Author: incanted | There are now one dozen Bells.
They and most of their friends are all here on Planet Rainbowsand II, to celebrate the addition of Sarion, the elf one, and Aurora, the one with a sister. |
Author: lexicality | "Hey," says Lexi to a lone Tony. "Do you actually want me to call you Sapphire or did you just sort of get stuck with that?" |
Author: toblameforit | "I just got stuck with it," he says. "Call me Tony, please, unless you desperately need to pick me out of a crowd of... other... me." |
Author: lexicality | "Yeah, okay. If I meet more mes at some point - which I better, it's freaky that there's all these only child Bellas - we'll probably just pick different nicknames for Alexandra. Or I could go by my middle name, that wouldn't be so bad, Phyllis." |
Author: toblameforit | "I have a middle name too, but it's Edward," says Tony, "and I hate pretty much all available permutations of my first name that aren't 'Tony', so when the Tonies and the Sherlocks were picking our nicknames we went by coin colour when we ran out of better ideas." |
Author: lexicality | "Yeah, isn't somebody married to an Edward," says Lexi vaguely. "My coin color is Peach, hey, if my Bella starts going around with a crown on do you know if that makes me a princess via sisterhood or would one of our parents have to be in on the royalty thing? Because then I would be Princess Peach." |
Author: toblameforit | "...I will totally call you Princess Peach if you want," says Tony, grinning. |
Author: lexicality | "I think I'll be Lexi till there's enough of me to be confusing at all. Like, more than one. Besides, maybe all Lexis turn out peach coins," laughs Lexi. |
Author: toblameforit | "I don't think there's actually been a straight duplicate yet," says Tony. "Maybe the next Lexi will be, like. Princess Nectarine." |
Author: lexicality | "But that wouldn't be funny," says Lexi. She picks at a hangnail just enough to get a coin and shows it off. "So do yours look like sapphires?" |
Author: toblameforit | "Nope, they look like a car I have that's painted in a colour called Sapphire Black." |
Author: lexicality | "Huh. I have no idea why I got peach. It's not even my favorite color," shrugs Lexi, "my favorite color is red." |
Author: toblameforit | "One of us got red!" says Tony. "The dead one, I think. With Minus and Juliet." |
Author: lexicality | "It is super strange that there are dead people walking around. Not even strange-amazing like there being a unicorn here, just strange." |
Author: toblameforit | "The unicorn is awesome," says Tony. "The dead people are - enh, I'm kinda used to it by now." |
Author: lexicality | "You been hanging out with -" Lexi waves at the party setup. "This crowd for a long time?" |
Author: toblameforit | "A while, I guess. I dunno, I kind of lost track a little." |
Author: lexicality | "I didn't know magic existed, like at all, even the kind we have in this world, till like a week ago, and you know the very first thing magic did? It tricked me into letting it possess me to destroy the world. So not cool." |
Author: toblameforit | "Wow, that sucks," says Tony. |
Author: lexicality | "I know, right? But Bella fixed it. Bella's smart. The way it tricked me in the first place was it was all 'I can offer you limitless power' -" Lexi does an impression of the robotic voice of the control program - "and I was like 'cool, let's hook my sister up with that, because if I get instead I'll be lucky if I get Christmas off, she will guilt me into using my powers for good, like, constantly' and it was like 'I cannot wait' and I was like 'oh fine'." |
Author: toblameforit | "How'd she fix it?" |
Author: lexicality | "I don't know all the details, 'cause I was being possessed and couldn't see what was going on, but I think she picked up Brilliance-being-a-staff-thing and shot at it a lot or something. And then I woke up and she was wearing her magical girl outfit." |
Author: toblameforit | "The magical girl outfit is kind of awesome." |
Author: lexicality | "It kind of is! Very tasteful, very if Bella's going to wear a magical girl outfit it should obviously be this one." |
Author: toblameforit | "Almost makes me want one." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi giggles. "Apparently they come with having a device? Like, Brilliance is Bella's device. But he doesn't seem to think people should usually have devices. Or maybe it's that people shouldn't make devices. Or something. He made her a little tiny one that doesn't talk, maybe that's different, but it doesn't have a dress that comes with. So I don't have one and I don't know how you'd get one either." |
Author: toblameforit | "If I want a magical girl outfit," he says, "I bet you I can get a magical girl outfit. Maybe not exactly the same kind, I guess." |
Author: lexicality | "Yeah, not a magically designed one, you could wear whatever you want but it wouldn't just get pulled out of noplace like Bella's." |
Author: toblameforit | "Wonder if I could get one of the Jokers to make me one, I hear Jokers and clothes is a thing." |
Author: lexicality | "Is it? Brilliance seems to just go around in that T-shirt with his deck of cards design on it and jeans." |
Author: toblameforit | "I mean," he amends, "there's a bunch of Jokers who like, make and design clothes, it's a common hobby with those guys, I don't know if Brilliance isn't into it or just hasn't gotten around to it or what." |
Author: lexicality | "Huh." Lexi scuffs her foot on the floor. "I should have a hobby. I don't really, I used to do whatever Renée was doing, crafts and exotic kinds of yoga and whatnot, but nothing stuck." |
Author: toblameforit | "Can't help you there, unless you want to take up engineering," says Tony. "Or video games." |
Author: lexicality | "I might like video games! We could never afford a system since Bella doesn't like them enough to ever pool our Christmas or birthday wishlists for it, but I used to like going over to friends' who had 'em," says Lexi. "Oh man, that's probably not even a problem any more, I can just," she brandishes her demo triangle, "magic up whatever." |
Author: toblameforit | "Okay, let's conjure a Super Nintendo and play Mario Kart," says Tony. |
Author: lexicality | "Yeah!" Lexi picks a little more aggressively at her hangnail, gets enough squares to produce the TV and the console and the cartridge and the controllers, wishes them all into existence, and then makes two more squares so they can have a sofa too. She turns the whole setup on with her triangle, just for fun. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony beams and flops onto the couch and picks up a controller. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi, predictably, plays as Princess Peach. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony giggles uproariously, and plays as Mario. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi is reasonably good at Mario Kart considering her inexperience; she is a crack shot with green shells and after one false start rarely drives off the track. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony is... kind of unfairly good at Mario Kart. |
Author: lexicality | "You must play this, like, constantly," complains Lexi, although she seems to be having fun anyway. |
Author: toblameforit | "Driving games are kind of my thing," he says. "Sherry bakes himself a cake every time he beats me." |
Author: lexicality | "How many cakes is that now?" |
Author: toblameforit | "I'm not actually keeping count, but less cakes than he's had birthdays." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi laughs. "Wow. Well, at least I can beat all the computer guys. Eventually." She's mostly coming in third or fourth. |
Author: toblameforit | "Coming in second to me in a Mario Kart race is an accomplishment!" says Tony. |
Author: lexicality | "Cool, that's, like, my new life goal for the next hour." |
Author: toblameforit | "Good luck," Tony says cheerfully. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi sticks her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and drives Princess Peach around with a will. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony continues to win! It's lots of fun. |
Author: lexicality | "Is there any game you like that you aren't, like, the patron saint of?" Lexi asks, when they've tried all the tracks at least once. |
Author: toblameforit | "Lots! Anything that's not a racing game, pretty much." |
Author: lexicality | "Let's play one of those, I don't know what's good, recommend me something?" |
Author: toblameforit | "You know what," says Tony, "we should totally play Super Mario." |
Author: lexicality | "Okay." Lexi makes another square, and with it makes there be Super Mario. She swaps cartridges. |
Author: toblameforit | This one is not so competitive! But it is so fun. |
Author: lexicality | It is! Lexi giggles when giggling is called for, and dies a lot, and picks up from there. |
Author: toblameforit | Dying a lot is kind of how it goes.
It is possible that Tony might be dancing along to the music. Well, he's sitting down, so 'dancing' is an overstatement. It's more... wiggling. |
Author: lexicality | "You're wiggling," accuses a smirking Lexi. |
Author: toblameforit | "I totally am." |
Author: lexicality | "It's cute." She sways a little to the music, herself, but it's much more dignified. Or so she tells herself. |
Author: toblameforit | "You," says Tony, "are waggling." |
Author: lexicality | "No! I'm not waggling, I'm swaying." |
Author: toblameforit | "Waggling! It's like wiggling but slower!" |
Author: lexicality | "Nope. Swaying. Very dignified." |
Author: toblameforit | "Sure, okay." |
Author: lexicality | "I can dance, though, I'm not clumsy like Bella is - used to be - I can totally dance. Just not on a sofa so much." |
Author: toblameforit | "I can dance!" says Tony. "Not exceptionally well, but I can dance. There should be more dancing at these things." |
Author: lexicality | "I heard Angela talking about singing like she did at the first party. So maybe she will. I hope she's a better singer than my Bella - than, what'd she call herself, Aurora - if she's going to do that." |
Author: toblameforit | "I heard her sing before, she's pretty awesome." |
Author: lexicality | "Huh, I wonder how, is that, like, an angel thing or would my Bella be able to sing too if she worked at it?" |
Author: toblameforit | "Beats me," says Tony. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi's sprite dies again. "Rats. Maybe I am not good enough at video games for it to be my hobby." |
Author: toblameforit | "I wasn't good at video games either when I'd been playing them for like an hour." |
Author: lexicality | "I mean I haven't just never played video games before, just not on the regular." |
Author: toblameforit | "Well yeah, still, you get good at them by playing them a lot, the question is are they enough fun for you to play them that much." |
Author: lexicality | "I think I might have to try more kinds before I know." |
Author: toblameforit | "Cool," says Tony. "Secret of Mana it is." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi makes a square and makes a copy of the game. |
Author: toblameforit | The game is also lots of fun. Or at least Tony thinks so. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi likes this one more than the first two, although it doesn't make her actually giggle as much. |
Author: toblameforit | "This one's my favourite for the SNES," Tony confides. |
Author: lexicality | "It's really cute," affirms Lexi. |
Author: toblameforit | "It's awesome, I love it." |
Author: lexicality | They carry on playing Secret of Mana. Then Angela starts singing.
"Whoa, she is good." |
Author: toblameforit | "I know, right?" |
Author: lexicality | "Seriously. Bella - Aurora - doesn't sound a bit like that when she sings in the shower." |
Author: toblameforit | "I think most people don't," says Tony. "Maybe it is an angel thing." |
Author: lexicality | "It's a cool angel thing. D'you wanna dance?" |
Author: toblameforit | "Sure!" |
Author: lexicality | Lexi pauses their game and pops up off the sofa and holds out her hand. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony follows! |
Author: lexicality | There is dancing, and singing, and Lexi is plainly enjoying herself very much. |
Author: toblameforit | So is Tony! |
Author: lexicality | Yay! It is more fun that way. |
Author: toblameforit | That is true. That is a true thing. |
Author: lexicality | "You're not bad," Lexi comments.
(But she's better. She likes dancing, clearly, and she's completely unselfconscious about letting her motor cortex have its way.) |
Author: toblameforit | "I'm not as good as you," Tony correctly observes. |
Author: lexicality | "Practice, practice," she teases. |
Author: toblameforit | He laughs. |
Author: lexicality | "Maybe I should just be serious about dancing, but it's not like there's a blues club or anything in Forks. Maybe I can teleport to Phoenix twice a week or something." |
Author: toblameforit | "You can teleport to wherever you want! You are magic now," Tony says wisely. |
Author: lexicality | "I am!" agrees Lexi, spinning along his arm to close. "Oh wow, I don't even need to, like, worry about getting a job, I'm magic enough to magic anything I need, I could just live on this planet and conjure sandwiches and do whatever I wanted. I might need two hobbies." |
Author: toblameforit | "Dancing and video games?" |
Author: lexicality | "Yeah! I will dance and play video games and hang out with Bella being a sounding board for all her fixing-the-world ideas if she doesn't just always talk to Brilliance about that stuff." |
Author: toblameforit | "Sounds like a plan." |
Author: lexicality | "It is a plan. I planned it. Now it's my plan." |
Author: toblameforit | "It's a good plan!" |
Author: lexicality | "That's 'cause I'm super," says Lexi, beaming. "I dunno, though, after I'm out of school I might have to learn more than one kind of dancing. Or get a third hobby." |
Author: toblameforit | "You can figure that out when you get there, I bet." |
Author: lexicality | "I can. It's true." She sways, bluesy. "I like this song, but it's funky-sounding, I guess Angela's one of the ones who's not from an Earth even though apparently the one with the owl is from an Earth and I think having an owl for a soul is weirder than just having wings. What kinda music do you like?" |
Author: toblameforit | "Classic rock. AC/DC." |
Author: lexicality | "Cool. I like everything, and most people say except rap and country but I like those too." |
Author: toblameforit | "The music I listen to is pretty much a subset of the music my mom listened to." |
Author: lexicality | "Me too! Except Renée listens to everything!" |
Author: toblameforit | "Mom was into rock and, like, melancholy folk music. I picked up on the rock." |
Author: lexicality | "Don't like the second thing because of the melancholy or because of the folk music?" |
Author: toblameforit | "I don't really know if it was the melancholy part or the folk part or if she just had bad taste in melancholy folk bands, I just know it never got me going the way AC/DC did." |
Author: lexicality | "It's not supposed to get you going like rock music, it's supposed to be all, like, soulful and wistful and stuff. If you got amped listening to somebody singing Danny Boy there would be something the matter with you." |
Author: toblameforit | He snorts. "No, I mean like, I barely noticed it, it didn't make me anything except slightly bored." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi swaaaaaays, going from half-beats to full beats and deepening the motion to accommodate it. "When I think songs are boring I go look up the lyrics and make sure I know what they're talking about and that helps." |
Author: toblameforit | "I did not care enough to do that," says Tony. |
Author: lexicality | "'Cause the songs bored you?" Lexi asks archly. |
Author: toblameforit | "Yep!" |
Author: lexicality | "That's all circular, though," she points out. |
Author: toblameforit | "So? It bored me, so I didn't care about it enough to actively look for ways to make it bore me less. I am comfy with my classic rock, I don't need to like every song I hear." |
Author: lexicality | "I guess that's fair. I don't like every single song there is," says Lexi. |
Author: toblameforit | "Yeah, see?" |
Author: lexicality | "I try especially to be fair to stuff people recommend in particular, though." |
Author: toblameforit | "Nice of you." |
Author: lexicality | "It'd bug me if I recommended somebody a song I really liked and they listened to it for three seconds and then was like 'nope'," shrugs Lexi. |
Author: toblameforit | "Yeah, I guess." |