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

[gunpowdergelatine]

She rolls her eyes. "Sweetie, I know that. There are probably rocks that know that. Us retired Jokers," she snuggles the other example some more, "we don't make trouble unless somebody's trying to force us not to."

[bellfounding]

"How likely are you to attract attention from someone besides me who will hope to force you not to make trouble?"

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Is there anybody besides you who's got a shot in hell at doing it?"

[bellfounding]

"At succeeding, no, at trying hard enough that you'd have to do something regrettable to be not-forced, I don't know, that seems like it would depend on your style."

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Tell you what," she says, "if I run into anybody like that, I'll let you handle 'em."

[bellfounding]

"That sounds workable, then."

[gunpowdergelatine]

She beams.

[luminous_regnant]

Golden wanders thisaway. "Job interview?" she inquires.

[bellfounding]

"Yep."

[luminous_regnant]

"Have you already been warned about your world's little bat infestation?"

[bellfounding]

"...No?"

[gunpowdergelatine]

Queenie giggles.

[luminous_regnant]

"There's someone who literally does a costumed superhero bit in your world, perhaps she wasn't famous in your part of the country or before you died. She was the primary protagonist to the Joker's an-, overall white hat in spite of the actual color scheme but she did murder my friend and Minister of Temporal Affairs, Nathan, because he growled at her and stood up too quickly. She's just a human, you don't need to worry about her per se, but don't give her any magic, we don't trust her with it after Stella 'owed her three wishes', paid up, and Batlady wound up sending Nathan Downside for a hundred years plus a forking issue like Shell Bell had. It would possibly be a reasonable professional courtesy to keep her and Queenie away from each other."

[bellfounding]

"Do you object to staying clear of her?" Pattern asks Queenie.

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Mmm... that depends," says Queenie. "I'm not gonna get in her face, but I might drop by Gotham. I miss the place, y'know?"

[manofmyword]

"And Quin," murmurs the Joker.

[bellfounding]

"Okay... do you suppose that's likely to attract notice from the Batlady, if you do?"

[gunpowdergelatine]

"If I do what, go see Quinnie?" She shrugs. "Maybe, who knows?"

[bellfounding]

"So possibly I should warn her, and see how she reacts."

[luminous_regnant]

"You might want me or Stella with you if you schedule such a meeting," Golden says.

[manofmyword]

The Joker snorts. "What the hell would you do that for, anyway?"

[bellfounding]

"Would unpleasantly startling her be a better idea for some reason?"

[luminous_regnant]

"She is just a human. A single person visiting a large city won't necessarily attract her attention at all. Although given the way Bells and our friends seem to attract coincidences, I'm not sure if counting on that would be wise."

[manofmyword]

"If you tell her one of me's gonna be visiting Gotham, she'll throw a great big messy shitfit, I bet. Even if you tell her it's not me. Even if she believes you it's not me. If Q just goes, there's a good chance Batsy might never find out."

[bellfounding]

"Okay... maybe Queenie could go in disguise just in case?"