her_imperial_radiance | friendly door

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

her_imperial_radiance

Elspeth looks at her.

She does not have it in her to be tactful; that is not her nature.

"It was very inconvenient for the last mind-control-using murderer overlords whose subjects I deprogrammed, certainly."

From:

salus_populi

"As far as I can tell," says Aelise, unruffled, "either people from my world just have a higher inclination to go to war with each other than people from yours, or throwing Gifts into the mix changes the game significantly. When I let Chelsa loose on the world, I was trying to avoid it being nuked down to a population of one. As far as I can tell from what Harley said to Tab about ten years ago, your world has never faced down a crisis of that magnitude, or at least not from such a short distance. Now that I've finally got her back in the box, I am not going to let the last three hundred years go to waste by ripping the band-aid off six billion minds."

From:

thaumobabble

"It's the Gifts," reports Glass. "That's what I was seeing - the world isn't meaner, it just has higher stakes, bigger powers than Aurum or Eos have."

Edited Date: 2013-07-06 03:40 am (UTC)

From:

incanted

"I think a subset of us should go to Milliways," puts in Aurora. "Shell Bell and Golden are the only Bells who need to be here - and maybe Tab but we'll only be out for a moment and she's got New Bell Stuff to do. Me and Glass and Juliet between us can get Downside to grab Corona, to Rainbow to snag Brilliance if Corona's not on board with enchanneling, and to Chronicle so Tab can dump power into the forest, and have her back all nicely Belled up, yeah? And Harley and Elspeth don't need to be here unless anyone besides him needs deprogramming. You have been safe, right, Tab?"

From:

giftedandtalented

"Yeah, that's my Gift."

From:

cross_and_bow

"I'm on board with going to do New Bell Stuff, trying to do diplomacy is -" Juliet shakes her head. "Shell Bell, if you would? Agent Honey, sticking around or following us?"

From:

salus_populi

"Have fun," Aelise says dryly to Tab. "Don't stay out too late."

From:

withmypowers

"...I think I will follow you," Agent Honey decides. Adularia shimmers back into her dormant form as a pendant around her neck.

From:

giftedandtalented

Tab sticks out her tongue at Aelise.

From:

salus_populi

Aelise grins at her.

From:

she_sells_seashells

Shell Bell's aura flares from normal to blinding, and she opens the door to let the departing contingent out.

From:

cross_and_bow

Out they go. Juliet concentrates and reopens the door shortly after it closes. Downside! They don't want to split up, without Jane syncing them, so she just sticks her head in, torchables Tab while Elspeth starts summarizing things at her, and says to the admin, [Just added a world. Can I get its Joker?]

From:

ending_of

[Of course.]

The requested party appears, fresh from the catacombs and entirely unclothed. That isn't usual; apparently he died naked. Well, he is a Joker.

From:

incanted

Aurora squares him clad in something Brilliance might wear.

From:

giftedandtalented

"He might not want to go back to my world - do I get to name it? Is that how we do it?"

From:

cross_and_bow

"That is how we do it," says Juliet. "If he doesn't, we drop him off in the Home for Wayward Jokers, also known as Pattern's world Origin." And she wakes clothed Corona.

From:

pythbox

"...What the hell?" says Corona, blinking. "Shit, why am I not dead?"

From:

cross_and_bow

"You are! So'm I. We're the queens of Hell," says Juliet, waving him into Milliways.

From:

incanted

"Juliet," chides Aurora. "Elspeth, could you - I know you're trying to concentrate on Harley and explain to Tab, but -"

From:

her_imperial_radiance

Elspeth pets Harley's hair and nods.

(He died (there is an afterlife (it was once awful (torture and eternity and the uncaring infinite) but it has been fixed by these and their alts (alts are this thing; like him and Harley (she is Harley's Elspeth, if ever he mentioned her or Corona guessed)) and they can remove people from it at will; and they knew he took his own life (but the other Jokers, of whom there are many, whom he may meet, like to be alive, and Chelsa can never touch him again, and Elspeth can deprogram him as she is doing for Harley, if he likes, when she is done with her fosterling.))

From:

pythbox

Corona blinks.

And grins at Juliet, and says, "I'll be your queen of Hell any day."

From:

cross_and_bow

"Some of me would be all over you. I'm not one of them," Juliet says. "After we've brought Tab up to speed we're headed for Origin. We can drop you off there with some other stray Jokers if you don't have anywhere else in mind."

From:

pythbox

"I don't really care where I go as long as it's not back and you scrub Chelsa off me first," he says. "And I get to hug Harley. I wanna hug Harley."

From:

her_imperial_radiance

"Probably he will let you at some point," says Elspeth, looking down at Harley who she's holding so he doesn't have to support his weight, who doesn't currently appear to harbor any intention of ever letting her go.