Author: small_magics | Aianon has made a plant in the open airless space above the surface of Thilanushinyel. It is a very, very large plant - some dragons will be attending the party, after all, even if Ansharil in particular is going to be assorted small things and stay on Sarion's person the bulk of the time.
The locals will be Sarion, her beloveds, their other beloved, the five conjured dragons (and their Bondmates, where applicable: Virgivere and Lissa), and Liselen - Magania has, as usual, declined, and so far no Bell party has featured Bell parents.
Amariah is bringing her boyfriend and spontaneous daughter and two of the spontaneous daughter's friends, as well as an Alethian instance of the Rupert template.
Shell Bell is bringing Pearl and Screwdriver.
Golden is bringing her usual large contingent, as usual not including her husband but including her daughter and daughter's grown fosterling (the other remaining at home) and his wolf, both mothers-in-law and one father-in-law, adopted siblings, staff members including the Joker and Nathan, and the children of the aforementioned.
Glass is bringing both wives, all three daughters, Kanim, and her cat. She invited Icarin and Valeria, but their parents are not willing to let them gallivant into other worlds unsupervised and had a scheduling conflict.
Stella's bringing a smattering of people including Alice, Anna, Sandy, Libby, Bridget, her college roommate Janine, and Lazarus.
Tab is bringing Aelise (but not Kers) and Luhan.
Etty is bringing only Nona.
Aether, likewise, brings no one but Celo.
Pattern comes with Ripper, Slipstick, Queenie, and Ghosty.
Aegis is accompanied by her four-bodied boyfriend, Merryweather, Whitlock, and Howlett.
Aurora comes with Brilliance, Lexi with her Device Persica, Agent Honey with her Device Adularia, and Beth.
Rose brings her husband and three children and her former apprentice, Luc.
Angela brings her husband, her four children, several of her friends, and some of those friends' children and grandchildren with and without wings. Keziah also brings a friend.
Juliet shows up with Soph, Minus, Red, Giles, James, Virginia, Minnie, Ike, and Val.
Cam brings Jellybean and Tilly and stops there.
And from unBelled worlds hail additional Sherlocks and Tonies, Darcy, Matilda, Pepper, and Eights. |
Author: pina_colada | "Hi, Darcy. Looks like you're stalling about something that has nothing to do with me, want help?" |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "Ooh," says Darcy. "Hi! Are you thinking about a particular kind of help?" |
Author: pina_colada | "I'm not particular! How've you been?" |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "Pretty good, pretty good. So it turns out I have an alt who is a dragon," she says. "I'm really not sure how to deal." |
Author: pina_colada | "That explains the stalling then, yeah. Wow. I don't have any advice socked away for this occasion, Mum pretty much had no special reaction to his dragon alt." |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "Your mom is, like, up to his eyebrows in alts," Darcy points out. "I only have one, and she's a freaking dragon! I mean, it's awesome, but what do I even talk to her about?" |
Author: pina_colada | "I don't know. I guess you could go up to her and say, 'you're a dragon, that's awesome' - like, she's your alt, so how would you feel if a dragon went up to you and said - 'you have a magic space hammer, that's awesome'?" |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "I... would feel pretty good about that," Darcy admits. "Huh." Her desire to stall is lessening. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron smiles. |
Author: sailorheavymetal | She grins and hugs him. "You're a champ, dude. Wanna come meet my dragon alt with me?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Sure, why not?" |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "Cool!"
The archways leading outside are dragon-sized. They're not hard to find. Darcy heads for the closest. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron follows along agreeably. |
Author: sailorheavymetal | There are dragons in flight outside, but too far off for Darcy to see them clearly. She squints.
"Okay," she says, "I'm thinking this is gonna take flying. How do you feel about me carrying you?"
(Darcy feels pretty good about her carrying him, personally.) |
Author: pina_colada | He glances at her colorshapes. He decides to omit to mention that he once mentioned casually at age two that flying looked fun and that his mum rendered him able to do it thereafter. "Sounds like a plan." |
Author: sailorheavymetal | Darcy beams.
"Okay, hug me," she says, putting one arm around his waist and unholstering Mjolnir with her other hand. "We can catch you if you slip but I'd rather not have to." |
Author: pina_colada | Hugs! |
Author: sailorheavymetal | Darcy spins her hammer, and they depart the platform in a swirl of wind. The arm around his waist is pretty strong for a human - she's been training - but it's not just that strength keeping him close; some of the hammer's magic wraps around him too.
She brings them in a wide arc out away from the platform, looking for likely dragons. |
Author: pythbox | The closest one turns toward them and flies closer still. Her scales are a deep midnight blue, patterned with branching white lines.
"You smell like thunderstorms!" she calls from above. |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "I know!" Darcy yells back. "It's the magic space hammer that does it!" |
Author: pythbox | The dragon giggles and banks toward the space plant with its roomy encircling platform. |
Author: sailorheavymetal | Darcy follows. If it's a race, she wins it, or more accurately Mjolnir does; she sets herself and Kerron down neatly before the dragon's claws touch wood.
"So hi!" she says. "I'm Darcy." |
Author: pythbox | "I'm Sidanar," says the dragon. "Are you my alt? I think you're my alt." |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "I think so too!" |
Author: pythbox | "Awesome," says Sidanar. "What's a magic space hammer?" |
Author: sailorheavymetal | She holds up Mjolnir.
"It's magic, and from space!" |
Author: pina_colada | (Kerron recovers his footing and watches this exchange with amusement.) |
Author: pythbox | Sidanar snakes her head down until her nose nearly touches the hammer.
"I like it," she says. "What's it for? Besides smelling like thunderstorms and flying?" |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "Heroing, basically," says Darcy. "I can summon thunderstorms with it, but with all those people out flying I probably shouldn't. And when I put it down it stays put and when I hit things with it they stay hit." |
Author: pythbox | "That sounds magic, all right!" says Sidanar approvingly. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron says, "And I'm Kerron. Not sure if this is large enough to read. Or if dragons go in for literacy, for that matter." |
Author: pythbox | "Reading small letters is kind of a challenge," Sidanar admits. "It's usually easier to just get someone to read it. Hello, Kerron! You're big for a human. Warm, too." |
Author: pina_colada | "Not a human," he chuckles. "Only half. Other half is vampire." |
Author: pythbox | "What's a vampire?" she says interestedly. |
Author: pina_colada | "Species from Aurum. Really fast, really durable, really strong - Aianon beat my dad arm-wrestling but it was close - and made out of humans, with vampire venom, takes three days if you do it the natural way." |
Author: pythbox | Sidanar's head pulls back and her wings half-open in startlement. "Your father nearly won a contest of strength with an Endarkened?" |
Author: sailorheavymetal | A startled dragon is an impressive sight. Darcy is impressed. |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah. With anybody but Aianon it wouldn't be close - Dad could pick you up easy. Might not be comfy, he's human-sized and you wouldn't have very well-distributed pressure, but he could do it." |
Author: pythbox | "...really?" she says dubiously. |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah. Stand him up there, put a sling under you that wouldn't snap, he could pick you right up." |
Author: pythbox | She considers this.
"I don't think anyone's ever tried picking up a dragon before, except for another dragon. And even that's usually difficult." |
Author: pina_colada | "You're not really shaped for it. I just meant to indicate that vampires are very, very strong." |
Author: pythbox | "It worked," Sidanar says dryly. |
Author: sailorheavymetal | Darcy cracks up. |
Author: pina_colada | "So that's my dad, and my mum is a Joker like Ansharil and Aianon." |
Author: pythbox | "What species is she—? Human?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah, pretty much, but she throws so much magic around I don't usually categorize her like that."
(Kerron just kind of runs with it when people pronoun his mum.) |
Author: sailorheavymetal | Darcy gives him a quizzical look, but, well, Jokers. |
Author: pythbox | "Human mages are still human, aren't they?" says Sidanar. |
Author: pina_colada | "Maybe on Thilanushinyel. At home you've got witches, who can be any species but only have single specific powers, and then you have imported magic, and pretty much everyone except my mum who has access to that stuff is not a human. Or at least was when I was growing up; there's Harley now, he's another Mum." |
Author: pythbox | "There are a lot of Ansharil and his Bonded running around," Sidanar observes. |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah, loads, I think they're still second to Bells unless you count all the daemons or something though." |
Author: pythbox | "Has someone counted?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Probably, but oh, lemme see, if you count daemons you've got nineteen Bells, if you count daemons and Sue's fork you've got... twenty-two Jokers, actually, but if you don't count the daemons and Sue's fork they're tied at sixteen now that Felicity's been added on. He didn't come with a Bell. I guess you could count Shell Bell and Juliet one extra time each, they used to have forks and then merged, but the Jokers are still ahead unless you only count as few of both as you can justify." |
Author: pythbox | "I wonder what makes there be so many of people," says Sidanar. "It's odd, isn't it?" |
Author: pina_colada | "There aren't that many of most people. Only one of me or Dad, so far, just the two of you, etcetera." |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass appears unexpectedly, points at Kerron, says, "Green, he was right," moves on to the Darcies, and says, "Purples." |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "...Purple whats?" inquires Darcy. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Oh, sorry. I recently discovered that there are two big clusters of templates who are 'closer together' than to those in the opposite cluster in - templatespace. I can go into more detail if you want, but the short version is that these clusters have been named 'purple' and 'green' and you are purple and Kerron is green." |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "Cool," says Darcy. |
Author: pina_colada | "Who guessed me?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "The Joker did. You match your dad," she adds. "And Jokers are purple, Bells are green." |
Author: pythbox | "Does everyone have these colours? What colours are Sherial and Tianthonet and Elasirae and Arianna?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "I haven't looked at them specifically, but Sherlocks and Tonies that I have looked at are purple. Haven't checked Lazarus or any of the Annas." |
Author: pythbox | "Is Lazarus the human one of Elasirae, then?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Yep. They've met, he didn't mention?" |
Author: pythbox | "Sort of. I wasn't paying much attention," she says, shrugging her folded wings. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Anyway, now you all know your moieties, which as far as I know is practically worthless information but I'm sorting everyone anyway." And Glass departs. |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "Well, that was... weird," says Darcy. "Weird is what that was." |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah. I wonder if that'll turn out to be anything but a weird curiosity." |
Author: sailorheavymetal | "Who knows." |