Author: mute_pen | Etty catalogues and indexes the library of magic.
Since she has not had luck finding Astgabels or anyone who can direct her to it by flying in slightly different directions each day and asking random people, she stops trying, and instead tries to come up with ways to rejigger the available divination spells into producing a compass direction for her to follow. Or maybe she can come up with some variant on the food-generation spell that would be practical for a long trip, and bring Nona with her, and then they could be gone for days looking farther afield than she can get in half a day's flight.
Eventually she finds a spell that is not exactly right, but might be close enough, and she shows it to Nona. |
Author: growcrooked | "Sure, I'll cast it," shrugs Nona.
Magic has been getting easier and easier the more she has been doing it. That didn't happen before she started casting spells for Etty; maybe what she used to do was not big enough to count. |
Author: mute_pen | Etty kisses her and helps set up. The materials for this one aren't gross in and of themselves, it's just the procedure. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona is, as usual, completely serene about what she has to do to cast these things.
And after she has done it, and then had a good wash, there can be snuggles! The broken-off head of a boar-spear that is going to serve as their compass will continue to point in the right direction until and unless they bury it for a month. |
Author: mute_pen | Snuggles! Snuggles are good.
The next morning, Etty sets out, carefully, in the direction the spell indicated. She doesn't stop at mid-day; there's a river in this direction, so she will at minimum have water, and she thinks that if she flies straight she will be at Astgabels before sundown - even accounting for the Baron's greater flight speed - where she will meet people she knows who will feed her. Hopefully, her father.
She is back the evening of the next day, and when she transforms, she doesn't look happy. |
Author: growcrooked | "Etty? What's wrong?" |
Author: mute_pen | "Carl's dead." |
Author: growcrooked |
Nona hugs her. |
Author: mute_pen | Hugs. "Everyone else I knew is fine - they kept calling me Isabel, of course, which felt weird, but I wasn't about to explain - but Carl's gone." |
Author: growcrooked | Hugs. Lots of hugs.
"I'm sorry," she murmurs. |
Author: mute_pen | "I'm going to - look through the library again - maybe if I understand it well enough - he had stuff on immortality, maybe I could figure out how to bring someone back." |
Author: growcrooked | "Okay," says Nona. "I'll help. I'll cast whatever you want." |
Author: mute_pen | Etty nods. And hugs her again, once, and then starts in the library's direction, and then changes her mind and spins around, she is not done, she kisses Nona fiercely before resuming course. |
Author: growcrooked | Kisses! Also hugs.
"I love you," says Nona. "Good luck." |
Author: mute_pen | "Thanks."
Etty reads a lot, the next few days. She breaks to eat with less regularity, her sleep cycle keeps skewing later and later, but often - when she can't go through any more notes, decipher any more handwriting - she finds her way into Nona's arms. And there, there are kisses.
Increasingly squirmy kisses with increasingly whimpery little noises behind them. |
Author: growcrooked | Kisses. Kisses and snuggles and love and kisses and snuggles and happy sighing and kisses. |
Author: mute_pen | "I love you," breathes Etty. "I love you so much." |
Author: growcrooked | "I love you too," says Nona. |
Author: mute_pen | The squirms get squirmier. The whimpers get whimperier.
Etty doesn't appear to have the vocabulary to say whatever she means under that "I love you", but she has the motor skills to squirm squirmily out of her dress. |
Author: growcrooked | That... is definitely a thing that just happened.
Somewhat tentatively, Nona kisses her again. |
Author: mute_pen | Kisses. Also, Etty appears to have nonlinguistic opinions about Nona's state of dress too. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona is totally okay with that. |
Author: mute_pen | Etty did not expect to meet any form of not-okayness. |
Author: growcrooked | Etty is perceptive!
Nona is pleased. |
Author: mute_pen | Good. Pleasedness is the general idea here.
A certain specialized sort of pleasedness. |
Author: growcrooked | Ooh. |
Author: mute_pen | Ooh? |
Author: growcrooked | Ooh. |
Author: mute_pen | Etty is seeking a slightly more... complex... reaction. |
Author: growcrooked | That can definitely be arranged. |
Author: mute_pen | Oh good!
Etty gets to the arranging. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona is extremely pleased. |
Author: mute_pen | Pleasedness continues to be the idea.
This sort of pleasedness becomes a more frequent feature of Etty's breaks from research.
The research, meanwhile, progresses. Etty copies Baronly notes into more atomic, more easily legible parts, and strews the pages around the library, rearranging them, adding extra bits, connecting them with bits of string and paperweights, writing and rewriting.
She doesn't get to the point of coming up with anything to resurrect Carl, but eventually she thinks she has a form of immortality with much mitigated side effects. Two, actually, one for her, one for Nona: Etty's age will re-set every time she changes between swan and human, so as long as she does this regularly, she won't get any older. (Defenses against other mishap will have to be handled separately.) Nona's is more complicated, and she can't draw on captive swangirls or a reasonable facsimile as a sacrifice for the spell any more, so -
"I could probably think of something else, but you might think this one is fine - um -" And she shows Nona the spell summary, which will allow Nona's age to re-set if she skins one of her hands. "As long as it's a steel knife we can heal it after just fine." |
Author: growcrooked | Nona giggles. And kisses her. |
Author: mute_pen | Kisses! |
Author: growcrooked | "I think that sounds lovely," says Nona. |
Author: mute_pen | "And I don't think it would ever kill you before the reset and the opportunity to heal you, which removing one of your ribs well might." |
Author: growcrooked | "You're so thoughtful," she says merrily. |
Author: mute_pen | "I am." |
Author: growcrooked | Nona kisses her again. |
Author: mute_pen | Kisses!
They have this whole castle to themselves, there is really no reason they have to go all the way up the stairs for. Things. |
Author: growcrooked | Mm. Yes. Lovely things. |
Author: mute_pen |
Later, Etty puts the finishing touches on the spells, helps Nona set up to cast them - the maintenance for hers is gentle and easy but she didn't have as much incentive or ability to mitigate the casting - and turns into a swan to see if it worked. There's no visible difference when she changes back; she really is the age she resets to, but she can feel it work. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona, of course, tests hers soon afterward.
And when she has healed her hand, there can be kisses! She feels like kisses. |
Author: mute_pen | Kisses, yes, good. |
Author: growcrooked | Yes very good indeed. |
Author: mute_pen | Time goes by.
Etty continues working on her resurrection project.
She doesn't get much of anywhere, but there isn't a lot else to do. (She'd go around disseminating the immortality spell that doesn't require turning into a swan if she thought anybody in the world but Nona would eagerly skin their hand for the result in question, but she does not think so. She'd try offering the spell to call up meals to people who don't have enough, but she is somewhat concerned someone would attempt to burn her or Nona or both at the stake.)
She flies for fun. She has other fun with her girlfriend. She studies. She eats, she sleeps.
(Lots of that second thing.) |
Author: growcrooked | Nona does occasional magic, and eats, and sleeps, and has plenty of Other Fun.
It's lovely. |
Author: mute_pen | One morning, in the midst of some Other Fun, there is a sound from downstairs - one of the heavy doors opening, and voices murmuring to each other.
Etty stops what she is doing and lifts her head to listen, puzzled. |
Author: growcrooked | "Mm?" says Nona.
Then she hears it too. |
Author: thaumobabble | The quiet voices are not speaking Diotalandish at all, but they both sound rather like Etty. |
Author: growcrooked | "Etty," says Nona after a moment, "I think some yous have arrived." |
Author: mute_pen | "I didn't know they could come in, like that," says Etty. "Huh." It's faster to swan and back than to actually change into her dress; she does that, then kisses Nona apologetically and tiptoes to the staircase. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona supposes she should also get dressed. She doesn't feel like it, though, so she just snuggles into her blankets. |
Author: mute_pen | "Hello?" says Etty, when she gets down the stairs. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Oh, good, this is your place, I was worried when the teleport wouldn't go that I'd got the wrong world altogether," says one of the visitors. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona gets curious.
Nona still does not feel like getting dressed.
Nona comes down the stairs. |
Author: thaumobabble | The other visitor looks at her a moment longer than would be considered polite in most social circles, and then she averts her eyes. "Hello. I'm Glass, this is Shell Bell." |
Author: mute_pen | "I'm Etty." She looks at Glass, and at her naked girlfriend, and says, "Do you need her to put some clothes on...?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "That would be great." |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Yeah," says Shell Bell, looking at the ceiling, "I have seen more naked people than I have wanted to over the last few days." |
Author: growcrooked | Nona shrugs.
"Okay," she says, and she turns around and goes back up the stairs. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "You guys met Celo, right? He's going around with magic censor bars on now." |
Author: mute_pen | "We did, yes - you met him? And Bella?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "His Bella's going by Aether, now, since there are a lot of us and a lot of us are called Bella," says Glass. "You can keep 'Etty', no one has anything like it. We can go from world to world more or less whenever we want and there are a lot of us and we're here to collect you, since Aether told us about you." |
Author: mute_pen | "Oh! How do you do it? Is it more otherworldly magic?" |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Not exactly, but the thing it is instead is hard to explain if you're from a low-tech magicky world - is Nona going to get clothes or is she just not interested in talking to us if she has to wear clothes?" |
Author: mute_pen | "I'm not sure. Celo spent a lot of the time away and Bella - Aether? - was able to relay what he was saying, can you do that?" |
Author: thaumobabble | [Sort of. Hi, Nona.] |
Author: growcrooked | [Hello!] says Nona. [This is interesting. What are you doing?] |
Author: thaumobabble | [This is called the brainphone. We have a lot of magic and we're here to give it to Etty.] |
Author: mute_pen | [I hope it's nicer than the kind I have here.] |
Author: thaumobabble | [Oh, much, the kind here is gross and you won't even be able to do it outside of your world - the ongoing effects will be stable but casting spells will only work here.] |
Author: growcrooked | [Strange,] says Nona. [Does that mean no more skinning my hand to stay young?] |
Author: thaumobabble | [Well, you could do it recreationally or for other reasons, but it will not be necessary for staying young.] |
Author: arenaria | (Shell Bell shudders.) |
Author: growcrooked | Nona cannot see Shell Bell shudder.
[Okay,] she says cheerfully. [What will I need to do instead?] |
Author: thaumobabble | [Nothing in particular. We're going to wander off with Etty for a bit and hand her a lot of magic powers and she'll be able to do it when she comes back. You could join us if you wanted to put some clothes on.] |
Author: she_sells_seashells | (Shell Bell gets ahold of herself and makes a Janepoint for Etty.) |
Author: growcrooked | [Will it be interesting if I join you? It doesn't sound that interesting,] she says. |
Author: mute_pen | [What's that you just - made?] Etty wants to know. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | [It's a Janepoint. It'll make sure that time doesn't travel more slowly or quickly here than the other worlds we have access to. Whether you'll think it's interesting or not I couldn't say, Nona. It does involve going to some places you haven't seen and you could learn about the magic Etty's getting, you'll probably want some of it yourself.] |
Author: growcrooked | [What kind of magic?] |
Author: thaumobabble | [Two of them you'll probably wind up helping Etty with. They hurt.] |
Author: growcrooked | Nona giggles. [Ooh.] |
Author: mute_pen | Etty laughs. [I love you. They hurt but they aren't gross?] |
Author: thaumobabble | [Right. One makes magic directly out of pain, the other hurts as a side effect of doing the magic. Minting and enchanting.] |
Author: growcrooked | [But no drinking blood and peeing on things?] |
Author: she_sells_seashells | [Ew! No.] |
Author: growcrooked | She giggles again.
And comes back down the stairs, now wearing a dress. |
Author: thaumobabble | Now Glass can look at her comfortably. "Shall we?" she asks Etty. |
Author: mute_pen | "Sure. How do we go? The door closed." |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "I can get doors whenever I want," says Shell Bell, reaching for the door and opening it back up to Milliways, "but even if I couldn't, Jane can move people between any two places she can see - she's the complicated thing I mentioned - and she can see out of that Janepoint, or my gem, or Glass's, and soon you will have your own." |
Author: growcrooked | "How's she do that?" wonders Nona. |
Author: thaumobabble | "We don't actually know how. It's not magic. She may have gotten it from her dad. Jane, say hi." |
Author: mind_game | [Hi!] |
Author: growcrooked | "Hi," says Nona. "Do you have a magic dad?" |
Author: mind_game | [My dad's a one of you. His name's Sue. He can't move other people, though, just himself. Some other ones of you have learned to do it too.] |
Author: growcrooked | [How many ones of me are there?] |
Author: mind_game | [Thirteen, not counting you. And fifteen of Etty, not counting her.] |
Author: growcrooked | [I want to meet them,] Nona decides. |
Author: mind_game | [You can. Some of them are busy right now, but not all of them are.] |
Author: growcrooked | [Busy with what? Who can I meet?] |
Author: mind_game | [Reunion after multi-year separations from their Bells, mostly. I can ask the others!]
And she asks the others. |
Author: pythbox | Alice, Ghosty, Corona, Celo, Sue, Queenie, Brilliance, Beast, Micaiah, Jellybean, and the Joker would all be delighted to meet the new one! |
Author: mind_game | [Eleven of them are free, though. How about you all just congregate in the Belltower, and Bells can walk Etty through new magic and you can meet those eleven?] |
Author: growcrooked | "Eleven," says Nona speculatively. "Wow. Sure!" |
Author: mind_game | Jane picks up and puts down a lot of people over the ensuing several seconds. Here are a dozen Jokers and three Bells in the Belltower! |
Author: mute_pen | Etty is set up with the Bellbook while Glass and Shell Bell sit on either side of her footnoting the contents. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona grins at the assembled Jokers. |
Author: yourheartstrings | "C'mere, you," says Ghosty.
And the Jokers, Nona included, all head up to one of the orgy chambers. |
Author: mute_pen | Etty watches them go.
Then she goes back to the book.
She goes through her checklist, except for her aura (she wears her Janegem in an earring, with another Janeless one to match on the other side) and waits for Nona for aura-ing. She writes in the book. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona takes a little while!
But she does come back.
"Everyone's learning how to move between worlds!" she says. "I tried a few times but I didn't get it yet. Ghosty did, and Brilliance. Brilliance is pretty!" |
Author: mute_pen | "Oh, is that what you were doing." |
Author: growcrooked | Nona giggles.
"It's one of the things," she says. "They gave me some magic, too!" |
Author: mute_pen | "Do you want to go to Chronicle and get auras?" |
Author: growcrooked | "Yes! And Corona says he'll come if he's figured out how to freecast by the time I want to do mine, and otherwise Ghosty will." |
Author: mute_pen | "That's nice of them." (Etty has a perfect memory now and knows who these people are and which of her alts they work for.) |
Author: thaumobabble | "Will I be scandalized if I go up there and have a look? I'm curious if this is just a Joker thing or if anyone could theoretically learn it." |
Author: growcrooked | "If you knock on the door and ask nicely they might put clothes on." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Except Celo, presumably, but I can leave him censored. All right." Up she goes, only as far as the door. She knocks. [Guys, I want to see if freecasting is a template thing.] |
Author: pythbox | [Does that mean you want to come in?] says Corona.
[We're mostly decent in here,] says Jellybean, to a round of giggles from the rest. [Make that completely decent - Celo's under a blanket now.] |
Author: thaumobabble | [Thank you.]
In she comes. At Jokers she peers.
Eventually she says, "Can one of you go just across the room or something? Actually - Sue and any other one of you." |
Author: pythbox | Sue flickers across the room. |
Author: cardistry | Brilliance follows, scooping him into a hug. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Okay, interesting. I think Jokers can all pick it up but some of you will have an easier time than others - ones without any magic or practice splitting their attention and who've never dreamed to Milliways will have it hardest. It's related to dreaming Milliways; your template interacts strangely with being stuck in both cases. I don't think freecasting is exclusive only to you forever, but trying to pick it up probably is not worth the time investment for anyone else whose life's ambition isn't to be able to do it. It's not-technically-magic, in the sense that it doesn't show up to my witchsight, only to my metacauasality sight." |
Author: cardistry | "Interesting," says Brilliance, snuggling Sue. |
Author: pythbox | "Makes sense," says Celo. "Who's picked it up so far? Me - I've got my field. Sue's got a daemon. Brilliance is magic as fuck and has his disembodied pain thing going on. Ghosty's Ghosty. Harley's the odd one out, but he had all that thwarted fate going for him." |
Author: thaumobabble | "The thwarted fate was definitely working overtime. It saved up something very, very special for the only Joker with an adequate childhood." |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Anyway. So that's that." She goes back down the stairs. |
Author: mute_pen | "You'll tell us what our auras do once we have them, right?" Etty asks her. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Sure. Let's all go to Chronicle. Jane?" |
Author: mind_game | Pop! |
Author: growcrooked | Nona is popped!
She hugs Etty when they arrive. Not for any particular reason. Just because hug. |
Author: mute_pen | Because hug is a fine reason. "Where do we go?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Any free guest room is fine. Jarvis can tell you the way to one," says Glass. |
Author: poeticterms | Jarvis is happy to give directions! |
Author: mute_pen | Etty is happy to follow them. And happy to flop onto the guest bed with Nona. "Ready?" |
Author: growcrooked | "Yeah," says Nona, snuggling up. |
Author: mute_pen | "Let me know if I should ease off or step up," says Etty, nuzzling the side of Nona's neck, and she commences pouring enchantment power into the forest. |
Author: growcrooked | "Mmm, that's nice," she says dreamily. "You could go more if you wanted." |
Author: mute_pen | Etty goes more, accordingly. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona smiles and cuddles her. And wriggles a bit. |
Author: mute_pen | Channel-channel-channel. "Your mindscape's the orchard," she murmurs. "If you didn't already check." |
Author: growcrooked | "I like that orchard." |
Author: mute_pen | "Mine's the lake." |
Author: growcrooked | "Do you like it?" |
Author: mute_pen | "It's a perfectly nice lake. And it's only like the real one on the surface. The water's clearer and deeper in my head." |
Author: growcrooked | "That sounds pretty."
Snuggle. |
Author: mute_pen | Snuggle, snuggle. Channel, channel. |
Author: growcrooked | Snuggle. Extremely snuggle. |
Author: mute_pen | Time goes by.
The room gets colder. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona shivers and snuggles up closer. |
Author: mute_pen | This does not really help. Etty is herself rather chilly right now, and doesn't seem to notice. |
Author: growcrooked | "You're cold," Nona complains. |
Author: mute_pen | "I am? That's weird. I don't feel cold. To me anyway." |
Author: growcrooked | "You feel cold to me," she says, shivering. |
Author: mute_pen | "...If I have an aura of cold, is that going to be a problem?" Etty asks, pausing her channeling. "It's not supposed to be inconvenient, it shouldn't hurt you..." |
Author: growcrooked | "It doesn't hurt, it's just - not snuggly." |
Author: mute_pen | "Maybe it'll - get - snugglier? I can withdraw it for now." The cold sucks away and the room is back to normal, and so is Etty. |
Author: growcrooked | "Much better," says Nona, hugging her. "I love you." |
Author: mute_pen | "I love you too."
And she resumes channeling. |
Author: growcrooked | Mmmmm. |
Author: mute_pen | Eventually:
"That should be about it. I should go ask Glass to check me over." |
Author: growcrooked | "Is that exactly what you want to be doing right now?" says Nona. "It's not what I want to be doing right now." |
Author: mute_pen | "Oh, is that so." |
Author: growcrooked | Nona grins.
And kisses her. |
Author: mute_pen | Kisses!
It is somewhat later when Etty makes it out of the room to find Glass and get checked out. |
Author: thaumobabble | Predictably enough, Glass diagnoses her with an aura of cold. "It's developed enough now that it should behave itself with people you're close to, though, and shouldn't actually harm anyone you don't want to hurt. I'm not sure what this other part does - I'm getting better at interpretations but still... It looks like a cross between Aurora and Kerron, so I guess it's something like detecting other people's intentions? Are you getting anything like that - let it out?" |
Author: mute_pen | Etty lets her aura out. (Humidity crystallizes around her; frost gathers on her skin and snowflakes adorn her hair and eyelashes, and in the white feather dress she looks like some kind of ice-spirit.) "...Yeah. Kind of - I can't tell exactly what either of you want, but I can tell that you aren't set up to be in my way?" |
Author: growcrooked | "I want to hug you," says Nona, and does.
The cold is not unsnuggly anymore! |
Author: mute_pen | Hug!
(Pleasantly tickly frost collects on Nona as soon as she touches Etty.) |
Author: growcrooked | Giggle-hug.
"...What happens if you put it away?" she wonders. "Or if I go away from you - will we still be all icy?" |
Author: mute_pen | Etty withdraws her aura. The frost disappears in a burst of mist. She puts it back; frost draws itself back on both of them. She takes a step back. Nona's melts; Etty's stays. |
Author: growcrooked | "I'm all slushy," giggles Nona. |
Author: mute_pen | Etty laughs and touches her again; it refreezes, and she withdraws the aura, and it's gone - no slush. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona hugs her.
"I love you. My turn?" |
Author: mute_pen | "Sure. I can't channel for you, though, do you want me to hang around anyway?" |
Author: growcrooked | "Well, you probably won't want to hang around right where I am." |
Author: mute_pen | "I mean, should I go home, or take further advantage of Glass's hospitality." |
Author: growcrooked | "You could stay! And then you'll see what my aura is when I get it. Jane, is Corona freecasting now?" |
Author: mind_game | [Hey Corona, Nona wants to know if you can freecast.] |
Author: pythbox | [Sure can!] he says, and he pops into the room. |
Author: mute_pen | "Well. Um, have fun." |
Author: pythbox | "We will!" |
Author: growcrooked | Giggling, Nona leads him back to that guest room. |
Author: pythbox | They are gone for half an hour or so. |
Author: growcrooked | And then they are back! Nona has her aura out.
It acts superficially similar to Kas and Petaal's, but with a difference - Kas and Petaal's aura is focused on being very inviting to people who they'd like to touch them, and then on discouraging people they wouldn't. Nona's aura is less welcoming - more of a 'why yes, you could snuggle me, if you want' than a 'come snuggle me! right now!'.
Etty could definitely snuggle her. Glass would also be allowed, if she liked.
And there's one more thing, although no one presently in the room is experiencing that aspect directly. |
Author: mute_pen | Etty decides to snuggle her. "Interesting." |
Author: growcrooked | Snuggles!
"Anything not obvious about it?" she asks Glass. |
Author: thaumobabble | "I think part of it is always on. Withdraw it and I'll see if I can figure out which," Glass says. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona withdraws. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Nobody is going to be able to touch you if you don't want to," she concludes, squinting at the remainder of the aura. "But advertising it and enforcing any distance beyond no-touching are only when it's out." |
Author: growcrooked | "Huh," says Nona. "I like it." |
Author: pythbox | Corona grins at her.
"Back to the Joker party for me," he says. "You coming?" |
Author: growcrooked | "Maaaaaaaybe. - Oh, Etty, my coins are pretty, look!"
She produces a square.
It looks like it is filled with fresh blood; when she turns it over, the liquid moves with the motion of the coin. |
Author: mute_pen | "...Okay then." |
Author: growcrooked | Nona giggles. "I love you," she says. "Jane, can you put me in the Belltower please?" |
Author: mind_game | Pop! |
Author: growcrooked | She follows Corona back to where all the Jokers are teaching each other how to freecast.
Besides Corona, three others learned it while she was gone - Jellybean, Beast, and the Joker. Sue shares the sensations around; no two Jokers do it quite the same way, and there are departures in flavour going off in all different directions from just his and Harley's original independent discoveries.
Nona isn't next. That's Alice and Queenie, within a few minutes of each other. But she manages it a little while after that, and then it clicks for Micaiah, and there's nobody left here without it.
They celebrate.
And then Nona decides she would like to celebrate with Etty some, so she freecasts home - landing in the orchard, because it's the easiest place to get to. (She's learned how; that doesn't mean she's perfect at it yet.) |
Author: mute_pen | Etty is at home.
The orchard is the same and the lake is the same. The castle has been remodeled; it is no longer somber dark stone, but instead made of cheerfully diverse varieties of opal.
Etty is sitting with her father in the parlor. |
Author: growcrooked | "Oh! You found him!" she exclaims, and dashes in to hug Etty. |
Author: mute_pen | Hug.
"He was Downside, once Lake was added to it."
Carl shifts in his chair, peering at Nona and Etty out of the corner of his eye. |
Author: growcrooked | "Hello! I'm glad you're not dead anymore!" says Nona. She has her aura out; it says he is not allowed any closer than a foot or so. |
Author: mute_pen | He doesn't appear to have any desire to approach her. "Thank you. You're... Nona?"
"This is Nona," agrees Etty. "...I hope you understand."
Carl doesn't answer right away. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona snuggles Etty. |
Author: mute_pen | [I'm not sure if you will like to be here for the rest of this conversation. He's not taking the thing about me only liking women as badly as I feared but not as well as - say - Glass's parents.] |
Author: growcrooked | [Would it be bad if I was here?] |
Author: mute_pen | [It might hurt and it probably won't help.] |
Author: growcrooked | [Okay.]
She vanishes. |
Author: mute_pen | Etty tries to apologize, but Nona has apparently left the world.
She continues talking gently to her father. |
Author: growcrooked | Nona is back with the pile of Jokers. She snuggles them. They snuggle back.
It is nice. She likes being part of a deck. All these people - they understand. They are her and she is them, even though the details may vary.
And Queenie has the most comfortable lap in several universes. |