alleluia

[jovahs_heiress]

Alleluia and Caleb tell their children about magic, one by one. Isabella meets with each one to clarify a few matters. She gives Ezra a job, at the Eyrie - it is convenient to have more people around who know her secrets. And the youngest, an angel girl named Naamah, just nineteen (a last minute surprise to her parents), wants someone to talk to who is more familiar with magic than her but isn't up to their neck in it like Isabella or Micaiah - or even her own parents, who have been to all those Bell parties.

Isabella thinks about this.

[Nathaniel?]

Comments

[manofmyword]

He does not have long to wonder.

"Hi, sweetie!" says the Joker, teleporting in. "Wanna hug?"

[pythbox]

He smiles and nods.

[manofmyword]

The Joker hugs him.

"Wanna meet my kids? Dunno what Kerron's up to, but I was just with Aedyt. She says hi."

[pythbox]

"Maybe one at a time," he says, smiling tentatively.

[manofmyword]

"You got it," he says, and squeezes Nathan's hand, and then they are standing just outside of a cute little house on a cute little asteroid.

[pumpkin_pie]

Aedyt waves from the doorway. "Hey, uncleoid," she says. "Is that the right word? Whatever. Mummy made cupcakes, come have some."

[pythbox]

Nathaniel proceeds inside for cupcakes.

So far, his brother's alt and family are delightfully nonthreatening!

[temporal_affairs]

[Hey babe, where are you at?] Nathan asks. [Kerron's crashed for the night and this is a good time to cheat at cross-country road trip by skipping out overnight.]

[manofmyword]

[At the pumpkin's place. Micaiah's brother Nathaniel is visiting. You wanna come see him? He's a sweetheart. Kinda jumpy, though, so I better ask him first.]

[temporal_affairs]

[Yeah, sure, I'll be up when the time is right.]

[manofmyword]

[Love you, sweetie.]

He consults Nathaniel.

[Yeah, he says it's okay,] he reports, and the optimal time to appear in Aedyt's living room occurs shortly afterward.

[temporal_affairs]

Pop!

Nathaniel may be a guest, but Nathan's mate has his attention first. Kiss! And then:

"Hullo, Nathaniel. We've got excessively similar names, so if you want, you can call me Timer."

[pythbox]

"Okay," says Nathaniel. "They're not really all that similar except when you write them out, though."

[manofmyword]

The Joker gives his sweetie a hug and a kiss. "Pick me up, honey," he suggests.

[temporal_affairs]

Scoop! Nathan is highly obliging about this sort of thing.

[pumpkin_pie]

Aedyt sighs the sigh of one whose parents are unspeakably cute.

[pythbox]

Nathaniel giggles quietly.

[temporal_affairs]

"So what'd I miss while I was listening to Kerron make the case for the cultural importance of the World's Biggest Rubber Band Ball?"

[pythbox]

"Aedyt was telling me about her hobbies. She has a lot of them," says Nathaniel. "What is the World's Biggest Rubber Band Ball? How big is it?"

[temporal_affairs]

"It's a ball of rubber bands - pumpkin, have you got rubber bands, I don't know if they have 'em in Samaria - and it's a little smaller than this house, after a while it starts using these massive industrial ones."

[pumpkin_pie]

Aedyt produces a rubber band.

[pythbox]

"It's... sproingy," says Nathaniel, fascinated.

[manofmyword]

The Joker giggles.

[temporal_affairs]

"Yup," says Nathan. "People use 'em to keep things bundled up. If you use 'em to keep other rubber bands bundled up and then you keep going, you get a ball."

[manofmyword]

The Joker helpfully conjures a ball of rubber bands and hands it to Nathaniel.