intelligent nametags

[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.

Comments

[luminous_regnant]

"Overwhelmingly born in the same town, too," says Golden, "except for you, Juliet - I believe you hypothesized that you were pulled to Sunnydale by the Hellmouth attracting interesting things to itself? - and Shell Bell, on whose world I believe the location of Forks is some feet underwater."

[calendarofcrime]

"A fascinating bunch, you Bells. Are there any interesting consistencies among those not from Earths?"

[luminous_regnant]

"Are we counting Rose and her Sorta Earth?"

[calendarofcrime]

"Let's say yes."

[cross_and_bow]

"Rose, Sarion, and Angela have married parents. But Glass doesn't, and Amariah does."

[thaumobabble]

"I think the divorced-parents attractor tries to work through regular causality when it can, and it backs off when it can't."

[luminous_regnant]

"No very strong regularities that appear predominantly in unEarthly Bells," says Golden. "The non-Earths aren't even all magic; there's not a speck of the stuff natively in Samaria."

[calendarofcrime]

"However do they manage without it?"

[luminous_regnant]

"Better than Shell Bell's world did," says Golden. "Origin and Peace are also natively non-magical, although Peace has by far the highest technology and Jane is only by the barest technical definition not magic. This world also seems to have much commoner magic than anywhere else. A lot of Earths have it but only a handful of people know it exists."

[calendarofcrime]

"How peculiar," says Steel. "I almost think I'd like to visit some of these places."

[cross_and_bow]

"There are some cautions about visiting Alethia, Aurum, and Samaria, everywhere else is more or less freely visitable with Jane online," says Juliet. "Alethia is safe if you wish to not acquire a daemon - or if you want one - and the wish, Minus discovered, only lasts about a week. Aurum has this problem with vampires and werewolves falling in eternal irrevocable love with people, but you can avoid that if you see Golden's precog before anyone else and have her check you over. Samaria is not public about magic and doesn't have all that great a place for visitors to hang out, so you need a cover story or to go about invisibly."

[calendarofcrime]

"Noted," says Steel.

[cross_and_bow]

"Minus's daemon is gone now. So if you wind up with one accidentally - and if it's sad about that - then you don't have to keep it. But it's probably best to just avoid getting one if you mean to visit Alethia."

[thaumobabble]

"I don't completely understand that business. I saw Pathalan, and Petaal, but I'm not - at all - sure what to make of them."

[cross_and_bow]

"They're external souls," says Juliet. "Alethia seems to feel very strongly that people should have them, so if you go in unprotected you'll get one, and it's a star to not. That's how Ivy happened - she was on purpose - and Minus had Steph, for a while, but she was miserable. Sherlock self-loathing problems. I never got to meet her."

[thaumobabble]

"...Sherlock self-loathing problems."

[cross_and_bow]

"...Is that not universal? I guess yours doesn't have the usual reason or the unusual reason..."

[thaumobabble]

Glass turns towards her wife and peers at her, and glances around for comparison at other visible Sherlocks scattered around the room.

"Oh," she murmurs. "There it is. I didn't know. It's only a little bit, next to some of the others... Oh, honey."

[calendarofcrime]

Steel spreads her hands.

"It doesn't trouble me very much," she says quietly.

[thaumobabble]

Glass hugs her anyway.

[calendarofcrime]

Hug.

[cross_and_bow]

"Mine didn't have it for a while. When he didn't have his soul. And then he took it back, and I tried when I did the merger wish, to insert the soul without the self-loathing, but it's apparently impossible, as Steph illustrated - either that or I wished it wrong, because the coin went, I don't know - and now he's attached to keeping the soul, even though..." She shrugs, looks at her feet.

[calendarofcrime]

"...Would you like a hug?"

[cross_and_bow]

"If hugs helped appreciably I'd be all better now," says Juliet wryly. "It's him I'm worried about; I'm going to go on being intermittently upset till something gives."

[calendarofcrime]

"Aha."