Although most of the Jokers are already in the orgy chambers with Brilliance, there is one - fluffy, uncothed - straggler.

Aurora peers at him, then identifies Rose and catches her by the elbow. "Hey, Rose?"

"Mm?"

"Can I talk to you and your husband? About - I think I'm wired funny for a Bell because of having a sister, and I'm not having as easy a time as it sounded like everyone else did coping with non-monogamy, and it'd help to - see what you do."

"Mon cœur," Rose calls in Beast's direction.

"Can what were you about to do wait a short while? Aurora wishes to interview us about how we manage your tendency to do such things," murmurs Rose, smiling slightly.

The Beast giggles and licks Rose's cheek. "All right."

"But I am not sure I understand what the problem is," Rose tells Aurora. "Or what your sister has to do with it."

"Well, I don't know if it's Lexi, or maybe something about how I met Brilliance, or what, but Lexi's the obvious difference," says Aurora. "And - Lexi is my favorite person - and now I'm dating Brilliance which is like inviting him to take that spot, eventually, and meanwhile -" She trails off, gesturing hopefully at Rose.

"And you are - unsure of your priority?" Rose asks. "Because of his - we could call it physical inconstancy?"

"Unsure of my priority, yeah, like, he said the other Jokers would probably not take precedence in a saving-people situation, but that only goes so far and it's not for the most comfortable of reasons."

"I'm unsure that we're the best pair to interview," says Rose. "For months we were each other's only company at all. I was his rescue from an eternity of loneliness. I am his wife. I do not think mon cœur is likely to abandon me for any newer interest unless the first abandonment is mine. It would certainly have been a terrible surprise, had it been a surprise, had I been assigning more significance to where he takes his exercise than to the rest - but it was not a surprise."

The Beast snuggles his wife.

"I can also read his mind," Rose says, lifting her hand to touch Beast's cheek. "Most of us do - I don't believe Cam or Amariah do, though. And Aegis's version is considerably more under Sue's control than Angela's or Stella's is under Micaiah's or Alice's. But it helps. There is - really no understanding of how they love until you have seen it, I think."

"If there's no understanding without looking and they don't mind being looked at why don't Cam or Amariah?"

"People from Amariah's world have their own sort of particular intimacy, which may suffice for her. I don't know about Cam. Possibly it's relevant that the two of them are by far the most likely to follow suit with the behavior that has you so concerned," Rose suggests.

The Beast laughs.

"So I should try one of them?"

"Perhaps. I am sorry I cannot be of more help." She pauses. "And it might be unnecessary to extract these Bells' respective Jokers from their activities, considering that it turned out mon cœur had so little to say."

"I have no wisdom to offer about being a Bell in love with a Joker, ma belle, because I am not one."

"I thought you might be able to reassure me about prioritization, but apparently Rose has you figured out well enough to do that all by herself," sighs Aurora.

"Of course she is."

"I am," shrugs Rose, smiling. "I do recommend mindreading. It - helped."