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

[ending_of]

To remove not only all instances of control, but all instances of the specifically-granted ability to hand it out, it will take an arrow.

But an arrow does do the job.

[nowait_letme]

Timely, too, because Chainsaw is smiling in a not particularly friendly way and ahem-ing like someone who sees a problem with this plan.

[cross_and_bow]

Bye, Juliet's arrow.

"Tips? Input?" she asks Chainsaw mildly.

[nowait_letme]

"Why don't you tell me how, exactly, you intend to fix the place."

[self_composed]

"Well, first of all, this being dead thing is a bad deal. Shell Bell went home, for instance." (She's not going to bring up Juliet; not if they don't know yet how that information can be used.) "We'd like to send other people home insofar as we can. That's going to be easier to keep under control in Bell-operated worlds, but we'll figure it out for the others as best we can. People who don't meaningfully have homes to go to anymore - if it's been a hundred years since they died, say - or who don't miss where they came from should at least get to exist in an environment free of people randomly exercising body-control powers for nonconsensual amusement. We have nothing against consensual amusement, so whatever you and Eights do when you aren't having pancakes together is fine - assuming you are a Sandy and an Anna and don't just look remarkably alike and have suspiciously likely professions. We might move some people who don't want to go home per se but don't like it here even with that issue patched into our worlds. I can terraform a few solar systems for 'em, I'm probably best set up to take the immigration - Shell Bell or Amariah or Golden could set up to match, I guess, Aegis might be able to fold some in, but I'm the one who's already colonizing space."

[nowait_letme]

"Question. Who the fuck are Sandy and Anna?"

[lookingforwardtoit]

"And does anybody else want pancakes?" adds Eights.

[cross_and_bow]

"I'll take some pancakes," laughs Juliet.

[self_composed]

"Sandy and Anna are people from my world who look like you and Eights, respectively, and they're on my payroll. They help me with magic stuff. Sandy lives on a Jovian moon, designs buildings with spare magic, there's a giant chess set, he's got four surprisingly realistic imaginary friends, gets along famously with my boyfriend who is an alt of someone you met not long ago, does any of that sound about right to you?"

[lookingforwardtoit]

Eights serves up a plateful of pancakes for Juliet. They are tasty and warm.

[nowait_letme]

"I meet a lot of people," Chainsaw says dryly. "I guess I don't get along with most of 'em. What's his relationship with power tools?"

[self_composed]

"I don't involve myself in the details," Stella says archly. "My guess is that it would be a friendly-like relationship."

[cross_and_bow]

Mmm, pancakes. "Thanks!"

[nowait_letme]

"Then I bet you've got the right guy," he says. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

[self_composed]

"Nothing in particular. It does mean that if we successfully take over and you have something to say to one of us you've got a better-than-average chance of queue-jumping," shrugs Stella. "Since someone of your template's in with someone of ours."

[cross_and_bow]

"Amariah and Aegis are covering the catacombs, but maybe we should scope out the wakeful population for alts," muses Juliet. "If nothing else we should tap the Sherlock that Shell Bell found."

[ending_of]

All of a sudden, Stella and Juliet are no longer present.

Yoink.

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan's as surprised as everyone else.

"Well," he says.

[nowait_letme]

Chainsaw blinks.

[temporal_affairs]

"They're talking to the admin," Nathan reports a moment later. "We'll see how far they get with that, I guess."

[lookingforwardtoit]

"Not far, I bet," sighs Eights.

[temporal_affairs]

"Well, I don't know, the ones who started out alive are still alive," he shrugs.

[lookingforwardtoit]

"I guess that's a start."

[temporal_affairs]

"I'd ask for a pancake, but I no longer eat solid food," Nathan says after a bit of an awkward silence.

[lookingforwardtoit]

"What do you eat?"