i wasn't looking for this

[from_scratch]

This is a successor to call me maybe and trade my soul for a wish, which were getting crowded.

with Emily (Maggie)

with Alex (ErinFlight)

with Destin (Rockeye)

with Nick (Rockeye)

Comments

[iamnotpolaris]

A thought occurs to her. "...Do little kids just...not ever age after they die? Or do they grow up there?"

[from_scratch]

"They grow up! Just fine. Kid summoners too."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Oh, good."

[from_scratch]

"And fortunately new arrivals tend to arrive near other people, so they have a decent shot of finding caretakers."

[iamnotpolaris]

"...Yeah...I can see all kinds of opportunities for abuse in this system, but then that's certainly true of more terrestrial versions."

[from_scratch]

"Yeah. My mom sometimes picks up a Limbo kid and totes them around until they grow up."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Huh. So if we get this thing up and running you'll probably get to meet your sortasiblings."

[from_scratch]

"...I've never really thought of them that way, they don't really write to me, but yes, I guess so."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I don't know, if it turns out that when we get back it's been thirty years and our parents had raised another kid in our absence I'd consider them something sibling-like."

[from_scratch]

"I am physically absent, not out of touch. They could write to me and I could get the letters instantly, and if they did I'd write back and they'd get the packs of letters every concordance, and they don't. I know about them from Renée's letters, is all."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Oh, sure, I'm not saying they're actual siblings, but I think there's something meaningful in having both been raised by the same person. I consider myself to have some kind of connection to the offspring of this one alt of my dad I met one time, who ended up marrying his childhood best friend who died in my universe," she explains.

[from_scratch]

"Maybe you are just more generous with familyhood than I. I mean, I will probably meet them once I'm in Limbo but I don't expect it to be a big deal."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Maybe. I don't, like, keep in touch with my counterfactual half-siblings or anything."

[from_scratch]

"I send mine presents! They put their wish lists through Renée - more consolidated that way - and I make sure whatever they need is on the next train to Limbo."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Awwww."

[from_scratch]

"This is what demons do when we have even casual knowledge of people in Limbo, we send them stuff. Compactly packaged stuff so the train can all get through before the concordance closes."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Sensible."

[from_scratch]

"Yeah. And we send things to Limbo via Fairyland too, but when we get Heaven concordances they're immediately occupied by a tiny stupid war, which is very frustrating and pointless."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Maybe if knocking daeva unconscious via telepathy works Edie can just do that to all the idiots at some point in the future."

[from_scratch]

"Ooh! And then more sensible daeva can set up the protocols for mail trains! And then next time there will be enough of us organized that we can keep the stupid war daeva away!"

[iamnotpolaris]

"Exactly."

[from_scratch]

"There are perpetual attempts even now to set up something like that but they're pretty futile. It might go better if we were coordinated with some less racist angels."

[iamnotpolaris]

"It should probably be possible to get some markers through to Heaven from Limbo, at the very least, that should also help."

[from_scratch]

"Yep, Heaven takes mail from Limbo no problem. Can also send through Fairyland."