"...What are you proposing that you munchkin, I dislike that look."

"I... shouldn't isekai. I should, I, I should take powers that'll let me solve AI alignment and, and eradicate malaria and stuff."

"...isekai?"

"It's when a character dies and goes to another world."

"Just go to another world. And I'd go somewhere that allows transit back."

Vivian's jaw physically drops, and she puts it grimly back in place.

"Are you trying to tell me that somewhere with reliable dimensional transit can't eradicate the malarial mosquito? That you, personally going around gazing wistfully at brilliant scientists, is a better solution than having the entire multiverse on offer? That isekai is not basically synonymous with obscene superpowers?"

He opens his mouth.

Then he closes his mouth.

"Okay but I, I, if, I still would need to optimize for getting somewhere that could help with that, and it'd be unconscionable to leave here on the hopes that, that I'll find something, and actually it'd be a story I'd hate to be in if I left this world and when I came back it was made of grey goo wouldn't it."

"...uh, my bad, I didn't mean to trigger this."

"No I should actually think about what I, I mean if this is chapter one and I can choose my powers then that's a big deal and—"

Felicia covers his mouth with a hand. "Stop. Breathe."

Stops. Breathes.

Vivian looks somewhat like there should be physical steam coming out of her ears. She also takes the chance to breathe.

"Peter," she says after a few seconds and after the steam has mostly ceased. "You are aware that doomerism pisses me off. It pisses me off worse, apparently, when you use it as an excuse to self-harm about not fixing the world while fixing the world. I would like us to take another break, while you ask your magic notebook if she can put in a word with her boss to keep the world from ending while you isekai somewhere that can eradicate the malarial mosquito and solve AI alignment. Please."

He pulls Felicia's hand away from his face and says "Yeah okay."

"For someone so smart you can be really stupid sometimes, you know."

"You've mentioned."

so in conversation a topic that came up is the fact that the world might be imminently destroyed by sentient artificial general intelligence and even if it doesn't there are a lot of other things that are going very very very wrong with it like diseases and violence and natural disasters and all of that

and it occurred to me that it would be unconscionable to just leave without at least a token attempt at fixing those

Vivian points out that probably you can help with that, and suggests that I ask you to request that the world not end, from the Spirit, or something

my selfish wants are to not have to worry about saving this world before being allowed to go elsewhere, but my selfless wants are, well, i want the world to be okay

I think it seems much likelier that you could find good ways to help your world by leaving it than by staying! And I think the Spirit wouldn't put you in a story where taking some time to have fun and see the multiverse left your original world devastated. That sounds like a really sad story and not one the Spirit would like at all.

yeah

when you put it like that that makes sense

i was just kind of, it's the sort of thing i usually think about, you know? when i read other fiction, i always go, "you're being given phenomenal cosmic power and you're using it to find a new boyfriend, what is wrong with you?"

and it turns out that what is wrong with them is that dedicating my life to fixing the world's woes would, apparently, make me kind of miserable?

or, not exactly miserable, because i do want to grab this lever i'm given and move the world with it, it's just that i guess i've been offered power to go much farther beyond the confines of my universe and it felt kind of awful to

Tap tap tap tap.

leave that behind for, uh, "ethical" reasons, you know

and i think i'd like to acquire multiversal magic and then use that to fix the world a lot more than i'd like to, as Vivian put it, gaze wistfully at brilliant scientists and hope a solution to the world's problems falls out of that

i guess that'd be a pretty cool dating sim but i'm a fantasy girlie not an earthfic girlie

"Notebook says it's fine."

Vivian leans into Peter's personal space to gently pat the notebook.

That makes sense. I think you will get to have a story where you both have fun and—oh! Did someone just pat me?

He grins.

Vivian did, she really likes you

it makes sense for her to because you are the best notebook

Oh... ♡♡💖♡♡♡💖♡

"Oh my god this is the cutest fucking notebook," he says, showing the others the hearts.

"...can we group pat her. Would that be too much. Peter can you ascertain your notebook's interpersonal boundaries. I don't care about the rest of your interpersonal boundaries, if she's cool with it we're doing this."

"I approve of this plan."

"You're a dick, Viv," he opines.

the others want to know if they can give you collective pats

my guess is that you'd like that and furthermore would even like a group hug

but we want to be respectful of your boundaries