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

[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.

[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.

[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."

[gunpowdergelatine]

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

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

[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."

[gunpowdergelatine]

He smiles slightly.

"Do ya now."

[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?"

[self_composed]

"Not here here. But -" She blinks, tilts her head; she's gotten a message - "In a while, probably a day or so, a bunch of us are going to have a party near where I live, and some of you will be there. I could bring you."

[gunpowdergelatine]

"So," he says, watching her thoughtfully, "until then...?"

[self_composed]

"You could go back to wherever you live - reside - here, if you like, or I could take you back to my world ahead of time and introduce you to the copy of you who lives there," shrugs Stella. "I don't know about long-term. I don't know how long ago you died or if there's anything much for you to go back to."

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Oh, I don't want to go back," he says. "Why would I want to go back? I liked it here just fine until... mm. You know."

[self_composed]

"I do know. You could also wait in Milliways until the party," shrugs Stella.

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Hmm... think I'd rather go meet your me," he decides.

[self_composed]

"Okay." [Jane?]

Jane picks them up and puts them down in her installation point in the moon palace.

[Alice, brought an alt of you home. He got grabbed by the same guy who got Shell Bell. Come visit?]

[edgeofyourseat]

He teleports directly to hug.

[gunpowdergelatine]

Queenie jumps a little, then bursts into giggles.

"Look at you," he says delightedly. "Fluffy little thing, c'mere—"

And now they're making out. Well, that was predictable.

[self_composed]

Yep. Yep, that was predictable. Bella abandons Moonstone Palace to the cause and kicks back in Marspire.

[Hey, Anna, Sandy, I met alts of you.]

[lookingforwardtoit]

[Ooh, alts. Where?]

[self_composed]

[The afterlife which me and the other Bells just went and remodeled. You want I should invite them to the giant party on Mars we're going to throw after some immediate tasks have been handled?]

[lookingforwardtoit]

[Oooooh. Yes!]

[self_composed]

[Will do.]

Jane can relay the invitation by brainphone.

[lookingforwardtoit]

[Awesome. So what are they like?]

[self_composed]

[You and Anna are more of a match than Sandy and Chainsaw from what little I've seen, but, you know, they're yous. Like me and Juliet and Shell Bell and so on are each other.]

[lookingforwardtoit]

[Uh-huh. So are they, you know...? Masochism parties?]