repealing

[mind_game]

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.)

Comments

[self_composed]

"Why do you suppose the Joker wanted that conversation to happen? Or were you dithering about talking to me in front of him?"

[pumpkin_pie]

"I wasn't dithering in front of him, but I was definitely dithering."

[self_composed]

"Does he drop you in front of folks you're considering approaching routinely?"

[pumpkin_pie]

"Do you get the impression that 'routinely' describes a lot of things my mummy does?"

[self_composed]

Stella glances in the direction of the stairs.

[pumpkin_pie]

She rolls her eyes. "Gee," she teases, "thanks, I sure needed reminding of that."

[self_composed]

"I'm just saying, the regularities exist."

[pumpkin_pie]

"But not for the teleporting thing. I mean, it's not uncharacteristic, I'm not surprised, but he hasn't done that specific thing before."

[self_composed]

"That's all I wanted to know."

[pumpkin_pie]

"For any particular reason, or were you just curious?"

[self_composed]

"Just curious. Bells are a curious breed."

[pumpkin_pie]

"Yeah, so I've heard."

[self_composed]

"Now I'm imagining myself as a fairy tale trope that gets told to little half-vampires as a bedtime story," snorts Stella.

[pumpkin_pie]

"Not... actually that far off," says Aedyt. "Well, for this little half-vampire, anyway."

[self_composed]

Stella laughs. "Is this the part where - I dunno, you have to give me half your dinner or I won't tell you how to break the curse on your love interest?"

[pumpkin_pie]

Aedyt giggles. "Nooo-o."

[self_composed]

"Were the fairytales in question all true stories or have rumors of Bellish deeds been greatly exaggerated?"

[pumpkin_pie]

"Well, you know, they're my mum's true stories. So I wouldn't swear to all the details, but they all probably more or less happened."

[self_composed]

"I do know your mum, but I haven't experienced a wide sampling of his stories, so I wouldn't say I know, no."

[pumpkin_pie]

"Okay. Well... I don't know, I've never really had to explain it before... his stories aren't always one hundred percent true to the original, but he can really make you feel like you've been there. If I had to write a history textbook, I wouldn't take my facts from him, but if I had to write a novelization I'd take his storylines. Does that make sense?"

[self_composed]

"It does. I guess that makes sense with his aura."

[pumpkin_pie]

"Yeah! Like, I am pretty sure that when Mum and Dad met, Dad did not actually give off a shower of tiny pink hearts. But it sure gets the point across."

[self_composed]

"Aww," giggles Stella.

[pumpkin_pie]

She grins. "Mine are the most adorable parents," she boasts.

[self_composed]

"I dunno, Micaiah and Angela and Beast and Rose have kids now and they're awfully cute couples too."