who will be coming?

[small_magics]

Aianon has made a plant in the open airless space above the surface of Thilanushinyel. It is a very, very large plant - some dragons will be attending the party, after all, even if Ansharil in particular is going to be assorted small things and stay on Sarion's person the bulk of the time.

The locals will be Sarion, her beloveds, their other beloved, the five conjured dragons (and their Bondmates, where applicable: Virgivere and Lissa), and Liselen - Magania has, as usual, declined, and so far no Bell party has featured Bell parents.

Amariah is bringing her boyfriend and spontaneous daughter and two of the spontaneous daughter's friends, as well as an Alethian instance of the Rupert template.

Shell Bell is bringing Pearl and Screwdriver.

Golden is bringing her usual large contingent, as usual not including her husband but including her daughter and daughter's grown fosterling (the other remaining at home) and his wolf, both mothers-in-law and one father-in-law, adopted siblings, staff members including the Joker and Nathan, and the children of the aforementioned.

Glass is bringing both wives, all three daughters, Kanim, and her cat. She invited Icarin and Valeria, but their parents are not willing to let them gallivant into other worlds unsupervised and had a scheduling conflict.

Stella's bringing a smattering of people including Alice, Anna, Sandy, Libby, Bridget, her college roommate Janine, and Lazarus.

Tab is bringing Aelise (but not Kers) and Luhan.

Etty is bringing only Nona.

Aether, likewise, brings no one but Celo.

Pattern comes with Ripper, Slipstick, Queenie, and Ghosty.

Aegis is accompanied by her four-bodied boyfriend, Merryweather, Whitlock, and Howlett.

Aurora comes with Brilliance, Lexi with her Device Persica, Agent Honey with her Device Adularia, and Beth.

Rose brings her husband and three children and her former apprentice, Luc.

Angela brings her husband, her four children, several of her friends, and some of those friends' children and grandchildren with and without wings. Keziah also brings a friend.

Juliet shows up with Soph, Minus, Red, Giles, James, Virginia, Minnie, Ike, and Val.

Cam brings Jellybean and Tilly and stops there.

And from unBelled worlds hail additional Sherlocks and Tonies, Darcy, Matilda, Pepper, and Eights.

Comments

[pythbox]

Corona sniffles and leans into Keziah a little when she hugs him.

"Thanks," he says haltingly.

[lifes_sake]

"Well, the trees love me. The fruits, once picked, are not so full of mental activity that I feel any qualms about taking bites out of them. I did have a very anxious few days when I first learned to talk to things. Quizzed muffins, etcetera. I'm still slightly vegetarian on those occasions when I don't eat conjured food."

[segreant]

"You're welcome. Are you gonna be okay?"

[newtimov]

"...Yes," he says, "I suppose eating food that was aware enough to love you would be slightly horrifying. Did the muffin pass the quiz?"

[lifes_sake]

"Failed it miserably! All it could say was, 'I'm a muffin'! It did not react when I warned it I was going to bite it. It did not complain when I did so."

[pythbox]

Still shivering, he manages, "Yeah."

[inherpiety]

"What were there so many of?"

[newtimov]

"That's good," says Ike. "I would hate to think about all food being smart enough to complain when you try to eat it."

[lifes_sake]

"Most food is not. I mean, nothing in actual food form is smart, but I talked to a goat and she was capable of telling me that she didn't want to be eaten, so I don't eat anything that used to be potentially brighter than a chicken. Chickens are really stupid, though."

[pythbox]

"People," he says. "Chelsa... could make you - like somebody, or stop. I was with her a long time. She did a lot of - stopping. When somebody left, or died. So we wouldn't be..." He trails off, shuddering.

[segreant]

"That's what the gook was?" shudders Céleste.

[newtimov]

"I am glad my visions of screaming cupcakes are not supported by reality."

[lifes_sake]

"At one time I thought I had met a very clever rock but it turned out to be a disguised evil deity."

[pythbox]

Corona nods unhappily, with his head still mostly tucked into his arms.

[segreant]

The Griffins go on snuggling him.

[newtimov]

"...I think I just had another 'floating in space holding hands' moment," giggles Ike.

[lifes_sake]

"Yeah. The disguised evil deity introduced itself to me as Iggy," Cam adds, winking.

[pythbox]

That is good. They are good snugglers.

Eventually he uncurls enough to hug them back.

"Thanks," he says.

[inherpiety]

"You're welcome," says Keziah.

[newtimov]

"Pfffffffffff," says Ike.

[pythbox]

He takes a deep breath and lets it out again.

"I'm gonna go hug some Jokers," he says. "See you."

And he's gone.

[lifes_sake]

"And then it tried to convince me not to do so much Belling because I was cramping its style and I didn't bite and then it tried to kill me and Jellybean and Tilly saved my life, so that was exciting."

[newtimov]

"It sounds it!" says Ike. "I am glad the evil rock did not kill you."

[lifes_sake]

"Yeah, me too. It does continue to exist, I'm not sure yet what to do about it, although the list of possibilities recently expanded to 'hire the assassin from Materia who terrifies both her local Bell and Glass'."

[small_magics]

Sarion knows perfectly well that Lycaelon is not generally a party person, so she (Ansharil on her shoulder in purple furry winged creature form, tail around her neck) goes and checks on him after she has welcomed incoming contingents to her world.