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Bella has watched a simple, managed Martian ecosystem and a glitteringly colorful first city pour procedurally out from assorted points of origin on her computer with a variety of rand seeds, and picked the prettiest result.
She's standing on that ideal origin spot now - the top of Olympus Mons, under a blue-dyed sky and a breathable layer of atmosphere - holding her laptop which holds this specification under her left arm. All present to witness this moment are Alice, Libby, Lazarus, and Bridget.
She defangs a trio of stars: one for the terrain, one for the wildlife, one for the city of Olympus. To be dramatic, she squares them off her bandolier and holds them high in the air between the fingers of her right hand.
"Welcome to Mars," she says.
Wishwishwish.
Moss ripples out from under her feet and carpets the landscape, giving way to forest further downhill and, further away, to freshwater ocean. Birds, startled by their existence, take off. An instant later they're all standing at the foot of her crystalline tower that sits at the center, watching skyscrapers riddled with magical appliances sprout from the ground, and streets pave themselves with smooth tiles.
Bella defangs more stars and lays down what she's taken to calling Ground Rules with another gesture. Mars is going to be peaceful. Mars is going to be safe. Mars is going to watch its people and report to her.
Mars is going to be the seat of the Empire of the Stars.
(There's a flag, on the spire of her tower. It's sky blue, and there are half a dozen seven-pointed stars spangling it. It ripples in the breeze that's begun to waft in from the sea.)
self_composed
regularsized
"I am thoroughly impressed," says Bridget. "Anybody mind if I quit school and move to Mars?"
self_composed
Bella grins at her planet. "Help yourself to an apartment, Bridget."
After a moment, she adds, "I should probably inform my parents at some point that I'm the Star Empress."
After a moment, she adds, "I should probably inform my parents at some point that I'm the Star Empress."
nonbird
"Probably a good idea," Lazarus concurs. "Can I move to Mars? Actually, hold that thought, I should talk it over with Kolya first."
self_composed
"Well, feel free, the both of you, if you'd like," Bella says. "Libby? Want a place here?"
prima-sequentem
"Eventually, yes," she says. "But I should probably stay on Earth for the time being. I have responsibilities."
self_composed
"Fair enough. It's going to be possible to drive here, FYI. Big magic door and some manner of passkey system once I have immigration set up."
prima-sequentem
"Have you decided how you're going to introduce that notion to the various governments you will be providing with shiny new borders in unexpected places?"
self_composed
"I'm thinking a system along the lines of 'move it if they complain, somebody will want the throughput and the economic boost'."
self_composed
"Yes. Yes it should," says Bella merrily. "Lazarus? What does Kolya have to say?"
self_composed
"Aww. Okay. I'm going to go invite my old roommate 'cause I like her," Bella says. "Later." Pop!
Bella has been skipping class, but hasn't officially dropped out yet. She lands directly in their dorm room and is not unobtrusive about it at all.
Bella has been skipping class, but hasn't officially dropped out yet. She lands directly in their dorm room and is not unobtrusive about it at all.
edgeofyourseat
Janine is (1) still without a journal of her very own and (2) present.
"...Um," she says, staring.
"...Um," she says, staring.
self_composed
"Hi, Janine," says Bella. "I can teleport. Also, I have declared myself the Empress of Mars. Do you want to come live there?"
self_composed
"Well, I put a palace on the moon, first, but then I decided the people of Earth might find it threatening if my empire was directly overhead. So I terraformed Mars. And put a city on it, which I now mean to populate. It is full of magic things. I decided not to be secretive about this, so you can see that Mars is terraformed if you happen to have access to a telescope that will show you that it's now green and blue instead of reddish."
self_composed
"I found a book written by one of my ancestors with a wish attached to it that gave me wish-generation powers," Bella replies.
(She has already collected all the uncontrolled stashes of coins in the world and determined there's no hexes in any of the others.)
(She has already collected all the uncontrolled stashes of coins in the world and determined there's no hexes in any of the others.)
edgeofyourseat
"If magic is the kind of thing that lets people be Empress of Mars, why are you the first Martian empress I've heard about?"
self_composed
"Wishes come in sizes. It takes the very biggest wishes to be Empress of Mars, and big wishes are both harder to get and less safe to use. Also, a surprising number of people don't want to be Empress of Mars."
edgeofyourseat
"I don't want to be Empress of Mars," says Janine. "Do they need electrical engineers on Mars? Does anyone else live on Mars yet? How hard is it to go back and forth?"