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

[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.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby glances after him; Mary doesn't even bother doing that. The pair of them return to Bella's palace.

[self_composed]

Bella decides she had better not leave him alone in Milliways, but as long as nothing actually happens there's no reason to insert herself into the conversation between Alice and the random girl reading Harlan Ellison. She glances around for someone interesting to pass the time with.

[manofmyword]

All the way on one of the other other sides of the room, sitting alone at a table for two with his back to the Window, a man with straggling greenish-brown hair and poorly maintained clown makeup is playing Solitaire.