[Apparently the alethiometer thinks they could be! And nobody's gonna hold you down for science, or anything, you were just the first Joker Kas thought of who might be up for it.]
[It is good that nobody's going to hold me down for science,] he snorts. [I have kind of had enough of that already. Okay, I'll talk to Aurora.]
And he brainphones same.
[Hey, so Jane says the latest on Amariah's afterlife project is she wants ten-pointed coins, and they're asking me first for the obvious reason. Wanna snuggle about it some?]
She pets whatever part of him is nearest the hand that isn't trapped under them. This part happens to be some ribs. "What d'you want to do about that?"
"Maybe just... go really slow with it?" he suggests. "And, I dunno, if they need their thing in ten minutes or something they might have to ask somebody else. But I wanna try it, anyway."
"Okay. It's about afterlife-revamping, she waited this long to even start," murmurs Aurora. "I'm sure speed would be appreciated but it can't be essential."
She resettles herself into a longer-term snuggle position.
Aurora plays with the patterns of each new layer of burning. After she runs out of clever ideas for mere patterns, the new layers are sharp instead of hot. Then twisting. Then - paradoxically, but not impossibly, with this spell - cold.
She might run out of ideas for flavors to add before they get up to ten-pointed coins. But she can always go back and add more of previous choices.
They'll be swimming in arrows by the time they're done here.
And, eventually, with pretty much no dimming of Brilliance's enthusiasm, they are supplied with a new coin. It's shaped something like a pair of sharpened starfish having an awkward kiss with their limbs in cross-symmetrical alignment, and it looks kind of like a Christmas ornament.
He's good for, oh... another minute. Sixty-one more ten-pointed coins. (In the time it takes him to say, "Okay, you can start erasing," he accumulates two more.)
Erasing is almost as much fun as when she paints it on in the first place. It comes off in layers, but different ones. And it feels... nice. Snuggly and soothing and nice.
"Lemme do all the declawing first," he says, and he uses a declawed arrow to get the first tenner and then that tenner to declaw all his currently undeclawed coins. "Okay, there."
"Four should more than do it, at least I hope so." She flicks the gem back on so Jane will be able to see the coins. "And the rest should be distributed among other Bells but that can wait."
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And he brainphones same.
[Hey, so Jane says the latest on Amariah's afterlife project is she wants ten-pointed coins, and they're asking me first for the obvious reason. Wanna snuggle about it some?]
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Snuggle.
"So Jane said nobody's going to hold me down for science and now of course all I'm thinking about is people holding me down for science," he sighs.
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"Sometimes you can really tell which Bell her mom is," she comments.
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"No kidding."
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Snuggle cuddle telepathic love.
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"That's adorable. You're adorable. I feel better now," he says, snuggling contentedly.
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"So. Wanna try?"
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Pause.
"If you get unsure - at that point - nobody's tried it, are you going to be able to tell me when to stop?"
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She resettles herself into a longer-term snuggle position.
"Say when."
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She paints heat onto his nerves slowly, one layer everywhere, second layer added slowly, each one about a hundred triangles' worth.
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She might run out of ideas for flavors to add before they get up to ten-pointed coins. But she can always go back and add more of previous choices.
She paints, she pours, she holds him.
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Evils are pretty good, too.
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"You okay?" she murmurs, as they approach the ceiling of previous adventures.
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As the mid-niner range approaches, he starts getting kind of wound up. In the good way.
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Snuggles snuggles devotion devotion.
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But for now - love, cuddles, pain.
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And, eventually, with pretty much no dimming of Brilliance's enthusiasm, they are supplied with a new coin. It's shaped something like a pair of sharpened starfish having an awkward kiss with their limbs in cross-symmetrical alignment, and it looks kind of like a Christmas ornament.
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He's good for, oh... another minute. Sixty-one more ten-pointed coins. (In the time it takes him to say, "Okay, you can start erasing," he accumulates two more.)
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He loves her so much.
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"Okay if I turn on the gem for a second to let Jane pick up the tenners and send some to Amariah?"
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The coins vanish.
Aurora turns the gem off again. She rolls on top of Brilliance and goes on with the peeling.
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