones and snarl at the rest of the world. Not that Juliet can tell, from the inside.
Author: eversomuchfun	... So much kisses.
Author: cross_and_bow	Eeeeeee yay kisses!
Author: eversomuchfun	"I think it likes me," he announces, between kisses.
Author: cross_and_bow	"Huh?" (Kiss.) "What's it -" (kiss, kiss, talking with mouths is silly) [doing?]
Author: eversomuchfun	[It's being... protective,] he says. [It's very sweet, actually.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[...Awwwww.]
Author: eversomuchfun	[It liiiikes me.] Kisses!
Author: cross_and_bow	[I like you. I love you.] Kisses indeed.
Author: eversomuchfun	[I love you too.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Good. That is a good thing.]
Author: eversomuchfun	Kisses.
Author: cross_and_bow	Love and kisses and little flickers of harmless fire and a growly dangerous aura warning all the nonexistent supervision that Sherlock is hers and she will back up its protective claim with firepower.
Author: eversomuchfun	Sherlock likes this aura.
Author: cross_and_bow	It's seriously growing on Juliet too!
Author: eversomuchfun	Well isn't that lovely.
Author: cross_and_bow	A bit later, Juliet broadcasts to Giles, Tony, James, Virginia, and Jarvis: [Who wants to see my shiny new enchantress's aura?]
Author: neverbeatme	[Me! Me!]
Author: pythbox	[Am I going to regret this?] says Giles.
Author: cross_and_bow	Bella goes and visits James, aura withdrawn to start. [I bet you clean your glasses at least four times,] she tells Giles.
Author: pythbox	[Oh dear,] he says dryly.
Author: neverbeatme	James is once again in bed with calculus and Van Halen. She turns off the music when Bella shows up. "All right, let's see the goods," she says, grinning.
Author: cross_and_bow	Bella flings her arms out to either side. She "opens her eyes".
Author: neverbeatme	"Nice," says James.
Author: cross_and_bow	"I didn't love it at first - like, I don't think I would've wanted Angela's instead, she's got this aura of benevolence that made Shell Bell nearly cry - but I know, right?" She flares it a bit, then draws it back in.
Author: neverbeatme	"I kinda want one," says James. "Although not one like that."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Ours are all different. We don't even know what Stella's does. And some of them we only know some of it - they mostly seem to do two things apiece, so, Shell Bell does water but we don't know what else, like I do the menace and the fire. If you want one, there's a lot of Saturn left, I'm sure Pattern would let you put in a new wing. Or I could think of something for you to do here if you give me long enough. You'd have to arrange for a channel though."
Author: neverbeatme	"A channel being...?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"Somebody to funnel the enchanting through. Enchanting hurts, but as a side effect, not a fuel source like for minting. You can do it yourself but you have to maintain control of the spell at the same time so it's not a great idea. We were all using Jokers."
Author: neverbeatme	"Jokers seem pretty handy," says James. "Think I could borrow one?"
Author: cross_and_bow	"You'd have to ask one. I imagine Jane would happily transmit the request. I borrowed the eponymous Joker, since Golden didn't want to use him - they do have the drawback of finding the entire thing sexy and that discomfited her so she got Eights out of Downside instead, don't know if you met her at one of the parties."
Author: neverbeatme	"I think I remember something about her," says James. "I don't mind if they get off on it as long as they don't expect me to do anything about that."
Author: cross_and_bow	"They don't," Juliet confirms. "Although I think it helped them be relatively professional about it that there were, you know, eight of them present and they could keep each other company when they wanted breaks."
Author: neverbeatme	"Noted," she says. "Maybe I should borrow three. Rotate 'em out."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Sure," snorts Bella. "I'm going to go make Giles clean his glasses a lot." [Giles, incoming unless you object!]
Author: pythbox	[Go ahead.]
Author: cross_and_bow	Teleportation! "Behold!" says Bella dramatically. (Flames, menace, glowing eyes.)
Author: pythbox	Giles wisely put down his tea before she arrived. He nevertheless sputters a little. "Good Lord," he says. "If I didn't know better I would be fairly sure you were a creature out of Hell."
Author: cross_and_bow	Bella withdraws the aura. "I didn't like it at first, but it's growing on me," she says. "Stella calls it an aura of menace. You know I did almost literally come out of a Hell recently, right? I can show up in a place that till the other day thoroughly earned the name and implement policy changes."
Author: pythbox	"But you are not," he says, "a hell-demon of the most traditional variety."
Author: cross_and_bow	"I am very nontraditionally hellish," agrees Bella. "But I think it'll work nicely for convincing various demons that they want to listen to me and not piss me off without my having to actually threaten them and periodically follow through."
Author: pythbox	"Ye-es," Giles says slowly, "I imagine it will."
Author: cross_and_bow	"Auras are supposed to be convenient," says Bella. "Maybe that's why I have this one. They don't all match. Angela got so angely that Shell Bell almost cried. I bet it would freak people out to have me and Angela obviously working together with our auras out."
Author: pythbox	"I expect it would," says Giles.
Author: cross_and_bow	Bella tilts her head. "Ooh, Sherlock found a new Bell. Later!" And she's off!