friendly door

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth gets a door.

It's been so long she reels for a moment, and then she throws herself forward and almost lands in a peal of Bells. Yes, there's Shell Bell, there's Juliet and Aurora, there's Glass, there's some Matilda she hasn't seen before.

"Elspeth!" exclaims Glass.

"How long has it been?" Aurora asks.

"Seventeen years. Shell Bell - I need you to help me find Harley," says Elspeth.

Comments

[salus_populi]

"...actually," says Aelise, "given which nuclear explosion Luhan survived, you might want to talk to him before you set up on Venus, Tab. So by all means, brainphone away."

[thaumobabble]

[Hey, Luhan, I'm an extradimensional visitor who is an expert on what person-templates repeat across universes and how, and Aelise wants me to look at you; is that okay?]

[pythbox]

Silence.

[thaumobabble]

[Hello? You can reply to me like this, just think it at me.]

[pythbox]

[Who are you? Where are you?]

[thaumobabble]

[I am in Aelise's office but I can teleport to you if you'd like to let me; I'm an alt of a friend of hers. My name is Bella but you can call me Glass.]

[pythbox]

Some more silence.

Then, gruffly, [Fine.]

[thaumobabble]

[Incoming.]

"Be right back."

Pop! Here is Glass; tunic and utility belt and leggings and boots all under witch robes and princess crown, aura declaring her some kind of Extremely Magical Forest-Dwelling Creature.

[pythbox]

And here is Luhan, wearing battered old jeans and a red-and-black plaid shirt over a white tank top, sitting in an armchair in what seems to be a log cabin with a bottle of beer in his hand.

He is templatey. Also regarding her with an extremely dubious look.

[thaumobabble]

"Hi," says Glass, waving. "Possibly good news: you probably have alts running around somewhere!"

[pythbox]

"Which means... what, in practical terms?" he inquires.

[thaumobabble]

"If you make friends with the one of me who lives here and she invites you to parties, or if you get out of the world by other means, you might meet people who look like you and have the same basic personality and..." She squints. "You're also pretty attached to the kind of magic you have. And Canada, I think virtually all of you will come from Canadas when there are Canadas available."

[pythbox]

"By 'magic' do you mean my Gift? Because damn right I'm attached to my Gift," he snorts.

[thaumobabble]

"Sure, but most worlds don't have Gifts, they have other forms of magic, or in a few cases none at all. Your alts will do the same thing in different ways. My template has something like that too, except my world doesn't support it so I don't have a native version."

[pythbox]

Luhan eyes her for a moment, then shakes his head. "We done here?"

[thaumobabble]

"Sure, if you're through with my charming company," shrugs Glass. "Tab is the local me, she'll probably introduce herself and talk to you about Toronto in a short while."

[pythbox]

He snorts.

[thaumobabble]

Glass waves and leaves. "He's templatey," she reports. "Attached to the type of power - like Bells are - and to Canada."

[salus_populi]

"And none of you has heard of a Canadian man who self-regenerates?" says Aelise.

[incanted]

"No, but we can all check when we get home."

[thaumobabble]

"He's not especially personable," says Glass. "Also sort of acted like he didn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned his magic."

[giftedandtalented]

"There's a cultural thing about calling Gifts 'magic'. If you say otherwise I'll buy it."

[thaumobabble]

"It's definitely magic. And that's not just my seeing rounding up; Peace's mutant powers don't register this way and they're just as good as the magic kind."

[salus_populi]

"I suppose using your perceptions as the litmus test at least gives an easy categorization. For you. If your perceptions are that clean-cut."

[thaumobabble]

"I bet you Lazarus says the same thing when he sees Tab," says Glass.