Milliways Again

[her_imperial_radiance]

It lurks. Oh how it lurks.

Comments

[prima_sequentem]

"...Hi."

She laughs. She can't help it. One, the coincidence is hilarious, and two, all of a sudden she is in an inexplicably great mood. Does this guy have a witch power? That is an awesome witch power. It's like the universe is giving her a hug.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I'm Orfeo," he says, grinning at her. "I guess you're Libby? It's really nice to meet you, Libby." If he had a tail right now, boy would it ever be a-wag.

"Orfeo, she's not from here," hisses Elena. "She doesn't live here."

[prima_sequentem]

"It is very nice to meet you too, Orfeo. In fact I suspect it's magically nice."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Yeah. I'm not an especially useful witch but I'm kinda a witch," Orfeo says, ignoring Elena.

"Orfeo, if you try to go with her, you won't have a pack," sniffles Elena. "You can't do that, that's not how we work. Quitting takes years to get all the way done. What are you going to do?"

Orfeo looks up at Elena briefly. "Bring you?" he asks hopefully.

[prima_sequentem]

"Thih seems to be a logistical problem," says Libby. "And it's a problem I'd rather solve indoors."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"...Blue guest house is this way," says Elena, and she leads the group off through a silent final minute or so of walk.

The blue house is blue. It's a cute little bungalow sort of a thing, and not locked; Elena holds the door for everyone.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby spends the walk smiling at Orfeo, and when they reach the house, she steps inside and finds somewhere to sit.

[her_imperial_radiance]

There are chairs, and couches; Orfeo is faster than her and picks half a love seat, not expectantly, just in case. Elena throws herself into an armchair exasperatedly.

[self_composed]

Bella, not involved much in these proceedings, decides to scope out the kitchen.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby takes the middle of a different couch.

"So," she says. "There was a pamphlet, but it didn't go into the kind of detail I'd like. Does someone want to explain the situation?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Orfeo imprinted on you," says Elena wearily. "I keep telling Jake to tell Her Majesty to put imprintable guests somewhere else, that it's not sufficient leeway that people can just change packs if they don't want to be mixing with imprintable people, but no one listens to me. And Orfeo looked out the window, and, well. He's like Elspeth except with how he feels about people instead of facts. So you can tell what that did. And wolves are not meant to be all by themselves, so unless you want to move here, or someone - realistically me - can come back with you to wherever you're from, Orfeo's choices are feeling like he's got a few big holes in him or feeling like he's been put through a shredder."

[prima_sequentem]

"I don't plan on moving here," she says. "I have a lot of friends and it would be impractical to bring them all. How would you feel about coming back with me?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elena digs the heel of her hand into her eye. "Well," she says witheringly. "If you make me decide between sending my brother to another world packless - packlessness having driven the occasional determined lone wolf to suicide - and staying home, obviously my friends, and our parents, and our half-sisters, and my job, and so on, cannot begin to rate."

"Elena," says Orfeo soothingly. "It wouldn't be that bad. No one else who's gone lone had an imprint, that's got to change things."

[prima_sequentem]

"It's also possible that this is the sort of problem that could be fixed by throwing sufficient magic at it," she says thoughtfully. "Most problems can, in my world. But you'd have to apply to my empress for that; I don't have the resources. And I don't know that it would help, it just seems likely."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elena frowns at her knees. "Imprint bonds are immune to magic. The problems with packlessness might not be. I don't know what kind of magic you or your empress have to throw around."

[prima_sequentem]

"Short version: Some people from our world can generate coins that grant wishes. Coins come in power levels from 'get that stain out of the carpet' to 'terraform Mars'. Bella has a hundred or so of the most powerful kind and can easily get more; I've got one."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Good for Bella. This the kind of thing she's likely to spend time on?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine either way," says Orfeo.

[prima_sequentem]

"If I ask nicely, then yes."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Okay. That's good. But unless she can do it now, or, you know, before you go home, I still have to come along at first. Packlessness is not a joke."

[prima_sequentem]

"A short visit to another universe isn't a huge deal," she says, not without a certain amount of irony. "And no, we left all the big coins at home, to appease your very safety-conscious princess."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Of course you did," sighs Elena.

"...So I do get to go with you," Orfeo says. "Right?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Yes," Libby says fondly. "Yes you do."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Orfeo grins. Elena groans and mutters under her breath.

[prima_sequentem]

She grins back.

"In the meantime, why don't you tell me about yourself?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I'm youngest of four," says Orfeo agreeably. "Born during the Volturi control of the wolf population, in the Volterra village; our dad's a wolf and my and Elena's mom is his imprint. So I'm half-Quileute half-Italian. We stayed there even after Her Majesty took over but when I activated me and Elena joined the Imperial pack to have more stuff to do. I run the village paintball games - it's not a big deal, Chiara can take over - and I have field medic training but it's only applicable for wolves and you shouldn't set me at a hurt human, and I can speak Italian natively, and I won yellow gold in the Ultra Olympics for wolf division wrestling once, and white gold in mixed middle division long-distance swimming twice. I'm on the holiday decoration committee. I make really good risotto. I'm decent at chess and great at knowing which way is north and lousy at singing."