self-devising bejeweled minds!

[incanted]

Bella stays with Brilliance as long as he needs. She has one or two conversations with politicians by brainphone at the same time, but she doesn't leave till he tells her he'd like to be alone, and then she goes. (She tells Lexi that she may have sourced her a Device.)

Comments

[incanted]

Bella laughs. [They're wishes,] she says, [how's that?]

[prima_sequentem]

[I'm sensing a hint of evasiveness.]

[incanted]

[Yeah, I mentioned I haven't actually gotten to personally know the other four Libbies? I know you can probably be on board with my projects, but since I don't have a Libby Who Is Someone's Personnel Officer available to send to your house with a gift basket and literature on how awesome Bells are, and since I know sometimes Libbies have done slightly sketchy things before being in the employ of miscellaneous Bells, there is some evasiveness. Not a lot, I'll tell you most stuff, but I will not be telling you about what happens in place of a mommy wish and a daddy wish loving each other very much this very minute.]

[prima_sequentem]

[I see. So you're afraid that I will get some of this magic power and then use it to oppose you. That suggests to me that either you don't know me very well, or I should be opposing you already.]

[incanted]

[I honestly can't think how you'd get ahold of a copy without coming into contact with more of me and therefore more of you. But I have just explained that I don't know you very well. I don't know the template except by hearsay and snatches of party chatter, and I know nothing about how on- or off-model you may individually be because you have chosen not to tell me and I have chosen not to violate your privacy. Bells vary a lot. Libbies vary too. One of them married a template who has more than once been found necessary to kill. One of them had some seriously unsavory spying behavior. As far as I know the other two have been unobjectionable, but one of them died during the Spanish Flu and the other one was like sixteen when located by her corresponding Bell for template-unrelated reasons.]

[prima_sequentem]

[And you'll notice that I am not currently opposing you.]

[incanted]

[Yes, I appreciate that.]

[prima_sequentem]

[Good.]

[incanted]

[Do you want to tell me anything about yourself or are you enjoying this thing where I muddle along based on having passing knowledge of several of your alts?]

[prima_sequentem]

[If you have anything more than passing knowledge, I'm sure you can guess why I might be reluctant to start divulging any kind of personal information to somebody I only met ten minutes ago.]

[incanted]

[You're supposed to be spectacular judges of character. I guess I wouldn't necessarily have heard about it if it only works in person or something.]

[prima_sequentem]

[I am a spectacular judge of character, but I'm not a magical one. I need something to go on. And yes, talking to somebody in person helps.]

[incanted]

[Well, perhaps we will have a less cagey conversation tomorrow when you are not busy, then. In the meantime you are free to ask me things that aren't the one or two things I am slightly wary of telling an unfamiliar Libby.]

[prima_sequentem]

[Tell me more about your plans for world conquest, then. That's always fun.]

[incanted]

[How much of the curing-diseases-unendangering-pandas-vanishing-landmines activity have you seen in the news? I wanna know where to start.]

[prima_sequentem]

[Assume I know nothing. It's not true, but it'll make your explanation more complete.]

[incanted]

[Okay, well, I'm not going public yet but that doesn't mean I'm being discreet. I went through some lists of diseases and rendered them nonexistent. I'm currently debating what kind of consolation present to send to doctors whose jobs have been rendered irrelevant; for obvious reasons just conjuring piles of money for each one would be problematic, and they can't just all retrain as nutritionists or something. There are a lot more salmon in the Pacific Ocean now; I'm reading up to avoid damaging the ecosystems I'm trying to patch for other species, except on my mom's birthday I unendangered pandas. They might still be technically threatened, but there are a lot more of them now. There are no more lurking landmines in Southeast Asia. And I have presented myself to all uncontested world leaders, been shot at a few times, and ultimately convinced them all that shooting at me wouldn't get anywhere and they should talk to me instead; we're in periodic meetings about how to present me and my open-ended offer to the world, and so far as I know, it hasn't leaked, although I will not be stunned if six of your friends have been eavesdropping and told you something.]

[prima_sequentem]

[Did you not think of looking for me before inducing world leaders' bodyguards to shoot at you?]

[incanted]

[I did not. I told you, everyone else found applicable Libbies organically. Golden's one is her mother-in-law. Juliet's succeeded her at a mystical destiny thing and Juliet went to warn her without finding out who she was until she brought her to Milliways and Stella ran into them and was like "aww you found a tiny Libby". Now that I have discovered that it is sometimes necessary to look for Libbies I'll tell the others as soon as I can and I'm sure we'll all run sweeps for known templates.]

[prima_sequentem]

[Well. If I was going to work for you, the first thing I'd do would be to find you some qualified diplomats.]

[incanted]

[Yes. Please. Qualified diplomats would be awesome. I am not even the most diplomatic of Bells and even he is not all that diplomatic.]

[prima_sequentem]

[I'm getting that sense. Well, we'll see. I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that you're not in such dire straits that you can't wait until tomorrow to benefit from my expertise.]

[incanted]

[Yeah, nothing dire. It's not like getting shot at is a problem except insofar as it's a sign that something has already gone wrong. And for the record I didn't just unexpectedly teleport into anybody's office. Although I almost did that with you, which I gather would've been almost a worse idea. The ones who shot at me were like "yeah, visit at such and such a time" and when I showed up there was an ambush waiting. Very unfriendly.]

[prima_sequentem]

[Yes. Suddenly teleporting into my presence when I don't know who you are is not a friendly gesture. I'm glad you didn't do that.]

[incanted]

[Yeah, I guess you were in the bathroom or something, it's good that Shell Bell came up with that patch for the power before anyone had an embarrassing incident.]