Milliways Again

[her_imperial_radiance]

It lurks. Oh how it lurks.

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[prima_sequentem]

Libby returns to Elspeth.

"All done," she says, ceremonially dusting off her hands. "Go ahead and check my scariness levels."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth peers at her, then turns to Jake and says, "She couldn't give either of us an irrecoverable injury."

And then she turns to Bella, and then back to Jake. "She could because she's faster with their magic, but she's not faster than a full vampire, and she's got weaker defense than Grandma and so is easier to take down if she tries."

Jake fidgets uncomfortably, eyeing Bella.

[self_composed]

Bella doesn't think there's a whole lot she can say in self-defense here. If they were willing to trust her disinterest in harming them, they wouldn't be doing this. "I can go put my squares away, too; I can still make them, but that will cut my reaction time," she says tonelessly.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"That might be best for the first visit," says Elspeth sympathetically.

[self_composed]

"Since I have nothing on me that can move stuff as far as the treasure chest from here, I'll have to teleport; Libby, hold the door for me?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Will do."

Elspeth's security measures are not quite unexpectedly stringent, but Libby is still sympathetic to Bella's apparent discomfort.

[self_composed]

Bella goes, and teleports to where the treasure chest is currently living in an extremely otherwise inaccessible section of Moonstone Palace. She squares off all the other squares and teleports back to Libby's living room, feeling extremely naked in nothing but clothes and a string of triangles and tempted to punch the wall or bite her lip or dig her knuckle into her wrist right then.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby winces in empathy.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I'm sorry," says Elspeth, but she runs the check again and this time Bella comes up just under the threshold of acceptability. "Um, Bella, in fairness, we can't seriously hurt you either. The vampires are faster but only one of them can teleport, he can't track you, and you can heal any wounds anybody could give you before you could jump away."

[self_composed]

"That's good," mutters Bella.

[prima_sequentem]

"So. Time to visit?"

[self_composed]

"I suppose," Bella says.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Okay. Here goes," Elspeth says. She heads for the door, and when she opens it, it does not lead to Libby's living room. Instead, it leads to a room with a copier and a vampire in it. "Hi, Santiago," she says. "I went to Milliways and I found my alternate universe mama and grandma."

[prima_sequentem]

Libby trails after her, with a friendly smile for Santiago.

[her_imperial_radiance]

Santiago is impressively unruffled by this. "Would you like me to announce them for you?" she asks politely.

"If you don't mind," says Elspeth.

"Not at all." Santiago runs away - that's either customary here or this is the sort of task that requires haste.

[self_composed]

"Is there a standard announcement for that?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Not really, but she'll come up with some less bizarre sounding way to put it, and then people won't waste time being surprised when we get there," shrugs Elspeth. "So, welcome to 2030 Golden-Empire-World Norway. This capital is called, um, Lisel, because my parents considered that name for me and this is mostly a capital site since I was born here."

[prima_sequentem]

"That's sweet," says Libby.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"It could have been named Libby but they didn't like that name as much," says Elspeth apologetically, "and it didn't sound as much like a city."

[prima_sequentem]

She laughs.

"That's okay. Libby isn't even my favourite nickname, actually, but maybe that's a story for another time."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Okay," says Elspeth agreeably, and she proceeds to lead them from the copy room down a few hallways and up some stairs.

The throne room - cannot really be called that. It contains no throne; indeed no chairs at all. Vampires - chalky-pale golden-eyed and ridiculously lovely - stand about. Including a recognizable Bella who looks the same age as the human one, with her hair cut fetchingly at shoulder length, wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and a crown. At her shoulder is a man of comparable apparent age, gorgeous and bronze-haired like Elspeth, and perpetually whispering into his Bella's ear.

"This is interesting," says the resident Bella. "Very interesting indeed."

[self_composed]

"I think so too," human-Bella says frankly. "Okay: I can guess why the empire, why the vampirism, why the hot husband, why the incongruous outfit. I want to know why the hair."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Golden Bella laughs. "I got set on fire. Twice. Vampire hair grows very slowly, so once I got to a point where I could find a style I liked, I just stuck with it. And you may want to keep your remarks about my husband to a minimum. You make him somewhat uncomfortable. And not solely by virtue of the fact that you're an alternate version of me. By any chance, do you have the magical wherewithal to control your scent?"

[self_composed]

"That can be arranged," says Bella. Triangles can do scents. She arranges for a triangle to do scents. "Just me, or Libby too?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Well," says the vampire Bella, "Libby might feel more comfortable if no one in the room were contemplating trying to eat her, but she is not a special problem in this respect, whereas you - and I, before I turned - are a very special problem for Edward in particular."