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

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan blinks at him. "I have," he observes thoughtfully, "no idea what you would taste like."

[endragoned]

"Then why don't you find out?" he invites.

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan shrugs. "You appropriately rigged not to turn into anything if bit?"

[endragoned]

"Demons are immune to venom."

[temporal_affairs]

"Yeah, vampires are immune to everything but a shortlist of squeezing, whoever told you demons are immune to venom probably hadn't met my kind."

[endragoned]

"Hm," he says. "I wish to be immune to you - nothing. I wish not to be immune to you - I lose the coin. I wish to reverse the previous wish - I lose that coin also."

[temporal_affairs]

"Fair enough. Where d'you want to be bitten?"

[endragoned]

"Wherever you please."

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan is a bit of a traditionalist. He goes for the throat.

[endragoned]

The demon's red flesh yields to Nathan's teeth with a little more effort than he would need to bite a mere human, and his blood is black.

It tastes... different. About as pleasant as a decent synthetic, but not the same as any of the available synthetics, and definitely nothing like a human.

[temporal_affairs]

"Nice," comments Nathan, after he's helped himself to a reasonable amount and sat back. His eyes have gone a peculiar sepia color, neither his usual red nor the black of the demon's blood. "Not like anything on the market, not like human, but nice."

[endragoned]

The demon wipes away a lingering trickle of blood from his already-healed neck.

"It changed your eyes," he observes.

[temporal_affairs]

"Oh? Bubbly or animal blood makes 'em gold, human blood makes 'em dark red, being thirsty makes 'em black, what do you do?"

[endragoned]

"Sepia."

[temporal_affairs]

"Peculiar." Nathan peers at a stray droplet. "Yeah, I have no idea how that works, bubbly is actually gold but animal blood is not... Anyway, thanks!"

[endragoned]

"You are welcome," the demon assures him.

He tilts his head consideringly.

"Now that I know I will not rip your limbs off, shall we try the other arm?"

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan swaps arms. "You think this'll go differently?"

[endragoned]

He shrugs.

"Let's find out," he says, and shoves Nathan's hand with all his strength. There is a measurable period of acceleration before he is going all-out, but when he is, he is definitely stronger.

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan -

Is stronger too.

But he loses.

"...Huh," he says when the rock shatters against his hand. "Apparently you've got more strength-enhancing properties than humans do, as a dietary supplement. Better mind who's asking for nibbles when the Ultra Olympics come around."

[manofmyword]

The Joker laughs.

"You can participate in the Ultra Olympics as a steroid," he suggests. "Emmett'll flip."

[temporal_affairs]

"Emmett will flip," snorts Nathan, retrieving his hand again. "He would be very disappointed if any of his participating athletes were, er, drinking up."

[manofmyword]

He giggles and hugs his sweetie.

[endragoned]

The demon awwws.

[temporal_affairs]

Hugs!

[endragoned]

"You are both very sweet," the demon declares, and he arches his wings around them.