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The guest list winds up being pretty huge.
To start with, there are now eight Bells. Pattern isn't bringing anyone besides herself, and Aegis no one besides herself and her Whistle, but everyone else -
Between Alice, the Joker, the rescued Queenie, Kas, Micaiah, and Sue, plus Ghosty who Amariah picked up on her way home, that's seven Whistles. (Stella thinks ahead: there is a soundproofed orgy chamber away from the main party awning. With a few nodes off of it in case more than one orgy forms; she can think of at least two other likely ones.)
There's an equally absurd number of Sherlocks and Tonies if you count them together. They have Juliet's matched set, Shell Bell's matched set, two other matched sets from Bell-less worlds (one with souled vampire, one both human), a stray Tony, and a stray Sherlock from Downside.
Amariah grabbed a random Libby on top of the random extra Whistle, but at least she's not incorporating anyone from home.
Golden's bringing much of her family and many of her friends - although Edward is staying home, that still leaves Elspeth and Jacob, Alice and Jasper with little Brandon, Rosalie and Emmett and little Henry, Nathan accompanying his mate and their child Kerron, Esme and Carlisle and their Lily, Addy, and Elena who'll get to see her brother. Golden claims that this is a conservative list and she could easily have produced another twenty enthusiastic guests. Stella doesn't doubt it. She puts up a few signs reading Please Conduct Adult Conversation Only Via Brainphone. Little Half-Vampires Have Good Ears And Perfect Memories. As a last-minute surprise, Golden has taken Elspeth's suggestion to bring Edward's deceased mother Elizabeth, too.
Juliet has, on top of her boyfriend and his - progenitor? - her tiny Libby, James, a tagalong thereto called Virginia, and a ghost called Minnie, plus Giles.
Angela's list is more modest: her, her husband, and their friends Alleluia and Caleb.
Shell Bell is responsible for half the Sherlocks-and-Tonies all by herself, a tagalong called Pepper, and also someone called Darcy and also Matilda. (Shell Bell is also the reason Angela is not inviting her brother-in-law.)
Stella herself is responsible for inviting Libby, Orfeo, Chris, Mary, Anna, Sandy, Eights, Chainsaw, Lazarus, Kolya (who is informed that it would be awfully inconvenient for a majority of Bells to all have to coordinate on pretending he doesn't exist when only one of them has even met him to be able to identify him in the first place, so he can simply stay home if he's planning to be hidey), and Bridget.
Stella sets up a name tag system. Everyone will have a tag stuck to them. Solo persons - a minority - will just have their names. People with template names and nicknames will have both stamped on automatically. ("Hi! I'm a Bell, and you can call me Stella!"; "Hi! I'm a Whistle, and you can call me Alice!" "Hi! I'm a Sherlock, and I don't have a distinguishing nickname yet but as soon as I pick one it will appear here!")
She conjures up a nice buffet of food and beverages which will stay its correct temperature until consumed, and assorted synthetics for the vampires (labeled not for human consumption), and dishes and flatware (all glass; even some of the food-eating guests might dissolve anything else) and fusses with the awning opacity until it lets in just the right amount of sun, and, what the hell, she throws in a stage in case Angela wants to sing or she decides to play the flute or someone decides to pentagon some other performative skill to entertain the crowd. She makes sure there are enough bathrooms for all the people who still need bathrooms.
She puts out a few tables here and there with little bowls of squares and triangles - a mix of her glowing red and Alice's shifty black - in them for everyone's convenience. She accumulates coins in those sizes faster than she generally uses them and has a great many, so there are plenty for anyone to dip and wish if something comes up. She double-checks to make sure the Martian ground rules prohibit any misuses available for those size coins.
Jane gets one of those high-tech holographic projectors, on wheels, which she promptly manifests in, drives around the floor, and makes faces through.
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self_composed
"Huh," says Mary. "What's she want, besides the obvious?"
luminous_regnant
"A Whistle, or possibly the alts of Stella's staff, maybe a stray Sherlock in a pinch, to help her mint," Alice says. "So she wants approach advice. You'll probably be better at the useful kind of detail than me."
"I probably will," Mary agrees.
luminous_regnant
"Although you'll be pleased to know that I've cleared up my blind spots and can handle the wolves' love lives instead of having you visit every few months!"
"Wolves," giggles Brandon from her arms, like this concept is inherently funny.
"Wolves," giggles Brandon from her arms, like this concept is inherently funny.
bellfounding
Here's Pattern. "Hi. Do I even have to explain what I want?"
"I am immensely pleased," she says dryly to Alice.
To Pattern, "Details are handy. I like details."
To Pattern, "Details are handy. I like details."
bellfounding
"I'm from the Joker's original world - I've named it Origin; I might change that later, I'm not going with my original distinguishing nickname. But Golden's got him and he's all attached to an Aurumite, so that means I need another mint. There's two spare Whistles, one from Downside after having lived in a world that doesn't match anybody's here and one from another world that also doesn't match anybody we know, and the one is just a dead person and the other is also a ghost with odd powers. My naive guess is that the first one of those would be easiest to hire on but I'm not sure how we'll get along or what I'll have to do to get him on board. There's also Eights, but she seems to come with Chainsaw, who seems determined to creepify them out of a job. And I don't think the Sherlocks are actually ideal for the purpose, so I haven't tried any yet, but I would if one of you said it was a good idea."
luminous_regnant
"You don't really look happy to me in any future conversations with Chainsaw," observes Alice.
"Sherlocks are categorically a long shot," remarks Mary. "The forecast on Chainsaw is creepy with a chance of disaster. Downside Whistle's your best bet out of the listed options; the ghost one's only a tiny bit worse. I defer to Alice for when you'll be able to catch either of them out here socializing."
luminous_regnant
"Ghosty's in and out before the formal conclusion of the... proceedings," says Alice. "A few times, various possible whens, never for very long; you could catch her to say hi but probably not an extended conversation. The proceedings in question are reasonably likely to last less than 24 hours."
bellfounding
"So I might wanna ask Stella if I can stick around a bit," Pattern snorts. "Okay, what's the best way to talk to Downside Whistle when the proceedings are over with?"
"Name some options," says Mary.
bellfounding
"I could just walk up to him and be like 'hi, I'm a Bell, you're a Whistle, want the obvious job?', or I could lead in with small talk of some kind, or I could ask the Whistles who are already dated-and-or-employed if they'll introduce me, or I could get one of the other Bells, probably one with her own Whistle, maybe Golden or Amariah, to ask for me."
"Presence or absence of small talk doesn't have a consistent effect on the result," says Mary. "Approaching through an intermediary doesn't either. If you catch up to her by herself and you're friendly and straightforward, you won't have any trouble."
bellfounding
"That one's a her?" Pattern asks. "Okay, can do. Thanks."
"You're welcome," Mary agrees.
bellfounding
"Is she going to hit on me or anything?" Pattern asks suddenly. "Because that would be weird."
"...She's virtually guaranteed to be a little bit flirty," says Mary. "And huggy. Flirty and huggy. Conversation in general goes better if she's in physical contact with someone the whole time, but someone doesn't have to be you."
bellfounding
"Another Whistle?" suggests Pattern. "Do they disperse after 'proceedings' or might she be with another one at the time?"
"Also virtually guaranteed that she is," says Mary.
luminous_regnant
"Any of them, in approximately equal proportions, slightly more likely to be Alice or Ghosty, slightly less likely to be Sue who's apparently got some highly interesting conversation coming up with his Bell and slightly less likely to be Micaiah who gets invited to perform with the angels and the Sherlocks."
Mary laughs.
bellfounding
"Okay. Thanks, thank you both, please tell any talented alts of either of you that you meet to give me a call, through Jane if need be," grins Pattern.