cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow
Bella has just been to visit the Mikleeeeeeeee. It went well, after she flared aura and shouted abuse at the crown prince. (Demonstrating this form of "heedless confrontationalism", it was explained by a quarter-Mikleeeeeeeee girl James found for her to talk to, an essential part of the species' diplomatic process. This held up under lie-detection, but Bella found a few examples via pastwatching before actually doing it.) They have a treaty; they're going to get back to her with revisions they'd like made to their dimension and they're going to end the five hundred year "human season".

Now she's between tasks, hanging out in one of the Jarvises.
grabsthebutt: Smirking or giggling. (⑸ ehehehe!)
Author: grabsthebutt
And she gets a brainphone call from Val.

[Hey, you busy? Me and Ike can take you to see Siathe now if you want.]
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
[I am between things, now totally works. Shall I just pop in to where you're at?]
grabsthebutt: Smirking, biting lip. (⑷ now let's do something hilarious)
Author: grabsthebutt
[Sure!]
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
Pop!

"Hi there."
newtimov: (⑼ licking my knuckles in consternation)
Author: newtimov
"Hi!" says Ike, waving. The twins are in their living room.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I have a cool boosted teleportation power that will let me travel to other worlds in this sheaf, no extra charge," says Bella. "Are you guys ready to go now now? Is there anything I should do before landing us all - where exactly shall we land, I should know that, but anything else?"
grabsthebutt: Wearing a hat and looking disinclined to put up with anyone's shit. (⑻ my hat can beat up your hat)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Probably easiest to just put us on the other side of the Toronto gate," shrugs Val. "We pack stuff for long trips, but if we're just gonna be there for a few hours showing you around, there's no point."
cross_and_bow: (level)
Author: cross_and_bow
Siathe side of the Toronto gate it is. Bella looks around curiously.
grabsthebutt: Arms crossed; smug as hell. (⑺ because I am awesome is why)
Author: grabsthebutt
They are standing on top of a small hill, between two large boulders of an unfamiliar type of rock with colourful stripes. All around them is an expanse of equally colourful grass - green and red and blue and purple and orange and pink and white and yellow and so on and so forth, clumped in like-coloured tufts. It smells a little peculiar, to a human: a mix of natural and industrial. Insects with sparkling white shells buzz busily among the grasses. Behind them, the haphazard grass gives way to an obviously cultivated field of similar grasslike plants, arranged in like-coloured stripes; to either side, grass merges into scrubby bushes which merge into a forestlike arrangement of tall spindly trees with no visible leaves but plenty of branches; up ahead, there is a path through the grass, which eventually widens into a dirt road.

Val heads that way.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Cool flora, I might copy it for Mercury when I get around to setting up there," says Bella, following Val. "The beetles are pretty too."
newtimov: (⑸ awe and enlightenment)
Author: newtimov
"...You're going to set up flora on Mercury?" says Ike.
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Yeah, all the cool Bells are doing it - I mean copies of me from other worlds, not members of your family - and by 'it' I mean space colonies, not Mercury in particular, I picked Mercury in particular because it is not yet spoken for in any world and we copy each other but not that repetitively."
newtimov: (⑵ eureka hands)
Author: newtimov
"I think if you were a boy I would have a crush on you," Ike declares, giggling.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"One of me is!" laughs Bella. "You guys were asleep last time we all got together and had a party, but I can invite you next time if you're available whenever that is. We party when significant things happen, usually when we find new ones of us."
newtimov: (⑶ sufficiently adorable???)
Author: newtimov
"One of you is? Well now I think I have a crush on him," giggles Ike.
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Yeah, he is, he goes by Cam," says Juliet, "looks like so," she whips up an illusion of Cam, "has a magic notebook that can turn into a bird now, he has all the standard Bell powers but also he is a thing called a wizard that does magic via diplomatically convincing stuff to behave. He is also on the list of Bells With Friendlier Auras Than Mine. And you might be pleased to note that he and his boyfriend are in an open relationship."
newtimov: (⑹ having a very cuddly orgasm)
Author: newtimov
"Oh dear," says Ike, blushing. "Is he horrible in some way? People I get crushes on seem to turn out to be horrible in some way most of the time."
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I like him just fine. I mean, he's a me, we all get along even when one of us has to come translate Aegis into something socially acceptable. He killed some angels? Is that horrible? They were kind of terrible angels and Amariah can get them back by magic if she ever thinks of anything clever to do with a passel of terrible angels."
newtimov: (⑼ licking my knuckles in consternation)
Author: newtimov
"If you say that killing some angels was probably not horrible then I probably believe you," Ike decides.

The dirt road is opening up a little more now, curving around the forest on the right. There still aren't any people visible.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow
"He stopped after Amariah whipped up something to trap the remaining ones instead. This was when he was helping her with the afterlife for the Alethia worldsheaf. They were part of this angel conspiracy to - how interesting is this story to you?"
grabsthebutt: Laughing heartily. (⑴ mine is an adorable laugh)
Author: grabsthebutt
"It's interesting as fuck!" calls Val over her shoulder from in front of them. "You should keep telling it!"
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
Bella laughs. "I can start from the beginning, howabout? So Alethia is this worldsheaf - this where we live is also a worldsheaf, as evidenced from the fact that we are not in the same dimension we were in an hour ago but could travel here without recourse to Milliways or Jane, and this worldsheaf we're in is called Sunshine, for reference, and it has close relatives unlike most worlds. The Alethia alt goes by Amariah. Everybody on her subworld in the sheaf has an animal who is their external, talking, ambulatory soul, called a daemon, and these are Very Important. If you go there, without protective magic, one will appear for you. And Alethia couldn't hook up to the afterlife that most of the worlds we know about can, because there was one in the way. She has these artifacts that dispense objective truth - but only about things within Alethia - and her boyfriend is good at reading them, so she got him to quiz them about the Alethian afterlife to see if it was any good. And the answer was hell no, everybody in the afterlife was cold and insubstantial getting routinely screamed at by harpies with this horrible guilt-inducing screech and also they were missing the part of them that is your daemon if you have one, which I'm given to understand is an extreme sort of misery. So yeah, place was no good, and Bells do not hold with that sort of thing."
newtimov: (⑾ communing with technology and/or soda)
Author: newtimov
"That is a lot of knowledge," Ike remarks. "Okay, so what did you do about the horrible afterlife?"
cross_and_bow: (pleased)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I wasn't there, I didn't want a daemon - and the afterlife won't let daemons in. If you try to go there, and your daemon-part hasn't been destroyed already via dying-in-Alethia, then it will sit on the dock by the river that surrounds the afterlife island and wait for you. But Cam had his magic notebook and was pretty okay with her possibly turning into a bird and being his daemon, and Shell Bell was also willing to go and get a cute little duck thing daemon, and Amariah already had her owl because she was from there, and there were a couple non-Bells along too who had or wanted daemons. The alethiometers - those are the truth-telling devices - could tell them some things, but not a complete guided tour amount of things, about the afterlife, so they had to go scope it out in person. Also, the place was hostile to some of our magic - they could use their built-in powers, but not come up with new stuff on the fly. Also also, if you are physically far apart from your daemon, it hurts really badly, until you get far enough away to sort of snap the tether and then you can both go anywhere you want. Cam was able to get that over with instantly - he put his notebook down somewhere, walked the requisite distance away, and magicked her into his hawk, and she was already at snapping-distance so he barely felt a thing. Amariah was already separated because she's an Alethian kind of witch and that's a thing they do when they're kids. Shell Bell was in for a rough time, so she brought her girlfriend to hold her duck-thing for her because that would make them feel better about the separation. Are you still with me or do I need to go back and put more things in context?"
newtimov: (⑼ licking my knuckles in consternation)
Author: newtimov
"No, I'm with you, go on!" says Ike, fascinated.
cross_and_bow: (level)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Okay, so you've got Cam and Amariah and Shell Bell and Amariah's boyfriend and one of his alts all prowling the afterlife, checking the place out, talking to the shades of the dead, looking for harpies - the alethiometer warned them about harpies but it was really vague, it explained that there was some thing in the afterlife that 'hungered for truth' and 'had knowledge' and 'caused suffering', you can see why they would not immediately think 'harpy with guilt-screech attack'. And then Shell Bell found one. And it screamed at her." Bella pauses dramatically.
newtimov: (⑿ no but wait what?)
Author: newtimov
"Oh no!" says Ike, obligingly.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Now," says Bella, "of the Bells - Shell Bell wins at Traumatic Past. The details are another story - it's not a secret, if you're curious and like sad stories, but it'd be a distraction from the Story Of Alethia's Afterlife right now - but anyway, she has been through, and I do not exaggerate, hell. And in the course of being through hell she's done a couple things she's not proud of. Nothing awful, but she felt bad about it, and the harpy grabbed that and yanked. The other four who were in there tried to go after her, but, surprise! Alethian afterlife is topologically screwed up, teleporting doesn't work there - you can teleport out, but not to any point within. They could fly around looking for her, but had no guarantee of finding her anytime soon. That wasn't good enough for Shell Bell's girlfriend. Shell Bell's girlfriend is an alt of my boyfriend - they're Sherlocks - and the name is not just for decoration. So Sherlock put down Shell Bell's screaming crying unhappy duck daemon and picked herself up and flew across the river and left behind a hawk daemon she didn't intend to acquire and went looking for Shell Bell. And she found her, and picked her up, and got her out. Shell Bell was down for the count after that. The other four decided to find each other and travel in a group after that."
newtimov: (⒂ I grieve for the world I once knew)
Author: newtimov
"Wow," says Ike. "I hope Shell Bell is okay now!"
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow
"She usually is, but she was a yummy target for a harpy, apparently. They eat - information about people's histories, basically. They like all kinds, but the only kind they can take regardless of whether you feel like telling them stories or not is stuff you feel guilty about - they scream, that dredges it up, they feast. They were made like that. They were there to punish the dead. Not even a subset of the dead, just everybody. The other people down there appeased them by telling them stories. And eventually they were much friendlier and agreed to work for Amariah in the new afterlife she was going to build. But first, she wanted to figure out who had decided to build such a thing. This is where the angels come in."
newtimov: (⑺ happy thinky times)
Author: newtimov
"The terrible angels," says Ike, nodding.
cross_and_bow: (level)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Yeah, there's another kind of angels from another world who are not terrible, they're just genetically engineered humans with wings, one of me is those. But Alethia's angels are these wispy fragile things, and most of them work for an angel called the Authority - also known as God. Amariah and company went and paid him a visit him where he lives, on this big floating Clouded Mountain that can traverse subworlds."
newtimov: (⑼ licking my knuckles in consternation)
Author: newtimov
"I see," says Ike. "How did that go?"
cross_and_bow: (business)
Author: cross_and_bow
"The Authority is older than the hills and in much worse shape. When Amariah found him, he was curled up in a crystal box, could barely stay awake, and almost died when she tapped on the glass. She's leaving him alone. But he had this helper angel, who was stronger and more solid than the other ones, and he blasted her and her boyfriend and Cam. Cam's as durable as anybell, he wasn't hurt, but he hit the ground really hard. Kas, Amariah's boyfriend, just torched in midair - that's a reset we can do when we encounter otherwise-lethal situations. Amariah recovered, since she's been flying since she was little, and went back up and got a knife into the pissed-off angel and offered him a surrender and he said die and was about to blast them again and she killed him. While all this was going on, one of Kas's alts - who looks like this -" She replaces the Cam illusion with an Aianon illusion - "was mobbed by a flock of lesser angels, I'm sure you can see why angels might attack him. They couldn't hurt him, but we didn't know yet if we wanted to kill them, so he was sort of letting them tow him away from the mountain; he couldn't have flapped a wing without shredding a few. Fragile. So, Cam was already down there, he followed them and tried to talk to them, it didn't work very well. They started attacking him, he teleported out of range, and then Kas got the alethiometer to tell him the Clouded Mountain agenda, which boils down to - every world in the sheaf, every thinking being in all of them, united in unthinking obedience to the Authority. This was not on. Cam started killing angels when it was clear they really, really didn't want to talk. Meanwhile Amariah figured out that while our all-purpose go-to magic didn't work on the Clouded Mountain, another kind did; she whipped up an angel aquarium that sucked the live ones up and trapped them there. And she parked the mountain, and the angels still wouldn't talk to her, so they're all just hanging out now. She'd resurrect the dead ones if there was anything to resurrect them for besides living in an aviary eating angel food cake."
newtimov: (⑽ please allow me to explain)
Author: newtimov
"That is the most demony demon I have ever seen," says Ike, blinking at illusory Aianon. "What's his species called?"
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Demons," snorts Juliet. "Or Endarkened. There's only the one kinda demon on Thilanushinyel - that's where he's from. He's psychically attached to a dragon -" Illusion! - "and also to the elf one of me, but less so, he and the dragon are basically the same person."
newtimov: (⑹ having a very cuddly orgasm)
Author: newtimov
"Those wings are amazing," he observes. "Both of them, actually, but the Endarkened's are cooler-looking."
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"The Endarkened is the last of his kind," intones Bella. "The dragon's an endangered species, but they're working on that, and Sarion - the elf me - will probably help. She's getting better. She also has some Traumatic Past Problems and she's mostly recovered now but it's been slow and we're not sure what she's going to do with her world yet. Anyway. So the angels were handled, the harpies were on board with the program - oh, by the way, in the Alethian afterlife space time runs about six thousand times slower, or faster, I'm not sure how to count it, as on the outside. I mean if you spend a second in the outside world, it's almost two hours in the afterlife. So one of these guys -" She waves at the dragon - "they have an alt who's a ghost, she was hanging out there telling the harpies stories while everything else was taken care of. And then Amariah had the run of her worldsheaf, no interfering horrible angels! But our primary magic things? Don't work in the afterlife. She decided she wanted to make one from scratch. She had to ask another alt of these guys to help her out - I won't trouble you with the details of how it works, but anyway he agreed and she got some heavy-duty magic and made her own subworld in Alethia over which she is God, and the conditions are much nicer there, and live people can visit dead ones while dreaming, and properly vetted dead people can go back to where they lived when they lived if they want. And then she made a door between the old afterlife and the new one."
newtimov: (⑿ no but wait what?)
Author: newtimov
"You guys do a lot of stuff," Ike observes.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"We do! We are awesome like that. Sunshine hooks up to Downside nice and friendly - in fact, it was already like that when I got here - so I don't need to do that particular dramatic thing, but dramatic things are underway. You guys get front row seats 'cause you're helping."
grabsthebutt: Grinning broadly. (⑵ YES THAT IS GREAT)
Author: grabsthebutt
"I like front row seats," says Val.
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I'm so glad!" Bella is still taking in the Siathe scenery appreciatively.
grabsthebutt: Arms crossed, gazing into the camera with moderate impatience. (⑼ whatcha lookin' at?)
Author: grabsthebutt
The Siathe scenery is still gorgeous.

The dirt road becomes a road of glittering black gravel that crunches under their feet.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow
"We almost at someplace more inhabited? Eminently stealable flora aside, I'm mostly interested in the local people."
grabsthebutt: Smirking or giggling. (⑸ ehehehe!)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Yeah, it's not that far a walk," says Val.
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Cool. If it were a very long walk I might want to teleport or at least fly."
grabsthebutt: Smiling, maybe thoughtfully. (⑹ yes this one may live)
Author: grabsthebutt
"But then we'd leave poor Ike behind!"
cross_and_bow: (level)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Does poor Ike," Bella says, raising an eyebrow at Ike, "have a fear of teleporting and/or flying that was not disclosed before I totally teleported us all to this dimension?"
grabsthebutt: Arms crossed; smug as hell. (⑺ because I am awesome is why)
Author: grabsthebutt
"He can't fly," says Val, rolling her eyes. "And he doesn't like it when I carry him."
newtimov: (⑻ on the pensive phone)
Author: newtimov
"It is undignified," says Ike.
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I didn't know either of you could already fly. In my mental image I was fixing that with magic for my convenience."
newtimov: (⑶ sufficiently adorable???)
Author: newtimov
"...Do you often give superpowers to people you barely know?" inquires Ike.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I don't have a Superpowers: Five Cents stand at the end of my driveway," shrugs Bella, "but on top of my systematic projects, anything that crosses my mind stands a good chance of getting improved some as long as I'm thinking about it. I would be a little responsible about it, quiz you about whether you'd be flying under any circumstances I would find inconvenient, I'd check my magic supply and hmm about it some, but yeah, that totally sounds like something I would do, Val can tell you that earlier I was casually volunteering to render your mom able to go outdoors on Earth without causing riots. She didn't take me up on it though."
newtimov: (⑸ awe and enlightenment)
Author: newtimov
"Well, yeah," says Ike. "But if you want to make me able to fly, I will totally take being able to fly! Assuming it doesn't come with any magnificently inconvenient side effects like having big obvious wings all the time, but I bet it doesn't."
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
In reply, Bella lifts into the air, twirls, and sets down on her tiptoes before resuming walking. "Nothing like that. What would you do with being able to fly? 'Cause if you want to be able to turn invisible too, that might be a little much."
newtimov: (⑺ happy thinky times)
Author: newtimov
"I hadn't really thought about it beyond maybe 'keep up with Val'," he says.
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Is that an ithue thing? You smoosh some wings out of nowhere and fly around?" Bella asks Val.
grabsthebutt: Smirking, glancing to the side. (⑶ it is the Hour of Smirk)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Yep!"
cross_and_bow: (checkout)
Author: cross_and_bow
"D'you get a chance to do that much?"
grabsthebutt: Wearing a hat and looking disinclined to put up with anyone's shit. (⑻ my hat can beat up your hat)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Not on Earth!"
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow
"That's a pity. Well, sooner or later I'll have all the demons sorted out and then I can start being openly magical in front of the humans. A bunch of my alts are already doing that for this reason or that; none of them come from Sunshine-family worlds with all these thousands of sapient species to learn about and handle. I think next in number of species after here is Glass, and hers you could maybe not count on your hands but you could if you borrowed a couple other people's. Or, Angela might have a lot of kinds of aliens, but she's going very slow." She hmms and looks Ike over. "Do you think you'll even like flying or do you just want to not be the twin who can't fly?"
newtimov: (⑺ happy thinky times)
Author: newtimov
"Flying is cool," he says inarguably.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Hmm." Juliet checks her coin-sorting wish. She's more than topped up on coins - Aurora is very free with the largesse, especially to the Bells who have only Sherlocks at home, and there was that recent distribution after Brilliance made the tenners which came with plenty of small stuff. "Not going to be irresponsible about public magic use, perform unkind pranks on the unsuspecting, use your power for evil, etcetera? Answer in a complete sentence, I have lie-detecting magic."
newtimov: (⑼ licking my knuckles in consternation)
Author: newtimov
"Um, no, why would I do those things," says Ike.
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Nefarious motivations, presumably." She pats him on the head and goes ahead and spends the hex. "Let's fly."
newtimov: (⑶ sufficiently adorable???)
Author: newtimov
He giggles.
grabsthebutt: Smirking, glancing to the side. (⑶ it is the Hour of Smirk)
Author: grabsthebutt
Val shrugs.

Her whole body turns into a ghostly glowing silhouette, with her alien iron skeleton suspended inside, and a pair of enormous ghostly glowing wings unfold out of her shoulders - moving right through her clothing as though it isn't there - and flap once to drag her into the sky.
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
Bella hops into the air after her, cruising upright with her hands folded behind her back like she's on an invisible moving walkway.
newtimov: (⑵ eureka hands)
Author: newtimov
Ike zooms after them both.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"You like?"
newtimov: (⑷ failing not to smirk)
Author: newtimov
"Fun!" he declares.
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Awesome."
newtimov: (⑹ having a very cuddly orgasm)
Author: newtimov
"Wheeeee!"

And there's what is probably a city up ahead - lots of stone buildings, not tall but solidly built, and often with rooftop entrances every bit as elaborate as the ones at ground level. A few ithuetse are even flying to and from those.
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow
Bella follows Val and Ike, eyes open. On reflection she decides to unfold her hands from behind her back and keep them visible; this makes no difference to her but might make her look less potentially threatening.
newtimov: (⑻ on the pensive phone)
Author: newtimov
Ike ends up hovering a little ways behind his sister as she soars toward one of the shorter buildings at the edge of the town.
grabsthebutt: Smiling, maybe thoughtfully. (⑹ yes this one may live)
Author: grabsthebutt
Val lands and retracts her wings, then knocks on the door of what looks like it might be a house. She stays glowy even after returning to her normal shape.
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow
Bella lands behind Val, off to the side enough to see around her.
grabsthebutt: Laughing heartily. (⑴ mine is an adorable laugh)
Author: grabsthebutt
The door opens, and out comes a Sessiaki: fine scales that resemble mother-of-pearl, short hair like steel wool, and a long pointed tail coiling around her legs.

She blinks at Val, then scoops her into a tight hug.

"Hi, Auntie Eiva!" laughs Val, speaking the local language with a noticeable accent. "Is Mom home?"

The Sessiaki, presumably named Eiva, puts her down and locates Ike to hug next.

"Not today," she says, giving Ike a slightly gentler squish and then putting him down too. She turns to Bella. "And who's your friend?"
cross_and_bow: (pleased)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I'm Bella," says Bella. She has a magically perfect accent. "It's nice to meet you."
newtimov: (⑺ happy thinky times)
Author: newtimov
"She's our friend from Earth," Ike puts in, in similarly perfect Kiessa, not that this is hard to deduce.

"And I'm Eiva," says Eiva. "What are you here for, Bella?"
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I'm having a look around Siathe. Val and Ike are kindly showing me around. I'm trying to familiarize myself with all the sapient species in the world."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Is there a reason you're doing that?" Eiva inquires.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I have acquired a lot of magic, so I want to learn what's around and see what needs doing with it. This morning I bribed the Mikleeeeeeeee to agree to stop eating people, but not everything's that obvious. I don't know about here yet, so far my impression of Siathe amounts to 'pretty', but maybe I can be useful."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Eiva glances thoughtfully at Val.
grabsthebutt: Amused or exasperated. (⑽ you think you're hilarious don't you)
Author: grabsthebutt
Val says, "What?"
newtimov: (⑽ please allow me to explain)
Author: newtimov
"You are the nearest ithue," Ike points out mildly.
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow
"What am I missing?"
newtimov: (⑻ on the pensive phone)
Author: newtimov
"Ithuetse are - mediators. Diplomats," says Ike. "Which is hilarious to us, because Val is the least mediated person I know, but it's taken pretty seriously around Siathe in general. You're not going to get anywhere trying any kind of official diplomatic contact unless you can find an ithue and convince them to talk to everybody else for you."
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Oh. Val, d'you want to talk to my personnel officer sometime?" shrugs Bella. "Or does anyone present have a recommendation for somebody who would?"
grabsthebutt: Wearing a hat and looking disinclined to put up with anyone's shit. (Default)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Sure," snorts Val. "I'll talk to your personnel officer. Who'll tell you I'm about as diplomatic as a punch in the face."

"Which might be a little less true if you punched people less often," observes Eiva.
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I'm only slightly more diplomatic than a punch in the face," Bella says. "I'll work with what I've got. I'll hire somebody else if somebody better for the job turns up. At least the failure mode here isn't 'people get eaten'."
newtimov: (⑹ having a very cuddly orgasm)
Author: newtimov
"No indeed! No people get eaten around Siathe," says Ike.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"That is very good. I disapprove of anthropophagy. That's why I quarantined vampires."
newtimov: (⑻ on the pensive phone)
Author: newtimov
"Oh, did you do that? Of course you did that," says Ike. "I can't imagine how I could ever have thought anyone else did that."
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Yeah, that was me, I covered Sunshine's relatives too, I bet the vampire community is super confused. How'd you hear about it?"
newtimov: (⑷ failing not to smirk)
Author: newtimov
"Word just kind of gets around," he says.
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Anyway, why is it that ithuetse are mediators?"
grabsthebutt: Arms crossed, gazing into the camera with moderate impatience. (⑼ whatcha lookin' at?)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Because we ershil," says Val, which is the first-person form of a verb meaning what ithuetse do when they touch their glowy white parts together. "How good's your language thing, anyway? Do I need to explain that?"
cross_and_bow: (meh)
Author: cross_and_bow
"My language thing's good, but it ends at the limits of my conceptual vocabulary; I can tell it's a verb and it means something that happens when two glowy white person-bits interact and that's all."
grabsthebutt: Smirking or giggling. (⑸ ehehehe!)
Author: grabsthebutt
"You could say that," she snorts. "If I touch my iethat to another ithue's, we can kind of... pass thoughts back and forth, I guess you'd say. Remember when I said you couldn't," she drops into English, "shake tentacles," and back to Kiessa, "with anybody? That's what I was talking about. Around here it's the only way to get really serious talking done."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Well, add another form of telepathy to the list of known kinds, then. It's - faster? More trustworthy? Just a cultural thing?"
grabsthebutt: Arms crossed, gazing into the camera with moderate impatience. (⑼ whatcha lookin' at?)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Faster, more trustworthy, almost impossible for there to be a misunderstanding unless one of the ithuetse misunderstands whoever they're speaking for... and it's a cultural thing, yeah. Big-time."
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I can see why it'd be an important attribute in a diplomat."
grabsthebutt: Smirking, glancing to the side. (⑶ it is the Hour of Smirk)
Author: grabsthebutt
"I know, eh? Too bad I am otherwise the most terrible diplomat."
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Well, like," says Bella, "I get along with you, you are diplomatic enough for my end - do you think you would have trouble presenting stuff to Sessiakitsi on my behalf in a way that didn't make them want to burn me in effigy?"
grabsthebutt: Smirking, biting lip. (⑷ now let's do something hilarious)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Okay, I could probably manage it," she concedes.
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"So when you have a minute, brainphone James, she's my personnel officer, and you can talk to her about ambassadorship."
grabsthebutt: Smiling, maybe thoughtfully. (⑹ yes this one may live)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Cool," says Val. "Do you still wanna look around and stuff?"
cross_and_bow: (eyeroll)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Sure. It's pretty here, and I don't have any appointments till I go to the tunnels under Antarctica, ritually refuse to accept dinner from the hand of the King of the Nytree eight times, and then leave because I have to do that once a week for a month before they'll recognize me as an independent entity."
grabsthebutt: Laughing heartily. (⑴ mine is an adorable laugh)
Author: grabsthebutt
Val giggles.
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Where to, tour guides?" asks Bella, clapping her hands.
newtimov: (⑸ awe and enlightenment)
Author: newtimov
"If you don't mind being carried and you like pretty things, you should get Val to take you north a little ways," Eiva recommends.

"Oh, that's no problem," Ike says offhandedly. "Bella can fly and she gave me the same magic power."

"Is that so," Eiva says dryly. "How nice for Bella."
cross_and_bow: (smug)
Author: cross_and_bow
"It is very nice for Bella," says Bella unapologetically.
grabsthebutt: Smirking or giggling. (⑸ ehehehe!)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Sure, we can go sightseeing," says Val. She hugs Eiva again. "See you!" she says, and she takes off.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
Bella follows her into the air.
newtimov: (⑹ having a very cuddly orgasm)
Author: newtimov
Ike zooms after them.
grabsthebutt: Arms crossed, gazing into the camera with moderate impatience. (⑼ whatcha lookin' at?)
Author: grabsthebutt
[You know what would be really helpful and not just fun,] Val says conversationally, [is if you gave me and Ike and Mom and Dad your fancy teleporting power that works between dimensions.]
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow
[A fancy teleporting power that doesn't work between dimensions is only as magically expensive as flying. One that does is extra, especially if you all want it separately. If you wind up working for me I will be happy to pay you in magic, but I think I'm at a reasonable limit on frivolous gift-giving for today.]
grabsthebutt: Wearing a hat and looking disinclined to put up with anyone's shit. (⑻ my hat can beat up your hat)
Author: grabsthebutt
[Damn,] says Val. [You sure? Because Mom and Dad could really use it.]
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow
[Most of my alts have a much steadier supply of magic than me, and most of what I have on me is excess from them; I try to be a little conservative. I will pay you in magic if you work for me. And if you show up at a Bellparty and ask the right person they'll probably bestow it on you for kicks. Another thing we could do is set up Jane in your house and also here,] it occurs to her, [remember Jane? She can pick people up and put them down anywhere she likes, and I can set up nodes for her with very little magical expenditure.]
newtimov: (⑼ licking my knuckles in consternation)
Author: newtimov
[How does Jane work?] wonders Ike.
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
[Not technically magic! She's from a world called Peace, the local Bell there is Aegis, and they have instantaneous communication devices called ansibles - you build one, you break it in half, and then anything you do on one end is duplicated on the other across any distance - and, it turns out, between worlds. You know how people joke about the internet waking up? Peace's internet woke up. That's Jane, and she works for us. She can scoop people up into her mind and drop them, as long as she can see them on the one end and see where they're meant to end up. I carry a half-ansible around with me all the time.]
newtimov: (⑻ on the pensive phone)
Author: newtimov
[...I don't think we'd go for that,] says Ike. [Although it's completely fascinating.]
cross_and_bow: (level)
Author: cross_and_bow
[If traveling by Jane is not for you, you will not be able to take standard transportation to Bellparties, although I guess you could go through Milliways instead if that's better.]
newtimov: (⒁ adjusting my sad pants)
Author: newtimov
[It's different,] Ike says firmly.
cross_and_bow: (checkout)
Author: cross_and_bow
[What's different? Milliways and Jane? Jane to parties and Jane to Siathe?]
newtimov: (⑼ licking my knuckles in consternation)
Author: newtimov
[If Jane is the standard transportation to Bellparties then it's not a big deal to go to Bellparties that way,] he says. [But whether or not it's a big deal to Jane, it'd be a big deal to us to use her as our main way of getting between Earth and Siathe. And we'd have to have a stranger sitting in both our houses all the time, and it would be weird.]
cross_and_bow: (okay)
Author: cross_and_bow
[You can turn the ansible-halves off if you want. I turn mine off when I want privacy.]
newtimov: (⑻ on the pensive phone)
Author: newtimov
[It'd still be weird. But it'd be weird more in the way where nobody wants to be that person without a car who's always asking their friend for a ride.]
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow
[There is one person who can bop around dimensions by himself, but no one else has picked up the trick yet. Jane doesn't mind being the peal's transit system. She has a few million levels of attention and it's literally instantaneous. She doesn't so much have a car as she has the ability to pass the salt - while simultaneously carrying on seven hundred conversations, resurrecting the dead, reading the complete works of every accessed civilization with networked electronics, and spying on me and my alts to see if we do anything interesting. But if it's weird, it's weird, I guess.]
newtimov: (⒁ adjusting my sad pants)
Author: newtimov
[It's weird,] he confirms.
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow
[Well, Jane's on the brainphone if you're ever swayed by the desire for convenience and feel like getting to know her. Failing that, I am much better prepared to pay staff in magic than in, say, money, so that's on the table.]
grabsthebutt: Smirking, biting lip. (⑷ now let's do something hilarious)
Author: grabsthebutt
[Paying me in magic sounds awesome,] says Val. [And: check it out.]

Up ahead, they're approaching another series of hills, these ones breaking apart like the top of a fresh muffin. The surface is covered with more of that scrubby multicoloured grass, but inside the cracks, the hills are made of stripes of sparkling rock in every shade between black and white. The effect is kind of amazing.
cross_and_bow: (pleased)
Author: cross_and_bow
"Oh, cool rocks," marvels Bella. "Mercury is so going to have a section that looks like Siathe. This is the prettiest demon dimension I've visited, and I've been to ninety-three."
newtimov: (⑺ happy thinky times)
Author: newtimov
"Just make sure if you copy it all directly, you warn people not to eat the grass," says Ike. "Siathe has way higher concentrations than Earth of a lot of things that tend to kill humans. Which is partly why everything's so colourful - chromium will do that."
cross_and_bow: (smirk)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I'll make the grass nontoxic," says Bella, waving a hand.
grabsthebutt: Arms crossed; smug as hell. (⑺ because I am awesome is why)
Author: grabsthebutt
"Make everything nontoxic," Val advises. "You wouldn't be too happy if you licked the rocks, either."
cross_and_bow: (perhaps)
Author: cross_and_bow
"I'm personally immune to all kinds of things, but sure, general non-toxicity."