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: she_sells_seashells | "So I hear you two have dragon alts," Shell Bell remarks to her companions. |
Author: sicaria | Sherlock looks around. No dragons are in evidence in the main room, although it is large enough to contain several, with dragon-sized archways leading out onto what seems to be a dragon-sized platform encircling the... plant.
"Perhaps we will find them outside," she suggests. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Let's, I wanna see what a dragon you looks like." |
Author: sicaria | Out they go. |
Author: pythbox | The plant is surrounded by sufficient air for the dragons to fly, which they are doing.
One of them - her scales are bright gold with patches of red - comes in for a landing nearby as soon as the three humans emerge.
"Hi!" she says. "Who're you?" |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "I'm Shell Bell, and this is my Sherlock, Pearl, and that is my Tony, Screwdriver." |
Author: pythbox | "I'm Tianthonet," says the dragon. "A Tony, apparently."
She sits back, folding her hind legs and curling her tail around her forefeet, and peers down at the three of them. |
Author: ferratus | "Hi," says Screwdriver. |
Author: sicaria | Pearl looks around. She is sure that her dragon alt will be here any moment. |
Author: pythbox | And there she is, flying in remarkably silently and perching on the edge of the wide platform next to Tianthonet.
"Hello. I'm Sherial." |
Author: ferratus | "Well," says Screwdriver, "at least we don't have to come up with nicknames for you guys. We kinda scraped the bottom of the barrel already." |
Author: pythbox | "Yes, what is a screwdriver?" says Tianthonet. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "It's a small tool used to twist screws around so they'll stay put and attach things to other things," says Shell Bell. "It's not a very good nickname, but none of them for either of your templates are very good." |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna is being very brave. She is not clinging to any of her moms or her sisters. She is mingling.
"So um," she says tentatively to a red-haired woman, "...are you a fire-witch?" |
Author: ferratus | "Yeah," says Screwdriver, "we suck that way. Most of us had to name ourselves after our coin colours, and most of our coin colours are weird or boring or both. I mean, I have an alt named 'Sapphire' after a colour of paint." |
Author: pythbox | "...Is it significant paint, in some way?" wonders Sherial. |
Author: ferratus | "Well, he owns something that is painted that colour. I'm not sure it's significant." |
Author: most_capable | "...Potentially," says the woman. "What's a fire-witch?" |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Red's are red, Iron's look like hot iron, etcetera. Iron Man already came with a nickname. So did Strat, he's a Sherlock." |
Author: exactlyright | "Oh, on Chronicle they're... a kind of witch, but not like regular witches. They do fire and some other things. I'm a little bit a fire witch, just enough to hold hot stuff. Tony and Sherlock are more and Grandma Marianne is more than that. I have some friends who are all fire-witch though. They aren't here." |
Author: most_capable | "Then no, I don't think I'm a fire-witch," she says, smiling. |
Author: exactlyright | "They have red hair," says Carinna. "Most people on Chronicle with red hair are fire-witches." |
Author: sicaria | "I believe Strat skipped this one," says Pearl. "He does that. But you are likely to meet Minus and Steel and reasonably likely to meet Plus and Cloud." |
Author: ferratus | "The Tonies usually all show up," says Screwdriver. "For... reasons." |
Author: she_sells_seashells | Shell Bell giggles. |
Author: most_capable | "Not the case on Earth," says Pepper. "As far as I know. I did recently have... a fire-related experience, but I wasn't any kind of fire-anything before then." |
Author: exactlyright | "A fire-related experience?" |
Author: pythbox | Tianthonet snorts. "Uh-huh." |
Author: keyed_up | Meanwhile, Soph has finished her long-distance gawking at the crowd of beings ranging from numerous angels to one demon to several magical Devices, then says to her Tony, "I think it will for some reason be less weird to meet the one of you who's a dragon first and therefore doesn't look like you." |
Author: most_capable | "Someone came up with a treatment that was supposed to make very sick or injured people healthy again," she says. "There were complications." |
Author: exactlyright | "...Fire-related complications." |
Author: toblameforit | "Sure, I'll go with it," says Red. "What do you figure, are they outside? I bet they're outside." |
Author: keyed_up | "Yeah, I don't see 'em here." Outside they go, then. |
Author: most_capable | "Unfortunately, yes," she says. "Everything's under control now, but there were some chancy moments. And now I have a few fire-related complications myself, although they usually don't come up." |
Author: toblameforit | Outside they go!
"I bet that one's the me," says Tony, pointing to the red-and-gold dragon. |
Author: exactlyright | "Um, okay. Mostly all I do with being a bit of a fire witch is play with hot glass." |
Author: pythbox | "I bet you're right!" says Tianthonet. |
Author: keyed_up | "Oh, pretty. Hi. I'm Soph, I'm Juliet's spontaneous sister." |
Author: most_capable | "My fire-related complications wouldn't be much good for that. But they do come in handy whenever I need to light a candle." |
Author: pythbox | "Hi! I'm Tianthonet, I'm a dragon!"
"I think they can tell," Sherial says dryly. |
Author: exactlyright | "I heard that in worlds with a lot of technology they don't use candles." |
Author: keyed_up | "I dunno, you could've been something else, disguised as a dragon?" shrugs Soph. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "There is a dragon at this party who is disguised as a purple and green furry winged animal sitting on Sarion's shoulder, but I don't think any of the reverse." |
Author: most_capable | "Not as a major light source, but we do use them for decoration," she says. |
Author: exactlyright | "Like the pretty carved kind with all the layers? But those are too pretty to burn." |
Author: pythbox | "I don't think Ansharil is exactly disguised," says Sherial.
"If he is, it's not a very good disguise. I recognized him," giggles Tianthonet. |
Author: keyed_up | "Oh man, I have so many people to meet." |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Quite a few, yeah, these things are getting crowded." |
Author: most_capable | "Actually," she says thoughtfully, "there are some people who make candles with sculptures inside them, so the sculpture comes out as the candle burns down. I like those." |
Author: exactlyright | "Ooh, those sound neat! I don't think I've ever seen one." |
Author: most_capable | "I'm sure you could get someone to conjure one for you," she suggests. |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," says Tianthonet, "try being three times the size of the next smallest person around. It was nice of Ansharil's Bondmate to make the inside part big enough for dragons, but I still get nervous about going in there." |
Author: toblameforit | "Wow, no kidding," says Red. |
Author: exactlyright | "I have squares... but I would have to think of a sculpture. And a candle." |
Author: most_capable | "I have one in mind," says Pepper. |
Author: keyed_up | "You're scared you'll step on somebody? Most anyone'd bounce back pretty quick," says Soph. "I guess I wouldn't want to step on a tiny person even if they'd be fine, though." |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna takes a square out of her sorter - it's in Kiawen's transparent, rainbow-misted color - and hands it to the fire-related nonwitch. |
Author: most_capable | She takes it, and a moment later hands back a candle: a perfectly unexceptional cylinder, blue at the bottom shading to white at the top. |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna takes it and smiles. "It's pretty but not too pretty to burn. What's inside?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, exactly!" says Tianthonet. "Even if you're not seriously hurt, it's embarrassing." |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Do you guys just not normally hang out with small people much?" |
Author: most_capable | "It's a copy of one I've seen at home. I'm not sure how to explain it exactly - a kind of lattice made of circles. I liked it because it cast pretty shadows." |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna puts it in her skirt pocket. "I think I will light it later when I'm at home." |
Author: most_capable | "Sounds like a plan." |
Author: exactlyright | "My name's Carinna," she adds abruptly. "Of the Enchanted Forest. I didn't say." |
Author: pythbox | "Well, the Bonded," says Tianthonet. "But they usually come in smaller groups, and they're just... different." |
Author: keyed_up | "Different how?" |
Author: most_capable | "My name's Virginia, but I have alts, so you can call me Pepper. It's lovely to meet you, Carinna." |
Author: exactlyright | "I have a nametag but it wound up under my scarf." Carinna moves her scarf. It falls back over her nametag. She growls at it and takes it off and goes to put it in her uncandled pocket, then takes Mossy out of the pocket so it has room. |
Author: pythbox | "It's... easier to keep track of them, somehow," says Tianthonet. "I'm not sure."
"You're used to them," says Sherial. "You know them all as individuals and you haven't had to meet more than one new one at a time since you were big enough to step on any. And they frequently appear riding or otherwise accompanying their Bondmates, in which case you can avoid stepping on the human or elf by keeping out of the dragon's personal space."
"Yeah," says Tianthonet. "What she said." |
Author: most_capable | "Oh, what a cute little... puff!" says Pepper. "What is it?" |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Does this still apply when it's Sarion with her dragon in a little fuzzy shape on her shoulder?" |
Author: exactlyright | "It's a poof!" beams Carinna. "This one is mine and it's named Mossy. Poofs come from the Gentle Cave." |
Author: most_capable | "The Gentle Cave sounds... very positive," says Pepper. "What is it?" |
Author: exactlyright | "It's a cave! A nice cave with cute little animals, like poofs, and piano bears, and fluffbats, and pawlings, and cheepingbirds. Kanim found it and said there wasn't going to be anything that would scare me in it so we all went and named all the kinds of animals and figured out why they weren't leaving the cave. It's because they need spring water from in it, so now we have little fountains with the same kind of water and we took pets home. Me and my sisters. Bella's cat promised not to terrorize them." |
Author: pythbox | "Well..." says Tianthonet.
"No," says Sherial, "but she is a semilegendary figure, so it's easier to pay attention to her." |
Author: keyed_up | Soph giggles. "Are all the Bells semilegendary figures like that or does only the local one count for you?" |
Author: most_capable | "It sounds very relaxing," says Pepper. "Do you think I could visit?" |
Author: exactlyright | "Yeah. It is and I bet you can. Jane can put you in Chronicle but you have to get to the cave some other way." |
Author: pythbox | "Only the local one," says Sherial. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Oh, well." |
Author: most_capable | "I happen to be able to teleport." |
Author: keyed_up | "My Bella's from a whole dynasty of semilegendary figures," snorts Soph. |
Author: pythbox | "Oh?" says Sherial. "How's that?" |
Author: exactlyright | "That's a way," laughs Carinna. "I can, too, but most people in most worlds can't." |
Author: most_capable | "True. It's very convenient, though, isn't it?" |
Author: exactlyright | "Yeah. Sometimes I can get the forest to cooperate with me too, but I'm not really good at it. Sherlock does it really well, and Grandma Marianne." |
Author: most_capable | "You live in a cooperative forest?" |
Author: exactlyright | "I'm one of the princesses," says Carinna. "The Enchanted Forest gives its royalty some special magic. Bella gets a little bit too - usually she would just get courtesy stuff like being able to pick up the sword, because she married in, but she married two princesses so she can get some of the other things to work, too." |
Author: tearingup | This... space plant... is very recognizably Aianon's work, and not just for the sheer fact of being a space plant. Ripper is amused.
He spends a while on the floor of the main room, then takes a glass of mystery fruit juice and explores the organic stairways lining the walls. Eventually he ends up at the highest available vantage - a round cozy little room lined with cozy padded benches and dotted with small convenient tables and cozy padded stools, with a wide-lipped railing of intertwined vines where guests can put down their food or drink and gaze down at the various minglers. |
Author: bellfounding | [Hey, where'd you wander off to?] Pattern asks after he has been wandered for a few minutes. |
Author: tearingup | [Up top,] he says, and he comes to the railing and looks for her. There she is, next to some other Bell - Juliet? Probably Juliet. |
Author: most_capable | "That sounds friendly!" |
Author: bellfounding | [Is the view nice?] |
Author: tearingup | [It's not bad.] |
Author: exactlyright | "It is! Oh, and our forest is where Bells go to get auras, it can just suck up the enchantment magic. It's getting bigger." |
Author: keyed_up | "Oh, she's the Slayer - well, was the Slayer, now James is the Slayer. It's this thing in our world where she's supposed to... slay... things. Demons and vampires." |
Author: most_capable | "Interesting," says Pepper. "If it keeps getting bigger is it going to run into something, or is there magic at work?" |
Author: bellfounding | [Incoming. Put down your tea.] And then she is beside him, peering over the railing with him. |
Author: exactlyright | "It's only got more room in it, it isn't any bigger around," explains Carinna. |
Author: pythbox | "You have demons? What are your demons like? Ours are all either dead and evil or Aianon," says Tianthonet. "I've never met one, even the one who's not evil or dead." |
Author: keyed_up | "We have more kinds from more places. And some of them are pretty nice, just not most of them. Bella - Juliet I mean - has some of them being her gardener-minions, she accidentally inherited them. Minus and Plus are both our kind of vampire but Plus is from a different world that's only like ours." |
Author: tearingup | He snugs an arm around her waist and kisses her cheek. "Not tea for once, actually," he says. "Some kind of juice that I suspect comes from an Aianon fruit." |
Author: bellfounding | "Ooh." She steals his glass and tastes a sip. "Yeah, I have no idea what that is, but I bet it would make a really nice shortcake." |
Author: most_capable | "In nonmagical worlds those things tend to go together unavoidably," says Pepper. |
Author: exactlyright | "That sounds really inconvenient," says Carinna thoughtfully. "Can you at least stack places, even if you can't grow them on the inside only?" |
Author: tearingup | Ripper laughs, kisses her cheek again, and steals it back. "Say that where a Joker can hear you; I think I want to try that cake," he says cheerfully. |
Author: bellfounding | "Ooh, will do. Yum." |
Author: most_capable | "...Yes, I suppose we can," says Pepper. "In fact, most of our cities turn out that way. We run out of sideways and start making things taller instead." |
Author: pythbox | "Does she have a lot of gardens, or something, that she needs minions for?" wonders Tianthonet. |
Author: exactlyright | "No, not taller," says Carinna. "Stacked. In the same - box as each other." She starts gesturing; this is less effective than it might otherwise be since she has Mossy in one hand. "Like Bella's rooms, they all have the same door and you go to the one you want." |
Author: keyed_up | "Nah, she got the minions, and then made the gardens to keep them busy. She was going to make them self-containing originally." |
Author: jellyinthemix | Someone emerges into the room from the archway at the back, and says, "Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt—" |
Author: tearingup | —at the same time as Ripper glances back to see who it is— |
Author: jellyinthemix | —at which point Giles drops his tea. |
Author: bellfounding | Pattern rescues the tea. "Hello there," she says. |
Author: most_capable | "No," says Pepper, "I'm afraid not. But we seem to get by anyway." |
Author: exactlyright | "So you have to find different places to put everything. Gosh." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Hello," he says. "Sorry." He sets the rescued tea down carefully on one of the small convenient tables, never taking his eyes off Ripper. |
Author: tearingup | "...You all right?" says Ripper, concerned. "You look like I'm about to explode. Or you are. You look like at least one of us is about to explode." |
Author: bellfounding | "Pretty sure neither of you are gonna explode. Ripper, this is Giles. Giles, Ripper; I'm sure Juliet managed to explain him in between uproarious laughter." |
Author: pythbox | "...In that case I have to wonder how and why she acquired the minions," says Sherial. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "She did mention something, yes. I'm sorry, I didn't expect—I didn't realize—" He shakes his head and trails off. |
Author: keyed_up | "Well, they like to be minions, and the last person they were minioning for was bad news and Bella had to slay her. Or rather send her Downside for the admin to put in stasis or something? But basically slay her, and then she found the minions and they were like 'so do you want some minions'." |
Author: tearingup | "Sit down," Ripper suggests. "Take a minute." |
Author: jellyinthemix | He installs himself on the nearest cozy bench and picks up his tea. |
Author: bellfounding | Pattern glances between them, curiously. |
Author: pythbox | "...Your world is bizarre," Sherial concludes. |
Author: keyed_up | "Yeah, Glass says it and the worlds like it are really really mean." |
Author: most_capable | "You could think of an elevator as a kind of multiply opening door," Pepper muses. "But with more waiting. Not much more waiting, though, if it's a good elevator." |
Author: exactlyright | "What's an elevator do?" |
Author: pythbox | "And yet, minions," says Sherial. |
Author: most_capable | "It's a... box big enough to stand in that moves up and down between floors of a tall building much more quickly than you could climb the same distance using stairs." |
Author: exactlyright | "I... guess that's better than just having a lot of stairs? I mean, we have stairs too, the castle is pretty big. Also you have to go all the way up one of the towers to get to the dungeons." |
Author: most_capable | "That sounds inconvenient," says Pepper. |
Author: exactlyright | "Yeah, but it's not like we use the dungeons much." |
Author: tearingup | "Is this the sort of thing you want to talk about or the sort you want to ignore until it goes away?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | Giles snorts.
"Not sure," he says. "Tea first." |
Author: tearingup | "All right." |
Author: most_capable | "I'd hope not! Frequently used dungeons are so rarely a good sign," says Pepper. |
Author: bellfounding | "Do you two want me around for this, or should I wade back into the throng and leave you be?" |
Author: exactlyright | "...None of my moms will actually tell me what we would use them for, if we used them. The tablecloth drying rack used to be down there, though," she adds. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "...You must be—er, Pattern?" says Giles. |
Author: keyed_up | "What d'you mean, and yet?" |
Author: pythbox | "It's not historically been common for the losing side's loyal followers to spontaneously convert on the death of their leader, around here." |
Author: keyed_up | "Oh. Yeah, that was kinda weird. Bella kept offering to set them up an independent colony but it turns out they have to have someone to be minions of to have baby minions." |
Author: most_capable | "I see." |
Author: bellfounding | "That's me, yeah." |
Author: exactlyright | "But they're inconvenient to get to anyway and there's not too little room in other parts of the castle, so that's okay." Carinna puts Mossy on her shoulder. Mossy snuggles up to her neck and whmmmmmms. |
Author: most_capable | Pepper smiles. |
Author: exactlyright | "Do you want to hold Mossy?" |
Author: pythbox | "Ah," says Sherial. "And now it makes sense." |
Author: keyed_up | "So there are going to be ugly-cute wrinkly babies soon!" |
Author: most_capable | "I think I would like that very much." |
Author: pythbox | Sherial snorts.
"I've never even seen a baby," says Tianthonet. "Of any species." |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna hands over Mossy. "The glowing and the whmmming are happy," she says, sounding like she fancies herself a multiverse-class expert on poofs. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Weren't you and the other conjured dragons babies at the same time? Do you just not remember it?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Good to meet you," he says, not without irony. |
Author: pythbox | Tianthonet shakes her head. It's an odd gesture on a dragon, but recognizable. |
Author: keyed_up | "There are some little kids here but not baby little." |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "I think Hyacinthe is the youngest. Peninnah's next and she's like eight." |
Author: bellfounding | "Yeah, we've been at the same parties before but never really talked," she snorts. |
Author: pythbox | "...Are human children a lot smaller than humans?" says Tianthonet, looking down at her feet as though she is afraid a small child could have snuck under one without her noticing, although she stops short of actually picking them up to check. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I'm sure I've made a wonderful first impression." |
Author: keyed_up | "They start yea big," says Soph, gesturing. "They're about full size by the time they're in their mid-teens." |
Author: most_capable | Pepper accepts the poof.
It whmmmmmmms.
"What a little darling," she says, petting it tentatively. |
Author: bellfounding | "The tea dropping? Nah. I am accustomed to occasional tea-dropping." She elbows Ripper, a little. |
Author: exactlyright | "They're so nice! You don't have to be careful, either, it just looks like it - you can't hurt them, when they glow it makes an anti-injury field and it works for people near them too." |
Author: tearingup | Ripper giggles and gives her a little one-armed hugsquish. |
Author: jellyinthemix | Giles observes this interaction. |
Author: bellfounding | Pattern flops her head onto Ripper's convenient shoulder. |
Author: most_capable | "That's convenient," says Pepper, petting Mossy's fluff. "Do they, um... make more poofs somehow or other?" |
Author: exactlyright | "I guess they must. I've never seen them doing it. There's always plenty in the cave." |
Author: tearingup | Ripper beams. |
Author: jellyinthemix | Some combination of the tea and the adorable definitely seems to be calming Giles down. |
Author: most_capable | "A mystery," she says. "Well, all right." |
Author: exactlyright | "Kanim might know. He studies caves and stuff and he's been studying the Gentle Cave." |
Author: most_capable | "Is Kanim here?" |
Author: exactlyright | "Yeah. He's probably with Tony, I mean Iron." |
Author: most_capable | "I have a Tony, too," Pepper mentions. "Mine is Iron Man." |
Author: exactlyright | "I guess that makes sense, if he is a boy Tony. It's weird that most of them are boys." |
Author: tearingup | So of course now is the perfect time for a near-exact duplicate of Ripper to enter the room, nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie and trailing a pied-kingfisher daemon.
Ripper cracks up.
Ripper part two looks from Ripper to Giles and laughs.
"Giles, this is Keth," says a grinning Ripper. "Keth, Giles." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I was not informed that there would be two of you," says Giles. |
Author: bellfounding | "Do you not talk to Jane much? Amariah found this one on a template-sweep after she met mine," says Pattern, gesturing illustratively. "I think that's all of them, except Merryweather, of course." |
Author: jellyinthemix | ...Giles is now looking between Ripper and Keth with an expression that might be best described as dawning realization. |
Author: tearingup | "...What?" says Keth, blinking back at him.
Ripper starts giggling into Pattern's hair. |
Author: bellfounding | "I second the question." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Nothing whatsoever," says Giles. |
Author: tearingup | "Ohhhhhhh," says Keth. "...Well, wouldn't you have done?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I can't say that it's crossed my mind, no!" |
Author: bellfounding | "Oh, that," Pattern snorts. |
Author: most_capable | Pepper considers this. "I don't think I find it weird that some of them are women," she concludes. |
Author: jellyinthemix |
|
Author: exactlyright | "I guess there's two now, the dragon one is a girl, right? Her and the one of my moms." |
Author: tearingup | "Ooh, it's crossing your mind now, isn't it," giggles Ripper. |
Author: jellyinthemix | Giles sniffs primly. His delivery is really quite impeccable. |
Author: tearingup | Neither of his alts is buying it for a second. |
Author: bellfounding | "Is it time for me to leave you guys alone now?" inquires Pattern archly. |
Author: tearingup | The Rippers grin at Giles. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "In all seriousness," says Giles, although he is not entirely successful at looking the part, "I really think we have more to discuss than, than idle recreation." |
Author: bellfounding | "Want me to grab Merryweather for you? Little template convention? You can agree on a replacement collective noun." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Wait five minutes, I'm sure he'll turn up," says Giles. "Given recent trends." |
Author: bellfounding | Pattern laughs. |
Author: tearingup | "The replacement collective noun is a point," says Ripper, his snickers subsiding.
"Don't ask me," says Keth, plopping himself onto a section of bench near Giles but not within arm's reach. "I couldn't even pick my own nickname, Rayne had to do it for me." |
Author: jellyinthemix | Giles looks up from the remains of his tea in startlement. |
Author: bellfounding | "Yeah, those are a thing." |
Author: tearingup | "I ditched mine after he faked his own death to get me to talk to Pattern about resurrecting him," says Ripper.
"I have not ditched mine," says Keth, "although I understand why some of you might want to." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "...Mine and I," says Giles, sounding as though the 'mine' part doesn't quite fit, "...drifted apart. Much as tectonic plates might, with considerable disturbance to the environs and an occasional volcano." |
Author: bellfounding | "I'm gonna register the prediction that Merryweather doesn't talk to his, either, being of the one sort and not the other. Presuming he has one, but I'm also going to register the prediction that he has. Maybe Glass should go look at some of them to figure out what it is with you guys." |
Author: tearingup | "I'll introduce her to mine," Keth offers. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I'd rather mine went undisturbed by any reminder of my existence whatsoever," says Giles. |
Author: bellfounding | "If I have the right read on them, reminding him won't make a lot of difference." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "He hasn't troubled me anytime in the last decade and I would prefer to have that state of affairs continue." |
Author: bellfounding | "Yeah, that's fair." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "But yes, returning to the subject of template names. I observe that neither of you is wearing your name tag," says Giles. |
Author: tearingup | "It said 'Rupert' on it," says Keth. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Is that really so terrible?" |
Author: tearingup | "Yes," chorus the Rippers. |
Author: bellfounding | "I'm curious, Giles, how old were you when you resumed the name?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Oh... thirty?" he hazards. "Thereabouts." |
Author: bellfounding | "So that can't just be a chronology thing," Pattern says, glancing at her Ripper, who is older than he looks. |
Author: tearingup | "No," he agrees. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I'd hesitate to call it a maturity thing, but..." |
Author: tearingup | Keth rolls his eyes. "Right, that must be it." |
Author: bellfounding | "Yeah, pretty tempted to fetch Glass, at this point, make her line you up and squint at you." |
Author: most_capable | "Yes," says Pepper. "The dragon one is also bonded to one of my alts." |
Author: exactlyright | "Right, I remember hearing about that because the Thilanushinyel of Bella has a Thilanushinyel dragon. They're not that much like our dragons." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Go on then," says |
Author: tearingup | every member of the template, simultaneously.
"...Huh," says Ripper. |
Author: bellfounding | Pattern laughs. "I'll send Merryweather up, too." She kisses her own Ripper and pops away to find him first.
"Hey," she informs him, "the other three of you are all in one place, I'm gonna get Glass to peer at you and make pronouncements, you may wish to join them." |
Author: most_capable | "My world doesn't have any dragons to compare them to." |
Author: exactlyright | "Your world sounds weird." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Is that so," says Merryweather. He pauses in climbing the stairs. |
Author: bellfounding | "Yup. You're actually en route already, they're all over there, see, making each other drop beverages." She points. |
Author: jellyinthemix | He snorts. |
Author: bellfounding | "I'll be along in a moment with Glass."
Pop, pop, and she is along, in a moment, with Glass. |
Author: most_capable | "I like it just fine." |
Author: exactlyright | "Bella says our world is the nicest world. You can come to it some time and get a poof if you want one, people do that." |
Author: jellyinthemix | They arrive just in time to see Merryweather give Keth and Ripper a look remarkably similar to the one Giles was giving them some time ago! |
Author: most_capable | "I think I will definitely visit," says Pepper. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Oh, now this," says Glass, "is remarkably like the Joker phases, now I've gotten a look at those to compare." |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna smiles at her. "I would like Mossy back now," she says. |
Author: tearingup | "Jokers come in phases?" says Ripper. |
Author: most_capable | Pepper hands Carinna back her poof. |
Author: thaumobabble | "They come in phases and also in kinds, yes. This -" (she gestures at the Ruperts and then at the Rippers) "is more like the phases." |
Author: tearingup | "All right," says Keth, "and that means...?" |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna puts Mossy on her shoulder and wanders into the crowd, looking for the nearest mom (and checking name tags to be sure she gets the right one). |
Author: thaumobabble | "That you can grow from one into the other. I don't think it's obligatory and I'm not sure if you can go backwards." |
Author: allthebrightest | There's one! |
Author: exactlyright | "Tony, Tony, I talked to a stranger and she was nice and nothing bad happened and she wants a poof and she made me an interesting candle and she's sort of fire related!" |
Author: tearingup | The Rippers look consideringly at the Ruperts. |
Author: jellyinthemix | The Ruperts look back. Merryweather starts to say something, stops, and shakes his head; Giles pats him on the shoulder. |
Author: bellfounding | "You might also want a look at one of their Raynes. They seem to come with them - Merryweather, have you got one of those?" |
Author: allthebrightest | She beams.
"That's fantastic, have a hug!" she says, holding out her arms. |
Author: exactlyright | Hugs! |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I haven't thought about him in years," says Merryweather. "They're attached?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Well, they're four for four - which one should I go look at?" |
Author: allthebrightest | Beamy enthusiastic cuddlesome hugs! |
Author: exactlyright | "Her name is Pepper and in her world you can't stack rooms or grow things on the inside and not the outside, but they have things called elevators so they don't have to climb stairs," Carinna adds. |
Author: tearingup | "Mine," says Keth, "definitely mine, I will introduce you." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Okay, now or later?" |
Author: allthebrightest | "Ooh, she must be from Yggdrasil," says Tony. "With Iron Man. He mentioned elevators too, when he was grumbling about the stairs in the castle. And he has a friend called Pepper." |
Author: exactlyright | "Yeah! She said her Tony was the Iron Man one." |
Author: tearingup | "Maybe he'll think of a name for the template," snorts Ripper.
Keth laughs. "All right, now, then." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Okay. Lemme just prevent incipient flying squirrel..." Glass wishes on a star, then taps her Janegem, and then they are in Amariah's house in Alethia. "Do you teleport, do you want to lead the way?" |
Author: tearingup | "Yeah, I teleport," says Keth.
He teleports them to his living room. |
Author: pythbox | "Another one?" says the local Rayne. |
Author: thaumobabble | "There's lots," says Glass. She peers at him. "Oh yeah, that's - about as attached as you get, these are not optional." |
Author: pythbox | "Tell me something I don't know," snorts Rayne. |
Author: thaumobabble | "And the - template we don't have a name for -" (Glass waves at Keth) "are the 'leader' template here, except that's less meaningful than it is in some cases because you're just always going to appear together, one for one. Oh, wow, you are so attached, but apart from always showing up in the same place it's almost totally unidirectional... Also I think everyone should be glad there aren't a set of you in Aurum, that would get potentially gross very fast... Thilanushinyel could do the same thing, come to think of it..." |
Author: pythbox | "Template you don't have a name for?" inquires Rayne. |
Author: tearingup | "Yeah," says Keth, "we were hoping you could help with that, actually." |
Author: pythbox | "Kingfishers," Rayne says offhandedly. "What's this about potentially gross?" |
Author: tearingup | Keth looks at his daemon. Hecate looks at Keth.
They both burst out laughing. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Oh, Kingfishers, that works. The gross is potentially unreciprocated eternal bonding. Aurum has two kinds of it, and if you landed there..." |
Author: tearingup | "Yeah, that could get ugly," says Keth. Hecate flutters behind an armchair. |
Author: thaumobabble | "The Rayne in such a world would inevitably wind up stuck on the Kingfisher, and there isn't a shred of metcausality enticing it to be all sewn up the other direction. Metacausality has no interest in making sure Kingfishers like their Raynes, the Raynes have to do that themselves." |
Author: pythbox | "Naturally," says Rayne, eyeing his Kingfisher. |
Author: tearingup | Keth smiles at him. It is a smile full of communication not meant to be intercepted. |
Author: thaumobabble | "...I - huh. Can your daemons come out where I can see them?" |
Author: tearingup | Hecate zips out from behind the armchair. |
Author: pythbox | A stripey ginger cat follows her just a moment later. |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass peers at them. "I think they're helping you with the not-having-a-falling-out. They are, however, not a guarantee." |
Author: pythbox | The cat begins washing herself unconcernedly. |
Author: tearingup | "Yeah," says Keth, "I think we guessed that part." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Anyway, I think that's all I have to say unless it ever becomes worth everyone's while to collect the other three Raynes and line you all up." |
Author: pythbox | "Even I don't think that's a good idea," says Rayne. |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass snorts. "Back whence we came?" she inquires of Keth. "Or is there anything else I should look at while I'm here and already covered versus flying squirrel?" |
Author: tearingup | "Not that I can think of." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Okay."
And back they go, right where they came since Pattern is still there. Glass relays the information. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Attached," sighs Merryweather.
"Apparently," agrees Giles. |
Author: thaumobabble | "And I don't think any of them had better be allowed to visit Aurum, just on principle, as vampirism is transmissible." |
Author: bellfounding | "Agreed. Are you all kingfishers...?" Square. |
Author: jellyinthemix | Both Ruperts would have Common Kingfishers, if they had daemons.
"Apparently so," says Merryweather. |
Author: bellfounding | "Hey, Glass, which one is the template?" |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass points at Giles. |
Author: jellyinthemix | Giles blinks. "Really?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Yep, pretty clearly too, none of the vagueness there is around Golden versus Stella. You aren't modal like Pattern - I actually think we're more likely to run into more Ripper-phase Kingfishers in the future - you're just the template." |
Author: bellfounding | "Is one of them modal like me?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Nah. Yours is closest, but too - serendipitous." |
Author: pythbox | "Oh," says Tianthonet. "Dragons start bigger than that, I think."
"I've seen our eggshells," says Sherial. "Much bigger. But not bigger than a grown human."
"And we're nowhere near full size yet," says Tianthonet.
"But then we have much farther to go," says Sherial. "And some dragons are just small. Ansharil is." |
Author: allthebrightest | "That makes sense! I'm glad you had a good talk," says Tony, hugging her again. |
Author: exactlyright | "I am too!" Hug hug hug. |
Author: keyed_up | "Is he? How big? I've never seen him being, uh, himself." |
Author: allthebrightest | Hug hug! |
Author: tearingup | "I'm serendipitous?" inquires Ripper. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Oh, not very, but just a little -" Glass holds her fingers pinching a little bit of air. "You're right next to Pattern, who is perfectly modal in terms of her - original setup - or I don't think I'd be able to tell. You have small but noticeable effects from being from Origin in particular, and she doesn't, maybe because she was dead while the Joker and that bat person were up to what they were up to. You're less serendipitous than - Merryweather, say, who was set up to interact in a specific way with Aegis - if he has other setups it's with people I haven't gotten a look at. Juliet is actually serendipitous relative to Giles; he is exactly where he would have been anyway and she showed up in that place." |
Author: tearingup | "Huh," says Ripper. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "And yet," says Giles, "I was sent to Sunnydale because the Council had such trouble finding her. I suppose, metacausally speaking, if not for Juliet there would have been some other reason?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Yeah. Juliet's also the only Bell who lives in Sunnydale - maybe the only one who has one, though it's a smaller town than Gotham so we'd have to actually look it up instead of just knowing. Sunnydale was collecting the next Slayer, far enough in advance for her to be born there; if it hadn't been her it would have collected whoever it was instead." |
Author: pythbox | "He's... Ansharil-sized," says Tianthonet.
"Just about large enough to comfortably carry one Bondmate," says Sherial. "So not all that much bigger than we are."
"We can both carry ours," objects Tianthonet.
"Yes, but not as easily as Ansharil could. And yet he still doesn't have room to pack on a dozen children like Ancaladar still occasionally complains about." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "The notion of Sunnydale collecting Slayers doesn't surprise me in the least," says Giles. |
Author: keyed_up | "...Dragon children or human-oid children?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "There you go. It's the sort of place that collects things. It collected you, but not because of Juliet in particular." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Right. Where is Juliet? I expected her to turn up and laugh at us at some point." |
Author: bellfounding | "I could go get her, if you are finding her absence problematic." |
Author: pythbox | "Elf children," says Sherial.
"Two thousand years ago, in Jermayan's time," says Tianthonet. "There was a war on, and the elves wanted to send their children to a special fortress where they'd be safe, and of course the best way to go was by dragon, but Ancaladar didn't like having - what was the phrase - "
"An infestation of tiny passengers," Sherial supplies. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | Shell Bell giggles. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "No, not at all," he says, grinning. |
Author: bellfounding | "I'm sure she's made at least some token effort not to laugh." |
Author: thaumobabble | "I'm sure there's plenty else to amuse her than the motions of templates through neighboring worlds." |
Author: pythbox | "It's really strange how the Dark keeps coming back every thousand years," says Tianthonet.
"It wasn't always that way," says Sherial. "Before Jermayan, Ancaladar slept through ten thousand years of peace." |
Author: keyed_up | "Well, I bet Sarion's going to arrange for there to be more of it. She's a Bell." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "She was inordinately entertained by the existence of Ripper," says Giles. "Someone should really tell her we've found another one, if she doesn't already know." |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass peers over the railing into the crowd. "She's talking to Amariah. It could easily come up that way." |
Author: pythbox | Sherial smiles a dragony sort of smile.
Tianthonet looks sidelong at her and giggles. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "What?" |
Author: pythbox | "Sherial's Bonded has plans," says Tianthonet. "Sherial's Bonded thinks the semilegendary figures shouldn't get to have all the fun."
"She's only doing what Wildmages do best," says Sherial.
"Virgivere is a Wildmage and she doesn't plot like that," says Tianthonet.
Sherial sniffs. "My Bonded does not plot, thank you very much." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Ah, then all we have to do is wait," says Giles. "My favourite." |
Author: she_sells_seashells |
"I'm not an expert on Libbies..." |
Author: keyed_up | "I know one, she's fine." |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Most of them are, it's only - Sherial, have you heard about Aelise?" |
Author: bellfounding | "Aegis didn't seem to find it nearly as funny. I guess she hasn't done as much in-person interacting?" |
Author: pythbox | "Lissa has an alt by that name," says Sherial. "She appears to be an empress." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Very little of it," agrees Merryweather. "She mostly knows me from my paperwork." |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Yeah, she did it by using a person with the power to force people to like or stop liking each other to take over the world. She's got a Bell who put up with her, so there may be mitigating circumstances that Tab hasn't explained, but it seems worth mentioning." |
Author: bellfounding | Pattern snorts. "I guess that would do it." |
Author: thaumobabble | "I wonder if we'll ever find the reverse setup. Someone who more often appears as a partner turning up in some basically incompatible capacity and the new Bell looking at the rest of us askance." |
Author: pythbox | "Noted," says Sherial expressionlessly.
Tianthonet leans in to give her a gentle shoulder-bump. "It's not bad plotting," she assures the humans. "It's not even bad-good plotting like when the High Mages dug into Armethalieh and kicked everybody else out. It's nice plotting. It's just funny how she does it, like - like she's trying to be the Wild Magic, finding out everything about everything and then figuring out the best way for it to go." |
Author: tearingup | "Like what?" says Keth. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Most of them are fine," reiterates Shell Bell. "This one sounds fine too." |
Author: keyed_up | "And Thilanushinyel's been swept, right, there isn't one of those whatsherfaces here?" |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Yeah, Jane checked everywhere." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Oh... I don't know, the obvious way would be if somebody got adopted into somebody else's family. Although since Aegis and Sue wound up together despite meeting at age six maybe that wouldn't do it." |
Author: tearingup | Ripper envisions some future Bell turning up as some future Kingfisher's sister.
Ripper makes a face. |
Author: bellfounding | Pattern pats him on the arm. |
Author: pythbox | Tianthonet huffs. It is Sherial's turn to give her a comforting shoulder-bump. |
Author: keyed_up | "Now what?" |
Author: tearingup | He hugs her. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet pops into place. "Hi, Alethia instance of - was Giles right that you'd 'come around' to calling the template Ruperts?" |
Author: pythbox | "Nothing," says Tianthonet, huffily.
"She is offended on behalf of my Bonded," says Sherial. |
Author: tearingup | "Kingfishers," says Hecate, from Keth's shoulder. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph flops her head on her Tony's shoulder. (Because it's there.) "Aww." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Oh, that's cute. I'd have a tiger, if that's the sort of thing you'd rather know. A really big tiger." |
Author: toblameforit | Her Tony hugs her. Because she's cute. |
Author: bellfounding | "Firefly," says Pattern, disdain for possible firefly obvious. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Oh, the kingfishers are a very definite template thing, you'll all have them," reports Glass. "And I already said, flying squirrel - cute little gray one." |
Author: pythbox | "It occurs to me to point out," says Sherial, looking at Shell Bell, "that a warning to me about my Bondmate's possible corruption would be misplaced as a practical effort. The dragon is subordinate to the will of the Bonded. I and my magic are available to Lissa regardless of my personal choice."
"But Lissa is a nice Bondmate and she listens to you," says Tianthonet, shoulder-bumping Sherial again. "Because she's nice. There haven't been any Bonded who pushed their dragons around like that almost since Bisochim." |
Author: tearingup | "And you can call me Keth," Keth adds. Since he is not wearing his nametag. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Do you want your nametags back now they won't say Rupert on them?" |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "...Wait, what? I don't think I knew about this part." |
Author: pythbox | "It's not commonly known, except among dragons and some Bonded," says Sherial. "Perhaps Isibel Sarion did not see fit to mention it. I can hardly doubt she knows." |
Author: tearingup | "Yeah, all right," says Ripper. Keth nods. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "She must know - oh." |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass snaps her fingers. Nametags appear. |
Author: pythbox | "Oh?" inquires Sherial. |
Author: tearingup | The Rippers look at each other, then at Giles. |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "I don't think she'd like it if I speculated out loud." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Is there anything else to discuss?" he asks of the assembled Bells. |
Author: pythbox | "Then you have some reason to think she knows from practical experience," Sherial concludes. |
Author: bellfounding | "Not especially, I don't think." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet looks at Rippers.
And at Giles.
Finally she looks at Pattern and bursts into gales of howling, helpless laughter. |
Author: jellyinthemix | |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "If you make her uncomfortable because of something I gave away I will be annoyed." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet tries and fails to get herself under control. Finally she teleports away. |
Author: pythbox | "Noted," says Sherial. |
Author: bellfounding | |
Author: keyed_up | "Iiiii don't get it. Should I not get it?" |
Author: she_sells_seashells | "Yes, please continue." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "My sentiments exactly," says Merryweather to Pattern.
"Does that mean you won't be joining us for tea?" says Giles, perfectly innocently. |
Author: bellfounding | ...At that, Pattern too laughs. |
Author: pythbox | Sherial says nothing. |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass snorts, vaults over the railing, and wafts (robes billowing) down into the main party. |
Author: keyed_up | "Well, now I've met two Tonies who are not my Tony and I still seem to have all my higher brain functions, let's go find more," says Soph to her Tony. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper grins and kisses Pattern's forehead.
"So we're all going to go have... tea," he says. "Possibly not including Merryweather. All right?" |
Author: bellfounding | "Yeah. Have fun. Let me know if and when you want me to introduce you - singular or plural - to Cam." She kisses him, and then follows Glass over the railing. |
Author: toblameforit | "Sounds good to me!" |
Author: self_composed | "So," says Stella, when she and Janine show up to the party, "do you want to meet the thirteen-year-old angel of yourself?"
(Her nametag says what it always says, in case Janine did not know her nickname; Janine's says she's a [Template Unnamed] who you can call Janine.) |
Author: cheerfulish | "I think I do!" |
Author: self_composed | "All right then..." Stella flies a couple feet in the air, enough to scan the crowd easily, then lands again. "This way." She greets most of the people they pass, but heads straight for Junia where she is with Keziah. |
Author: cheerfulish | Janine follows.
Yes, those are definitely angels! |
Author: segreant | Céleste is inspecting this space plant. It is nice, and has lots of parts, so there is a bunch of it to explore. |
Author: self_composed | "Hi, Keziah, hi, Junia. Junia, this is your alt I mentioned, Janine." |
Author: inherpiety | "Hi! Ooh, is Junia going to look like you when she's your age?" |
Author: cheerfulish | "I am given to understand that it is very likely!" says Janine.
"Wow, you are a me," says Junia. |
Author: inherpiety | Keziah laughs. "Now we both have alts! Mine is probably around somewhere." |
Author: telesonorous | If she climbs around on the network of stairs spread over the walls of the main room, she might encounter a person perched on a cloud-pine branch and following them from the air. |
Author: segreant | "Hi! You're not Yseult and you aren't Damaris! You must be Helen!" says Céleste, waving. |
Author: cheerfulish | "We should choose a template name," says Junia.
Janine looks at her nametag, and looks at Junia's nametag, and says: "Jnis."
Junia giggles. "That is acceptable!" she says, and their nametags update accordingly. |
Author: self_composed | "Kind of hard to pronounce." |
Author: inherpiety | "Ju-nees. Not too bad." |
Author: telesonorous | "Hi! You're very logical!" says Helen, waving back. "I am Helen. And you are..." (she peers) "...Céleste!" |
Author: segreant | "Yep," says Céleste. "I'm a rosebud. You're... something, I guess? Aren't you from the world with animal souls? Where's your one?" |
Author: cheerfulish | "It is perfectly pronounceable," says Junia. "Jni jni jni!" |
Author: inherpiety | "Jni," agrees Keziah. |
Author: self_composed | "Your template, you can name it whatever you want," snorts Stella. |
Author: telesonorous | "Kalavar's outside," says Helen. "I'm definitely a something. An etcetera, to be specific." |
Author: segreant | "Why an etcetera?" |
Author: cheerfulish | "And we named it Jni," says Janine. Junia giggles. |
Author: telesonorous | "Cherubs, rosecubs, etcetera," she explains. "I'm the etcetera." |
Author: self_composed | "So you did. Anyway, I already gave Janine the rundown on Samaria, but how much do you know about Eos?" |
Author: inherpiety | "Well, I've been hearing about it since I was little, even if I thought it was just bedtime stories for the first while, but I don't think everything worth knowing has come up with Junia yet..." |
Author: segreant | "I guess. If I had an animal soul it would be a griffin," Céleste adds helpfully. "It only just settled into being anything instead of not working when I tried to see, a little while ago. But I already have one as a pet, so I don't want an animal soul one. Are you my age? That's weird. Even Damaris is older than me, and Yseult is a lot older." |
Author: cheerfulish | "I do not know very much about Eos at all," says Junia. "It is a world that has an Earth and is more or less like other worlds with Earths, and some magic comes from it." |
Author: inherpiety | "Minting is from Eos, unless I'm mixing it up? And ingots. I might be an ingot but we don't know yet. So might my little sisters but probably not Damaris." |
Author: self_composed | "Yeah, minting and ingots are both Eos things." |
Author: telesonorous | "I'm thirteen! Are you thirteen? If so, then we are the same age." |
Author: segreant | "I am thirteen! Jane said Keziah is too. We matched last time we saw each other too." |
Author: cheerfulish | "I am not either one of them," says Janine.
"Angels come from Samaria and I am one of those!" says Junia.
"I noticed," says Janine. |
Author: inherpiety | "Everybody who is an angel that I know on Samaria and isn't other places looks funny and overbalanced," says Keziah, waving at Janine and Stella both. |
Author: self_composed | "I did often use to overbalance. Not sure a set of wings would help. Hey, maybe Glass should look at you and see if you caught templatehood from me..." Stella waves Glass over. |
Author: thaumobabble | And over comes Glass, and Stella must catch her up by brainphone, because she peers at Janine and says, "Yep." |
Author: telesonorous | "I wonder if that will keep happening," says Helen. "I guess it will automatically if the worlds don't unhook again." |
Author: segreant | "Yes, but we stayed matching even with the unhooking. I guess it could just be a coincidence. Our sisters don't match since the age gaps are different." |
Author: cheerfulish | "I am not sure how I feel about that!" says Janine.
"Me neither," says Junia. |
Author: thaumobabble | "I can't tell you how to feel about it. I've contagioused templatehood onto my cat and my best friend, it's kind of an occupational hazard of hanging out with Bells." |
Author: telesonorous | "Yeah," says Helen, "I mean I wonder if it is a coincidence or if it's a Thing of some kind." |
Author: segreant | "Dunno. Glass can tell about Things! We could ask her. Maybe we will." |
Author: cheerfulish | "Your cat?" the Jnis ask, in exact unison. |
Author: thaumobabble | "...Cats in my world are people," clarifies Glass. "We haven't found any more of him yet, but any other Bells in a position to have sapient pets will have alts of Cricket. You may see him around here. He will be able to understand you but not vice-versa, I'm the only person who can do that." |
Author: telesonorous | "Yeah, Glass does do that," says Helen. "She told me and my alts some Things about us already. Like that our daemons and coin colours are themed." |
Author: cheerfulish | The Jnis make very similar faces. |
Author: newtimov | Someone wanders by. |
Author: segreant | "My coin color is this complicated - thing," says Céleste. She makes a triangle; it's divided into three parts, one sky blue, one bright gold (albeit without metallic sheen), and one white with a scallopped almost furlike pattern in it. "I don't know about Keziah." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Hey - Ike? Ike. Hang on a second -" says Glass suddenly. "C'mere?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Mine are like so," says Helen, and she displays a square: it seems to be filled with sprays of pine needles that are always backlit by sunlight no matter how you turn the coin. "Damaris has feathers and Yseult has leaves, but they all do the sunlight thing." |
Author: segreant | "Pretty!" |
Author: newtimov | "Yeeeeeeeees?" says Ike, turning around slowly. |
Author: telesonorous | "I thought so too!" She disappears the square. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Hi - stand over there? There's something..." |
Author: segreant | "Mine look sort of like a coat of arms, but it's not any real coat of arms." |
Author: newtimov | Puzzled but cooperative, he stands over there. |
Author: telesonorous | "Maybe it's yours," suggests Helen. |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass stares at him, and at Jnis.
"This would be easier to see if Icarin were here too but I've looked at him before, so I can pretty much... your template and their template are closer together than most independent templates. You aren't the same thing, but like - if Jnis are metaphorical sisters, Ikes are metaphorical cousins to them." |
Author: segreant | "Well, obviously it's mine. But it's not the Cygne coat of arms, we don't have one - and it's not Papa's Marche's either - it's not any one that existed before I started printing it on coins." |
Author: telesonorous | "So your coins gave you a coat of arms. Neat." |
Author: newtimov | "I am not sure what to think of this!" says Ike. |
Author: segreant | "I guess. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with a coat of arms! I don't ride my griffin into battle." |
Author: cheerfulish | "You do seem to sort of talk like us," says Janine. |
Author: thaumobabble | "I'm just reporting what I see, I can't tell you what to do with the information." |
Author: telesonorous | "Would your griffin be amenable to being dressed up anyway?" giggles Helen. |
Author: self_composed | "So all the other templates are equally 'far apart'? And these ones are just - nearby each other?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Y- no. No, we're not all equally far apart. Bells are closer to -" She looks around, sees her cat approaching, scoops him up. "Bells are closer to Cricket's template than to Jnis or Ikes. There's almost..." She puts Cricket down over his yowled protest, flies up, spins in the air to look at everybody. She lands again. "Now that I'm looking for it there are clusters. Two of them. Two slightly different - colors." |
Author: segreant | "Oooh, maybe, I could make him pretty barding!" |
Author: newtimov | "...Who belongs to which ones?" wonders Ike. |
Author: telesonorous | "And then you would have a use for your coat of arms," says Helen. "Perfect!" |
Author: thaumobabble | "There's you and Jnis in the one color, Bells and Crickets in the other color, I think Sherlocks and Tonies are yours - These are not literal colors but maybe I should start referring to them as though they were anyway." |
Author: segreant | "Yeah. I don't know, though, I've never tried to put clothes of any kind on Rainier. Perhaps he wouldn't like it." |
Author: cheerfulish | "The two groups should definitely be named in some way," says Janine. "Otherwise it will get confusing." |
Author: telesonorous | "You could try just a little bit of clothes," says Helen. "And if he's not bothered then you could try more, and if he's bothered then you could not." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Yes. Kanim is in the same cluster as Bells... yes, and you, Cricket." She picks her cat back up and rubs his fuzzy belly. "I think two of my daughters are in the Bell-and-Cricket cluster and Tanalin is in the other one..." |
Author: self_composed | "If only we had a convenient cluster in our coin colors to tell us what to call these - halves." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Moieties?" suggests Glass. "But we don't." |
Author: segreant | "That is a good idea. First I will make him a scarf." |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker has been told that now would be a good time to get a snack. He appears at a charming little table covered in plates of cookies, grabs one, and then turns toward the nearest conversation.
"What don't we?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "We don't have a good name for the two clusters templates appear to fall into. You're in the other one." |
Author: telesonorous | "That sounds really adorable," says Helen. "If he likes the scarf I want to see." |
Author: segreant | "In person? Are you allowed to come visit Rêverie?" |
Author: manofmyword | "The other one from - you?" he guesses, drifting over from the cookie table with a few more acquisitions. "Mm, that's nnnot a huge surprise. Who else is where?" |
Author: telesonorous | Helen blinks. "Might I not be? Who decides?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Cricket here and my first and thirdborn and Kanim are with us, Jnis and Ikes and Sherlocks and Tonies and their parents and Tanalin are with you, and I'm not positive I can reliably make this distinction from memory with anyone I don't see all the time." |
Author: segreant | "Your parents, I guess? It's okay for people to visit Rêverie, so years ago we had the older two cherubs over, but we couldn't go to them because people in Samaria don't know about magic." |
Author: manofmyword | One of his hands is full of cookies, but he gestures with the other one, illustrating each named person separated into the appropriate groups.
"Who else," he says thoughtfully. "My kids? Golden's crowd? Bet you dollars to donuts Aedyt's on my side." He taps the air and his aura obligingly adds a little illusory Aedyt to the group on his left. "Kerron's with my sweetie, I bet—" and Kerron and Nathan join the crowd on the right. "Now, if you wanna name the teams something fancy, I'm not your guy. But if you just wanna tell 'em apart..."
He wiggles the fingers of his free hand. The illusions on his right acquire an afterimagey green halo shimmering around their edges; the ones on his left become similarly purplish.
The Joker giggles.
"I love auras," he says, and eats a cookie. |
Author: telesonorous | "Kas doesn't really not allow things," says Helen. "I don't know about Amariah. I wonder if I should ask her." She contemplates this prospect. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Auras have their uses! Green and purple? Okay. You're purple, Bells're green, I'll have to check everybody else to make sure, it's distinct when I'm looking for it but I never was before I saw these close together." She waves at the Jnis and Ike. |
Author: segreant | "Doesn't not allow things? What, at all?" |
Author: newtimov | "I feel so useful," says Ike. |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker giggles again. |
Author: telesonorous | "Pretty much." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Jane, you want to tell everybody about this exciting new discovery so I don't get deluged in confused brainphoning more than my boosts can handle?" |
Author: mind_game | [Sure. Hey, what am I, or do you have to go look at my actual body in the Belltower?]
[Hey, everybody! Glass has discovered that templates come in two moieties. We're calling them purple and green for now. She can look at you and find out which you are if you want, but don't crowd her.] |
Author: thaumobabble | "I think I would have to go there, yeah. I'll stop in on my way home from here, how about?" |
Author: segreant | "I guess Papa doesn't make most of our rules, but Maman does..." |
Author: telesonorous | "If something's not a good idea, Kas says why," says Helen. "Or asks me not to do things. But if I wanted to do something anyway, he wouldn't stop me." |
Author: manofmyword | The Joker snaps his fingers; his aura's helpful illusions disappear. A moment later, so does he. |
Author: segreant | "Maman explains things too, but they are still rules even if I still want to do them after she explains." |
Author: newtimov | "Now there is someone who knows how to make an exit," observes Ike to no one in particular. |
Author: telesonorous | "Yeah, Kas doesn't do rules," says Helen. |
Author: self_composed | Stella snorts. "I'd like to be copied when you identify my staff, no rush though," she tells Glass, and she wanders away. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Yeah, sure," Glass says to her departing alt.
"Mow," says Cricket.
"I don't think turning it into a contest will accomplish anything useful, 'ket-cat." |
Author: segreant | "I guess that could be nice, but I'm mostly embarrassed by times I did things Maman said not to when I was littler. That I didn't think to be embarrassed of back then. If I did more of them I would be more embarrassed." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen shrugs. "I like the way I grew up. I wouldn't want to swap childhoods with anybody." |
Author: cheerfulish | "I think I will go outside and fly," says Junia. "Do you want to come?" (This to Keziah, on account of she also has wings.) |
Author: segreant | "You liked not having your one of Maman around?" |
Author: inherpiety | "Yeah, let's!" |
Author: telesonorous | "I liked some parts. Like having a secret mom, that was kind of fun. I didn't like that everyone was sad about her being gone. I liked going places with Kas, and baking cakes in the wilderness, and not having rules except with the clan. I didn't like getting kidnapped. But I like the whole thing, and how it made me turn out me instead of some alt of me, enough to want to keep it." |
Author: segreant | "I don't know how I'd be if Papa had raised me by himself." |
Author: cheerfulish | Off they go! |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet locates Ike. "Hey you. I said I'd introduce you to the boy one of me. Is this a good time?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Me neither," says Helen. "And I don't know how I'd be if my secret mom had not disappeared and not been a secret. Well. I guess I wouldn't exist, that's kind of an answer." |
Author: segreant | "You'd probably exist at some point! I mean, Yseult and Damaris do." |
Author: newtimov | "It is not a bad one!" says Ike. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Cool, he's over there investigating the snacks." Juliet leads Ike through people towards Cam. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam: is a boy of Juliet. |
Author: telesonorous | "I wouldn't exist now. I might not exist in the next three hundred years. I might not exist ever." |
Author: segreant | "I guess. My parents had us slower than Angela and Micaiah had our alts." |
Author: newtimov | "Hello!" says Ike. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Hi! Who's this?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Cam, this is Ike. Ike, Cam. Ike was very interested to learn that I come in boy." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Oh was he." |
Author: newtimov | "Um. Yes," says Ike. "Yes I was." |
Author: lifes_sake | "We have truly fascinating taxonomy, don't we, us Bells." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Slayer, angel, witch, elf, admiral, mage, psion, vampire, magician, enchantress, ingot, swanperson, and boy." |
Author: lifes_sake | "On that list I think I'd rather be represented as 'wizard'." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Oh, I'm sure one day you'll have company and it will no longer be such a tempting distinguishing feature. Besides, I left out a couple of us altogether." |
Author: newtimov | "You are also a wizard?" says Ike. "What kind?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "...Speech wizard?" suggests Cam. "Only one kind on my world. Learn magic language, convince stuff to do stuff with it." |
Author: newtimov | "Yes, that was a question about methods rather than nomenclature," says Ike. "I am not a wizard! I am an undergraduate student. Someday I will build robots. Well, I already build robots, but someday I will build much better ones." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Rumor has it that's a much wiser occupation on Sunshine than wizarding, robotics is. At least until Tilly and her alts camp out there long enough to scare the magic system straight." |
Author: telesonorous | "And a bunch of other Jokers and Bells haven't had any kids yet at all. I'm not even sure I have the whole list - Stella and Alice, Aegis and Sue, Jellybean and Cam, Aianon and Sarion, Brilliance and Aurora... I wonder if Brilliance and Aurora can have kids, isn't he not even biological? I guess magic solves a lot of things, but I don't know what solving that would look like in the first place." |
Author: newtimov | "I have not heard about Tilly, who is Tilly?" |
Author: segreant | "I guess they'd just wish her pregnant with one of you?" shrugs Céleste. "Since they know it'd be a you if it were just solved all by itself." |
Author: lifes_sake | "She's a Matilda? There isn't one in Sunshine, maybe you haven't heard of them. There's three - mine, Rainbow's, and one from an unBelled world called Wellspring. Matildas are great." |
Author: telesonorous | "Well, but what if Brilliance wanted to be more involved in the process? Kas made himself pregnant with me. When it's just that two people can't have kids the traditional way because they don't have the right combination of parts or aren't species that normally go together, I can imagine fixing that with magic, but I can't imagine what you would even wish for to get a kid out of someone who isn't a kind of thing that reproduces." She shrugs. "I guess it's not my problem." |
Author: segreant | "...Maybe they would make a Device that was a you like Jane is a Device now? I don't know if Devices are babies ever, though, and people who want kids seem to think it is important that they spend some time being babies." |
Author: newtimov | "I had not heard of Matildas," Ike confirms. "That is interesting! How do they scare magic?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Maybe it wouldn't be important for Devices, since they don't," says Helen. |
Author: segreant | "Maybe. Aurora's a human, though." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Oh, it turns out that Wellspring's magic system is actually lots like the Sunshine-family worlds, except Sunshine-family worlds have had it for a long time and demons or something have been using it in unpleasant ways. It's kind of impressionable magic, so it gets unpleasant when used that way. But Matildas are all really intensely good at this kind of magic, so if they went and were good examples for it, they might be able to shift things some." |
Author: telesonorous | "Yeah, I mean maybe it wouldn't be important for kids who were Devices to be babies if Devices don't do that," she says. "But I don't know that much about Devices anyway. I haven't actually met the other Jokers. They'll probably get around to mobbing me in a few hours." |
Author: segreant | "Probably. I don't know where they all are now, and I told Maman I had lost track of Papa, and she said that was probably for the best." |
Author: newtimov | "Ooooooh," says Ike. "That's interesting. They should do that! Our magic kind of mostly sucks right now." |
Author: telesonorous | "...Yeah, I bet they're off somewhere having... fun," says Helen. |
Author: segreant | "I know, I don't want to think about it though." |
Author: lifes_sake | "They plan to! I don't think they have a timetable though." |
Author: telesonorous | "In fairness, we don't actually know that they're not baking an enormous cake," says Helen. "Or making each other silly costumes. I'm now imagining Kas dressed up as a frog and it's really funny." |
Author: segreant | "...Now I'm imagining Papa being fluffy and dressed up as a bird, at the same time." |
Author: newtimov | "I am sure they will get around to it someday. Did you know you are extremely pretty?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "I've heard this from reliable sources before. But not from you. It's good to know." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen giggles. "Fluffy bird! We should tell them, they'll do it." |
Author: segreant | "He would be like a weird layered griffin. Rainier would be ashamed of him." |
Author: newtimov | "Oh good," says Ike. |
Author: telesonorous | She giggles some more. |
Author: lifes_sake | "You're cute, do people inform you of that often enough?" |
Author: newtimov | "With reasonable frequency! But mostly they are members of my immediate family and that is not at all the same." |
Author: segreant | "And -" Whatever Céleste was about to say get cut off; she turns around. "There's... something coming." |
Author: inherpiety | A moment later, her angel alt lands on the nearest balcony.
They look at each other, and then in the direction of the something that is coming. |
Author: lifes_sake | "I wouldn't expect it to be, no. But here I am, not related to you, thinking you're cute." |
Author: jellyinthemix | The stairs on which Céleste is standing enter a closed section about a dozen steps below the gathering. Someone emerges from that archway, sipping his tea as he climbs. |
Author: newtimov | "I have noticed that," says Ike. "I am very pleased!" |
Author: inherpiety | The Griffins look at each other again, then approach him tentatively, stepping in sync. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Good, I hate it when my flattering opinions are unhappily received." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "...Er. Hello," he says. |
Author: segreant | "We can fix that," they say at the same time. |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles.
Then he scans the surrounding airspace. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam looks up. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Fix... what?" |
Author: inherpiety | "Your arm," says just Keziah. |
Author: segreant | "Have you ever done this before, because I haven't." |
Author: inherpiety | "No, but I can tell you can fix it, too." |
Author: newtimov | "Oh, I was looking for my sister," Ike explains. "She is likely to show up and interrogate you if she notices that we are talking. But she does not seem to have done that yet." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Why is she likely to do that?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "What about my arm? What—oh, not that bloody thing again," he says. |
Author: segreant | "It's okay! We can fix it and then it won't bother you again!" |
Author: newtimov | "She is very protective." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Fix it how," he says. |
Author: lifes_sake | "What, exactly, is she likely to expect me to maybe do to harm you?" |
Author: telesonorous | "I'm really confused," says Helen. |
Author: inherpiety | Keziah snaps her fingers. "Oh! I was wondering if I'd ever get an ingot power! Maybe this is it!" |
Author: segreant | "Oh, and then it makes sense that we both do it, too." |
Author: newtimov | "...Lots of things, none of which I think you are actually going to do, but there is a really long list, because I have had very bad luck with boys," says Ike. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Aw, that sucks." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen looks from the Griffins to Giles and back to the Griffins.
"...Should I just go away instead of asking?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Yes, sorry, please and thank you," says Giles. |
Author: segreant | "You should let us fix it, though. You don't have to tell us how you got it on you." |
Author: newtimov | "So now she makes sure to intimidate anyone she catches maybe sort of slightly flirting with me, but I don't think she is going to try to intimidate you in particular because you are probably not very afraid of being punched even if it's by Val, but I think she will probably still glare at you a little just in case." |
Author: lifes_sake | "I am fully warded up, yeah. Is she unusually good at punching?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "What precisely do you mean to fix?" |
Author: inherpiety | "...The thing on your arm. It's... all..." |
Author: segreant | "Gooky," suggests Céleste. |
Author: newtimov | "I'm not sure if 'good' is the word. Maybe 'enthusiastic'. Also Sessiaki have iron bones." |
Author: inherpiety | "Yeah, it's really gooky." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Sessiawhonow? Are you one of the innumerable forms of Sunshine demon?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "And you want to get rid of the... gook," he says, "and you have some very good reason to think that will be an improvement?" |
Author: segreant | "...Well, we haven't tried it before. There isn't any gook around at home." |
Author: inherpiety | "But we can tell that we are anti-gook," says Keziah firmly. |
Author: newtimov | "Yes! Well, partially. Full Sessiaki also have scales and tails," he says. "I'm slightly more than half human. I have shiny fingernails, an iron skeleton, some human-toxic dietary requirements, and I never need a compass or a ruler." |
Author: lifes_sake | "That is an interesting array of features. Can I have a look at the fingernails?" |
Author: newtimov | "Okay," says Ike. He holds out his hand. His fingernails are, indeed, shiny - and a little smoother than human ones, and faintly opalescent. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam takes his hand and peers at them. "Very cool. I'd think it was a deliberate aesthetic if you hadn't told me. How does the geometry thing work?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I'm not entirely sure I want to be the first test subject," says Giles. "The, ah, thing on my arm has seen quite enough ill-considered decisions already. Do we have anything more to go on here than... gooky feelings?" |
Author: segreant | "Well, we could ask Maman? Or her one of Maman. Or some other Maman, there are lots." |
Author: newtimov | "I have a perfect sense of distance and direction, by eye and by physical orientation," he says. "The Sessiaki writing system tends to boggle humans because they don't see angle and distance automatically. But for example I can tell you that you're slightly taller than five-ten, about a sixteenth of an inch to be exact - heights are really interesting around here actually, with all the templates, your alts are mostly about five-four but very few of them are exactly the same as each other, and some of the other templates I've seen really are exactly the same across the board." He takes a breath. "And if I close my eyes and spin around several times I still know which way is north. Or, well, any direction. And if I were to walk around blindfolded I could tell you exactly how far I'd gone and draw the route on a map. Moving between worlds is always weird that way because it doesn't feel like going anywhere, but I am still demonstrably somewhere else." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Huh. Is your sense of direction freaking out about being in space?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Yes, all right," sighs Giles. "Let us by all means ask a Bell." |
Author: inherpiety | "But which one?" |
Author: segreant | "I'll call mine," shrugs Céleste. |
Author: beheld_beauty | Presently Rose teleports in. "What is going on?" |
Author: newtimov | "Not particularly. Most things are in space if you step back far enough," he says. "I don't have trouble with the moon orbiting the Earth or the Earth orbiting the sun, either. Actually when I was little it took me a while to get used to moving around in vehicles - I used to get horribly carsick, and I have thrown up on at least five separate trains - but it did not stay a problem for very long." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I'm not quite sure," says Giles. "According to these girls, I have... 'gook'... on me." |
Author: lifes_sake | "I would not actually have speculated that the moon would give you trouble. Do you generally track arbitrary moving objects? Tides in the Indian Ocean, tectonic plates, comets, particularly energetic whales?" |
Author: beheld_beauty | "...Are they correct?" |
Author: jellyinthemix | ...He sighs. "Almost certainly." |
Author: beheld_beauty | "Well, then, perhaps Lazarus could look at the three of you and tell us more." |
Author: newtimov | "Only ones I can see," he says. "And I can pay more or less attention to particular ones. But I see dimension and distance with about the same immediacy as colour." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Ah, yes. And where is Lazarus?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "So other stuff gets in the way of it? How much stuff does it take to be 'opaque' to this sense?" |
Author: beheld_beauty | "I'll find him." She ruffles Céleste's hair and teleports Lazarusward. |
Author: newtimov | "It's a visual sense," he says. "Well, partly. Mostly. One is... as though everything in my field of vision comes with little labels saying what the distances are between any part and any other part, and the other is orientation relative to known landmarks. But—" he starts to make a gesture, discovers that Cam is still holding his hand, goes very suddenly very pink, and continues after a short pause without continuing to gesture "—I don't orient relative to where something is, I orient relative to where I remember it. I can always find where we parked the car, but if somebody moves the car I can't immediately tell where they put it. If someone teleported my house three feet backward, I'd notice the next time I looked out the window or went outside, but I don't think I'd be able to tell right away. I haven't actually experimented with teleporting, come to think of it." |
Author: nonbird | "Hello!" says Lazarus. |
Author: lifes_sake | "What about distorting lenses, funhouse mirrors, that kind of thing?" Cam asks. He appears to find the blushing very cute. "Also, happy to teleport you someplace if you'd like." |
Author: beheld_beauty | "Hello. Céleste and Keziah appear to have materialized ingot powers telling them there is unspecified 'gook' on Giles. Before doing anything about any of this I thought it would be wise to consult you; will you come look at them?" |
Author: nonbird | "Oh, of course," says Lazarus. |
Author: beheld_beauty | "Thank you." Teleportation. |
Author: newtimov | "Distorting lenses... imagine looking at a ruler in a curved mirror," he says. "You can see all the tick-marks even though it looks like it's a funny shape. Visual distortions don't change the underlying dimensions, and they don't change my perception of the underlying dimensions. But mirrors are interesting, actually, because they're almost like those optical illusions where it's two faces and you blink and it's a vase. I see the real relative position of reflected objects, but I can imagine the relative position they would have if the reflected light had been travelling in a straight line through a transparent pane. There's, um, a science museum back home that has a hallway lined with two not-quite-parallel mirrors, and I used to stand in it and make myself dizzy trying to see all the imaginary relative positions of all the reflected Ikes." |
Author: lifes_sake | "This is fascinating. And the science museum part is adorable." |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles.
"You can teleport me somewhere if you want!" he says. "That would be interesting." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Sure. Should we find your sister and get her attempt at intimidating me out of the way?" |
Author: newtimov | ...Ike giggles harder.
"Sure!" |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam makes sure his hold on Ike's hand is secure and smiles and ports them both to wherever Ike's sister may be. |
Author: nonbird | These stairs are getting a little crowded.
Lazarus peers at Giles.
"...You have a... something," he says. "It's definitely a something. A very subtle something."
He turns to look at the Griffins.
"And you have ingot powers!" |
Author: newtimov | They appear in midair, outside the space plant, with nothing below them but the planet of Thilanushinyel very very far away.
Ike squeaks. |
Author: inherpiety | "That's what we thought! We can fix him, right? We think we can fix him." |
Author: grabsthebutt | An indistinct glowing figure with massive indistinct glowing wings, swooping through the air toward them from about ten feet up and thirty feet forward, brakes suddenly. The humanoid silhouette drifts to a halt standing upright in midair at the edge of conversational distance, with her wings spread out flat to either side and rippling gently to keep her in place.
If those darker shapes blurrily visible in the glowing white form are what Sessiaki skeletons look like, they have a lot more differences from the human kind than just being made of iron.
Then the glowy white stuff around that skeleton shimmers and contracts slightly, revealing a very human-looking person with a definite family resemblance to Ike. She's wearing jeans and a T-shirt; the glowy white stuff seems to flow through the material to reach her skin, and stops being a window to her skeleton as soon as it is all the way through.
"Hi, what the hell?" she says. |
Author: nonbird | "It... seems that you can fix him," he says. "At least, you can definitely do something, and you're definitely calibrated to expect that it's a positive something, and ingot powers don't really lie... actually," he says, "in a very distant sort of way, you remind me of a unicorn I met recently. You especially," he indicates Keziah, "but it's not much of a difference. You're both... purifiers, I could say. You clean things up." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Hello, you must be Ike's sister. I'm Cam." |
Author: inherpiety | "I'm like a unicorn?" |
Author: segreant | "But we're the Griffins." |
Author: grabsthebutt | "Val," says Val. (She is not wearing her nametag.) |
Author: newtimov | "He is sort of slightly flirting with me," Ike says helpfully. "I think." |
Author: grabsthebutt | Val snorts. |
Author: lifes_sake | "I didn't think I was being that ambiguous about it." |
Author: nonbird | "I don't think your ingot powers know that," says Lazarus. "It's just a comparison, anyway. But yes... let me look at you again." He turns back to Giles. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "If you must." |
Author: inherpiety | "Gooky," mutters Keziah. |
Author: grabsthebutt | "You have to be pretty direct before Ike will stop looking for alternate interpretations," says Val. "Try not to make him cry. I punch people who make him cry, and I think I might get kicked out of the party or something." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Yes, thank you, I'd noticed," says Giles, somewhat irritably. |
Author: lifes_sake | "I don't think I have ever made anyone cry. Also, it wouldn't be automatic for you to be kicked out, it'd depend on how mad I was and how much Juliet likes you and whether you seemed likely to be otherwise disruptive." |
Author: nonbird | "You have a... connection to... something," says Lazarus. "I might be able to get more details if we were in your world. But it's definitely hostile, although very dormant, and it's definitely the kind of thing that the girls' ingotry can get rid of for you. There shouldn't be any unforeseen side effects, unless you were depending on your connection to a malevolent force or entity for something." |
Author: jellyinthemix | "Not especially," says Giles. He sighs. He looks around for somewhere to put his tea, discovers a lack of any such place, and sets it down on the stairs in front of him very close to the wall. "All right, you may... de-gook me." |
Author: grabsthebutt | "Well, if you don't make him cry, we won't have to worry about it," says Val. |
Author: newtimov | "I think he is very unlikely to make me cry!" contributes Ike. "He is nice and interesting! And very pretty." |
Author: grabsthebutt | "He is definitely pretty," says Val. |
Author: segreant | The Griffins converge on his arm, and each hold it in both hands, interspersed, like they choreographed it in advance.
And they do - something. |
Author: inherpiety | It isn't quite painless, but it hurts in a good way - like removing a splinter or draining an abcess.
And there is a vaguely chilly clean feeling left behind after they're done. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Just once I wish people would look past my stunning exterior and see me for the wizardly millionaire philanthropist that I really am inside," deadpans Cam. |
Author: jellyinthemix | Giles frowns slightly and rubs his shoulder.
"Thank you," he says. |
Author: inherpiety | "You're welcome," says Keziah brightly. "All gone." |
Author: grabsthebutt | "Uh-huh," says Val. |
Author: jellyinthemix | "I'm just going to..."
He turns away, turns back, picks up his tea, turns away a second time, and heads down the stairs in the direction from which he came. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam tilts his head, and says, "My notebook bird reminds me that it is the recorded opinion of the world Alethia that I am actually a notebook bird inside," he reports. |
Author: segreant | "Bye!" |
Author: newtimov | "You are and/or have a notebook bird?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yep." He reaches with the hand that is not still holding Ike's into his ever-present backpack, and pulls out Grace, currently in notebook form. "Don't touch her," he warns. "She's my daemon. Have you heard about daemons?" She turns into her hawk-self, standing on his forearm. |
Author: newtimov | "I have sort of vaguely heard about daemons!" He blinks at the hawk. |
Author: lifes_sake | The hawk blinks back, and spreads a wing to preen.
"She used to be just a notebook - well, not just, I magicked all my preexisting notebooks into a single one, she was the smartest and most magic notebook ever," Cam says. "Then I was helping Amariah with her afterlife and needed a daemon to be there, but managed to get Grace to be my daemon instead of getting a separate one, and now she can switch." |
Author: segreant | The Griffins are a-prowling the space plant, looking to see if anyone else requires their services! |
Author: newtimov | "That... is a story," says Ike. "About a thing that happened. My goodness." |
Author: lifes_sake | "She's a Cooper's hawk. If there are future boy Bells who are also called Cam I'll probably go by Cooper for that reason." |
Author: newtimov | "Every so often I almost manage to forget how far outside my experience this party is," says Ike, "and then it occurs to me that I am floating in space above a planet in another world holding the hand of someone whose soul is a bird that is also an amalgamation of notebooks." He smiles a tiny smile. "And I don't hold people's hands very often," he adds. |
Author: salus_populi | There is someone over there who might qualify! She is sitting by herself in a roomlet high on the wall of the main room, perched on a stool next to the railing and watching the people milling around on the floor below. |
Author: lifes_sake | "The situation isn't too far out of the scope of things that my life tends to contain, and I still do a mental double-take when I notice things like, 'hey, I'm holding the hand of a part-demon introduced to me by my alternate universe self and floating near some dragons outside of a plant magically generated by a completely unrelated kind of demon, and also my soul turned out to live in my magic notebook and is a bird now'," Cam chuckles. "I don't know if that goes away, I'd have to ask one of the older ones of me." |
Author: inherpiety | "You have gook on you," announces Keziah. "We can fix it, though, we just found out!" |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles. "I'm glad it's not just me!" he says. |
Author: grabsthebutt | Val eyes them both.
"All right, you pass," she says to Cam. "Have fun."
The glowy white stuff wells up out of her skin to cover her clothes again, and she folds her wings and dives under the space plant. |
Author: salus_populi | "What kind of gook, exactly?" |
Author: inherpiety | "I don't know. It's not in a place like the gook on that man's arm was." |
Author: segreant | "Yes, it's on your self, not your body." |
Author: salus_populi | "Can you tell me anything else about the gook?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Ooh, I pass. Do I get a prize?" |
Author: segreant | "We can get rid of it?" offers Céleste. "We've tried it now. But we aren't magic-seers like Lazarus." |
Author: newtimov | "Maybe," says Ike. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Maybe?" |
Author: salus_populi | "I'd rather not get rid of something about me without knowing what it is," says (according to her nametag) a Libby whom you can call Aelise. "I might turn out to need it later." |
Author: inherpiety | "Well, we could get Lazarus." |
Author: newtimov | "Well, I think the prize is that Val leaves you alone while you possibly flirt with me," he says. |
Author: segreant | "But it's gooky, why would you want it on you?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Aha. And hold your hand, that also seems to be ongoing." |
Author: salus_populi | "I don't feel especially gooky, and I don't know what kinds of things you think of as gook," says Aelise. |
Author: newtimov | "Yes! Those," says Ike. "Those are examples of things we can do without Val's interference." |
Author: segreant | "Bad gooky kinds of things," says Céleste. |
Author: inherpiety | "I'm gonna call Lazarus."
[Lazarus, we found more gook, but this lady won't let us take it off without telling her what it is, help?] |
Author: lifes_sake | "Cool. Are those the kind of activity you prefer to do with a floor under you?" Cam inquires. Grace turns into a notebook again; he catches her and tucks her back in his backpack. |
Author: nonbird | Lazarus teleports to them.
"...You must be from Gift," he says to Aelise, blinking. "Goodness." |
Author: newtimov | "Generally speaking, yes," says Ike. |
Author: inherpiety | "I do not remember any bedtime stories about Gift. Is it gooky?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "There are floors to be had."
The floor that Cam picks out is a floor up from the main party area, looking out into the crowd. |
Author: salus_populi | "Debatably," says Aelise. |
Author: nonbird | "...Oh," says Lazarus. |
Author: inherpiety | "What?" |
Author: segreant | "Tell us what it is so she'll let us take it off," says Céleste. Unlike the last instance, this kind of gook is more her specialty than Keziah's. |
Author: newtimov | Ike relaxes slightly. "This is a floor," he says, gazing down at it. "It is very a floor." He looks out past the railing. "And there's where we were standing earlier - teleportation does wipe out my orientation the same way interdimensional travel does. But I can get it back the same way, too, by placing myself relative to known landmarks again." |
Author: nonbird | "It's... I think it's the effect of the Chelsea alt local to Gift," he says. |
Author: salus_populi | Aelise sighs. "That, unfortunately, will have to stay." |
Author: segreant | "But it's gooky!" |
Author: lifes_sake | "And then it's all - restored from backup? How good is your memory for this stuff?" |
Author: salus_populi | "I need it for now. Talk to me about it again in approximately a hundred years," she says. |
Author: segreant | "That's a long time!" |
Author: newtimov | "Very, very good," he says. "I couldn't retrace every step I've taken in my entire life, but I could probably draw you an accurate map of the parts of Toronto I've been to more than once." |
Author: salus_populi | "Yes," she says. "If you'd like, I could point you at some people who I'm sure would love to have any lingering effects of Chelsa removed - two Jokers, Harley and Corona." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Cool. Are you working with about the same quality senses that a full Sessiaki would have, or did you get a toned down version?" |
Author: segreant | "Okay. Maybe Papa knows where they are." [Papa?] |
Author: newtimov | "About the same," he says. "Sessiaki-human mixes seem to be lucky that way. I can also see violet, which full Sessiaki can't; their visible spectrum is a little smaller." |
Author: deslandes | [Yes?] |
Author: segreant | [Me and Keziah have this ingot power and we can get gooky magic off people and there's this lady who won't let us take it off her, but she says Harley and Corona are other Jokers who might, do you know where they are and if they want us to ungook them?] |
Author: lifes_sake | "And that glowy thing your sister was doing, is that also a thing you do or something else?" |
Author: deslandes | [What kind of gook do you suppose Harley and Corona—? Never mind, I think I know,] he says. [I will find them and ask them.] |
Author: newtimov | "That is iethat. She is an ithue," he says. "About a third of Sessiaki are. I'm not." |
Author: segreant | [Okay, thanks!] |
Author: lifes_sake | "...Stop me if all the questions are intrusive or you get them all the time or they are insufficiently flirtatious. Alternatively, ask me questions about wizardry or notebook birds or what I have learned from talking to inanimate objects." |
Author: deslandes |
A very short while later, he says, [They are sitting outside together and would be happy to see what you can do about their gook.] |
Author: segreant | [Thanks, Papa!]
"Can you teleport?" Céleste asks her alt, and when Keziah shakes her head, she does it herself, and there they are.
"We are here to ungook you. There isn't nearly as much of it on you, though." |
Author: newtimov | "I don't actually get them very often, because the set of people who know my mom is Sessiaki but don't already know all about them is extremely small," he says. "You talk to inanimate objects? I suppose you implied that earlier. What do they say?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Depends! Plants range from extremely stupid, like grass, to fully sapient - most trees. This is only on my world, Syntropy - not even the stars outside of Syntropy are worth holding a conversation with, and stars back home are really smart. My wizard manual will talk to me about what's inside it, answer questions, direct me to page numbers. Grace is a person and always knows what I've written in her. Other stuff will answer basic questions about its properties if I ask it." |
Author: pythbox | Harley and Corona are sitting side by side on the platform that rings the space plant, tucked up against the outer wall of the main room. Corona has his arm around Harley's shoulders and Harley is leaning into him comfortably.
"Yeah," says Harley, "probably 'cause Elsie got most of it." |
Author: inherpiety | "Well, she didn't get it all. It's - it's like -" |
Author: segreant | "It's like if someone burned down a forest and salted the earth and then put a bunch of fake trees, and then someone took away the fake trees," says Céleste. "I think we can get the salt, too." |
Author: pythbox | "...yeah," says Harley, "that would be awesome, do that." |
Author: segreant | "Okay," says Céleste, and she and Keziah put their hands on Harley's head, and unsalt him. |
Author: pythbox | He shivers;
he beams;
he vanishes.
Corona laughs. "I bet he's off to hug his wolf," he says. "Chelsa doused him from everybody. He's got most of it back - it's easy to get Jokers to like people, hard to get them to stop - but I guess not all." |
Author: segreant | "We can do you too." |
Author: newtimov | "Does this space plant say things?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Good question." Cam looks at the nearest part of contiguous space plant, which is the railing. "Hello, space plant!" |
Author: pythbox | "...Yeah," says Corona, folding his hands in his lap and looking down at them, "that'd probably be... good." |
Author: pythbox | "I'm a space plant," says the space plant. |
Author: inherpiety | "Are you okay? Do you want another of Dad here when we do it?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yes you are. Anything else to say?" |
Author: pythbox | Pause.
"I'm a big space plant!" |
Author: newtimov | "Is it saying things?" says Ike. "I can't tell." |
Author: lifes_sake | "It says it's a space plant. It's a big space plant. This isn't Syntropy, so that's probably all I'm gonna get out of it." |
Author: pythbox | Corona shrugs. "I'll be fine," he says. "I'll go find the rest of us after, it's not like there's a shortage." |
Author: segreant | "It's true. There are quite a lot."
She reaches for his head.
They do their magic. |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles. "It's true! It is a big space plant. It might even be the biggest space plant ever. It's definitely the biggest one I've seen. But then, I have only seen one space plant." |
Author: lifes_sake | "I am not aware of larger, but then, I don't know what Aianon has been up to for the last sixteen subjective years in Origin while Jane was broken." |
Author: pythbox | For a moment there is no visible effect; he breathes out calmly, looking a little distant.
And then he pulls his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around them and drops his head into the space thereby created and cries. |
Author: newtimov | "Maybe he was space gardening the whole time," says Ike. "Maybe Origin has space forests now." |
Author: segreant | "A-are you okay?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Maybe! I know he was there in the first place to put an ecosystem on Saturn. Do plants on Saturn count as space plants?" |
Author: newtimov | "No," he says decisively. "Saturn is a planet. They are planetary. Planetary plants." |
Author: pythbox | "I'm—fine," he sniffles, shivering. "Just—there were so many..." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Planetary plants," snorts Cam. "Very well. But perhaps he became bored with ecosysteming Saturn, and Pat's world has space forests now with space plants ten times the size of this one. I cannot ask it, for it is not the sort of thing it would know." |
Author: inherpiety | "So many what?" |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles. |
Author: pythbox | Too much crying. Cannot answer. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Aianon made me a fruit once. It was heart-shaped - I mean, anatomically correct heart-shaped - and it was tasty so I kept the seeds. The trees have not turned out very clever - they are brighter than this plant, probably since I grew them in Syntropy, but they wouldn't win any contests within the world. But they are uncommonly emotional. They're always happy to see me and know who I am because they were made for me." |
Author: newtimov | "...That's adorable," says Ike. |
Author: inherpiety | Keziah hugs him, fluffing one wing around his back. |
Author: segreant | Céleste tucks in too. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Isn't it just? I mean, I have befriended a tree, but this is on another kind of level." |
Author: newtimov | "Heart fruits!" he says, giggling. "Heart fruits. Heart fruits that love you." |
Author: pythbox | Corona sniffles and leans into Keziah a little when she hugs him.
"Thanks," he says haltingly. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Well, the trees love me. The fruits, once picked, are not so full of mental activity that I feel any qualms about taking bites out of them. I did have a very anxious few days when I first learned to talk to things. Quizzed muffins, etcetera. I'm still slightly vegetarian on those occasions when I don't eat conjured food." |
Author: segreant | "You're welcome. Are you gonna be okay?" |
Author: newtimov | "...Yes," he says, "I suppose eating food that was aware enough to love you would be slightly horrifying. Did the muffin pass the quiz?" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Failed it miserably! All it could say was, 'I'm a muffin'! It did not react when I warned it I was going to bite it. It did not complain when I did so." |
Author: pythbox | Still shivering, he manages, "Yeah." |
Author: inherpiety | "What were there so many of?" |
Author: newtimov | "That's good," says Ike. "I would hate to think about all food being smart enough to complain when you try to eat it." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Most food is not. I mean, nothing in actual food form is smart, but I talked to a goat and she was capable of telling me that she didn't want to be eaten, so I don't eat anything that used to be potentially brighter than a chicken. Chickens are really stupid, though." |
Author: pythbox | "People," he says. "Chelsa... could make you - like somebody, or stop. I was with her a long time. She did a lot of - stopping. When somebody left, or died. So we wouldn't be..." He trails off, shuddering. |
Author: segreant | "That's what the gook was?" shudders Céleste. |
Author: newtimov | "I am glad my visions of screaming cupcakes are not supported by reality." |
Author: lifes_sake | "At one time I thought I had met a very clever rock but it turned out to be a disguised evil deity." |
Author: pythbox | Corona nods unhappily, with his head still mostly tucked into his arms. |
Author: segreant | The Griffins go on snuggling him. |
Author: newtimov | "...I think I just had another 'floating in space holding hands' moment," giggles Ike. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yeah. The disguised evil deity introduced itself to me as Iggy," Cam adds, winking. |
Author: pythbox | That is good. They are good snugglers.
Eventually he uncurls enough to hug them back.
"Thanks," he says. |
Author: inherpiety | "You're welcome," says Keziah. |
Author: newtimov | "Pfffffffffff," says Ike. |
Author: pythbox | He takes a deep breath and lets it out again.
"I'm gonna go hug some Jokers," he says. "See you."
And he's gone. |
Author: lifes_sake | "And then it tried to convince me not to do so much Belling because I was cramping its style and I didn't bite and then it tried to kill me and Jellybean and Tilly saved my life, so that was exciting." |
Author: newtimov | "It sounds it!" says Ike. "I am glad the evil rock did not kill you." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yeah, me too. It does continue to exist, I'm not sure yet what to do about it, although the list of possibilities recently expanded to 'hire the assassin from Materia who terrifies both her local Bell and Glass'." |
Author: small_magics | Sarion knows perfectly well that Lycaelon is not generally a party person, so she (Ansharil on her shoulder in purple furry winged creature form, tail around her neck) goes and checks on him after she has welcomed incoming contingents to her world. |
Author: newtimov | "...I don't think I would like to hire an assassin that terrified multiple Bells!" says Ike. "But I guess an evil deity would be a good reason to do it." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yeah, ordinarily I wouldn't wanna interact with her, I have had enough unfortunate experiences with Materia, but Iggy's kind of a problem. Syntropy's not hooked up to Downside, there's something in the way, and I bet Iggy's involved." |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon has found himself a mostly-enclosed roomlet halfway up a wall, partway up an enclosed flight of stairs and with only a narrow balcony overlooking the main room. He suspects it was made with him in mind.
"Hello, Isibel," he says. |
Author: newtimov | "I cannot even imagine trying to solve this problem," Ike says after a moment. "At home you don't solve evil gods, you avoid them as much as possible. Or at least I don't. I guess somebody probably does, or we'd have evil gods popping up like mushrooms." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Juliet solved an evil god," says Cam. "I think it was in her job description even apart from being a Bell." |
Author: small_magics | "I See you. I hope the quantity of people is not too overwhelming even with this little retreat. I will leave you more thoroughly alone, if you prefer." |
Author: floofcoaster | Zeus (with Andrea draped over his shoulder as some sort of furry dragon) is currently making a valiant effort to rid this party of the scourge of eclairs. |
Author: newtimov | Ike nods. |
Author: lifes_sake | "So what do the robots you build do?" inquires Cam.
He is still holding Ike's hand. |
Author: wildlymagical | He smiles. "I'm all right. No one's bothered me yet. Thank you, though." |
Author: small_magics | "You are welcome. I believe," she adds, "that both of your alts have appeared today. I was not sure if they would." |
Author: newtimov | "Things," he says, with great authority, and then grins. "Actually not very many things. I tried to build a robot puppy once but I did not succeed. That's what trying again is for, though! The latest thing I'm working on is stairs. Because we have a Roomba, and they're really only good for relatively unobstructed flat surfaces, and stairs get dirty too, so I'm trying to build a robot that can climb up and down stairs, and then I'll figure out how to make it also vacuum them." |
Author: lifes_sake | "A stair-climbing Roomba. That's adorable. It's probably cheating on the robot puppy thing if you just make something that bends in all the right places and someone gets it to come when called by magic, isn't it." |
Author: pythbox | Harley appears out of nowhere and hugs Zeus enthusiastically.
"Hi! I love you!" |
Author: floofcoaster | Spontaneous imprint hugs are way more important than eclairs! "I love you too!" Hugsnuggle. |
Author: newtimov | "That would be very cheating!" he says. "Magic usually is. Which is all right for some things, but I want to build a robot puppy, not just get one from somewhere else." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yeah, that's fair, it'd be like wishing a crossword puzzle filled in. There is already something which does the job of being a puppy without having to be built and it is called a puppy." |
Author: wildlymagical | "I wonder where they are," he says. "I haven't seen them." |
Author: small_magics | "I caught glimpses when Jane first brought them here, but there are dozens of guests and I soon lost track. I could go and find them easily enough if you would like them invited up here to meet you." |
Author: pythbox | Snugglehug!
"Some girls came and said they could get rid of more of what Chelsa did and they did and it's gone and it's wonderful," he says, mostly into Zeus's shoulder. |
Author: floofcoaster | Squish-hug. "That's great! I didn't even know there was anything left." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Well, I would like to meet them..." he says consideringly. |
Author: small_magics | "I will go and see if this interest is reciprocal." She pecks him on the cheek, and teleports first to the Peace instance.
"I See you." |
Author: newtimov | "Yes. They are very cute," he says. "That is why I want to build a robot one. I would be much better at taking care of it than I would be with an actual dog, and it would still be cute and fluffy and reasonably huggable." |
Author: lifes_sake | "I've never had a pet. Most of us don't. Glass has a cat, but on her world cats are people and also magically useful." |
Author: pythbox | "Jokers bounce back fast from being doused but she still did it," he explains, "and it was still slowing me down, and now it's not and did I mention I love you? I love you." Snuggle snug. |
Author: floofcoaster | "I love you." Zeus kisses the top of his imprint's head. |
Author: areyouabeer | "Hi," says Howlett, raising an eyebrow. |
Author: small_magics | "I am Isibel Sarion. The local instance of your template, my co-Bonded Lycaelon, has expressed interest in meeting you." |
Author: pythbox | "I love you tooooo." Snuggle snuggle. "Hey, do you wanna come meet some Jokers? You haven't, right? They're fun!" |
Author: floofcoaster | "Uh, maybe. I actually do not know what will happen if I am presented with a bunch of people who look just like you but aren't!" |
Author: newtimov | "I have not had any pets either. But someday I will have a cute fluffy robot friend." |
Author: lifes_sake | "I wish you the best of luck. The fur exterior won't present insoluble problems with cooling the processors or anything?" |
Author: pythbox | "They don't really look just like me," he says thoughtfully. "Well, not to me, anyway, I dunno about you, would it be too weird?" |
Author: areyouabeer | He shrugs. "All right." |
Author: floofcoaster | "I guess we can find out. Maybe if the Imperial Seer is not busy she can check to see if I will explode, first?" |
Author: small_magics | She takes that as consent to teleport him to where Lycaelon is. Pop! |
Author: newtimov | He shrugs. "Not very many things are really insoluble if you are clever and have flexible parameters!" |
Author: areyouabeer | Howlett looks at Lycaelon. |
Author: lifes_sake | "I like that attitude." |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon looks at Howlett. |
Author: areyouabeer | "You're so young," he says finally, shaking his head. |
Author: wildlymagical | "You're not that old... is this a magic thing?" he wonders. |
Author: areyouabeer | He snorts, and explains, "Mutant. The local not-magic thing. I'm older than I look, and I'm not gonna look any older." |
Author: wildlymagical | "...How much older than you look...?" |
Author: areyouabeer | "Three hundred years," he says. "Give or take. I'm sure about the last hundred and seventy of them, but before that it gets patchy." |
Author: newtimov | Ike beams! |
Author: pythbox | "Sure!" says Harley. "Let's go bug her." |
Author: lifes_sake | "You are very cute and I would rather like to kiss you." |
Author: newtimov | ...Ike beams more!
"I would like to kiss you too!" he says. |
Author: small_magics | "This may or may not make you the oldest human in the party. I will go and look for the third one of you."
And she goes and looks for the third one of them. |
Author: floofcoaster | Eventually Alice is located.
She makes kind of a face. "Jokers give me a headache," she sighs, but she closes her eyes anyway. "No, no explosions, not even Edward's weirdness around Bella's alts, you're fine."
"Thanks!" says Zeus. |
Author: areyouabeer | "Hi," says Luhan, raising an eyebrow. He is remarkably similar to Howlett: same apparent age, same mannerisms, roughly the same style of dress and personal grooming. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Excellent," says Cam, "that's very convenient."
Ike is shorter than he is, so Cam just leans right down and kisses him. |
Author: small_magics | "I See you. Your alts have met, and you could join them, were you so inclined." |
Author: pythbox | "Thanks!" beams Harley. "Sorry about your headache!"
And he leads Zeus to the predictable location of a large number of Jokers: the orgy chambers located among the roots of the space plant, under the main room and its encircling platform. |
Author: areyouabeer | "Might as well," says Luhan. |
Author: small_magics | Pop! |
Author: newtimov | Kisses! Kind of grinny kisses. Hopefully that is okay. |
Author: floofcoaster | Zeus is sufficiently Harleysexual that he wasn't likely to wander into an orgy for reasons of his own, but he's also a wolf with the consequent casualness around both nudity and personal privacy. He follows his imprint happily. |
Author: areyouabeer |
Luhan and Howlett... just kind of stare at each other. |
Author: lifes_sake | It is okay, if a little giggle-inducing. |
Author: small_magics | Sarion giggles a little. |
Author: pythbox | Anyway, Harley brainphones ahead, and when they enter the correct room everyone is mostly just snuggling.
"Hi, everybody! This is Zeus, he's my wolf and he's the best," he says, giving Zeus the huggiest of hugs. |
Author: gunpowdergelatine | "Aww, you're adorable," says Queenie from amid the general pile. "Wanna hug?" |
Author: floofcoaster | Zeus does not need to worry about Andrea coming into contact with other Jokers, so he just says, "Okay!" |
Author: newtimov | Giggles can be a bad sign, but in this case Ike tentatively concludes that they are okay.
Kisses. Kisses are nice. Cam is so pretty. Also he is very kissable. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam is pretty and kissable and nice! Ike is also those things.
This kiss should be accompanied by more of a hug. The one of Cam's arms that is not attached on one end to Ike's hand participates in bringing this about. |
Author: gunpowdergelatine | Queenie extricates herself and comes up and hugs the Zeus-and-Harley concatenation.
She is extremely cuddly. The cuddliest. Magically cuddly. It's pretty great. |
Author: floofcoaster | "You are really cuddly!" Zeus observes. |
Author: newtimov | A hug! Hugs are nice too. Ike squeaks, but it is a delighted sort of squeak. And he hugs back. |
Author: wildlymagical | So does Lycaelon. |
Author: lifes_sake | [You are adorable.]
(This particular use of the brainphone is a large fraction of its use cases, really.) |
Author: small_magics | "Perhaps you are also older than you look," Sarion ventures to say to Luhan. |
Author: gunpowdergelatine | "I am," Queenie agrees. "I have an aura of cuddly. Well, also an aura of fuckable, but you won't be meeting that one." |
Author: pythbox | "It's pretty great, too, though," says Harley. "If you don't wanna be mass-hugged, speak now." |
Author: floofcoaster | "I could go for some mass-hugging." |
Author: areyouabeer | "Mm? Yeah," he says, "I'm about four hundred and thirty." |
Author: yourheartstrings | "Beautiful," says a voice out of thin air, and Ghosty materializes to pile on. |
Author: small_magics | "Presumably this is due to a Gift," she speculates. "I wonder if there are any older humans here. Living ones, at any rate. Older nonhumans certainly. I am not sure how old Nona is, I suppose, and Beast could be counted as a human and is roughly that old." |
Author: manofmyword | Other |
Author: endragoned | Jokers |
Author: cardistry | follow. |
Author: deslandes | One of them is fluffy! |
Author: floofcoaster | Zeus laughs. "You guys having fun dividing me up when I'm yea big or should I arrange for there to be more of me to hug?" |
Author: newtimov | [I am glad you think so!] says Ike. [You are really attractive, wow.] |
Author: lifes_sake | Well, the only appropriate response to that is more kisses. |
Author: areyouabeer | "Yeah," says Luhan. "My Gift is immortality. Well, and a few extras."
"Heh," says Howlett. "How's your skeleton?"
"...Nothing special, why?"
"Mine's been... improved," says Howlett. "Back in the twentieth century. And I've got these." He makes a fist with his right hand, and three long metal claws erupt from between his knuckles, clicking audibly into place. He displays them to Luhan and Lycaelon, demonstrates that his wrist still bends, and then retracts them to a presumable housing in his forearm.
"I don't have those," says Luhan. |
Author: wildlymagical | "You wish you had those," says Lycaelon. |
Author: areyouabeer | Luhan throws him a startled glance, and then bursts out laughing. Howlett joins in. |
Author: newtimov | That is the best response. Ike is so pleased. |
Author: small_magics | Sarion laughs, too. "Improved, and you have claws. I suppose the claws are original." |
Author: areyouabeer | "The claws are original, but they used to be bone. They got improved with the rest," Howlett explains.
Luhan is still laughing. |
Author: small_magics | "A curious form of improvement." |
Author: pythbox | "You mean get floofy? You should totally get floofy," says Harley, snuggling him. |
Author: lifes_sake | Good. Pleased kissing: best kind. |
Author: areyouabeer | "Well, my bones don't break anymore, that's nice," he says. "And I can cut through steel, although there's not much call for that these days." |
Author: floofcoaster | "Right then," says Zeus, and he divests himself of outfit (he isn't in uniform today, it didn't seem like party wear) and then:
Floof!
It's very fast and very sudden; Andrea's sitting on top of him and just gets bounced a little, but Jokers standing near him may be flung into walls. |
Author: newtimov | And Ike is very pleased, so it is very best. |
Author: small_magics | "I do not know what call there may have been in the past to cut steel," remarks Sarion. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam is pretty damn pleased too. Cute boy, pleased kissing, all is well. |
Author: pythbox | There are quite a lot of Jokers standing near him. |
Author: manofmyword | And they all think getting flung into walls is hilarious. |
Author: deslandes | Beast, appropriately enough, is the first one to recover and pounce on floofy Zeus for floofy snuggles. |
Author: floofcoaster | Fluffy Zeus flops onto his side and accepts cuddles!
[Yeah, I thought that'd get a laugh.] |
Author: newtimov |
They could be at this for a while. |
Author: lifes_sake | They could.
[So do you prefer this display of affection public? Because there are less-public rooms available in the space plant.] |
Author: newtimov | Ike considers this!
He says [Hmm,] and disengages from kisses so he can think about it properly.
And then he says: "Yes I think that is a great idea." |
Author: areyouabeer | Howlett shrugs. "I've led an active life," he says dryly. "Made a few friends and a lot of enemies. I was pretty glad to outlive all the ones who had a habit of locking me up."
"I know the feeling," says Luhan. |
Author: lifes_sake | "I wonder if the space plant knows where to send us. Hey, space plant, where is an unoccupied room with a door?" |
Author: small_magics | "It would seem that Lycaelon is the odd one out of the three of you." |
Author: pythbox | "There are many rooms like that under the main floor, reachable by stairs next to the archways," says the space plant, in the mode of the Speech used by unthinking objects when queried about their physical structure. |
Author: wildlymagical | "Yeah," he says, "I know. Apparently there are a lot of template things that I missed out on because the magic of this world doesn't work that way." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Excellent." And Cam drapes an arm around Ike's shoulders and follows the space plant's directions. |
Author: yovahs_kisses | "It was fantastic," giggles Micaiah. "Oh, you're so fluffy!" |
Author: small_magics | "Apart from the Knight-Magery, which I suppose was as close as you could get." |
Author: truthwright | Kas pounces too. Petaal turns into a fluffy dragon along the same lines as Andrea and tackles her in midair; they land on Zeus's fluffy shoulder and commence snuggling it. |
Author: floofcoaster | Zeus licks the nearest Joker's face. |
Author: areyouabeer | "And Knight-Magery is...?" says Howlett. |
Author: wildlymagical | "Knight-Mages are a kind of Wildmage. Wildmages are... I don't know how to explain," he says. "But Knight-Mages in particular have... an unshakeable will, which I haven't yet had cause to demonstrate, and an affinity with the arts of war. And they're supposed to be bad at doing most magic, but I'm not." |
Author: cardistry | Brilliance giggles and kisses Zeus's nose in retaliation. |
Author: newtimov | Ike leans on him and beams the whole way down. |
Author: small_magics | "Thilanushinyel has three kinds of mage. Wildmages receive a set of three Books which contain spells, which they can perform at the cost of some personal energy and services done for the Wild Magic - the cost may be split among several parties, however. By contrast, High Mages pay only an energy cost and require more complicated materials and setup. Elfmages like myself have no such inconveniences, but cannot operate at all without dragons; elves who do not have dragons are only capable of 'small magics'." |
Author: floofcoaster | Zeus barks a wolfy laugh and his tail wags. |
Author: lifes_sake | And here is a room! With a door! And a bed. And nobody in it. |
Author: newtimov | Ike takes the greatly daring step of kissing Cam on his own initiative after they have closed the door. |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon nods along with this explanation. |
Author: lifes_sake | That is great! Cam, of course, kisses him back, because what else is he supposed to do with a cute boy who kisses him? |
Author: areyouabeer | "I think I like Gifts better," says Luhan. |
Author: yourheartstrings | "That tickles," giggles Ghosty, who has ended up near his tail. |
Author: small_magics | "I do not imagine I could convince Tab to trade circumstances with me, there is that." |
Author: floofcoaster | [Good,] laughs Zeus. Wag wag wag! |
Author: newtimov | He could do many things, but this is obviously the best option. Kisses. |
Author: lifes_sake | Oh could he? Do many things? For example, could he resume that hug? With a view to no longer being in public, even? |
Author: yourheartstrings | Ghosty continues to giggle! |
Author: pythbox | "I love you," says Harley, curling up and flopping his head onto Zeus's fluffy tummy. |
Author: floofcoaster | [I love you too.] Harley also gets licked. |
Author: pythbox | Harley giggles and snuggles in closer. The Jokerpile in general distributes themselves comfortably for snuggling. |
Author: floofcoaster | Wag wag wag wag snuggle snuggle (slurp) wag wag. |
Author: newtimov | Ooh. Yes he could. Ike hugs him back in a snuggly fashion. |
Author: lifes_sake | Snuggliness is best. Cam approves. They should sit down. There is a bed to sit on. Cam sits on it, tugging Ike gently after him.
[D'you have an idea of where you want this to go?] he inquires lightly, after this has been going on for awhile and he's made some use of his ability to do without oxygen. |
Author: gunpowdergelatine | Queenie pets Zeus's fluff. "You're a sweetie," she says. "I'm glad Harley found you." |
Author: floofcoaster | [Me too!] |
Author: pythbox | "Me three," says Harley, snuggling Zeus some more. Snuggling everyone, actually. Being in a pile of Jokers is great. Zeus is great. Snuggles are great. Everything is great. |
Author: endragoned | (The fluffy purple creature apparently sleeping on Isibel's shoulder curls his long fluffy tail around her neck and nuzzles her jaw with his small fluffy head.) |
Author: small_magics | (She pets him.) |
Author: newtimov | [I haven't been thinking about it particularly,] he says. [Because of kisses. They are highly distracting.] |
Author: endragoned | (He loves her ever so.) |
Author: lifes_sake | [Mmm, they can do that, it's true.]
Is it less distracting if Cam starts kissing Ike on the neck instead? |
Author: areyouabeer | |
Author: newtimov | It causes him to squeak! And then no it is even more distracting. And nice. Extremely nice. |
Author: lifes_sake | [You want me to quit distracting you?] asks Cam teasingly. |
Author: newtimov | "Noooo," giggles Ike. "Continue." |
Author: small_magics | "I can explain, if you would like, but it is not a particularly cheering story." |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam obliges happily. |
Author: areyouabeer | Lycaelon's alts exchange a glance.
"We're fine," says Howlett. "Unless you want to tell us." |
Author: small_magics | She shrugs. "In your position I would prefer to be told, but if you are indifferent I would as soon refrain." |
Author: exactlyright | Even though it went so well last time, Carinna's reserves of bravery are not infinite, and now she is sticking to her sisters. |
Author: guessguess | Kiawen doesn't mind! |
Author: forgefires | Neither does Tanalin!
She brought her fluffbat. It is flopped on her head. She thinks it is extremely fashionable. |
Author: areyouabeer | Howlett and Luhan also shrug, in near-unison. |
Author: newtimov | Oh good! That is good. Cam is good. Ike is so pleased. |
Author: guessguess | Kiawen agrees completely. Her piano bear Keys is sitting on her shoulder, wearing a tiny waistcoat. |
Author: small_magics | "You seem even more similar than most alts, even though I would not have categorized your worlds as being unusually alike." |
Author: lifes_sake | Nibble? |
Author: areyouabeer | "Yeah," says Luhan.
"Guess we are," says Howlett. |
Author: small_magics | "I wonder why." |
Author: newtimov | This is a positive development. |
Author: lifes_sake | In that case, plural nibbles. |
Author: areyouabeer | "Couldn't tell you," says Luhan. |
Author: newtimov | "You are really great," sighs Ike. |
Author: lifes_sake | [You are adorable.] |
Author: newtimov | "I am glad you think so!" |
Author: small_magics | "I believe I shall leave you all to get acquainted."
She pecks Lycaelon on the cheek again, and departs. |
Author: lifes_sake | Nibble nibble kisses.
Cam is arranging to be in a position where at least one of his hands might notice that Ike's ribs are angled funny, but at least this won't come as a surprise. |
Author: newtimov | If Cam's hands wind up in a position to notice that, Ike is very likely to squeak! He seems to do that a lot. |
Author: lifes_sake | [Are these good squeaks?] |
Author: newtimov | "Yes," he giggles. "That was a good squeak. Well, a surprised squeak, but it's a nice surprise!" |
Author: lifes_sake | [Spiffy.]
Om nom nom Ike.
[Lemme know if you want me to stop distracting you so you can answer more complex questions.] |
Author: newtimov | He giggles. "But they're such nice distractions." |
Author: lifes_sake | "No shortage," laughs Cam, pausing briefly in nibbles for some repositioning. Then he resumes. Nibble nibble. |
Author: newtimov | "You are really great," sighs Ike. "I said that already. But then you kept being great." |
Author: lifes_sake | [I am so glad you think so.] |
Author: newtimov | He giggles again. He has a cute giggle. |
Author: lifes_sake | Snuggle snuggle nibble nibble, just how many cute sounds can Cam get Ike to emit? |
Author: newtimov | Quite a few! There is the giggling, and the sighing, and the happy little hummy sounds... |
Author: lifes_sake | All good things. Cam is not going to get tired of them anytime soon.
Although he will observe: [We are both wearing shirts. Does that seem right to you?] |
Author: newtimov | "Now that you mention it, I think it is non-optimal!" says Ike. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam decides that shirts can be removed the long way around on this occasion. |
Author: newtimov | Ike supports this decision fully! Or he would, if he knew Cam had made it. He is definitely pleased about both the outcome and the process, anyway. Also it has been a long time since he has kissed Cam, and he is going to fix that now. |
Author: lifes_sake | Mmmmm shirtless kisses. |
Author: newtimov | Yeeeees.
(Ike's ribs are indeed angled funny, and his spine is human in general curvature but not in the shape or placement of individual vertebrae. It's not something you'd notice with his shirt on, but it's pretty obvious now. He is mostly not self-conscious about it; it's not like the fact that he's part demon is news.) |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam has an only-mildly-academic interest in all these shapes. He will investigate them a little. |
Author: newtimov | ...ooh.
Ike gets kind of squirmy when thusly investigated! But in a good way. With grinning. |
Author: lifes_sake | That is good. Cam does check periodically to make sure that the squirms are good squirms. |
Author: newtimov | They continue to be that. Yes. Definitely positive. |
Author: lifes_sake | Good, good.
Eventually there is a natural lull in the proceedings during which the snuggle to nibble ratio is rather high.
"Have you formed an idea what you wanna do here?" Cam inquires lightly, putting a lock of hair behind Ike's ear. |
Author: newtimov | "Not exactly..." says Ike. "I mean, I definitely have a general idea, but I am lacking in specific ones." |
Author: lifes_sake | "What is your general idea like?" (He nuzzles the side of Ike's neck.) |
Author: newtimov | "It involves the same broad category of thing that we have been doing for the last... hour or so? I have completely lost track of time." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Hour and eleven minutes." |
Author: newtimov | He giggles. "You're handy." |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam walks one of his hands up Ike's chest. "Yep." |
Author: newtimov | He giggles harder. |
Author: lifes_sake | "I could break the question into smaller bits if that helps. For example, should we continue wearing pants?" (Nibble. It's really cute when Ike is distracted, okay?) |
Author: newtimov | "You are distracting me on purpose," Ike accuses, giggling. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yes. Because it causes adorableness." |
Author: newtimov | Ike attempts to glare, but there is too much giggle. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam kisses his nose. |
Author: newtimov | Ike squeaks.
Then he kisses Cam's nose right back, so there. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam beams.
And says, "Pants?" |
Author: newtimov | Ike contemplates pants. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam waits. And doesn't distract him again. (Unless ogling is distracting. It might be.) |
Author: newtimov | (It is a tiny bit distracting but not so much that Ike completely loses his train of thought, so that's okay.)
After a minute or so, he says, "I think we do not need to continue wearing pants!" |
Author: lifes_sake | "Ooh."
Well then, these pants Cam is wearing are just unnecessary, then. He will be rid of them forthwith. |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles. And kisses him. This is apparently his reaction whenever Cam removes an article of clothing. |
Author: lifes_sake | Is it really? Cam could take his socks off, too. Test this hypothesis. |
Author: newtimov | That would be very logical!
Also Ike kisses him again. |
Author: lifes_sake | Excellent.
Ike is also wearing pants. He could stop.
Cam could help. |
Author: newtimov | Ike supports this course of action in all particulars. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam is very helpful, then.
(He gets Ike's socks too, while he's at it. Socks are unnecessary.) |
Author: newtimov | (Ike's toenails are, like his fingernails, slightly opalescent. Not very many people have ever had cause to notice this.) |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam notes it, finds it unsurprising, and proceeds back up. For kisses. |
Author: newtimov | Kisses, yay! |
Author: lifes_sake | Pantsless kisses.
In case the revealing absence of denim yields anything Ike finds interesting. No rush, Cam isn't going out of his way to point it out, but it's there. |
Author: newtimov |
Well. Yes. That does appear to be a thing.
Ike is not entirely sure what to do about this thing!
But they appear to have plenty of time, and there are always kisses. Lovely kisses. |
Author: lifes_sake | Kisses are quite lovely, yes. |
Author: newtimov | Lovely. Lovely and pantsless.
If Cam has any more suggestions to make in the nearish future, Ike may be feeling receptive. |
Author: lifes_sake | Well. Asking Ike questions (in small, bite-sized pieces; when Cam can restrain himself from distractions) has been going so well. |
Author: cross_and_bow | Juliet has now introduced Cam and Ike. She feels that she has done a good deed. Now she is telling Minnie that, no, really, she should not go supervise them, that would not be okay. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "If you want to watch someone doing things people don't normally want you to watch, I recommend the Jokers," says Minus. He gives Juliet a peck on the cheek in greeting. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Ooooh, do you think I could?" muses Minnie.
"Yeah, they made a point of telling everybody they were available as porn, a while ago," snorts Juliet, "that's a good idea. Introduce yourself and make sure they don't have anybody extra in with them first, though."
"Okay!" says Minnie, and she ghosts off to do that.
Juliet returns the peck. "So Tab didn't feel like getting up and making a speech in front of a couple dozen people about why she didn't assassinate her approximately-adoptive-relatives to try get through them to Chelsa, so she just told Jane about it and Jane relayed." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "What did Jane relay, in particular?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Basically Tab had herself and Aelise representing people who had different priorities regarding Chelsaing versus warfare, and both of them had been in positions to get what they wanted in that department - Aelise sought Chelsa out in the first place, had to deliberately allow herself to be 'kindled' because Chelsa won't work with anyone who doesn't like her; Tab had her gift keeping her safe. And both Tab and Aelise are reasonable people who don't actually approve of mind-control, and Tab didn't have any strong reason to believe that the general population of Gift - even if they were presented the question without Chelsa having been involved - would prefer her risk tolerance over Aelise's. Certainly she was never confident enough to gamble on it by, as a teenager, attempting a high-risk assassination of her surrogate family who were taking significant chances to keep her safe and guarantee the destabilization of an empire that was otherwise working pretty well. Probably all bets would have been off if Tab's personal affections had been on the line - we're kind of selfish like that, Bells are - and she would definitely have gotten impatient if she hadn't found an Aelise-tolerable solution when she did, but that's her explanation for why she didn't immediately attempt to set everything on metaphorical fire." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "...My next question, of course, is what Aelise sought Chelsa out for." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "An end to warfare. Such as the one that ended with Toronto destroyed so Tab had to resurrect it on a planet with giant trees." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "...That does seem reasonable," he concedes. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I wouldn't have done it, but I can understand Tab not committing several murders of people she liked, at age twelve or so, in order to make a low-probability attempt at undoing it." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I wouldn't have done it, but for purely selfish reasons," he says. "And because I wouldn't know what to do with an empire if I had one." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "If you ever find yourself in possession of a spare I'm sure you know someone who'd look after it for you." |
Author: eversomuchfun | He kisses the end of her nose. "You will be my first port of call if ever I need to get rid of an empire," he assures her. |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I'm so pleased." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "But I hope to keep from accumulating any in the first place. Saves trouble." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "I would imagine so. You get to live the cushy Imperial Consort life." |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Much better than trying to run the bloody thing, in my humble opinion." |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Isn't it convenient that we have these compatible specialties?" |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Extremely." |
Author: cross_and_bow | Kisses! Not particularly specialized kisses, but really, that is how they are supposed to work. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "I'm sure this thing was grown with a plentitude of comfortable private little rooms," he says, after there have been some kisses. "D'you want to go find one?" |
Author: cross_and_bow | "Ooh, what an idea." A pleasing idea, judging by the look on her face. |
Author: eversomuchfun | "Let's," he says brightly. |
Author: cross_and_bow | She kisses him again and teleports them to the nearest unoccupied private little room. |
Author: eversomuchfun | Where they will do private things, which Minnie will hopefully not supervise. |
Author: exactlyright | "Do you want food? I might want food." |
Author: guessguess | "I want a beverage. They're in the same place!"
That place is the buffet! |
Author: forgefires | It is!
"I love all the little snacky things," says Tanalin. She is currently investigating the depleted eclairs. |
Author: guessguess | They're not very depleted.
Kiawen pours herself some fruit punch. |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna looks at large amounts of unrecognizable food before settling on some clearly identifiable strawberries with chocolate on them. |
Author: forgefires | "I enjoy these little snacky things in particular!" concludes Tanalin of the eclairs. "They're puffy and tasty." |
Author: exactlyright | "Are they sweet, or... what?" says Carinna, suspicious of the eclairs. |
Author: forgefires | "They're sweet and kind of cake-ish with chocolate on them and this creamy airy sweet stuff inside," says Tanalin, displaying a bitten eclair. |
Author: exactlyright | "Oh, that sounds nice." Carinna takes one too. |
Author: forgefires | Tanalin scarfs down the rest of hers. |
Author: telesonorous | "Ooh, tiny cupcakes," says another girl, approaching the tiny cupcakes (which are close by the eclairs). She is sitting on a hovering pine branch, barefoot, wearing a lot of black silk arranged in mysterious configurations. And no nametag. |
Author: exactlyright | "You don't have a nametag," observes Carinna. This is consternating! |
Author: telesonorous | "I know," she says. "I'm Helen Ianthe."
She grabs a tiny cupcake. Nom. |
Author: guessguess | "Where are you from? You look kind of familiar, are you a template? We're Glass's kids, we're from Chronicle." |
Author: telesonorous | "Alethia," she says. "I'm the same template as Yseult and Damaris." |
Author: guessguess | "Oh, so you're our cousinoid!" |
Author: telesonorous | "I guess!" she says, and takes another cupcake. |
Author: forgefires | "Are those good?" wonders Tanalin. |
Author: telesonorous | "They are tiny and cute and delicious!" says Helen. |
Author: forgefires | "Ooh," says Tanalin, and she grabs one. |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna waits for Tanalin's food-tasting verdict.
"Doesn't Alethia have those animals? Where is your animal?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Kalavar's outside. She's kind of huge, so it'd be hard not to bump into anybody in here. And bumping into people would be bad." |
Author: forgefires | "I like the tiny cakes!" says Tanalin. "They're tiny and cake-y." |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna takes a tiny cake.
"Why is yours huge?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Apparently it's a template thing," she says, "my alts would both have enormous birds too." |
Author: guessguess | "We don't have any alts. I wonder if we'd have the same animals if we did. I don't even know what we'd have. Bella said it doesn't stay put till you're - well, our age, I guess, I asked when we were ten." |
Author: exactlyright | "I'm not going to have any alts. Bella and Sherlock are going to tell the others not to make any." |
Author: telesonorous | "...Why not?" says Helen, cautiously. |
Author: exactlyright | "I asked them to. I don't think there should be more." |
Author: guessguess | Kiawen pats Carinna's elbow. "She's very sensitive, even though we live in the nicest world." |
Author: forgefires | "That's why I tell her about foods!" says Tanalin, beaming at her sisters and raiding the buffet table for a wee pie. She takes a bite and proclaims, "Tiny apple pie! I'll check to see if there's more kinds." |
Author: exactlyright | "Thanks," says Carinna. |
Author: guessguess | "I'm not a very good food tester, I like everything." |
Author: forgefires | Tanalin begins to systematically investigate the wee pies. |
Author: telesonorous | "Awww," says Helen. |
Author: guessguess | "I can't remember which of Bella it is in Alethia. I mean, I guess it's the one with the soul animal, but I can't remember her peal name." |
Author: telesonorous | "Amariah. She's a witch," says Helen. "An Alethia witch - I guess there are different kinds." |
Author: guessguess | "Chronicle has two all by itself! We're part fire-witch, just a little -" Kiawen pats the bottom of a chafing dish full of sausages illustratively. "On Sherlock and Tony's side. And Bella's a magician, which means she does all kinds of magic including witching, but not fire witching because that's a family thing." |
Author: exactlyright | "And we have friends from Toure-en-Marsh who are entirely fire-witches." |
Author: telesonorous | "Witching is just about the only available kind of do-able magic in Alethia - well, the subworld I'm from, I guess I don't know about the rest. And it's hereditary. You're either a witch or you're not, and witches' kids are witches if they're girls and not if they aren't." |
Author: exactlyright | "That doesn't seem very fair!" |
Author: telesonorous | Helen shrugs. "I guess it's not." |
Author: guessguess | "Maybe her Bella is going to fix it?" Kiawen suggests to Carinna. "For boys who want to be Alethia witches." |
Author: exactlyright | "Maybe." |
Author: telesonorous | "...I'm not sure there are any of those," says Helen. "I guess it's always possible." She looks at Carinna, and decides not to continue on to mentioning the possible negative social repercussions of such a change. |
Author: forgefires | Tanalin has finished investigating the wee pies!
"There are cherry ones and apple ones and peach ones and ones that are a kind of fruit I don't know," she says. "The mystery fruit is mysterious and really tasty. They all have different shapes of holes in the top for what kind they are." |
Author: exactlyright | "Which ones are peach?" |
Author: forgefires | "The ones with the little spirals!" |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna takes a spiral pie and bites it. |
Author: guessguess | "Why wouldn't boys want to be witches?" asks Kiawen. |
Author: telesonorous | "I don't know, I just can't think of any I've ever met who did. Which means there's probably not lots, even if there's some." |
Author: guessguess | "Huh. I guess most not-fire witches at home are girls. Not anywhere near all, though." |
Author: telesonorous | "It's something about the way the magic works, in Alethia." |
Author: guessguess | "But most magicians are boys. Not by as much, I think. Bella's best friend is another magician and he's a boy. So I wonder what you'd get if you counted all the magicians like they were witches? I mean, they mostly sort of are." |
Author: telesonorous | "I have no idea," says Helen. |
Author: guessguess | "Apparently there are entire worlds without magic." |
Author: exactlyright | "I talked to somebody from one! I think so, anyway, if they have magic it isn't very practical. She said they can't even stack rooms, there." |
Author: telesonorous | "Stack rooms?" |
Author: exactlyright | "Make them be all in the same place." |
Author: telesonorous | "Alethia magic can't do that either," says Helen. |
Author: exactlyright | "What can it do?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Things," she shrugs. "Mostly subtle things. Making sick trees healthy, lighting fires, stuff like that. Sometimes bigger stuff, though, like flying," and she gestures to the branch on which she sits. |
Author: exactlyright | "Chronicle witches ride broomsticks too. Except Bella doesn't like them. She has flying armor and a flying carpet and she can just plain fly." |
Author: telesonorous | "Alethia witches ride cloud-pine," says Helen. "It's a special kind of pine. Amariah made her palace be a giant one. And because my daemon's so big, I can ride her, but I don't know of anybody else who can do that with theirs." |
Author: guessguess | "Broomsticks on Chronicle can be made out of anything. They don't even really have to be broomsticks. You can make flying laundry baskets, if you want!" |
Author: tearingup | The Kingfishers are done having... tea... for the moment, so Ripper is coming by the buffet for a cup of real actual tea. There are so many kinds! It's hard to choose. This is a good problem to have. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph is investigating the -
Soph was investigating the coffee. Now she is investigating Ripper. She reads his nametag. She leans to her right, where stands her Tony, and is about to whisper in his ear when she decides on brainphone instead.
[Oh my god Bella said there was a young-Giles-alt but she didn't say he was hot. Look, Tony, he's hot!] |
Author: telesonorous | "...Flying laundry baskets actually sound a lot more stable," she muses. "I mean, if it was a big enough basket. You could sit in it. Falling off of cloud-pine branches isn't a huge widespread problem or anything, but something basket-shaped has more of a sense of... snugness to it." |
Author: toblameforit | [Wow, he is super hot,] Tony agrees. [I think I'm gonna hit on him.] |
Author: guessguess | "Yeah, it's only they're not very aerodynamic, and hard to steer." |
Author: keyed_up | [I do not blame you for a second, damn. It is just a little weird that he is a Giles but he's a really hot Giles.] |
Author: telesonorous | "I can imagine!" she says. "Maybe if it was more... boat-shaped? Like, I don't know, a flying kayak." |
Author: forgefires | "Oooh, flying boats," says Tanalin. "I want a flying boat! I'm gonna ask Tony to make a flying boat." |
Author: guessguess | "That sounds like fun! It could have sails! You could sail around in the clouds!" |
Author: toblameforit | [I might actually be a tiny bit retroactively attracted to Giles now,] Tony admits, [but I'm not dwelling on that because I'm hitting on his hot young alt instead.]
He approaches Ripper.
"Hi!" he says. "You're really hot, can I maybe make out with you?" |
Author: forgefires | "If she makes it big enough for more people, we could sail around in the clouds!" |
Author: keyed_up | (Soph giggles. She pretends, badly, to investigate coffee.) |
Author: exactlyright | "I like just plain magic flying best, I think. It just sort of works without being all complicated." |
Author: tearingup | Ripper laughs. "You maybe can!" he says, glancing between Tony and Soph. "If it's all right with your...?" |
Author: guessguess | "We can sail around in the clouds and you can fly next to us like a sky dolphin!" |
Author: keyed_up | (Soph giggles more, and cannot answer.) |
Author: forgefires | "This is such a great idea," says Tanalin. |
Author: telesonorous | Helen giggles. |
Author: exactlyright | "That does sound fun," admits Carinna. |
Author: guessguess | "I have fun ideas," says Kiawen. |
Author: toblameforit | "Girlfriend," Tony supplies. [Should I ask if you can watch? I'm getting a vibe that that is a thing I could ask.] |
Author: keyed_up | [Maybe? Is that weird? I don't wanna be weird.] |
Author: forgefires | "You do! You're a fun person." |
Author: guessguess | "Yes."
Keys nearly falls off her shoulder, but she catches him. |
Author: toblameforit | [I don't think it's weird!] |
Author: keyed_up | [Then maaaaybe?] |
Author: forgefires | Tanalin giggles. |
Author: telesonorous | "What is that, by the way? It looks like a tiny panda," says Helen. "A really adorable tiny panda. In a really adorable tiny waistcoat." |
Author: tearingup | Ripper is raising his eyebrows at them. |
Author: guessguess | "This is Keys! He is my piano bear. I made him the waistcoat so he would be able to get dressed up for the party, too." (Kiawen is in a pretty princess dress being a pretty princess.) "Piano bears are from the Gentle Cave, like fluffbats -" She waves at Sunrise. "And poofs. Carinna has a poof." |
Author: toblameforit | "Can she maybe watch?" says Tony. |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna takes Mossy out of her pocket. |
Author: tearingup | "Definitely," says Ripper. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph squirms and giggles again. |
Author: telesonorous | "So many small cute fluffy things!" says Helen. |
Author: forgefires | "The Gentle Cave is the best cave," says Tanalin. "I love my fluffbat." |
Author: toblameforit | "Cool, let's get a room!" says Tony. |
Author: exactlyright | "A couple of people have taken poofs home with them who don't even live in Chronicle. This is because poofs are obviously best." |
Author: tearingup | Ripper grins.
"I know where to find those!" he says, and leads them away. Assuming they follow.
[Going to make out with a Tony,] he says to Pattern. |
Author: bellfounding | [You know, I find I'm not even particularly curious which one? Enjoy.] |
Author: keyed_up | Soph shuffles after, still giggling. |
Author: tearingup | "You're both adorable," says Ripper. |
Author: toblameforit | "I know!" says Tony. |
Author: keyed_up | "We would win all the adorableness contests! If there were any." |
Author: telesonorous | "It is very round and fluffy," says Helen. "I think Petaal might want to be one." |
Author: exactlyright | "Maybe!" |
Author: guessguess | "Petaal's one of the soul animals, right? One who can change?" |
Author: toblameforit | "But there aren't. Ooh, stairs. So that's where they're keeping the orgy chambers this time around," says Tony as they descend beneath the main floor. |
Author: keyed_up | "I don't know what these things usually look like, is this not usual?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Yeah, she's Kas's daemon. All Joker daemons can change," says Helen. "There's something like four of them now." |
Author: guessguess | "How come they can?" |
Author: toblameforit | "It's a giant plant floating in space and it was designed by a Joker. No, it's not usual," says Tony. "It's been somewhere different every time, though, so I don't know if 'usual' is even a thing." |
Author: tearingup | "Aianon's space plants are very convenient," says Ripper. |
Author: telesonorous | "Because they're peculiar!" says Helen. "I don't know. Usually daemons change when you're little, and then settle into something when you grow up, something that suits who you are. Jokers just... don't ever settle. It makes sense to me but I don't know if that's just because I grew up with Kas and Petaal around being themselves all the time." |
Author: guessguess | "Huh. Bella, our one, checked what she'd have if she had a daemon. She got a kind of flying squirrel." |
Author: keyed_up | "Well, I mean, it's not like the ability to make space plants is new! Maybe there are space plants for Bell parties all the time and I just never heard about it!" |
Author: telesonorous | "Huh," says Helen. "Amariah has an eastern screech owl." |
Author: exactlyright | "I wonder why alts wouldn't all be the same." |
Author: toblameforit | "We could have made space plants before, but we didn't," says Tony. "Probably because we weren't Aianon. But now there is Aianon, therefore space plants. I think." |
Author: tearingup | "Ooh, cozy," says Ripper, poking his head into an unoccupied room. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony looks. There is a big comfy-looking bed, and several big comfy-looking beanbag-chair type things, and piles and piles of comfy-looking pillows in all sizes.
"I like it," he declares. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph divebombs a beanbag! |
Author: toblameforit | Tony flops into a pile of pillows!
"Man, this room was made for pillow forts," he says. "I'm practically swimming in pillows and it's awesome." |
Author: tearingup | "I can almost guarantee you that it actually was made for pillow forts," says Ripper, "given who made it." He shuts the door and flops cheerfully into Tony's pillowpile.
It also occurs to him to amend his previous report: [And his girlfriend is watching.] |
Author: bellfounding | Pattern snorts. [Okay then. Who's she?] |
Author: keyed_up | Soph snuggles into her beanbag in a comfortable supervisory position. |
Author: tearingup | [Soph from Sunshine, according to her nametag.] |
Author: toblameforit | Tony pillow-swims over to Ripper. It is highly undignified but very fun. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph laughs. Hers is most adorable boyfriend. |
Author: bellfounding | [Oh, Juliet's spontaneously occurring sister. Okay.] |
Author: telesonorous | "Well... because alts aren't all the same," says Helen. "I have alts and they're like me but they're not... me. And not me enough to have teratorn daemons, apparently." |
Author: exactlyright | "I wouldn't know, I don't know anybody with a soul animal besides you and I don't have any alts and I'm not going to. They all look the same, more or less, why wouldn't their souls all look the same too if you can see them?" |
Author: tearingup | [Yeah, her. She's cute. Her Tony is cute.]
Ripper chooses to celebrate Tony's cuteness by kissing him in a giant pile of pillows. |
Author: keyed_up | "Eeeeee." |
Author: toblameforit | Kisses! Mmmm. Yes this was an excellent plan. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph sooooo approves! |
Author: toblameforit | Tony approves too. He approves lots. So much approval.
Wow, Ripper is hot. And extremely kissable. And they are making out in a pile of comfy pillows. It's awesome. |
Author: tearingup | Tony is flatteringly enthusiastic and really cute! These pillows are comfy! Being watched is definitely a positive contribution to the whole experience! |
Author: keyed_up | Soph is definitely watching. They are definitely watchable. |
Author: toblameforit | Mmmmm kisses kisses.
"I think this would go better with fewer shirts," Tony says after a while, "how 'bout you?" |
Author: tearingup | Ripper laughs and takes off his shirt. |
Author: toblameforit | "Nice," says Tony. |
Author: tearingup | He beams. |
Author: keyed_up | "Eeeeee," Soph says again, squirming in her beanbag. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper grins. |
Author: toblameforit | It is only fair at this point for Tony to take off his shirt too! So he does. And then he kinda sorta pounces. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph almost applauds! |
Author: toblameforit | Mm yes shirtless makeouts good excellent. |
Author: tearingup | It's not like Ripper was previously unaware that he is really hot, but everyone here is so delighted about it, he is gaining a whole new appreciation. He makes a mental note to definitely say yes if any more Tonies want to make out with him, in case it's a template thing. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph is certainly really pleased! Alas, there aren't more of her around to partake. |
Author: telesonorous | "Well... because what your soul looks like is different from what you look like," says Helen. "Maybe there's some people whose alts would have the same daemons. I don't know that many people with alts who've checked." |
Author: guessguess | Kiawen hugs Carinna's arm. "What makes people have different animals at all?" she asks. |
Author: tearingup | One Soph is enough for all their purposes at the moment. And wow, her boyfriend knows how to kiss. |
Author: toblameforit | Yes. Yes he does. He's so glad Ripper noticed! |
Author: keyed_up | Did Bella really have issues about this, what issues, sharing is fun. |
Author: telesonorous | "Being different people, I guess," she says. "Your daemon's shape means something about you, but it's not always clear what." |
Author: toblameforit | It really is, isn't it?
Mmm kisses kisses. |
Author: tearingup | Mmmmmmm shirtless kisses. The shirtless part is important. Both for immediate makeout-related reasons (skin!) and because Tony and Soph seem to really like that Ripper is shirtless, and Ripper really likes when that happens. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph definitely really likes all the hot-boy-shirtlessness going on around here! |
Author: guessguess | "Do you know what yours means?" |
Author: toblameforit | There is definitely a lot of really liking going around! |
Author: telesonorous | "I'm the only person I've ever heard of with a teratorn. I think it means I'm peculiar." |
Author: guessguess | "I wonder if ours've settled yet. We're thirteen now." |
Author: telesonorous | "Maybe. You can check." |
Author: guessguess | "Yeah!" Kiawen pulls out three squares, enough for all three sisters.
She gets...
A piano bear.
She laughs. |
Author: exactlyright | Carinna doesn't get a poof. She gets a nervous-looking rodent with big feet. |
Author: forgefires | Tanalin gets a little spotted kitty! |
Author: telesonorous | "I don't know what any of those mean," giggles Helen. |
Author: exactlyright | "What would you know what it meant if we had it?" |
Author: telesonorous | "I'm not really sure," she says. "Mostly I don't, but every so often something just makes sense. And there are all these things people say about what different daemons mean, but I've seen them be wrong as often as they aren't." |
Author: exactlyright | "...Like what?" |
Author: telesonorous | Helen looks around. And then giggles.
"I was going to look at someone's daemon for inspiration, but of course there aren't any—oh, hey, I think that's an alt of my friend Shura!" She sits up straighter on her cloud-pine and peers. |
Author: subastra | It does rather look like an alt of her friend Shura! She is standing around, holding a glass of wine, looking distinctly unwitchy both in visible age and in clothing choices and lack of bird. She seems to find the party a bit overwhelming. |
Author: telesonorous | Now thoroughly distracted, Helen directs her cloud-pine over thataway. Perhaps Shura's mystery alt is wearing a nametag! |
Author: subastra | Her nametag says that she is an [Unnamed Template] called Serah and that she is from Samaria!
She double-takes when she sees Helen. "Dama- no, you're not, are you." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen giggles. "How could you tell?" she teases. |
Author: subastra | "Damaris has wings. And she's older." |
Author: telesonorous | "I know," she confesses. "We've met. I'm Helen Ianthe. I think I know an alt of yours!" |
Author: subastra | "I didn't know I was supposed to have any, I'm only here because Isabella - I refuse to call her 'Angela', it's ridiculous, we've been best friends our whole lives - invited me." |
Author: telesonorous | "I invited Shura! You look just like her, only old and not a witch." |
Author: subastra | "I'm not even forty yet! 'Shura' - that's pretty." |
Author: telesonorous | "Shura Talkaivan. You still look older than witches ever do," says Helen. |
Author: subastra | "Well, that hardly sounds fair." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen laughs. "Maybe it isn't." |
Author: subastra | "So what are you, secretly a hundred?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Not-at-all-secretly thirteen." |
Author: subastra | "And I suppose Shura is approximately yea big too and she's going to make me feel like I'm already arthritic and forgetting why I walked into rooms?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Well, the second part's up to you." |
Author: subastra | "I might risk it. Where is she?" |
Author: telesonorous | "I have no idea, but I can look!" |
Author: subastra | "I wasn't really expecting to be interesting enough for two universes to have me in them," muses Serah, craning her neck to look for a younger version of herself. |
Author: telesonorous | Helen, of course, lifts herself on her cloud-pine until she is high enough to survey most of the room. |
Author: subastra | Shura is over in a corner, talking to Lexi, not that Helen is liable to recognize Lexi. |
Author: telesonorous | Helen zips over.
"Hi, Shura! I found your alt! She's from Samaria and she's human and forty or something." |
Author: subastra | "Wow! Really?" |
Author: lexicality | "Man, everybody has alts but me." |
Author: telesonorous | "Aww," says Helen. "Anyway, Shura, want to come meet her? Her name's Serah!" |
Author: subastra | "That's a lot like my name! I guess that makes sense? Anyway, yeah, sure!" |
Author: telesonorous | "C'mon! She's over there," says Helen, pointing. |
Author: subastra | Shura follows Helen.
"You don't really look forty-something," she says consideringly upon coming face-to-face with Serah.
"That's because I'm not," says Serah, with a reproachful glance at Helen. |
Author: telesonorous | "You said you weren't forty but you didn't say what you were," says Helen. |
Author: subastra | "Thirty-six."
"That sounds closer," agrees Shura. "And you don't have a daemon either. This doesn't get any less weird anytime soon, does it?"
"I don't have a what now?"
(Nicoa is not in immediate evidence.) |
Author: telesonorous | "A daemon," says Helen. "People have them in Alethia. They're like your soul walking around outside your body as an animal. My Kalavar's a teratorn, and Shura's Nicoa is a ptarmigan." |
Author: subastra | "I don't know what either of those are," says Serah. "Why would your soul do that? Isn't that dangerous?" |
Author: telesonorous | "That's just how it works in our world. It's dangerous sometimes, but I still wouldn't want it any other way." |
Author: subastra | "And it's really weird that you don't have one. What would it be, I wonder?" says Shura.
"I couldn't begin to tell you. If most worlds don't have them isn't it yours that's weird?"
"Hmph." |
Author: telesonorous | "Weird is relative," says Helen. "I could show you yours if you want." |
Author: subastra | "You could - show me? How?" |
Author: telesonorous | "It's just a square, to get an illusion of what your daemon would be if you had one." |
Author: subastra | "Oh. One of those coin things. You have those? Well - all right. As long as my real soul stays where it belongs." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen produces a square (sunlight through pine needles) and wishes on it.
"I'm not sure what that is, but it's really cute," she says. |
Author: subastra | "...I don't know what it is either, but it is cute, yes," Serah agrees.
"We both have round, cute things," laughs Shura. |
Author: telesonorous | "Round cute souls," giggles Helen. "Aww." |
Author: subastra | "What would I do with it if I had it? Would I just - keep it at home in a pen, like a pet -"
"What, no!" exclaims Shura. "Ew! You're not a witch, so you'd have to keep him with you all the time. You could carry him or he'd sit on your shoulder or maybe he'd be fast enough to just follow you around. Daemons aren't pets." |
Author: telesonorous | "Witches can go far from their daemons, which is lucky for me because mine is a six-foot-tall bird," says Helen. "I'd barely be able to go indoors if Kal had to stay close like most daemons do." |
Author: subastra | "A six-f- that's enormous," says Serah.
"Yeah, Kalavar's a giant. Nicoa's more travel-sized," says Shura. |
Author: telesonorous | "I have the hugest daemon I've ever heard of," says Helen. |
Author: subastra | "Does... that mean you have... I have no idea what that is supposed to mean," says Serah. |
Author: telesonorous | "I think it means I'm peculiar." |
Author: subastra | "Peculiar is Helen's word for all things that are unconventional in sometimes magic ways," Shura explains. "Especially her dad."
"...Is her dad another of Micaiah?"
"...Maybe? I don't know who Micaiah is." |
Author: telesonorous | "Yes," says Helen. "Micaiah and Kas are both Jokers. Jokers are extremely peculiar." |
Author: subastra | "I can still remember back when Isabella met Micaiah," reminisces Serah. "It was terribly cute..."
"Isabella Amariah in our world is this legendary figure who went missing for like half a century before we were even born," says Shura.
"Oh. In my world she's going to be the Archangel in a couple of years, and Micaiah the angelico." |
Author: telesonorous | "I want to hear the cute story!" says Helen. |
Author: subastra | "Well, er -" Serah peers at the witches' arms, sees no Kisses, and rolls up her sleeve. "We get these, when we're babies," she says. "And they say that when they light up it means you've found your true love. When Isabella and Micaiah met theirs were glowing like falling stars and he looked at her like she was the whole world." |
Author: telesonorous | "Awwwwwww," says Helen. |
Author: subastra | "And soon enough she had made sure that if she was going to be Archangel he was going to be angelico, and they got pregnant, and married - I planned the wedding and it was beautiful if I do say so myself. And then they had a little angel baby who looked just like you, and then three more." |
Author: telesonorous | Helen giggles. "That is cute." |
Author: subastra | "I wonder if all the - Jokers and Bells - meet similar ways - I mean not exactly the same, because you're me and I'm you, sort of, and I wasn't there when the ones in my world did, but I wonder if the story would be alike somehow?" Shura says.
"I have no idea. I don't know how any of this works," shrugs Serah. |
Author: campanas | Peninnah has been wandering around aimlessly when she sees someone she recognizes. She makes her way up to Serah and hugs her leg. |
Author: subastra | "Hi, Pen'," Serah says, petting the little angel's hair. "This one is number four. Are there more of her too?" |
Author: telesonorous | "I'm not sure, but I don't think so," says Helen. "Hello, number four." |
Author: campanas | "Am Peninnah," mumbles Peninnah. |
Author: telesonorous | "And I'm Helen! It's nice to meet you." |
Author: campanas | "Are one Dars," observes Peninnah. |
Author: subastra | "Pen' sometimes talks a little funny," says Serah. "It takes some getting used to." |
Author: campanas | "But she does be," says Peninnah. |
Author: telesonorous | "An alt of Damaris? Yes I am," says Helen. |
Author: campanas | "I haven't one." |
Author: subastra | "Well, maybe you will, one day, I think that's how it works?" says Serah uncertainly. |
Author: telesonorous | "If another Bell and Joker get around to having four kids," says Helen. "Maybe it'll be Rose and Beast; I hear they've already got three." |
Author: subastra | "So that's one of you and one of Keziah and one of Ariel, I guess? Are they always in order like that?" |
Author: campanas | "Am last," sighs Peninnah. |
Author: telesonorous | "If one of the sets gets around to having five kids someday, you won't be last anymore," Helen points out. |
Author: campanas | "Am last from us," Peninnah says, but she seems to find Helen's remark cheering anyway. |
Author: telesonorous | "Probably not forever." |
Author: campanas | "Why?" |
Author: telesonorous | "Your parents have had four kids in the - how long have they been together?" she asks Serah. |
Author: subastra | "Seventeen years, now, they had Damaris awfully quick." |
Author: telesonorous | "Right. Four kids in seventeen years," says Helen, "I'm guessing they'll probably have another one someday." |
Author: campanas | "A little sister," muses Peninnah thoughtfully. "Little little." |
Author: telesonorous | "Or brother. Or sibling in general," says Helen. |
Author: campanas | "All girl sisters," says Peninnah. "Cousinoids also!" |
Author: telesonorous | "Actually, we have one cousinoid who's a boy!" says Helen. "The Joker and his vampire boyfriend Nathan in Aurum have a son named Kerron." |
Author: subastra | "What's a cousinoid?" asks Shura.
"What's a vampire?" asks Serah. |
Author: telesonorous | "A cousinoid is somebody who's got a parent who's an alt of your parent," says Helen. "A vampire's a kind of person from Aurum that drinks blood and doesn't get older." |
Author: campanas | "Ew!" exclaims Peninnah. |
Author: subastra | "So are you and Peninnah here just cousinoids or are you something else since both parents match? If I understand right?" asks Shura.
(Serah pets Peninnah's hair.) |
Author: telesonorous | "I think we're sisteroids!" says Helen. |
Author: subastra | "But you and Damaris are alts. Right?" Serah asks. |
Author: campanas | "Is complicated." |
Author: telesonorous | "Yes we are, and yes it is. You might even call it peculiar," says Helen. |
Author: campanas | "...Why is funny?" |
Author: telesonorous | "I just really like the word peculiar. It's fun to say, and so many things are it." |
Author: campanas | "Peculiar," says Peninnah experimentally. She does not appear to see what is so much fun about it. |
Author: telesonorous | Helen giggles. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph can be heard giggling softly to herself from her beanbag vantage point occasionally. It's difficult to actually catch her peeking for more than a moment, but she presumably is staring to her heart's content when neither of them is looking right at her. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony hardly looks. On account of he is busy. Happily, happily busy. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper, once he has glanced over a few times, also stops looking. Because if she only looks at them when they are not looking at her, then clearly he should just let her get on with it! Also, kissing Tony occupies a lot of attention. He's just so kissable. And so happy about it. Mmmmmmmmm. |
Author: keyed_up | "Eeeee," giggles Soph quietly. (She doesn't want to distract them from what they're doing.) |
Author: tearingup | They are magnificently undistracted. |
Author: keyed_up | Yaaaaay! Carry on making out, hot boys, Soph will just be over here grinning till her cheeks hurt! |
Author: tearingup | They will definitely do that. |
Author: toblameforit | But alas, they cannot carry on making out literally forever.
So during one of the inevitable lulls, in which Tony is sprawled contentedly about 30% on pillows to 70% on Ripper, he lifts his head from Ripper's shoulder and says, "We should totally make a pillow fort." |
Author: tearingup | "...Yeah," says Ripper, "we should." |
Author: keyed_up | "I am so promoting myself to a participatory role for pillow fort!" |
Author: tearingup | Ripper beams at her. |
Author: toblameforit | So does Tony.
Then he snuggles down against Ripper for a prolonged celebratory pre-pillow-fort kiss. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph giggles and starts categorizing pillows. |
Author: toblameforit |
Tony sits up and notices that she is doing that.
"Wow, awesome, you're the best, I love you," he says, beaming some more. |
Author: keyed_up | "I love you too! I mean I figured we are going to be doing serious architecture, here, I remember you with the gingerbread, so there will be no going 'now where did I put that one lego, I mean pillow'." |
Author: toblameforit | "You are right," says Tony. He rubs his hands together gleefully. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper giggles. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph leans over to kiss Tony, too (who doesn't want to kiss Tony?) and then resumes pillow-sorting. |
Author: toblameforit | Aww kisses yay kisses!
Tony gets in on the pillow-sorting too. It is a necessary step before the architecture can begin. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper helps! He is so helpful.
"That is a lot of pillows," he observes. |
Author: keyed_up | "The better to make a fort with, my dear." |
Author: tearingup | He cracks up. |
Author: keyed_up | Sort sort sort. Soph begins testing various pillows for properties like their ability to stand on end and form stable stacks. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony spontaneously hugs her.
"Pillow science!" he proclaims gleefully. "No, better. Pillow engineering." |
Author: keyed_up | Eee hugs! Those are distracting though! A pillow topples over when she is seized. "I love you." |
Author: toblameforit | "I love you toooo." Snuggle snuggle. Okay, back to pillow science!
Tony seems to be the test-as-you-go type: he starts laying foundations on the bed, paying attention to the shape of the pillows but not the colour. |
Author: tearingup | "Going to let the rest of us in on your grand plans?" inquires Ripper. |
Author: toblameforit | "Yes!" says Tony. "Yes I will."
His plans are very grand. This pillow fort is going to have four walls, an arched doorway, a blankety roof, and room enough for all three of them inside. (It's a big bed, so space at least won't be an issue.)
It's that archway that gives him trouble. Pillows just aren't made to do that. But Tony is sure he can persuade them, if he builds the walls well enough. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph believes in him! She will hold key pillows in place while he tries things. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper gets swept up in the excitement and is happy to serve as a third pair of hands where necessary. |
Author: toblameforit | Experimentation proceeds. Eventually, with the rest of the walls already up, he gets it stable. He kisses Ripper (briefly) and Soph (less briefly) to celebrate. |
Author: keyed_up | Kissing Tony is Soph's favorite thing. (Although apparently watching attractive third parties kiss Tony would also make any multi-item list.) |
Author: toblameforit | Tony beams.
"Okay, let's do the roof."
Blanket! Big colourful thin-but-snuggly patchwork quilt, to be specific. It's the lightest blanket available and therefore the easiest to stabilize. Tony rolls it up and hoists an end.
"Somebody wanna take the other end so we can unroll it over the walls, and somebody else wanna lay down more pillows on top?" |
Author: keyed_up | "I'll take the end," says Soph, and so she does. |
Author: toblameforit | "Awesome! Over here," he says, hauling his end higher so they can carry the rolled blanket to the back of the fort. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper follows with some long flat pillows he judges suitable for pinning the blanket down atop the walls. |
Author: keyed_up | And then their fort is complete!
"I haven't made a blanket fort since -" says Soph, and then she stops and shrugs and flops on Tony. |
Author: toblameforit | Hugsquish! |
Author: tearingup | Ripper awws at them a little, and then crawls into the fort to test its coziness level.
"Cozy as hell," he reports. "I've definitely never made a pillow fort this awesome." |
Author: keyed_up | In goes Soph.
"It's kind of dark in here," she chuckles. |
Author: toblameforit | Tony follows.
"But snuggly!" he says, snuggling up between the other two. |
Author: keyed_up | Snuggles! "It is! Best pillow fort." |
Author: toblameforit | Snuggggggggles.
"Best pillow fort," Tony agrees. |
Author: tearingup | "Best pillow fort," laughs Ripper. |
Author: lexicality | Having been abandoned by the young witch she was recently talking to, Lexi is now vaguely in a search pattern, since people keep telling her she should meet the other Bell-sister and she'd like to be able to tell them they're late to the party. No immediate sign of her, though. Hmm. |
Author: pythbox | A naked Joker equipped with a magical censor bar over the critical region appears next to the buffet table and starts investigating the tiny pies. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi yelps. "What is with people and abrupt teleporting and what is with Jokers and not wearing pants?" |
Author: keyed_up | And also pretty best snuggles. Snug. |
Author: pythbox | He glances up from the pies. "Hello to you too," he snorts. "Sorry about the teleporting, didn't know it'd bother anybody. Not sorry about the pants, it's a nymph thing." |
Author: toblameforit | Snug! Mmmmsnug. |
Author: lexicality | "A what now? I can't keep track of you, all I know is that this is like the third time I have been around a Joker who was not wearing pants and that is too many times. Four if you count Brilliance being a deck of cards but I'm not gonna be unreasonable there." |
Author: tearingup | "Now, I don't know about you two, but I know what I do with pillow forts when I'm done with them," says Ripper. |
Author: keyed_up | "What?" |
Author: pythbox | "I'm Celo," he sighs. "I'm a nymph. Nymphs don't wear clothes." |
Author: lexicality | "Why? I mean, I appreciate the censor bar, at least, but still." |
Author: pythbox | "It's kind of a cultural/religious thing," he says. "And religious thing in Materia means actual literal existing god who occasionally appears on TV and will fuck your shit up if you piss her off. Nymphs are the divine children of Mother Khaele, and she says no clothes, so no clothes. I don't toe the line on every single thing, but I do on this one, 'cause it's important to me." |
Author: lexicality | "I would not have pegged Jokers for containing religious types who allow gods named after lettuce to dictate wardrobe, however literal they are. Huh." |
Author: pythbox | "I'm kind of not on speaking terms with her anyway, but for mostly unrelated reasons," he says. "And I'm technically my own god these days, but I still don't wear clothes, because it's not a religious thing for me, it's about being who I am. The religious thing is why nymphs in general walk around naked - without censor bars, that's actually violating the divine edict, just not in a way I personally care about - and why I don't get arrested when I do it at home." |
Author: lexicality | "Why could you not be who you are now with added pants?" She does jazz hands at "now with added pants". |
Author: pythbox | Celo sighs.
"It's complicated. Part of it's that wearing clothes for somebody feels, like, really kinky, which I'm not totally opposed to, but I feel like the kind of people who don't want me walking around naked definitely don't think of it that way, so then it just gets weird and uncomfortable and gives me bad feelings? And part of it's that I just don't want to. In an important personal way, not a meh-don't-feel-like-it way. It's important to me to not wear clothes." |
Author: lexicality | "Wearing clothes as kinky. Wow. That is one of the stranger things I've heard today and this is a Bellparty so it has competition." |
Author: pythbox | He laughs. "Yeah, I'm getting the picture." |
Author: lexicality | "Yeah, I think I've been some people's weirdest-thing, showing off my Peachy." (Persica, hanging round her neck, glitters.) Lexi inspects miniature sandwiches and takes one with prosciutto or some sort of custom organism that can pass for it. |
Author: pythbox | "Your Peachy being...?" |
Author: lexicality | Lexi picks up the necklace chain from which Persica dangles. "Persica. You've met Brilliance, right? I mean, I don't know if you actually talk to each other when you're all piled up, but he's a deck of cards, she's a little peach."
"Hello," says Persica politely. |
Author: pythbox | "Hi," says Celo. "Yeah, we talk. We just haven't specifically talked about other Devices much." |
Author: lexicality | "Well, there's mine and there's Agent Honey's and there's Bella's - Aurora's I mean - there's Brilliance. And that's probably all the ones you're going to find at a party, I haven't met any other ones unless you count the really really dumb one Be- Aurora has on her hair elastic to do her anti-clumsiness that's not smart enough to say hi." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," says Celo, smiling. |
Author: lexicality | "So which world are you from, are you from the one that broke Jane or one of the other new ones, which has nymphs?" |
Author: pythbox | "The one that broke Jane. Materia." |
Author: lexicality | "The Bells went to all this trouble to set up the nametags and like half the people I meet aren't wearing theirs." |
Author: pythbox | Celo shrugs. "Guess they didn't feel like it." |
Author: lexicality | "Or don't have anything to stick it to. I bet you could get one that sort of floats illusionishly if you wanted." |
Author: pythbox | "Maybe I could even get one with my name on it," he snorts. |
Author: lexicality | "What, is it impossible to spell or something?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," he says, "pretty much literally - I mean, when I need a name on paper or out loud, I use Celosia because that's what grows in my garden, but my actual name is... kind of a psychic impression. Another nymph thing. Lemme see..."
He stands there looking thoughtful for a moment, idly doing tricks with a coin that he wasn't holding a second ago. His aura comes out.
His aura says that he is a god. He glows with the faintest touch of sunlight, and smells like a field of grain on a summer day, and is somehow warm to look at, and he is unquestionably divine. Helpfully, the aura also advertises his friendly regard for people in general (including Lexi in particular) and currently positive mood.
After a few seconds, the aura fades and an illusory nametag floats in the air near his shoulder. It proclaims his template to be Joker and his world to be Materia in the usual fashion, but the name entry is just a smear of vibrant colour, which when looked at with the intent to read produces Celo's name. It turns out that his name was part of his aura, but it's much more intense in the original. (The coin he was fiddling with is also back where it came from, wherever that is.) |
Author: lexicality | Lexi's eyebrows go up when his aura comes out. "Keen aura. My Bella's is kind of boring compared to some of 'em. Also, keen name." |
Author: pythbox | Celo grins. "Thanks! I love my name. I'm the only Joker who likes the one they started with." |
Author: lexicality | "How come?" |
Author: pythbox | "Well, most of us hate ours because we got them from shitty people one way or another, and Harley doesn't even remember his parents but he still likes the one he grew up with and not the one they gave him, but nobody gave me mine, it just came with being me. And it suits me." |
Author: lexicality | "I guess that's different then. I think my whole name is just too long. Al-ex-and-ra. I played with a bunch of ways to shorten it when I was a kid but I like 'Lexi' best." |
Author: pythbox | "It's pretty nice," Celo says amicably. |
Author: lexicality | "Thanks. So how are you liking being plugged in to the awesome interdimensional community of People Bells Like?" |
Author: pythbox | "Being plugged into the awesome interdimensional community of Jokers in particular is fucking amazing," he says, grinning. "And I'm pretty happy about the rest of it, too - I moved my garden to the Enchanted Forest, which is probably going to cause me some trouble with bureaucrats but at least means that nobody can claim to own me anymore." |
Author: lexicality | "Somebody used to be able to claim to own you?" |
Author: pythbox | "Well, yeah. Every nymph has a field, and somebody owns the land your field is on, and once in a while it turns out that technically speaking that makes you their property. Usually not a big concern, because most nymphs don't leave their fields in the first place, they just hang around doing the nymph thing. But me—" he gets a distant look in his eye for a moment, then shakes his head and resumes his interrupted sentence "—when my garden was claimed by the city, they decided to send me to school. So now I'm double-majoring in martial combat and domestic arts." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi doesn't ask about the moment's distant expression; that looks like a can of worms to her. "Yeah, that sounds like a Joker kind of double major all right. You could qualify for college without having ever gone away from a garden?" |
Author: pythbox | He shrugs. "Sure, why not?" |
Author: lexicality | "Well, assuming I go to college instead of living on Bella's enchanted planet playing video games all the time, they're gonna want to know how I did in high school and stuff." |
Author: pythbox | "There's different ways to qualify," he says. "Tests and stuff. A lot of the students at MU are from places where high school is not really a thing." |
Author: lexicality | "Huh. And you can just major in fighting, so I guess that's different too." |
Author: pythbox | He laughs. "What, can't you in your world?" |
Author: tearingup | "Wreck 'em, of course," he says promptly. "Either with everybody inside, or in a huge pillow fight, or both." |
Author: lexicality | "No? You can't even major in, like, football, that's extracurricular." |
Author: keyed_up | Soph hmmmmms. Then she seizes a long foundational pillow and thwacks both of the boys at the same time. |
Author: pythbox | "Football?" he asks. |
Author: tearingup | Cackling, Ripper pulls a pillow out of the wall on his side and hits back. |
Author: keyed_up | Wheeeeeeee pillow fight!
Soph is nearly as unfairly good at pillow fights as Tony is at driving-oriented video games. They might have to gang up on her. |
Author: lexicality | "It's a game, with a ball. There's tackling in it so it's kind of fighting-ish." |
Author: toblameforit | So they do.
The walls of the fort are definitely beginning to sag after all three participants have pulled out their first weapons, but it's one of Tony's wild swings that thwacks against the ceiling and pulls one corner completely out of its supporting pillow structure. That end of the blanket settles gently down onto the combatants. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph immediately attempts to trap Tony in it. |
Author: pythbox | "So kinda like skirmish, I guess. You can't major in skirmish either. But man, what's the point of a school that won't even teach combat?" |
Author: toblameforit | He manages to escape to the fort's opposite corner, where the blanket is still anchored. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper covers his retreat. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph is relentless! Bow to her pillow-wielding might! |
Author: lexicality | "Most people don't get into fights a lot? I mean, you can take a martial art, I think some schools will even offer those, but mostly people go and learn to be veterinarians or engineers or art historians or something." |
Author: tearingup | She is pretty mighty, it's true!
Either because of something someone did or just because of the general ruckus, the side walls of the fort collapse soon afterward, dropping the whole ceiling on all three of them. Ripper starts giggling uncontrollably. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph pops up like a daisy and picks up the pillows that were holding the ceiling in place as long-range weapons. |
Author: pythbox | "Well... most people don't major in martial combat, I guess, but there's enough," he says. "When you say most people don't get into fights a lot, do you mean, like... your world is just generally safe enough that it's not worth teaching most people to use a weapon? I haven't been getting that sense from the other Jokers, but maybe I wouldn't; Jokers go where the trouble is." |
Author: toblameforit | Tony wriggles out from under the collapsed ceiling to discover that the archway is the only part of the structure still standing. He whoops. "Engineering in action!" |
Author: lexicality | "I mean, I guess I could get mugged? But I'd have to be in a bad neighborhood or something and even if I took a semester of - weapons? Seriously? Okay, a semseter of knife-fighting, then I couldn't probably beat off a mugger, it'd be way safer to just give him my purse and cancel my credit cards and write off the fifty bucks. If I didn't have magic, I mean, now I could just teleport away and be like 'dad come arrest this mugger'." |
Author: keyed_up | His distraction earns him a downy thwack. |
Author: pythbox | "...yeah, okay," says Celo, "I'm seeing it. In my world, though? Magisterius University has a weapons policy. As in, unless you have an exemption, you have to carry a magical weapon ready to draw if you're on campus and not indoors. And if you stray off the warded paths at night the school's not responsible if you get eaten by a ghoul or whatever." |
Author: lexicality | "Eww, ghouls. We don't have those. Wait, someone made a policy that requires an alt of Bella to carry a sharp object, seriously, that doesn't sound very safe, she's okay chopping carrots but not if she has to walk around at the same time." |
Author: pythbox | "Oh - Aether has boots to help her with the walking around part," he says. "And obviously she's got all that handy Bell magic now. But yeah, the weapons policy kinda failed her there." |
Author: toblameforit | "Pffffff," says Tony. He starts pelting Soph with pieces of the collapsed walls. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi snorts. "But yeah, I guess if there's ghouls and stuff all over it makes sense to try to teach people how to not get... ghouled. What do they do, do they eat you?" |
Author: keyed_up | She bats several of them away midair and is undaunted by the ones that land. |
Author: pythbox | "Yep! It's pretty nasty," Celo says cheerfully. |
Author: tearingup | How about when Ripper joins in on the bombardment? |
Author: lexicality | "Anyway we don't have ghouls, just humans. And Devices but they are not instigating a crime spree on Earth, I don't know about other places." |
Author: keyed_up | Well at some point she's just going to be in a pile of them, isn't she?
And then she has plenty to throw back! |
Author: pythbox | He snorts. "Yeah. Brill's info is a little out of date there." |
Author: tearingup | Damn.
Well... well...
Ripper eyes the beanbags on the floor. |
Author: keyed_up | Soph is faster!
They're bulky, but not too much for her to fling one straight at Ripper's midsection, quite possibly knocking him over. |
Author: lexicality | "No kidding, what is it with Bells and older men?" |
Author: pythbox | "We're all really hot?" suggests Celo. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi snorts. "I'll grant you don't look centuries old, not a one of you. What would that even look like, I don't know." |
Author: pythbox | Celo giggles. "Yeah, the kind of people who live to be centuries old aren't usually the kind who'd show it." |
Author: tearingup | Knocking him over and onto a pair of beanbags, and completely covering his head and torso, so that he briefly looks like some kind of beanbag monster with human legs.
He sits up, beanbag in his arms, and heaves it back at her. |
Author: keyed_up | She rolls out of the way and launches another one! |
Author: lexicality | "Exactly. I'll probably just look seventeen forever, I think seventeen is a good look on me." |
Author: toblameforit | Tony tackles it out of the air. This is a disadvantage of large slow-moving projectiles. Then he flings a pillow at her head. |
Author: keyed_up | This one hits her. She laughs and flings it back. |
Author: pythbox | "Huh," Celo says contemplatively. "I never thought about it, but I could change how old I look now, if I wanted. Nymphs don't really age; I've looked this way since the first time I came out of the ground." |
Author: lexicality | "You just sprouted whole?" |
Author: toblameforit | Tony catches and returns it! |
Author: keyed_up | And now they're just kinda playing catch. |
Author: pythbox | "Pretty much! I mean, I don't literally grow these bodies like plants," he says with a gesture at himself. "They just kind of... happen. Not exactly appear, it's not like a teleport, more of a process than that, but not anything observable and definite like sprouting." |
Author: tearingup | Until Ripper also discovers a loose pillow to throw at her. |
Author: keyed_up | And now she's on the offensive again, pelting them both with pillows nigh-ambidexterously! |
Author: lexicality | "These? Are there like four of you walking around?" |
Author: tearingup | Curses! They just can't win! |
Author: pythbox | He giggles. "No, but when one of me dies, I grow another one. Nymphs are like that. To actually kill us you have to burn our fields and probably salt 'em too." |
Author: keyed_up | Eventually Soph is flopped across two beanbags, pinning each of her opponents, panting with mad laughter. |
Author: lexicality | "Oh. Well, that probably won't happen in the Enchanted Forest, that place is made of friendly fairy tales and really big trees." |
Author: pythbox | "I've heard!" he says. "It wasn't that likely at home either, but it's way less likely now." |
Author: tearingup |
The beanbags wriggle. |
Author: lexicality | "Does that work funny with torching?" |
Author: toblameforit | The beanbags giggle.
The unfortunate souls trapped beneath them have chosen to admit defeat by making out with each other! |
Author: keyed_up | How kind of them! Soph supervises benevolently from on high. |
Author: pythbox | "Probably. We keep meaning to go talk to the torching expert about it, but we haven't done it yet. It's not hugely urgent." |
Author: toblameforit | It is slightly difficult to make out while squashed under a beanbag, but Tony gives it his best effort! |
Author: lexicality | "I guess, if your field is safe in Happy Fluffy Land and you already do a thing just about as good." |
Author: keyed_up | Soph is fantastically amused. |
Author: pythbox | "Yep!" |
Author: tearingup | That's the idea! |
Author: lexicality | "Nymphs are like unicorns and vampires and stuff, there's stories about them at home, but all the stories are about girl nymphs," Lexi muses. |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," says Celo, "I am the one and only nymph with a dick in all of Materia, as far as I know." |
Author: lexicality | "Huh, why?" |
Author: truthwright | [Hey, button,] says Kas, [want some hugs?] |
Author: telesonorous | "You mean you guys are finally done?" she says, audible to Kas and only to Kas. (Using her power still comes more naturally to her than the brainphone.) |
Author: campanas | "You moved but don't sounded!" exclaims Peninnah. |
Author: pythbox | "Well, nymphs tend to match the desires of the people who seed us," he says. "I guess at least one of those people really, really wanted a boy." (He's got a little of that distant look again.) |
Author: lexicality | "Seed you? Do I wanna know?" |
Author: truthwright | [Yep!] |
Author: telesonorous | "I do that!" says Helen. "I was talking to Kas. He says all the Jokers are going to come hug me." And she adds, "Go right ahead," to the Jokers as a whole. |
Author: campanas | "Why not brainphone and not sound or not move but talk?" asks Peninnah, with some difficulty; apparently extended sentences are trickier. |
Author: pythbox | "You probably don't," he snorts. |
Author: telesonorous | "I was using my ingot power way before I knew the brainphone was a thing, so I'm more used to it," she says. |
Author: lexicality | "Okay, not touching it." |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs.
"I mean, I bet you could guess." |
Author: truthwright | And |
Author: deslandes | then |
Author: endragoned | the |
Author: lexicality | "No, actually? Like, right now my mental image is someone goes to the store and buys a packet of nymph seeds and then blows out the candle on their birthday cake and makes a wish, and I'm sure that's totally wrong but it sounds like I would rather keep thinking it anyhow." |
Author: manofmyword | Jokers |
Author: cardistry | start |
Author: yovahs_kisses | appearing. |
Author: campanas | "Daddies!" exclaims Peninnah. |
Author: pythbox | "...yep," says Celo, "I bet you would." |
Author: yovahs_kisses | "Lots of 'em!" says Micaiah, getting down on her level to give her a hug. "Didn't know you were with the button." |
Author: lexicality | "Why do people go do whatever it really is instead of buying nymph seeds? Is it just like they decide to have kids and the long way around is too much work or what?" |
Author: telesonorous | The button is giggling as she is engulfed by a pile of cuddly Jokers. |
Author: campanas | Peninnah hugs her very own daddy. "Button?" |
Author: pythbox | "...noooooooo," says Celo, "as much of the exact opposite of that as it is possible to get, pretty much, except I guess in some really fucked up circumstances - okay, one of the practical reasons to want a nymph is because you don't just seed a nymph in bare dirt, you do it in the middle of a field of some kind of crop, and then you don't have to do anything else except keep the nymph happy and you'll get a nice crop of whatever it is every year." |
Author: lexicality | "Oh, I guess that kind of makes sense? Farmer nymphs, okay." |
Author: yovahs_kisses | "Kas calls Helen his little button," says Micaiah. "It's cute. Do you want a big pile of hugs like she's getting?" |
Author: campanas | "All piled hugs! Careful, feathers," she adds, waggling a wing. |
Author: pythbox | "Nnnnot exactly," says Celo. "I don't do things to my field, I just am it. It's healthy when I'm healthy." |
Author: lexicality | "Okay, farm nymphs, then," shrugs Lexi. |
Author: yovahs_kisses | "All right," he says, and beckons to the Jokerpile without really looking at them. |
Author: endragoned | Aianon is the first one to detach and come over and sit with them and give Penninah feathers-careful hugs. |
Author: pythbox | He laughs. "Sure." |
Author: campanas | Peninnah hugs him happily! Yay! |
Author: subastra | "Yep," says Shura, almost to herself, "that's a demon hugging a little angel." |
Author: lexicality | "And I guess it's easier to keep nymphs happy than to keep broccoli or whatever happy." |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam (having bidden Ike an extremely friendly goodbye) is currently talking to the Griffins about what they feel like the limits of their ingotry might be. They don't know much. |
Author: pythbox | "Way, way easier," Celo agrees. |
Author: lexicality | "Because you can move around and get your own nymph food or whatever. Cool." |
Author: deslandes | Beast is next! He is fluffy. |
Author: campanas | "Softs!" |
Author: pythbox | "Or whatever, yep," he agrees with a crooked smile. |
Author: lexicality | "...Do I wanna know?" |
Author: deslandes | "That I am," he agrees, nuzzling the top of her head. |
Author: pythbox | "Probably not!" |
Author: campanas | Peninnah snuggles up. "Softs softs softs." |
Author: deslandes | Beast chuckles. |
Author: lexicality | "Okay then! Wow, there is a lot of stuff about you I do not wanna know." |
Author: gunpowdergelatine | "Is there room for me?" inquires Queenie, snuggling up to Micaiah-and-Aianon-and-Beast-and-Pen'. It turns out that there is! It also turns out that Queenie is remarkably snuggable. |
Author: pythbox | "Yep," laughs Celo. |
Author: campanas | "Eeeee!" says Pen' when she discovers this, not even attempting words, just flinging all six limbs around Queenie. |
Author: tearingup | A pair of alts wanders by, arms around each other's waists, dressed in similar and similarly rumpled dark-jeans-and-tight-shirt outfits. One has a pied kingfisher perched on his shoulder. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam double-takes at them. The Griffins, who are already bored with technical questions about de-gooking, escape while he isn't paying attention.
"Hi," he remarks. He takes in the kingfisher, glances at the nametags, produces and birdifies Grace to sit on his shoulder out of courtesy to the Alethian. "You must be Ripper and Keth." |
Author: tearingup | "You must be Cam," says Ripper.
"Hi," says Keth. |
Author: lifes_sake | "The nametag's a dead giveaway, I imagine." |
Author: tearingup | "I wasn't looking at your nametag," says Ripper. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Oh no? What, then, is revealing my identity?" |
Author: tearingup | "The daemon's a clue," says Hecate from Keth's shoulder. |
Author: lifes_sake | Grace preens Cam's hair.
"Fair enough," Cam says. |
Author: tearingup | "So," says Ripper, "Pat mentioned you might like to borrow me." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Well, I'm presuming if she said that you come highly recommended. It looks like for a limited time only you might also be buy one get one free." |
Author: gunpowdergelatine | Queenie beams and snuggles her carefully. |
Author: campanas | Peninnah doesn't have to be particularly careful! Snuggles. |
Author: tearingup | Keth snorts.
Ripper glances sideways at Keth, and then starts giggling. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Intra-template telepathy? I thought that was just Sherlocks." |
Author: gunpowdergelatine | Snuggly snuggles. |
Author: tearingup | "Nah," says Ripper, "you just reminded us of somebody for a second there." |
Author: lifes_sake | "In a good way?" |
Author: tearingup | "Mmm..." says Ripper.
"Yeah," says Keth, "we'll go with that." |
Author: lifes_sake | "I do prefer to be pleasantly reminiscent. Pleasantly everything, for that matter." |
Author: tearingup | "You're certainly pleasant to look at," says Keth. |
Author: lifes_sake | "So are the both of you. I had heard that Juliet found you hilarious but had no warning that you were this attractive." |
Author: tearingup | Ripper laughs. "You should've asked Pattern, then."
"Or Amariah," Keth says cheerfully.
"Want a closer look?" says Ripper. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron's currently between conversations, having just lost Lily to a sudden idea of some kind that she didn't stick around long enough to describe or display in colorshape form. That's okay, somebody else interesting will come along soon enough. He looks around at colors and shapes to see if anybody wants somebody to talk to, especially if somebody could readily be him. |
Author: lifes_sake | "I definitely do. You wanna get a room?" |
Author: tearingup | "We definitely do!" says Keth. |
Author: lifes_sake | Excellent, then all of them can be teleported to a room, right? How about now? Here is a room. |
Author: tearingup | The Rippers laugh.
"Usually we like a little more warning with the teleporting," says Ripper.
"But we'll let it slide this time because you're so pretty," says Keth. Hecate leaves his shoulder to approach Grace. |
Author: lifes_sake | "I am very pretty, I'm glad you noticed."
Grace hops off Cam to a convenient daemon-sitting place.
"Ah, fair warning, Grace doesn't really talk to anybody except me, even other daemons," Cam remarks. "Not like Path. She'll snuggle up, though." |
Author: pythbox | Here is someone whose colorshapes look like heads of grain, emerging from an enclosed stairway next to the buffet table and grabbing a cup of hot chocolate.
Oh, and he's a Joker wearing nothing but an illusory censor bar. That too. |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron makes a noise too high for human ears to catch and scrunches his eyes shut. (Fortunately, his colorshapes don't actually rely on his eyes; he can still see the grain-shapes.) "That is way more than I prefer to see of people shaped like my mum!" he yelps. |
Author: pythbox | Celo looks at him.
"What—oh, fuck, you're the Joker's kid," he says. "I'm censored, aren't I?" |
Author: tearingup | "Fine by me," says Hecate. "Kit's not talkative either."
She snuggles up.
Keth and Ripper give Cam extremely similar speculative looks. |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah, and you're still broadcasting the intention to go around stark naked for all eternity, and the censor bar covers up about forty percent of typically covered whatnot." |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam stands open for speculation. He spreads his arms and takes a step forward. And regards them openly, the one and then the other, like he's going to be giving an extremely sexy presentation later on their point-by-point similarities and minor differences.
Grace doesn't say a word, but she does laugh softly and put a wing over the smaller bird. |
Author: pythbox | Celo sighs. "It's a nymph thing, okay?" |
Author: pina_colada | "That does not make you less naked or less Mum-shaped." |
Author: tearingup | Hecate snuggles comfortably with Grace.
Ripper says, "I think this would be more fun with fewer shirts," and he and Keth take theirs off. |
Author: pythbox | "Would you rather I was just invisible to you or something?" |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam's is wished away before theirs are over their heads. Poof!
"I think you are absolutely right." |
Author: pina_colada | "Possibly! At least your colorshapes don't look like his." (Kerron's eyes are still firmly closed.) |
Author: tearingup | The Rippers gaze at Cam admiringly. |
Author: lifes_sake | It's mutual.
Cam steps forward again. There is now personal space overlap. Isn't that exciting? |
Author: pythbox | "And those are...?" |
Author: tearingup | "Fewer clothes in general, really," says Ripper, and this time they use wishes. |
Author: pina_colada | "The little -" Kerron waves at them where they swirl. "It's my witch-ingot thing, I see intentions, goals, that sort of thing, signified by colorshapes, which are not literally colored or shaped or seen. Yours look like some kind of grain thing, assorted colors. Mum usually walks around in a cloud of knives or something like that. 'Possibly' means 'yes until we think of something better', by the by." |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam follows suit, laughing, and closes the distance with a randomly chosen Ripper (he winds up with the one who most recently spoke) and kisses him. |
Author: tearingup | Mm, kisses. Reasonably familiar kisses!
Keth steals a turn at the first available opportunity. |
Author: lifes_sake | He's welcome to one! Plenty of Cam to go around. He has dived into a pile of Jokers before; two Rippers doesn't begin to be too much. |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs. "Yeah, that sounds like him." He pulls a coin out of nowhere and wishes on it. "All right, you can open your eyes." |
Author: pina_colada | Kerron's eyes are already open when he sees the intention dissolve. "Thanks," he sighs in the direction of the swirling grain. |
Author: tearingup | That's good. They'd hate to overwhelm him.
When Ripper steals Cam back, he tastes like maple sugar. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Mmmm," Cam comments. |
Author: tearingup | "Oh, you did it again?" says Keth, intrigued. And at the next opportunity, he steals Ripper. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam isn't gonna complain, here.
Nope, catching Ripper by the wrist and kissing from there to his elbow and back up again is not very much like complaining at all.
Cam likes tasty boys. |
Author: tearingup | Ripper giggles, which causes Keth to giggle too. When Keth grabs Cam for a kiss, he also tastes like maple sugar. Aren't tasty boys the best? |
Author: lifes_sake | Tasty boys are fantastic! Cam goes ahead and completes the sweetness trifecta, although he has decided to be kiwi-flavored instead.
(That'll be fun to surprise Jellybean with later.)
Grace laughs from where she's sitting with Hecate. |
Author: pythbox | "You're welcome," Celo says cheerfully. He produces his hot chocolate, which is not invisible to Kerron, and resumes drinking it. |
Author: tearingup | "Mm," says Keth.
Ripper kisses the back of Cam's neck. |
Author: pina_colada | "So. Which Mum are y- oh, I can still see your nametag. Thaaaat's interesting." |
Author: lifes_sake | That is a good place to kiss Bells! Cam is not different in this respect. He leans in and makes a rather whimpery noise. |
Author: tearingup | Oooooh.
Well, now Ripper is just going to have to go through everything he knows about where to kiss Bells, and see which parts are the same and which are different.
It might take a while. Luckily, he has Keth to help! |
Author: lifes_sake | Adjusted for shape -
Yep, Cam's a Bell all right. A kiwi-flavored and exceptionally pleased Bell. |
Author: pythbox | He giggles. "You can call me Celo," he says. "Short for Celosia. Since some people find my name a little hard to pronounce." |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah, I don't think I can say that. It's a cool name, though." |
Author: pythbox | "It is!" says Celo. "I'm the only Joker who likes the one I came with." |
Author: pina_colada | "I guess Harley doesn't count? I wouldn't expect him to remember the name he came with when the Princess took him home." |
Author: tearingup | Mmm, but that adjusted shape is so interesting.
And tasty.
Lucky thing Keth and Ripper like to share. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam also makes appreciative noises like a Bell, just in a deeper register. |
Author: pythbox | "He knows what it was. He doesn't hate it the same way as the rest of them, but he's not fond either." |
Author: pina_colada | "Is it just objectively terrible, I don't actually know it." |
Author: tearingup | And such lovely noises they are! Ripper and Keth are very pleased. |
Author: lifes_sake | Everyone in this room is very pleased!
Also very tasty.
Did Cam's narration mention that he likes tasting tasty boys? |
Author: pythbox | He laughs. "It's not great." |
Author: pina_colada | "I like my name, but Mum called me 'munchkin' till I got to be taller than him." |
Author: tearingup | Not in so many words. But after all, what's the point of being a tasty boy if not to be tasted? |
Author: pythbox | "Of course he did," snorts Celo. "That's adorable." |
Author: lifes_sake | That is absolutely the point! They are all on the same page here. |
Author: tearingup | And such a tasty page it is.
Also, snuggly. Really snuggly. The Rippers are prime snugglers when not directly engaged in tastiness. |
Author: lifes_sake | Mmmm, Ripper sandwich. Snuggliest and most maple-y sandwich. |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah. Aedyt got 'pumpkin'. If they ever have another one I dunno what that one will get." |
Author: tearingup | Very snuggly. Very maple-y. With bonus kisses. |
Author: lifes_sake | Mmmmm.
Kisses. |
Author: pythbox | "Kas's kid got 'button'," he says. "That one's pretty cute too." |
Author: pina_colada | "Aww. I haven't met her yet." |
Author: tearingup | Tasty kisses. |
Author: lifes_sake | Rather squirmy kisses. It's hard to resist, sandwiched between such lovely people to squirm against. |
Author: pythbox | "Maybe you will sometime," he says. "I have no idea where she got to after everybody hugged her." |
Author: tearingup | Ooh, squirming. Well, they will just have to snuggle up closer and kiss him some more, then. |
Author: pina_colada | "First time I was at a Joker party the deck all congregated around me and watched me be adorable and Mum turned me into a blue fox." |
Author: lifes_sake | Highly recommended reactions! |
Author: tearingup | Excellent!
They have some other ideas about what to do with a squirmy Cam, too. Perhaps those will also be positively received. |
Author: lifes_sake | Oh yes. Yes they will. |
Author: pythbox | "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww," says Celo. |
Author: tearingup | Perfect. |
Author: pina_colada | "Ayep. Made it a little awkward when another party rolled around and I was old enough to hit on girls who'd been adults at the previous one, but, you know, I managed." |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs. "Good for you!" |
Author: pina_colada | "Thanks. Hey, have you seen any golden bubbly at this buffet? Kinda thirsty." |
Author: pythbox | "Nope," he says. But a square like red-gold honey flashes briefly in his invisible fingers, and then he hands Kerron a glass. "What is that, anyway?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Synthetic blood - well, not exactly, doesn't taste like blood," he takes a swig, "and it's fizzy, but it fills the same nutritional requirements." |
Author: pythbox | "Right, Aurum bloodsuckers," he says, grinning and shaking his head although Kerron can see neither thing. "What kinds of blood work for you guys, besides human?" |
Author: pina_colada | "Uh, I think Dad bit Aianon once, full vampires can't stand wolf blood but it's just sort of weird-tasting to half-vampires - I haven't bit a wolf, Lily did, she's interested in culinary applications of sanguinary flavor-space or something - animal blood works fine and tastes lousy to vampires but okay to us, I'm not aware of any other experiments." |
Author: pythbox | "Huh," says Celo. "Maybe some adventurous nibbler should give me a try. Not you," he adds with a hint of a giggle. |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah, I'm not your guy," snorts Kerron. "Dad or Lily. Or both for that matter." |
Author: pythbox | "I'll keep 'em in mind," he laughs. |
Author: pina_colada | "Lily's yea high, blue eyes, hair somewhere between blonde and chestnut depending on the lighting, she'll let it get to her knees before she hacks it off but today it's about two feet long," says Kerron. "If you don't want to go around reading large numbers of nametags to locate her. She was wearing pink last time I saw her but that might change." |
Author: pythbox | "I don't really go by the visuals most of the time, but I guess they're better than nothing," he says. "Thanks." |
Author: pina_colada | "Why, how else would I describe her? I could tell you how she smells but English is kind of crap at that." |
Author: pythbox | Celo giggles. "I'm a nymph," he says. "I have senses you don't. Makes it harder to work from descriptions of people unless the person doing the describing is another nymph, but what can you do." |
Author: pina_colada | "Huh. What kinda senses?" Kerron's squinting at the grain now, but nothing comes clear. |
Author: pythbox | "If you must know," he says, laughing, "I see sexuality." |
Author: pina_colada | "...And you're at a Bellparty which has Bells at it. That sounds, eh, what's the word I'm looking for..." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, I've been through that with Aether," he snorts. "Took me a while, but I figured out how to stop interpreting." |
Author: pina_colada | "So now you see, what, the Monet equivalent of - er - Monet painted blurry things," clarifies Kerron. |
Author: pythbox | "Not really? Like, you get all hung up on the information aspect because that's the only part you know about, but that's not the important part," he says. "I get the same amount of detail, I just don't go the extra step of thinking about what it means in practice." |
Author: pina_colada | "Yeah, I don't get it." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, I know," snorts Celo. "Most people don't." |
Author: pina_colada | "Well, anyway, if it helps, Lily's straight but in that way where she's weirdly affectionate with her female friends even though they don't actually have anything going on." |
Author: pythbox | Celo giggles. "Thanks! Of course, I'd have to go around interpreting to use it, and then Aether would give me that look." |
Author: pina_colada | "I guess you'll just have to read a lot of nametags, then." |
Author: pythbox | "Yep," says Celo. "Oh well." |
Author: pina_colada | "Oh, there's Lily," says Kerron, pointing. "Still wearing pink, didn't change her sweater." |
Author: pythbox | Celo looks. "Yeah, I see her," he says. "Might as well go say hi. See ya!" |
Author: pina_colada | "Bye!" |
Author: alicornucopia | Lily is apparently lost in thought, leaning on a wall with her ankles crossed, looking at the ceiling. |
Author: pythbox | Celo makes his way over, still drinking his hot chocolate. |
Author: alicornucopia | Lily glances at him. "Okay," she says, looking him up and down, "this I've got to hear, why are you naked?" |
Author: pythbox | Celo sighs.
"Because I'm a nymph," he says. "And nymphs don't wear clothes." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Didn't stop Glass's kid from putting her miniature panda bear in a vest, I bet those don't occur in the wild. Why don't nymphs wear clothes?" |
Author: pythbox | "Sacred duty," he says. "Which isn't my reason, but it's the general one. My reason is because I don't wanna." |
Author: alicornucopia | "And the magical black bar is for those around you who don't wanna likewise, I see." |
Author: pythbox | "Yep," he says. "Or I could just never leave my world, but where's the fun in that?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yeah, I really like these parties. They're good for people-watching." She glances at his nametag, blinks, and then stops looking at it. |
Author: pythbox | "No kidding," he snorts. "Call me Celo; my name's kinda hard to pronounce." |
Author: alicornucopia | "And I'm Lily, which is easy to pronounce and also easy to spell." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, I heard," he says. "I asked Kerron who might wanna take a bite out of me and here's where he pointed." |
Author: alicornucopia | Lily sniffs the air thoughtfully. "Hmm. Yeah, possibly, I have an interest in - well, food - and I'm looking to branch out from human cuisine a little, which means seeing what's out there, everyone's so content to drink their bubbly seven days a week - I'm not knocking the stuff. It's great. But variety is worth investigating too. I'm not going to go all slasher-film on you, I'm just a half-vampire, you want me to take some from your wrist right now or what?" |
Author: pythbox | "Go for it," Celo says cheerfully, offering her his hand. "I'm curious." |
Author: alicornucopia | Lily takes his hand, sniffs again, and then bites his wrist neatly open and tastes. She hums to herself, thoughtful and apparently pleased, while she drinks, then eventually laps up the last of the blood and lets his hand go. "That's really interesting. I think your blood, straight-up no fiddling, would be decently competitive with bubbly if you could bottle the stuff in sufficient quantity and get it to a decent shelf life without affecting the flavor. You're the blood equivalent of one of those ecologically responsible smoothies with wheat grass that poked its head out of the dirt not five minutes ago in it. Very thirst-quenching - unusually so, actually, I'd want to see how a full vampire without a thirstlessness wish on reacted. Kind of herbaceous. I bet vampires who used to be vegetarians before they turned would love you." |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs as a brief golden glow engulfs the bite mark and smooths it away.
"Wonder if I can just conjure some," he says, and pulls a square out of the air and tries it - nope - puts it away, tries a pentagon - and gets a gallon jug of blood, which he hands to Lily for lack of anything better to do with it. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'll find some taste-testers when I get home," she grins. "Hold a little tasting with, oh, sesame crackers and Brie." |
Author: pythbox | He giggles. "I love it," he says. "—Ooh, there's a thought. How adventurous are you with trying new things?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Try me," says Lily, raising an eyebrow. |
Author: pythbox | "Male nymphs ejaculate honey," he says, grinning. "It's got some nifty healing properties and it's reeeeally tasty." |
Author: alicornucopia | "That would be much harder to market," she snorts. "And I doubt it'll do much for the vampire crowd. If you want to conjure some up I'd taste it, though." |
Author: pythbox | He pulls another pentagon out of nowhere in particular and conjures a bottle - glass, like the jug, with a metal screw-on cap. The honey inside shades from dark purple at the bottom through dark blues to lighter ones and finally a vivid, slightly smoky green. |
Author: alicornucopia | Lily sets down the jug of blood to unscrew it and pour a drop onto her finger to taste. "Not bad. The blood's going to be more popular in Aurum for palatability reasons as well as provenance reasons, though." |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs. "Now that's not usual," he says. "Most of the people who've had both like the honey better." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Half-vampire," she reminds him. "Honey tastes like, well, human food, I can take it or leave it unless it's my very favorite thing - I'm interested in food, but it doesn't grab me by the survival instinct and say 'more please'. Blood, on the other hand - blood's life. It and its imitations." |
Author: pythbox | He shrugs. "Food doesn't nourish me at all, but I still like it." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Sure, and I like science fiction turn-based strategy games and they don't nourish me. I'm just saying, the blood's going to be a hit, the honey's a weird novelty." |
Author: pythbox | "Mm, not what I meant, but whatever." |
Author: alicornucopia | Lily shrugs. "Anyhow. Do you suppose all nymphs taste the same? Will they want to export? Her Majesty arranges mass conjurations of bubbly, but if I saw the coin you spent right this stuff'd be more expensive." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, I'm a nymph, my blood is a magical substance, kicks it up a notch," he says. "I bet you other nymphs don't taste exactly the same. I could try talking to some, but not until Aether comes out with the whole other-universes thing." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Of course not identical. I just meant all with the herbaceous health food theme. Our Bella told individuals before she went completely public, so maybe yours will too." |
Author: pythbox | "I don't really want to be the one to explain other worlds to them, and Aether's not gonna jump at the chance to hang out with a bunch of nymphs," he says. "Herbaceous health food theme, yeah, probably. But I still might be different because I'm the only male nymph." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh, hm, with humans I know gender doesn't make a huge difference, it's easier to taste if two people are related than if they're the same sex," muses Lily, "no idea about nymphs." |
Author: pythbox | "If it was half and half I wouldn't expect it to make a big difference," he says, "but I'm such a one-off, there's no telling what else might be different, you know?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yeah, that's a reasonable point. I'm almost tempted to visit, but Materia's flagged as no tourism." |
Author: pythbox | "Seriously no tourism," Celo agrees. "It's dangerous in all kinds of nasty ways. If you want girl nymph blood that badly—"
He spends a pentagon. His magical censoring shifts configuration. He offers her his hand. |
Author: alicornucopia | Lily laughs, bites his wrist again, and has a taste. "Yeah, it's a little different, not very." |
Author: pythbox | Another little flare of warm light heals the second bite. "And now you know," he says cheerfully. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yep. Thanks for letting me nibble," Lily says cheerfully. |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs. "No problem. Lemme know if you come up with any interesting uses for that stuff," with a general wave at the jug of blood and bottle of honey. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Will do. I'll get people to fill out comment cards," she suggests. |
Author: pythbox | He giggles. "Wonderful. And now," with a grin, "I'm gonna go see who else wants a bite."
[Hey, where's your sweetie?] he asks the Joker. |
Author: manofmyword | [Right here,] he says brightly, snuggling into Nathan's arms. Being carried by his sweetie is one of his very favourite things. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Have fun," laughs Lily, picking up her bottles and wandering off. |
Author: manofmyword | "Celo's gonna come visit," the Joker says to Nathan. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Okay," says Nathan agreeably, kissing the Joker on the forehead. |
Author: pythbox | Celo appears, nudity and nametag and all. He has forgotten to change back to his usual shape. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan's perfectly accustomed to shapeshifting Jokers and not fazed by casual nudity. "Hullo there, good to meet you." |
Author: pythbox | "Hi! So I hear you might bite me?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Stranger things have happened." |
Author: pythbox | "I think that would be fun!" he says. "And apparently I'm tasty - Lily had a nibble." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Oh, and she's a picky eater," laughs Nathan. "All right. But I'm a regular vampire, not a hybrid, and shouldn't be drinking from the vein in public." |
Author: pythbox | "We could stop being in public," Celo suggests. "Or I could conjure you some. Which would you rather?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Oh, privacy's already tremendous fun, and then if you're in a mood after you can pounce on babe here." |
Author: pythbox | Celo beams. "Sounds good to me!" he says, and teleports all three of them to an empty room downstairs. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan puts his mate down, and takes a bite out of Celo. He does not go for the delicate wrist-nibbling so much. |
Author: pythbox | Celo is just delighted by his choice of approach.
Also, really tasty. |
Author: temporal_affairs | And filling, too! Nathan breaks off after one normal-sized meal. "You're tasty but not compulsively tasty," he remarks. "...Actually, I'm not thirsty at all, right now." |
Author: pythbox | Celo heals himself, looks into Nathan's eyes, blinks, and grins. "Aww, you're all pretty!" he says. |
Author: manofmyword | "Is he? Ooh, I wanna see!" |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan makes obliging eye contact. "Why, what color are they now?" |
Author: manofmyword | "Lots!" the Joker says gleefully. "Yellow and orange and red and pink and purple and silver." He gives Nathan a hug and a kiss in celebration of this delightful fact. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Well, isn't that interesting," laughs Nathan. "I can turn myself all kinds of miscellaneous pastels apparently." |
Author: manofmyword | "You are nnnot remotely pastel right now," giggles the Joker. |
Author: pythbox | "You're every colour my garden grows in, actually," says Celo. "And that shit is bright." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Babe," (kiss) "can I get a mirror?" |
Author: manofmyword | "Sure thing, hon." He snaps his fingers. A mirror appears. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan checks out his eye color. "Wow, that's really striking, isn't it." |
Author: manofmyword | "It's gorgeous," says the Joker. "I love it." He kisses Nathan's cheek. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Snugglehug! |
Author: pythbox | "You guys are so cute," says Celo, hugging them. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Hugs for all. |
Author: pythbox | Snuggly hugs!
Snuggly hugs that somehow end in Celo kissing the Joker. |
Author: manofmyword | It's just one of life's little mysteries. |
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." |
Author: pythbox | Celo is back at the buffet table, trying one of every dessert. He's also still female, partly because he hasn't had any good reasons to change back and partly on the theory that maybe this way fewer people will question him about his lack of pants. |
Author: snowandsparks | There are some Samarians who aren't immediately related to the Archangel-elect at this party.
Some of them have wings and are therefore more conspicuous than others. |
Author: keyed_up | No such luck.
"You are wearing zero clothes, did you know that?" |
Author: pythbox | "Nooooo," says the nymph, rolling his eyes. "I had no idea." |
Author: keyed_up | "Hey, could've been someone pranked you, how would I know?" |
Author: newtimov | Wings are conspicuous! They draw attention. Ike's attention is drawn. |
Author: snowandsparks | The goldish-winged angel notices, and draws his wings in towards himself a little. (They're still huge, of course.) "Uh, hi."
The nametag on his angel-cut vest says that he is untemplated, named Lucas, and from Samaria. |
Author: pythbox | "Okay, yeah, sure," he says, "it's just you are not exactly the first person who's noticed and I get less happy about explaining every time." |
Author: keyed_up | "Put it on your nametag?" she suggests. |
Author: newtimov | "Hi!" says Ike. He is not really sure how to go on from there. |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas reads his nametag. "Isaac. Now that's a name I know how to pronounce." (He pronounces it with an accent, but he pronounces it.) "Apparently not everybody picks their baby names out of the Librera, off Samaria, who knew?" |
Author: pythbox | "Technically if somebody could prank me they could prank my nametag too," he points out. "I mean, not easily, I enchanted it myself, but they could." |
Author: newtimov | He giggles. "Other worlds are like that! I have an alt named Icarin. But he is not here because his parents don't want him traveling to strange universes by himself." |
Author: keyed_up | "It could say to... check with... some third party? I don't know, that gets kind of involved." |
Author: snowandsparks | "This place definitely qualifies. I did not quite believe Grandma and Grandpa's stories about the Archangel-Elect and all her faraway friends till I actually got here." |
Author: newtimov | "I'm told they're not usually so, um..." He gestures helplessly at the living architecture. "...Giant plant floating in space... ish?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Is that what - I was not even told that part," laughs Lucas. "In space? A plant in space." |
Author: pythbox | "Mm. Well, it still might cut down on it a little." He concentrates briefly; his illusory nametag extends itself to add the line Yes, I know I'm naked at the bottom. |
Author: keyed_up | "Would I also be the millionth person to ask why you're naked? Did you lose a bet?" |
Author: newtimov | "Yes! Have you been outside? It's very - space. Out there. Where I have been." |
Author: snowandsparks | "No, I've been staying indoors, someone told me there's big - scaly things, flying around in the airspace out there. I do not know what they are or how to politely find out." |
Author: pythbox | He snorts. "No. I am naked on purpose. Because I'm a nymph, and nymphs do that." |
Author: keyed_up | "Huh. I guess that's not really weirder than Bella having demonic minions who need her to bless grape soda so they can have babies." |
Author: newtimov | "They are dragons!" says Ike. "They're local. And friendly. I haven't met any, but my sister has and she got along fine. My sister can fly," he adds as a partial explanation. |
Author: snowandsparks | "So can I," laughs Lucas. "Your sister would... probably not be an angel, so why can she fly?" |
Author: pythbox | "...I'd actually say being naked because I'm a nymph is less weird than that," says Celo. "And I'm pretty sure your demons are not like my demons." |
Author: keyed_up | "Well, Sunshine has lots of kinds of demons," says Soph. "And then there's Aianon who is the kind from this world. What are yours like?" |
Author: newtimov | "She can fly because she's an ithue!" he says. "Ithuetse can sort of shapeshift. Val makes herself wings. It's very pretty." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Huh, that sounds convenient if she can just make them when she wants them. I can't ride horses, the wings spook them. Or swim." |
Author: pythbox | "Usually up to no good," he snorts. "Vulnerable to divine energy. They can possess people or take physical shape on the mortal plane, and they need to feed on really specific things - I remember hearing about one who had to eat the hearts of virgins, which sounds pretty messy." |
Author: keyed_up | "I would not be surprised to find a kind like that in a Sunshine demonology book, but that's not the only sort." |
Author: newtimov | Ike peers at Lucas's wings. "Ye-es," he says, "it does sort of look like swimming would be difficult, especially if those aren't waterproof. Actually, of the two of us, Val is the only one who can swim. We both sink like rocks, but she can grow fins." |
Author: snowandsparks | "They're okay in rain," says Lucas. "I can fly in a storm just fine - more comfortable to go above the clouds, but I don't have to. In the water, though, there's just no way to fold them up so they don't wind up with more water on top of them than under them and then they'd drag me down. I haven't tried it, this is my engineer grandpa explaining it to me." |
Author: pythbox | "Because lots of kinds," he says. "Yeah. You know, I kind of wish we'd find another world with nymphs in it." |
Author: keyed_up | "They probably wouldn't be much like you. Humans seem to be about the same everywhere, but nothing else." |
Author: newtimov | "Hmm," says Ike. "Weirdly, it makes less sense after the explanation. But I think I still have sort of a mechanical intuition for it... I mean, wings aren't designed for swimming, not that kind anyway, you are not made of penguins." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Made of what?" |
Author: pythbox | "I mean I'd like it if we found another world with specifically my kind of nymphs," he says, "mostly so there would be at least some people at these things whose first words to me would not be any variation on the theme of 'Hi! You're naked!'." |
Author: newtimov | "Penguins! They're a kind of bird that lives in very cold places and swims instead of flying, so they use their wings as flippers." |
Author: keyed_up | "Don't hold your breath. I mean, there's a unicorn and some dragons who don't wear clothes? Maybe they wouldn't mention it?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "I'm not sure if we have those." |
Author: pythbox | He snorts. "Yeah, but they could still tell I'm the only naked humanoid walking around up here." |
Author: newtimov | "You might not," says Ike. "Wow, that's weird. I mean, worlds without approximately three thousand species of demon I can understand, but I don't know what to do with a world without penguins." |
Author: keyed_up | "They might not think it's worth mentioning? I don't know, I haven't tried going up to the unicorn while naked." |
Author: pythbox | Celo grins. "If you do, lemme know how it goes!" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Maybe we do and I just haven't heard of them? I think we're missing a bunch of common animals, for - some reason." |
Author: keyed_up | "Not part of my plans for the day." |
Author: newtimov | "Interesting! I wonder why. Do you have a bunch of common animals that the rest of us don't, or are you just generally undersupplied?" |
Author: pythbox | "Didn't think so," he giggles. |
Author: snowandsparks | "So far I haven't mentioned anything except angels and gotten a 'we don't have those'. Uh, horses? Cows? Cats? Rabbits? Chickens? Hawks? Mice? Doves? ...Salmon?" |
Author: keyed_up | "So you're from the world that broke Jane, right? With the therapist-Bell?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yep, that's me." |
Author: keyed_up | "I have a really, really hard time imagining Bella as a therapist, but maybe that's just my one." |
Author: newtimov | "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes," says Ike. "That's really interesting. What do the rest of us have that you don't?" |
Author: pythbox | "Aether isn't actually trained yet," he says. "She's going to school to learn to be a mental healer, 'cause that's where she felt like she could do the most good with the smallest splash. But I don't think she's bad at it or anything." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Penguins, apparently. Demons. Dragons, I guess, if those are an animal? We also don't have that vaguely goatlike thing I saw wandering around with a single antler or whatever it was coming out of its forehead." |
Author: keyed_up | "My Bella kind of spent a while having problems that were best solved by blunt force trauma." |
Author: pythbox | "Ooh, blunt force trauma to who?" |
Author: keyed_up | "Miscellaneous demons!" |
Author: newtimov | "That would be a unicorn," says Ike. "I don't think we have unicorns in my world either. I also don't think we have dragons, but I wouldn't be astonished if I found out that we actually did have one or both of those." |
Author: pythbox | Celo giggles. "Sounds like fun." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Also I definitely don't know about any animals that live in my world but not on my planet," Lucas adds. |
Author: keyed_up | "Sometimes. One time a magical construct thing stomped on her and she was in the hospital for a while." |
Author: newtimov | "And your planet... is not Earth, right? So actually if you have an Earth in your world and you don't live on it, it would make a lot of sense if your planet had some subset of Earth species, because whenever humans made the trip in the first place they probably brought a bunch with them but it would be really difficult to bring every single species on Earth to some new planet. There are a lot." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah, the planet is just called Samaria. So is the main continent. It's not as confusing as it sounds." |
Author: pythbox | "Aww, that's sad. Well, okay, it sounds like a fun time to me, but I recognize that not everybody likes getting stomped." |
Author: newtimov | "It sounds moderately confusing," says Ike. |
Author: keyed_up | "She almost died. She would've done if Amariah hadn't put protective spells on her. Usually when Slayers get hurt they pretty much pop right back up or they're dead. I mean, then she actually did die, but I didn't find out about that until she was already back up walking around from Downside." |
Author: snowandsparks | "It's usually pretty easy to tell from context. If you're sailing to Samaria, you mean the continent. If you're taking a spaceship, you mean the planet. If 'Jane' is helping then you mean the world." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," he says, "readily available resurrection is pretty great, isn't it?" |
Author: keyed_up | "Yeah!" |
Author: newtimov | "Contextual distinctions!" says Ike, giggling. |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah. Maybe eventually the world will get renamed, I don't know, the Archangel-Elect is in charge of that." |
Author: newtimov | "Which is sort of weird," muses Ike. "I mean, not that I know any other good ways to do it, but it feels like naming entire universes should be a slightly more democratic process. Or at least more collaborative." |
Author: snowandsparks | "What does 'democratic' mean?" |
Author: pythbox | "It's available back home but not readily," he says, "kind of an 'if your family has money and it hasn't been too long and they can still find your body' thing." |
Author: keyed_up | "I guess that's better than nothing? Unless it isn't because people take stupid risks? Also, is there some obvious way to pronounce your name that I'm missing?" |
Author: newtimov | "Um, a way of making decisions where everyone has an equal say in the outcome," he says. "Roughly speaking. I could explain more but then there would be politics and that is not my area of expertise." |
Author: pythbox | "Nope," he says. "I'm Celo out loud." |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas thinks about this. "But how does it work?" |
Author: keyed_up | "Maybe your nametag should say that, too." |
Author: pythbox | "My nametag is going to be like a page long," he snorts. |
Author: keyed_up | "Why, what else are you skipping that should be on it?" |
Author: pythbox | "I can't think of anything specific, but at this rate?"
He alters his illusory nametag again, glowing briefly with the sunny divine light of his aura. Now it reads: Hi! I'm a Joker from Materia and my name is (the smear of colour that produces it when read) but you can call me Celo, and on the next line Yes, I'm naked, and on the line after that Yes, on purpose.
It is in fact getting kind of long. |
Author: keyed_up | "Well, at least it isn't covering up any carefully chosen accessories or anything."
(Soph is wearing even more brightly colored plastic jewelry than usual today.) |
Author: pythbox | "Covering up any part of me is technically blasphemy," he snorts. "Not that I care." |
Author: newtimov | "By approximation, most of the time. People decide on a bunch of options for something and then everyone says which one they like best and the option with the most support wins. It gets more complicated with more people involved." |
Author: keyed_up | "Yanno, I have never had to worry about whether something was technically blasphemy? Like, I try not to offend my religious friends and stuff, but the details of theology have never come up." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah, it sounds it. Why would that be a good way to name worlds?" |
Author: newtimov | "It wouldn't necessarily, I'm just not sure the way they're currently getting named is better." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yours has a kind of funny name," says Lucas. |
Author: pythbox | "In Materia the difference between not blasphemy and technically blasphemy can be permanently fatal," says Celo. "I cannot overstate how bad an idea it is to piss off a god." |
Author: keyed_up | "Well, I'm not supposed to visit Materia anyway, I guess." |
Author: newtimov | "Yes. Sunshine. Because our vampires catch fire in it," says Ike. "I feel like we probably have better distinguishing characteristics than that." |
Author: snowandsparks | "What would you name it?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, you definitely should not do that," snorts Celo. "Nobody from out here in your nice safe fantasy paradise should visit Materia." |
Author: keyed_up | "I'm not from a nice safe fantasy paradise, I'm from a mean world with lots of things in it that would like to eat me." |
Author: newtimov | "I'm not sure," he says. "And there's the whole rest of the family to consider, too - they named Apollo and Helios after the theme. I think our most obvious distinguishing characteristic is probably all the different species of demons, and I'm not sure how to turn that into a name exactly, but if I could I would probably like it better than 'Sunshine'. Actually, come to think of it, I wonder if there is a name for our worldsheaf already in some local language? Thousands of species of demon makes for a lot of languages. I will ask Juliet to find out." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Juliet's... one of the Archangel-Elect's alts? I'm sure I've seen a list at some point but I don't have it memorized." |
Author: pythbox | Celo shrugs. "'Nice safe fantasy paradise' was more about the part where the laws of reality stay put when you squint at them and there are basically no ways to permanently die anymore. The entire rest of the multiverse is a nice safe fantasy paradise as far as I'm concerned, until we find another world that works like Materia." |
Author: keyed_up | "Syntropy's not hooked up Downside," Soph points out. "You might be able to permanently die there. They also haven't figured out how the gods work, there." |
Author: newtimov | "Yes! She is the one from my world. There are a bunch more but I also don't have the list memorized. One of them is a boy," he adds, blushing slightly. |
Author: snowandsparks | "A boy one? I don't remember hearing about that, wow." |
Author: pythbox | He snorts. "So maybe people shouldn't be visiting Syntropy either." |
Author: newtimov | "His name is Cam and he is very pretty." |
Author: keyed_up | "People don't. I don't think so, anyway, I - have not been visiting places before." |
Author: snowandsparks |
"Huh." |
Author: pythbox | "Me neither," laughs Celo. "Well, not until I learned how to freecast; I've pretty much spent all my time since then bouncing between Jokers." |
Author: newtimov | "...Hmm," says Ike, in response to that huh. |
Author: keyed_up | "But not to the Syntropy one?" |
Author: pythbox | "Huh? Yeah, why not?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "...Uh, I didn't know alts worked like that." |
Author: newtimov | "Alts do work like that! Cam is extremely friendly," says Ike. "I could introduce you to him if you want." |
Author: snowandsparks | "I haven't even really met the Archangel-Elect. I'm here because she's friends with my maternal grandparents. One of her from another world seems like a step beyond that." |
Author: newtimov | "Well, it's up to you, I guess. But he really is friendly."
Friendly in a way that causes Ike to blush every time he brings it up. |
Author: snowandsparks | "You keep, uh, blushing." |
Author: newtimov | "Yes," says Ike, blushing harder. "Yes I do." |
Author: snowandsparks | "...If you don't want to say why, that's fine." |
Author: keyed_up | "You just said, maybe people shouldn't be visiting Syntropy either." |
Author: pythbox | "...Yeah, but one, I didn't mean me, and two, I said that after I went there." |
Author: newtimov | "It is not particularly a secret or anything, but if I say it I might not stop blushing for a week, so I think I will not." |
Author: keyed_up | "Okay." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Um, okay." |
Author: grabsthebutt | A red-haired girl with a strong family resemblance to Ike happens to be passing by. She says helpfully, "They had sex," and then keeps walking. |
Author: newtimov | Ike blushes harder. "Thank you, Val," he mutters. |
Author: snowandsparks |
"Oh." |
Author: newtimov | Ike continues to blush. |
Author: snowandsparks | "...And that's not a secret," Lucas clarifies. |
Author: newtimov | "It is not a secret!" |
Author: snowandsparks | "...At home," says Lucas, subdued, "it would be a secret." |
Author: newtimov | "Things of that general nature have to be a secret in some parts of my world too," he says. "But where I live it's mostly okay." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | Elspeth, uncommonly but not uncharacteristically, is dancing in the corner of the space plant currently supplied with the music of an angelic choir. Jacob is with her, dancing less beautifully but not badly. |
Author: snowandsparks | "...When I was a kid, Isabella suddenly made it legal for two men or two women to get married, if they wanted, in her province, and about a third of the people I knew thought she was being bribed by Jansai to make it easy for them to find - people who would, um, take the bait." |
Author: yourheartstrings | A Joker-flavoured sense of presence close by becomes the rapidly assembling body of Ghosty, already dancing even before she has muscles to move her bones or skin to cover them. |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Hi, Ghosty!" |
Author: newtimov | "...The bait being... marriage, and the Jansai's interest being...?" |
Author: yourheartstrings | "Hiiii," says Ghosty, twirling her way into a lovely black dress with a long swirly skirt. "How've you been?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "It didn't actually happen very much, crime in Bethel has been way down, but people thought they wanted to know who to avoid doing business with or who to send their violent teenagers after or something." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "I'm doing fine. Felicity burned down the house, but it and he were both fixable." |
Author: yourheartstrings | "Ooh," she says sympathetically. "Any other casualties?" |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Nope. He took his poof out beforehand, even." |
Author: newtimov | "Happily, I have my sister to deal with violent teenagers for me. Even more happily, she almost never has to." |
Author: yourheartstrings | "Awwwwwwwww. That's sweet," she declares. |
Author: snowandsparks | "That sounds useful." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Yes. And he didn't want to come to the party today, which is convenient since I hadn't decided whether it would be a good idea to bring him or not at all." |
Author: newtimov | "Val is very handy." |
Author: yourheartstrings | "Proooobably better not to," sighs Ghosty. "How's he doing in general?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "I have three sisters and two brothers. They're all mortals, though, and none of them would be of particular use against violent Jansai teenagers." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Not very talkative. He likes the computer games. He fixes food for himself, he'll eat what Jake conjures, he wanders around the island. He didn't register any opinions on colors or anything when I offered him a set of pajamas, so I made something up, but I did get him to pick out which bedroom he wanted. He seems to find it entertaining when I fail dismally at lying." |
Author: newtimov | "I only have the one, but she is good at dealing with violent people. Mainly by hitting them until they go away." |
Author: yourheartstrings | "Huh," says Ghosty. "Mm, one sec."
She dissipates; a short time passes, but longer than a literal second; she reappears— |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah, I suppose that would be the way to do it. I've never actually been in a fight, partly because everyone knows better than to pick one with an angel, which is just as well because I'm not as confident as conventional wisdom that I'd be able to make any use of angel strength." |
Author: pythbox | —accompanied by Corona, who declines to dance.
"What's it like when you fail dismally at lying?" |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "My name is Kelly," asserts Elspeth. (Nope. It is not. It is very much not Kelly. At all.) |
Author: newtimov | "I think I know what you mean," says Ike. "Val is not any more physically equipped to hit people than I am, at least when she's not using iethat, but mentally it's no contest." |
Author: pythbox | ...Corona cracks up.
"That's beautiful," he says. |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas nods. "I mean, I suppose I know the thunderbolt prayer too, but nobody uses that, which is probably why no one has noticed that allegedly all of those requests have to go through Isabella now." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "What's so great about it?" |
Author: pythbox | "You mean apart from being hilarious?" He grins and shakes his head; the grin fades. "It means you can't lie. Sounding all trustworthy all the time is one thing, but there are people who can sound all trustworthy and still be lying. It happens. You can't." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "I can actually lie to people who haven't ever heard me say anything true before, but obviously most people don't fall into that category." |
Author: newtimov | "...What, um, is the thunderbolt prayer?" |
Author: pythbox | "Right, yeah. And he doesn't. That's the important part. He's not going to give a fuck if you can lie to anybody else." |
Author: snowandsparks | "It's a song. If you sing it - at home, anyway, on the right planet - then you get a thunderbolt, aimed where you called it to. I don't think anyone's called one since the accident at Cedar Hills, and the last time one was called on purpose it was almost two hundred years ago when the Archangel Gabriel destroyed Windy Point." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "What would he be imagining I'd lie about?" |
Author: pythbox | "Anything. Everything. How safe he is. Whether or not somebody's going to hurt him if he fucks up." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Oh. Well, I can't, and he burned the house down anyway." |
Author: newtimov | "...Someone called one by accident?" |
Author: pythbox | "...I'm not following," says Corona. |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah, when you're learning the song you're supposed to stop in the middle, sing something else, then pick up with the rest. Somebody forgot." |
Author: newtimov | "Oh dear," says Ike. |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "He was going to be testing boundaries and so on, right? He burned down the house, and when I asked him he said he didn't have fun, so he wasn't just doing it for kicks. So I guess my not being able to lie convincingly isn't completely closing the gap in his confidence." |
Author: snowandsparks | "That was before Isabella inserted herself between the singing and the actual thunderbolts, of course." |
Author: newtimov | "Do people know she did that? I guess you said they didn't. I wonder what happens when someone tries one and it doesn't work." |
Author: snowandsparks | "I'm not sure. Nobody knows she did that except people who know the rest of it about Jovah being a spaceship she's the captain of and so on." |
Author: pythbox | "I bet it didn't," says Corona, "but I also bet it helps. And that's not the only reason he might burn the house down, anyway." |
Author: newtimov | "Sounds very science fictiony," says Ike. |
Author: snowandsparks | "...Whatever that is, I'm not sure we have it?" |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "What reasons am I missing?" |
Author: newtimov | "You probably don't, and I am really not sure how to explain," he says. |
Author: snowandsparks | "I have this sense that Samaria is missing out on a lot of stuff." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi has once again (temporarily) exhausted her drive to be constantly around the available unicorn, so she has hugged Liselen a (temporary) goodbye and now is wandering around. |
Author: pythbox | "...I'm not sure if 'reason' is even the word," says Corona. "Just. Sometimes he'll do things that don't make any sense. He'll hurt himself or hurt somebody else or cry for days or break things, not because he's trying to get anything out of it, not because he decides to, but just because he has to do something and that's what came up. It won't all necessarily be destructive, either. I used to clean things a lot. The kitchen, my room, other people's rooms, whatever I could get my hands on." |
Author: newtimov | "If you want," says Ike, "I could give you some science fiction books, and then you will know what they are." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "I see." |
Author: snowandsparks | "...In Samarian? I'm not magicked into the common language here, I think there's some kind of effect on the party itself." |
Author: pythbox | Corona shrugs.
"If he's like me. We still don't know for sure. We're the same cluster, but we're the only two of it so far. I'm more - fragile, I guess, than other Jokers, and we're pretty sure my cluster has something to do with it, but we're not sure sure." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "How much is known about the clusters, apart from that they exist and Glass can see them? I mean, I've been informed that I'm 'green', but I don't know what to do with that, either." |
Author: newtimov | "I am absolutely sure that is a solvable problem," says Ike. "Someone could put a similar effect on the books, for example." |
Author: snowandsparks | "I suppose. I don't think I understand to what extent magic is - available. I don't have any, the Archangel-Elect has lots, other people seem almost random in how much of it they have and whether any of it might be used in ways I'd ever notice." |
Author: newtimov | "Well... I wouldn't just generally expect to be able to get books with translation magic on them, but given that we are at a Bellparty, I am very sure that there is someone here who is both willing and able to do that and the only potentially tricky part is finding them and asking nicely." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Okay. Even if the language thing is handled, will I be able to make any sense of the stories?" |
Author: pythbox | "We know some things about 'em," says Corona. "Not a lot. There's only the one big one with all those Jokers in it, and then the rest of us." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "I might be able to provide more insight if I'd judgesighted you or Felicity, but I haven't." |
Author: newtimov | "Potentially. Some more than others. But good science fiction explains itself pretty well." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," says Corona. |
Author: thaumobabble | Before Lucas can reply, Glass wanders by, pauses, points at Lucas, says "Green," and moves on. |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas blinks.
"Do you know what just happened?" |
Author: wildlymagical | Someone else who is wandering around catches sight of her nametag and smiles. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi pauses, looks at his nametag, rereads hers ("Hi! I'm from Rainbow and my name is Lexi!") and says, "What?" |
Author: newtimov | "Glass can see things about alts and stuff. She discovered earlier that apparently everybody here is in one of two groups, and the Joker came by and named them 'purple' and 'green'. I'm purple. We don't really know anything about them except for who's in which ones, and that people who are alts of each other are always in the same group." |
Author: snowandsparks | "...Okay. That's very strange." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Oh, sorry," says (according to his nametag) a [template unnamed] from Thilanushinyel whom you can call Lycaelon. "I just recognized the name. You're Liselen's huggy human friend, right?" |
Author: lexicality | "...I guess? Sure. I'm his huggy human friend. He's a unicorn, people who don't want to be his huggy human friends are either not humans or not thinking straight." |
Author: newtimov | "It is!" |
Author: snowandsparks | "So she's just going around, pointing at people, naming colors." |
Author: wildlymagical | ...He giggles. |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | She doesn't press that point, but: "Felicity mentioned his stepfather's name. It's not the usual unpleasant parental figure name." |
Author: newtimov | "We have just seen inarguable evidence of that, yes." |
Author: lexicality | "So you know him? Are you also his huggy human friend?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Okay then. This is a really strange party. The previous contender for weirdest party I've ever attended was the one where everyone was drunk and singing bawdy lyrics to the tunes of masses." |
Author: pythbox | Corona nods. "It's stepfathers for us, fathers for the big cluster, mostly fathers for everybody else - all the ones with the 'usual unpleasant parental figure name' are in the big cluster." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Hmm." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Well... I'm human, and his friend, and I suppose I am huggy with some people, but not especially with him," he says. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi giggles. "Who're you huggy with, then?" |
Author: pythbox | "Only me'n'Felicity and the big cluster have anybody with a Gotham attached," he adds. "We think that's probably important but we're not sure how." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "I don't know either." |
Author: wildlymagical | "My Bondmates and co-Bonded, mainly." |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles. "It doesn't really compare, does it." |
Author: lexicality | "Who're they? I don't subscribe to Jane's little newsletter, it makes me dizzy to have updates scrolling along." |
Author: snowandsparks | "It doesn't! Even though the songs were highly entertaining. This is - nobody at home who isn't here would get it." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," says Corona, "figures. None of us have much to go on." |
Author: newtimov | "That," says Ike, "is definitely a feature of Bellparties." |
Author: wildlymagical | "You would know them as Aianon, Ansharil, and Sarion." |
Author: lexicality | "Oh, them. My sister's a Bell," she adds. "The only - or, no, not anymore. One of two with sisters, but the other sister isn't my alt, I'm my Bella's twin and she's a little sister." |
Author: alicornucopia | Jake puts in, "Is whatever you're avoiding saying something Elsie had better know to deal with Felicity?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Have you been to a lot of them? Since you know - at least two - Bells personally?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "Aha," says Lycaelon. "I'm not related to any templates. My alts are from Peace and Gift respectively and they're a lot more like each other than I am like them." |
Author: lexicality | "It's really a pity I don't have any alts because my name turns into nicknames so easily!" |
Author: pythbox | Corona looks at Jake. "It's... part of it, the kind of big main crucial part, is something that I think it would be better for Felicity if he gets to tell her himself. And I don't know how much I can give you around the edges before you'll get the middle." Looking at Elsie again, "You know our best guess at what he'll be like; knowing our best guess at why is a lot less important." |
Author: newtimov | "This is actually my first one! I have heard about others, but I did not go. And I met Cam here," he adds. |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Okay," says Elspeth. "I can wait." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Oh. And you have alts and everything." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Does it?" he asks, looking in puzzlement at her nametag. |
Author: lexicality | "Lexi is short for Alexandra," Lexi explains. "But I wouldn't mind going with a different shortening if I had an alt who liked 'Lexi' best too." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah." He smiles slightly. "I figured." |
Author: newtimov | "I do! I have two alts. But I only really know things about one of them." |
Author: wildlymagical | "What else does it shorten to?" he wonders. "Lycaelon shortens to various things, but I don't like any of them." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "As long as we're on the subject, do you have a general idea of how long it's okay to leave him by himself on the island, given that loneliness is known to be a problem? By himself except for his poof, I mean, which he'll have unless he throws it into the sea." |
Author: lexicality | "Oh, Alex, Alli, Andi, Sandra, Sandy. And I have a middle name that I like okay, Phyllis." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Why's that?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "I think I've heard about a Sandy around here somewhere, but I don't think he's an alt of you." |
Author: lexicality | "Oh, no, yeah, that's a different person," says Lexi, waving a hand, "so that wouldn't be the best nickname in this case, but it's still a nickname." |
Author: pythbox | He is quiet for a moment, perhaps consulting other Jokers.
Then he says, "A general idea - a few days is fine; a week might hurt; a month is probably bad." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Okay, then we shouldn't run into any problems there. I had been wondering if it would be a good idea to stop briefly at home mid-party." |
Author: newtimov | "The other one is not in contact with any Bells or anyone Bells know, so all we know about him is that he is in Gift and lives in Toronto and has a Val. And was dead. But then they brought all of Toronto back to life, which included him because that is where he is from." |
Author: pythbox | "It wouldn't hurt to. He'd probably like it. But it wouldn't hurt not to, either," says Corona. |
Author: snowandsparks | "...The fact that people can have been dead in the past tense, I'm still not used to." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Do you think I should offer him a Janegem?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "True," he says. "Does your world have magic? I can never remember which ones don't." |
Author: pythbox | "You could. He might not take it," he says. |
Author: lexicality | "Yeah!" says Lexi. "I'm a mage actually! We're the world with Devices, if you heard about those. This one's mine." She holds up Persica on her necklace-chain. "Her name's Persica."
"Hello," says Persica's mechanical-ish voice. |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Of course. It would mostly be useful in case he spontaneously learned to freecast. He can already talk to her at any time as long as he's at home, and he could turn it off if he didn't want her looking at him." |
Author: pythbox | "Well, he doesn't have Harley's reason to spontaneously freecast," says Corona. "But yeah, it could happen. Would you miss him if it did?" |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Not yet, really, I'm still quite prepared for him to ask for a ride to a randomly selected world's version of some large city and some of the local currency. If he stays long enough, of course." |
Author: newtimov | "It is unexpected!" he agrees. |
Author: snowandsparks | "My mother was - I'd almost call her apologetic - every time she told me a new tidbit about the multiverse. She finds it all overwhelming. She's not even here." |
Author: pythbox | "I think maybe you better not offer him a Janegem until you would," he says. "If spontaneous freecasting is the reason. He won't take a way to come back unless he thinks he'll want to. And even if you tell him all about what happened to Harley, I don't think he'll expect to want to come back unless he expects you to miss him and cares that you would." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Okay, I'll wait on that then." |
Author: newtimov | "My mother and my father live in different subworlds of the Sunshine worldsheaf, so their tolerance for extradimensional shenanigans is fairly high," he says. "They might even come to a party someday." |
Author: pythbox | He nods. |
Author: snowandsparks | "...Worldsheaf." |
Author: wildlymagical | "...Hello," says Lycaelon. "I haven't heard about Devices, no." |
Author: lexicality | "They can turn into different shapes - Brilliance is one, even, but Persica doesn't have a humanoid shape, just the peach and the staff. She's a really keen staff though. And they do mana regulation - um, mana is the energy we use to do magic - and they have their own spells that they know." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Thank you," Elspeth adds. |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles.
"Okay. There are worlds that are separate, like Samaria and Sunshine and Thilanushinyel. But sometimes there are groups of them that are not separate from each other - that have their own internal ways to get from one to another that don't work for traveling outside of that sheaf, and the worlds in the sheaf share the same laws of physics and kinds of magic and so on, at least mostly. Sunshine is a worldsheaf like that, and I think Alethia is too, and I forget if I've heard about any others." |
Author: pythbox | Corona smiles. |
Author: snowandsparks | "This is complicated." |
Author: wildlymagical | "That is not at all how magic works in Thilanushinyel." |
Author: lexicality | "What do you do instead?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "...I'm not entirely sure how to explain," he admits. "I've never had to before." |
Author: lexicality | "I don't have any place to be," laughs Lexi. |
Author: newtimov | "It is! It is very that," says Ike. |
Author: snowandsparks | "How did you get used to it?" |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon grins. "Okay. Well, first of all, there are three kinds of mage that I know of - High Mages and Wildmages, who are human, and Elven Mages, whose species I'm sure you can guess." |
Author: lexicality | "Sarion's one of those," nods Lexi. |
Author: newtimov | "...Science fiction, mainly," he says. |
Author: snowandsparks | "How did that help?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "She is!" he agrees. "Each of the three kinds works differently. A High Mage casts spells using energy drawn from themselves or the people around them, and their spells are very reliable and predictable: the same spell done the same way will have exactly the same effect every time. It's hard for them to improvise, though, for just that reason; a High Mage might take several years to invent a new spell, because they have to build it out of existing pieces using formulas and experiments. Wildmages, on the other hand - I'm a Wildmage - our magic is less like doing a spell and more like asking a friend for a favour. An incomprehensibly vast and powerful friend." |
Author: lexicality | "Man, I don't have any incomprehensibly vast and powerful friends. I have an incomprehensibly vast and powerful sister, does that count?" |
Author: newtimov | "Well... what science fiction is is more or less stories about other worlds. Just ones the writer happens to have made up. Things like 'what would it be like if people lived on the moon', or 'what would it be like if people lived on flying trees in a huge cloud of air with no gravity', or even 'what would it be like if there were a whole bunch of different universes where things turned out differently than they have in this one'. The science part means mainly trying to answer those questions using things we actually know about how the world works instead of things we make up about how it might." |
Author: wildlymagical | "...no," he says. "Your sister is less vast and more comprehensible than the Wild Magic." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi laughs. "Okay, so you ask it for favors, and then it - usually does them, I guess?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Those sound really interesting, actually. Without being as intimidating as the actual flying tree." |
Author: wildlymagical | "You ask the Wild Magic to do something - heal someone, find a lost object, change the weather, many other sorts of things. The energy to do it usually comes from yourself, the people around you, or objects where you've stored energy that ultimately came from those places, but once in a very long while the Wild Magic will power a spell itself. And apart from that immediate cost, every spell of the Wild Magic also comes with a Mageprice, which is like your friend asking you for a favour in return." |
Author: lexicality | "Huh, that sounds kind of cool. Do you stop getting spells if you don't do its favors? What kind of favors do incomprehensibly vast and powerful friends even want?" |
Author: newtimov | "Yes! I really like them," says Ike. "And having read plenty of that stuff made me a lot more prepared for the, um, actual flying tree." He gestures vaguely at the actual flying tree in which they find themselves. "So to speak." |
Author: snowandsparks | "So you didn't feel all dizzy when you got dropped into it, huh." |
Author: wildlymagical | "...It's... complicated. But, um, shirking your Mageprice is generally considered a very bad idea. And it can ask for all kinds of things, but mostly it wants things that will - help. The Wild Magic wants to make the world a better place, and it's incomprehensibly vast and powerful, but it's also, well, limited. Mageprice is one of the only ways it can make changes in the world. So it sends each of us to improve things in whatever ways we can. Sometimes we have no idea what a particular Mageprice is doing to help, but sometimes it's obvious. A lot of mine have just been 'go there and heal this'." |
Author: newtimov | "I did not." |
Author: lexicality | "What happens if someone else does it before you get there?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "They don't." |
Author: snowandsparks | "My grandmother had to catch me, it was embarrassing. I don't get vertigo when I'm just flying." |
Author: lexicality | "What, ever? What if they're just being a jerk and ask you what your price is and then run as fast as they can?" |
Author: newtimov | "Awwww," says Ike. |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas blushes and looks away. |
Author: wildlymagical | "...The people I've been sent to heal usually weren't capable of running when I got there." |
Author: lexicality | "No, like if somebody else asks you and goes ahead of you. Not if they just heal themselves." |
Author: newtimov | "Aww, no, it's okay, I have had embarrassing vertigo too!" says Ike. "When I was a small child I could not ride any kind of moving vehicle without it!" |
Author: snowandsparks | "...Did you often have cause to - are those things common in other worlds? I hate them, they're not as bad as a skittish horse but they're miserable to travel in." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Why would anyone do that? Never mind," he says. "Yes, I suppose it's possible that sometimes your Mageprice turns out to be something that someone else has done before you get there, but it's never happened to me or to any other Wildmage I know. I told you, the Wild Magic is incomprehensibly vast and powerful. I think it thinks these things through." |
Author: lexicality | "Huh. Cool. Does Sarion, like, talk to it?" |
Author: newtimov | "Various kinds of moving vehicle are extremely common in my world, and they are mostly not miserable as long as you're not a small child with spatial orientation issues," he says. |
Author: snowandsparks | "Well, they're probably designed to fit you. There's fewer than two hundred angels and we can fly, so no one bothers making sure the vehicles have room for a big set of wings." He checks his surroundings, then unfurls one wing to its full six-feet-and-change span. "What kind of spatial orientation issues?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "Liselen does, actually. Most people can't, and even Wildmages can only really communicate through spells and Mageprice, but when the Wild Magic needs something said or done that Mageprice won't cover, it sends a unicorn." |
Author: lexicality | "Oh, huh, I don't think that ever came up, mostly I just admire him and his unicorn-ness." |
Author: alicornucopia | Minnie's entertainment (they had a sign on the door; she omitted to ask first about permission to supervise) having dispersed, she is now floating visibly - but, as usual, insubstantially - about the party. |
Author: newtimov | Ike looks at the wing. Ike smiles.
"—Oh," he says. "Um, me and Val are not entirely human, and the kind of not human that we partly are comes with some talents. Like always knowing exactly how big or far away things are by looking at them, and always knowing how far we're going when we walk or move. Which makes it impossible to get lost without teleporting, but also means that traveling at high speeds not under our own power can be, um, kind of rough until we get used to it. Val mostly didn't have a problem, but I threw up on a lot of trains." |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan wandered off while his mate was distracted, and is currently making a curious circuit of the party main room all by himself. |
Author: snowandsparks | "What's a train?" Lucas asks. He looks at his wing, like he expects to find a bit of spinach between a pair of feathers, then looks at Ike looking at the wing, then holds it in place for a long moment before letting it re-fold. |
Author: wildlymagical | "He's very admirable that way." |
Author: lexicality | "He is! How do you communicate through Mageprice, it doesn't sound much like - you know, talking." |
Author: pythbox | One of Minnie's entertainers is browsing the buffet! He is still naked. An illusory black rectangle obscures certain parts, but it goes away very obligingly at the observer's whim.
(His nametag - which he wasn't wearing last time she saw him - is rather longer than the usual ones. Apparently he's a Joker from Materia whose name is... something... but you can call him Celo. And yes he is naked. And yes it's on purpose.) |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | There's a couple of familiar faces over there! One of them is slightly more familiar than the other. |
Author: alicornucopia | Minnie experiences whim! And she grins, and in spite of the nametag feels compelled to gleefully remark on the fact that: "You're naked!" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Hi, Eights! Hi, Anna!" (Vampire speed and eyesight means he doesn't miss a beat checking the latter's nametag.) |
Author: newtimov | "A train is a kind of vehicle that runs on rails and usually goes much faster than the kinds that use roads." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Huh, I don't think we have those at all." |
Author: wildlymagical | "It's exactly as not like talking as it sounds, but it's still more communicative than not interacting directly at all," he says. "When I cast a spell, the Wild Magic learns something about what I want; when I get a Mageprice, I learn something about what it wants. Not exactly a conversation, but still kind of an exchange." |
Author: pythbox | Ooh.
"Yes I am," says Celo, grinning right back. "Hi!" |
Author: lexicality | "That sounds really frustrating." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Hi! I saw you naked before, too - there was a sign on the door! It was very considerate! - but you didn't have your nametag on like that then." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Hey, Nathan," Eights says cheerfully, hugging him. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Hug! Eights gets a friendly broken rib for her trouble. "How're you doing?" |
Author: newtimov | "Then if I had grown up in Samaria I would probably have had a much less nauseous childhood!" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Probably! Vehicles are mostly for cargo, anyway. People get around on horses for everyday still. Unless they can fly, or know people who will pick them up and can fly." |
Author: wildlymagical | "I like it just fine," he says, shrugging. "I don't need any more from the Wild Magic than I get." |
Author: lexicality | "I'm glad I don't have to do that with Persica. She just talks."
"Yes," agrees Persica, glittering. |
Author: pythbox | "I didn't, yeah," he says with a laugh. "It would've just gotten in the way." |
Author: alicornucopia | Minnie nods. "I noticed!" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Awww. Nathan is such a sweetheart. She hugs him tighter, then lets go. "I'm awesome. How're you? How's the boyfriend?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "He's doing good, having fun reuniting with all his alts and meeting the new ones. You been up to anything neat?" |
Author: newtimov | "I know very few people who can pick me up," says Ike. "Well, more now that I know a bunch of people who are magic. But I mean, unassisted humans generally can't." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Not very much," Lycaelon observes. |
Author: snowandsparks | "I could pick you up," says Lucas, almost casually. |
Author: pythbox | "Wanna go get a room where you can look at me naked some more?" he inquires, grinning. |
Author: lexicality | "She's not a chatty peachy, but she can talk in complete sentences and understand English," says Lexi, patting her Device. |
Author: alicornucopia | "...You are already completely naked right here. What would the room do?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Not especially. Chainsaw's still cranky about losing his job, but I'm sure he'll get over himself sometime this century."
"Like sure sure?" says Anna. "I'd've thought it'd take longer." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "I have no tears for him," snorts Nathan. |
Author: newtimov | "I am heavier than I look," says Ike. "My bones are mostly iron." |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas looks him over. Almost casually. "I could pick you up," he repeats. |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon laughs. |
Author: lexicality | "And did I mention she can turn into a kickass staff, because she can, do you want to see?" |
Author: pythbox | "I could do things it wouldn't be polite to do out here," he says. "You could help." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Nobody does," snorts Anna.
"Well, not for that," says Eights. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I can't really help," she says, waving a hand through his shoulder. It's slightly chilly. "I can only be solid when I'm really mad." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Have people been generating tears for him for other reasons?" |
Author: newtimov | "I am not sure I believe you!" says Ike. "I demand empirical testing." |
Author: wildlymagical | "All right." |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas grins, and -
scoops him right up. |
Author: pythbox | "Well, one, there's plenty of things we could do that don't need physical contact," he says, "and two, do you like being that way? Because I bet we could change it." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Before your time," says Eights. "He's had some pretty good reasons to be miserable. Not in the last several thousand, though." |
Author: newtimov | "Eee!" squeaks Ike. "I am surprised and delighted!" |
Author: lexicality | Lexi plucks Persica from her chain, and Persica changes. She's a long pearlescent coruscation of warm colors ranging from pastel orange through yellow and rose, capped in a small peach-colored gem at one end, and at the other end sporting a larger gem with a peachlike cleft impressed in it, which is surrounded by golden, sleekly mechanical leaf-shaped protrusions.
"Device Mode," Persica announces. Smugly. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Do I like it? No, it's kind of inconvenient. I like being able to go through stuff and pop in and out, though. What are the things? I want to know what the things are." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Well, that's a long time." |
Author: snowandsparks | "You are heavier than a regular mortal your size would be, but not four times heavier or anything," grins Lucas. "I'll admit I probably couldn't carry you and your sister at the same time even with a basket or something." |
Author: giftedandtalented | When Tab notes that the Jokers appear to be mingling with the general population, she goes looking for Aianon. He kind of stands out, even in this weird crowd, so that shouldn't be too hard. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam has been sidetracked several times now from his long-term goal of... keeping current with... the entire deck of Jokers. And now they're not even in the orgy chamber. But that's hardly insurmountable. [Hey, sweetness,] he says to Jellybean, [is this a good time for me to get introduced properly to Corona and/or Nona?] |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles. And, since he is scooped and all, hugs Lucas. |
Author: wildlymagical | "Very pretty," says Lycaelon. |
Author: pythbox | "Come get a room with me and I will tell you all about the things," laughs Celo. "I'm trying to be a good nymph here and not shock any eavesdroppers." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "To some people," says Eights.
"Me among them!" says Anna.
Eights laughs. |
Author: endragoned | She will find Aianon outside, flying. Closer to the space plant than most of the other airborne guests. |
Author: pythbox | [Lemme check,] he says. There is a pause. [Corona says go for it, Nona says she'll think about it.] |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas laughs; he's already using his arms, but he's got wings! Swoosh. Now they are around Isaac. |
Author: lexicality | "Thank you," says Persica and Lexi at the same time. |
Author: newtimov | Isaac is surrounded by fluffiness! "I feel very snuggled," he says. |
Author: wildlymagical | He grins. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Okay," says Minnie, and she drifts after him, presuming he is so kind as to lead her roomward. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Hey, I'm centuries old, but even with my stint Downside counting I don't approach millenia." |
Author: pythbox | He is, in fact!
"I could make it so you can be solid when you want to be," he offers on the way. |
Author: giftedandtalented | She lights out into the air after him. "Hey, Aianon!" |
Author: lifes_sake | [Huh, does she have something going on I haven't heard about?] Cam inquires. [That's not usual.] |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "You will eventually," says Eights. |
Author: snowandsparks | "Let me know if you get too warm. Angels are. Warm, I mean." |
Author: endragoned | He looks down at her and grins.
"Hello. What is it?" |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass pops into existence beside them. "Hi. I'm dividing everybody's templates into clusters, of which there are two, we don't know anything else yet. You're green," she says to Lexi, "like the Bells are - and you're purple," she says to Lycaelon. |
Author: pythbox | [I dunno,] says Jellybean, [have you heard about her dad?] |
Author: lexicality | "What about my Peachy?" |
Author: thaumobabble | "Huh? Oh. Not a template, but green." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'd probably lose track of something and wind up solid and also halfway through a wall." |
Author: newtimov | "I have noticed that. It's nice," he says. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Yep. Pretty good deal." |
Author: giftedandtalented | "I think this plant is great. I want a treehouse-palace. I'd understand if you just wanted to, like, describe a design for me to set up myself, though, considering last time somebell borrowed you for planting." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Who else is purple?" |
Author: lifes_sake | [I presume he is or was awful, par for the course?] |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas grins. "It's so we can fly at high altitudes and not freeze." |
Author: pythbox | He grins. "There's ways around that." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Sherlocks, Tonies, Jokers, Ikes - I don't know who all you've met so I'm not sure who to list." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Like what?" asks Minnie. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "So have you heard about the dragons?" says Anna. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "I have heard that there are dragons. One of them is an alt of the Joker." |
Author: endragoned | "I would not like to describe a design," he says. "I like making things. This time, if I am stranded far from home, I have my own way to return." |
Author: giftedandtalented | "Oh, you picked up freecasting? Nifty. I wonder if anybody else can learn that. Glass wasn't sure. I'd probably have a better chance at it than most Bells." |
Author: pythbox | [Awful yes, par for the course nnnnot exactly. He used to fuck her. She's... well, she's dealing better than Corona did, but she's still - kind of shy for a Joker? It'll pass. The fact that they lived by themselves in a castle in the middle of nowhere with nobody for company but the swans isn't helping anything. Before she hit the deck she'd been around as many people as there are at this party once in her whole life. Not even enough to know that's what she was missing.] |
Author: lifes_sake | [Huh. Okay. I'll warn Glass, I guess, I'm not sure but just in case.] |
Author: newtimov | "That's convenient!" he says. "Convenient and also cuddly." |
Author: wildlymagical | "I have met Jokers," he laughs. "The others, no." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yep. Although not all the mortals know about it, so if we stay in inns or things like that the fire's usually piled way too high in our rooms and so on. The angel holds are too cold for mortals and they all go around in long sleeves and extra layers." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Oh, and Darcy and Sidanar, Sidanar being one of the conjured dragons, are purple too, although if you haven't met any Sherlocks or Tonies then you haven't made an investigation of the conjured dragons." |
Author: pythbox | "I could just make it that trying to go solid while you're halfway through a wall doesn't work and doesn't hurt," he shrugs. "I don't think it'd be that hard. I have safe wishes to play with." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oooh," says Minnie. "I didn't think of anything that complicated or I might've asked Juliet." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "One of them is an alt of us," says Anna. |
Author: endragoned | "I did. We all have. You can try to learn, if you like; I recommend asking Harley and War. It is much easier for new Jokers to learn it now that War has felt us all try it our own ways." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "That sounds interesting!" |
Author: giftedandtalented | "Putting it on my to-do list. So you'll come to Gift sometime and make me a treehouse castle? My planet has these fantastic enormous trees, they're taller than this plant, just not quite as big around." |
Author: pythbox | [Warn Glass about what, Nona probably not wanting to fuck her? Is that a thing? I didn't know that was a thing,] laughs Jellybean. [If she wants some girl-flavoured Joker she'd be better off trying Ghosty or Celo - I know Celo was walking around swapped a while ago, and Ghosty can be whatever shape she wants.] |
Author: newtimov | He giggles. |
Author: wildlymagical | "I don't meet very many people." |
Author: lifes_sake | [If Glass generically wanted some girl-flavored Joker I'd have expected her to hit one up already. I don't know if she was planning to ask Nona or not, but if she asks and gets a no that will probably not do anything good for her odds of asking Nona or anyjoker else later on.] |
Author: snowandsparks | "Well, Cedar Hills isn't that cold, since it's at ground level," amends Lucas. "But I live in Monteverde." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, it's hard to really get what safe wishes can do," says Celo. "Look, a room!"
Into the room he goes. |
Author: thaumobabble | "I'm getting that sense. So, Bells and Lexi here are green, Jokers and you are purple." |
Author: alicornucopia | Minnie goes in too. Through the wall. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "We haven't met her yet," says Eights.
"Because I'm a coward," says Anna cheerfully. Eights gives her a fond look. |
Author: endragoned | "I would love to see your trees." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "What's to be scared of? Even if she was going to chew you up and swallow you I wouldn't expect that to be terribly off-putting, considering." |
Author: giftedandtalented | "I named the planet Arborea because the trees are so great." |
Author: pythbox | [...So wait, why Nona and not the rest of us, then?] |
Author: newtimov | "I do not know what either of those places is like!" he says. |
Author: wildlymagical | "I wonder what it means. I suppose you've said you don't know." |
Author: pythbox | "Sooooo," he says, "I could tell you all about things, or I could figure out a nice safe way to make you get solid on and off whenever you want... what're you feeling, here?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Oh, y'know, what if we don't have anything to say to each other, the usual," says Anna. |
Author: endragoned | "That is a good name. I will see your trees and make you a treehouse palace." |
Author: lifes_sake | [I haven't actually talked to Glass in particular about this, but the impression I get from monosexual Bells - who aren't Amariah, anyway, she's flexible about exact details here because daemons - is that it goes on being somewhat important which pronouns and which shape you are by default, and Ghosty gets interpreted as not having a default shape. And Queenie gets interpreted as having female default pronouns but not a matching default shape. If Glass works like that then Nona would be the first viable candidate.] Pause. [You might want to tell Etty, or get Nona to tell Etty, about this too, I could also see Glass asking Etty first to make sure she wouldn't be stepping on her toes.] |
Author: snowandsparks | "Monteverde, and the Eyrie, where the Archangel-Elect leads the host, are carved into mountains, lots of chambers and it's a long walk if you want to take the stairs. Windy Point used to be the least accessible of the lot, but then the Archangel Gabriel destroyed it and built Cedar Hills instead." |
Author: thaumobabble | "No idea. Something might come clear as I sort everybody." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Is both an answer?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "The pair of you seem to get along just fine." |
Author: pythbox | [...mm,] says Jellybean. [What's me telling Etty gonna do?] |
Author: giftedandtalented | "Awesome. Just lemme know when's a good time and I'll make room in the schedule to show you around." |
Author: newtimov | "...For... reasons?" |
Author: lifes_sake | [Means Etty will be able to tell Glass if Glass asks her, instead of me having to go interrupt whatever Glass is doing - probably sorting people into moieties, have you heard about that yet? - and presume that it's useful information. A bit less awkward.] |
Author: wildlymagical | "Good luck." |
Author: pythbox | "Sure," he says, "but we still have to pick one to do first, I'm not that magic." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Oh, it was a den of wickedness, all of its angels were dead, half on Mount Galo and half because the previous Archangel Raphael had poisoned everybody who wouldn't go with him to Mount Galo." Pause. "Mount Galo is the first thing the spaceship everyone thinks is a god smites if we don't sing the Gloria every year, and that year the Windy Point faction wanted to skip it to prove divine impotence so Raphael could keep power instead of handing it off to Gabriel." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Yeah," says Eights, "it helps that we're so similar."
"I have no idea what a me who is a dragon would even be like," says Anna. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Thanks!" And she is off. |
Author: lexicality | "That was kinda weird." |
Author: endragoned | "After the party, perhaps." |
Author: alicornucopia | Minnie giggles. "Things first!" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Like you, except a dragon, is I think the idea. I don't know that I'll be very helpful; the pair of me, when there was a pair, were a fork and we still didn't get along that well till we merged." |
Author: pythbox | [You could tell Etty,] Jellybean suggests. [Yeah, I got the news from the Joker grapevine. Apparently we're purple.] |
Author: giftedandtalented | "Sure, I have a longer blank space for it than I expect to need just in case it runs really long with all these people here meeting-and-greeting." |
Author: newtimov | "I take it that did not go as planned." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Yes," says Lycaelon. |
Author: lifes_sake | [You'd be able to explain it to Etty better than I could if she wants details. Unless Nona has enough introspective insight to just explain herself? Is this thing something she told you or something you guys noticed?] |
Author: snowandsparks | "Nope. Spaceship exists, spaceship really does smite Mount Galo if we don't sing, a bunch of angels from Windy Point and some of their mortal friends were up there and they all died, it took a long time for the angel population to recover." |
Author: lexicality | "I think I like that I'm in the same color as Bella and my Peachy though."
(Persica glitters.) |
Author: pythbox | "All right," Celo says cheerfully. "Well, broadly speaking: you could watch me do things, or I could watch you do things, or we could talk about doing things, or one of us could tell the other what things to do, or any combination of those. Where the specific nature of 'things' depends on what we think is fun." He grins. "I have some suggestions if you want." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Eights pats him on the arm. |
Author: endragoned | "They are getting to be very large," Aianon agrees. "I enjoyed making the flying plant for this one." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I can't really do things. My shape sort of - pretends to exist. Actually trying to make it not go through itself falls apart for anything more complicated than clapping my hands," sighs Minnie. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "But we got that handled and now I'm fine. And I don't think either of you are mad at your dragon alt for putting the moves on your boyfriend, am I right?" |
Author: giftedandtalented | "It's an awesome flying plant. Is it gonna stick around after the party disperses?" |
Author: pythbox | [...I'm not sure there's a difference,] says Jellybean. [There sometimes isn't, when we're all linked. She definitely doesn't know any less about it than I do.] |
Author: lifes_sake | [Oh, in that case I'll tell Etty to ask Nona about it. And then I'll go hunt up Corona, I suppose.] |
Author: newtimov | "That is sad," says Ike, snuggling up. |
Author: wildlymagical | "I'm all right with being in the same colour as my Bonded." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Well, yes," says Lucas, adjusting his wings around Ike, "but if Raphael had stayed in power we'd still have slavery and so on, so." |
Author: pythbox | "Awwww," says Celo. "Well, that still leaves some options open. Or we could figure out the solidity thing now, and then we'd have lots of options." |
Author: lexicality | "It's funny that you call them that all the time." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "No," snorts Eights. Anna giggles. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Okay, let's do that!" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "So you are quite without my problem." |
Author: endragoned | "I do not have anywhere to put it," he says. "But it would be a shame to destroy it. Perhaps I will leave it here in case there is another party someday." |
Author: pythbox | [Have fun!] says Jellybean. [Corona is fun. You know about his Gift, right?] |
Author: giftedandtalented | "Sure. There might be, although we seem to find new worlds that haven't hosted parties yet more often than we have parties." |
Author: lifes_sake | [I've heard a description?] |
Author: newtimov | "Ye-es. It's sad that he poisoned a bunch of people and then got a bunch more killed trying to play chicken with a spaceship," says Ike. "It would have been much better if he had just not done any of that." |
Author: wildlymagical | "What should I call them? 'Aianon and Ansharil' takes longer to say." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yes. That would have been an improvement." |
Author: lexicality | "I think Sarion says 'my beloveds'. Which isn't any less weird, but I already got used to it and now you're saying a different thing." |
Author: pythbox | He grins.
"Okay, lemme think. Do you wanna fix the thing about not being able to do things while you're all see-through, too?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Very," they agree simultaneously. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yes," grins Minnie. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Has this one got a Chainsaw-alt associated with her?" |
Author: endragoned | "I believe that if we ever go a very long time without finding any new Bells or meeting any disasters with Jane, that might change." |
Author: giftedandtalented | "Yeah, probably. So keep the plant, it's a great plant." |
Author: pythbox | [He amplifies things. All kinds of things. Including sensory things,] says Jellybean, very cheerfully. [If you let him. It's pretty awesome.] |
Author: lifes_sake | [...So yeah I think I'll go do those things I said I would do, now, love you sweetness.] |
Author: newtimov | "Yes," says Ike. Snuggle snuggle. |
Author: wildlymagical | "Well," he says. "I could call them that, yes. But I don't." |
Author: snowandsparks | "All happened hundreds of years ago, anyway." (Snuggle.) |
Author: lexicality | "Why not? Is it because it's sappy, because it is totally sappy." |
Author: pythbox | Celo beams at her.
"How about: you're always solid to yourself, and you can turn solid to everything else when you want, but if there's something in the way it just doesn't work? And then you're solid until you decide not to be. But without all that inconvenient stuff about needing to breathe and eat and pee. Just like you are now but with more touching going on." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Yeah," says Anna. "Sandy's met him. He's an elf. They haven't met each other, though." |
Author: alicornucopia | "That sounds good to me!" |
Author: endragoned | "It is! I am proud." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Huh, an elf. I don't know what conclusions to draw from that." |
Author: pythbox | [I love you too,] Jellybean says fondly. |
Author: giftedandtalented | "So I shall see you after the party," concludes Tab, "thanks!" And she flies off. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam has a brief brainphone exchange with Etty.
And then he goes looking for Corona. |
Author: newtimov | "True. Plenty of sad things have happened in my world too." Snuggle! "They should quit that." |
Author: wildlymagical | He laughs.
"All right, maybe. Not that I don't feel sappy. But I don't need to go around advertising it to everyone." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Seems to be the - Bell manifesto, doesn't it?" |
Author: lexicality | Lexi laughs too. "Awwwww." |
Author: pythbox | He pulls a honey-coloured hex out of thin air and wishes on it.
"Try being solid," he suggests. |
Author: alicornucopia | Minnie scrunches up her face. Then she falls an inch to the floor and stumbles and doesn't actually fall over but has a difficult time catching herself. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "He has pointy ears and doesn't like questions," says Anna. "And he's a lot like Sandy but less happy." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Aww." |
Author: pythbox | At the moment, Corona can be found outside, sitting on the edge of the platform with his legs dangling over the side and watching the dragons. |
Author: newtimov | "Yes. That is a good thing about Bells." |
Author: wildlymagical | He smiles. |
Author: lifes_sake | Cam sits next to him. "Hey," he says. |
Author: snowandsparks | "That and these interesting parties they throw." |
Author: pythbox | "You okay?" says Celo, holding out his arms invitingly. |
Author: lexicality | "Awwwwwww! Oh hey did you hear Sarion's going to marry them?" |
Author: alicornucopia | Minnie sort of falls into his arms and squirms snuggly-like there. "Uh-huh!" she beams. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Which kind of makes him the opposite of Chainsaw," says Eights. "Thankfully. I think one Chainsaw is enough." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "I could not agree more." |
Author: pythbox | "Awesome," says Celo, and he kisses her forehead and sits on the edge of the room's nice comfy bed and settles her in his lap.
So about those options that they now have... |
Author: alicornucopia | Minnie died a virgin on prom night and has spent the last century or so a very frustrated ghost.
She wants all of the options. All of them. |
Author: pythbox | She can have as many as she wants, for as long as she wants, in as many variations as she wants.
Celo loves being a nymph, he really does. |
Author: pythbox | "Hey," says Corona. "So Jellybean says you wanna fuck me?" |
Author: newtimov | "Those too!" (Snuggle.) |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon laughs. "I did, yes." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Eights smiles fondly at him. |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yep. I like to keep current with the deck. For more reasons than it suiting my aesthetics." |
Author: pythbox | Corona laughs. "All right, let's get a room." |
Author: snowandsparks | (This is a very snuggly picking-up.)
"How did you meet Juliet, anyway?" |
Author: lexicality | "And Angela's gonna officiate, an angel is going to get a demon and an elf and a dragon all married, it's hilarious!" |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass appears. "Green," she says to Nathan, "and, purples." |
Author: lifes_sake | Teleportation! So handy! |
Author: newtimov | "Oh, she came to our house because she was looking for part-demons using magic." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Why?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "Is there something I'm missing about angels?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "...Eh?" says Anna. |
Author: pythbox | Extremely handy!
"So," says Corona, "you've heard about my Gift, right?" |
Author: lexicality | "Oh, at home, demons - not like all the millions of kinds Sunshine has so much, red ones with horns and tails and wings just exactly like Aianon pretty much - and angels, basically like Samaria angels only with halos sometimes - are kind of, like, mythical opposites? The angels are the good guys and the demons are the bad guys." |
Author: newtimov | "Bell reasons," he summarizes. "I guess she wanted us to introduce her to our Sessiaki relatives and show her around Siathe and stuff. Which we did, and it was okay." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Sorry - I've discovered that templates fall into one of two categories, which we're calling 'moieties', one green, one purple. You guys are purple. Nathan is green. Jokers are purple, Bells are green, I haven't sorted everybody yet though." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Jellybean mentioned it. Yep." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Aha," says Lycaelon. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Well okay then," says Eights.
"Which one's Sandy?" says Anna. |
Author: snowandsparks | "I have... no frame of reference at all, for being half demon and being able to show a Bell around a place she hasn't been." |
Author: pythbox | He grins.
"Wanna try?" |
Author: lexicality | "We don't actually have either thing and so far the worlds with demons don't have angels and vice-versa, but it's still funny!" |
Author: newtimov | Ike giggles. |
Author: thaumobabble | "I haven't checked him yet. Also, we don't know what, if anything, these categories mean." |
Author: wildlymagical | "I can see that." |
Author: lifes_sake | "Yes." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Well that's useful," says Anna. |
Author: pythbox | Corona kisses him.
Things are amplified. |
Author: snowandsparks | "I mean, angels are relatively exotic, there aren't that many of us, but the Archangel-Elect lived at Monteverde for a year once working with Linus - he's the current Archangel." |
Author: newtimov | "Juliet was the Slayer for a while - that is a legendary sort of thing to be, among demons anyway. Now she's just meddlesome. But in a good way!" |
Author: lexicality | "There's this thing - people don't actually believe it but like in cartoons and stuff if someone is trying to decide between a good and a bad choice, they get a tiny little demon and a tiny little angel, one on each shoulder, telling them what to do. Sometimes I call Bella my shoulder angel. My shoulder Bella, anyway." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Isn't it just? I can go check Sandy real quick if you're curious." |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon laughs.
"There are legends here of the Dark being able to influence people in a similar way, but unfortunately I think those are true. And we have no angels." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Yes please," says Anna. |
Author: lexicality | "Well, since the shoulder angel and shoulder demon idea exists and everybody recognizes it, there are cartoons that, like, play with it, making it so there's only the one of them if the person is very good or very bad, or having them fight each other, or whatever." |
Author: thaumobabble | "Sure."
Pop. Glass goes and finds Sandy. |
Author: snowandsparks | "What's a Slayer?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "Ansharil sometimes turns into the Samaria kind of angel," he mentions. |
Author: lexicality | Lexi thinks about this. She tilts her head. "Okay, that's kinda weird." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | While she is doing that, Eights says, "Hey Anna, could you fix my rib?"
"You can't fix it yourself?"
Eights shrugs. "It's not bugging me enough to be worth a torch."
"...yyyyyes, but... wait, do you mean you're not minted? I thought for sure you were," says Anna, blinking. "That's so weird, why not?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "The Bells mostly seem to mint people who'll work for them. Or date them, in some cases." |
Author: newtimov | "A... magic... legendary... person. There is one of them at a time and she has superpowers and beats up evil things." |
Author: wildlymagical | "He likes the wings. So do the rest of us. They're very soft." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Are there any Bells whose own worlds don't frame them as special according to local - ideas of specialness? I heard somebody saying that the one who's hosting this party is a saint." |
Author: lexicality | "They look it! I haven't grabbed any though, Aurora says Angela says it's like grabbing their butts." |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass reappears. "Sandy's purple, and surprisingly unfazed about having me appear to him and suddenly name a color." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Well, I'm not a Bell," Anna is saying as Glass arrives.
"Does this mean Chainsaw is also purple?" says Eights. She touches the site of the formerly broken rib and smiles. "Ooh, thanks, Anna." |
Author: newtimov | "I suspect that in cases where they are not already special in some way, they arrange to be," says Ike. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Yeah, templates are all within the same moiety. I actually started noticing this when I spotted two people whose templates are not identical but are unusually close together, standing near each other. What about you not being a Bell?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "Yes," says Lycaelon. |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah, there's that," snorts Lucas. "I'm not actually sure if Isabella was already going to be the next Archangel or if she arranged it." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi blinks, then bursts out laughing again. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Eights laughs.
"Apparently nobody's minted Eights yet? I'm gonna fix that," says Anna. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Uh," says Glass, "in this particular case I'm not aware of any reason not to except a vague nervousness about her hanging out with Chainsaw, but in general don't just up and mint people without checking with some Bell, in your case Stella will usually be handiest." |
Author: newtimov | "Well, what's the difference?" |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon laughs. |
Author: snowandsparks | "The spaceship does what she says now, but it used to pick Archangels by itself," explains Lucas. "I don't know if it had picked her out before, or if she had to tell it to pick her." |
Author: lexicality | "That kinda thing cannot be usual with dragons and their dragon-havers," says Lexi, "I mean mostly they go around dragon-shaped, right?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Seriously? She's Eights," says Anna.
Eights shrugs. |
Author: newtimov | "Oh. Yes, there's that," he says. "You could always ask, I guess." |
Author: thaumobabble | "And you can mint her, as long as she's not going to mint Chainsaw or give him coins," says Glass, "but that's her, in particular. Don't just mint all your friends." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Mostly they do," he agrees, "and mostly Bonded are not - like that. But my Bonded are very much like that." |
Author: snowandsparks | "It would be a kind of presumptuous question! And I still don't really know her." |
Author: lexicality | "Jokers," snorts Lexi. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "What are you on," says Anna. Eights becomes minted. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Did Stella actually hire you without warning you about not minting people?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "No," says Anna. "Which is why I find it weird and kind of insulting that you're telling me it's okay to mint Eights but I shouldn't do it to just anybody, like wanting to mint my alt who has spent more time being a Downside contractor than the Bells have collectively been alive somehow means I'm going to start flinging hexes at people I pass in the street?" |
Author: newtimov | "I could ask Juliet," he says. |
Author: wildlymagical | "Jokers," he agrees, grinning. |
Author: thaumobabble | "Some templates vary more than others and Bells are holding some information that doesn't necessarily percolate to everybody for assorted reasons. And I don't know you and Stella's not here, and I can't tell by looking if your algorithm is 'she asked nicely' or 'if one member of a template is minted they all should be' or 'I felt like it' or what you said." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Would she know? I'm not clear on how much they talk to each other about that kind of thing. Also there was something to do with time going on that I don't understand." |
Author: lexicality | "How come you haven't named your template?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Okay," says Anna. "Well, next time, try leading with the part about Bells having secret information nobody knows about, because that actually makes sense. Let's go meet our dragon alt, Eights."
She heads for the nearest dragon-sized doorway. Eights doesn't follow immediately. |
Author: newtimov | "If she doesn't know, I'm sure she can find out!" |
Author: wildlymagical | He shrugs. "We were busy talking about other things. Or not talking." |
Author: lexicality | "Not talking," giggles Lexi. |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass shakes her head, shoots an apologetic look at Eights, and moves on. |
Author: wildlymagical | "My template likes to have a drink and sit quietly sometimes. I don't know what you're thinking." (Yes he does.) |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan takes a couple steps following Anna, waiting for Eights. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | She starts walking as soon as he does. |
Author: snowandsparks | "Okay then." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi laughs harder. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "You guys okay?" he asks, once they're all moving as a group. |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon grins. |
Author: lexicality | "I have," giggles Lexi, while she calms down, "no idea what I'd do if I met a one of me who was a boy. It'd have to be a boy one for me to even wonder. An Alexander I guess." |
Author: newtimov | He brainphones Juliet.
[Hey, do you know if Angela made herself be going to be Archangel or if she was already going to be anyway?] |
Author: cross_and_bow | [She was a likely candidate but her probability hadn't gone up enough to be announced until she interfered. Why?] |
Author: wildlymagical | "I haven't done anything worth giggling about with mine. It's not out of the question, but none of us jumped at the chance." |
Author: newtimov | [Idle curiosity. Thanks!]
He relays this information word-for-word to Lucas. |
Author: lexicality | "Okay. I wonder if the purples are all the bisexual ones or something." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Huh. Kind of between the guesses." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Annoyed but fine," says Anna. Eights just shrugs; she seems unaffected. |
Author: wildlymagical | ...He laughs. |
Author: newtimov | "Yep!" says Ike. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Minting has got a lot more casual over time. When Golden imported the Joker it was this complicated negotiation with a precog and Stella." |
Author: lexicality | "Except no, one of the Bells is bi, right, so that can't be quite it." |
Author: snowandsparks | "I have no idea how the spaceship used to pick them, though. I mean, it picked Raphael." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Well, and the Joker was under some kind of suspicion at the time, wasn't he?" says Eights. |
Author: newtimov | "So clearly whatever way it picked them had problems." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Which one?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah. Most people are pretty happy with Isabella succeeding Linus, though." |
Author: lexicality | "Cam. The boy one. Apparently Glass says the being a boy and the being bi don't have a lot to do with each other but we haven't found any bi girl ones yet. Two lesbians, though." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Stella had stranded him on an asteroid for terrorism." |
Author: wildlymagical | "I don't think I knew that," says Lycaelon. |
Author: newtimov | "Good!" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "That's a kind of suspicion!" says Anna. |
Author: lexicality | "Cam is also one of the ones who sleeps around. It's him and Amariah." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah, it'd be messy if there were a lot of disagreement about it. She's made some unpopular choices but Bethel's been doing really well with her leading the Eyrie host, so people are optimistic." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Sort of, yeah." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "He's seemed like a total sweetheart the times I've met him," says Anna.
"People are complicated," says Eights. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Jokers more than some. Now new Jokers are minted as a matter of course, but I'm not actually sure how much of that is because the Bells couldn't stop the minted Jokers from doing it if they wanted to." |
Author: wildlymagical | "I didn't know that either!" says Lycaelon. |
Author: newtimov | "Unpopular choices?" |
Author: lexicality | Lexi laughs. "Now you do!" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Well, after people realized she didn't make the marriage amendment because the Jansai were paying her, there was some opposition to that." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Anna snorts. Eights pats her on the shoulder.
"So," says Anna, stopping midway between the enormous archway and the edge of the enormous platform. "How do we tell which one's an us?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "I don't know. Do you think she does?" He scans the visible dragons. "Have you guys got a template color scheme?" |
Author: wildlymagical | "Yes," he says. "I feel so informed." |
Author: lexicality | "I bet Sarion would've told you if she knew you'd be so interested." |
Author: newtimov | "Oh," says Ike, unhappily. |
Author: wildlymagical | "I don't think I knew I'd be so interested!" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Yeah. And I'm not very good about following the details of economics, but I don't think all of that was popular either, and she's married to an Edori so people who don't like Edori aren't thrilled with her." |
Author: lexicality | Lexi giggles. "Why do so many people want to sleep with alts of my sister, it's kind of weird!" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Eights produces a square: white, with liquidy red streaks like smears of stylized blood.
"So, red and white," says Anna. |
Author: newtimov | "What's an Edori?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Then - maybe that's her?" he says, pointing. |
Author: wildlymagical | "Would it be any less weird if I answered?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Ooh," says Anna.
Eights waves. |
Author: pythbox | The indicated dragon circles closer. |
Author: snowandsparks | "They're this - culture. Most of them live on Ysral, the smaller continent, now, but there are still some on Samaria. They wander around, even more than Jansai do. They pronounce Jovah 'Yovah', I think they have their own language, they don't believe in marriage except apparently the angelico-to-be was fine with it." |
Author: lexicality | "I don't know! Maybe. Maybe not." |
Author: newtimov | "Oh. And there are people who don't like them?" |
Author: wildlymagical | He laughs. "Well, I can't speak for anyone else, anyway." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Back when we had slavery they were the ones who were slaves. The Jansai in particular don't get along with them too well." |
Author: newtimov | "...I see," says Ike. |
Author: lexicality | "It's a lot of people, though. It's not weird that alts of my sister would have, you know, boyfriends or girlfriends or husbands or wives, just that so many people want to pick them up at parties is strange." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Also they look different. Isabella's husband doesn't because the Edori adopted him, but mostly they're kind of distinctive. Darker, by and large." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Well... I don't think I would be so interested if I hadn't already," he makes an extremely vague and abstract gesture, "with Sarion. I might be interested in the other Jokers too, if there weren't so many of them." |
Author: newtimov | "Is, um, Angela's husband a template of some kind...?" |
Author: lexicality | Lexi giggles helplessly. "There are so many of them, how would you even pick one." |
Author: snowandsparks | "...I don't know? Maybe? His name is Micaiah." |
Author: newtimov | "That might be vaguely familiar. Or not." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Maybe I will tell my Bonded I want one and they can choose which." |
Author: snowandsparks | "He's -" Lucas can't gesture, as he's holding Ike. "Tall, a little taller than me, and he's got curly brown hair about to his shoulders? And they have four kids, all angel daughters." |
Author: lexicality | "Maybe! That'd be one way to do it. I don't want a Joker personally. I flirted with a Tony at one party, though, have you met any of those?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Hi!" calls Nathan. "We think you might be their alt!" |
Author: newtimov | "I think that people Bells have kids with are mostly templated... I guess it doesn't matter that much. But I'm curious." |
Author: snowandsparks | "I could ask my grandmother, she might know." |
Author: wildlymagical | "I don't think I have." |
Author: pythbox | "Ooh," says the dragon. She lands on the edge of the platform. "Hi! I'm Arianna. Who're you?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Anna," says Anna.
"Eights," says Eights. |
Author: lexicality | "They're fun! The one I flirted with danced with me and then we played video games. Glass is married to one, and Shell Bell has one and I think they have a thing but she's mostly with her Sherlock - Sherlocks go with Tonies, mostly - and Juliet has one but they're not together." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Well, that sounds like a suspiciously alty name, Arianna." |
Author: newtimov | "That sounds like a sensible solution!" |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas nods, and tilts his head, and says, "She says she vaguely remembers that they were called something to do with jokes for some reason." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Hmm. Doesn't ring any bells." |
Author: lexicality | "There are a lot of them. Not as many as Bells or Jokers though. Like - sixish, I don't know exactly." |
Author: pythbox | "How come yours doesn't fit?" she asks Eights. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "I used to be an Anna too, actually, but then I died." |
Author: pythbox | "You don't look very dead," Arianna observes. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Dead people don't, if they hang out with the right people." |
Author: newtimov | "Jokers? I think Jokers. I don't really know very much about Jokers, except that Cam's boyfriend is one and they are most of the reason why Bellparties come with large rooms for people to have sex in." |
Author: wildlymagical | "More than there are of me!" |
Author: snowandsparks | "There's - here? In this plant? Seriously?" |
Author: pythbox | "More weird other-world magic stuff?" she guesses. |
Author: lexicality | "Or me! I hope we eventually find another me. Maybe one who doesn't even have a Bella, since so many Bellas don't have Lexis and that's weird!" |
Author: newtimov | "Under the main floor," he says, beginning to blush again. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Yep." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Maybe we will." |
Author: snowandsparks | "Oh." |
Author: pythbox | "There's a lot of that going around." |
Author: lexicality | "Do you like having alts?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Can't argue with that," laughs Anna. |
Author: newtimov | Ike continues to blush! |
Author: wildlymagical | "It's... yes," he says. "It's not what I expected. But I'm not sure I expected anything, really." |
Author: lexicality | "Bella loves having alts to trade magic with and impress." |
Author: wildlymagical | He laughs. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Are you minted?" Nathan inquires of Arianna. |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah!" |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas looks at the floor, and blushes too! |
Author: temporal_affairs | "All right, then there will be no further arguments with Bells about that, I guess." |
Author: newtimov | Blush blush blush. Snuggle? Blush. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Probably not," Eights agrees. |
Author: keyed_up | Someone walks up to them. "Hey do either of you know where I can find oh it's you hi." |
Author: lexicality | "Oh! It's you! Hi!" repeats Lexi. |
Author: snowandsparks | Snuggle. "I'm probably coming off like some kind of uptight prude." |
Author: wildlymagical | ...Lycaelon giggles. |
Author: newtimov | "Um, not especially," says Ike. "Not any more than I am." |
Author: snowandsparks | "...I wasn't getting that from you at all. Blushing doesn't count." |
Author: lexicality | "So yeah, you're you, I'm me, do we actually, like, have things to talk about?" |
Author: keyed_up | "I didn't... make a list or anything." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Although isn't there another one of you in Gift? I didn't hear much about the details." |
Author: newtimov | "Not even if it's a lot of blushing?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "I haven't heard much more than that," says Eights.
"She's not here, though, so either she didn't want to come or they didn't want to invite her," says Anna. |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas shakes his head. |
Author: newtimov | "Well. Okay," says Ike. "But I don't know, you didn't drop me or anything, you just said 'oh'." |
Author: lexicality | "Yeah. I don't know, what is there to talk about. Bells without sisters are weird? Magic is neat? Tonies are cute?" |
Author: keyed_up | "I have a Tony!" squirms Soph happily. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Well, Gift is currently plagued by a Chelsea alt." |
Author: snowandsparks | "It would be very bad if I reacted to being startled by dropping people!" |
Author: newtimov | He giggles. "Yes. And you weren't sufficiently horrified to drop me on purpose. So." |
Author: snowandsparks | "I wouldn't do that." |
Author: wildlymagical | Lycaelon awws. |
Author: keyed_up | "I don't just mean I have one in my world like I'd mean if Bella said that -" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Maybe that has something to do with it," says Anna.
"Chelsea?" says Eights. |
Author: lexicality | "Oh my god, I can never remember to call mine 'Aurora', either." |
Author: keyed_up | "Heh. Juliet. I mean me and my Tony are dating and he's awesome." |
Author: newtimov | "Aww," says Ike, snuggling him. |
Author: wildlymagical | "I thought it might be something like that," says Lycaelon. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Chelsea was an Aurum-dwelling vampire witch - like myself, but the similarities end there. She worked for the government that Golden usurped by using her magical ability to make people like each other or stop doing it. The Gift one has the same power, amped up." |
Author: snowandsparks | Snuggles! |
Author: keyed_up | "Anyway I've lost track of him." |
Author: lexicality | "Well, he'll turn up. Or you could brainphone him." |
Author: keyed_up | "Yeah, I could, but I could also mill around the party looking the long way around in case I run into anyone interesting on the way!" |
Author: wildlymagical | "That sounds... potentially exciting." |
Author: pythbox | "...ewwwwwww," says Arianna. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Her alts both nod agreement. |
Author: newtimov | "Val would probably drop me, if I was really annoying her and I was only four feet off the ground," he says, laughing. "You are nice! I like you." |
Author: keyed_up | "Hey, I ran into Lexi, who everybody thinks I should meet, that's something." |
Author: lexicality | "Aurora kinda wanted to meet you," remembers Lexi. "I guess Juliet's already met me though." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Whereas I'm guessing your Gift alt would say 'hey! that's my favorite person you're talking about!', so." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Yeah," says Anna.
"Is their Chelsea-alt problem going to go away?" wonders Eights. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Eventually, I assume, the Bells won't tolerate her being a permanent fixture too calmly." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Eights shrugs. "In that case, I can wait." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Wait to do what, mint that one?" |
Author: snowandsparks | "Eh, I'd probably drop my little brother under the same circumstances, but I like you and he mostly gets on my nerves." |
Author: keyed_up | "Okay, I'll look for her at some point, then." Soph glances at Lycaelon. "I'm, uh, newer than I look, is why she hasn't already met me." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "To meet her in general." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Oh," says Lycaelon. "I don't hardly know how new anyone is; this is my first Bellparty." |
Author: newtimov | Ike grins and snuggles him. |
Author: keyed_up | "I think my newness might actually be the weirdest newness, if only because Sherlocks have happened several times? I look and feel seventeen but I was made with all my and everybody else's memories intact to account for me like a couple months ago, out of some mystical energy that someone wanted to put in a safe place. Except it didn't work on Bella, because, opacity, so she didn't know who I was." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Ah, yeah." |
Author: wildlymagical | "...Wow," says Lycaelon. |
Author: snowandsparks | Snuggle snuggle. |
Author: keyed_up | "But then she figured out what happened, so she made a fork of herself that remembered me and then merged and now she remembers things both ways and we're okay." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Eights shrugs. "Somehow I don't think it's going to be that long. At least not by my standards." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Probably not. I don't see the Bells rendering Chelsa torchable or anything." |
Author: wildlymagical | "Well, that's good." |
Author: newtimov | Snuggle snuggle. |
Author: keyed_up | "Yeah. Also the spell couldn't get ahold of stuff that wasn't in Sunshine, or duplicate torching or any really big coin effects, so I remembered being unable to leave the world or get any good hexed powers or be torchabled, and then once I actually existed I could." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "So fifty or a hundred years, not that big a deal," says Eights. |
Author: snowandsparks | "- Um, let me know if you want me to put you down, at some point. Because my arms aren't going to get tired for hours." |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan chuckles. "Yeah." |
Author: newtimov | "I will do that! But probably not soon. You're very snuggly." |
Author: wildlymagical | "That must have been strange." |
Author: snowandsparks | Lucas fluffs his wings happily. |
Author: lexicality | "Wow, yeah." |
Author: pythbox | "It's weird hearing that from a human," says Arianna. |
Author: newtimov | Ike snuggles him. Because he is so snuggly. |
Author: keyed_up | "Yeah, I remembered her worrying about me all the time because Sunshine is dangerous and I wasn't as safe as her or Tony or Sherlock." |
Author: lexicality | "If I woke up one day and Bella couldn't remember me I would be so pissed off at her, wow." |
Author: keyed_up | "Well, at first I thought she was joking. And then I thought something was wrong with her. And then I found out something was wrong with me." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Species has less to do with longevity all the time." |
Author: toblameforit | A Tony emerges from some nearby stairs, spots Soph, and waves. (It is her one.) |
Author: keyed_up | Her Tony is best Tony! "Hi! I was looking for you but I found Lexi instead!" |
Author: toblameforit | "I was downstairs!" he says, swooping in for a hug. Hug! Hug hug. "The rest of me wanna meet you. Where by meet I probably mean make out with. If you want." |
Author: wildlymagical | (Lycaelon grins.) |
Author: keyed_up | "Oooh good question. Maaaybe? Let's see! Bye, Lexi, bye, Lycaelon!" |
Author: lexicality | "Bye!" |
Author: wildlymagical | "Bye," says Lycaelon. |
Author: toblameforit | "Bye!" says Tony. Off he goes with Soph, all asnuggle. |
Author: pythbox | "I'm getting that!" |
Author: keyed_up | Soph is following her Tony to more Tonies! Many Tonies. This promises to be exciting. |
Author: toblameforit | There is a whole pile of Tonies in that room with all the pillows. Signs indicate that they have built and disassembled at least one pillow fort. Many of them are only partially dressed.
"Fusion, Screwdriver, Sapphire, Iron," says Red, pointing. "Everybody, this is Soph." |
Author: keyed_up | "Hi everybody!" says Soph, waving, doing a little pivot-fidget. |
Author: toblameforit | "Hi!" chorus the Tonies. Red hugs her. |
Author: keyed_up | Hugs! "Um, what've you all heard about me, I don't know what the buzz is?" |
Author: allthebrightest | "You're really cute," says Iron. |
Author: toblameforit | "Gingerbread houses!" says Fusion. |
Author: ferratus | "Pillow forts!" says Screwdriver. |
Author: toblameforit | "Arcades!" says Sapphire. |
Author: keyed_up | "Those are kind of the highlights! Did he mention I made the gingerbread house into a gingerbread Jarvis, because I did that." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "I was already potentially immortal, but practically speaking no vampires have cleared four millenia." |
Author: toblameforit | All of the Tonies except Red go, "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
Red just grins and hugs her. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Pff. Small change," Eights says fondly. |
Author: keyed_up | Hugs! |
Author: temporal_affairs | He elbows her. (Maybe another rib will break, maybe not!) |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | No more than a crack. She giggles. |
Author: pythbox | Arianna looks speculatively at them. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "What?" asks Nathan. |
Author: pythbox | "Didn't that hurt?" she says. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Yeah," says Eights. |
Author: pythbox | Arianna grins a dragony grin.
"Is that a template thing?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Looks like!" says Anna. |
Author: temporal_affairs | Nathan laughs. "You're not the only template that does it, either." |
Author: pythbox | "Which other ones?" says Arianna. |
Author: toblameforit | Snuggy hugs!
"So if you wanted to make out with some of us," says Fusion, "that would be pretty cool." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Jokers, most notably. I think the Bells who don't have those get their Sherlocks to help, although I don't think it's that extreme in those cases. Stella has Sandy working for her as a mint, I'm not sure whether in his case that's a template thing or an individual trait." |
Author: keyed_up | "Myyyy internal magic eight-ball says okay!" |
Author: toblameforit | "Awesome!" says Sapphire. "C'mere!"
Red flops into the general pillowpile and kisses Iron, who is closest. |
Author: keyed_up | Flop! Soph kisses Sapphire. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Debatably a template thing," says Eights. "Chainsaw could swing that way, but he wasn't gonna try it while torturers were still a thing. Too easy for something to go wrong. Is it just me or are a lot of these people purple?" |
Author: temporal_affairs | "You know what, all of those people are purple. Huh." |
Author: toblameforit | Sapphire kisses back. Kisses! Kisses are awesome. Soph is awesome. Tonies are awesome. |
Author: keyed_up | Tonies are awesome kissers is what they are! |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "I wonder," says Eights, "if that is a thing."
"It sure looks like it," says Anna. |
Author: toblameforit | Yes. They are that. That is a thing that they are.
Other things that are awesome: piles of snuggly kissing people and pillows! They're snuggly and pile-y and full of kisses. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "That seems like a weird thing for templates to cluster around!" |
Author: keyed_up | Yay!
Soph does not kiss Iron, and Iron Man isn't here, probably because the other Tonies are, well, teenagers, but Soph kisses all of the teenage boy Tonies. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Does it?" says Eights. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Well, I don't have any better ideas, but yes, it does." |
Author: toblameforit | And all the teenage boy Tonies kiss Soph, and everyone snuggles, and there are pillows, and it's awesome. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "I think I'll tell Glass," says Eights.
[I'm not sure if you've noticed, but it seems like purple people like pain more than green ones.] |
Author: thaumobabble | [That does seem to be a trend. It's not a perfect trend, though. Matildas are purple and as far as I know that's not a trait they have.] |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | [I wouldn't know; I haven't met one.] |
Author: thaumobabble | [I'm going to finish sorting people, but after that there'll be a list generally available and we'll see what we can see.] |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | [All right,] she says agreeably. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "What's the verdict?" inquires Nathan. |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Definitely a thing, maybe not a thing one hundred percent of the time, she still hasn't sorted everybody," says Eights.
"I still don't see what's so weird about clustering around that," says Anna.
"Me neither." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Well, what would the greens be clustering around, non-masochism?" |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "There's not necessarily an opposite to every possible thing that some people can have in common," says Eights. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Well, it's just that there's only two kinds. If there were an entire rainbow it would make more sense, but a bifurcate division..." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "I don't think it's the only difference, but it definitely seems to be a difference," she says. "Anyway, do we know for sure that every single person in every single universe is one of those two things? We only know it about people Glass has looked at so far, and that's not a lot, in comparison." |
Author: temporal_affairs | "Well, no, I suppose she's only checking the party attendees, but we weren't sorted for green-or-purple-moiety-membership ahead of time. She discovered this phenomenon today." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | Eights shrugs. |
Author: temporal_affairs | "It's a mystery, apparently." |
Author: lookingforwardtoit | "Yep." |
