a profusion of whistles | Glowfic Constellation

self_composed

"I love you too," she replies, pressing a kiss to his temple.

Alice

edgeofyourseat

It is now snuggle time.

self_composed

When is it ever not snuggle time, really?

It's a few days before Bella finds the door to Milliways again. Since she can always stick her head out and fetch anyone she wants to introduce to anyone else in there, she thinks nothing of walking through by herself.

truthwright

There's a familiar face sitting by the Window, building a house of cards and humming to himself.

He has a small fluffy white fox with enormous ears perched on his shoulder. Occasionally he reaches up and pets her tiny nose.

self_composed

"Hi!" says Stella. "You're probably Kas, am I right? And Petaal."

truthwright

"...Hi!" says Kas. "Yeah, that's us. Which one are you?"

self_composed

Stella's wearing her crown. It has the star sapphires, although since they are magic star sapphires they radiate in seven directions instead of six. "Guess," she says, tapping it.

truthwright

"...well, you're probably an empress of something," he says slowly, "but it's not like that narrows it down..."

self_composed

"I'm Stella," she laughs. "Stars, Empress of the Stars, hence the crown design. Golden's is gold, Shell Bell's is all ocean-themed, your Amariah's entry mentioned something about permanent ice."

truthwright

Petaal ducks her head behind Kas's so that just the tip of one ear peeks out around his jawline.

"...Nice to meet you, I guess," he says, fiddling with the card in his hands. (Six of hearts.)

self_composed

"Is Amariah around?" Stella asks.

truthwright

"Nah, she's at home," he says.

He doesn't seem delighted about this, for some reason. Maybe he just misses her.

self_composed

"...Are you okay?"

truthwright

He wrinkles his nose slightly. "Do you care?"

self_composed

"I asked, didn't I?" She sits down opposite him. "What's wrong?"

truthwright

Petaal crawls behind Kas's neck to his other shoulder, turns into a glass-winged butterfly, and perches in his hair.

"I'm scared of you," he says softly.

self_composed

"I'm not gonna hurt you," she says, sitting back and blinking. "- Is it the coins? Are you scared of Shell Bell now too?"

truthwright

"Maybe I should be," he says, dropping the six of hearts into his lap and pressing his hand down on top of the house of cards so the whole thing collapses onto the table. A few stray cards spin off the edge onto the floor.

"But you're the only one who's done the thing I'm afraid of."

self_composed

"...The asteroid thing?" hazards Stella. "Alice isn't afraid of me. He was mad for a while but not afraid. Micaiah wasn't either. Why are you?"

truthwright

"Alice is the one who's fucking you, I'm pretty sure that buys him a pass," says Kas. "The worst thing Micaiah's ever done to anybody is steal their wallet and run away laughing."

self_composed

"Is Amariah tolerating you doing nasty things to people?" asks Stella. "Because that seems unlikely on the face of it. Although I still haven't met her directly."

truthwright

"I killed a guy for her," Petaal pipes up, with a defiant flutter of her wings. "And I'd do it again."

self_composed

"And Amariah killed a guy for Shell Bell, Golden killed somebody who hurt her particularly badly, the fact that I've never personally found it necessary doesn't mean I can't see the occasional necessity for people with fewer resources than I have," says Stella. "If Amariah wanted you to kill a guy I'm pretty happy to accept the explanation that this was the best idea."

truthwright