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Pattern still doesn't know what her aura does. This is getting annoying. It's not like she's short on stuff to do - she's been writing letters to various heads of state (which appear on their desks or their inboxes by magic or Jane; she wouldn't expect to get through by normal channels) to convince them that she exists and is willing to take immigrants to Saturn and bring back dead people, she's catching up on what her parents and the world have been doing for the last four years, she's chatting through Jane with various other Bells and fielding Downside help requests her share of the time.
But she wants to know what is up with her aura, dangit.
[Hey, Jane, can you ask Stella if I can go visit Eos and talk to her magic seeing guy about my aura? And ask the magic seeing guy if he'd be up for that?]
[Stella says yes,] says Jane after a moment. [And...]
bellfounding
bellfounding
Pattern goes to Eos. [Hey, Lazarus, can I just teleport to you or are you busy?]
bellfounding
Poof!
"Hi." Pattern has her aura out at normal strength; no one seems to notice it so she has no reason to keep it withdrawn.
"Hi." Pattern has her aura out at normal strength; no one seems to notice it so she has no reason to keep it withdrawn.
self_composed
Stella shows up a moment later. "Me too, me too, mine also remains mysterious."
bellfounding
"Ack!" Pattern exclaims when Kolya appears. "Me, of course."
self_composed
"...Could you not see her?" Stella asks Kolya. "Oh, weird, maybe you have some kinda stealth aura and that's why we couldn't figure it out? And you didn't know he was there so you didn't want him to see you -"
self_composed
"Well, I don't know, maybe it has settings, you've been trying to figure out your special features and not just use generic aura stuff," Stella shrugs, "try wanting, let's play with it."
bellfounding
Pattern tries wanting. And all of a sudden she's every bit as noticeable as Stella is, every inch a powerful enchantress who warrants attention.
"...Is anything happening?"
"...Is anything happening?"
bellfounding
"Okay, but if I..." The aura diminishes, and then Pattern makes a face and then she's gone.
self_composed
"Hooooly shit, you're not even just invisible, I can see invisible things," Stella says. "Either that or your aura beats my coin. You're - I have no idea what the hell you are. Come back? This is weird."
bellfounding
Pattern unflares, and she's subtle, like she has managed to hide behind a bookshelf or something in spite of standing in the middle of the room, but she's no longer imperceptible.
"Okay, that's weird, but I can work with it. What's going on exactly, O Magic Seeing Guy?"
"Okay, that's weird, but I can work with it. What's going on exactly, O Magic Seeing Guy?"
nonbird
"Your aura responds to how much you want people to see you, per person per sense," he says. "While you were gone, I could see your magic but not the rest of you. And since you didn't know Kolya was there until he spoke up, he couldn't see you until you did. Apparently your visibility defaults to off."
bellfounding
"Am I beating up Stella's see-invisibility or going around it somehow?"
nonbird
"Um... yes," he says. "If you dialed it down slowly, she'd see you before other people did. But you're not exactly invisible, you're something else."
nonbird
"There's invisible, and then there's unnoticeable," he says, gesturing to the last known location of Kolya. "You're imperceptible."
bellfounding
"Weird," laughs Pattern. "So, okay, is that all my aura does? Most of them that we know for sure about do two things."
nonbird
"It's also decided to be your own personal cinematographer, apparently. When it's letting people see you, it's going to make sure the lighting and so forth know you're the star of the show."
bellfounding
"Okay, that's funny," snorts Pattern. "That's really cute. In a contradictory sort of way."