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Elspeth gets a door.
It's been so long she reels for a moment, and then she throws herself forward and almost lands in a peal of Bells. Yes, there's Shell Bell, there's Juliet and Aurora, there's Glass, there's some Matilda she hasn't seen before.
"Elspeth!" exclaims Glass.
"How long has it been?" Aurora asks.
"Seventeen years. Shell Bell - I need you to help me find Harley," says Elspeth.
her_imperial_radiance
her_imperial_radiance
"He disappeared - like a variant on Sue's trick, but not controlled. He landed in another world and dreamed his way to Milliways from there. Someone let him into Aurum and he told us about it, but then he woke up. They're - they have an alt of Chelsea."
thaumobabble
"Get your mother. We're not opaque except Juliet," says Glass tightly.
her_imperial_radiance
Elspeth nods, leans back through the door, calls Golden on the brainphone. She's there in a moment, and then Elspeth says, "I'll tell Lizzie, too. The place is run by one of her alts."
[Grandma. Found a door. Found Shell Bell.]
[Grandma. Found a door. Found Shell Bell.]
prima-sequentem
[Well, that's convenient,] says Lizzie, and she teleports to Elspeth.
her_imperial_radiance
"Are you coming? Do you want to know what's going on?" Elspeth asks Agent Honey.
her_imperial_radiance
Elspeth nods, and sends summary at human-tolerable speed.
It's still fast, and still nests within itself with fractal context for instant comprehension. (Addy was so pleased when she learned to do that.)
Harley (her fosterling, a Joker) went missing (like Sue, not controlled, like Glass said) (Elspeth tried and the attractor got him anyway) to another world (no name, has a Libby and a Chelsea (she's a monster, she does this thing)) and it's an empire (dead babies; mind control) run by the first with the aid of the second; Harley dreamed his way to Milliways (Jokers do that, when trapped...) and someone let him out their door and it was Aurum after all (and then she deprogrammed him (with her witchcraft; it is like this -) but she can only do it halfway (she can disillusion but not restore) and it was harder than Chelsea's work ever was to undo) (and his wolf woke (wolves are this thing)) and they did not realize he hadn't only teleported again, that he was dreaming, that he might wake, until he vanished (and Zeus screamed) - and it has been months since in Aurum and who knows how long in the other world.
And she wants him back and home and safe and to tear out everything Chelsa has put into his head and to ask Glass if that was enough, if the template has taken all the toll it needs to be satisfied.
Golden will shield them. Lizzie will talk to Aelise. Elspeth will get her fosterling back again.
It's still fast, and still nests within itself with fractal context for instant comprehension. (Addy was so pleased when she learned to do that.)
Harley (her fosterling, a Joker) went missing (like Sue, not controlled, like Glass said) (Elspeth tried and the attractor got him anyway) to another world (no name, has a Libby and a Chelsea (she's a monster, she does this thing)) and it's an empire (dead babies; mind control) run by the first with the aid of the second; Harley dreamed his way to Milliways (Jokers do that, when trapped...) and someone let him out their door and it was Aurum after all (and then she deprogrammed him (with her witchcraft; it is like this -) but she can only do it halfway (she can disillusion but not restore) and it was harder than Chelsea's work ever was to undo) (and his wolf woke (wolves are this thing)) and they did not realize he hadn't only teleported again, that he was dreaming, that he might wake, until he vanished (and Zeus screamed) - and it has been months since in Aurum and who knows how long in the other world.
And she wants him back and home and safe and to tear out everything Chelsa has put into his head and to ask Glass if that was enough, if the template has taken all the toll it needs to be satisfied.
Golden will shield them. Lizzie will talk to Aelise. Elspeth will get her fosterling back again.
withmypowers
Matilda blinks.
"Excuse me," she says, "but do you think you could copy that to Adularia?" She taps the rectangular moonstone pendant hanging around her neck, which shimmers.
"Excuse me," she says, "but do you think you could copy that to Adularia?" She taps the rectangular moonstone pendant hanging around her neck, which shimmers.
withmypowers
"I think that would be safest for now, pending a controlled test," says Matilda.
her_imperial_radiance
Elspeth nods, and starts sending, again.
She waves impatiently at Shell Bell.
She waves impatiently at Shell Bell.
withmypowers
Adularia shimmers, then expands into a large, closed book with a sky-blue cover, which Agent Honey hugs against her stomach. If Aurora has her threat sensor out, it may note that Matilda is now prepared to get into some serious shit.
incanted
Aurora does have her threat sensor out. All the Bells have their auras out; hers and Shell Bell's unflavored and Glass's just barely sylvan, Juliet dripping flames and hazard, Golden every inch a vampire half stillness half speed.
salus-populi
They emerge in Aelise's office.
She raises her eyebrows, taps something on the screen in front of her, and says, "Tell Tab her alts are here."
She raises her eyebrows, taps something on the screen in front of her, and says, "Tell Tab her alts are here."
incanted
"...Covered. Not an overwhelming safety margin, but covered, and she's not hostile."
thaumobabble
Glass is looking at the world. "I do not like this world," she concludes. "It's not as - the thing Sunshine is as Sunshine, but it's not nice."
cross_and_bow
"Let's hear about Tab," invites Juliet, in tones that do not match her general hellgoddessy-ness.
her_imperial_radiance
Elspeth, meanwhile, acts on Aurora's information and kills a hex to yoink Harley into her arms.