erroneous messenger, sleep!

[incanted]

Brilliance is probably the first person to notice Rainbow's Janepoint broadcasting the message, "error 112358: inferior pattern recognition".

Comments

[incanted]

+Can I fix that?+ Bella asks.

[cardistry]

+yeah - don't know how,+ he says.

[incanted]

She holds him tight. She tries just wanting - tries making up incantations, murmurs them into his hair, "freedom", "release", "unlock".

[cardistry]

'Unlock' does the trick.

"Fuck, thank you," he mumbles, hugging her.

[withmypowers]

The same spell diagram snatches away Gem's six friends in quick succession.

[incanted]

With Brilliance taken care of - again - Bella notices something.

[You said your name was Matilda Honey?] she inquires of the apparent Time-Space Administration Bureau.

[withmypowers]

[Just a moment, please, I'm busy,] she says politely.

[incanted]

Okay then.

"Is that everything, sunshine, do I need to fix anything else?" Bella murmurs, petting Brilliance's hair.

[cardistry]

He hugs her some more.

"I think that's it," he says hesitantly. "I don't - I don't know, I didn't know those codes were even still active."

[incanted]

"Okay. If you find anything else they did - tell me - I'll fix it." She kisses his scalp.

[cardistry]

He shivers.

[incanted]

Pet pet pet.

[cardistry]

Snuggle.

[withmypowers]

[There, that's better. This is an interesting communication system,] says Agent Honey. [Where did you find it?]

[incanted]

[Offworld. I found a lot of cool things offworld, including two copies of you and twelve of me. Hi. I'm Bella Swan and those assholes kidnapped Brilliance, thank you for arresting them.]

[withmypowers]

[...I think I would like it very much if you would explain from the beginning,] says Agent Honey.

[incanted]

[It's a very long story.]

+Sunshine, this Matilda-alt wants to know stuff. Is there anything I shouldn't tell her about you?+

[withmypowers]

[I have plenty of time to listen.]

[cardistry]

+...I don't know,+ says Brilliance.

[incanted]

+Okay. I'll talk about other stuff first. There's lots. I'm inclined to trust Matildas, though.+

[Sure, but if it's all the same to you I'd rather go back to my planet.]

[cardistry]

Brilliance snuggles her.

[withmypowers]

[You're from Earth, aren't you? I was born there,] she says. [If you'll give me just a moment, I can follow you wherever you'd like to go.]

[incanted]

[I'm from Earth, yeah, but by 'my planet' I mean the invisible one with the rainbow sand a few orbitals out with the enchanted village-thing on it.] She teleports thereto.

[withmypowers]

About thirty seconds later, Matilda appears by sorcerous transport. She's wearing a Barrier Jacket that superficially resembles Tilly's usual outfits - pleated skirt, lots of blue, red ribbons, sensible shoes - and carrying a large book with a blank blue cover, and Bella's threat sensor wouldn't be willing to bet that she couldn't defeat Brilliance in purely mana-based magical combat.

[incanted]

"Hi. Wow, you're really something. So, I know two of you - when they're both around one goes by Tilly, but as a rule they don't like nicknames - did you already know about alternate universes, I mean entire universes with different rules of magic and so on not just dimensions?"