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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
her_imperial_radiance
Elspeth, repatriated, smothered in parental hugs, with a newly awakened wolf who missed as much time at home as she did close at her heels, and generally just a bit overwhelmed, is hanging out over there.
pumpkin-pie
Aedyt... meant to go up and say hi, she really did.
But then she discovered that actually it's kind of difficult to go up and say hi to somebody you've been hearing about all your life who is guaranteed to have no idea who you are. So she's just kind of hanging out over here and maybe staring a little.
But then she discovered that actually it's kind of difficult to go up and say hi to somebody you've been hearing about all your life who is guaranteed to have no idea who you are. So she's just kind of hanging out over here and maybe staring a little.
her_imperial_radiance
"That half-vamp over there is staring at you," Jacob murmurs in Elspeth's ear.
Elspeth turns in Aedyt's direction and tilts her head and waves.
Elspeth turns in Aedyt's direction and tilts her head and waves.
her_imperial_radiance
Who're you? Elspeth sends at her. I've missed a lot, even though it's been less than two days for me.
pumpkin-pie
"Um, I'm Aedyt," she says, coming to within reasonable conversational distance. "Nathan and the Joker's second kid."
her_imperial_radiance
Elspeth laughs. "I do that. I have the highlightiest highlights of what I missed, but obviously I haven't been filled in on everything, what else is threatening to surprise me?"
pumpkin-pie
"...I exist?" says Aedyt. "I don't know what else you would've missed. I mean, I've only existed for six of the eleven years you've been gone for."
her_imperial_radiance
"I was thinking stuff on the order of world news and whether anybody your age might be related to me."
pumpkin-pie
"Rosalie has some kids kind of sprinkled around my age," she offers. "Cara's the closest, and there's Parker and Lindsay before her and Oliver and Nicole after."
her_imperial_radiance
"That doesn't surprise me. I've got some catching up to do, I guess." Elspeth sighs. "Has Mama been okay without me, do you know?"
pumpkin-pie
"I don't know her majesty that well," says Aedyt. "I've seen her around a few times, that's all. But every time somebody comes to pick up coins from Mum, he asks how she is, and the answer's mostly 'okay, she's dealing'. Does... that help?"
her_imperial_radiance
"I guess. I mean, you could've described her as 'okay, she's dealing' when she thought Dad was dead, so I was hoping for an upgrade when it was me instead and I was just stranded... But yeah, it helps."
her_imperial_radiance
"Yup! I am back. I hope nobody became too attached to my job in the last eleven years, I like it."
her_imperial_radiance
"I ran PRPR. And moonlit as a cinema operator for turning people, but maybe they've got that process magically streamlined now."
pumpkin-pie
"Um... everything? Lately I've been experimenting with making beads to sew onto dresses."