trade my soul for a wish

[from_scratch]

This is a successor to "call me maybe", which is getting crowded.

Cam is dipping a grilled cheese sandwich into a bowl of tomato soup when he feels the summons. He goes ahead and grabs it. Doesn't even drop the sandwich.


with Mark (kappa)

with Adanya (Aestrix)

with Sable (kappa)

with Ari (andaisq)

with Metella (kappa)

with Miles (kappa)

with Isabella (Eva)

with Steel (Rockeye)

with Daphne (Maggie)

with Edie (Maggie)

Comments

[from_scratch]

"No, not that dangerous, just a public health no-no to be sticking them into people. Ocean dumping isn't a good habit but a wad of steel is hardly the worst thing you could drop, s'pose."

[kaolinandbone]

"If you happened to form the chunks into the vague shapes of ship parts, we could then probably 'salvage' them credibly in a few years' time."

[from_scratch]

"Sculpting a ship out of medical waste is definitely an angel's job, not a demon's."

[kaolinandbone]

"Right, you only make things. I guess we'll have to set that aside for when we have more information on how summoning works in this world."

[from_scratch]

"Yeah. The way to find that out with minimum risk is to get all the essentials you want from me alone handled, then try dismissing me, then try resummoning me. Some daeva would take serious exception to being stranded if it turned out summoning was one-way here or something."

[kaolinandbone]

"That's probably a good idea before we attempt anything with possibly permanent consequences. Do you have a set of standard textbooks from your world that you could conjure for me?"

[from_scratch]

"On summoning?"

[kaolinandbone]

"That wasn't actually my intent, but those would also be useful if they exist. I was thinking more about chemistry, physics, biology, and so on, since your world is apparently much more advanced technologically than mine."

[from_scratch]

"I mean. Not in a language you know."

[kaolinandbone]

"... Ah. Yes. That would be an issue."

She sighs.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time I taught myself a language from poor sources. Would you be willing to be my instructor in whichever is the most useful of your local languages while we're setting up the clinics?"

[from_scratch]

"English is likely the most useful, and yeah, I can probably teach it to you. The clinics are a swell idea but I'm wondering if there should be lots of parallel projects. For example, in my world people have invented high-yield, pest-resistant crops, if those would be of particular use anywhere. I can make seeds of 'em."

[kaolinandbone]

"The more things we attempt at once, the higher the chance that someone somewhere will notice something strange going on. That said, I've had many years of assassination attempts: what's a few more?" She chuckles.

"Higher-yield crops could be quite useful in Victoria. There's not a lot of space on the island to grow food in, given all the people on it."

[from_scratch]

"I mean, we don't have to implement them all at once, but laying groundwork should be relatively easy to keep surreptitious? Naively. You know the place."

[kaolinandbone]

"Each amazing technological breakthrough is going to need a different face behind it: either that, or we need someone prepared to wear the titles of 'genius' and 'polymath.' Setting up that kind of trustworthy agent is not exactly easy. Either that or we need to start dropping 'hints' covertly, and that comes with its own set of attendant risks."

[from_scratch]

"I mean, I'm indestructible possibly unless someone starts slinging magic, but unfamiliarity with the locale might make me a bad public face. Do you not have, you know, people? You have subjects and people you bite, none of 'em are competent?"

[kaolinandbone]

"Competence, trustworthiness, loyalty, and intelligence are different things. I need someone who has all four. My 'subjects' are a downtrodden group of slaves, servants, and lesser vampires. In the vampiric political climate, I can barely manage to keep them alive, let alone happy. There are a few good candidates, but none are so obvious that I would immediately say 'this is the person we need.'"

[from_scratch]

"Why does the political climate affect how happy you can keep them?"

[kaolinandbone]

"The vampiric political climate is that I am unimportant among the noblity and have to deal with other vampires attempting to poach my servants. In the sense that you might poach a deer from another noble's forest."

[from_scratch]

"So you have to sink resources into defense rather than infrastructure, because the servants don't get enough say in the matter that keeping them happy is a good strategy?"

[kaolinandbone]

"Essentially yes. The full answer is longer and uglier than that, but yes."

[from_scratch]

"...Separate question. I can make an entire, mindless, living human organism. Want to try biting one? They're kind of disturbing to have around, but."

[kaolinandbone]

"That sounds like a reasonable thing to try. It seems more likely to work to me than a vial of blood."

[from_scratch]

"Okay! One basement-dweller, coming up. Any requests? Do blondes taste more fun?"

[kaolinandbone]

Isabella's fingers tense on the sleeve of her dress.

"That was a disgusting joke, and I trust you not to repeat it."

[from_scratch]

"If I can't make tasteless blonde jokes what fun can I have?" asks Cam. "Seriously, specs on the basement-dweller, otherwise I'll probably wind up templating it after someone I've met and that'll just be gross."