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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
pina_colada
Kerron's just going to loiter around here waiting for someone to ask him who he is. Or say his name. Mum won't tell, he's good at playing along like that.
sailorheavymetal
A girl whom Kerron might have seen around at a previous Bellparty or two walks right past him, and then spins around and does a full-on double-take, one hand going to the handle of the war hammer hanging from her belt.
"Whoa!"
"Whoa!"
pina_colada
"...The Norse god of thunder? Me? I have honestly not heard that mistake made before, I gotta say," laughs Kerron.
sailorheavymetal
"The Norse god of thunder who happens to be my drinking buddy, yeah," says Darcy. "You look almost just like him, except younger and with less hair."
pina_colada
"...Okay," says Kerron, "how likely is that to be an alts thing and how likely is it to just be a crazy resemblance? Because I don't feel very Norse or very thunderous and I'm not gonna get any older-looking and I have no plans to stop buzzcutting once a week."
sailorheavymetal
"I am, like, 99% sure it's just a crazy resemblance," says Darcy. "I've heard that happens sometimes, although I haven't actually seen it until now. It's kinda weird! If you wanna check for sure, though," she pats the hammer, "I bet Mewtwo can help."
sailorheavymetal
"It used to be Thor's," she says, unhooking it from her belt and setting it on the floor with the handle pointing up. "If you're one of him, I bet it'll let you pick it up."
pina_colada
"Compared to humans I am really, really strong, is this a magic thing or a heaviness thing?" Kerron asks, reaching for the hammer.
pina_colada
"It's not budging," says Kerron. "That's interesting. This is definitely the smallest object I have ever been unable to move on trying."
sailorheavymetal
"It's always fun watching people try to pick up my hammer," says Darcy.
sailorheavymetal
Darcy picks up the hammer and hangs it from her belt again.
"Try me," she invites.
"Try me," she invites.
pina_colada
Kerron peers amusedly at some colorshapes, then plants a hand on each side of her waist and (gently) attempts to yoink.
She doesn't budge.
She doesn't budge.
sailorheavymetal
Darcy grins smugly.
And then a colorshape changes, and she becomes liftable.
And then a colorshape changes, and she becomes liftable.
pina_colada
He scoops her up, spins her around, and sets her down again. "So apparently I can do that if you feel like it and not otherwise."
sailorheavymetal
She giggles when spun.
"Mewtwo's nice like that," she says. "Do you have magical feel-like-it detection powers, or are you just a good guesser?"
"Mewtwo's nice like that," she says. "Do you have magical feel-like-it detection powers, or are you just a good guesser?"
pina_colada
"I have magical feel-like-it detection powers, especially about anything having to do with me," says Kerron. "I am the multiverse's first know witch-ingot. And I recognize you, Darcy, but do you know who I am?" He winks.
sailorheavymetal
"...no," she says, "have we met? We haven't met, we would've gone through this whole rigamarole if we'd met, unless you're from one of the worlds that got mega cut off and we met when you were like two, and holy shit, you're that cute kid who was running around the first Bellparty, aren't you."
pina_colada
"Yes," says Kerron. "It's been a while in Aurum. And I was way younger than two back then."
pina_colada
"I'm Kerron," says Kerron. "Can I help update the mental image that you are so keen on eradicating, there?"