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. |
Author: self_composed | Stella's over here, talking to Elspeth. |
Author: calendarofcrime | Steel commences lurking. |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "- in 2019. Now Steel is eavesdropping on us and waiting to see how long it takes us to notice," says Elspeth. "That didn't take very long. Did it, Harley?" |
Author: self_composed | "How much of what you say to him does he understand?" |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "Up to the limit of his conceptual vocabulary. Which gets bigger the more I talk to and around him. I'm very understandable." |
Author: pythbox | Harley giggles. |
Author: calendarofcrime | "You are," Steel agrees. "What were you saying before?" |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "I was just telling Stella about how Aurum's Renée adapted to being a vampire," says Elspeth. |
Author: calendarofcrime | "I am interested." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "The short version is, she was married to a fellow named Phil, and Alice didn't see her mating to him, so she resisted the idea for a long time, but then a vampire called Patricia mated to Phil. He didn't cheat on Renée, but he did like Patricia and it put a strain on the marriage, and in 2019 they amicably divorced and Renée decided to go ahead and turn. She's not mated; she just gallivants around the world with a couple of friends." |
Author: calendarofcrime | "That sounds like a pleasant outcome." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "She's happy, yeah." |
Author: self_composed | "I'm curious about what makes someone mateable - or imprintable - by Aurum standards," explains Stella. "It doesn't seem to be completely random or particularly well-optimized." |
Author: calendarofcrime | "Perhaps we should ask my wife." |
Author: self_composed | "Because she can see templates or because she can see magic?" |
Author: calendarofcrime | "Yes." |
Author: her_imperial_radiance | "I haven't been able to produce utterances about it. Maybe it will be more amenable to what Glass does," says Elspeth. Glass! |
Author: thaumobabble | Here's Glass! |
Author: self_composed | "We were curious if you can tell us how vampire mates are chosen. And werewolf imprints, for that matter." |
Author: thaumobabble | Glass looks at the available examples of both phenomena.
"...I'm not sure," she says. "I don't think it's consistently the same on high layers, but there is something going on, on high layers. On low layers the werewolves are only choosing from among people who they could have children with were they so inclined and the vampires are only choosing people with compatible orientations, but I can't make out any patterns in what else is governing this." |
Author: calendarofcrime | "Interesting." |