Author: jovahs_heiress | Alleluia and Caleb tell their children about magic, one by one. Isabella meets with each one to clarify a few matters. She gives Ezra a job, at the Eyrie - it is convenient to have more people around who know her secrets. And the youngest, an angel girl named Naamah, just nineteen (a last minute surprise to her parents), wants someone to talk to who is more familiar with magic than her but isn't up to their neck in it like Isabella or Micaiah - or even her own parents, who have been to all those Bell parties.
Isabella thinks about this.
[Nathaniel?] |
Author: pythbox | [Yes?] |
Author: jovahs_heiress | [Alleluia's youngest, Naamah - have you met her before? - has just learned that magic and so on exist, and she's a little overwhelmed, and wanted to know if there was anyone she could talk to who'd been familiar with the facts for longer but wasn't so immersed. Do you want to talk to her?] |
Author: pythbox | [Um - sure,] says Nathaniel, a little tentative but cheerful. |
Author: jovahs_heiress | [I'll send her to you.] |
Author: alicornucopia | A few minutes later there is a knock at Nathaniel's door. |
Author: pythbox | He opens it, also tentatively. |
Author: alicornucopia | At the door is a short, soft-faced angel with wings that are almost butter-colored in the gaslight. "Um," she says. "Hello. I'm Naamah. Are you Nathaniel?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yes," he says, smiling a tentative smile. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh, good, I've been away from the Eyrie for a long time and barely know my way around anymore - did Isabella tell you I was coming? Can I come in, is that okay?" |
Author: pythbox | "She did, and you can," he says, standing out of her way. |
Author: alicornucopia | Naamah smiles and steps into the room. "So - how long have you known about - how very large the world really is?" she laughs uncertainly. |
Author: pythbox | "Um - a long time," he says. "Since I was ten. I was... well, it's a long story, I guess." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Will you tell it to me?" |
Author: pythbox | He looks at her consideringly.
Then he says, "Okay," and sits down. |
Author: alicornucopia | Naamah looks around for an angel chair. There's one; Nathaniel's sister-in-law and nieces sometimes visit him. She sits down and clasps her hands on her knees. |
Author: pythbox | "Well... you know who my brother is, right?" he starts. |
Author: alicornucopia | "He's to be the angelico. Yes." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," says Nathaniel. "Do you know anything about our parents?" |
Author: alicornucopia | Naamah shakes her head slowly. |
Author: pythbox | "Well, they're... not good," he says. "So when I was just a little kid and Micaiah was meeting Isabella for the first time, and she heard how not good his parents were, she went and looked them up to see if they had any more children, and she found me. And she thought they probably weren't being good to me either, so she brought me here to join the Eyrie children's choir to sing for the Gloria that year. And when I was talking to her after the Gloria, she opened a door and there was Milliways on the other side of it, so she took me in to show it to me." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Milliways is - I don't think I understand that one, Isabella couldn't seem to make up her mind if it was a - world hub - or a restaurant." |
Author: pythbox | "It's both of those. It's a world hub, with a restaurant in it," he says. "I've only been there just the once, though, so I can't tell you very much about it." |
Author: alicornucopia | Naamah nods. "Isabella offered to show it to me but it sounded - kind of overwhelming." |
Author: pythbox | "It was," he agrees. "I didn't stay very long." |
Author: alicornucopia | "My parents have known about all this for more than ten years - they've known about Jovah since before I was born. They kept so many secrets." |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel shrugs. "I guess I didn't really mind all that." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm barely suited to living in a world the size of Samaria. I like to fly and I still never liked to really travel. And now there are so many more places than I knew about. Can I just - live how I have been, do you think?" |
Author: pythbox | "Of course," he says. "That's what I do. I mean, I don't go to their parties or do much magic or - do much of anything, really." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I just live at Cedar Hills - I tried to foster with Delilah here when I was little but the singing all the time even on through the night was unbearable; I was used to the quiet at Sinai or at least the bustle of Father's workshop. So, Cedar Hills. And I do - angel things." She shrugs. "Father thinks I must have an imagination somewhere but he's given up on finding it, I think." |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel laughs softly. "I don't think anyone's ever looked for mine." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I sometimes wish I were interesting, like my parents, or Ezra, or even Zibiah - but I'm not," shrugs Naamah. |
Author: pythbox | "I don't really wish I were interesting," Nathaniel says wryly. "Micaiah is welcome to my share of the family allotment of interesting and then some." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I don't know very much about him," says Naamah. "Except that he's to be angelico, but with what I've learned about Jovah - I don't even know what to think because of that." |
Author: pythbox | "He's very - himself," says Nathaniel. "And about a thousand times more interesting than me. And, as I said, welcome to it." He smiles. "I'm sorry, is that a confusing description? I've never had to describe him before." |
Author: alicornucopia | "If I knew more about him then saying he was himself might be a very useful description," says Naamah. "But I don't." |
Author: pythbox | "Well, he's... sweet," says Nathaniel. "And kind of silly, but not when it really matters. And he cares a lot about the people who are important to him. And he's very good at solving problems." |
Author: alicornucopia | "He sounds a little like my father," muses Naamah. |
Author: pythbox | "Does he? I don't know your father very well," says Nathaniel. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Father's an engineer, and he's fascinated by problems, and he has a - Mother calls it zest for life. And he is very intense about our family. He and Mother thought for a while that they wouldn't be able to get married, before they knew about Jovah, before they knew Delilah would be Archangel again, before they knew that Jovah was trying to name Father Mother's angelico but couldn't because of his broken Kiss. And they didn't like that, and then they could after all, and he's still glad about it." |
Author: pythbox | "Oh. That sounds very nice," says Nathaniel, smiling a little. |
Author: alicornucopia | "My parents are good role models," says Naamah. "I'm sorry yours weren't." |
Author: pythbox | "It's okay," he says, and then looks mildly surprised. |
Author: alicornucopia | "It is?" |
Author: pythbox | "Well... not really," he says. "But I'm okay. I guess I wasn't expecting to be." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm glad you're okay," smiles Naamah. |
Author: pythbox | "Me too," he says, smiling back. |
Author: alicornucopia | Naamah stays a while longer, and then off she goes to start flying back to Cedar Hills. |
Author: pythbox | It was a good conversation.
It also sets Nathaniel to thinking.
Not quite a week after Naamah's visit, he brainphones Isabella. [Um, can I ask you something?] |
Author: jovahs_heiress | [Of course. What is it?] |
Author: pythbox | After a moment's hesitation:
[Do you think I could go visit one of the Jokers?] |
Author: jovahs_heiress | [I don't see why not. Do you have one in mind?]
After all, none of the Jokers live in Atlantis. |
Author: pythbox | [Not especially. I don't know them that well. I'll ask Micaiah, I guess.] |
Author: jovahs_heiress | [Sure. And he can take you up to the ship so Jane can send you wherever you decide to go.] |
Author: pythbox | [Okay. Um, thanks.] |
Author: jovahs_heiress | [You're welcome.] |
Author: pythbox | That's it for a little while.
And then, five days later, Micaiah brings Nathaniel up to the ship. |
Author: mind_game | "Hi, Nathaniel," says Jane. |
Author: pythbox | "Hi," he says. "I want to visit Aurum, please." |
Author: mind_game | "Okay, lemme tell Golden and Alice."
Thirty seconds later, "Ready?" |
Author: pythbox | He nods. |
Author: mind_game | Yoink! |
Author: alicornucopia | Alice is waiting at the Janepoint.
"Welcome to Aurum! Okay, I don't see you interacting with anyone who might mate to you, it looks like you mostly hang out in space," says Alice. "Have fun!" And off she traipses. |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel wonders how it is that he will be hanging out in space. |
Author: manofmyword | He does not have long to wonder.
"Hi, sweetie!" says the Joker, teleporting in. "Wanna hug?" |
Author: pythbox | He smiles and nods. |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker hugs him.
"Wanna meet my kids? Dunno what Kerron's up to, but I was just with Aedyt. She says hi." |
Author: pythbox | "Maybe one at a time," he says, smiling tentatively. |
Author: manofmyword | "You got it," he says, and squeezes Nathan's hand, and then they are standing just outside of a cute little house on a cute little asteroid. |
Author: pumpkin_pie | Aedyt waves from the doorway. "Hey, uncleoid," she says. "Is that the right word? Whatever. Mummy made cupcakes, come have some." |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel proceeds inside for cupcakes.
So far, his brother's alt and family are delightfully nonthreatening! |
Author: temporal_affairs | [Hey babe, where are you at?] Nathan asks. [Kerron's crashed for the night and this is a good time to cheat at cross-country road trip by skipping out overnight.] |
Author: manofmyword | [At the pumpkin's place. Micaiah's brother Nathaniel is visiting. You wanna come see him? He's a sweetheart. Kinda jumpy, though, so I better ask him first.] |
Author: temporal_affairs | [Yeah, sure, I'll be up when the time is right.] |
Author: manofmyword | [Love you, sweetie.]
He consults Nathaniel.
[Yeah, he says it's okay,] he reports, and the optimal time to appear in Aedyt's living room occurs shortly afterward. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Pop!
Nathaniel may be a guest, but Nathan's mate has his attention first. Kiss! And then:
"Hullo, Nathaniel. We've got excessively similar names, so if you want, you can call me Timer." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," says Nathaniel. "They're not really all that similar except when you write them out, though." |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker gives his sweetie a hug and a kiss. "Pick me up, honey," he suggests. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Scoop! Nathan is highly obliging about this sort of thing. |
Author: pumpkin_pie | Aedyt sighs the sigh of one whose parents are unspeakably cute. |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel giggles quietly. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "So what'd I miss while I was listening to Kerron make the case for the cultural importance of the World's Biggest Rubber Band Ball?" |
Author: pythbox | "Aedyt was telling me about her hobbies. She has a lot of them," says Nathaniel. "What is the World's Biggest Rubber Band Ball? How big is it?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "It's a ball of rubber bands - pumpkin, have you got rubber bands, I don't know if they have 'em in Samaria - and it's a little smaller than this house, after a while it starts using these massive industrial ones." |
Author: pumpkin_pie | Aedyt produces a rubber band. |
Author: pythbox | "It's... sproingy," says Nathaniel, fascinated. |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker giggles. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Yup," says Nathan. "People use 'em to keep things bundled up. If you use 'em to keep other rubber bands bundled up and then you keep going, you get a ball." |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker helpfully conjures a ball of rubber bands and hands it to Nathaniel. |
Author: pythbox | He adds the one Aedyt gave him onto it, then starts carefully disassembling the thing. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan laughs. This occasion, like the overwhelming majority of occasions, calls for him to nuzzle his mate. |
Author: pythbox | ...That is really cute. |
Author: manofmyword | It is, it is really cute!
The Joker nuzzles him back, which might be even cuter. |
Author: pythbox | Awwww. Nathaniel smiles at his slowly diminishing rubber band ball and the neat pile of rubber bands in his lap. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan hangs out on the asteroid with mate, daughter, and visitor until it is a good time to bid everyone goodbye and pop back into the car with Kerron and resume roadtripping. |
Author: pythbox | In this time, Nathaniel pulls the rubber band ball apart completely and then puts it back together again. Seven different times. |
Author: manofmyword | "I think we found you a new hobby," giggles the Joker. |
Author: pythbox | "Can I keep it?" he asks shyly. |
Author: manofmyword | "Sure you can," he says, grinning. "So while you're here, wanna see any more of the world? We could go hang out in an emptyish capital site for a while." |
Author: pythbox | "Sure," says Nathaniel, smiling a little. He tosses his rubber band ball into the air and catches it. |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker waves to Aedyt and then teleports himself and Nathaniel to a random capital site not currently in use. |
Author: alicornucopia | No capital sites, these days, are truly empty; they all have some full-time staff, combinations of wolves and nonessential vampires. The Australian site doesn't have any permanent wolf residents in it, but it has a couple of vampires who can talk to visitors and give out pamphlets and generally serve as Golden Coven presence.
One of them is where they land.
She blinks at them.
"Hello," Renata says, tilting her head. |
Author: pythbox | "Um, hello," Nathaniel says, blinking back at her. "I'm Nathaniel." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm Renata," she says. "Um, welcome to the Australia capital site of the Golden Empire."
She is definitely looking at Nathaniel more than at the Joker. |
Author: pythbox | Yes. Nathaniel can see that. He is not sure how to feel about it, and therefore defaults to 'vaguely worried'. |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker... observes the proceedings. |
Author: alicornucopia | "You're pretty," says Renata to Nathaniel after a long silence. |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel blushes.
"Um. So are you," he says. |
Author: alicornucopia | She smiles. |
Author: pythbox | He smiles, too. |
Author: alicornucopia | Renata appears perfectly unselfconscious about just sort of staring at him. She's mostly looking at his face, although occasionally her eyes make lazy sweeps down and back up. |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel's blush is slowly developing into a blushier blush. |
Author: manofmyword | "Well, this is adorable," the Joker remarks. |
Author: alicornucopia | Renata tilts her head when the Joker talks, but she doesn't look at him. |
Author: manofmyword | Heh. He smiles. |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel glances at the Joker and dares to observe, "You know something." |
Author: manofmyword | "I do!" he agrees. |
Author: alicornucopia | Renata has met the Joker before and apparently knows everything she wants to about what he knows. She has a question for Nathaniel. "Do you have all those magic wards on you?" |
Author: pythbox | "...um, what?" he says nervously. |
Author: alicornucopia | "There's a curl on your forehead and I want to put it with your other hair, but I don't want to accidentally hurt you," she explains. |
Author: pythbox | He gives the Joker a pleading look. |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker snaps his fingers theatrically.
"All magicked up," he says. |
Author: alicornucopia | Renata moves her hand almost comically slowly, nonetheless, like she's trying to adjust for human tracking speed but doesn't know how much. She sweeps the curl from Nathaniel's forehead in among his other hair. She smiles again. |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel... doesn't get out of the way.
When she's done, he looks at the Joker again. |
Author: manofmyword | "She's sweet on you," he explains. |
Author: pythbox | He blinks.
"...Oh." |
Author: alicornucopia | Renata thinks about this.
Then she says, "Is that okay?" |
Author: pythbox | "I don't know," says Nathaniel, defaulting to Vaguely Worried again. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh." Now Renata looks Vaguely Worried too! |
Author: pythbox | Aww.
"Maybe it is," he says hopefully.
(The stray curl floops back into place.) |
Author: alicornucopia | (Renata fixes it again.) |
Author: pythbox | Despite himself, Nathaniel smiles.
"It always does that," he says. "Sometimes there's another one that comes out to keep it company." |
Author: alicornucopia | "That is cute," asserts Renata. |
Author: pythbox | He grins and ducks his head.
Floop floop. |
Author: alicornucopia | Renata appears to think that when there are two curls out they don't need fixing.
But that means she does not have an excuse to touch him! What a troubling dilemma. |
Author: manofmyword | As adorable as this is, somebody around here should start thinking about the future.
The Joker brainphones Jane.
[Could you do me a favour and tell Angela there's a vampire who's sweet on Nathaniel?] |
Author: mind_game | [Sure thing.]
[Angela wants to know more about the vampire and how Nathaniel's reacting to same.] |
Author: manofmyword | [Her name's Renata and she's mostly boring. She's got a witch power that means nobody can attack her. I think Nathaniel's a little sweet on her right back. They're giving each other dopey looks as we speak.] |
Author: mind_game | [Oh, her.]
Pause, pause.
[If it comes up in conversation and he wants to, Nathaniel can take her home with him, she'll just have to be invisible to most people and stay out of the way.] |
Author: manofmyword | [Thanks,] he says cheerfully. |
Author: pythbox | Nathaniel continues giving Renata what the Joker has described as a dopey look. |
Author: alicornucopia | Renata's looking dopily right back at him, a spacey smile on her face. He's pretty! She is trying to think of a reason to touch him. She doesn't seem to have one. |
Author: pythbox | Something occurs to Nathaniel.
He says, "What happens when I go home?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Where is that?" asks Renata. |
Author: pythbox | "Samaria. Another world," he says. "I came to visit the Joker because he's my brother's alt." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh," frowns Renata. "Can I go there?" |
Author: manofmyword | "If you're invisible to anybody who doesn't know about magic," says the Joker. "And if you 'stay out of the way'. You'll have to ask Angela what that one means." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm good at staying out of the way," says Renata. |
Author: pythbox | "Me too," murmurs Nathaniel. |
Author: alicornucopia | Smile.
Hairpetting with no excuse at all. |
Author: pythbox | Smile! |
Author: alicornucopia | Yay! She is petting his hair and he is happy about it and that is just the best thing and Renata is brimful with pleasedness. |
Author: pythbox | Aww, pleasedness! That is cute. She is cute. |
Author: alicornucopia | He's cute and his face is cute. |
Author: pythbox | Awwwwwwwww. Cutes. |
Author: alicornucopia | Yes. Cutes. Dopey smiles. |
Author: pythbox | Those things. Yes. |