"I feel ya," laughs Tony. "Mine looks the inside of an arc reactor. My dad built one, and so did the dad of every other Tony who was born on the right kind of Earth."

"Oh yeah, I remember hearing something about that being how you guys settled on nicknames. At least you have different coin colors from each other? Nobody seems to outright match, although the Bells with opacities all get solid glowy colors and the ones who don't all get more complicated designs."

"Yeah, if we all had arc reactors or something I would feel tragically generic."

"Maybe you should see about getting an enchanter's aura," suggests Pattern. "Mine's not that great - it basically lets me switch between ninja and movie star, which, I really could have covered that with wishes if I needed to, but at least no other Bells have the exact same thing."

Tony laughs. "Knowing me, I'd end up with one that plays AC/DC all the time. ...Which would be kind of awesome, maybe you're right."

"The Jokers get soundtracks, Angela gets accompaniment when she sings, I bet you'd wind up with something else," laughs Pattern. "The auras don't seem to lend themselves to repetition except for the soundtrack thing, the Jokers all have different other effects."

"That is kinda what I was getting at," he says, "with being all generic and stuff."

"Which Sherlock is yours?" Pattern asks. "I don't think I ever got, like, a chart, and the nametags don't say worlds, maybe they ought to."

"Mine's Plus," he says. "The vampire with a soul who's not dating Juliet, since 'vampire with a soul' isn't unique anymore."

"I think all the other Bells expect me to feel at loose ends without a boyfriend and start loitering around the Sherlocks," muses Pattern. "Or possibly you Tonies, since Shell Bell has a thing with her Tony too."

"But you don't?" says Tony.

"Feel at loose ends? Not especially. I think they're ignoring the fact that all their boyfriends got pretty much dropped in their laps. I don't think any of them were actively looking at the time, unless you count Angela's general openness to divine command."

Tony shrugs and grins. "Maybe that can be your distinguishing characteristic someday," he suggests brightly. "'Bell Who Actually Went Out And Got Herself A Boyfriend On Purpose'."

Pattern laughs. "Maybe. I don't know where to look, though, since so far it doesn't seem I'm inclined to loiter around the Sherlocks. They don't seem to be loitering around me either. Although, here you are."

"Here I am!" he agrees. "Kind of flirting with you!"

Pattern laughs. "How come?"

Pattern laughs again. "I guess that's a good reason."

Tony beams.

"So you're an engineer, right? What are you working on?"

"Some classified stuff... a laser pointer Sherry can keep around without setting himself on fire by accident... restoring an old car... I dunno, stuff," he says. "Iron Man built himself a particle accelerator, I'm kind of tempted to try that."

"Ooh, classified stuff. What are particle accelerators for?"

"They are for accelerating particles!" laughs Tony. "Um - physics stuff. He used it to synthesize an element that makes a really efficient catalyst for cold fusion."

"Nifty. Does it scale? That's the advantage science has over magic, pretty much, is that it scales better."

"Tech...nically yes," says Tony, "but you'd have to ask him about the details, I still haven't actually seen this stuff."