delicious bubbly

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth is glad that Milliways likes her, because she likes it. Jacob at her side and a glass of this nice golden stuff in her hand (she's tried the other synthetics; they're nice for an occasional change, but only humans care about dietary variety that much and this one is her favorite) and hubbub from a hundred worlds around her: lovely. A lovely break from work that keeps no one waiting, that doesn't even throw off her sleep cycle because her sleep cycle cares about the sun. (It throws off Jake's, a little, but his is more flexible than hers.)

Comments

[manofmyword]

A human appears out of nowhere, sitting at an empty table for two, very close by. He blinks, then perks up, straightening in his chair with a broad grin further extended by the nasty scars at the corners of his mouth.

He's wearing a pale green shirt, the fabric patterned with thin lines whose shape suggests ocean waves, and nondescript black dress pants over green-and-purple argyle socks. No shoes. His hair is long and curly and greenish; his face is, perhaps, a little familiar.

After a few seconds of cheerfully looking around, he spots Elspeth and Jacob and wiggles his fingers in a cheerful little wave that includes them both.

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth waves back. "How'd you get in without using the door?" she asks.

[manofmyword]

"Dreamed my way here," he says serenely. "I'm the only person I know who does it."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Huh. I wonder how that works."

[manofmyword]

He grins.

"I think it's to keep me out of trouble."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Does it work?"

[manofmyword]

"Sure it does."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Ah-huh. And what non-trouble do you tend to get up to to pass the time instead?"

[manofmyword]

"Whatever I feel like," he shrugs. "How 'bout you?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I run public relations for my mother."

"Elsie," says Jacob.

Elspeth rolls her eyes. "And I'm the princess and my mother's the empress."

[manofmyword]

"What's your mother's name?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Isabella Marie Swan Cullen, HIM," recites Elspeth. "And as Jacob has demonstrated, I'm Elsie - Elspeth - and who are you?"

[manofmyword]

"Ooh, how'd I guess," he says. "Nice to meetcha. Mm, let me see, let me see..."

He digs in his pockets and produces a playing card, which he holds up and then leans over to hand to her.

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth takes the card, and looks at it, and then looks at him again.

"You know, there's a note about you in the book in the Belltower," she says. "It suggests that I shouldn't interact with you."

[manofmyword]

"Does it say why?" he inquires lightly, glancing away.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"No. It says you're probably safe for alts of yourself and for Bells, though."

[manofmyword]

He taps his fingers together in his lap.

"And what do you think of that?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I'm not sure," she says. "None of the other Bells besides Stella who wrote the note have left comments either way about you."

"Don't tell him," says Jake in a low voice. "Tell me, Elsie."

She turns to Jake, and considers. "All he can do is talk," she says finally.

[manofmyword]

The Joker snorts.

"Oh, is that all," he says; the words are scornful but the tone is soft.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Why would that Bell have left the note, then?" Jake asks. "Or put him on that asteroid? This is the asteroid one, yeah?"

"Yes, he is. And I'm not sure. We can ask the next time we see her," she says, patting Jake's arm. "In the meantime I think I'm okay. You can scoop me up and hustle me out the door if you don't like something he says."

[manofmyword]

"She put me on the asteroid because I'm a mass murderer," he says casually. "That's not a big mystery. The mystery's why she leaves little warnings telling people not to talk to me. Not that I don't have a theory or two."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"What are your theories, then?" asks Elspeth.

The woman who had much of the raising of her from three days to six months was a serial killer, and several of her other family have worse records still, and then there's the inside of her own head. She's not fazed.

[manofmyword]

"Could be she's mad 'cause I fucked her boyfriend," he says. "But I don't think that's it. She is, but she's not usually that petty."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I don't think any of the Bells except for Mama are monogamous," says Elspeth.

[manofmyword]

"Oh, she's not mad that I fucked him. She's mad about how."