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The next morning, Charlie leaves late for work so he and Bella can have breakfast together, but then he does go.
Bella sees him off.
And heads for the lair, humming, all nerves.
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self_composed
self_composed
Bella has no other comments at this time. Snuggle snuggle.
edgeofyourseat
Snuggle snuggle! Mmmm.
After a little while, he starts thinking that maybe he's settled enough to try it.
After a little while, he starts thinking that maybe he's settled enough to try it.
edgeofyourseat
"Huh? Oh."
He considers, snuggling her in the meantime. The main argument against trying it seems to be cuddle inertia.
"Nah, I'm good. Go for it," he says with a smile.
He considers, snuggling her in the meantime. The main argument against trying it seems to be cuddle inertia.
"Nah, I'm good. Go for it," he says with a smile.
self_composed
Bella kisses his forehead and slides off his lap. She stands well away; he might kick her or something. "Start with ten K, minimum star threshold?"
self_composed
She hits him with it without further warning. Flavor of the hour: crushing, as under water pressure.
edgeofyourseat
Alice gasps.
For a full second, the massive lightning bolt symbol has no affect-grey around it at all. Not black, not white, just... nothing. No accompanying thoughts or emotions, either.
The first thing that comes back online is love. The second is a bright white aura around the pain. The third, very shortly afterward, is yesterday's ecstatic submersion.
The fourth is the spiral that symbolizes sexual pleasure.
He closes his eyes and smiles, relaxing completely.
For a full second, the massive lightning bolt symbol has no affect-grey around it at all. Not black, not white, just... nothing. No accompanying thoughts or emotions, either.
The first thing that comes back online is love. The second is a bright white aura around the pain. The third, very shortly afterward, is yesterday's ecstatic submersion.
The fourth is the spiral that symbolizes sexual pleasure.
He closes his eyes and smiles, relaxing completely.
self_composed
Bella backs off to five thousand, then two and a half, then one thousand, then five hundred, and keeps halving till she's at fifty and cuts off outright. "That was weird. For a moment there was just - no affect, around the pain, not even an indifferent or ambivalent one." She tilts her head. "Would you be able to keep doing whatever you were doing, if I interrupted you like that?"
edgeofyourseat
"Shit no," he says, grinning and opening his eyes. "Right at the start I was hurting too much to notice I hurt. It was like I just turned off and came back a second later. If I'd been standing up I woulda fallen over."
self_composed
"Okay. You have an off switch. Good for you," says Bella, laughing slightly.
self_composed
"It occurs to me that we probably don't want to have off switches that other people can reach," Bella muses, approaching the chair again and plopping herself back into his lap. "Random other wishcoiners. We need defensive powers before we meet any."
edgeofyourseat
"...Thaaaat is a point," he acknowledges.
Part of him kind of likes the idea of getting shot down out of nowhere like that by somebody he doesn't even know.
But he can probably get nearly the same effect by asking Bella nicely to shoot him down out of nowhere like that sometime when he isn't expecting it, and she is likely to be much happier about that method. Probably. Is she?
Part of him kind of likes the idea of getting shot down out of nowhere like that by somebody he doesn't even know.
But he can probably get nearly the same effect by asking Bella nicely to shoot him down out of nowhere like that sometime when he isn't expecting it, and she is likely to be much happier about that method. Probably. Is she?
self_composed
"Yes. It's like you and I have been introduced before," Bella says dryly.
She contemplates defense. It has to protect from all the plausible angles - not just pain, which is more about Alice's tastes than anything, but also wireheading, and paralysis, and sensory deprivation or substitution, and direct injury and death, and the suppression of their other powers, and psychic attacks on memory or skill or motivation or equilibrium, and, and, and...
"This is complicated," Bella says aloud.
She contemplates defense. It has to protect from all the plausible angles - not just pain, which is more about Alice's tastes than anything, but also wireheading, and paralysis, and sensory deprivation or substitution, and direct injury and death, and the suppression of their other powers, and psychic attacks on memory or skill or motivation or equilibrium, and, and, and...
"This is complicated," Bella says aloud.
edgeofyourseat
"Yep," Alice agrees. He isn't even thinking about it, serenely confident that Bella will figure it out to her satisfaction eventually.
self_composed
Bella also wants to prevent anyone but them from altering the contents of their necklaces... and from rendering them unable to make more coins themselves... either by removing their wishcoiner traits or by interfering with their ability to experience pain. She does not want to be folded, spindled or mutilated. She doesn't want traumatic flashbacks to things that never happened, or things that did; she doesn't want nightmares or bad luck curses or why do there have to be so many terrible things that can happen to a person.
Eventually she decides there are three worthwhile classes of thing to fend off as inflicted by possible other wishcoiners: physical harm, mental spying/tampering, and magical... miscellany, like the luck thing or the tampering with their powers. She thinks that covers everything. Probably. She thinks these are well-defined categories to the degree that wishing requires. Probably.
The physical harm wish goes off fine, for her and for Alice. The mental tampering one... doesn't.
"I don't seem to be able to wish myself immune to mental spying and tampering," Bella says, puzzled.
Eventually she decides there are three worthwhile classes of thing to fend off as inflicted by possible other wishcoiners: physical harm, mental spying/tampering, and magical... miscellany, like the luck thing or the tampering with their powers. She thinks that covers everything. Probably. She thinks these are well-defined categories to the degree that wishing requires. Probably.
The physical harm wish goes off fine, for her and for Alice. The mental tampering one... doesn't.
"I don't seem to be able to wish myself immune to mental spying and tampering," Bella says, puzzled.
edgeofyourseat
"That's weird," says Alice.
His first thought is to try to spy on the inside of her head and see what happens, but for reasons that should be fairly obvious, he doesn't actually do it.
His first thought is to try to spy on the inside of her head and see what happens, but for reasons that should be fairly obvious, he doesn't actually do it.
self_composed
"Perhaps it's too big a power for a hex, in which case I just need to break it up a bit..." They have an embarrassment of hexes; she sees no harm in trying to just make herself immune to spying, and then to just make herself immune to exactly the kind of mindreading power she has on Alice.
Nothing.
"That's not it. Other possibility is that it's not a legal power at all, that everyone has to go around vulnerable to such things all the time, but that doesn't make sense."
Pause.
"Or it could be redundant. But I'd remember if I already wished myself that. I wished myself an eidetic memory and would definitely remember."
Nothing.
"That's not it. Other possibility is that it's not a legal power at all, that everyone has to go around vulnerable to such things all the time, but that doesn't make sense."
Pause.
"Or it could be redundant. But I'd remember if I already wished myself that. I wished myself an eidetic memory and would definitely remember."
edgeofyourseat
"Okay," says Alice. "So... there's still a way to check if you're immune to mental spying."
self_composed
"Yeah." She allows herself one all-over shudder. "Lemme think of the least invasive way to handle this. The brainphone works, obviously, so it's something subtler..."
She thinks.
"Use a pentagon - for a one-time use, not a permanent power - and see if you can tell me what word I am focusing on right now," she says.
The answer is penguin. She thinks it very hard. She doesn't want him to have to dig any deeper.
She thinks.
"Use a pentagon - for a one-time use, not a permanent power - and see if you can tell me what word I am focusing on right now," she says.
The answer is penguin. She thinks it very hard. She doesn't want him to have to dig any deeper.
self_composed
"Right. And just to make sure that's a thing pentagons can do in general..." She quits the read. "Pick a word, say when." Bella readies a pentagon.
self_composed
Bella's pentagon does go; Bella's magic knowledge does appear.
"Huh." She picks up the read again to check her answer. "Yep. I am at least somewhat immune to magical spying and tampering. And not everyone is. And I am immune enough to make the wish for it redundant. But I know you're not." She wishes Alice general protection-from-mental-poking, from everyone but himself and her.
"Huh." She picks up the read again to check her answer. "Yep. I am at least somewhat immune to magical spying and tampering. And not everyone is. And I am immune enough to make the wish for it redundant. But I know you're not." She wishes Alice general protection-from-mental-poking, from everyone but himself and her.