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

[prima_sequentem]

"Do we know anything about the spare Whistles?"

[bellfounding]

"One of them's a rescue from Downside, the other is some kind of ghost but not the same kind as the one Juliet brought. First one's probably the better bet."

[prima_sequentem]

"A rescue? Is that a general term, or...? I was under the impression that Whistles and Downside would get along pretty well, ceteris paribus."

[bellfounding]

"Stella grabbed him from the same guy who got Shell Bell. I imagine he held up fine under the torture part, but not the being in a box never seeing or being touched by another human being part - from my admittedly limited understanding of Whistles."

[prima_sequentem]

"Ooh." She winces. "Ouch, yeah. I see."

[bellfounding]

"Yeah, Stella brought him straight here for soothing by her Alice."

[prima_sequentem]

"I can imagine," she says.

She can imagine what form that soothing would probably take, too, but that's less relevant.

[bellfounding]

It is indeed less relevant.

"I don't really want to date any of them - I mean, I gather that one could have changed my mind about that if he'd gone to high school with me and I hadn't died, but one didn't and I did, and I'm not seeing the appeal. But Golden and the Joker are an existence proof that it's not strictly called for."

[prima_sequentem]

Slipstick nods.

[bellfounding]

"Stella employs a precog, and so does Golden. I was thinking of trying to catch one of them to talk recruitment strategies, what do you think?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Good plan. I don't know either one of them personally, so I can't tell you which one would be a better shot."

[bellfounding]

Pattern glances around.

"Well," she says, "they're talking to each other, over there. The petite vampire with the spiky hair and the toddler, and the tall brunette."

[prima_sequentem]

"Go on, then," says Slipstick. "Two-for-one deal."

[bellfounding]

"You coming, or not?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Nah."

[bellfounding]

"All right."

Pattern makes for the precogs, but she expects they'll anticipate her.

[luminous_regnant]

If Alice mentions Pattern's approach aloud, is Mary just going to say that she already knows?

[pythbox]

Actually, no!

[luminous_regnant]

"We're expecting company," observes Alice. "The Bell calling herself Pattern."

[pythbox]

"Huh," says Mary. "What's she want, besides the obvious?"

[luminous_regnant]

"A Whistle, or possibly the alts of Stella's staff, maybe a stray Sherlock in a pinch, to help her mint," Alice says. "So she wants approach advice. You'll probably be better at the useful kind of detail than me."

[pythbox]

"I probably will," Mary agrees.

[luminous_regnant]

"Although you'll be pleased to know that I've cleared up my blind spots and can handle the wolves' love lives instead of having you visit every few months!"

"Wolves," giggles Brandon from her arms, like this concept is inherently funny.

[bellfounding]

Here's Pattern. "Hi. Do I even have to explain what I want?"

[pythbox]

"I am immensely pleased," she says dryly to Alice.

To Pattern, "Details are handy. I like details."