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

[telesonorous]

"You could try just a little bit of clothes," says Helen. "And if he's not bothered then you could try more, and if he's bothered then you could not."

[segreant]

"That is a good idea. First I will make him a scarf."

[telesonorous]

"That sounds really adorable," says Helen. "If he likes the scarf I want to see."

[segreant]

"In person? Are you allowed to come visit Rêverie?"

[telesonorous]

Helen blinks. "Might I not be? Who decides?"

[segreant]

"Your parents, I guess? It's okay for people to visit Rêverie, so years ago we had the older two cherubs over, but we couldn't go to them because people in Samaria don't know about magic."

[telesonorous]

"Kas doesn't really not allow things," says Helen. "I don't know about Amariah. I wonder if I should ask her." She contemplates this prospect.

[segreant]

"Doesn't not allow things? What, at all?"

[telesonorous]

"Pretty much."

[segreant]

"I guess Papa doesn't make most of our rules, but Maman does..."

[telesonorous]

"If something's not a good idea, Kas says why," says Helen. "Or asks me not to do things. But if I wanted to do something anyway, he wouldn't stop me."

[segreant]

"Maman explains things too, but they are still rules even if I still want to do them after she explains."

[telesonorous]

"Yeah, Kas doesn't do rules," says Helen.

[segreant]

"I guess that could be nice, but I'm mostly embarrassed by times I did things Maman said not to when I was littler. That I didn't think to be embarrassed of back then. If I did more of them I would be more embarrassed."

[telesonorous]

Helen shrugs. "I like the way I grew up. I wouldn't want to swap childhoods with anybody."

[segreant]

"You liked not having your one of Maman around?"

[telesonorous]

"I liked some parts. Like having a secret mom, that was kind of fun. I didn't like that everyone was sad about her being gone. I liked going places with Kas, and baking cakes in the wilderness, and not having rules except with the clan. I didn't like getting kidnapped. But I like the whole thing, and how it made me turn out me instead of some alt of me, enough to want to keep it."

[segreant]

"I don't know how I'd be if Papa had raised me by himself."

[telesonorous]

"Me neither," says Helen. "And I don't know how I'd be if my secret mom had not disappeared and not been a secret. Well. I guess I wouldn't exist, that's kind of an answer."

[segreant]

"You'd probably exist at some point! I mean, Yseult and Damaris do."

[telesonorous]

"I wouldn't exist now. I might not exist in the next three hundred years. I might not exist ever."

[segreant]

"I guess. My parents had us slower than Angela and Micaiah had our alts."

[telesonorous]

"And a bunch of other Jokers and Bells haven't had any kids yet at all. I'm not even sure I have the whole list - Stella and Alice, Aegis and Sue, Jellybean and Cam, Aianon and Sarion, Brilliance and Aurora... I wonder if Brilliance and Aurora can have kids, isn't he not even biological? I guess magic solves a lot of things, but I don't know what solving that would look like in the first place."

[segreant]

"I guess they'd just wish her pregnant with one of you?" shrugs Céleste. "Since they know it'd be a you if it were just solved all by itself."

[telesonorous]

"Well, but what if Brilliance wanted to be more involved in the process? Kas made himself pregnant with me. When it's just that two people can't have kids the traditional way because they don't have the right combination of parts or aren't species that normally go together, I can imagine fixing that with magic, but I can't imagine what you would even wish for to get a kid out of someone who isn't a kind of thing that reproduces." She shrugs. "I guess it's not my problem."