it's a dead man's party

[self_composed]

The guest list winds up being pretty huge.

To start with, there are now eight Bells. Pattern isn't bringing anyone besides herself, and Aegis no one besides herself and her Whistle, but everyone else -

Between Alice, the Joker, the rescued Queenie, Kas, Micaiah, and Sue, plus Ghosty who Amariah picked up on her way home, that's seven Whistles. (Stella thinks ahead: there is a soundproofed orgy chamber away from the main party awning. With a few nodes off of it in case more than one orgy forms; she can think of at least two other likely ones.)

There's an equally absurd number of Sherlocks and Tonies if you count them together. They have Juliet's matched set, Shell Bell's matched set, two other matched sets from Bell-less worlds (one with souled vampire, one both human), a stray Tony, and a stray Sherlock from Downside.

Amariah grabbed a random Libby on top of the random extra Whistle, but at least she's not incorporating anyone from home.

Golden's bringing much of her family and many of her friends - although Edward is staying home, that still leaves Elspeth and Jacob, Alice and Jasper with little Brandon, Rosalie and Emmett and little Henry, Nathan accompanying his mate and their child Kerron, Esme and Carlisle and their Lily, Addy, and Elena who'll get to see her brother. Golden claims that this is a conservative list and she could easily have produced another twenty enthusiastic guests. Stella doesn't doubt it. She puts up a few signs reading Please Conduct Adult Conversation Only Via Brainphone. Little Half-Vampires Have Good Ears And Perfect Memories. As a last-minute surprise, Golden has taken Elspeth's suggestion to bring Edward's deceased mother Elizabeth, too.

Juliet has, on top of her boyfriend and his - progenitor? - her tiny Libby, James, a tagalong thereto called Virginia, and a ghost called Minnie, plus Giles.

Angela's list is more modest: her, her husband, and their friends Alleluia and Caleb.

Shell Bell is responsible for half the Sherlocks-and-Tonies all by herself, a tagalong called Pepper, and also someone called Darcy and also Matilda. (Shell Bell is also the reason Angela is not inviting her brother-in-law.)

Stella herself is responsible for inviting Libby, Orfeo, Chris, Mary, Anna, Sandy, Eights, Chainsaw, Lazarus, Kolya (who is informed that it would be awfully inconvenient for a majority of Bells to all have to coordinate on pretending he doesn't exist when only one of them has even met him to be able to identify him in the first place, so he can simply stay home if he's planning to be hidey), and Bridget.

Stella sets up a name tag system. Everyone will have a tag stuck to them. Solo persons - a minority - will just have their names. People with template names and nicknames will have both stamped on automatically. ("Hi! I'm a Bell, and you can call me Stella!"; "Hi! I'm a Whistle, and you can call me Alice!" "Hi! I'm a Sherlock, and I don't have a distinguishing nickname yet but as soon as I pick one it will appear here!")

She conjures up a nice buffet of food and beverages which will stay its correct temperature until consumed, and assorted synthetics for the vampires (labeled not for human consumption), and dishes and flatware (all glass; even some of the food-eating guests might dissolve anything else) and fusses with the awning opacity until it lets in just the right amount of sun, and, what the hell, she throws in a stage in case Angela wants to sing or she decides to play the flute or someone decides to pentagon some other performative skill to entertain the crowd. She makes sure there are enough bathrooms for all the people who still need bathrooms.

She puts out a few tables here and there with little bowls of squares and triangles - a mix of her glowing red and Alice's shifty black - in them for everyone's convenience. She accumulates coins in those sizes faster than she generally uses them and has a great many, so there are plenty for anyone to dip and wish if something comes up. She double-checks to make sure the Martian ground rules prohibit any misuses available for those size coins.

Jane gets one of those high-tech holographic projectors, on wheels, which she promptly manifests in, drives around the floor, and makes faces through.

Comments

[pythbox]

"I'm not," he says, grinning.

[dark_light]

"Yeah, that doesn't seem like the sorta thing that'd apply to you," laughs Amariah. "You want me to ask her?" Pause. "You want to get 'test-driven'?"

[pythbox]

Brightly: "Sure!"

[dark_light]

"To which question?"

[pythbox]

"Both of 'em?" he laughs.

[dark_light]

"In which order?"

[pythbox]

"I dunno, does it matter? I mean, if you ask her if she's interested and she says no does that mean you won't fuck me either?"

[dark_light]

"Not hardly." Amariah wriggles her way out of her current pile. "Minor logistical issue - if Path's gonna be out to occupy Ivy I don't want to be in a room this crowded."

[pythbox]

"I think one of the other rooms is still free!" he says, grinning.

[dark_light]

Amariah gets to her feet and holds out her hand towards Sue.

[pythbox]

He takes it, and Ivy follows them as a hummingbird.

[dark_light]

Path emerges as they cross the threshold. [Hey Aegis,] Amariah asks, setting up her, Sue, their daemons, and Aegis all in a conference call, [you don't mind if I borrow your Whistle for salacious purposes?]

[autokinetic]

[...You want to - wait - Sue, are you not gay?]

[pythbox]

[...The fuck?] he says, actually stopping in his tracks. [No, I'm not gay, why would I be gay?]

[autokinetic]

[I hope you weren't expecting me to draw conclusions about your sexuality from the fact that you were willing to flirt with a thirteen-year-old girl, and besides that it sure looked like it to me!]

[dark_light]

[Oh, you poor things,] laughs Amariah. [If alts ever vary in who they're attracted to we haven't seen the phenomenon yet. Shell Bell's special circumstances. Whistles are - Whistles.]

[pythbox]

[There weren't any girls around who wanted to fuck me!] he says. [Until now, anyway. But I've had the hots for you since ages, did you not know that?]

[autokinetic]

[I did not know that! Because you didn't tell me! And even guys who're just space-gay talk about girls.]

[pythbox]

[I guess I just got used to not flirting,] he says. [And I'm not 'guys', I'm me.]

[autokinetic]

[I know you're you. I just didn't know you weren't gay.]

[pythbox]

[Well, that's weird,] he says. [But now you do.]

[autokinetic]

[Yeah. Um.]

[dark_light]

[I'll bow out if you want, Aegis,] invites Amariah. [Or I can test-drive him for you.]

[pythbox]

[I'm looking forward to the test drive,] says Sue.

[autokinetic]

[...You have fun, I need to think.]