"It's an imperfect difference. Stella's Alice is a vampire; I'm not sure if it's his ingot power or sheer template attractor that leaves him capable of non-monogamy while mated. The literal original succubi who mated settled down when it happened and it doesn't seem to have affected Alice at all. But for the most part, vampires acquire mates and then no one else interests us."

"Oh," says Liselen. "'Template attractor'... is he one of the ones like Isibel's demon?"

"Alice is, yes. The template calls themselves Jokers, now."

"Now? Was it something else before?"

"Whistles. As in 'bells and whistles'. When enough of them collected they objected to being - subordinated to our template in this way."

"Huh," says Liselen. "'Bells and whistles'. Sounds like something you'd hear in Armethalieh."

"It's an expression on Earth. It means nifty little add-ons to something that's functional without them but better with. And it's super cute. I'm glad I wasn't already used to it, that'd be annoying to switch away from."

"That is kind of cute," Liselen agrees.

"Anyway, I don't think you can possibly be as monogamous as I am or you'd be repelled by the very question," says Golden. "I can live with gatherings of this sort only with some difficulty, and you'll notice I left my husband home."

"You have the standard history, though, so if you're different it's because you're a vampire, or because of Edward in particular, and if I'm different it's probably because of Lexi," says Aurora.

"Just you wait till we find some Lexis without Bellas and I start explaining all my characteristics by talking about how I have a sister and it's all her fault," says Lexi.

"I'm glad I have you! It just means I wasn't plucked whole from the Standard Bell Mold," says Bella. "And I want to know how. You know I'm self-obsessed like that, I have to know how I tick, you're part of how I tick."

"...What's the difficulty with gatherings like this?" wonders Liselen. "Is it all the people having sex in that room over there?"

"Not exactly. Cam is the one Bell besides myself my husband can tolerate being around for any length of time. He finds the others unsettlingly like me while not being me, and has comparable problems with the fact that they are dating people who do not stand in a similar relationship to him. To be fair, Edward is not particularly popular with the other Bells or their loved ones either. Or did you mean me?"

"I meant you," laughs the unicorn.

"While I can logically appreciate that if I had never met Edward, and if I were not a vampire and therefore subject to various features of vampire psychology, I would most likely not have been alone forever, it's somewhat difficult emotionally to observe eleven might-have-beens not one of whom comes home to anything like my husband."

"Oh," says Liselen. "I guess that makes sense."

"It would be different if we were all dating unique people. It wasn't so bad when Stella was the only alt I knew about, although her Alice did not make a particularly good first impression. I'm the only one with a unique person, until and unless Pattern picks up someone who doesn't match," says Golden, shrugging.

"Is she looking?"

"If she were actively looking I'd expect her to loiter around the bevy of extra Sherlocks more than she does."

"Not the extra Jokers?" wonders Liselen.

"The extras are significantly older than her - which has never been a problem for us, even me, but is not an enticement. And also both default to female pronouns, although I'm given to understand the underlying situation is more complicated."

"Also, don't they work for her?"

"Queenie does. Ghosty is - helpfully visiting. I don't believe that would be an obstacle were Pattern interested, but she doesn't seem to be."

"...What do female pronouns have to do with anything?" wonders Liselen.