eviler and eviler

[self_composed]

[Hey,] says Stella to all three mints. [I wanna talk to all of you. You busy?]

Comments

[guiltless]

[You bet we will,] says Sandy.

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice arrives on Sandy's moon.

[Ooooooooh,] he says. [Pretty! Love the giant chess set.]

[self_composed]

[Giant chess set? Is it about time I came and had a look at Amalthea, or should I save that for when the party's over?]

[edgeofyourseat]

[Nobody's partying now,] says Alice. [You're safe.]

[self_composed]

To Amalthea!

[guiltless]

Sandy's been busy.

There is indeed a giant chess set - one side's pieces made of brass, the other's of obsidian, with squares the size of city blocks. The pieces are intricately shaped and very beautiful.

Apart from that, there are... buildings. Buildings of every shape and size, dotted across the landscape.

Sandy, Alice, and Anna are standing on a glass courtyard floating in the air above the middle of the chess set.

[self_composed]

Huh.

Bella teleports about for a closer look at some buildings. And then back to the courtyard. "Damn. You want some design input when Olympus gets a sibling, Sandy?"

[guiltless]

"Sure, yeah!"

[self_composed]

"Great! You have nice design sense and they shouldn't all look the same anyway. I'm probably going to add a new city soon. Maybe a bunch of them, or just a really really big one. Olympus isn't full, but of all the Bells I'm probably in the best position to take an immigration influx when we conquer the afterlife."

[guiltless]

He laughs.

"Never a dull moment with you, man."

[self_composed]

"I am a magic space empress. It comes with the territory." And she lifts off into the air and zooms around, looking at more of the buildings. [Lemme know when it's time for me to clear out.]

[guiltless]

[Never, unless you have something against group napping,] laughs Sandy.

[self_composed]

[Well, let me know when I should quit reading Alice's mind, then.]

[edgeofyourseat]

[Sure thing!]

Not yet - they're all cuddling up in Sandy's enormous bed. Mmm, snuggly.

[self_composed]

Stella beholds Sandy's architectural handiwork, contentedly flying about and peering into Alice's happythoughts.

[edgeofyourseat]

His happythoughts are happy and cuddly!



And now he is visiting Sandy's brain, and Stella should probably stop looking now unless she wants to watch Anna try for a niner.

[self_composed]

Doesn't especially. Bella backs off and continues touring Amalthea.

[guiltless]

Sandy hasn't managed to cover the whole moon with his various projects, but at the scales he sometimes works in, it won't be long.

And he is really good at designing three-dimensional objects.

[self_composed]

Cool. Bella starts debating names for a city of the undead. She'll probably put it on a different continent from Olympus. The Downsiders might have a hard time integrating and should be allowed to do it at a comfortable pace for everyone. Maybe she'll call it "Brightside" or something like that. Is that too twee? Maybe it's too twee.

[lookingforwardtoit]

A few hours later, Anna crows over brainphone, [I diiiiiiiiiid it!]

[self_composed]

[Congratulations! Please never tell me how!]

[lookingforwardtoit]

[But it was so much fun!]

[self_composed]

[Well, if you really must, I suppose I'll live. And I might want to be able to explain it to my counterparts' assorted minty helpers.]

[lookingforwardtoit]

[I think the methodology is pretty much 'intensify your pain processing by a factor of ten or so and then tell six sadists to go to town'.]

[self_composed]

[Oh, is that all. Thank you for the protective layer of abstraction.]