welcome to my

[manofmyword]

The deck of Jokers keeps on enchanting. It takes a few days. The ones with various sweethearts get various visits.

Slowly, everybody's aura builds up.

They're not just less powerful than the Bells'; they're different. Joker auras don't tell you they're attached to magic and power; it's not 'look at me, I'm important' or 'look at me, I'm magical' but 'look at me', the end.

Except that that is not the end at all.

Their auras track emotions, like the Bells', but far more responsively. They can be whimsical one second and terrifying the next; they can laugh while their auras cry and cry while their auras laugh. It's all in how you play it.

The initial differences are subtle. Beast's aura can make him seem more human, or more beastly, whichever form he's in. The others of variable species don't seem to do anything similar, at least not to nearly the same degree. Ghosty's is the most interesting, because she can show her aura without manifesting physically; suddenly she has a presence even when she technically doesn't.

Micaiah's aura is the first one to manifest an obviously unique feature, although 'unique' isn't quite accurate, because after a few more hours of spellcasting they all have one:

A soundtrack.

Pretty soon, they're all cuddled up in one of the guest rooms and the music is going strong. With the whole pile of them together, somebody's aura will start playing a song and the rest will either pick it up or add embellishments. It's tremendous fun.

Comments

[she_sells_seashells]

"I would've expected the first found Matilda, at least," says Shell Bell.

[mind_game]

[She's asleep.]

[lifes_sake]

"Maybe more notice would've helped. I'm sure I'll meet everybody of import eventually, though. Matilda, how d'you suppose you and the other you are going to wind up in the nicknames department?"

[pythbox]

"If she doesn't have a Jellybean, I bet nobody dares to call her Tilly," she says. "I'll take that for non-redundancy purposes."

[lifes_sake]

"You got it, Tilly."

[she_sells_seashells]

"I met the other Matilda when we were both six," Shell Bell tells Tilly. "But then I lost track of her for years. She's got magic too, but it's not like what Jane's telling me about the kind on your world."

[pythbox]

"I want to meet her!" says Matilda. "But I can wait until she's not asleep, that seems polite."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Jane's got a node in her world, so you don't have to wait for the next party," Shell Bell says.

[bellfounding]

"So," says Pattern. "What's it like being a boy?"

[lifes_sake]

"You realize that's an almost completely impossible question," Cam says.

[gunpowdergelatine]

"Oh, honey," Queenie says fondly.

[lifes_sake]

"I mean, I can tell you about what it's like to be me, but I think insofar as I'm distinct from you eight it's going to be in about the same ways any of you are distinct from each other," Cam says. "I'm fine with being the boy one - till we find more, anyway, which we might do, you know - but I'm just as much the wizard one."

[bellfounding]

"Fair enough," says Pattern. "I don't even have an identifying feature yet, let alone two. My aura didn't even help."

[autokinetic]

"You're the one who lets us enchant her Saturn," says Aegis brightly.

[gunpowdergelatine]

"I hope we find more," says Queenie. "You're all huggable. Wanna do some enchanting and then fuck me later?"

[lifes_sake]

"Yeah, sure, I was envisioning starting with Jellybean but it's not like he gives a shit," says Cam. He peers at the whiteboard with its mapped plans and its stepwise spell recipes (with edits by Rose to reflect what errors she's had to patch). "Ready?"

[gunpowdergelatine]

She giggles. "Sure! Sorry I'm stealing your boy alt, guys," she adds to the Bell crowd.

[cross_and_bow]

"No problem. We have all the time in the world and I'm sure he wants to get up to speed," laughs Juliet.

[lifes_sake]

"I surely do. I'll let you all know when I've got some aura to show off," says Cam. "It was lovely of you all to come by to gawk at me and permit the reverse." And he teleports himself and Queenie to an incomplete portion of Saturn and commences enchanting.

[gunpowdergelatine]

Enchanting is fun.

[lifes_sake]

It really is!

When Queenie wants a break, Cam will accompany her. And then he'll check in with Jellybean.

[gunpowdergelatine]

How about they save the double trip and just take the break where Jellybean is? It's a big asteroid. There's room.

[lifes_sake]

Sure, Cam's easy.

[gunpowdergelatine]

Is he.

[lifes_sake]

As of his sixteenth birthday, yep!