milliways lurks

[her_imperial_radiance]

Milliways lurks.

Comments

[her_imperial_radiance]

"If you could get through me or Jake in a serious - however unlikely - attempt to do me any harm, that's the relevant threshold," Elspeth says. "Mama's convinced that Milliways is safe, but all bets are off in a world. Other relevant people are tougher to hurt than I am."

[prima_sequentem]

"I think you're safe," says Libby, which has the dual benefit of being perfectly true while concealing the actual answer to that question.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Do you actually want to come home with me or is this hypothetical? Because I have to try my check if you do."

[prima_sequentem]

"It's mostly hypothetical. I'd probably want to pick a better time. What's the check?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I mentioned that I can learn things about other people by seeing what makes sense to say. It doesn't catch everything, but what it catches is unrelated enough to what people want caught that Mama considers it a fine first-pass check - you'd still have to get past my dad or Maggie to stay welcome in our world for any length of time."

[prima_sequentem]

"How exactly does that work?" she asks interestedly.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Well, I turn around and look at Jake - who I guarantee is much more interested in the particulars of whether you can hurt me than you are - and I concentrate and try to inform him on that subject in a way he'd find helpful," Elspeth says. "And maybe I say 'she's just a human, you don't need to worry' or maybe I say 'you could take her' or maybe I say 'you really don't want me in a room with this lady' and he picks me up and walks me out of Milliways without stopping to let me get a case of bubbly."

"There's always next time," says Jake.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby laughs. "Would the same method work to tell me how much danger I'd be in, in your world?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Sure," Elspeth says. "Assuming that you're really interested in being informed about that."

[prima_sequentem]

"Definitely," she says. "And I know someone who's even more so. If I ever decide to visit, maybe I'll drag her in here for a chat."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"You would be... exactly as safe in my world as anywhere else," Elspeth says. "...Why is that the most informative way to put that?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Informative and very reassuring!" says Libby. "I guess I should explain. My world has some people with native powers not unlike witchcraft, and my aunt's is a personal shield that she keeps pointed at me because she's an incorrigible worrier. Proof against anything from bug bites to neutron bombs, if you believe her."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Ooh," Elspeth says. "That does sound useful. Mama's bodyguard is more specific than that. But she has an extra trick up her sleeve that I don't know about, probably because I'd tell everybody."

[prima_sequentem]

"You are definitely the opposite of secretive," Libby agrees. "It's endearing."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth laughs. "I'm kind of like both my parents, backwards. My dad reads minds. My mama's mentally opaque - no mental powers work on her. If she tries very, very hard she can let me or Dad in for short periods of time, though. I used to work on her all the time until I developed an offensive branch to my magic and then her shield shut me completely out. And I encourage everybody to read my mind!"

[prima_sequentem]

"I wonder if Chris's shield shuts you out," muses Libby. "I don't think so. The truthiness part works, anyway. I encourage you not to try overloading my poor human brain just to see if that works too."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I wouldn't do that," Elspeth says seriously. "It wouldn't physically kill you, but my power - wielded by the copying witch, not me - can and has destroyed human personalities."

[prima_sequentem]

"I appreciate your restraint, then."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"It was interesting what happened, actually, if you don't just focus on how awful it was," Elspeth said. "The vampire memories in the payload were the strongest, and when the humans who'd been wiped looked into the mirror, if they saw a sufficiently similar face to a vampire who'd been backed up, they 'recognized themselves'. That's how we got John and Didyme, and we used the phenomenon ourselves to salvage some good out of the other victims too."

[prima_sequentem]

"Has the copying witch ever been here?" she wonders.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"No. She wants to, though, of course."

[prima_sequentem]

"It occurs to me to wonder if she could copy powers from my world, but I'm not sure I know anyone who'd want to experiment, given the preconditions."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Which preconditions?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Milliways, mainly."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"They wouldn't want to come or they can't find it?"