i am the oncoming storm

[autokinetic]

There are three Bells in Milliways.

They want a fourth. A fifth. A sixth. A seventh.

And then Downside is going down.

Comments

[she_sells_seashells]

If you don't need me to hold the door anymore and the admin is done distributing powers I think I'll go home and install some Jane, says Shell Bell.

Pattern says, "I guess I'll get started with getting initial Jane installations going in all the worlds we have hooked into here that aren't already covered."

[ending_of]

The administrator shrugs. "You can all go, then."

[luminous_regnant]

"Thank you for being so accommodating," says Golden, and she's off, and the others disappear likewise.

[cross_and_bow]

Now where's that Sherlock alt who helped Shell Bell?

[self_composed]

Be vewy vewy quiet. Stella's hunting Whistles.

[gunpowdergelatine]

There is currently one alt of the Joker in this afterlife.

He is in a stone box in a dark room in someone's basement, and he is crying.

[self_composed]

Well, Stella can open the box and let him out. "What happened to you?" she asks softly, though she fears she already knows.

[gunpowdergelatine]

He stares uncomprehendingly at her.

[self_composed]

"I'm Bella. What's your name?" she tries.

[gunpowdergelatine]

He shakes his head slowly.

[finaldiscussion]

Not in a state to be teleported to.

[self_composed]

"Can I call you Whistle, is that all right? You don't have to be stuck there anymore, me and a bunch of my friends have come to fix Downside," murmurs Bella. She touches his hand, half-reflexively.

[cross_and_bow]

Hmmm. That probably means naked. But in context, it might or might not also mean being tortured.

Brainphone time. [Strat?]

[gunpowdergelatine]

When she touches him, he wraps his hand around hers and squeezes hard.

It takes him a few tries to form words.



"I want to get out of here," he says hoarsely.

[finaldiscussion]

[...Yes?]

[self_composed]

"Okay." Where to go, where to go - she winds up picking the office in the catacombs. Amariah has already been and gone about remodeling it. "Okay, here we are, now."

[cross_and_bow]

[I'm an alt of Shell Bell, do you remember her? We're remodeling Downside.]

[gunpowdergelatine]

He takes a deep breath and slowly lets go of her hand.

"...Queenie," he says. "I was Queenie. For a while."

[finaldiscussion]

[Define 'remodeling'.]

[self_composed]

"Okay, Queenie. I came and found you special because I know a lot of versions of you from a bunch of other worlds."

[cross_and_bow]

[Well, for instance, if you're in the middle of a contract, you can quit, that's not a thing anymore. One of our friends has automated all the judges out of a job. People who died only comparatively recently will get chances to go home. Nonconsensual violence is no longer a thing.]

[gunpowdergelatine]

He smiles slightly.

"Do ya now."

[finaldiscussion]

[Are you sure?]

[self_composed]

"Several. Nearly as many as I know copies of me. I think - I could be wrong, but I think - that one of them was stuck where you were stuck. She's okay now. You'll be okay too eventually."

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Oh, sure I will," he says dismissively. "Any of these other me's around here?"