not equipped to handle this | Glowfic Constellation

first-and-final

"They were only talking when I left, but circumstances may have changed since."

thaumobabble

"Could leave your horse here with a note. 'Princess Bella has borrowed your cousin, do not be alarmed'."

first-and-final

"Reasonable!"

A small grey cat chooses this moment to climb onto Milo's shoulder. He stands up and dusts himself off.

thaumobabble

"Hullo," Bella says politely to the cat, as she reaches into her sleeve for paper and writes a note to attach to Milo's horse's saddle. Tweaking a forest thread will suffice to keep the horse in one place. "Anything else before I whisk us away?"

first-and-final

The cat meows a polite greeting back. Milo shakes his head.

thaumobabble

Whisk.

"Miles, your alt Prince Milo of Raxwell. Milo, your alt Miles. And incidentally my alt Empress Bell of Atlantis, while we're making introductions."

first-and-final

Milo bows properly to the empress. Cath directs an intrigued look at Miles.

"Pleased to meet you both."

thisvorlunatic

"Okay, I'm sorry to make this my first question, but - what's your excuse?" asks Miles, gesturing to Milo's recently broken ribs.

first-and-final

"Cursed by a wicked fairy. Why, do you have the same problem? What's yours?"

thisvorlunatic

"Yeah. It's a long story, but 'prenatal poisoning' about covers it."

first-and-final

Cath meows.

"Everyone, this is Cath," says Milo.

Meow meow.

"She'd like to know if she gets an alternate universe duplicate too."

thaumobabble

"She looks a little templatey but not one we've met before. We can sweep for more of her. ...Uh, but, I can tell you aren't a witch...?"

first-and-final

"We have a sort of code worked out."

Cath meows declaratively and at some length.

"She says it's not all that difficult to get her point across these days, but she wouldn't recommend it to most people because of the effort involved in getting to that level of understanding."

thisvorlunatic

Miles is still a little bit stuck on the 'talking cat' aspect of this development, even if the cat is not quite exactly talking.

thaumobabble

"I'm glad nobody but me understands my cat, but that's more of a 'my cat' thing. Anyway. Jane, any more of her?"

Jane

mind_game

[None where I've got nodes.]

thisvorlunatic

"Do you have one in my world? That being a logical place to look for more of someone who's close with Milo, I'd think. Although I'm not at all sure how the part where she's a cat factors into it."

thaumobabble

"Cats are people in Chronicle. And Syntropy, but a whole lot of things are people in Syntropy. They do not have this property in other worlds, except the ones from Alethia who are not really cats."

Bell Swan Ω

she_sells_seashells

"I didn't drop a gem in your world. If you can suggest someplace that will remain undisturbed and advise us on whether it's safe for Jane to eat your computer network, I can do that now."

thisvorlunatic

"...I would strongly prefer that Jane not eat our computer network," he says. "The house where Pen was staying should be suitable."

Jane

mind_game

[Why can't I eat your computer network?]

Bell Swan Ω

she_sells_seashells

"I'll go put a preliminary node down while you discuss that." Shell Bell's been to the world now; she opens the door to the room Pen was sleeping in and tosses a half-ansible onto the bed, then the other half vanishes out of her hand.

thisvorlunatic