up off the floor | Glowfic Constellation

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.)

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endragoned

Aianon starts slow, testing Nathan's strength. He is careful not to dig in his claws.

temporal_affairs

Nathan's hand stays exactly where it is. "Am I trying to win or do science?" he asks.

endragoned

Aianon shrugs, stretching his wings.

He keeps increasing the pressure from his side. It doesn't go up as smoothly as it would with a vampire, but he's definitely getting into vampiric range.

temporal_affairs

"Huh," observes Nathan.

He switches goals from "keep hand where it is" to "slam Aianon's hand onto the rock". This isn't as automatically decisive as it would be with any non-supernatural strength, but it is sudden and forceful.

endragoned

Their joined hands sway abruptly in one direction, and then somewhat less abruptly in the other. Aianon doesn't have perfect control of exactly which muscles are exerting how much force; he crushes Nathan's hand a little.

temporal_affairs

"A little less with the squeezing?" Nathan says, wincing.

endragoned

"Sorry," he says, flicking his tail from side to side, and tries to squeeze less. Which also leaves their hands more or less vertical.

temporal_affairs

"Although the fact that you can meaningfully squeeze my hand is interesting," comments Nathan, still pushing.

endragoned

"Is it?" he wonders, still pushing back. Their hands waver back and forth a little; the force he applies isn't consistent.

temporal_affairs

"Yeah, at home vampires can be hurt by three things. Vampires - or our relatives, if they get a chance - and werewolves and fire." Pause. "Starvation can also get us but it's slow. Usually."

Jokes

manofmyword

"Aww, sweetie," the Joker murmurs, giving Nathan a hug and a kiss.

endragoned

"Demons can be hurt by many things, but killed by few," he says. "Unicorns. Certain magics. Unicorns no longer burn me; I have not tried the other."

temporal_affairs

Nathan kisses back. His distraction does nothing to lessen the force of his wrestling arm.

endragoned

The demon laughs. His distraction makes him forget not to squeeze, very very briefly before he remembers again.

temporal_affairs

"Ow. I'm calling this experiment if that happens again," says Nathan.

Jokes

manofmyword

"I could just make you unsquishable," says the Joker, pecking Nathan on the cheek.

temporal_affairs

"Shouldn't need it," grumbles Nathan. "Fine, go for it, babe."

Jokes

manofmyword

He hugs his sweetie. "There, you're squishproof."

endragoned

Aianon cautiously increases the pressure of his hand. There is no more crushing.

temporal_affairs

Nathan continues to press inexorably.

"Newborn could probably beat you outright," he comments. "Newborn's at least half again as strong as me."

endragoned

Meanwhile, the force Aianon exerts is wavering more and more erratically.

"I have not fought one of my own kind in thousands of years," he says. "Now I am glad I will not have to."

temporal_affairs

"I'm not even unusually strong for a non-newborn vampire, there's variance."

endragoned

"My father was stronger than I," says Aianon. "Few others were."

temporal_affairs

"Well, if you win - which is looking increasingly unlikely - we can see if Emmett wants to come try, he's probably strongest of anyone who might show up to a peal party."

endragoned