sweeping changes

[mind_game]

Jane has finally been updated in all of the "extra" worlds with no Bells, Jarvises, or other routine visitors to the peal, and she is conducting template sweeps in them.

[Hey,] she tells all the Jokers and all the Bells. [There's a Joker in world number twelve who wasn't there before I crashed. Can't find him online at all, though.]

Comments

[pythbox]

Without any apparent coordination, Jokers start congregating in the Belltower. War is among the first, so subsequent arrivals are linked and freecast into the same room even if they initially appeared in a different one.

[autokinetic]

Bells confer amongst themselves, and send Aegis as their representative Joker expert.

[her_imperial_radiance]

Plus, Elspeth.

In case it's a little one.

[manofmyword]

"All right," says the Joker. "So what have we got, exactly? Template sweep turned up a Joker and there's nobody on the grid with, mm, the wrong name?"

[mind_game]

[Not the standard wrong name or any seen before, anyway,] says Jane.

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Innnnteresting," muses Queenie. "And how many wrong names are there to go around, here? Without naming any."

[mind_game]

"Four. I haven't been told and have no wherewithal to find on an Internet whatever Nona, Beast, and Aianon started with."

[endragoned]

"Good," snorts Aianon.

[yourheartstrings]

"Mm," says Ghosty, out of thin air as usual; her intangible presence hovers around Queenie. "What kind of a world is twelve, anyway?"

[mind_game]

"Earth. Has a Gotham. No magic or aliens or anything else that I've been able to detect. Currently June, 1988. No Bell, and a standard Earth one would be born by now," Jane adds.

[yourheartstrings]

"How old were we in '88?"

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Mmmmmm... twelve?" hazards Queenie.

[manofmyword]

"Think so," says the Joker.

[yourheartstrings]

"Thereabouts."

[pythbox]

"...I'm in this, right, this is a question to me, I used to have a Gotham," says Harley. "But I have no idea what year."

[mind_game]

"Gothamed Jokers were all born in 1976," confirms Jane.

[manofmyword]

"So our new friend is probably roundabout twelve," says the Joker. He looks at Elspeth.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Assuming Harley wants to recommend me as a foster-parent for Jokers," says Elspeth, "I'll go talk to this one."

[pythbox]

Harley grins at her. "Of course I do," he says warmly.

Corona is shaking his head. "Twelve, though, oh man. Do you really know what you're signing up for?"

"Elsie's awesome," Harley assures him.

"Yeah, I'm getting that, but you" (Corona freecasts across the room to give Harley a hug) "are a special case - unless I'm the special case? Back me up here, guys, are twelve-year-old Jokers mostly incredible little shits or what?"

[manofmyword]

"Mm, well, you are a special case," says the Joker, "but that doesn't mean we weren't."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Harley was lovely when he was twelve, but of course we shouldn't expect him to be typical. What may I be signing up for?"

[manofmyword]

"Theft," says the Joker. "Destrrruction of property."

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Indiscriminately pissing off everyone in sight just to see what they do."

[pythbox]

Corona frowns thoughtfully and doesn't add anything right away.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Maybe not the wolf village house, then," muses Elspeth. "Wolves are easier to piss off than vampires."