festive rainbow mirror summoning!

[incanted]

There are now one dozen Bells.

They and most of their friends are all here on Planet Rainbowsand II, to celebrate the addition of Sarion, the elf one, and Aurora, the one with a sister.

Comments

[cardistry]

"It is really fundamental to me. It's really fundamental to all of us, but I'm far and away the most fucked up about it."

[incanted]

"What else can you tell me? I'm worried I'll - say something wrong about something important and you'll wind up feeling like I'm trying to control you, and then we'll be stuck with a terrible situation where I've gone and misframed the whole thing and all the okay results for me are no longer okay results for you because of that framing."

[cardistry]

"...I mean, I'm not saying that it would be fun if that happened," he says, "because it really wouldn't, but I've stuck around this long through you saying a couple of scary things, I think we can figure it out. I don't know exactly what you mean by 'framing', but I don't think you can make something that would've been okay be unfixably not okay just by saying the wrong thing."

[incanted]

"I don't have an example in mind to explain what I mean about framing," Aurora sighs.

[cardistry]

"I don't think I could end up feeling like you were trying to control me and then stay that way unless you were actually trying to control me," he says, "and I don't think you'll do that, because I think you've figured out by now to try asking nicely instead."

[incanted]

"If I were - scared or angry or I misunderstood something you said or if I correctly understood something alarming you said, I might not remember to try asking nicely first," says Aurora. "If it was sufficiently desperately important and asking nicely didn't work, then - I don't have an example, but it's not like it couldn't happen, I have been handed the keys to the universe and you've got a grip on the other end of my keychain, I will be handling high stakes sometimes."

[cardistry]

"...it needs to not happen, though," says Brilliance. "It needs to not happen or I need to get out of this universe and never come back."

[incanted]

[cardistry]

He hugs her gently, shaking his head.

"That's what happens," he says softly. "Not if you just make me scared of it by accident once in a while, I get scared a lot, I can handle being scared, but if you force me to do something, or force me not to, I'll leave. I'll be really sad about it. And I will run away as far and as fast as I possibly can."

[incanted]

"So - what does that leave us with, just hoping really hard that you don't run into any of my dealbreakers where given the choice between you bolting or whatever you'd be doing if I didn't use force I prefer the former?"

[cardistry]

"If I thought that was ever going to happen, I would've run away already," says Brilliance. "I don't know what I could possibly want to do so badly that I'd still do it if you asked me not to, that would also be the kind of thing you'd fuck me over like that for if it came down to it. I don't think there's that many things you would, and most of that's probably stuff I already don't wanna do all by myself, like blowing up planets."

[incanted]

"It admittedly does help my comfort around this that you demonstrably don't want to blow up planets."

[cardistry]

"Like - I could see us arguing about you not wanting me to do stuff," he says, "sure, probably. But I don't think there's anything I need to do that you need me not to."

[incanted]

Aurora nods slowly, once.

[cardistry]

"And arguing isn't going to make me run away," he says. "And as long as we're arguing about something, I'm not doing whatever it is and you're not forcing me not to. And if you decide you really can't stand whatever it is happening, and I decide I really can't stand that you really can't stand that, then - I can just go hang out with Queenie until we both calm down. Okay?"

[incanted]

"'Cause she's so cuddly?" asks Aurora weakly.

[cardistry]

He laughs.

"She is, I can see why the Joker wanted me to hang out with her if things got fucked up with us."

[incanted]

Aurora snuggles up to him. "So the emergency procedure, if there's ever a desperate hurry and no more time to argue, involves having Jane banish you to Origin?"

[cardistry]

"That's... probably the best emergency procedure if you really feel like you absolutely have to do something right away. I won't like it much, but... I'll hang out with Queenie and wait for you to come explain."

[incanted]

"Okay. And with any luck it won't come up." Snuggles.

[cardistry]

"...The only way I can think of for it to come up is if we were arguing about something and got interrupted by something else," says Brilliance, "in which case you probably don't want me to go hang out with Queenie, you want me to stick around and help you deal with the emergency."

[incanted]

"Would you do that? With the argument still unresolved?"

[cardistry]

"Um, yeah?"

[incanted]

"Okay then."

[cardistry]

He hugs her.