jovahs_heiress | and where shall we turn if not to you

"Jane," Isabella asks her bracelet one day, "before the business with Milliways and magic and so on, was I likely to be named Archangel?"

[Yes,] replies Jane, politely including Micaiah, since he's in the room with Isabella at the time. [Exact values fluctuated, but since your year with Linus you were consistently rated in the sixty to seventy percent range. You weren't announced because there wasn't a compelling political reason to announce and commit to the best option for Linus's successor earlier than usual and you didn't clear ninety percent for more than six months at a time.]

"Who else was in the running?"

Jane names a few other angels - four from Cedar Hills, a couple others from the Eyrie, and one from Monteverde, [and there's always the possibility that someone who's currently very young would have asserted themselves as a candidate by the time Linus's term was near its end.]

"What kind of political factors did Jovah use to decide when to announce the next Archangel?"

[Its ability to gauge that sort of thing was pretty pathetic. It had ears - which I have now - but only three of them and they're geared towards picking up music, not so much talking. It used oracle input, especially from Sinai, and some statistics about prayer frequency. Your routine intercessions were a significant factor, as was Alleluia's impression of you. But it could also make low-confidence assessments of the contents of many ordinary conversations, especially when they were conducted in flight, and those helped.]

"I don't mean the input methods so much."

[Oh. It thought you'd be dedicated and low-corruption, that you'd be a good fit for the social shifts it's tracking in Samaria's culture, and that you'd be able to muddle along in politics or at least pick smart advisors.]

"Muddle along," says Isabella, amused.

[Don't get me wrong,] Jane says. [You're Archangel material. You're just not a diplomat type of Archangel. You're more of a Gabriel-son-of-Jeremiah than you are a Delilah. You'd decide things, they'd be good things, and then people would complain about the things and you'd stare at them incredulously and explain your reasoning again. Jehovah assigned some probability to Micaiah being able to help you there,] Jane adds. [Especially since he's an Edori and the political status of Ysral is still unclear and Linus hasn't been touching it.]

"Is the Jehovah program smart enough to have any idea what to do if you run it by itself with magic and so on factored in - without regard to the fact that it'll do as I like because I'm captain and you ate it?"

[Yep. It cuts its confidence in everything by a fair bit, but then it says go ahead and name you right away since otherwise conflict between you and another Archangel-elect could escalate seriously and since you'd still do a good job,] Jane reports. [You want me to tell Alleluia or would that be pointless rigmarole since you can tell her yourself and she knows perfectly well that I take instructions from you and ate the spaceship?]

"Hmm," Isabella says. She glances in her husband's direction.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

pythbox

"Thank you, angela," he murmurs.

From:

jovahs_heiress

"You're welcome," she says softly.

...She lets her aura out just that little bit more. Surely it should help? Convince him of her power and interest in defending him from his parents?

From:

pythbox

Nathaniel blinks hesitantly at her.

From:

jovahs_heiress

She swallows.

And flares.

From:

pythbox

He launches himself at her and clings to her legs, crying hysterically.

From:

jovahs_heiress

Isabella scoops him into a hug. "Oh sweetheart. Oh you poor thing."

From:

pythbox

He snuggles up as close as it is possible to snuggle and cries some more.

From:

jovahs_heiress

He is thoroughly and warmly and angelically hugged.

From:

pythbox

Eventually his sobs quiet to sniffles, and then to mere shivering.

From:

jovahs_heiress

Isabella pets his hair. "I won't let anyone hurt you," she tells him.

From:

pythbox

He nods, and shivers again, and hugs her some more.

From:

jovahs_heiress

Isabella will pretty much hold him as long as he likes.

From:

pythbox

Well, that's going to be a while.

Not forever. But a while.

From:

jovahs_heiress

She's not going to make him let go.

From:

pythbox

Eventally, he murmurs, "Thank you," and pulls away.

From:

jovahs_heiress

"You're welcome," Isabella says, and she releases him and relaxes her aura to its normal unflared-but-strong state.

From:

pythbox

He smiles shyly.

From:

jovahs_heiress

"Is there anything else you need from me?" she asks.

From:

pythbox

Nathaniel shakes his head.

From:

jovahs_heiress

Isabella kisses his hair. "You may always let me know if something comes up," she tells him, and she leaves him be and goes back to Micaiah.

From:

yovahs_kisses

"How is he?"

From:

jovahs_heiress

"...He seems to like my aura," says Isabella after a moment. "I let it out, and when I flared it he - leapt on me and cried. But by the time he let go he seemed fine."

From:

yovahs_kisses

"...fuck, of course he does," says Micaiah. "It makes you not scary."

From:

jovahs_heiress

"It didn't seem to do anything for Voice, so it isn't an absolute effect," Isabella points out. "But I would imagine it would help. Yes. Yours might help too, in a similar way."