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A Ghost Story
Sadde meets a ghost
Permalink Mark Unread

Most high schools are more or less the same once you get beyond things like which mascot is on the wall and how strict they are with their rules.

Gossip is one of those near-constants. The current rumor spreading around is that there is a real ghost that wanders along a certain stretch of bike path in a state park, some evenings.

"My dad actually hired her once," one girl claims, "She used to be Terrana Hastings, that healer person. How creepy is that?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Very. Creepy enough that she wants to check it out and use as an excuse not to have to be around her father.

Is there any more information available on this ghost?

Permalink Mark Unread

The gossip mill gives her a specific time the ghost is supposed to show up, at least.

Kaede can look up Terrana Hastings on the internet and find that she seems to have disappeared from the news about three years ago, but was a popular healer-for-hire before that. There were implications that she might be giving people magical sex-change operations at one point, which stirred up quite some controversy.

Permalink Mark Unread

...huh. Okay. What's the specific time?

Permalink Mark Unread

Five to seven PM.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sure that works.

She's there at five.

Permalink Mark Unread

There's nothing obvious on the bike path at five.

If she walks up and down the right stretch a couple of times, she might see a figure in the distance ahead. Unclear yet if it's another live person or the purported ghost.

Permalink Mark Unread

It could be a ghost! She'll wait.

Permalink Mark Unread

The maybe-ghost doesn't seem to be moving.

Permalink Mark Unread

And if she walks up to them?

Permalink Mark Unread

That sure looks like a ghost. Pale, translucent. The ghost looks at her blankly, then turns back toward looking at the little stream.

Permalink Mark Unread

"...hello."

Permalink Mark Unread

"...Hello. Are you ill?"

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"I am not. Are you?"

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The ghost hesitates. Looks... Confused. As much as such a vague outline can look confused.

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"How are you?" she asks instead.

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"Fine," she says in a near perfectly flat voice.

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"Are you sure?"

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"No. I'm fading away."

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"...how can I help?"

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"...You can't help. It's been too long. I spiraled down."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Down...?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Depression has a fatal prognosis among Spirit Bearers."

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"Oh. I'm so sorry. But there must be something I can do—find another Spirit Bearer to give you more—something—?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"That has probably been tried. I don't remember much anymore... What's your name?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'm Kaede. It's a pleasure to meet you."

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"I'm pretty sure I'm Terrana. That's surprising. Nobody likes fades like me. We're unsettling."

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"That's not a good reason not to like someone, I feel."

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"It's alright. I'm not useful or interesting anymore."

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She sighs. "It's not really alright. Why were you depressed?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"The lawsuits."

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"—lawsuits?"

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"One lawsuit. Then news and everyone else demonizing me. More lawsuits after the first one worked. I stopped healing, I stopped. Doing things."

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"Why did they sue you?"

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"I... Can't remember the details. I think I healed a minor and their parents are the ones who filed the lawsuit."

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"...did you give someone a medical transition? Because parents are very often terrible about this. I'd know."

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"I don't remember. But parents would be terrible about it."

The ghost looks at her and smiles wanly. Smiles!

Permalink Mark Unread

She smiles back, but sighs. "I'm genderfluid, you know. My father's—an asshole, honestly—but I don't care, he can do whatever he wants, sometimes I'm a boy and that's it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"You have every right to be what you feel like."

 

"...Perhaps..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes?"

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"I could give you my magic. Then I will serve some use still, in my last moments."

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"—and what happens to you?"

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"I fade immediately, instead of slowly losing more pieces for years and years until nothing of me is left. It is faster..."

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"—but there must be some way to recover—"

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"...Still trying. Find someone. Ask. I have months yet."

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"Yes. I'll—figure it out."

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"I'm telling you, it won't work. But thank you for caring enough to try."

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"Yeah, maybe it won't, but I can't—just let it happen."

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"And that is why you are worthy to inherit my magic. You care for one beyond help. If you can restore me somehow... I swear I will convince the spirit of the river valleys to grant you magic anyway."

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"...um, thank you, I guess. I don't really—need to be paid or whatever. I just—if I can help."

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"You will help more than just me if you take my offer of magic."

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"I'll help you and other people and you'll also help more people if I restore you."

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She smiles.

She - flickers. "This is - tiring. Conversation. Not tiring exactly. But that's the best word I can think of."

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"—am I making it worse, should I just go and figure this out—?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't think you're making it worse. I might stop responding."

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"Okay. You said you could have years, or maybe months—do you have a way to tell more accurately?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"When I forget my name and my mission, I'm almost done. But I'm Terrana. And I healed all comers."

Permalink Mark Unread

She nods.

"I'll come visit you every day, and I'll research more about who you were and I'll remind you."

Permalink Mark Unread

"- Actually, that may be a risk. The dissonance if I cannot recall something you say is true..."

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"—oh. Whoever designed this system needs to be fired."

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"Complaining to the laws of nature is an unproductive past-time."

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"It is, but sometimes good for the soul. Is there anything in particular you want me to do, or maybe bring?"

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"...Kitten. First creature I ever healed was a kitten."

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"Should I find a specific one?"

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"No. And if it's - hard - don't bother."

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"It won't be hard. I'll do it."

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"Thank-"

Flicker. She looks at the stream again.

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"...should I go?"

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"...Huh?"

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"Never mind. I'll—be back later."

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"Bye. Make sure to wash your hands before-" Flicker.

Permalink Mark Unread

Ugh.

She goes to the library and looks Terrana up, in more detail.

Permalink Mark Unread

Here, data degradation is her enemy. Monsters' decay auras especially like information, after all. A lot of the newspapers in the archives literally fall apart when the librarian tries to get them. Online research doesn't reveal too much more.

It seems like she was sued for transitioning someone, and then sued a bunch more by people not happy with their post-healing state, but Kaede can't find any actual legal documents.

Permalink Mark Unread

This is terrible. Ugh.

Okay... she can't really take care of a kitten, but... what if the next day she goes to a shelter and asks to, like, borrow one for a while for a very very sick friend?

Permalink Mark Unread

Shelters don't really loan out kittens. All sorts of problems with that. No, sorry.

Permalink Mark Unread

Weeelllll does she know anyone who has a kitten and would be willing to do that...?

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This random guy from her science class thinks ghosts are creepy in a cool, edgy way and is happy to show his sister's kitten to one.

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh good! Can he come today?

Permalink Mark Unread

Sure. It'll be interesting. If she seems responsive he might ask a couple of questions about magic, think that's okay?

Permalink Mark Unread

Probably, she seemed cool about that kind of thing.

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He shows up at the park's entrance at five. With a little basket and a zip-lock bag of tiny globs of meat.

"Mew?" Asks the kitten.

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"Mew," she agrees, and leads the way.

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The ghost is in the same spot. She turns to glance at Sadde and kitten guy. "Hello... Do I know you?"

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"Yes, I came here to talk to you yesterday. I promised I'd bring you a kitten." She gestures in the vague direction of the boy and the kitten.

Permalink Mark Unread

"That... Makes sense. Yes. Thank you for returning."

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"Do you want to hold it? ...can you?"

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"No. But she's cute."

"How'd you know it's a girl?" The guy asks.

"Fur patterns like that are very rare in male felines."

"Huh. Neat."

Ghostly nod.

Permalink Mark Unread

She smiles. "I didn't know you knew much about cats."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I didn't either. I think learned information not attached to my sense of self is more lasting. I remember medical school."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I see. What other cool stuff do you know?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"...About cats?"

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"Well, cats, if you wanna talk about cats, or maybe other things if not."

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"Nothing springs to mind."

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"Do you remember things about magic? My friend wanted to ask you about it."

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Her friend glances at her nervously. He's a bit more freaked out by the ghost than he bargained for.

"Using one's magic is largely intuitive. Though if you aspire to become a Spirit Bearer, you should practice spear work."

"Why's that?"

"We can each manifest a weapon - a spear is the template. It's extremely damaging to monsters."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do you know why?"

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"That's just how it is."

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"It's weird. I should figure it out."

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"I don't think it will be easy. Perhaps it'll be worth it."

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"If there's a more fundamental reason than 'it's just how it is,' then it can perhaps be generalized and used to more effectively fight them."

Permalink Mark Unread

"One can change one's weapon. It's difficult. I never bothered."

Permalink Mark Unread

"No, I just mean that, like, perhaps spears are particularly good because of some property they have that some other thing has more of and then we can use that other thing instead."

Permalink Mark Unread

"They're the densest manifestations of magic. Mundane spears don't have nearly the same effect."

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"So it might be a mathematical property of its volume, or something? Perhaps volume to area."

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She blinks. "I didn't fight monsters much after the first few years."

Turning to the other guy, "Thank you for showing me your kitten." Flicker.

Permalink Mark Unread

She sighs. "We should go, probably."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It was nice to meet you, though," Kitten guy says.

"Likewise. Have a nice day," the ghost replies automatically.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'm gonna figure out how to save her," she says on the way back.

Permalink Mark Unread

"...I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen. Maybe if you get a genie's attention somehow. Genies will do just about anything."

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"—that's not a terrible idea."

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"Hell if I know how to find a genie, though."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hmm."

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Kitten guy feeds little meat treats to his kitten. "You talk to the magic union?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Not really, why?"

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"Seems like they'd be the ones to talk to about this, is all."

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"Oh, yeah, but I met that ghost just yesterday. Haven't had the time, really."

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"Yeah, figures. I might bring Spotty here to see her some more. Might not."

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"Yeah, she's... something. It's upsetting, that this happens."

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"Almost as creepy as the Monster King." He shudders. "...Anyway, see you in class." 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Seeya."

...say, how does one contact the Spirit Association?

Permalink Mark Unread

They have a phone number, an email address, and an office in the next town over.

Permalink Mark Unread

So next Saturday he takes a bus there.

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The next town over: Is a town!

The office: Is a nondescript two-story building on the edge of what would be considered 'downtown'.

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He goes up to the receptionist. "Good morning."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Good morning. Welcome to the Catskill branch of the Spirit Bearers' Association. How can I help you?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I've met a ghost..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh dear... Where did you meet her?"

Permalink Mark Unread

...he didn't mention her gender. Hm. "A park near my house. And I wanna save her."

Permalink Mark Unread

Little sigh. "Terrana Hastings, correct? We've already tried infusions. We advised her to move away, start over, but she refused. There's very little we can do in cases like this. Especially after so long."

Permalink Mark Unread

He frowns. "There must be something else that can be tried." Pause. "A friend of mine mentioned genies."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We tried. Or rather, they tried, I heard about it but wasn't really directly involved. Genies? A genie could save her, sure. If you can get one's attention somehow."

Permalink Mark Unread

"No clues or leads on any genies hereabouts?"

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"We make a point of keeping track of them, but it's actually for law enforcement purposes. I can't just tell anyone - it'd be against policy."

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"Law enforcement?"

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"Genies... Get into trouble sometimes. We have to monitor them when they go near populated areas. Escort them, fight them off sometimes."

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"And why is it against policy to tell people?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Because then people will try to ask them to do things, irritate them, and make that job harder, presumably."

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"...fair enough. Can they do very useful things? I'd been under the impression they were somewhat limited."

Permalink Mark Unread

"They're hard to predict, hard to motivate. They can do lots of stuff."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Has there ever been an effort to make them do more useful things like eradicate death?"

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She snorts. "Not that powerful. They start complaining at making more than a handful of people young again."

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He sighs. "Well, thank you for your information, anyway."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sorry you basically came out here for nothing. Have some coffee before you go if you like."

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"I'm good, but thank you."

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"...I'll keep Terrana in the list for consideration if a genie's debt comes up. But that's far, far from a guarantee. Best I can do from here."

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"—thank you," he repeats, with much more emotion. "That's very kind of you."

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"You're welcome. I'm not sure if it's worse when Spirit Bearers - go - but it's still bad. Take care. Wait, I never actually got your name?"

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"I'm Kaede Park."

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"I'm Tanya Clemson. Phone number, email address? We keep mailing lists attached to every genie request."

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He gives her an email address—" But a phone number might be a bad idea, my father's not a fan of—magic in general."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Email it is. Have a nice day."

Permalink Mark Unread

He takes the bus back home and starts doing research on genies, feeling very misinformed.

Permalink Mark Unread

Genies. Are. Weird. They have the most random, asinine goals, don't seem to care about human life per se (only threats of force should they take one), and are very singleminded right up until they get what they want and then decide on a new goal. They don't really have bodies, they're mostly made of wind and dust held together by magic, though they can create mostly-lifelike 'bodies' any time they like and frequently change how they present themselves.

What else does he try to find out?

Permalink Mark Unread

Limits on power, patterns, population, reproduction, distribution...

Permalink Mark Unread

Big magic seems to tire them out, or perhaps they're spending against a store - they're very reluctant to do feats beyond a certain size, but have nearly arbitrary flexibility besides. He can find a list of ten thousand unique examples of genies spells easily. One real, proper resurrection every few months is apparently at the very upper limit of most genies' willingness to use magic even for big favors.

Patterns... They seem curious. Whenever they get an idea in their head it's because they want to know something, or want to experience something. 'Domesticated' genies who spend time near civilization can speak and understand languages they've bothered to learn pretty well since this is a prerequisite for interacting with humans, but few can read.

There are perhaps five to ten thousand genies the world over. It's hard to be certain. They appear much like nature spirits, generally in areas not claimed by a nature spirit, but don't stay there. They're pretty evenly distributed around the globe. Geographically. Though lower density over large stretches of ocean.

Permalink Mark Unread

And locations are secret, yes?

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Supposedly. 

Well, the government monitoring of them isn't released. But free speech is a thing. He can get a list of sightings.

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Oooh. Patterns? Any nearby ones?

Permalink Mark Unread

There are entire communities devoted to tracking this stuff!

There are currently two genies thought to be in the general New England/Montreal area. One seems to be touring the White Mountain National Forest looking for rare bettles, the other is trying to figure out what was up with the Salem Witch Trials.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

He starts reading up on them—how long has this genie been around—how long will it stay—

Permalink Mark Unread

Beetles genie: Has been there for three years and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Salem Witch Trials genie has been there for all of two weeks. Who knows when it'll decide it's learned enough, though.

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Then Salem Witch Trials genie it is. He loads his phone with data on those and reads up as much as he can and on Monday skips school to go searching for it.

Permalink Mark Unread

It'll take a few hours to get to the right city, even. (Not Salem itself.) America's public transit system is not very efficient.

Permalink Mark Unread

He's patient. And has several books on the Witch Trials to read.

Eventually he gets there, though.

Permalink Mark Unread

The genie is reportedly in a park near a public library.

That big cloud of dust with about a hundred open books strewn around near it might be it!

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes it might. He approaches it carefully.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

"Did you bring me more books? Are you more librarian?"

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"I have some books," he agrees, "but you've been here a while—perhaps there is some other way I can help you than giving you books?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Books are where you learn. I was told this by a librarian."

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"That's true. But sometimes you can also learn things from people, and they can be better than books for that, if they know what you want to learn."

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"Do you know why humans decided some of them were witches and burned them?"

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"Er. Yeah. The answer is not very satisfying, though."

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"I have already read answers. They are not what I want. I want to know why."

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"Because humans are bigots?"

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"But why?"

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"Why humans are bigots? ...fundamentally, because it was an evolutionarily successful strategy. Outsiders were more likely to bring trouble, in the form of war or disease or a different culture, and deviation from the norm was not good for survival when we had less resources than we now do."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

"How would you prove it?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hmm, there are some interesting experiments with shorter-lived animals that indicate that, and a general observation that all behaviours evolved so something like that must be going on. And then you observe some supporting evidence like how different cultures at different development levels behave and what happened, hystorically, to the ones that didn't do that, and that starts painting a certain picture. The details are probably not strictly accurate, though, and this isn't proven in the same way, say, quantum physics is."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I will investigate this new idea. If you assist I will grant a minor boon."

Someone in obvious Spirit Bearer clothes is running toward Sadde...

Permalink Mark Unread

Predictable. "I can help, sure."

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"We will make a deal. The terms..."

"Sofia Los! Wait! I have to, hah, government procedure..."

"Very well."

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"—huh?"

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"You." She stands up straight and produces a paper from a little pocket on her stone themed dress. "I'm Granite Gallery. I need you to sign this before you continue talking to that genie."

Very Official Form. Mostly saying that any illegal genie transactions are still illegal, irritating or lying to the genie may result in criminal charges, he accepts that talking to a genie is potentially hazardous, etc, etc.

Permalink Mark Unread

...he'll read this very carefully. What are the illegal genie transactions?

Permalink Mark Unread

Asking them to make or do illegal things. Mostly that. A few things are specifically mentioned as banned, such as cursing people or altering public property without approval.

From FAA regulations to the federal counterfeit law, it all applies to genies. Also, genie goods are taxable if you get more than $500 worth.

The pages in the genie's books flutter around.

"...Wait a sec, are you eighteen or older?"

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"Nnnot really."

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Sigh. "I need parent or guardian approval then."

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"—erm."

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"Either that or you walk away. I've already been chewed out twice for messing this routine up. Sorry."

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He chews on his lip. "There's a ghost. I want to rescue her."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Everyone has good causes for a genie. You have to leave."

"I do not like this," Sofia Los declares. "She has helped me. I will not empower a ghost back to human form for such little help, but I will give her a minor boon."

"Her? Whatever, hold on a sec guys? Gonna call my boss..."

Genie condenses into a vaguely humanoid form, which nods.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I would prefer you refer to me as a 'he,' actually," he informs the genie, "and I understand this is little help, but we've only been talking for five minutes. I'm sure I can help you more."

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"I think they will not allow it. This 'government' is confusing."

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He sighs. "It is. See, if I were a bit more than two years older it'd be okay, but since I'm not I can't do anything unless the person who spawned me allows it."

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"I do not fight their silly rules. If I did no human would be allowed to talk to me and they might try to kill me."

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"I know. It's probably best."

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"A small boon is deserved and may go unnoticed."

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"I'm not sure what's small, as far as genie boons go."

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"Improve your luck, alter your body, provide a measure of gold."

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"Erm, providing gold is actually illegal. Altering my body—if it's permanent, I don't, erm, think so—but how does the luck thing work?"

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"I set small magic near you. It forms to match your attentions in hidden ways. You may notice a lost object, catch a falling item, or have a correct intuition. Luck is an adequate summary."

(The genie has been whispering this whole time.)

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "I accept."

Permalink Mark Unread

Tap.

 

Granite Gallery finishes her conversation with her boss. "Sorry sir, but I really really can't let you stay here."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's okay," he sighs. "If the genie's still here after I emancipate I'll be back."

Permalink Mark Unread

The genie has no response to this. 

"Good luck with that. Have a nice day?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I will." He looks at the genie. "Thank you, Sofia Los. When and if I can ever help you again, I will try."

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"Goodbye, human."

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He goes back home. Does he have enough time to go visit the ghost?

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Sure, plenty. He gets back well before five PM.

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So he'll go visit the ghost.

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She's holding a spear today, it's more solid than the rest of her.

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"Hello again."

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"Hello. Be cautious, there may be monsters about."

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"I think not around here, but I'll be careful."

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"I felt one earlier. I don't remember where."

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He nods. "I went to talk to a genie, but the government didn't let me get very far on that."

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"Why do you need a genie? Perhaps I can help."

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"—to, erm, bring you back. Give you a physical form."

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She gives a confused look. "There is no point. I'm done."

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He sighs. "But that's not fair."

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"Neither is monsters existing. Neither is old age. We do what we can because we must. I tried to help everyone, but I can try no more. Will you accept what remains of my power?"

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He runs a hand through his hair. "Do you know how much longer you have? Is it—could you wait a few months?"

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"...Perhaps. If you are not yet ready, I will wait."

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Sigh. "Thank you."

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"It's- it's not fair you are pushed into this either. I'll pray you don't suffer my fate."

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"I promise I'll do my best."

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She just nods.

Can a ghost cry? Apparently, yes.

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He frowns. "What's wrong?"

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"I'm pushing responsibility onto someone else. Again."

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He shakes his head. "I'm taking responsibility. It's what I do. I'm making this choice, informed."

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Ghosts can't hug. Kaede's arms would go right through her.

She turns away again. "Thank you."

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He nods, though she can't see. "I'll do my best," he repeats, and off he goes.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

The ghost grows steadily less talkative and more singleminded over the next several months.

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And winter comes, and she turns sixteen.

She wants to emancipate. She has a job, her father doesn't care, her teachers can attest she's hard-working and independent and can deal with it. It takes a while still. She visits the ghost when she can, and she studies rare beetles.

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She presumably keeps up with the genie-spotters. Sofia Los, the Witch Trials genie, wandered off south somewhere after a couple weeks. Rare Beetle Genie is still frolicking about in that national forest as far as anyone can tell. Another genie was involved in some kind of fracas down in Hartford, but other than that it's a quiet few months, genie-wise.

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She's emancipated. She has a small apartment, and will hopefully never see her father again. She signs the bloody form, and marches towards where that Rare Beetle Genie is, with camping gear.

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The park rangers warn her quite stringently that it's a dangerous time of year to go hiking in the deep woods, and try to dissuade her. Does she at least have a radio or a satellite phone or something?

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Radio, yes. She's come prepared.

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...Right then. The place is open to the public. But she'd better treat the outdoors respectfully. (It helps that she's alone - they don't suspect she's going to get drunk and high and set off fireworks and poke wildlife with friends. It doesn't help that she's emancipated at sixteen. Whatever.)

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Why not, it means she's not some crazy reckless teenager, she's responsible enough to convince the government she's good.

On she goes, anyway.

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There isn't really a specific clearing the genie was said to be. It wanders around the general southeast area of the park. She has to wander around the hiking trails hoping to run into it. Maybe shouting about beetles occasionally.

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...eventually she'll try that. And she has books! And pictures! And this one stuffed beetle in a jar!

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This is not a very talkative genie. "I don't want that." Is the extent of his first reply, referencing the jarred beetle.

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"That's alright," she says, putting it away. "What do you want?"

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"Something never seen before."

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"A beetle, in particular?"

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"Beetles are varied."

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"They are, but lots of other things are, too, like bacteria."

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"I do not know how to observe bacteria."

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"I will help you, but I want something in exchange."

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"I do not know if new bacteria will be interesting. I refuse."

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"I mean help you find something that was never seen before."

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"Your words told me you wanted to show me bacteria."

 

"How would you do that when you are so small and slow and blind?"

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"Bacteria was an example. There are many varied things that were never seen before. If beetles are the best way to get you what you want, then I will find a beetle never seen before, but there are probably other ways to do it. And I would do it by being smart enough to overcome my smallness and slowness and blindness. It's what humans do."

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"I have found human help in things like this useless in the past. Convince me you are different or I will leave."

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"How have other humans been useless? What have they done that was not up to par, and in what ways do you believe you would improve on that?"

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"They talked and did not act."

 

 

The genie leaves with an irritated-sounding gust.

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"Do you expect me to do magic? Aren't you even as smart as a human?" she calls. "It's no wonder you can't find the beetle if you don't have any patience to look."

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These words do not cause the genie to reappear.

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...she still has her luck, though.

It was genie-granted, sure, so presumably this genie would be able to have the same thing but she really has no respect for genie problem-solving skill. She has spent the past few months studying beetles like crazy, particularly from this area, and she's learnt a lot about their behaviours and biology.

And she has brought enough supplies for several days.

The chance that she'll find a new beetle species is minuscule.

She tries anyway.

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How closely is she paying attention to her surroundings? Does she notice that the light fog that rolls in during the afternoon is highly unseasonal?

Does she notice the faintly glowing pair of eyes in the distance?

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Yes. She starts slowing backing away from them.

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The eyes fade into the mist.

 

About five minutes later her radio makes a sharp click sound.

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...no good. She checks it, still looking at the place where the eyes were. Is the radio working at all—?

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Something important-looking on a circuit board fell off. It can receive - it can't transmit.

(The normal sounds of the forest have been slowly quieting. The mist grows thicker.)

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Is it coming from a direction? And how the fuck did it fall off, can she fix it?

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Not unless she has a soldering iron in her pocket. (Monsters cause these kinds of random failures...)

The mist isn't coming from any particular direction. She can see perhaps fifty feet in any direction, now. It also seems to have completely shut down the wind.

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Fuck. Okay, how about she run in that direction which is as she knows the closest direction to "fuck outta here."

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She can hear... Something... From somewhere off to her left.

Was this fork in the trail here before?

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Maybe who cares she's picking whatever feels right or automatic or like muscle memory—

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That would be to the left.

This stream definitely wasn't on her path. But the vague silhouette of a too-tall man who moves unnaturally following her probably discourages backtracking.

Its teeth gleam.

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Yeah okay whatever she'll just keep going in that direction then—

—she studied maps of this place, does she recognize anything from them—?

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She's probably heading deeper in? The mist makes it really hard to tell.

The - thing - stops abruptly at the edge of the water.

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...okay? Does it just not cross or...?

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It doesn't cross. It screeches. Then it starts slithering up a tree.

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Yeah okay she'll try to keep her most likely location in mind and run to the closest edge.

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That would take her back across the stream, unfortunately.

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Closest edge modulo not crossing the stream, she means.

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That's east along the stream.

The thing follows. It makes faces at her, moving its 'hands'. They seem to really be bundles of tentacles.

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Yeah fuck that she'll ignore it and keep running.

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She seems to get away from it eventually. The unnatural fog is thinning out and she can hear birds and stuff again.

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Yeah she's not trusting that any farther than she can throw it she'll just keep running until it's been a while.

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...Since when did that river lead to a cliff and waterfall? She might want to look at her map. If she does, she finds that she's somehow on the northern edge of the park, over twenty miles away from where she's supposed to be. And into deep mountain territory.

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She doesn't need to look, she memorised it.

Goddamnit.

Okay where does she go from here that's not "back the way she came"?

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West. There's supposed to be a trail that eventually leads to a big highway a few miles that way.

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So that-a-way.

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It starts raining.

 

 

She comes across a fallen tree. On that tree is a strange beetle.

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Ugh ugh ugh she hates the damp.

...how strange?

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Very strange. It looks related to tree beetles she knows - but the color is off, and it has a tall horn, and it's on a different kind of tree than the other one.

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"Luck. Right," she murmurs to herself, and sighs. Okay, she knows how to catch a beetle, she has a net, here beetle beetle beetle...

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She can successfully catch a beetle!

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Good! Proper science procedure would have pictures and samples involved but she can do that later. Now she's going to go find that stupid genie.

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It's a bit of a walk. Probably an 'until after dark' walk. This is not really a small national park.

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That's alright, she can camp for the night, she brought Stuff.

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It's still raining.

She hears something that sounds a lot like a woman screaming in the distance sometime in the night.

It goes on for about thirty seconds and stops suddenly, cut off.

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...fuck that shit. She is staying in.

........

..................

Okay goddamnit can she figure out where it was coming from?

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Towards the north somewhere.

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She waits to see if it happens again.

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In a few minutes it does. The exact same scream, cut off at the same second. From closer.

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...how much closer?

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Hard to tell. Maybe half a mile closer, and off to the left a bit.

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Okaaaay how about she gets her things and starts walking again?

In the middle of the night?

In the rain?

(She hates the damp.)

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The next one is farther again. Trudging around in the middle of the night instead of sleeping is not good for her energy level though.

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She can deal there is a dead woman she is going to save. One sleepless night never killed anyone, but monsters did.

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The rain stops by morning. The genie finds her again by ten. It proceeds to ignore her and keep digging through leaves.

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"Will you restore a ghost if I show you a beetle no one's ever seen?" she asks without preamble.

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"I will do that if you also show me where you found it and tell me everything you know about it."

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"We have a deal. There might be a monster on the way, though."

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"If there is I will kill it. Point the way, I will carry you quickly."

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She points, and describes the location.

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And the genie flies there, carrying her on oddly solid winds. Alarmingly fast. 

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Yeah she's too pissed and tired to be alarmed. When they get there, she shows it the live specimen in a jar and the location where she found it. She can tell it everything she's read about what sort of beetle she suspects this is related to.

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It doesn't ask questions, just drinks it all in. 

 

It doesn't seem to be in any hurry to keep its end of the promise.

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When she's done she looks at it pointedly.

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It studies the beetles before it placidly.

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"Are you going to fulfill your end of the bargain?"

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"In twenty minutes. I must commit this place to memory so I can return."

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"Very well."

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And in twenty minutes it asks where the ghost is and whether she would like a lift to that place as well.

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She tells it where the ghost is and, well, if it's faster than public transport...

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Off they go, then. Flying south at better than highway speeds.

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...this is actually pretty cool.

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It's still a couple hours to get to the place. Kaede has to explain herself to the government of New York on the way in.

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She has helped this genie, she can bring someone back to life with its help, she would like to do that please.

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...The genie will get a magical escort, otherwise yes fine.

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Sounds reasonable.

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The escort is someone whose hair is fire.

"This is the beetles one, huh. How'd you do it? Nobody could please this fool. Could barely talk to him."

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"I found a stupid beetle."

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"Simple way out." She nods thoughtfully. "Hey genie, I can fly faster than you, go ahead and keep going." So they do. Fire Hair flies with a burning halo behind her - it's really quite pretty.

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Wheee~

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Oh look that one park.

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Fucking finally. Where is she?

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The ghost is by the stream.

She looks at the genie. She looks at Kaede. She starts crying again.

Fire-hair says, "...Hey that's the, what's her face. She was in the news."

The genie asks, "This is the one you wished for me to restore?"

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"Yes."

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The genie - breaks. Or something. A big chunk of its substance flows into Terrana Hastings. She remembers things. She feels. A hot wash of pain, but a cleansing pain, a restoring pain.

She becomes solid once more. Her outfit has the full saturation of color, and a sense of weight and magic.

She falls to her knees, panting. "I'm... Alive? I really am?"

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"Yes! Thank you!" she tells the genie. "You are," she tells Terrana, getting down on their knees, too. "You're alive. You're back."

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The genie flies off, promise fulfilled.

Fire-hair looks between the two scenes, says, "Make sure to talk to the SA office later, you two!" And follows it.

Terrana hugs Kaede. "I - thank you. I think the genie cured my depression. It's - well, slightly unnerving that it can do that, but under the circumstances... Thank you."

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She grins and hugs her back. "I'm very happy you're back."

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"You're the only one who seemed to care, once I was that far gone. They - my old friends tried to drag me out of my slump, but it just wasn't working. It's not their fault... Eventually they stopped calling. I only got gawkers after. And you."

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"People shouldn't die. Ever. And I can't save everyone and bring everyone back, but... I'll do what I can."

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"So will I. I'm going to start touring hospitals again. I don't have the brains for medical research, but my magic saves enough by itself, yeah?"

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"Yeah." Pause. "What did happen to you?"

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"...I was sued. The media jumped all over me for months. I got death threats and people protesting outside my apartment and harassing me at all hours. I kind of gave up... Figured everyone would forget about it in a year and I could go back to helping people. But when the protests died down I couldn't make myself go back out. Maybe I should have gone to California or something instead."

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"Why were you sued? Was my guess right, that you gave someone a medical transition?"

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"Oh, it wasn't even that. I very subtly adjusted xer face and hips to be more androgynous, that's all they wanted."

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"...seriously?"

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"Yes. Xer parents had a massive fit, and the SA was still in its nope-I'm-not-involved-with-this stage of politics, so I had a public defender. I'm still angry about it... I hope that kid got away from their parents sooner or later. Not a good situation..."

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"That's stupid—ugh, why are people terrible."

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"I could give you a few medical reasons. We humans like having a strong group identity, for example. But no, no. I just want to go home."

"...Oh. They'll have rented to someone else by now."

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"—do you want to stay at my place while you get your bearings?"

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"I appreciate the offer. No doubt I'm in for several days touring the wonders of modern bureaucracy. Ghosts recovering can't happen very often... I wonder how much of my belongings I'll be able to get back?"

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"I have no idea," she says, grinning.

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"Oh, why in the world am I worrying about that? It's a beautiful day out. Do you need any healing, Kaede?"

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She giggles. "I don't know about healing but I've been awake for, oh, almost two days straight now, and I ran into a monster and found a hitherto undiscovered species of beetle and I'm just so exhausted."

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"Oh dear. Not terribly much I can do for exhaustion, sorry. I can give you what acts like really good coffee to tide you over until tonight - that escort, she said we should visit the SA office."

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"That sounds like a good idea, yeah.—both things, I mean."

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Terrana makes an elaborate gesture, and with a wave, the promise of 'like really good coffee' is fulfilled. "I can't really fly. Do you know the bus schedule...? Or how to get a taxi? ...And have cash?"

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"I've become intimately familiar with the bus schedules around here, yes," she giggles, leading the way.

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Off they go. Terrana seems to be marveling at completely mundane sensory experiences, like the sound of a bird, or the tapping of her boots on the sidewalk.

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Terrana is adorable.

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And she remembers how buses and crosswalks and things like that work, which is convenient.

One of the other commuters, a scruffy old man, recognizes her. "Miss Hastings! I haven't seen you in years! How've you been getting on?"

"I'm... A lot better recently! You're Stu, right?"

"Yes ma'am. My knees are still holding up since whatever you did to 'em, I'm glad to say."

"That's great!"

"Who's your friend?"

"This is Kaede."

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"It's a pleasure to meet you," she tells Stu.

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"Likewise. You two enjoy the day. Youth!"

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She beams.

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Terrana makes small talk about Stu's family - they're all still happy, and the conversation goes to pleasant aimless gossip while the bus rolls along the highway.

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Awwwww! It's so nice she's happy. Kaede is slightly smug and mostly overjoyed about this.

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And soon enough they're in front of that nondescript office again.

Terrana takes deep breaths, looking at the place.

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Kaede looks at her. "Ready?"

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"I don't know why I'm nervous. I shouldn't be."

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"You can be nervous if you want. You deserve to be, after all this time."

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"Yeah." Deep breaths. "You gonna follow me in?"

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"I am. Unless you prefer me not to."

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"Let's go. It's just talking to them."

In they go.

"Hello, how can I help... Terrana?! And Kaede? Oh lord, you actually helped her."

The receptionist abandons her desk, sits them down, and asks for the full story.

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She can give her half of the full story.

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"Oh, how terrible. That sounds like a Slender Stalker - I definitely need to inform the park service. Do you think you can give me exact times, point out the locations you encountered it on a map?"

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"Times, no, locations, kinda—either it messed with my sense of location or with space itself, but I was often not where I'd thought I'd been."

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"Well, any detail you can give. They'll want to put out alerts and try to hunt it down."

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So she gives all detail she can. It's a bit fuzzy, coffee magic is still not much different than, well, coffee.

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"Thanks for the information. You look exhausted - and you've been up for days. Terrana, we have a lot to take care of, but Kaede doesn't necessarily need to be here for all of it." Terrana looks a bit nervous, glances to Kaede. 

"I don't know. I'm - pretty unsteady right now. She helped me so much, visited me while I was..."

"...Well, this will take hours to do properly. More depending on some details. And we'll probably want you back tomorrow too. Kaede, what do you think?"

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"I think she should crash at my place and we should return tomorrow to do whatever's needed when I've had time to sleep and she to decompress. Decompress more, anyway, she'll possibly not be done with it by tomorrow."

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"We're already here. W-well, if you're really that bone tired I don't think one more night will change things that much...?"

The receptionist shakes her head. "I need to organize a bunch of paperwork and email directors and so on anyway."

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"If you prefer to stay you can, of course," she tells Terrana. "Or you can sleep somewhere else or anything, you don't owe me anything. I'm just probably going to drop like a stone rather soon."

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"Oh, I owe you everything. I owe you magic, even, I did promise. And you'll do well with it."

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"...well, if you have a way of giving me magic that won't mean anyone'll get permanently dead forever I won't exactly refuse, but that's not what I was getting at."

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"We'll go talk to the river spirit. Work out a deal. And I think I would rather stay with you for a while."

"I can send a cab to come get you whenever you like tomorrow. This is definitely something discretionary fund-worthy."

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Nod. "Let's go, then?"

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Small smile. "Yeah."

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Off they go! Public transport!

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Terrana might be crying, quietly, softly.

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...uh oh. "What's wrong?"

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"I'm just. Thinking properly about everything now. Overwhelmed."

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"Can I help with anything?"

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"I'll hold up. Just have to get it out of my system."

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"Okay."

Hug?

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Yup, hug. There will be lots of hug for a while.

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Lots of hug she can do.

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Eventually there has been sufficient hug. She sniffles. They arrive at the stop nearest her apartment soon enough. Terrana waits expectantly to be shown the way.

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She is shown the way! The place is modest but very well-kept. It has only one room, though.

"I'll sleep on the couch, don't worry."

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"-Oh. Thank you." She seems to think about something, then blushes. "Can I... Nevermind. I don't need to borrow clothes yet - it's a drain on my magic to keep these up for so long, but that's okay."

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"You can borrow whatever. Really. Make yourself at home. I'm going to take a shower."

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"Alright."

...She sits on the couch, not sure what else to do.

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Kaede fetches a towel and some pyjamas and—" When I said 'make yourself at home' I meant it, feel free to raid the fridge or explore or whatever. Er, I don't have a TV, though, but I have books." She gestures in the direction of a bookshelf.

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"I got used to... Not doing things."

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"If you prefer so," she shrugs, and into the bathroom she goes.

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...She gets a snack from the kitchen. First snacky thing that jumps out of her. And picks an entirely random book and reads.

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It's a book about beetles! There are many of those.

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Beetles. A plausible thing for the genie who rescued her to be thinking about.

...Oh look she's crying again. Over a book about beetles. Because of what it shows about the effort Kaede went through.

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There are so many books about beetles, she doesn't even know.

(Well, she might, if she counts. There are twenty-three of them. And a couple about the Salem witches' trials.)

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She reads each title, then starts slowly paging through the one in her hands, smiling.

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Other than beetles and witches Kaede's interests include genies, Spirit Bearers, physics, pure maths, and econ.

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Good for Kaede. Terrana is paging through this book, enjoying looking at the illustrations, enjoying the feel and sound and smell of paper, enjoying the sensation of trying to process new information of all things.

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And after a bit Kaede leaves the bathroom in a frilly nightgown.

"All yours if you want, and otherwise I think I'm gonna occupy that couch and pass out."

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"No. I'm - this body is barely four hours old. Still clean. And I think a shower would be... Too much sensory input. In the morning maybe."

She reshelves the book.

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She nods. "Whatever will make you most comfortable."

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Terrana pokes the bed. Then she lays on the bed, over the covers. Then she realizes pillows are a thing and rolls over several times to get her head on one. (Her raiment manages to come through this without getting tangled or rumpled, because magic.)

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There is also a wardrobe that probably contains the clothes Kaede said she was free to borrow.

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Nope. She's laying on the bed in full raiment. Not used enough to the idea of being alive to feel like thinking about clothes.

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She will be undisturbed.

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And get to sleep, eventually. Dreams are new too.

(The raiment disappears some time during the night, but at least she managed to get tangled in enough of the covers for a little modesty by then.)

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No one will wake her.

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She's up very early. She brings her raiment back up with a glance at Kaede, relieved to find her still asleep. She reads that econ book lying in bed, by a tiny magic light.

...Right. She needs food, and to use bathrooms, again, now. Food and a glass of water first. She tries to be quiet during the whole procedure.

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When she's woken up Kaede is up, too, blinking blearily and yawning. "'Morning."

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"Good morning. I've made pancakes." Kaede didn't have pancake mix. But she did have flour, eggs, and other necessary miscellany.

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"...nice. Thank you."

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"Cooking again is interesting."

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"I'm glad you're liking being alive again," she says, getting pancakes.

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"Well, it's a constant relief, not being about to stop existing. I'm... Very glad you didn't take my offer."

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She smiles. "I'm glad, too." Om nom pancakes.

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Pancakes! Terrana eats slowly and carefully, avoiding looking at Kaede still in sleeping clothes.

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"—sorry, am I making you uncomfortable? I should go change—"

She gets up to do that.

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"Oh, no, I just didn't want you to think I was ogling you or something."

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"I should probably change anyway so you don't have to not want me to think that," she laughs, and into her bedroom and changed.

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She seems much more comfortable now. 

She moves to wash the dishes when the food is done.

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Nah, Kaede'll wash them.

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...Okay then. What now.

Finding some clothes to borrow and taking that shower sounds good.

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And Kaede will call the Association, if that's alright?

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"Oh, of course, that's fine."

 

...She takes a long shower.

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...worryingly long?

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Depends on your cutoff for 'worryingly'. It's entirely possible she really likes hot showers.

The water is occasionally splashing in a way consistent with someone luxuriating under the stream, at least.

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Well. She's been dead a while.

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She stops showering a few minutes after the hot water runs out, whenever that is.

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...before that happens Kaede knocks and asks if she's okay.

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"-Oh. Yes. Fine. I just... Showering is relaxing it turns out."

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"It is, don't worry about it, just wanted to make sure everything was alright."

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"Okay," She replies more quietly.

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She waits.

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And she comes out, dry and dressed in borrowed clothes, soon enough.

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And the person yesterday mentioned calling a cab for them?

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Indeed. A cab arrives in about ten minutes and they huddle in.

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More waiting. More comfortable than in a bus.

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And then they're in the office again, and in the presence of much paperwork.

One of Terrana's old friends is apparently here. An Elodie. Terrana doesn't seem to remember much about her though...

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"...did you not get all your memories back?"

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"I'm not sure how to tell. But it seems, no."

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"I am extremely unimpressed with that genie."

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"Genies don't really have memories, in the traditional sense..."

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"Yeah but I'd at least expect you to have recovered your complete set of faculties. I guess I should've specified."

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"I think he was pretty thorough otherwise, at least."

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"Yeah."

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"Yeah. And, hey, it looks like they're reinstating my membership in the Spirit Association with full seniority. That's a much bigger deal than all my money and stuff - which it looks like I'm going to get, like, a third of it back. So you shouldn't have to deal with all this paperwork for too long. Maybe you, Elodie, and I can all go for lunch?"

Elodie makes a bit of a confused face. But then, "...Yeah, I'd like that."

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...

"Sure!" And she'll want to talk to Elodie later.

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Some time separate from Terrana can be had with minimal excuses/shenanigans.

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"So what's up?" she asks Elodie.

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"I'm not sure what you mean. We used to be friends. And now she doesn't remember me, even if she's recovered from that whole mess a few years ago, but maybe we can be friends again."

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"Yeah, that genie's really incompetent," she sighs.

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"Genies." She shakes her head. "Be glad you didn't find one of the really random or violent ones. They always seem to forget what kinds of things we human-shaped-people hate, like, say, starting a fire that kills a couple dozen folks, or leaving someone without clothing, food, or shelter in the middle of the mountains, or turning someone into a frog for three years." She raises an eyebrow at Kaede. "Dealing with genies is a high risk activity, you know."

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"I'm not anywhere near risk-averse enough for my own good."

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"Fair enough. And it paid off in a big way. Terrana's a unicorn, nicest person with such a handy power you'll ever meet."

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She smiles. "Yeah, she's very nice." Not that Kaede thinks that should matter at all to whether someone lives or dies, but.

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"...Do you know if she still likes cooking?"

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"Seems to, she made pancakes out of, like, raw materials this morning."

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Elodie smiles. "We used to bake impossible cakes. A little dash of magic in the process."

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"That sounds like loads of fun. You should suggest that to her, I'm sure she'll love it."

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"I think I will."

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So do they need to do anything more at the S.A.?

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"I'll need to come back later," Terrana says, "But I can worry about that for myself. Let's go have lunch, I want to try a lot of different kinds of food again!"

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"Okay, let's!"

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"I know a bakery that you used to like... I hope it's not weird, mentioning things like that."

"I've treated people who lost their memory. It's best to accept that it's weird and move on. I appreciate you helping me figure out what I liked, actually."

"Okay. So does the bakery sound fun, Kaede?"

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"Yeah."

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They head out towards that bakery. Elodie offers to pay. "How much of your magic do you remember how to do, 'Rana?"

"Most of the healing, I think. I can do things with air, I remember, but haven't tried that beyond basic breezes."

"-We used to use magic in cooking sometimes. We called it 'the impossible cake project'. We could make cake arches, and insubstantial clouds of frosting, stuff like that."

"...Huh, that does sound like fun."

"Want to do one tonight?"

"If Kaede wants to. I'm - she's, reassuring, to be around." Terrana looks hesitant, afraid to cause offense at this statement, but Elodie just nods.

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"It sounds like it'd be lots of fun and amazing to watch."

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"Cooking is best when it's a collaboration! We do most of it without magic anyway, so you can definitely help."

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"Cool, I'd love to."

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And then they're at the bakery.

Elodie starts describing her own magic - which seems to be basically a little hydrokinesis and relatively limited transfiguration-slash-alchemy. "Good for cookin'! And good for skipping some steps in surgeries too complicated for 'Rana's magic alone, too, sometimes. Oh, I recommend the Pecanocolypse if you're not allergic to nuts."

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Sounds tasty. She'll have one of that, then.

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And some croissants and coffee and some other things and put it on Elodie's tab please.

She starts discussing cake techniques. Baking is surprisingly complex.

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Kaede: is pretty good at cooking, like, food, but not really things like sweets and cake and anything extraneous to survival. She pays attention.

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...And that's why you want to moisten the flour first, but evenly... Of course, solidified yolk is no good here so watch the temperature... She's always had a fondness for brown sugar if only it wasn't quite so darned sticky...

Terrana nods along, drinking it up, apparently remembering some of this...

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Awwwwwww.

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Elodie continues to dominate the conversation. She's very talkative.

Eventually the food is gone. "So should I plan on seeing you guys at six or so at my place?"

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"If Terrana's in I'm in, too."

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"For sure. This is exciting! It's exciting being excited!" Eeee.

Elodie writes down her address before going off with a "Back to the grindstone for me, take care!"

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It is so good to see her happy!

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"Kaede, I've got to see about getting you some magic. It's not even thinking you deserve it, you'll do good with it. And well. You've got the right kind of drive."

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"Drive?"

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"You do things, throw yourself into things, I can tell. You visited me so often, you read all those books and hunted down genies, and just... Your whole attitude. It's good for a Sprit Bearer."

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"You'll make me blush."

She is not blushing.

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"Well, I'll have a talk with the spirit of the rivers. She likes me. She probably won't even realize anything was wrong with me. Maybe she'll give us good terms for your activation. If you want it, which I've been assuming is a 'yes'."

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"Yeah, it kinda is, if it won't kill anyone or anything like that. That'd be horrifying, getting it from a spirit's fine and having magic sounds extremely useful."

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"It really is. And we don't age, we can live forever - if you don't end up like me."

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"...I didn't know that. Why didn't I know that."

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"...I don't know? I thought it was mostly common knowledge. The current head of the Spirit Association fought against Napoleon at one point."

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Frown. "Yeah I wanna live forever."

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"Well... We can still die. You saw that with me. Violence. Depression. Suppressed anger."

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"Beats old age anyway."

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Smile. "Definitely. I could even go find her now. I'm not going to be healing anyone at scale for a while. Medicine's changed enough that I need to take exams again, apparently."

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"—she's nearby?"

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"She's in all the rivers around here, if you know how to get her attention."

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"Oh, that sounds pretty awesome."

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"...Do you know how to get a boat? I think I used to know someone who would fly me over rivers if I needed it, but I can't actually remember her..."

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"I... don't. You have to be in the middle of the river?"

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"Well, to call her. Then we can talk at the edge. Maybe she'll hear me even from the edge if we find a nice park or something."

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"Maybe Elodie knows who it was you knew that knew boats. For that matter, maybe you should find your family and friends and tell them?"

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"...In terms of family, I don't really have much natural family left. And I can't clearly recall who they are, or who my old friends were. I'll ask Elodie later."

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"...that part sucks. Losing people."

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"I remember... We're sort of discouraged to get too close to humans. Non-magic ones, that is. I think the Spirit Bearers who don't last the longest." Wow, what a depressing topic.

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"...yeah I'll just figure out how to make everyone live forever."

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"Certainly a worthy goal. Genies always say they can't manage artifacts that will de-age lots of people, or I'd suggest that first."

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"Wouldn't trust them any farther than I can throw them and they're mostly incorporeal."

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"Genies are kind of stupid, yeah. But a goblin's stupid and it'll kill you if you're not careful, and a cow's stupid but it can be useful..."

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"Right, yeah, I just mean that when a genie says they can't manage an artefact like that I take it to mean they haven't gone through the trouble of trying to figure it out or some such."

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"...Huh, that's a good point. Maybe they could do it, if they actually thought about it for a while."

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"Problem is convincing one to do that."

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"I can ask the SA to put it on the list of things to ask genies about. For now I want to talk to Twisting Waters for you. Know any riverside parks, since a boat doesn't seem easy to figure out?"

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"Oh, yeah, actually."

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"Let's go, then!"

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Off they go!

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Okay so maybe loud traffic and secondhand smoke aren't things she missed. Not every sensory experience is new and interesting. But parks are nice!

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They are! And here's the river.

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Terrana goes right up to the edge, pushing through brush and managing not to get the magic magic clothes dirty or torn even a little bit, and wades in to about knee deep. She cups water in her hands and starts whispering.

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Ooh cool. She watches and waits.

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Soon, a form appears from the still surface of the water, almost silently. It doesn't have any particular special presence that marks it as divine, but it's still... Impressive.

 

And the telepathic (vaguely feminine) voice that sings out, Young healer, you have visited me again, is a little bit more stereotypically spirit-y.

My domain is still relatively free from pollution. How have you progressed on your goals?

"Oh - introductions. I was in a great amount of distress, but Kaede, here, saved my life. I think I'm going to perform much better now."

Kaede. Saving the life of the healer is worthy of praise.

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She dips her head. "Thank you. I don't really—think that way, though. I think every life is worth saving. Hers was just—there, I guess, impossible to ignore. And just the first, I hope."

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You would be a healer as well? It sounds interested.

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"That... is a possibility, yeah. Healing sounds very good."

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You do not sound as interested as I thought you would be.

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"I want to help people. That's what I'm very interested in. I don't know if healing is the best way to do it, I don't know what my options are, but it's definitely way, way better than not healing, and if it is in fact the best way to do it then heck yeah I wanna be a healer."

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The expression of magic in humans is frequently unexpected. If you dearly wished to heal someone, you would likely be capable of it if you were granted a spirit fire to carry. As your charity is more general, I could not predict the result of such a thing.

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She nods. "I understand."

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"...She's testing you, Kaede." The spirit shifts posture. "Nayalu, in my conversations with her, I've found her to be responsible and intelligent, as well as driven. I have served your interests intermittently well beyond our original agreement. I ask that you consider granting Kaede a spirit fire."

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It is an extremely serious decision. And while you have been very helpful to me, your friendship is not worth such a large portion of my essence by itself.

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"...I don't really understand how it's serious, it's not like there's a downside. Do you have finite essence, by the by? Or does it regenerate? Is there a way to regenerate it faster? Because something that'd work even better than healing, off the top of my head, would be turning everyone into spirit bearers, or at least turning everyone as immortal as spirit bearers. See, the biggest... problem... I see with healing is that it's a single-point vector, I can only affect people around me, I have to personally go help people. Something far superior would be granting regeneration and immortality in a way that spreads, something less centralised. How many spirits are there, by the way?"

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If I had infinite essence, all my enemies would be less than dust. Your idea of a boon that spreads is interesting, but I have never tried to grant such a thing.

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She tries not to make a face and mostly succeeds, then neutrally says, "I'm more the type who would, given infinite power, try to fulfill even my enemies' desires."

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Then perhaps you define 'enemy' differently.

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"Maybe. I just—I desire the flourishing of all sapient beings, even those with goals completely alien to mine. If someone can't be happy without hurting other people then, I don't know, I find them people who want to be hurt. The bar of value incompatibility has to be extremely high if I have infinite power."

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I believe I understand what you mean. If I could undo a rockslide in an instant I need not punish the hard-headed fool who caused it. And if his dearest desire was to cause rockslides, perhaps I could find an empty place for him to do so.

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"Yes, that's exactly it. I... would prioritise, I'm not omnipotent yet so if I have to sacrifice someone's values then of course I'll sacrifice those which are most distinct from mine, but the more power I have, the less I have to compromise, the more I can just give and give and give."

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Neither of us have enough power that this is more than a hypothetical conversation. But your opinion on this matter speaks to a fundamentally kind personality. But good intentions can produce bad results. Will you favour humans over the natural order?

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"...I will favour sapient beings over anything else. That includes humans, but also genies and spirits and who knows what else. To the extent that sapient beings care about something, that is something I care about."

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I have refused to allow the construction of power plants along my banks even though these projects would surely benefit many thousands of humans. I consider the health of the river over many human concerns. There is a fundamental values difference between us.

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"That's a false dichotomy, though. It is in fact possible to satisfy both of these preferences, that doesn't even require omnipotence, it only requires uranium."

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The large amount of waste heat produced by power plants requires warming rivers or drawing significant amounts of water from them or using far more land area or other things. It would be better if humans used less energy. As it is, I will permit things that interfere only moderately, and only so much as I cannot prevent them entirely without having my protests ignored and being forced to initiate violence.

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"I'm not sure if humans can use less energy. Wind power's another possibility, though. But anyway, that's beyond the point, I just mean that this conflict of values is not a fundamental one."

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Humans have used less energy for eons. You got by fine.

But perhaps the values dissonance is not totally incompatible. I will require a new agent of my interests in the human realm soon, as well.

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"We did, and we also died a lot more and a lot sooner, and we were unhappier, and we were less numerous. 'Getting by' is not a high enough standard, in my opinion, for either humans or spirits."

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I have heard tales of a shift in opinion towards sustainable living. I believe this will benefit humans and Spirits by reducing the conflict of interest. The times you humans call Spirit Wars are an immense waste for both our kinds.

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"Yes, agreed, on both counts."

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If you will swear to campaign for sustainable living reasonably prominently for 25 years, and further serve me as my agent for 10 years, I will grant you magic. As my agent I would expect you to do whatever I ask for a handful of hours each day and be willing to come to my aid at all hours, when I request it. I do not expect to need to ask you to hurt people. I would likely ask you to speak to humans on my behalf as they find me unsettling and I cannot comfortably leave the river or split my attention too much. As a virtue of having magic you will have a strong voice in human politics, and I would expect you to use that to my advantage.

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"...can I have the option of discussing it with you before doing anything that goes strongly against my morals?"

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Yes. If you are severely derelict in your duties I will be forced to exact various punishments. I hope you understand this is only to insure that you keep the promise. I also have duties in this arrangement, namely to ensure that you become a spirit bearer who understands how to properly relate spirits and humans, instead of resenting spirits.

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She nods. "Then I think these terms are fair."

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Very well. Come back tomorrow at dawn. We will discuss my domain and preferences in detail and if you still wish to accept my offer the infusion will be made.

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Terrana is grinning. "Ooh, this is great! It went a lot better and faster than I expected!"

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...well, she'll grin, too. "Until tomorrow."

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"I don't mean to... Brag? But I think my word was how she accepted it so fast."

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"Well I'm happy all the same. Thank you!" And she hugs Terrana.

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Eeee a hug!

"Life is going to be so great!"

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"It is!!!!"

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"You're going to be magic! And I'm looking forward so much to cooking! And I'm alive and can heal people again soon!"

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She giggles more. "Yes! All of that and way more! Being alive is great!"

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More hug!

"I should probably tell you what to expect when you start being magic. Huh, where do I even start..."

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"I don't know, are there any noticeable changes beyond the ability to do magic?"

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"...You feel more alive when you use your magic. You'll want to. Pushing it and using it for things will be a thrill even more than it should be naturally."

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"No negative effects from doing it?"

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"I don't think there's anything deeper on the psychological side than magic feeling good. Using magic is a bit like a muscle - overwork it and it needs rest and will perform poorly, possibly even be damaged, but you can tell you're doing that. Oh, physical concerns. We - um. Spirit Bearers aren't really affected by pathogens. Or genetic disorders, or old age, or various other things. Perfectly physically healthy. We regenerate from any physical injury very rapidly, you usually can't stop this from happening, but it causes a sort of deep damage, not visible but you can feel it. We call it unwinding."

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"...go on?"

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"It's... If you unwind enough at once, you have a chance to end up like I was. Or a wraith, or a golem. It's definitely possible to be unwound entirely in a fight. You recover when you sleep, but unwound dreams tend to be nightmares."

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"I... see. What determines what you end up as?"

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"Mental predisposition, outstanding issues. Simple ghosts are most common by far. Oh, elementals, you could be one of those. I'm sure you heard about New Orleans ten, twelve years ago?"

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"...yeah. Yikes. So, emotional control slash stability is key?"

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Nod. "Yes. That's part of why the Spirit Association tries to keep Spirit Bearers socialized. Um, what else, what else... Oh, usually we're still fertile. Only slightly fertile, low chance, the science is iffy, but if a Spirit Bearer manages to have a child they will be healthy and minimal-complication and absolutely non-magical."

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"—I think I'm a bit young for that," she says, the corner of her mouth tugging up.

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"Yes, well, it's kind of a permanent decision. So you need to know."

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She nods. "Yeah, I'm fine, I'll have forever. And if it's up to me, so will everyone else."

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"You know, I could probably dig up contact info for people I used to work with. Medical researchers, for example."

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"Oooh yes that'd be very useful!"

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"They'd probably want you to study medicine yourself first before doing anything serious with them, but yeah!"

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"Sure, I'll have forever."

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"Yep. Oh, you definitely want to join the Spirit Association. Networking is good if nothing else."

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"Yeah, I definitely will. They'll probably know how to aim me better."

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"Not always. It's by Spirit Bearers for Spirit Bearers, not by Spirit Bearers for the good of all mankind."

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"...okay then I'll use their resources for the good of all sapientkind."

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"Maybe you can. Anyway, all this can wait at least until tomorrow. What do you want to do until cooking at Elodie's?"

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"—wanna watch a movie?"

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"...Oh wow, what movies are even out, I won't have even heard of any of them."

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"We can look at the selection and you can pick one."

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"Sure, let's go do that. Popcorn!"

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She giggles. To the movies!

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Terrana picks something that looks like a comedy, preferably without excessive drama or violence. A Disney would fit the bill pretty nice, actually.

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Disney it is!

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And a movie is watched.

Terrana seems to enjoy it quite a bit.

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Awww! Kaede enjoys it, too.

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"Disney's stuff is always good. They're always so fanciful. Talking mice, of all things..."

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She giggles. "Disney's awesome."

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"Yeah. Too bad genies aren't more like the one in Aladdin."

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"Ha. If only."

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"I want to see the other Disneys sooner or later."

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"The good thing about being alive is that you can do that as much as you want! But not now, now we have cooking."

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"Yep. I wonder what recipe she has planned for us. Not something too simple, I hope."

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She laughs. "Probably not."

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"'Impossible cakes' after all. I should probably practice elementalism, shouldn't I?"

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"Hmm?"

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"Well, I can mess with air. And I get the feeling that she did most of the work but I did... Air-things, to help with batter or rising or something. I just can't quite remember what."

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"She'll probably remind you."

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"I guess. I'm just... Nervous about it."

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"Worst-case scenario you'll relearn what you forgot, and have fun doing it."

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"Good point. Let's call her now, it's probably late enough."

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She calls her.

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"'Lo, it's Flow Shift, who's this?" says a very bored-sounding Elodie.

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"Hi, it's Kaede!"

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"Who? -Oh! Kaede! Terrana's friend right right. Uh okay so something came up. Grumpy client. But no worries now I've got an excuse to brush him off and come pick you two up, I'm excited for this, where are you?"

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She provides an address.

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"...GPS says fifteen minutes, add ten for this scrub, 'zat okay?"

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"Sure. We'll be waiting."

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"See you soon! Say hi to 'Rana for me!" Click.

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Terrana smiles at this. "We can finish the popcorn and soda and chat about the movie until then. What was your favorite part..."

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"Hmm I think it was 'bout halfway into it..."

They can spend some time like that.

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And then Elodie can show up, in full gaudy gold and silver magical regalia and driving what looks like a rather expensive little car. "Good to see you two again! I am looking forward to this so much. I even had fresh ingredients delivered."

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"It's going to be lots of fun."

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"Yeah! What are you going to do with the cakes we make anyway?"

"I haven't done an impossible cake in a while... We can eat lots of it, and the ones we don't eat... You used to insist we donate them to soup kitchens, or to certain hospital wards, or stuff like that."

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"Are they usually very nutritious?"

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Terrana pipes up, "Treats don't have to be nutritious. People on restricted diets have to be careful, of course, but just knowing some stranger cared enough to make a pretty cake and give it away can make a world of difference to someone down on their luck!"

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"Yeah, that's a good point."

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"That's the 'Rana I know and love. Off we go! Forward unto dawn, and the giving of cake!"

 

...It turns out that Elodie is a little bit of a reckless driver. Not too egregiously, but noticeably.

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...she can probably deal with that, Terrana will heal her if she, like, almost dies.

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Terrana keeps talking about the movie on the way there.

And then they're at a small house in a very nice, historical neighborhood closer to New York City itself. "What kind of cakes do you two want to make?" She starts listing cakes. With increasingly improbable names. "Caramelized Black Forest Roudale" is on the tame side. "...Maybe I should just bring out the cookbooks."

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Bringing out the cookbooks is a great idea, she doesn't recognise any of them.

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The Big One is called 'impossible cakes'. It has pictures. "We wrote this." She hands it to Terrana, making a complicated face.

Terrana pages through it and stops at a particular one, whistling.

...Damn right that cake is impossible. From the five layers of interlaced filling and flavoring, to the elaborate icing plan and caketop shape meant to look like a German village - how are you supposed to make a cake arch?

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She giggles when she sees that. It looks way fun.

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Elodie practically dances and sings. "Let's~ Get~ Started~ Let's all wash hands and put on these aprons, I'll read over the process we used last time and see if it still makes sense."

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She laughs and goes to wash her hands and put on an apron.

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And then they discuss the recipe. It's kind of really complicated, but Elodie insists that they can break it down into easy steps.

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Oh good easy steps help, especially when she's merely a powerless mortal.

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"Mortals are very much not powerless," Elodie says, affecting mysteriousness.

"And those steps don't look that simple."

"I'll handle the hard stuff and coordinate! If you can mix and measure and stir, and Elodie maybe do a little trick you used to know, I'll describe it in a minute, we'll be fine. It takes a while though, fair warning."

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She can do that!

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And, over time, playing around a little bit (eating some of the leftover batter), they start baking an impossible cake!

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Really cool!

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In the middle of it, "How much of this are we gonna eat and where's the excess gonna end up? Any opinions?"

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"Up to you, I probably won't eat much."

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Elodie suggests, "...There's that SA meeting tomorrow night, why don't we bring it there, 'Rana? Turn it into a bit of a party for your return?"

"Hm, that could be fun, yeah!"

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"Party! That'll be fun."

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"Even if the stuffy old chairwoman of this and that and the other thing wouldn't know a party if it hit them upside the head," laughs Elodie.

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She grins. "Are there very many stuffy old chairwomen?"

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"Pretty much. I mean, 'Rana and I might even count if you do it by age and not attitude, I'm forty-eight and she's thirty something."

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"Forty-eight isn't what I'd call old!"

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"Older than teens today, so we count as stuffy, according to the internet." She's trying not to laugh again.

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"On behalf of teenagers everywhere, I'm offended."

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"Uh oh. We'd better try to fix that. Then again, maybe we can just appeal to the foodie bloggers. Get a subset back on our side."

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"Ah, yes, the best way to win teenagers' hearts: their stomachs."

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"We shoulda been recording! Next time we can try it. Internet fame could be fun, huh, 'Rana?"

She shrugs. "I'm not sure about that. We can try it and see how it goes."

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"I bet if you did some actually instructional videos with possible cakes and mixed in some videos of your impossible ones you'd get lots of views."

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"I bet I'd royally fail trying to bake a cake without any magic! Too used to it. Though that could be funny too."

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"You could use magic but pretend you're not."

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"You know they'll all say I am anyway, so..."

Ding! A timer goes off. "S- Uh, we better get back to work."

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"Yeah."

Work!

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And soon...

 

...They have an absolutely glorious cake. Elodie does most of the top decorations by magicking frosting into fanciful shapes and colors.

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"Wow," she breathes once they can see the completed cake. "This is beautiful​. We should take pictures."

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Elodie nods, smugly. "Do you have a camera?"

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"I have a phone."

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"...Right, phones have non-junk cameras now, I almost forgot."

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She grins. "Yeah." Phone!

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And pictures of the amazing cake!

Elodie cuts several pieces. Hilltop for Terrana, The edge of a stream for herself, and a corner of a house for Kaede.

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Kaede will eat it! But just that, she is not much of a fan of sweet things.

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"I guess I'll fridge what 'Rana and I don't eat and bring it to the meet tomorrow. I can re-heat stuff with minimal old-tasting-ness."

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Grin. "People will love it, it's delicious."

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"Ahhhh." Terrana cuts another slice of mountain. "Today was a good day. Thanks for welcoming me back to the land of the living, you two."

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"It's been a great pleasure!"

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"I guess, goodbye for now?"

"Yeah. It was a good day and see you tomorrow!"

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"'Bye!"

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Terrana is basically done for the day. She cooks - again, but simple stuff - when they return to Kaede's apartment, and very quickly goes to sleep.

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And the next morning they're going to go meet a spirit and Kaede will be a magical girl!!!!

...boy. Magical boy.

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Terrana can't help but be more subconsciously embarrassed by being in the same apartment with Kaede than she was yesterday. She doesn't make a big fuss out of it.

Over breakfast, "...So, I think Nayalu is going to lecture you about riverine science and what PR stuff she expects you to do for humans, and what monsters show up which you might have to help fight - general consensus is that most monsters aren't any smarter than dogs. Named Beasts seem pretty intelligent, but goblins or lurkers or ogres? Not so much."

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He nods. "That makes sense, thank you."

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"Any questions at all, feel free to ask me. I'm - I still have a lot of background stuff. Feelings and expectations. It's episodic memories I'm having trouble with."

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"Yeah. I don't really have any questions, now, I think. I'm just excited."

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"Off to the river, then?"

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"Off to the river!"

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A fox barks at the pair as they approach the riverbank, then runs to the riverbank as if leading them.

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They follow.

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The fox dives into the river and disappears.

Nayalu's avatar appears again. Hello, healer. Hello, ambitious one.

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"Greetings."

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Are you still interested in my offer? If so, let us discuss what your duties would be in detail.

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"I am, yes."

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Have you studied biology and ecology?

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"Some of both, but not in much depth—although I did learn a lot about it to catch beetles."

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Beetles are surprisingly important. Healer, you need not remain. We will be talking for many hours in total.

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"...You don't mind if I go do more of that paperwork stuff, Kaede?"

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"No, it's fine. Thank you for coming with me!"

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Terrana leaves and Nayalu starts on an obvious-expert's-perspective lecture of the basics of ecology. Seems to be aimed at 'this is the basic basics of what you need to know to know when to come ask me about something'.

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He pays attention and is diligent and asks smart questions.

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There is what looks like it's trying to be subtle probing in some of her questions.

She's making sure to emphasize the - commitment here. An average of four hours a day working for her, for ten years, and then being vaguely activist for another fifteen after that.

Unless Kaede mismanages himself and dies, they both lose then. But he doesn't seem like the type.

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Yeah he's really not.

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She puts out a few thought experiments, pointing out what she would have done and why, and why Kaede should learn to think in ways that come to similar conclusions, at least for the next decade.

And then... Monster education.

Gosh there's a lot of types. They mostly stay out of the river itself except where human activity encroaches a lot.

...As a sort of initiation Nayalu will have him kill a goblin she deliberately left unsquished a few miles upriver after he gets slightly used to magic.

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...sure, he can do that.

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Do not fight an ogre, troll, or similarly unusual or powerful beast alone. Do not fight a genie unless you absolutely have to. And for everyone's sake, just run if a Named Beast shows up.

It is time.

She restates the entire deal and asks, Kaede Park, do you accept my offer?

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"I do."

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The spirit reaches forward and touches a water claw to Kaede's forehead.

It's - a new qualia, like a hot rushing tingling, on the border of 'what a rush' and 'too much - painful'. It's like opening your eyes on a bright day, except not. It's a lightness in his skin that wasn't there before. It's a distinct sense of becoming something else, something more. It runs over his head, tingling intensely, before going down his neck. It stays most intense at the border as it runs down his torso and arms.

His clothes change with a wave of color as the process passes over them, transforming to an androgynous sort of vest-and-shirt combo, with surprisingly comfy sort-of-dress-pants, and a pair of white gloves. The whole thing is dominated by the color white, and there's silver trim here and there - but it's rather plain compared to other Spirit Bearer raiments he knows of. It will get more elaborate as he grows in power and is supposed to reflect his abilities in some way.

And then it's done, and Kaede is magic and his magic is obvious he can summon a spear or a bright light or - just change...

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change.

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Interesting. As I said, I could not have predicted your first spell with any accuracy.

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!!!!!!!!!

He has a penis!!!!!! He has a flat chest!!!!!!!!!!!! He doesn't need to bind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He immediately takes his shirt off and removes his binder​ and looks down at his chest and laughs and laughs and laughs

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The spirit turns away slightly, thinking about the river, but otherwise doesn't react. Joyful moments are expected, just let him get it out of his system.

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He bounces a bit more and giggles and twirls on the spot but eventually just puts his shirt back on (no binder) and beams at the spirit. "Sorry about that," he says, not sounding it.

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Almost as soon as he forms the intent to re-clothe, the discarded shirt and vest aren't on the ground and he's wearing them again, through no clear process.

Terrana did something similar.

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He blinks. "How did that happen? And she did?"

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Raiment is a property of Spirit Bearers. And yes - her first spell was not healing but she played with it for a time. It is a joyful thing.

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"How is it a property of Spirit Bearers, exactly?"

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I do not understand it. But your new outfit, your raiment, is very magical.

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"Huh. That's awesome."

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Indeed. You will learn more spells as you practice. You should have a spear, an element, and the shifting you used.

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He summons his spear...

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It's a spear! About four feet long, shiny metal tip and dull metal shaft. It comes with an attached instinct that the sharp tip is extremely dangerous to monsters. And genies, and nature spirits, and other Spirit Bearers.

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Ooh. And the light?

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Is... Odd. He makes a glowing ball that looks disconcertingly physical for all that it also seems to be made of light.

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"Coooooool!" Does it do anything?

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He could... Move it? He could maybe shape it, but that feels slippery. He can decide how hot and burny it is to an extent.

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...huh. He tries to move it.

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And then it's over there. Easy enough.

Light and darkness are the strangest of the elemental powers. They manifest in more varied ways.

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He giggles. "It's amazing."

Change shape...?

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How is he trying to change its shape?

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He's just trying to see what's responsive to what, but maybe turn it cylindrical?

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He can make it more oval-y than spherical. And it takes active concentration.

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No, cylindrical, come on—

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...Rounded cylinder? That's the best he's going to get for now - and, oh, the muscle analogy is apparently pretty apt, his magic stings in protest of holding a difficult pose.

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—he lets it go and grunts with the effort.

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Practicing and pushing your limits is healthy, as long as you do not over-exert. A short rest, I think, and then we will go to the goblin.

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"—already? Er, okay."

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Goblins are really no threat at all. If you somehow fail to manage it, I will destroy it for you... But that will indicate a dire need of combat practice.

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"I'm not exactly practised in combat, like, at all, but I'll give it my best."

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Not even this 'gym class' I hear about?

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"That's general physical education, not specifically combat. Well, some practice with spears."

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Precisely. As I have told you, goblins are small and slow and weak. They are only truly dangerous to children, sick and elderly, or in large numbers.

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"Okay. Lead the way?"

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It will be faster if I carry you.

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"Oh, okay."

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His lower body is engulfed by water.

Water that can move pretty fast.

And when Nayalu lets him out on top of a little embankment a minute later he's as dry as when she grabbed him. And it's pretty obvious where the goblin is, given the smell.

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He wrinkles his nose, conjures his spear, and walks that way.

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The goblin is about three feet tall, and looks more like some kind of lizard than humanoid. It stands up from eating something and snarls and charges.

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—he dodges! "That was very impolite!"

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It doesn't seem to care. Its eyes look more animal than human as it spins around and tries to claw at him.

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Ugh fine, he parries with his spear and thrusts it at the goblin.

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It ducks under his parry and the thrust misses. Letting it get close may have been a mistake.

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Okay so how about the ball of light on its face, burny?

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...That works pretty well. The goblin lets out a fairly horrific screech and flails around, plenty of time for him to step back and stab once more, properly.

It crumbles into some kind of disgusting grime over about thirty seconds once it dies.

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...ew.

But okay, dead.

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Creatures such as that will threaten you occasionally. They attack humans more consistently. If you join the ranks of those actively fighting against them, it would bring you higher status, but it is certainly not essential.

His magic feels warm and satisfied, like a muscle after a good workout. Or is that just the adrenaline talking?

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Eh.

"I might do that anyway, if it'll give me more resources to leverage in the long run."

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Status is a complicated and foreign concept to spirits, but it is certainly a resource, yes.

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"So, what's next?"

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I will show you all the rivers I claim as my own within the next week. You must go announce that you are my agent to the organization of spirit bearers. You will research human environmental policy and summarize it to me. None of these things have a strict time requirement. 

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"Do you have a way to contact me when I'm not nearby?"

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In dire emergencies I will ask another spirit to contact you. Most of the surrounding land, even cities, can be reached by at least one.

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"Okay so I should just return here regularly?"

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Or to any river or stream nearby. Since I was the one who empowered you, I will be able to sense you far better than average for a few decades.

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"Great. Thank you so much!"

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You have strength. I will be thanking you for excellent work by the time your service has finished.

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"I very strongly hope so." Pause. "Can you give me a ride?"

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Back to where we began? Or somewhere else along the water?

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"As close to the city as you can manage, I wanna get the bureaucratic part over with."

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Very well.

After about ten minutes, he can be washed up on a more central riverwalk park. He gets a couple of interested looks, the Raiment is attention-grabbing.

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Oh right—can he change back to his old clothes?

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Yes.

It feels a bit like taking off a pair of glasses. There's no magic anymore, it's a step removed, muffled.

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Innnteresting.

And to the government building!

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The Spirit Association office is decorated with a banner declaring Welcome Back Party - Terrana, Healer of New York.

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Oooh nice. He looks for the receptionist.

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At her desk, with a slice of The Cake.

A few Spirit Bearers are in the corner, chatting. He might recognize one from TV or other media by her rainbow armguard things.

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Awww!

"Excuse me," he says to the receptionist, grinning.

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"Hello! Welcome back. It's Kaede, right?"

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"Right! How's everything? I see Terrana shared her cake."

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"I think everything is pretty great. It's been a real uplifting week in terms of magic news. Terrana's back - I can't thank you enough for the part you played in that - and the monthly monster attack statistics came out and they're the lowest in three years, and the Evertree was driven back into the mountains with no casualties."

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"Oooh that's amazing! Who did it?"

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"I think the biggest factor was Starfire, Meniscus, and Chromadyne managing some kind of... Combined attack from far enough away that the tree wasn't damping their magic at all."

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He beams.

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The receptionist gets a bit of a playful expression. "Chromadyne's right over there if you want to talk to her, you know." She indicates the person with the rainbow armguards.

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"I'll probably ask her, yeah," he says. "Should I leave any official things for later? Seems like you're having fun."

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"It's alright, I'm still technically working. What do you need in terms of official business?"

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"I've recently become a spirit bearer."

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"...You're pulling my leg. Raiment, let's see the raiment."

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Raiment!

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"Oh my god this week is like something out of a novel. White, that means light, and a vest... Huh." She tilts her head, probably noticing the moderate androgenousness of the raiment. "Okay. How'd you get magic? If it's another genie I'm going to start calling you the genie whisperer."

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He laughs. "Nah, it was the same spirit as Terrana."

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"Nayalu of the northeastern rivers and lakes. Okay." Typeity type type. "Let me go grab some forms. Be right back!"

The group in the corner looked over, interested, when he started the transformation. Now they walk over and approach him. Someone who isn't Chromadyne says, "Welcome to the fold, since I'm assuming you're here to join the association?"

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"I am, and thank you!"

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"I'm Rey Carter, or more formally, Kalendra."

"Barbara, but call me Chromadyne." She flashes a wide smile. The third member of their little troop just waves.

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"Kaede Park, no codename yet."

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"Hmm, light elemental, huh? Could be good."

"Yeah," Chromadyne comments, "There's not a lot of us and light usually makes for nice ranged attack magic."

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"I only have the one burny light sphere," he says, apologetically. "Doesn't do much yet."

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"I started with a sort of lightsaber thing. Well, you're new. Everyone starts off with tiny weak attacks. You should spar anyway, we know how to hold back."

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"Sounds like fun!"

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"Want to go hit up the practice arena right now? I bet you'll learn a lot about dodging."

The silent-until-now party says, "Don't intimidate him, Chrome."

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"Also I think I have some bureaucracy to go through first."

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"Right, right, that stuff. You'll be tied up for days. What are you gonna do with your magic? Monster hunting, activism...? I guess that depends on what your first spell is and what other spells you get."

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"It was gender-shifting, and I don't yet have a super specific plan of what to do. Probably at least some monster-hunting."

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Kalendra suddenly looks a lot less approving. Chromadyne ignores the sudden scowl. "With a first spell like that, I bet you'll get to transform into powerful forms later. Not sure what else you'll get."

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"Is it always determined in advance or does it depend on, like, circumstance?"

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"You get things that suit you at first. You can kind of aim it by practicing certain things with what you already have. Maybe wanting really hard helps too." Shrug.

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"Fair enough. Hmm, suit me..."

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"You know the answer to that better than I do. I'm betting you're trans or genderfluid, since your first spell was a transformation one? If that's not prying too much."

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"Genderfluid, yeah. Assigned female, you have no idea how great it was when I got my magic and didn't need to wear a binder anymore."

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Kalendra whispers something to Chromadyne and leaves. Chroma rolls her eyes. "Don't mind her. I think whatever skews the gender ratio towards female for us magic-users also skews it towards trans and genderfluid, but there's no science for that so..."

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"There's not? Doesn't the S.A. have, like, demographic data and records and stuff people can do statistics to?"

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"Yeah, sort of. But none of the analyses sound particularly compelling to me, and then there's the whole Dark Mage mess muddying everything up."

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"...Dark Mage mess?"

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"Okay, so, how'd you get your magic?"

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"I, er, brought Terrana back to life and she convinced her water spirit to give me magic."

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"-What, really? You're the genie girl? Er, guy. Good show! Anyway, you can get magic from a genie, from a spirit, from a ghost... Or from a monster. A powerful one that is smart enough to plan. They go for violent, insane, or reckless types. So, yeah, Dark Mages are spirit bearers born of monsters and for all that 'profiling' is uncomfortably like racism the stats don't lie about how they're at least eight times as likely to be convicted of violent crimes as the rest of us."

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"—ah huh. Should I be worried about my spirit influencing my mind or emotions?"

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"Spirits don't go in for that kind of stuff, I'm pretty sure. Or if they do it's so subtle you can't tell the difference than just, like, changing your mind a bit after talking to them. Genies do it sometimes, but usually by accident or on request. They can scrub addictions, I think? Monsters... All bets are off."

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He nods. "I'll make sure to watch my opinions then."

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"I mean, in theory spirits can do anything genies can. There are rumors of them doing genie-type stuff. But I've never heard of anything verifiable. If you want to be cautious..." She shrugs. "Oh, Tanya's back." She points to the receptionist. "Good luck?"

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"Thank you," he says wryly before going back to talk to the receptionist.

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The receptionist has Paperwork!

Dues, apparently, are waived for your first two years' membership.

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Oh that's good he doesn't super have a lot of money.

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"You're going to have money later, I predict. Magic makes you a minor celebrity and you can do internet videos if nothing else."

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"Yay, minor celebrity status."

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"Not a fan of that idea, I guess?"

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"Oh I can deal with that, I'd even have fun doing it, I'm just not sure it's the best way to leverage my new status."

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"You don't need to stay a minor celebrity. But if you sponsor a charity group or political cause, it could be pretty effective."

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"Yeah, that sounds more my speed."

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"At any rate, you're emancipated but your age still presents us with some bureaucratic challenges. You're going to need to go to the social security office to clear things up, you'll need new state ID which means the DMV. If you have insurance or leases or a bank account you need to inform them all. It's all on that questionnaire, which will decide how many other forms I have to go print."

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"Joy of joys. I'll fill it out."

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"Oh, and you'll want a monster-hunter license. If you have one you can claim bounties for every monster you can present proof of you destroying, even if you're not working with the official defense groups."

She hands over the form and a pen.

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Form! Pen! He starts filling it out.

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Truly the delights of bureaucracy are boundless.

Chromadyne wanders into the back rooms somewhere. More forms appear.

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He vaguely wishes these were electronic.

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This is a three-century-old institution. He's lucky they have a printer.

More Spirit Bearers show up and head back into the building somewhere. A couple stop to chat about 'a new face' and ask what his first spell was and so on.

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He tells them! He's expecting So Much Transphobia.

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Yeah there's some of that. Though for the most part it's more 'I don't want to think about this' than 'you are disgusting'.

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He'll be perhaps slightly obnoxiously trans at them. But only slightly.

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He gets admonished about topics for polite conversation twice, and one lady outright asking whether he is Catholic or not. When he's not, the woman makes a catty dismissal of him.

He's done with the first round of forms soon enough. "It doesn't look like you have too much else to go through, actually."

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Oh he is unfailingly polite and whenever someone mentions that the topic might not be he is—politely—befuddled.

"Oh that's good, only fifteen more forms, then?"

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"Six, actually."

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He giggles.

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Health insurance: He can opt out of it if he wants and get out of any contract penalties. He wants, the receptionist assures. Apartment rental: He has to inform his landlord within 30 days. Landlord could evict him by going through a bunch of legal hoops, but he'd get refunds and stuff. He probably won't bother. DMV and Social Security office: Require a visit. His job: Employer needs to be notified too. Same thing with any bank accounts or credit cards. 'Spirit Bearer' is a category protected against job discrimination. Monster-hunter license: This four page form plus a fifty dollar processing fee if he wants one, and here's some informational material.

Within another hour and a half or so the paperwork will be cleared.

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He suggests computers aloud after an hour.

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"Digital data isn't really very trusted, it's even more prone to monster damage than hard copies. Plus, the various government agencies have to serve everyone and not everyone has a computer and having two versions of forms is expensive apparently. And for us, well, I don't think the SA will stop using paper records any time soon."

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Sigh. Fill fill.

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The supply of paperwork thankfully has a limit.

Though the secretary does produce a to-do list for the days to come for him. "You might as well attend your first meet today. You won't get a vote if anything comes up for vote, but you can certainly listen, introduce yourself if you like."

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"There's a meet today?"

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"There's one every Tuesday at six." It's four thirty. "Not everybody comes to them all, but we've got a big turnout to welcome Terrana back."

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"Then I'll be there. Is there anything to do around here meantime?"

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"We have a practice area and gym, we have our own library. Or I could recommend this cafe down the street a bit, if you're hungry."

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"Hmmm I think I'll go for the practice area, Chromadyne invited me to spar."

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Her eyes widen. "Good luck, and don't take it hard if you lose too badly. Chromadyne is an unusually powerful Spirit Bearer and you're brand new, after all."

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"Yeah, but it should be fun." He waves and goes.

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There are conference rooms and offices and a big central room.

There's the gym! Only one locker room for it.

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Gender-neutrality or assumption of femaleness? Who knows.

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There's a woman putting stuff into a locker in the locker room.

Her regular clothes get washed over by raiment and she doesn't seem concerned that Kaede is there. Perhaps no actual changing is done here. "Oh, are you new?"

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"Yeah! I'm Kaede, it's nice to meet you."

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"Omatayo. Light magic, judging from your raiment? That won't play well with mine." She indicates her deep purple dress-ish thing.

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"Should be fun to spar against though."

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"I'm not really a fighty type. I just like doing crazy things with my solid smoke. It gets a bit old sometimes, you know?"

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"What, fighting or solid smoke?"

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She makes a stifled sound of amusement. "Fighting."

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"Yeah, I can imagine. I'm not much of a fan of it, I don't think—although who knows, maybe I'll get a taste for it—but Chromadyne wanted to spar."

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She winces. "Uh, tell her if you want her to take it easy. We Bearers get used to damage and pain fast."

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"—okay, I will. I expect her to absolutely crush me, though."

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"Yeah, that will probably happen. I'm going to the climbing wall though, not the sparring courts. See you later?"

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"Sure, see you!"

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She heads out of the locker room. Presumably Kaede follows to find a fairly large multipurpose gymnasium, like the ones at schools.

Chromadyne grins at him and waves him over toward a set of doors.

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He follows!

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"Ready for your first magic fight?"

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"Well, second, I killed a goblin. But yeah."

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"A goblin? Lizardy-looking, 'bout three feet tall, basically just charged at you and maybe tried to dodge? Well, Goblins aren't very much of a fight but a good first fight. Get you blooded."

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"...blooded."

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"Just an expression. Neither monsters or 'bearers have blood. Or, not exactly anyway. But it is violent, figting them."

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"—wait I don't have blood?"

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"You still do, mostly. It's just that magic is faking biology for us. Or at least that's how I understood it."

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"Fair enough."

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Nod, nod. "So... Sparring?"

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"Yeah!"

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"Cool! Spears only at first. First solid hit wins a point, first one to three points wins the match. CLIFF!" Someone looks over. "Ref for us?"

"Sure."

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Spear!

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With a flourish, Chromadyne's appears too. She smirks, and-

Feint into an attempt to stab him in the upper arm. She's not really trying to score a hit at this point, just seeing how he responds.

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By trying to parry and hit herHe knows time isn't on his side.

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His counterattack is efficiently parried.

She grins and goes for the same spot, this time committing and putting more strength than someone that size should have behind it.

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Okay now's just dodging.

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Not for long until he's hit - sharp pain like fire, there's a red line on his clean white raiment - "Hold! Kaede, hit, left leg."

 

The pain fades rapidly over about five seconds. There's a curious sensation of strain in the back of his head now. A slightly different ache than his previous magic overuse. Not much, but it's there.

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...he could get used to this.

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"Smart to try to rush her. Prepare to resume," the ref-guy says, "Resume!"

Chromadyne pushes in aggressively. Perhaps overconfidently.

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He ducks and tries to trip her with his spear.

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This almost works! She hops several feet into the air and hovers there. 

"Penalty! Use of spell in spear-only contest. Point to Kaede."

Chromadyne blushes. 

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He beams.

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"I don't do spear-only much. And don't expect to win like that."

 

 

 

He doesn't score another point.

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Oh that's quite alright he still scored a point against Chromadyne!

"That was fun."

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"It was. Want to see how long you last with spells? I'll only use my first two."

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"Well, my first one is completely useless for combat."

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"I meant my basic elemental and my first actual spell. But, yeah, that's kinda is useless for combat."

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Shrug. "Could try it anyway, just my elemental one?"

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"You're on!"

She backs off some and dismisses the spear.

Two disks of white light appear over her hands.

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...can he do that with his light?

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...One ball of light that tracks his left hand?

Push a little and he can get two.

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That's good! Good magic.

Okay now he wants discsDiscs of light.

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Flattened spheres. Take it or leave it.

"...I'm gonna start now." Chromadyne advances and starts throwing sweeping arm attacks aiming to get the disks to hit Kaede.

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Yeah fine he'll take it. Kaede can if anything try to dodge all of the things and strike Chromadyne at the same time, ducking and weaving and rolling and getting hurt (ow) but yeah this is fun.

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Chromadyne has an especially nasty surprise for him when she throws the light disk, misses... And then they return to her hands, scalding him from behind.

She's grinning again by the time she scores her three points though, and Kaede almost hit her once.

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He's grinning, too. This was way more fun than he'd expected it to be!

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Chromadyne gives him fighting tips and walks him through some useful moves!

Sooner or later, "Probably about time to cool down, go to the meet."

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"Yeah, let's. We should do this more often."

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"I might not get the chance to just chill like this that often. I'm usually pretty booked, patrolling or training."

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"Oh well. I'll see if I can't catch you next time you're free, then. To the meet?"

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They head to the meet.

It's in a big, fancy-looking, congressional-style tiered meeting room. There are hundreds of armchairs with desks arranged in circles in front of a podium area at the front.

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Ooh cool. Is there a place for new people, how are people arranging themselves?

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"If we were doing something more formal there'd be places for everyone and you would go to the back, but for now just sit wherever."

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"Makes sense."

Wherever: meet Kaede's butt.

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Chromadyne goes and sits next to her friend the transphobe with a "See you later."

Seats fill up rapidly - a man with green raiment and a sharp face decides to introduce himself. "You a new Bearer or from out of town?"

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"New—just today, actually. Kaede."

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"Ah. New." His friendliness closes up to polite indifference. "Well, good luck."

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Huh.

"Thank you. It's going to be great."

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"You officially registered and stuff, or just sort of hanging out today?"

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"Registered. And I sparred a bit with Chromadyne, it was fun."

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"Heh." He goes quiet, pulls out a paperback book.

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And Kaede waits.