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Over the next week, Isabella gets the alethiometer to tell her that the planets they looked at don't contain microorganisms that know what to do with a human body (although the one with the giant bugs has some multicellular parasites that might be able to make do with the foreign macro-scale features of a human body if they got the chance). "The present", it includes in one of its answer phrasings, which is kind of worrying. But Adarin makes enough progress with his scry in little enough time that it's worth the double-check.
Isabella also hires ticket-takers, gives them little pots of ink to verify the authenticity of the passes she handed out, and opens the Los Angeles - New York route for the employees of her three companies of choice and anyone who shells out a cool fifteen thousand dollars per round trip (ten K for a one-way). This is steep, but it's within an order of magnitude of what people sometimes pay for short-notice first-class cross-country flights - with less novelty and more hassle. Albeit she doesn't supply inflight meals. She expects to have to raise the price when more people hear about it in response to volume and then be able to drop it again.
By the time the thing has been open for a few days she's fired and replaced one ticket-taker and the others have settled into a routine that she's willing to try out leaving unsupervised for awhile.
If Adarin's up for some up close and personal planet shopping and his results suggest it'll go well, anyway.
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dark_light
prodigal_miser
Adarin smiles a little. "Yeah. Now Isabella's has a robot army."
Vern nuzzles Adarin. "And you were excited about it and going to...?"
"Uh, study programming so I could try to make a spell that would help with programming languages."
"Ahh, that makes sense," says Vern.
"I'm still sorry," he repeats. Again.
Vern nuzzles Adarin. "And you were excited about it and going to...?"
"Uh, study programming so I could try to make a spell that would help with programming languages."
"Ahh, that makes sense," says Vern.
"I'm still sorry," he repeats. Again.
dark_light
"They'll obey verbal commands, and after a while it occurred to me to look at the available languages for one that's less tongue-ruining, but it'd be nice to be able to go into the code."
prodigal_miser
"... Next time we go to another planet I think we should bring them, because - I seriously feel terrible," says Adarin quietly.
Vern snuggles him.
Vern snuggles him.
dark_light
"We could also have solved this problem by leaving behind one of the mirrors. It's just that we were expecting a peaceful bit of wander through completely abandoned landscape and didn't set up protocols for what if it was more complicated than that."
prodigal_miser
"Yeah," he sighs. "I think I'll just make a few mirror pairs in case we ever just - need them. It would have been useful to give Ana one, too."
dark_light
"Yeah, she should have one. Although we could also just get her a phone, and you your own too, for that matter. I have actual liquidity now and I left enough slush fund in my loan budget to afford a couple cells."
prodigal_miser
"... Okay, yeah, I would like a pocket library of my own," Adarin says with a little smile.
Pet, pet, pet.
Pet, pet, pet.
dark_light
"We can get you a nicer one than I have - in fact, I should upgrade mine, it was chosen largely for budget reasons and that was a while ago."
prodigal_miser
He nods. "We can look at options, I suppose? I need to do some shopping anyway."
dark_light
"We could go back to New York, shop, and then go to the library again."
prodigal_miser
"That would be nice. Not uh - right now, though."
Pet, pet, pet. "I need to make it up to my magic bird," he explains.
Pet, pet, pet. "I need to make it up to my magic bird," he explains.
dark_light
"Oooh, we get made up to? What are you going to do?" asks Path.
prodigal_miser
Adarin laughs. "I'm not sure yet? But I will think of something. I hope."
prodigal_miser
"Pffff. A pony? You've got an all-powerful mage that owes you one and you want a pony," he replies, amused.
"I want a unicorn!" says Vern.
"See, that one's much more reasonable."
"I want a unicorn!" says Vern.
"See, that one's much more reasonable."
dark_light
"The My Little Ponies come in unicorn," says Path.
"We watched that once when we were six, why do you remember it?"
Path shrugs his wings.
"We watched that once when we were six, why do you remember it?"
Path shrugs his wings.
prodigal_miser
"Okay, you know what? Isabella, where can we get a My Little Pony? I owe our daemons something and they wants a pony and a unicorn, I will make this happen."
Pause. "By... Asking you to buy them for me because I have no currency." He coughs.
Pause. "By... Asking you to buy them for me because I have no currency." He coughs.
dark_light
"There are extremely tacky toys of them available at toy stores, probably, but Path does not actually want one, does Vern?"
prodigal_miser
Adarin and Vern exchange a look.
"... She definitely wants an extremely tacky toy."
"In bright pink," deadpans Vern.
"... She definitely wants an extremely tacky toy."
"In bright pink," deadpans Vern.
dark_light
"I will buy her a tacky unicorn next time we are near a toy store."
"What are you going to actually do with it?" wonders Path.
"What are you going to actually do with it?" wonders Path.
prodigal_miser
"I will name it and play dollies with it," says Vern.
Adarin nods, solemnly.
Adarin nods, solemnly.
dark_light
"Do I need to get you a whole playset of the tacky plastic ponies or will one unicorn do?"