Author: small_magics | When the party has been going on for a few hours but no one has left yet, everyone is called into the main room. (The dragons will have a sufficient view if they prefer to perch at the outer doors.)
Angela has worked out a ceremony that will satisfy the involved parties, a reworking of standard Samarian traditions with some revised wording and adjustments for the fact that the groom inhabits two bodies. This ceremony, unlike the elven one, doesn't involve any jewelry.
And then Sarion and her beloved are married. Again. |
Author: endragoned | The moment the ceremony ends, a fantastic variety of flowers in every imaginable shape and colour begin to sprout from the walls.
Aianon grins. |
Author: small_magics | And his wife kisses him. |
Author: bellfounding | And Pattern, in the audience, leans on Ripper and laughs helplessly. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper is giggling kind of helplessly himself. |
Author: endragoned | Aianon kisses Sarion. And maybe smirks. And perhaps lets her know about a certain other space plant in which flowers once bloomed. This one does not share particular relevant features; all of these flowers are keeping their petals. |
Author: small_magics | So no one will have uncomfortable levels of detail if they happen to abscond right at this moment, then. |
Author: endragoned | Indeed not! What a wonderful idea. |
Author: small_magics | She kisses him again. And teleports them away. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron applauds with everybody else. That was cute. |
Author: telesonorous | It really was!
"Suddenly flowers," giggles someone standing behind him and also applauding. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron glances around and reads her nametag. "Yep! I think festive plants are kind of Aianon's thing. Are you my cousinoid? I believe you are." |
Author: telesonorous | She peers at him. "Probably! If you're the Joker's son then definitely!" |
Author: pina_colada | "That's me. And your dad would be Kas, presumably. I don't think I'd heard that he had kids." |
Author: telesonorous | "He has a kid," says Helen. "It's... a thing." |
Author: pina_colada | "A thing," says Kerron, scanning colorshapes. "What kinda thing?" |
Author: telesonorous | A thing she wants to talk about, apparently!
"Amariah was gone for something like sixty years while Jane was down. Kas really didn't take it well. He decided to have a kid, and he wished himself pregnant without really specifying, and I turned out to be me, and when she got back and I was me and thirteen Amariah really didn't like it." |
Author: pina_colada | "Ow." |
Author: telesonorous | "Yeah." |
Author: pina_colada | "I don't really know Her Majesty that well, let alone any of her alts - was the not-liking-it a huge thing..." |
Author: telesonorous | "Moderately huge? We're on speaking terms, and she didn't dump Kas or anything. But it's still pretty awkward." |
Author: pina_colada | "That really sucks." |
Author: telesonorous | "Yep," says Helen. It's possible that she would kind of like a hug. |
Author: pina_colada | So Kerron hugs her. |
Author: telesonorous | ...Surprised and pleased, Helen hugs back.
"Thanks." |
Author: pina_colada | "You're welcome. I can do hugs, I learned from the best." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen giggles. |
Author: pina_colada | "How are you liking your first Bellparty?" |
Author: alicornucopia | A fluffy cream-colored cat with dark points of color is weaving through the legs of the crowd like he owns the place. There is a nametag clipped to his fur that says his name is Cricket and he is from Chronicle.
He comes across an unshod foot, accompanied by an unpanted leg, and, well, really, that's just not polite.
"Mreowww!" |
Author: telesonorous | "It's pretty good." |
Author: pina_colada | "I was much littler than you at my first one, yea big," says Kerron, holding a hand above the floor. "Capering around being adorable. This is my sister's second, though." |
Author: pythbox | Celo does not have any kind of detailed comprehension here, but nymphs are connected enough to the natural world that he picks up on tone and topic.
"Seriously?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Mow," says Cricket emphatically. He is just as entitled as everyone to have opinions and it is highly offensive when anyone thinks differently. |
Author: telesonorous | This reminds Helen that she had vaguely planned to meet Kerron and his sister. She has now met Kerron!
"Did all the Jokers hug you?" |
Author: pina_colada | "There weren't as many of 'em back then, and they didn't all literally hug me, but they all crowded around watching me be a munchkin. They did all hug Aedyt when she first turned up to one, let's see if we can find her and introduce you." He starts looking around for his sister, or her colorshapes, whichever is easiest to spot. |
Author: pythbox | "No shit," says Celo, "but everyone else who's given me a hard time for walking around naked was wearing clothes at the time." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Meow mew meow!" Cricket is wearing fur. He is beautiful, fluffy, and perfectly modest in so doing. |
Author: pythbox | "Great," sighs Celo. "Well, get used to it, I technically live in the Enchanted Forest now." |
Author: alicornucopia | Cricket sniffs disdainfully and flicks his tail. "Mrow." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | There she is! Next to the buffet, with Lily. |
Author: telesonorous | "I bet you were cute." |
Author: pina_colada | "I was very cute, and to cap it all off I got Mum to turn me into a blue fox. My sister's over there," he adds, pointing and leading Helen thataway. |
Author: pythbox | "I'm a nymph," he says tiredly. "Nymphs don't wear clothes. That's just a thing." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Mewow," opines Cricket, glancing around at the distinctly non-native location in which Celo finds himself. |
Author: telesonorous | "Well spotted!" |
Author: pumpkin_pie | As they approach, Aedyt is saying, "Pretty good, actually! I will definitely put a word in with Mummy if you run out and want to conjure more." |
Author: pythbox | "You know what, I don't actually give a shit," says Celo. |
Author: pina_colada | "What's good?" Kerron asks. "Aedyt, Lily, this is our cousinoid, Helen. Helen, my sister, and Lily of no relation - Emperor's little sister." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Nymph blood," says Lily, holding up her slightly depleted glass jug. "Want a sip?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Mrow," says Cricket. No good can come of people who are not his magician understanding him, apparently, his cleverness falls on deaf ears. |
Author: pina_colada | "No thanks, I already turned it down from the source." |
Author: alicornucopia | "This is conjured, and it's really good," says Lily, pouring him a taste anyway. |
Author: pythbox | Celo makes a rude gesture and freecasts away. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron sniffs it, then drinks it. "Okay, I'll admit, that is tasty stuff." |
Author: alicornucopia | Cricket resumes weaving through the crowd, supremely unconcerned. |
Author: telesonorous | "Well, now I'm tempted," snorts Helen. |
Author: inherpiety | Keziah is looking for a water room. She was already thinking of looking for one when the wedding started, and now she kind of needs it. |
Author: pina_colada | "I don't think it'd do anything for you. The three of us are half-vampires." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Aurum ones," adds Lily. "One of the other kind of vampires tried it and torched on the spot." |
Author: telesonorous | "But no not-at-all-vampires have tried it yet, right?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Not and reported back to me. Do you really want it?" |
Author: pythbox | Suddenly, naked Joker! |
Author: inherpiety | "Naked Joker!" she exclaims. |
Author: pythbox | "Nice to meet you too!" the naked Joker snaps. |
Author: telesonorous | "Sure, why not." |
Author: inherpiety | Keziah shrinks and hides behind one gray-banded wing. |
Author: alicornucopia | Lily pours her some too. Just enough that she'll be able to see if she likes it. |
Author: pythbox | "Sorry," he sighs. "I am in a shitty mood right now. I can go away if you want." |
Author: inherpiety | "You didn't have to yell at me!" She's a little muffled behind her feathers. "Dad never yells at me!" |
Author: telesonorous | Helen tries it.
"...Yep, blood," is her conclusion. "Sort of weird-tasting, not that I have a lot of experience tasting blood." |
Author: pina_colada | "Well, we don't really, either, except maybe Lily. Mostly it's bubbly if we're in that region of comestible at all. Very modern." |
Author: alicornucopia | "And even I've only tasted a handful of cooperative people, hardly the range old vampires have had." |
Author: pythbox | "I'm sorry," he says, as gently as he can manage. "Do you want me to get your dad, or - something?" |
Author: inherpiety | She shakes her head; this is visible in the bounce of her hair, though she's still behind her wing, whether because of residual alarm or because he's naked it's unclear. "But why'd you yell at me?" |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "I've had conjured human blood," volunteers Aedyt. "I think I like nymph better." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen giggles. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'd like to be able to compare to singer blood, but I don't think hybrids have ever been confirmed to have those." |
Author: pythbox | "Because I was trying to get away from somebody who was giving me a hard time about being naked and ran right into somebody whose first word to me was 'Naked!' without any time in between to calm down about the last guy," he says. "It's not fair to you, I know, I'm sorry." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "Can magic affect singerness?" wonders Aedyt. "Maybe you could get a similar experience even if we don't." |
Author: telesonorous | "And a 'singer' is...?" |
Author: inherpiety | "Well - why are you naked, then?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm not sure if it can," Lily says to Aedyt, and to Helen she says, "A 'singer' is someone who smells and tastes ludicrously delicious to a specific vampire. I've heard that Bella - Golden - used to be Edward's before she turned." |
Author: pina_colada | "...I am pretty sure that magic can affect singerness, please do not ask me how I know." |
Author: pythbox | He covers his face with his hands and says, reasonably clearly despite the muffling, "Because I am a nymph and nymphs don't wear clothes and wearing clothes makes me feel really weird and bad except in very special circumstances, so Jellybean made me this magical censor bar, but judging from my experience at this party a magical censor bar is definitely not enough." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "Okay," says Aedyt, who can guess. |
Author: inherpiety | "I didn't know about you in advance, maybe there should be, I don't know, signs, warnings somehow?" |
Author: telesonorous | Helen looks at Kerron, then at Aedyt. Wheels begin turning. |
Author: pina_colada | "What's on your mind?" Kerron asks Helen. |
Author: pythbox | "Maybe," he sighs. "I don't have the first clue what kind of signs to put up or where, though. I already have a nametag but it hasn't helped so far." |
Author: telesonorous | "Guesses." |
Author: inherpiety | Keziah peeps tentatively over her wing to read his nametag.
"It's really much less conspicuous than the thing it's warning about," she says. |
Author: pina_colada | He snorts. |
Author: pythbox | ...Celo starts giggling. |
Author: inherpiety | |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "Anyway," says Aedyt, "if you wanted to experiment, Lily, I could try to conjure you pretend singer blood." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'd rather not make an idiot of myself in the middle of a Bellparty if it works. Maybe when we're back in Aurum. You can come to the tasting, stay after?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," he says, "it really is." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "Sure!" she says agreeably. |
Author: inherpiety | "Anyway, I kind of need the water room." She starts to continue in the direction she was going, still shielding herself from excess naked Joker with her wing. |
Author: pythbox | "Bye," says Celo, and there is no more naked Joker. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Cool, I'll send you an invitation when I have the details of the scheduling and all worked out." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | |
Author: pina_colada | "So anyway. Helen here is Kas's kid. Slightly awkward amount of emphasis on 'Kas's'." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "Awkward emphasis because—?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | Since Sarion doesn't mind Wellspring magic being used in her world, Aether is experimenting with boosting subtle arts telekinesis with Wellspring telekinesis. They don't work together all that well, at least not yet. |
Author: telesonorous | "Because he had me by himself after he'd been wandering around missing Amariah for decades, and he didn't even mean for me to be hers but it happened anyway because of some weird thing about wishing and templates, and when she finally got back she was really mad at him for it." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "...I want to hug you, do you want me to hug you?" |
Author: telesonorous | Helen nods. |
Author: pumpkin_pie | Hug. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron hugs her again too. |
Author: telesonorous | Helen loves her cousinoids.
"You guys are pretty great," she mumbles. |
Author: pina_colada | "Guilty as charged." |
Author: pythbox | [Hey you,] says Celo. [Got a minute?] |
Author: subtly_artistic | [Sure, what's up?] |
Author: pumpkin_pie | Aedyt giggles. |
Author: pythbox | [People have been giving me various amounts of shit about not wearing clothes and it's kind of getting to me and I want to do something about it but I'm not coming up with any good ideas,] he says. |
Author: subtly_artistic | [...Well, I don't really have any good ideas either, but you could come hug me and I could - be accustomed to the fact that you go around naked?] |
Author: pythbox | [Are you around anybody who's not?] |
Author: subtly_artistic | [Nah. This little room doesn't have a door but I'm in it by myself.] |
Author: pythbox | Celo appears and hugs her.
"I love you," he sighs. |
Author: subtly_artistic | She hugs him back. "I'm sorry people have been freaking out about you. I mean, I did it too, but at least I understood what 'I'm a nymph' meant." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah. And it's just 'well why can't you wear clothes' over and over again, and I get really fucking tired of explaining." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Aether pets his hair. "The Bells all know, I explained - I guess they didn't propagate it to their people too thoroughly." |
Author: pythbox | "Guess not," he agrees with a sigh. "Fuck. I don't know, would changing my censoring help?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Maybe? You're sort of very - technically censored, right now." |
Author: pythbox | He snorts. "Yeah. I could just be a silhouette with a nametag until people decide they want to see more of me. But then it'd probably be 'Why do you look like somebody painted over you?' 'Because I'm naked' and back to the same old conversation." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Pet, pet. "I guess people who don't have nymphs pretty much just - react like you're a naked human." |
Author: pythbox | "Yep." Snuggle. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "You've probably thought of all the standard cartoonish not-technically-clothes solutions like wearing a barrel and rejected them, I imagine." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah. If it's wearing something, it counts. Illusions like Jellybean's censor bars are okay. Illusions of clothes would be - kind of borderline? Better than actual clothes but I still wouldn't be happy." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Also if someone hugged you while you had on illusion clothes they might be unpleasantly surprised." |
Author: pythbox | He snorts. "Yeah. Maybe I should try enchanting something. Might be more flexible. So people get something closer to their individual comfort levels than black box or no black box." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "- Can you tell if people un-black-box you? As it's currently set up?"
(Aether, for her part, sees no particular reason to have her nymph boyfriend censored.) |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, why?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "People are reacting to you like you're a human. Telling a nymph you want to see him naked means almost less than nothing. Telling a human that you want to see him naked is something else again. I don't think the censor bar is gonna be a good long-term solution." |
Author: pythbox | "...If somebody doesn't want me to know they're looking at me naked, I think I can live with them not," he says. "And I don't see a better long-term solution anywhere. Than illusory censorship in general, I mean, I still want to find a better way to do it than what I've got now." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Scritch scritch. "Okay. I was figuring between the sign that's apparently up on Joker-occupied orgy chambers and what were apparently unwarranted assumptions that you wouldn't mind if people were sneaking peeks without wanting to advertise it." |
Author: pythbox | "Well - I wouldn't mind exactly? But if I'm talking to them I'd rather know." Snuggle. "This whole thing is so weird." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Hugs. "People are kinda weird." |
Author: pythbox | "...How do you explain nymphs to people who don't have nymphs?" he wonders. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "To the other Bells? The wording of the explanation was nothing special, we kind of lean a lot on the fact that we're alts and therefore don't have to sanity-check each other nearly as much as we would want to with other people. I said you're a semi-spontaneously-generated race with divine magic and certain divine strictures, of which not covering up your divine selves is one. I also told them that at home you can not only go naked in public without being arrested, but also you and people with you can do anything else that might otherwise get one arrested for indecency, no problem - I think that made more of an impression, they're calibrated to suppose that if you're just going around naked that's relatively considerate of you, I guess." |
Author: pina_colada | "Have you met our other cousinoids? Your - sisteroids, I guess? Or for that matter your own alts." |
Author: pythbox | He giggles and hugs her some more. "Yeah, there's that, I guess. But I'm not sure everybody else will be so impressed." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Yeah, doesn't seem like it. I'm sorry." |
Author: thaumobabble | After Glass has checked everyone at the party, she visits the Belltower to check Jane (green), and then Downside to visit the admin.
[Hey, can I come have a look at you? I've discovered that everyone we know falls into one of two clusters we're calling 'moieties' and I'm trying to gather more data to find out what that means.] |
Author: telesonorous | "Some of them!" she says, cheering up somewhat. "My alts, and Pen the tiny angel, and the griffins. I still haven't seen sisteroid number three - I don't even know if any of them are here." |
Author: pythbox | Snuggle snug.
"I think I still want to change the censoring. I mean, if I can make it so it fits people's individual comfort levels better, I want to, you know?" He sighs. "And maybe once in a while somebody will start a conversation about something other than my nonexistent pants." |
Author: ending_of | [Yes. While you're here, there are some adjustments I'd like to make to the ability to distribute torching. We can discuss those, if you think your responses will be representative of your alts.] |
Author: thaumobabble | [I can probably at least predict where they'll differ if they will.] Glass teleports to the admin. "Also, you may be pleased to know that we've removed Jane from Aegis and the former's stability shouldn't be dependent on the latter staying out of trouble anymore." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Have you really had no other conversations today?" |
Author: ending_of | "I find her absences only mildly inconvenient," she says. |
Author: pina_colada | "They should be. I haven't met Hyacinthe or Ariel yet either, the one wasn't born and the other wasn't old enough last time - Aedyt?" |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass nods, and in the course of so doing, gets a look at the admin.
"...You're shiny. I keep finding shiny people and I don't know what it means. You're the third one." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "Haven't seen them. Well, I don't know what they look like, so 'haven't noticed them' might be more accurate. I might have seen them and not paid attention." |
Author: pina_colada | "Well, did you see any angels who were younger than Keziah but not as young as Pen?" |
Author: pythbox | "I can remember some that ended up at another subject, but I can't remember any that didn't start with the naked thing. I mean, not that starting with the naked thing is necessarily bad," he grins, "but it is when they disapprove, y'know?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Did anybody approve?" |
Author: ending_of | "In what way am I shiny?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, and she was really cute, too." |
Author: thaumobabble | "You're also purple - so far I think all the shiny people are purple, though I'd have to double-check the scary one to be sure - and - you're just very bright, metacausally. Attached to your world." She waves generally at Downside. "Which come to think of it is also strange, most people aren't attached to Downside like that even after dying to it, it's too catchall." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Congratulations." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | "Not clearly enough to tell," she says after a moment. "There are a lot of angels I don't recognize at this party. Should we go looking for them?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Sure."
Kerron starts scanning for appropriately sized angels. Or, for that matter, humans - there are kids but not that many kids here. |
Author: ending_of | "I am attached to my domain. It is mine," she says. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Yes, yes it certainly is, but I don't think Lissa's attached to Thilanushinyel the same way and I hope that Callahan's not like that about Materia. Lissa's at least known not to be omnipotent - but then she's less shiny..." |
Author: pythbox | He giggles. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "So yeah, a bigger censor bar with more - wraparound - might help. You'd probably also get less shit about it if you weren't shaped humanoid? You could turn into something, I don't know how you'd feel about that." |
Author: ending_of | "The shininess comes in quantities?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Sort of. At least two quantities. Yours and Callahan's, and then there's Lissa, who's - less - shiny, but still very noticeable." |
Author: pythbox | He makes a face. "I could, sure, but I don't want to. I like my body. It's a nice body." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I think so too," says Aether. |
Author: telesonorous | Helen perches on her cloud-pine and gets some altitude to look around.
"I don't see anybody," she says. |
Author: pythbox | Celo grins. "I know," he says, and hugs her again. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "But not everyone is interested in enjoying it, and the ones who are can be ushered into private and the ones who don't are kind of ruining your party." |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah. I'll go see if I can turn them up," says Kerron, and he heads out into the crowd. |
Author: ending_of | "I see." |
Author: thaumobabble | "I don't suppose you know what it could be - or have a guess? It'd have to be something that applies to several worlds, including two that weren't initially hooked up to Downside and one that still isn't - but be world-flavored per person..." |
Author: carillons | If he's looking for an eleven-year-old angel, he might find one tucked into a roomlet on the main floor level. But she is quiet enough and still enough to be easy to miss, even with those bright white wings. |
Author: pina_colada | He's got pretty keen vision. "Hey there! Are you Ariel?" he inquires. |
Author: pythbox | "Yep," he sighs. "So - I mean, I don't just want to give myself a bigger censor bar, because maybe there's somebody who'd be okay with what I've got but doesn't want to see me without it, right? I want it to have levels. And just settle at where everybody wants it. And maybe be less obviously censor-y than a big black square. Little cloud of magic fog, maybe?" |
Author: carillons | "Yes," says Ariel. "Who are you?" |
Author: pina_colada | "I'm Kerron! I'm your cousinoid - one of the Joker's kids." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'm not sure if fog would be an improvement for anybody, but it probably wouldn't make anything worse." |
Author: ending_of | "...I do have a guess," she says. "But the thing I am thinking of doesn't come in quantities as far as I know." |
Author: thaumobabble | "What is it?" |
Author: pythbox | He shrugs. "I think it'd be an improvement for me." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Then that seems like an obvious win." |
Author: ending_of | "There is a... place," she says. "At most one person per world is able to go there. Once someone is able to go there, they do not stop being able. I have been there once. I did not like it. I will not be returning." |
Author: thaumobabble | "...Yeah, that doesn't obviously sound like it comes in amounts. I don't want to ask Callahan and if Lissa knew I think she would have brought it up." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah." Snuggle. "Now I guess I just have to figure it out and then cast it. It'll probably be too big to cast by myself, especially since we don't know if fucking up an enchantment could actually kill me." |
Author: ending_of | "Some of the people I met there could be said to embody their respective universes," she adds. "Others could not, at least not obviously, and I would say no such thing of myself. I believe they all shared my ability to observe any part of my world to which I might direct my attention, but I did not confirm it before I left. It was long enough ago that recalling specific details about individuals would require more effort than I care to apply." |
Author: carillons | "I haven't met any cousinoids yet," says Ariel. She smiles. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Hmmmm. Why didn't you like it?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I could do it, or you could channel it through some other Joker." |
Author: pina_colada | "Well, you've got a bunch. Alts of your sisters and me and my sister and since you're also a Bell kid the Chronicle little princesses count for you even though they don't for me." |
Author: carillons | "That's a lot," says Ariel. "I think I'm okay with seeing you one at a time. What's it like in your world?" |
Author: pina_colada | "I'm from Aurum. We're the world with the vampires and the werewolves and the witches." |
Author: ending_of | "It was... unaesthetic," she says. |
Author: thaumobabble | "This place sounds interesting even if it's unrelated to shininess; what else can you tell me about it and the people in it? Without the," Glass waves, "excess effort, anyway." |
Author: ending_of | "It did not have a fixed physical reality." |
Author: pythbox | "Mm... another Joker, I think," he says. "Jellybean made me the censor bar; I wanna make this one myself." |
Author: thaumobabble | "That's interesting - did it have a fluctuating one? What controlled it?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Okay then." |
Author: carillons | "Does everybody know about magic there?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Most people. Not literally everyone, but it gets closer every day." |
Author: pythbox | But first, apparently, more hugs. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Hugs. |
Author: carillons | "That must be nice," she says. "Magic is a secret in Samaria." |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah, I've heard. You'll get there. It used to be secret in Aurum too." |
Author: ending_of | "It was mutable. Responsive to the influence of anyone present." |
Author: carillons | "We will," she agrees, nodding. "But not for a long time." |
Author: thaumobabble | "What's it for?" |
Author: pina_colada | "How old are you, anyway?" |
Author: carillons | "I am eleven," says Ariel. |
Author: pina_colada | "I think that makes you older than your alt, have you met her yet?" |
Author: ending_of | She shrugs. "Its purpose is not obvious to me." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Huh. I guess I'll tell Lissa to keep an eye out. Anyway, what changes to torching did you have in mind?" |
Author: carillons | She shakes her head. "I haven't. Have you?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Nope, I was looking for the one or the other of you and found you first." |
Author: carillons | "I'm not very findable in here," she says. "Did you have to look hard?" |
Author: pina_colada | "I looked for a while, but you were still more findable than Hyacinthe." |
Author: carillons | "I bet she is somewhere you wouldn't expect anyone to be," says Ariel. |
Author: pina_colada | "Maybe. Why's that?" |
Author: carillons | "Because I go places like that, and if you found me before her she's probably even less findable." |
Author: pina_colada | "Suppose so. Do you want to be alone, when you do that, or is it something else?" |
Author: ending_of | "To the ability to distribute it," she says. "It's irritating to bestow it individually on your alts and their friends. I would rather make it replicable. And you seem to do enough editing of which characteristics persist that it would be worth including that capacity. To distribute the effort even further, you could optionally make the recipient able to modify their own persistent characteristics." |
Author: thaumobabble | "That sounds like a great idea. I can take that to the party and propagate it to all the other Bells and most everyone else who'd need it now." |
Author: carillons | "Not alone, exactly," she says. "But out of the way. There can be other people there if I don't mind them." |
Author: pina_colada | "Do you want to go looking for Hyacinthe?" |
Author: ending_of | She doesn't take any visible action, but: "You are updated." |
Author: carillons | "Okay." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Thanks! Anything else while I'm here?" |
Author: ending_of | "No." |
Author: pina_colada | And awander they go. Kerron lets her take the lead on the theory that the same sorts of places will look like appealing hideyholes. |
Author: thaumobabble | "All right then."
And Glass taps her Janegem, returns to the party, updates torching for everyone who needs it, and -
goes looking for Lissa. |
Author: neverbeatme | Lissa is admiring the flowers that have bloomed on one of the huge archways. |
Author: carillons | "Can she fly, do you know?" she wonders. |
Author: pina_colada | "Probably. Not with wings, I imagine." |
Author: carillons | "Then I'll look at flying places." She heads for the outside of the plant. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron follows her, and flies when she flies. |
Author: carillons | She checks the top of the plant first, but she doesn't have to do much more than peek at the arch of the domed roof, covered in magnificently enormous flowers, before she shakes her head.
The bottom of the plant is much more promising; there are lots of little spaces amid the tangle of roots to tuck oneself into. Ariel investigates them. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron follows her, humming. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Remember how I said you were shiny?" |
Author: carillons | There are lots of little spaces. And some of them are too small for either of them to fit, but could probably admit a six-year-old human.
"Hmm," says Ariel, contemplating such a gap. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron starts listening for small breathing noises such as those a six-year-old human might make. |
Author: neverbeatme | "Yes I do," she says, looking away from the flowers toward Glass. |
Author: thaumobabble | "The Downside admin is also shiny, but more-shiny like Callahan and not less-shiny like you, and she had a guess about what that could mean, although it doesn't fit perfectly, since her guess doesn't really come in amounts." And Glass describes as best she can the place that the admin mentioned. "Have you seen anything like that?" |
Author: neverbeatme | "I definitely haven't," says Lissa. "It sounds memorable." |
Author: thaumobabble | "It does. So maybe you're going to find it, or something. If you ever do I would love to hear all about it." |
Author: carillons | There are some! They are faint. Hyacinthe is somewhere very deep in the roots. |
Author: neverbeatme | "Sure," says Lissa. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Thanks!"
And that is all. |
Author: pina_colada | "Hyacinthe?" he calls. |
Author: carillons | The small breathing noises become small crawling noises, and then a small face peeks out of the small gap.
"How did you know?" she asks. |
Author: carillons | "Me," says Ariel.
The two of them look at each other. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron laughs. "Hyacinthe, meet Ariel. Ariel, Hyacinthe." |
Author: carillons | "You're big," says Hyacinthe.
"You're little!" says Ariel.
Hyacinthe thinks for a moment, and nods gravely. And then thinks for another moment, and asks, "Do you think a mouse with wings would be happy?"
"...I don't know," says Ariel. She finds a dangling loop of root to perch in, since she'd get tired of hovering otherwise, and looks at Kerron. "What do you think?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Well, that'd probably depend on how it was made," he muses. "People with wings seem pretty happy, though." He pats Ariel illustratively on the head. |
Author: carillons | Ariel giggles.
"Yeah," she says, "if I was a mouse I'd want to still have wings. But maybe if I was a mouse, I wouldn't want to if I hadn't ever."
Hyacinthe nods again. "Maman says she will make me a winged mouse if I want but I don't know if I do." |
Author: pina_colada | "Well, can she make it come out happy?" |
Author: carillons | "Yes," says Hyacinthe. "But I don't know if that counts." |
Author: pina_colada | "Huh." |
Author: carillons | Ariel is nodding. Despite the age gap, they really are very obviously similar. |
Author: pina_colada | "I guess I don't know either," allows Kerron. "I never asked for a magic pet. I did use to ask to get turned into things." |
Author: carillons | "I've never done that," they say simultaneously. |
Author: pina_colada | "Different tastes, I guess." |
Author: carillons | "My sister has a griffin," says Hyacinthe. "I don't want a griffin." |
Author: pina_colada | "I don't know what I'd do with one of those either, no." |
Author: carillons | "Mice are small and fuzzy," says Hyacinthe.
"They are!" says Ariel.
"And if a mouse with wings was happy then it would be good. But it wouldn't otherwise. And I don't want one. I just want to... meet one."
"And experience its smallness and fuzziness," says Ariel, nodding. |
Author: pina_colada | "Maybe you'll find a world with winged mice." |
Author: carillons | "That would be good!" says Hyacinthe. |
Author: pina_colada | "And then you won't have to take one home, just catch it and pet it a little and then let it fly away." |
Author: carillons | "I would like that!" says Hyacinthe. |
Author: pina_colada | "The multiverse is big. If you're patient I bet winged mice aren't far away." |
Author: carillons | Hyacinthe smiles. |