After Bella has gotten a temporary sufficiency of snuggling (cough) from her Sherlock on her return, and announced to everyone it may concern that Jane is up and the missing Bells found, she calls a person who is now known to have an interesting alt.

[Hey, Giles!]

Author: cross_and_bow	After Bella has gotten a temporary sufficiency of snuggling (cough) from her Sherlock on her return, and announced to everyone it may concern that Jane is up and the missing Bells found, she calls a person who is now known to have an interesting alt. [Hey, Giles!]
Author: jellyinthemix	[Yes?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Found another one of you!] This, it is clear from her tone, is not the whole story.
Author: jellyinthemix	[...Yes?] he repeats.
Author: cross_and_bow	[He's from Origin,] says Juliet merrily, and a giggle is creeping in around the edges of her messages. [Pattern found him.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[Ye-es...?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[He was confused that he had an alt who let me call him 'Giles',] singsongs Juliet.
Author: jellyinthemix
Author: cross_and_bow	[For his own part, he went by Ripper, he's dating Pattern, apparently he's a rock star!]
Author: jellyinthemix	['Rock star' is a bit of a stretch, don't you think?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[What d'you mean, a bit of a stretch? He has albums and tours and stuff. Pattern was trying to get me to quit laughing at her. He wrote her a planetary anthem. How come you never wrote me a planetary anthem, Giles?]
Author: jellyinthemix	[I haven't written a song in about twenty years, and the ones I did write weren't all that good,] he says. [I was in a band, but we were never big enough to tour.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Well, this one went differently, it would seem. He wanted me to stop describing you.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[I wonder why. Well, this has been a charming look at my misspent youth. I do hope he didn't say anything I'm going to regret.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[I don't know about say, but do you regret the fact that when Shell Bell doored into Pattern's palace her and Ripper were in flagrante delicto?]
Author: jellyinthemix	He bursts out laughing.
Author: cross_and_bow	[And this was after we walked into Alice's lair and he was stark naked, so Shell Bell just said 'not again', and we didn't find out he was even a you - I thought he looked sorta familiar but I didn't quite get it - until Glass asked me 'why I was looking at Pattern's Rupert like that'.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[I imagine he wasn't pleased. About the name, that is.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Did not seem so, no, he was all, 'Pattern's what'. Are you guys going to be able to come to a consensus about what to call your template?]
Author: jellyinthemix	[Oh, I'm sure he'll come round.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Maybe. He didn't tell Pattern he was ever called Rupert Giles - I'm assuming it's 'Giles' since he reacted to that more than 'Merryweather' - and I'm not sure exactly when she acquired him but it could have been as long as sixteen years ago, Origin was out for a while.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[That is a bit odd. But then, with his music career taking off, maybe he just never - I want a phrase slightly less condescending than 'grew up' and I can't honestly think of one.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[You will have to ask him for his story. Pattern was definitely filtering to make me stop giggling. I do apologize for the giggling, I really, really couldn't help it.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[Was there any particular reason for the giggling? Or is this going to offend my librarian sensibilities?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[The fact that she managed to accidentally wind up dating a one of you. Also it caused some pretty bizarre mental juxtapositions when we left him in Rêverie so Beast could borrow him.]
Author: jellyinthemix	...Giles starts giggling.
Author: cross_and_bow	[He promised that he'd be returned to Pattern in good condition,] adds Juliet, singsong.
Author: jellyinthemix	[I don't doubt it.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Might also be a factor that Origin, being a non-magical not-especially-spacey world, does not have a convenient International Fleet, let alone Watcher's Council, to funnel a 'grown up' one of you into.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[There is that. Did he express any opinion one way or another about meeting me?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[He wanted to stop hearing you described until he met you. No word on whether he wanted that to be sooner than the next Bellparty, and the next Bellparty is waiting for everybody who was stranded to catch up back home.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[I think I can manage to keep my curiosity under control until then.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[It might be a while. Sarion was split up from her sweethearts for sixteen years, since they were in Origin doing Cronian ecoforming when Jane crashed. That's getting fixed, by the by, she's getting her own body that isn't in Aegis and it will live nice and safe in the Belltower. And I don't know how long Syntropy and Alethia and Peace were out.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[I see.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[So yeah. New you. Pattern's boyfriend Ripper. Thought you ought to know.]
Author: jellyinthemix	[Yes, thank you, much obliged.]
Author: cross_and_bow	And that's that. [Hey Ike and Val!]
Author: newtimov	Val has a blank busy message up. Ike says, [Hi, Bella!]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Found alts of you guys. Two sets, actually, although I only spoke to one, the others were dead and are waiting for their local Bell to have someplace to put them. The ones I met are a duke and duchess's kids in a fairytale kinda world called Chronicle. Also they are fire-witches, and the Val fell into a magic spring and can do something strikingly similar to iethat. They are friends with that local Bell's three daughters.]
Author: newtimov	[That is... bizarre,] says Ike, [I'll go with bizarre. What's a fire-witch?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[A kind of Chronicle magic user. Involves fire - the three daughters have a little bit of fire witch in them and apparently like to play with hot glass and metal - full fire witches also invariably have red hair and they can also know things about stuff by touching it.]
Author: newtimov	[In-ter-es-ting.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[So you guys should definitely turn up at the next Bell party, but it might be a while.]
Author: newtimov	[We should! Why will it be a while?]
Author: cross_and_bow	[While Jane was down some people were stranded, some of them for a very long time, and they're catching up at home.]
Author: newtimov	[Well. That makes sense. Okay,] says Ike.
Author: cross_and_bow	[Yep. You want to tell Val yourself or should I ping her again later?]
Author: newtimov	[I can tell her.]
Author: cross_and_bow	[Okay, cool. I'll let you know when a Bellparty is scheduled.]
Author: newtimov	[Thank you!]
Author: cross_and_bow	[You're welcome!]