Milliways Again

[her_imperial_radiance]

It lurks. Oh how it lurks.

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[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."

[self_composed]

"That sounds awkward."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"It was handled fairly quickly."

[prima_sequentem]

Libby idly wonders how she rates on the make-him-uncomfortable scale, and then recalls her conversation with Elspeth on the subject of Elspeth's dad and contritely shelves that whole train of thought.

"I don't have a strong opinion on people contemplating trying to eat me unless they find it very inconvenient to think about," she says instead.

(And wonders, if they do find it very inconvenient to think about, if the judicious application of a seven-pointed star might do the species as a whole some good. Something to suggest... probably to her Bella, maybe to Lazarus. She should bring Lazarus here, or get Bella to. She bets he'd love it.)

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Somewhat so," local Bella shrugs, "though not something we don't all deal with on a regular basis."

[self_composed]

"I may want to steal your crown design," nonlocal Bella says speculatively.

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth giggles.

"It would be derivative if you copied it altogether," says the paler Bella.

[self_composed]

"I won't make mine out of gold," suggests Bella. "I'm going to conjure it out of nothing, I can just make the whole thing out of marbled-moissanite-and-opal if I want. In fact, I like that idea."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"That sounds both lovely and like something I wouldn't do given the chance since it would be off-theme. Go for it," says her vampire counterpart.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby catches Elspeth's eye and grins.

The Bellas are getting along! Isn't it awesome?

[her_imperial_radiance]

I knew they'd like each other, Elspeth... somethings... to Libby.

[prima_sequentem]

She nods.

...And observes that she can add people to the brainphone network without spending any coins.

[Me too, favourite grandchild. Me too.]

[her_imperial_radiance]

Meanwhile, Bella of sharper teeth says, "I hear you have... pretty much strictly better magic than ours around here."

[self_composed]

"I'm not sure if that's exactly the case. We have ingots where you've got witches and from what I know we're roughly equivalent - I think I have about your power, except Elspeth still works on me, for instance - but between coins and vampires. Well. Coins are really convenient for me but only because I have..." She pauses, looks at Edward, and decides to say, "Help. Coins are more flexible, I gather, but smaller scale without serious investment. I don't know. Does turning into a vampire hurt like hell?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Yes," says virtually everyone in the room at the same time.

"Except," continues local Bella, "that we have a witch who can patch this problem now."

[self_composed]

"Oh. In that case, yeah, my universe wins hard."

[prima_sequentem]

"How good's the patch?" wonders Libby.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"He's a perfect anaesthetic," pipes up Elspeth. Of course, explaining this is part of her job. "But maybe a little too perfect. No one has any senses while they're under, and from the moment you start turning you can't sleep either. So me and another witch who can do visual illusions take turns piping movies at them while there's a batch changing. It's no one's favorite three days, but it's not torture anymore."

[prima_sequentem]

There is currently no way to privately ask the Empress of the Stars if they want to offer a better solution, so Libby just glances at her and says, "We could probably help with that, if you want."

[self_composed]

"We could probably fix a lot of your problems," Bella agrees. "But not right now, because we don't have any of our serious magic on us."

Bella wonders if it would be safe to turn Alice into a vampire. The idea that it might not appeal to him barely crosses her mind. It hurts like hell, and it's a thing. Besides, any unwelcome side effects can be patched with wishing. He'll probably love the idea.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Well," says the Empress Regnant In This Section Of Multiverse. "That would be very kind of you. Have we got anything you'd like?"

[self_composed]

"Nothing that would be tricky for you to offer us," Bella says. "2030 technology - I'm doing a lot of stuff for my Martians with magic, but I don't want to be a bottleneck. Interesting magic for my friend Lazarus to study. If you've got a Lazarus or an equivalent the same can go the other way. Maybe some interesting media is going to come out in the next 25 years - I'd feel rude scooping anybody, but I wouldn't mind sneak previews, and I'm not averse to throwing around some magic for frivolous reasons. I might want someone turned into a vampire," she adds offhand. "Without your anesthetist, though, he's like that."

[prima_sequentem]

(Oh, Alice.)

"Lazarus would definitely like it here," says Libby. "And he is nice and fluffy and harmless and could probably help you study any magic you feel like studying."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Do tell," says a vampire just entering the room. She is, tastelessly enough, wearing a PETA T-shirt even though her gold eyes indicate a very animalian diet. "And about these 'ingots' - I'm very curious - probably that Bella's no more transferable than this one even if ingots in general are, but what about you, are you an 'ingot'?" she asks Libby.

"Libby, Bella," says Resident Bella, "Addy, the Imperial Factotum."

[self_composed]

"...She does everything?"