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

[self_composed]

"What's all this then?" Stella inquires, when she and Jacob have been joined by the group.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"My fault," says Elspeth. "I was here, I met the Joker, I could say all he can do is talk to Jake so I thought it'd be harmless to have him over for a bit, and then Nathan walked in and now he's mated."

[luminous_regnant]

"Nathan is magically important," says Golden, "as well as having been a friend of the family for going on two decades now, and he will be - at best - miserable for the rest of eternity if the Joker can't - at minimum - make routine visits." She glances at how cozy he and Nathan have gotten. "Which doesn't seem to be a problem of willingness on his end, at any rate."

[manofmyword]

"I like him," the Joker says contentedly, leaning his head on Nathan's shoulder. "He's a sweetie. I wanna move worlds."

[self_composed]

"Is Golden going to have a terrorism problem if you do?" Stella asks.

[luminous_regnant]

"If something like that does come up, he's just a human," says Golden. "He doesn't even want to turn. So I'll have a depressed-imperial-minister-of-temporal-affairs problem in fifty or sixty years, but." She shrugs.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Unless you do want to do the 'work-release' idea," says Elspeth. "In the manner traditional for Bells and Whistles."

[luminous_regnant]

"Elsie," says Golden, "the manner traditional for Bells and Whistles is very much not an option."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Unless he did the minting himself and just turned in coins to you," says Elsie. "Stella has extra mints now, she doesn't help them as well as Alice."

[self_composed]

"I do," says Stella, "but handing him mint power would be - eegh." Pause. "Perhaps I should go get Alice."

[manofmyword]

"Ooh," says the Joker. "Yeah, do that."

[self_composed]

"Nathan, you should probably be aware that your mate's template doesn't come in monogamous," says Stella, rising out of her chair and heading for the door.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"The template doesn't..?" says Nathan blankly. "Huh?"

[manofmyword]

"I'm a huge slut," the Joker translates, patting Nathan fondly on the shoulder. "And so are my alts."

[luminous_regnant]

"...Oh," says Nathan, unbalanced.

"You're the one whose timer picked him out," says Golden.

[self_composed]

[Hey Alice. One of Golden's staff met the Joker and mated to him and now they're talking about maybe having me remand him to Aurum. Want in on the conference?]

[edgeofyourseat]

He teleports directly in front of her.

"Yeah!"

[self_composed]

In they go. "Golden, Elspeth, Jacob, you remember Alice. Nathan, Alice; Alice, Nathan."

[luminous_regnant]

"Hello again," says Golden.

"Hi," says Nathan. "So can someone explain to me this coins thing, do I just not have the need-to-know...?"

"Your power functions quite well on limited information, so you haven't, previously, had the need-to-know," says Golden. "But now you're personally involved. Elspeth, you may as well, it's faster."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth sends a summary.

"Oh, yikes," says Nathan, looking down at the Joker in his arms and then at Alice and then back at the Joker.

[manofmyword]

"Aw, honey," he says fondly. "Can you put me down for a sec?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

Nathan sets him on his feet, confused.

[manofmyword]

He kisses Nathan's cheek again, then greets Alice with an enthusiastic hug.

[edgeofyourseat]

Awwww. Alice hugs him back.

[luminous_regnant]

"I can certainly avoid any large-scale human-caused disasters," Golden says, mostly to Stella. "The mint idea is - higher variance. Could improve things, could worsen them, would definitely make any recidivism harder to contain."