we do not bear children until we have so chosen

[dark_light]

Amariah appears in the Belltower, throws herself into a chair, and tries to read postcards, but her eyes won't focus on them. She tries the Bellbook, and scarcely has better luck, although her eyes do catch on a certain word.

"Jane."

"Yep?"

"I want to talk to Aether."

"I'll let her know!"

Comments

[telesonorous]

"Wow," muses Helen. "There's a lot of stuff in all these other worlds."

She glances at her alts.

"Um...?"

[fortissima]

"Hi. I'm Damaris."

[mindfields]

"Yseult," says Yseult, with a little curtsy.

[telesonorous]

"I probably could've guessed that, if I'd thought about it. Uh, nice to meet you."

[dark_light]

"There is indeed," says Amariah wryly, "a lot of stuff."

[telesonorous]

Helen smiles tentatively at her.

[dark_light]

[telesonorous]

[fortissima]

[mindfields]

[dark_light]

"So this is somewhat less awkward than it could have been. If there are movies of me and Ranata's been helping out with you and stuff you probably have most of my life story, with whatever cinematic innacuracies - um - tell me about you?"

[telesonorous]

"I'm not really sure where to start," she says. "Kalavar used to love being dragons when I was younger... I'm really good at magic... I was kidnapped very briefly once, we never really found out why - oh, I have an ingot power, I can throw my voice arbitrary places. And listen arbitrary places, too."

[dark_light]

"That sounds potentially handy, the ingot power," says Amariah. "Also being good at magic."

"I wanted to be a dragon," Path says. "If Stella or Golden got daemons they'd have dragons."

[telesonorous]

"Kalavar wasn't even sure she'd settle," says Helen. "Because, well, Petaal. But she did, and she likes what she is now."

[mindfields]

"I checked once," Yseult volunteers. "I would have an ostrich."

[dark_light]

"I take it you didn't instantly need an ostrich in your life."

[mindfields]

"I am happy to remain ostrich-free."

[dark_light]

"You ever check?" Amariah asks Damaris, since this seems to be what they're talking about now.

[fortissima]

She shakes her head.

"But now I'm curious," she says, and deploys a square. An illusory albatross appears in front of her and spreads its wings; illusory feathers ghost through two walls of the room.

"...'Large bird daemons' seems to be a template feature," she observes.

[dark_light]

"It does seem that way," chuckles Amariah.

[telesonorous]

"It's interesting," says Helen. "—Do either of you have ingot powers?"

[fortissima]

Damaris shakes her head.

[mindfields]

"Mine concerns mindscapes," says Yseult. "They are more understandable to me, and more malleable, than they are to most people."

[dark_light]

"So I guess if you haven't turned up with one yet that's evidence in favor of the mint-parents-at-time-of-conception theory," Amariah says in Damaris's direction, "have Keziah or Céleste demonstrated anything yet, though?"

[mindfields]

The relevant Dominiques