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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.)
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mind_game
temporal_affairs
"All right then. But you realize I'll have to put you down in order to arm-wrestle him or anybody."
temporal_affairs
"You better. Where is this demonic competitive fellow?"
temporal_affairs
"Hello there. Rumor has it you might be able to arm-wrestle a vampire and win." Nathan puts the Joker down and spreads his hands. "I am a convenient vampire."
endragoned
"Someone will have to explain 'arm-wrestle'," says Aianon, "but I think that could be fun."
temporal_affairs
"We find some surface - not Pattern's little genomics lab over here, maybe a rock, outside - and plop our right elbows down on it and -" He demonstrates the relevant grip on his mate. "Try to force the other's hand down onto the rock or whatever."
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.
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.
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."
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.