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

[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."

[self_composed]

"If you wanted to have a mint, you could've asked me instead of just perpetually trading for the coins, I was able to find two suitable ones on my world when I thought I didn't have Alice anymore," says Stella, ignoring her boyfriend and his alt while they hug. "It doesn't necessarily have to be this one. It only takes a star to send the notes to the candidates and then you have a bunch of people to interview. Less of a headache than wondering if the Joker's going to decide to blow something up this week."

[luminous_regnant]

"I'm not running my empire in the open yet. If you found two, in a world of six billion, I'm going to have a bit of trouble finding even one in an informed population well shy of a hundred thousand."

[self_composed]

"Mm. There is that. And my extras probably don't want to emigrate. You could do what Shell Bell did - pick someone you trust who's up for the job, nudge them the rest of the way with a pentagon."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Mama looked for volunteers for that already, among the coven and the wolves, and no one wanted it," says Elspeth. "Except Addy. Who isn't trusted that far, not with magic."

[self_composed]

"Then," says Stella, "I acknowledge that there's a quandary. But I'm willing to force the door - if it'll go - and fetch the Joker down from the asteroid, and hand you him and a pile of coins."

[luminous_regnant]

"Somehow I was hoping you'd have more clever solutions up your sleeve," sighs Golden.

[self_composed]

"The asteroid was my clever solution."

[manofmyword]

The Joker lets go of Alice and turns to Golden.

"How do you see this going," he asks mildly, "if you make me the royal mint?"

[luminous_regnant]

Golden shrugs. "Maybe Nathan buys you guys a house on a Phillipine island and he works by phone and after he gets incubus lessons from Tanya you live there peacefully forever and I send Razi by twice weekly to pick up coins and my only problem is to make sure Addy never gets her hands on them. Maybe you talk him into sneaking you into Ireland and you pick a fight with Siobhan and then I have to kill you or deal with a revolution that would actually stick. Maybe you start setting sub-Saharan Africa on fire, and you have this convenient mated vampire with a convenient power to make you a thorn in my side even if I siphon coins away from you as fast as you can make them. It's a lot of maybes. You're a literal wild card."

[manofmyword]

"Mm, I don't think I'll settle down," he says. "Don't think I'll set any continents on fire, either. Who's Siobhan?"

[luminous_regnant]

"An Irish vampire who wants control over the comings and goings of anyone other than ignorant humans as regards her island. Nathan is the only person with the distinction of having flouted her in the past, which is why I thought of it, and he has stopped since joining the Golden Coven, but if anyone could talk him into doing it again it would be you."

[self_composed]

"...I should get Mary," says Stella. "I'll be right back."

She goes back to the door, sticks her head out, and is-about-to brainphone Mary.

[pythbox]

[Yes?]

[manofmyword]

The Joker smiles in a not-particularly-reassuring way.

[self_composed]

[I could use your help for a bit of a mess with Golden and an Alice-alt and whatnot. Are you free?]

[pythbox]

[Sure,] says Mary.

[self_composed]

[Alice, can you hold the door?]

Presuming Alice holds the door, Stella teleport-fetches Mary into Milliways, summarizing the situation as she goes.

[pythbox]

Mary is already chewing contemplatively on her lip as they approach the group.

"Okay," she says. "Negotiate away, I'll tell you what's going to work out."