universal template sweep!

[incanted]

Bella's checks for templates other than herself, Brilliance, Matilda, Libby, and people attached to them like her and Lexi's parents or Libby's Chris turns up nothing - no friends, no villains.

Before Libby contacts her, she gets visitors.

"Shell Bell! Juliet! Wow, how long has it been for you guys?"

"At home, no time," says Shell Bell.

"Longer for me. I can get to Milliways anytime, but Jane is really fucking broken," says Juliet. "Not years, though, just a few months, and for a while nothing I urgently needed offworld help for came up. I finally had to force the door to Atlantis to get Shell Bell so we could go to Yggdrasil - the Jarvis there lost connection - and then we swung through all the other Jarvised worlds to quarantine a certain transmissible spell from Sunshine, and then we figured as long as we were together and Shell Bell can door near anywhere we'd stop here. For your charming company and also coins. Next is picking up Glass and trying for the world where Aegis went."

"Yeah, sure," says Aurora, "you can have coins, no problem - I'm not down much time, more than before but only about a week. It turns out I have a Matilda and also a Libby, but my Libby is less than impressed with me, I think, Juliet, can you run and get yours?"

"Working with Shell Bell's doors instead of Jane means the best way to do that without losing any time is going to your Libby and opening a door there," says Juliet. "Will she be up for that?"

"She said she'd call me today when she wasn't busy, I can bring you guys," nods Aurora. "If you don't mind waiting around a little."

"Well, in the meantime we could maybe meet your Matilda? Is she busy?" asks Shell Bell.

"I'll check."

[Hey, Matilda! Guess who's here!]

Comments

[cross_and_bow]

"You were going to float us," Juliet reminds Agent Honey, when she joins her alts at the bar.

[withmypowers]

"I was!"

She floats them.

[cross_and_bow]

"Thanks!" And Juliet begins her story about how she accidentally inherited demonic minions, and shows off a pretty illusion of her palace on Mercury.

[withmypowers]

"Oh, that's lovely," says Agent Honey.

[cross_and_bow]

"Thanks! This section of plants is from a dimension where everything makes noises if you touch it. It's really loud all together - the animals scream at each other, the wind blows and all the plants sing and they don't care about sounding pretty - but I picked out some stuff that looked nice and made good chords. The minions have been playing with some of the fruits."

[withmypowers]

"That's adorable," she giggles.

[incanted]

"The most interesting thing that's happened to me since Jane went down is that Brilliance got kidnapped," says Aurora. "I didn't notice for - I don't even know exactly how long, I should check - until I tried to talk to him and he wouldn't answer. It is surprisingly difficult to intimidate confused space pirates with the mere fact of nigh-omnipotence, did you know? I wound up hexing super-strength just so I could pick one up."

[cross_and_bow]

"Hey Bar, can we arm-wrestle here or should we take it outside?" laughs Juliet.

[pythbox]

A napkin appears bearing the inscription, Outside, please.

[cross_and_bow]

"Agent Honey, you're our ride, so if you please," says Juliet, gesturing at the door, "I want to see how hexed generic super-strength stacks up against Slayerishness."

[withmypowers]

Agent Honey ferries her cargo out to the lake area of Milliways.

[cross_and_bow]

Juliet locates the rock on which Nathan and Aianon once arm-wrestled, patches it up, and plants her elbow on it.

[incanted]

"This is silly," asserts Aurora, but she mirrors Juliet, and they wrestle, and Juliet wins.

[withmypowers]

Agent Honey giggles.

[incanted]

"Want to see the Belltower, Agent Honey?" asks Aurora, gesturing thereat.

[withmypowers]

"Sure!"

She heads for the Belltower, bringing her passengers along.

[she_sells_seashells]

Shell Bell's the one who can move independently and knows the place, so she takes on the role of tour guide. The broken Janepoint, the emptied party setup, the extra floors, the Bellbook and associated other books.

[withmypowers]

"Ooh, books."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Feel free to read them," says Shell Bell. "The trade secrets don't get written."

[withmypowers]

She picks up the Bellbook and starts flipping through it.

"Trade secrets?"

[she_sells_seashells]

"How to safely handle stars and up; how to deal with a rogue mint."

[withmypowers]

"Aha."

[cross_and_bow]

"I can only imagine being poor Stella before she knew how to do stars. I had to use a tenner the other month."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Fortunately we know now."

[withmypowers]

"What are you prevented from doing if you don't know how to use stars?"