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Time has passed.
Inconsistently.
Jane's network has kept all the Bells' worlds - and every other world with a Janepoint stuck in due to its being attached to Downside - in temporal sync, but when Jane spluttered for just a moment, that was shot to hell.
Peace lost three seconds, because it was where Aegis torched; after that process was complete, Jane was there again. And as soon as a door between Peace and Milliways appeared, she could sync to her ansible hub in the Belltower and, from there, to everywhere else.
Atlantis and Sunshine each stand at about a minute apiece: Shell Bell's aura and Juliet's local copy of Jarvis both enabled them to get to Milliways immediately, pausing their homeworlds as standard for occasions when someone walks into the bar. Shell Bell's the one who connected Peace.
Everyone else was running on luck.
Luckiest is Rainbow, which lost only five hours.
Next is Alethia; in spite of Sherlock's mishap, it's fared reasonably well, spending only six weeks isolated.
Syntropy's just a little worse - seven weeks.
Origin waited two months.
Eos waited three.
Thilanushinyel, ten.
Everyone else is out a decade at least. Samaria's ten years, almost ten and a half.
Aurum is out eleven.
Rêverie has been separated for sixteen years.
All the Bells - and Elspeth, who was stuck in Downside for a day and a half on her end and whose mother was very upset - are collected in the Belltower, as are two Bell-attached Sherlocks who happened to be along for the ride. They all memorize this list of numbers. Aegis replaces her earpiece. And then they all go home to notify their loved ones and staff that there's a party cooking in the Belltower.
(Shell Bell, who has no particular cause on her own account to be distressed, sends her Sherlock to invite Tony in while she refits the Belltower to suit a party of a peal of Bells and their larger-than-last-encountered families and circles of friends.)
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mind_game
pumpkin-pie
"Mum getting all teary-eyed and everyone trying to hug me at once? Yeah, pretty much," she says. "Mum getting all teary-eyed and everyone hugging me one at a time was also a top contender."
dark_light
"Have the 'cherubs and rosebuds' gotten this treatment?" Amariah wonders.
deslandes
"Ma belle," says the Beast, teleporting over, "mes cheries, the Jokers are coming to hug everyone." And he hugs his wife and then both of his children.
campanas
"Isn't that a lot of people?" asks Céleste.
"Do they know how to hug angels?" Keziah asks. "I had to teach Gideon how so he'd stop poking me in the wing."
"Do they know how to hug angels?" Keziah asks. "I had to teach Gideon how so he'd stop poking me in the wing."
campanas
"It depends whether you're taller or shorter," says Keziah. "Or the same height."
campanas
"You're a lot taller than me. You could pick me up and hug me under the wings or I could just sort of hug your waist and you could hug me around the shoulders above where my wings start," says Keziah.
"One of the Jokers also has wings!" exclaims Céleste.
"Angels can hug each other," says Keziah. "But it makes it harder to do wrapping! Unless one of us is much bigger than the other. I'm still little enough to get wrapped up when Mommy hugs me even though I have my own wings in the way."
"One of the Jokers also has wings!" exclaims Céleste.
"Angels can hug each other," says Keziah. "But it makes it harder to do wrapping! Unless one of us is much bigger than the other. I'm still little enough to get wrapped up when Mommy hugs me even though I have my own wings in the way."
deslandes
The Beast enfluffs and hugs Keziah around the shoulders.
"Aianon does have wings," he agrees. "And a tail. It's a very huggable tail."
"Aianon does have wings," he agrees. "And a tail. It's a very huggable tail."
campanas
"A huggable tail," giggles Céleste.
Keziah hugs her uncloid happily.
Keziah hugs her uncloid happily.
endragoned
Aianon appears.
"Extremely huggable," he says, hugging Céleste and curling his tail around her, "see?"
"Extremely huggable," he says, hugging Céleste and curling his tail around her, "see?"
campanas
Céleste giggles. "Papa has a tail too sometimes! It is fluffy but I don't hug it."
campanas
Keziah tugs his tail away from her alt and attempts to hug it.
campanas
"I never met anybody with a tail before today!" exclaims Keziah.
"Tails aren't for pulling," says Céleste. "My Rainier squawks awful if I pull his tail so I don't."
"Tails aren't for pulling," says Céleste. "My Rainier squawks awful if I pull his tail so I don't."
endragoned
"You are exactly right," he says, giving Céleste an extra gentle squish and then letting go.
campanas
Céleste spins around, looking for her next hug target, and Keziah tiptoes forward looking innocent.
There's a Joker nearby who smells like candy! Is that a huggable feature?