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Time has passed.
Inconsistently.
Jane's network has kept all the Bells' worlds - and every other world with a Janepoint stuck in due to its being attached to Downside - in temporal sync, but when Jane spluttered for just a moment, that was shot to hell.
Peace lost three seconds, because it was where Aegis torched; after that process was complete, Jane was there again. And as soon as a door between Peace and Milliways appeared, she could sync to her ansible hub in the Belltower and, from there, to everywhere else.
Atlantis and Sunshine each stand at about a minute apiece: Shell Bell's aura and Juliet's local copy of Jarvis both enabled them to get to Milliways immediately, pausing their homeworlds as standard for occasions when someone walks into the bar. Shell Bell's the one who connected Peace.
Everyone else was running on luck.
Luckiest is Rainbow, which lost only five hours.
Next is Alethia; in spite of Sherlock's mishap, it's fared reasonably well, spending only six weeks isolated.
Syntropy's just a little worse - seven weeks.
Origin waited two months.
Eos waited three.
Thilanushinyel, ten.
Everyone else is out a decade at least. Samaria's ten years, almost ten and a half.
Aurum is out eleven.
Rêverie has been separated for sixteen years.
All the Bells - and Elspeth, who was stuck in Downside for a day and a half on her end and whose mother was very upset - are collected in the Belltower, as are two Bell-attached Sherlocks who happened to be along for the ride. They all memorize this list of numbers. Aegis replaces her earpiece. And then they all go home to notify their loved ones and staff that there's a party cooking in the Belltower.
(Shell Bell, who has no particular cause on her own account to be distressed, sends her Sherlock to invite Tony in while she refits the Belltower to suit a party of a peal of Bells and their larger-than-last-encountered families and circles of friends.)
mind_game
lifes_sake
"Well," says Cam to Tilly. "I wanna meet the other you, d'you wanna meet the other you?"
lifes_sake
She's not hard to find! Unlike the many barely-distinguishable Bells milling about, there are a total of just two Matildas here.
"Hullo, Other Matilda," says Cam to Other Matilda.
"Hullo, Other Matilda," says Cam to Other Matilda.
withmypowers
"Hi," says Other Matilda. "You must be Tilly."
"Got it in one!" says Tilly. "Hey, can I have some of your infamous contagious magic?"
"Since you asked so nicely," says Other Matilda. Tilly levitates a few inches into the air.
"Got it in one!" says Tilly. "Hey, can I have some of your infamous contagious magic?"
"Since you asked so nicely," says Other Matilda. Tilly levitates a few inches into the air.
lifes_sake
Cam laughs softly. "It didn't work on Shell Bell, is it liable to work on any of us other Bells?"
withmypowers
"No statistics either way," says Other Matilda. "I can always try it and see."
lifes_sake
"Yes, please," says Cam, smiling. "Who doesn't like new forms of magic? I try not to go too long without meeting any new forms of magic."
withmypowers
Other Matida also conjures each of them a laptop like hers and sends them the latest version of her collected resources on How To Magic.
lifes_sake
Cam sits Grace on the conjured laptop and tells her to make friends.
withmypowers
"...Does he always do that?" asks Matilda of Tilly.
"Pretty much," says Tilly.
Matilda shakes her head. They both laugh. Tilly opens up her conjured laptop and starts playing with it.
"Pretty much," says Tilly.
Matilda shakes her head. They both laugh. Tilly opens up her conjured laptop and starts playing with it.
lifes_sake
"Is there something particularly funny about getting my magic-notebook-with-special-privileges-
lifes_sake
"I'm still going to learn all the stuff, I'll just have Grace help," says Cam. "She's my extremely customized curriculum generator."
withmypowers
"Yes," says Matilda.
"But it seems so much less fun that way," says Tilly.
"But it seems so much less fun that way," says Tilly.
lifes_sake
"But if I just read it all directly myself, when would Grace get to have any fun?"
lifes_sake
Cam smiles. "So what do you do, Other Matilda? Is your world even named yet?"
withmypowers
"Wellspring," says Matilda. "You know, I think calling your Matilda 'Tilly' is sufficiently non-redundant that you don't have to call me 'Other Matilda' too."
lifes_sake
"But I don't typically call mine Tilly, that's mostly Jellybean's thing," says Cam.
withmypowers
"And yet, we've picked our non-redundant names, and mine is not Other Matilda."
lifes_sake
"Eh, for certain values of non-redundant. Fine. Matilda," shrugs Cam. "Is it that hard to think of nicknames? I could've come up with something besides Cam if more of me were boys."