plotting to unnerve her

[self_composed]

Bella finds Milliways in the moon palace instead of one of her balconies.

"Huh," she says aloud.

Then, to Alice, Libby, Elena, and Mary, and Lazarus except he autoreplies with a busy message, [Hey folks, Moonstone Palace grew a bar that I don't remember putting in, come check it out.]

Comments

[prima_sequentem]

"Some kind of epic catastrophe," says Mary. "Now I just have to figure out when, and how to make it go away."

She pauses a beat longer, then flips all the way to December.

"Here's when the danger starts," she says. "But there's a chance you'll imprint before then... and if you do, it'll be on someone who's actually good for you. As opposed to this person who is a complete disaster and will get you killed eventually. So start listing places you might go this year."

Libby comes back with that glass of water, and Mary drinks half of it. She's looking much better by the time she puts it down.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I... well, I follow the pack around, wasn't planning to stop anytime soon... I didn't have any plans for December but there's always some chance someone'll put together a trip to someplace like Laurel did to Spain last summer. And sometimes I visit La Push or Volterra on not much notice."

[prima_sequentem]

"Spain is safe," says Mary. "Volterra is safe. La Push is not. Ms. Disaster isn't there, but she's going to be nearby. Let me see if I can narrow this down."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"...Okay," says Embry, shifting uncomfortably.

[prima_sequentem]

Mary looks thoughtful, but she doesn't make that face again.

"Russia," she says eventually. "St. Petersburg. Go there sometime this year and you'll find somebody who is the opposite of a disaster. I think... she works at a major hotel, the one you're likely to stay at. The language barrier will be a bit of an issue at first, but not for long. Oh, and she's allergic to strawberries."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Okay. And I can go there well in advance of Disaster December and all will be well?" Embry asks.

[prima_sequentem]

"Yep," says Mary. She sounds very sure of that.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Okay. Thanks."

Next is a younger wolf. Much younger. He doesn't even look quite 25 yet. "Hi," he says, "I'm Lewis, and I don't want to imprint at all."

[prima_sequentem]

"Hi, Lewis," says Mary. "Then you'll want to stay inside... actually, you're covered until Halloween. Don't go anywhere on Halloween." She pauses for a moment, then adds, "And at some point next January there's going to be some guests here you don't want to meet."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Okay. No Halloween parties. Can I just go visit Aunt Brooke in La Push in January and be safe?"

[prima_sequentem]

Mary checks. "Yep!"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"And then after that? Or are you coming back around then?"

[prima_sequentem]

"I can't tell when I'm coming back," she says, "but it's harder to tell who you might meet by accident when it's more than a year away. Hmm... errands... libraries. There's a librarian somewhere in Canada you should be avoiding."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"No libraries in Canada. Okay. Is there anything else you can tell me?" He's taking notes too, very seriously.

[prima_sequentem]

"Hmm..."

She thinks about it.

"Not right now, sorry."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Okay. Please come back when you can," he says anxiously, and he makes way.

Next is Gregory. "Even if it'd work out like his parents in the end, I just want it on record I am opposed to imprinting on a toddler," he says.

[prima_sequentem]

"I am happy to steer you away from that," says Mary. "Let's see... oh, that's easy." She opens the calendar to May. "There's a movie you're going to want to see," she says. "See it on the twelfth, at, hm, ten o'clock.. It's not certain, but there's high odds you'll meet someone there that you'll get along well with, and there's no disasters waiting for you if she doesn't show."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"The second Wonder Woman movie's coming out then," he says, "is that it?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Yep," says Mary.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Cool, she likes superheroes then," he says approvingly, and he gets out of the way.

There are a half a dozen more unimprinted mobile-pack wolves to handle here, and then people keep handing her phones and wolves in La Push and Volterra and Québec and on a field trip to Safesun talk to her about their own prospects. It takes a long time. She averts many disasters and sets up many happy couples, and one fellow with an asexual woman who will like to have a devoted platonic friend and not break him up with his also-a-wolf girlfriend.

[prima_sequentem]

And when it's all over with, she gets to crawl under a blanket and not deal with people anymore. That is possibly the best part.

[self_composed]

A few days later, Bella tells Alice, [Elspeth found Milliways. She's the only local here. Come on, let's go.]

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice finally leaves his lunar cuddle nest.

[her_imperial_radiance]

And through they go! Elspeth orders a case of her bubbly to go, then heads straight home, bidding "Grandma" and the others goodbye on her way out.

[edgeofyourseat]

At a table very close to the other door, the one that leads to Milliways-outdoors, Alice spots someone reading something familiar.

He teleports across the room.

"Hey, that's my favourite book!" he says excitedly.