It lurks. Oh how it lurks.
The Bellas are getting along! Isn't it awesome?
I knew they'd like each other, Elspeth... somethings... to Libby.
...And observes that she can add people to the brainphone network without spending any coins.
[Me too, favourite grandchild. Me too.]
Meanwhile, Bella of sharper teeth says, "I hear you have... pretty much strictly better magic than ours around here."
"I'm not sure if that's exactly the case. We have ingots where you've got witches and from what I know we're roughly equivalent - I think I have about your power, except Elspeth still works on me, for instance - but between coins and vampires. Well. Coins are really convenient for me but only because I have..." She pauses, looks at Edward, and decides to say, "Help. Coins are more flexible, I gather, but smaller scale without serious investment. I don't know. Does turning into a vampire hurt like hell?"
"Except," continues local Bella, "that we have a witch who can patch this problem now."
"He's a perfect anaesthetic," pipes up Elspeth. Of course, explaining this is part of her job. "But maybe a little too perfect. No one has any senses while they're under, and from the moment you start turning you can't sleep either. So me and another witch who can do visual illusions take turns piping movies at them while there's a batch changing. It's no one's favorite three days, but it's not torture anymore."
There is currently no way to privately ask the Empress of the Stars if they want to offer a better solution, so Libby just glances at her and says, "We could probably help with that, if you want."
Bella wonders if it would be safe to turn Alice into a vampire. The idea that it might not appeal to him barely crosses her mind. It hurts like hell, and it's a thing. Besides, any unwelcome side effects can be patched with wishing. He'll probably love the idea.
"Well," says the Empress Regnant In This Section Of Multiverse. "That would be very kind of you. Have we got anything you'd like?"
"Nothing that would be tricky for you to offer us," Bella says. "2030 technology - I'm doing a lot of stuff for my Martians with magic, but I don't want to be a bottleneck. Interesting magic for my friend Lazarus to study. If you've got a Lazarus or an equivalent the same can go the other way. Maybe some interesting media is going to come out in the next 25 years - I'd feel rude scooping anybody, but I wouldn't mind sneak previews, and I'm not averse to throwing around some magic for frivolous reasons. I might want someone turned into a vampire," she adds offhand. "Without your anesthetist, though, he's like that."
"Lazarus would definitely like it here," says Libby. "And he is nice and fluffy and harmless and could probably help you study any magic you feel like studying."
"Libby, Bella," says Resident Bella, "Addy, the Imperial Factotum."
"She can copy witches' powers by touching them. Except me. I don't like her enough to let her through the way I can sometimes with Elspeth and Edward," says the golden one, smiling thin-lipped.
"I am not an ingot," says Libby. "Lazarus is, though. He... I'll go with 'sees'... he sees magic."
She gets her handshake. Her face falls.
"He would be willing to visit," says Libby. "Are you enthusiastic about magic? You could be enthusiastic about magic together."
"Understatement," mutters Elspeth.
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Bella agrees. "Is there any known way to summon Milliways or does it just appear at apparent random?"
"There are people known to be able to summon Milliways," says Libby. "I'm not one of them."