thaumobabble: (Default)
Author: thaumobabble
Jane alerts everyone to the existence of a new Bell, the nature of her wives and children, and the presence of her mother-in-law.

She stands ready to move in anyone who wishes to attend this new party.

Glass stands ready to receive them.
pleasantsurprise: (Default)
Author: pleasantsurprise
Kanim will just be standing over here, trying to get his magic-senses used to what have to be a dozen different kinds of the stuff. No wonder Glass half-blinded herself trying to see it all through her specs.
allthebrightest: Smiling affectionately. (*= okay. yeah. okay.)
Author: allthebrightest
Tony wanders over, trailed by two of her boy alts. Neither one is especially magical.

"Hi!" she says brightly. "So I'm gonna go introduce myself to the rest of me. Wanna come?"
pleasantsurprise: (let's have dinner)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"I. Uh." Kanim has known her for long enough to recognize that tone even if the exact euphemism is unfamiliar. "Uh." If he had kept that tail he had for longer than a month and a half it would be twitching. "Maaaaybe?"
allthebrightest: Smiling, fidgeting. (+= daddy's little rocket scientist)
Author: allthebrightest
"Word is, everybody thinks you're cute," she adds.
pleasantsurprise: (no worthwhile conclusions)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"How many of you are there?"
allthebrightest: Smirking. (*= it's gonna be awesome)
Author: allthebrightest
"Fusion, Screwdriver, Sapphire, Red, and Iron Man," she says. "And me. Six. Is six too many?"
pleasantsurprise: (both magicians)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"It's an amount!" says Kanim. "I can... accompany you on introductions. If you want."
allthebrightest: Grinning. (*= competitive birthdays)
Author: allthebrightest
"Awesome," says Tony, and she pecks him on the cheek and leads the three of them in the direction of the orgy chambers. (There are orgy chambers. That is also awesome.)
pleasantsurprise: (that is fantastic)
Author: pleasantsurprise
(There are orgy chambers. That is... something.)

Kanim wanders out of them awhile later, looking happily dazed.
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
There's a magical person over there! He spots Kanim coming out of the orgy chambers and smiles knowingly.
pleasantsurprise: (write a thesis)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"...Hi! You're - something. But everybody here is something and my specialty is place magic, not people magic."
nonbird: (2. a baker's dozen)
Author: nonbird
"I am an ingot," he says. "My specialty is seeing magic. This place is incredible - there's more background magic here than I've seen in any other world, even Milliways."
pleasantsurprise: (four times better)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"It's the Enchanted Forest, by far the most naturally magical location in the world. Isn't it fantastic? That's why I live here. Although I do sometimes go on scholarly trips to magical caves and so on."
nonbird: (7. I've got a theory)
Author: nonbird
"You're reasonably interesting yourself," he adds. "Although I almost lose you in the background noise. Tell me about magical caves!"
pleasantsurprise: (both magicians)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"There are lots of them! I actually started hanging around with Tony and Bella and Sherlock when the latter two rescued me and Tony from some wizards who were keeping us prisoner in the Cave of Unpleasant Surprises, which I had of course walked right into. With entrances that are often within the forest, there's the Caves of Fire and Night, and the Caves of Chance, and the Caves of Sunless Gardens, and the caves that magically refuse to have any name attached to them. There are fewer farther away - this is the highest concentration of place magic - but I wrote a thesis on the Caves of Irregular Dimensions once, years ago, that's nowhere near here."
nonbird: (4. particular to the moment)
Author: nonbird
"Those are some remarkably descriptive names," he observes. "What was your thesis?"
pleasantsurprise: (no worthwhile conclusions)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"I came to no useful conclusions whatsoever! Except that the Caves of Irregular Dimensions are extremely uncooperative. You may read the thesis if you like, although I'd have to go get it from the castle."
nonbird: (1. quantities of fluff)
Author: nonbird
Lazarus laughs. "If you say you came to no useful conclusions, I think I'll believe you," he says.
pleasantsurprise: (both magicians)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"So how do you know this - crowd?" Kanim asks, looking vaguely around.
nonbird: (9. that's how it is)
Author: nonbird
"Oh - I'm from Eos. Where wishcoins come from," he says. "I met Stella back before she was a magical space empress."
pleasantsurprise: (locational effect magic)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"This is going to be hard to keep straight," says Kanim. "All these Bellas, all this magic, all these - political entities. Are there six of you, too? I'm told I'm a new face."
nonbird: (1. quantities of fluff)
Author: nonbird
"There are not six of me! There is one of me," says Lazarus. "And yes, it is a little daunting, isn't it? But you get used to it. More or less."
pleasantsurprise: (bait)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Do you really?" asks Kanim. "It took me a while just to get used to Bella - Glass, I guess, sensible nickname, she does some marvelous things with glass - and now there are twelve more of her! With outrageous magical powers! My skills are going to be redundant. I guess I'll still hang around on account of Tony. And the little ones are fond of me."
nonbird: (6. proving more intricate)
Author: nonbird
"'Outrageous' is a good word for it," he says. "And I could stand to be a little more redundant, honestly. If the Bells consulted me as often as they probably should, there would have to be at least six of me just to keep up with all the new magic."
pleasantsurprise: (Default)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Do they not consult you as often as they should?"
nonbird: (9. that's how it is)
Author: nonbird
"There was some trouble just recently when Sarion joined the peal that could've been avoided if they'd asked me to take a look before anyone started wishing."
pleasantsurprise: (trying to tell me something)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"I guess they were in some kind of hurry? I wouldn't describe Be- Glass - as patient."
nonbird: (6. proving more intricate)
Author: nonbird
"They were in a lot of a hurry! It was a very... tense situation," he says. "And emotionally and magically complicated. But it turned out okay in the end."
pleasantsurprise: (platonically love you forever)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"That's good then!"
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
"Yes!"
pleasantsurprise: (locational effect magic)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"So..." Kanim waves vaguely around. "I know what Fire-flower Meadow feels like, because I attended both Bella's weddings, and I know that this isn't it, but I know almost nothing else, what can you tell me about what's going on here?"
nonbird: (7. I've got a theory)
Author: nonbird
"It's a Bellparty," he says. "There are some wishes up, like the nametags and the orgy chambers. Various attendees are also magical - about half the Jokers, about half the Bells, more if you include anyone who's been minted and enchantified. All the Bells and Jokers have enchanter's auras now; I don't think anyone else does. There's ingots from Eos and witches from Aurum. Which parts do you want explained?"
pleasantsurprise: (i think it's fetching)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Well," says Kanim, "I think Glass will explain to me any new powers she brings home with her, so stuff she's likely to not bring home with her is I guess more important - for instance, that looks sort of like a dragon but feels nothing like one, that looks like a weirdly-colored unicorn but feels nothing like one..."
nonbird: (6. proving more intricate)
Author: nonbird
"The dragon and the unicorn are from Thilanushinyel. That's what dragons and unicorns are like there," he says. "Liselen - that's the unicorn - gets very excited about coming to parties like this because until recently he was subject to the usual restrictions for the species about only coming in contact with virgins. The dragon is attached to the very red person with wings and a tail who I swear I saw out here a minute ago. They belong to the Joker template."
pleasantsurprise: (locational effect magic)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"So the virgin thing isn't a myth, there... Attached to - huh, so that's what - and - that Bell with the pointed ears over there, similar attachment?"
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
"Yes. The demon and the dragon spent about ten thousand years together like that, and then they met Sarion. That's what dragons do in that world; they attach to people."
pleasantsurprise: (Default)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Dragons here do not do that. And unicorns here don't really have a thing with virgins, but it's a common myth."
nonbird: (7. I've got a theory)
Author: nonbird
"Interesting," says Lazarus. "But you don't have demons?"
pleasantsurprise: (no worthwhile conclusions)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"No. Should we?"
nonbird: (c. excusez-moi?)
Author: nonbird
"Most worlds don't seem to. But most worlds don't have dragons, unicorns, or elves, either, and Thilanushinyel does."
pleasantsurprise: (locational effect magic)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Elves? I don't see any of those. We have them, though."
nonbird: (2. a baker's dozen)
Author: nonbird
"Sarion is an elf of the Thilanushinyel variety."
pleasantsurprise: (bait)
Author: pleasantsurprise


"She's very tall for an elf."
nonbird: (8. nor little nor a bird)
Author: nonbird
"Are your elves shorter? Has anyone named this world?" he wonders.
pleasantsurprise: (no worthwhile conclusions)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Uh, no, it is without a name. Adult elves range from yea big to yea big," says Kanim, hovering a hand at about knee height and the other just below his ribs. "Depending on the sort. They do have pointed ears, but there are also some proportional differences and facial structure things that Sarion doesn't have."
nonbird: (a. well hmm)
Author: nonbird
"Someone should remind Glass to name it, then, if she hasn't already."
pleasantsurprise: (both magicians)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"All the Bells name their worlds as well as themselves, then?"
nonbird: (6. proving more intricate)
Author: nonbird
"Thilanushinyel had one already, I believe. I think the rest are Bell-sourced."
pleasantsurprise: (bait)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"I'm starting to follow this general undercurrent of 'wait, there is a queen and it is not Glass?' I'm detecting from my eavesdropping."
nonbird: (9. that's how it is)
Author: nonbird
"The fact that there is a queen who is not Glass is mildly unusual," says Lazarus. "But I'm not sure why it deserves all this attention. Stella didn't overthrow the President."
pleasantsurprise: (locational effect magic)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"I mean, Glass certainly never objected to the fact that her wives don't care for politics and that left her as default actually-doing-things queen when Marianne passed on - but that didn't stop her from spending most of her spare time on trying to figure out immortality."
nonbird: (8. nor little nor a bird)
Author: nonbird
"Marianne is probably not going to pass on," Lazarus observes. "I wonder if she'll retire?"
pleasantsurprise: (curse myself)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"No idea. I hope Glass doesn't wind up fighting with her about it. Glass is my best friend and Marianne frightens me sometimes and the twins and the wee ones love them both and I don't think it could possibly end well."
nonbird: (c. excusez-moi?)
Author: nonbird
"Doesn't sound like it," says Lazarus. "But maybe they won't. Bells do seem to get along with reasonable political leaders."
pleasantsurprise: (both magicians)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Glass likes Marianne, they get along really well."
nonbird: (2. a baker's dozen)
Author: nonbird
"Then they probably aren't going to fight."
pleasantsurprise: (that is fantastic)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"That's good!"
thaumobabble: (invocation)
Author: thaumobabble
Glass wanders by. "Hi! You're Stella's magic-seeing-guy, right?" she says to Lazarus.
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
"Yes!" says Lazarus. "That is me. I am that."
pleasantsurprise: (both magicians)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"He sees magic, and apparently has better modulation than your specs," Kanim says. "Seeing as he's not clutching his face and yelping."
thaumobabble: (cantrip)
Author: thaumobabble
"Ooh, lucky," says Glass, pulling out her specs but not putting them on. "These things are great for anything native to the world, but all my alts just scream magic, I'd go blind if I tried to look right at them even through one lens at a time."
nonbird: (b. contemplative gaze)
Author: nonbird
"...May I see those?" he asks, blinking in fascination at the specs.
thaumobabble: (Default)
Author: thaumobabble
Glass hands them over. She enumerates where all the lenses' magic came from: "Witch spell with-cat, witch spell without-cat, got that out of a wizard staff, this one too, this I got a wizard to cast for me, we've got some reformists in the woods, Tony helped me with this dwarf spell, this was the first royal magic I ever got to work for me after I married Tony and the forest double-counted me, this is a dragon spell, that's a different one, this is elf magic..."
nonbird: (c. excusez-moi?)
Author: nonbird
"Goodness," says Lazarus. "That's a lot of magic."
thaumobabble: (divination)
Author: thaumobabble
"You can see why I couldn't pick just one," laughs Glass. "And that's a sorceress bit, and this is a unicorn spell, and this is an adaptation of a fire-witch property, and I have some spare lenses that aren't as useful in my sleeves for specialized applications."
nonbird: (a. well hmm)
Author: nonbird
"I wonder if I could design you a lens that does something similar to my power," he says. "I'm not sure how useful it would be. My power is very me-ish."
thaumobabble: (illusion)
Author: thaumobabble
"I'd have a look, but I'd have to wish my eyes better and I wouldn't learn much," laughs Glass. "Rose thinks I might get something about all the myriad kinds of local magic when I get an aura. Apparently a lot of us did."
nonbird: (6. proving more intricate)
Author: nonbird
"Do you want a my-power-ish lens, for all the good it may or may not do you?"
thaumobabble: (enchanted)
Author: thaumobabble
"I'd like one, yeah!"
nonbird: (7. I've got a theory)
Author: nonbird
Lazarus thinks carefully, and then makes a wish. Glass's specs acquire a new set of lenses.
thaumobabble: (bewitched)
Author: thaumobabble
Glass carefully flips all her existing lenses out of the way, and the new ones into place, and sets the specs on her face.
nonbird: (b. contemplative gaze)
Author: nonbird
Her visual world is now very different.

There's a kind of background fog, very greenish, with spots of flame dotted along the ground. Objects and people only exist insofar as they are magical; Liselen is a silvery-blue glow in the shape of a unicorn, Lazarus himself is layered with complex patterns. Mints show up in their coin colour, as though they are enormous self-minted coins. Enchanters' auras surround them with symbolic representations of their specialties, some very abstract, some perfectly mundane - Jellybean has a corona of candy.

It's all very orderly. Ingot powers appear in this way, the enchanting ability like so, auras like that, witchcraft in yet another. Magic created by wishcoins has a very different aspect from magic created by enchanting, although the details of what exactly each bit of magic does are not always clear.
thaumobabble: (enchanted)
Author: thaumobabble
"Oooh," breathes Glass. "It'll take me a long time to learn to interpret all this, but it's sure pretty."
nonbird: (1. quantities of fluff)
Author: nonbird
"It is! It is very pretty," Lazarus agrees.
thaumobabble: (Default)
Author: thaumobabble
"You automatically read the content of this sort of thing?" Glass asks, turning slowly on the spot to get a look at everything.
nonbird: (8. nor little nor a bird)
Author: nonbird
"Yes? Sort of. It's a bit - translated," he says. "The original version is much easier for me to figure out, but not completely automatic."
thaumobabble: (charmed)
Author: thaumobabble
Glass peers closely at his ingot power. "Thank you very much! I hate it when I can't look at magical things - once I ruined a whole set of lenses when I panicked and put them on in the Cave of Unpleasant Surprises and I had to make new ones. I'd probably have kept trying to squint very carefully at all the overbright magic till I'd had to wish myself unblind at least five times without this lens set."
nonbird: (3. you ain't seen nothin')
Author: nonbird
His ingot power is largely incomprehensible. But it's definitely an ingot power.

"You're welcome!"
thaumobabble: (divination)
Author: thaumobabble
Glass inspects Kanim next. "I think thaaaat's the witchwell, thaaaaat's sorcery..." She looks at her marble. "Wow, I have so much to do."
nonbird: (1. quantities of fluff)
Author: nonbird
"I think that's a Bell catchphrase by now," says Lazarus.
thaumobabble: (cantrip)
Author: thaumobabble
"Is it? Well, of course it is," laughs Glass. "This is the best, best day." She turns to Kanim. "Say, have you seen Tony? Ours. Iron."
pleasantsurprise: (platonically love you forever)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"She's with her alts," says Kanim delicately, smiling faintly. "Introducing herself."
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
"Aha," says Lazarus.
thaumobabble: (divination)
Author: thaumobabble
"Having fun, I hope."
pleasantsurprise: (let's have dinner)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Oh yes. Last I checked. You know me, I'm no fun, I found it necessary to escape before I got a lethal dosage."
nonbird: (1. quantities of fluff)
Author: nonbird
Lazarus giggles.

"Large gatherings of Jokers have a similar effect on me."
thaumobabble: (illusion)
Author: thaumobabble
"I'm surprised you haven't hit on any of my alts, Kanim, I'm the only gay one."
pleasantsurprise: (let's have dinner)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"I would not know at all where to start! There are twelve!"
nonbird: (3. you ain't seen nothin')
Author: nonbird
"Amariah," Lazarus suggests.
pleasantsurprise: (bait)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Why's that?"
nonbird: (5. better make it good)
Author: nonbird
"Cam and Amariah are the adventurous sorts, and Cam is a non-girl and I don't know how you feel about those."
pleasantsurprise: (locational effect magic)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Mostly not so inclined, but apparently I can make exceptions for non-girls who contain Tony's personality, because Tony is awesome."
thaumobabble: (invocation)
Author: thaumobabble
"Well, Amariah's a girl," laughs Glass, "and straight, and she's over there."
pleasantsurprise: (let's have dinner)
Author: pleasantsurprise
"Noted," says Kanim. "But I am still coming down from my dose of fun. I'm not as young as I used to be."
nonbird: (2. a baker's dozen)
Author: nonbird
Lazarus giggles.