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

[endragoned]

"Mine is for hugging," Aianon asserts.

[campanas]

Keziah tugs his tail away from her alt and attempts to hug it.

[endragoned]

He squeaks and says reproachfully, "It is not for pulling on!"

[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."

[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.

[endragoned]

Aianon hugs Keziah, tail included.

[pythbox]

There's a Joker nearby who smells like candy! Is that a huggable feature?

[campanas]

Céleste thinks so! "You're a dessert!" she asserts.

[pythbox]

"Yep," he says, hugging her. "I'm a Jellybean!"

[campanas]

"I'm a Céleste! Me and Keziah decided we're griffins."

[pythbox]

"That is adorable," says Jellybean. He produces a small paper bag of jellybeans out of thin air and hands it to her.

[campanas]

Céleste takes it and peers into it. "Thanks!"

[pythbox]

"Jellybeans," he explains sunnily, and finds another small person to hug.

[gunpowdergelatine]

Queenie arrives. She hugs Dominique first (displacing Micaiah), then Damaris (displacing Kas), then holds out her arms to Keziah.

[campanas]

"You are so huggable!" exclaims Keziah. "I think you better just hug me always."

[gunpowdergelatine]

"I'm very huggable," she agrees. "But you can't keep me."

[campanas]

"Awww."

[gunpowdergelatine]

She ruffles Keziah's hair, lets her go, and then turns to Céleste.

[campanas]

Céleste takes her turn.

Hugs are distributed all around and then Céleste goes to her very own papa and wishes to be picked up. Keziah wants her mommy to lift her.

[jovahs_heiress]

Keziah's mommy is happy to pick her up. (She wandered over while the hugs were underway and has been watching in amusement.)

[deslandes]

Céleste's papa picks her up very happily!

[endragoned]

Aianon hugs Queenie. The pair of them teleport away. The Jokers begin uncongregating.