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

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel is back in something like an hour and a half, in different clothes. "The electric stove was confusing, but luckily I realized what it was doing in time to avoid setting something on fire."

[from_scratch]

"Welcome to my humble abode. Did everything else make sense or non-dangerously present its nonsense? I'll probably want to hire somebody to give new residents tours of their appliances."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Apart from the coldboxes, many of the other kitchen things are confusing. I just stopped touching them after the stove. I figured out the air conditioning and heating controls. The plumbing was familiar enough. I'm not sure where all the light-switches are yet."

[from_scratch]

"Lightswitches are generally near doors or the lights that they control."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"My point is, guided tours to show how to use the appliances, and perhaps written summaries, would be helpful."

She starts describing other things potential immigrants are likely to want. "Free stuff" is at the top of the list.

[from_scratch]

"It's easier if they want free stuff I can make in large standardized batches than if they want it all custom. Although it's not much harder to make a heap of things in different colors so they can pick if they want blue or red or whatever."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Large batches of near-identical clothes and food and fancy gadgets will suffice to begin with, I think. People tend to make stuff when they live here. Though I more meant along the lines of 'no rent or taxes' than 'gifts for everyone'."

"I think we can just go around publicly yelling about free stuff in the less well-off parts of cities, and we'll get takers. We probably want to get a doctor in the first few batches of people. You said you have medical knowledge, and you can probably teach the doctor new things, but people are used to being magically healed of minor cuts and such."

[from_scratch]

"I can magically heal cuts but I probably shouldn't be doing all the medicine for the entire island if there's more than a handful of people on it, yeah. I can outfit the doctor with cool medical gadgets and drugs."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Shall we head back to Opri or maybe Nel? People in Opri and surrounding areas will be less likely to think it's a hoax, since most of them will have heard of the dam."

[from_scratch]

"Opri's fine." To the shuttle! He could hundreds of miles by wing, but why would he?

[sturdycoldsteel]

Certainly not. Steel follows.

[from_scratch]

And here is the mainland (Cam scopes out good bridge-end locations for a minute on the way) and then here is Opri.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel suggests they land near the dam and fly the rest of the way.

[from_scratch]

"How come?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"There aren't any good landing spots in Opri, and if it's a good distance away there's less chance someone will decide to mess with the shuttle."

[from_scratch]

"Fair enough."

Cam lands on the dam, which has enough space on top of it to allow that, and then flies Opriward.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel flies to Opri and says hi to the guards, who glance at Cam slightly nervously.

She goes to several former employees' homes, particularly the non-shapers. The first few people don't want to move, but then she finds a couple who worry about having two jobs and a preschooler and a baby. They want a demonstration of the free conjured food.

[from_scratch]

Cam makes everybody including the preschooler ice cream.

[sturdycoldsteel]

The preschooler squeals in delight! The parents are startled.

"So it's true... We appreciate your offer very much, but Mary needs to socialize with other children. I think we'll want to move to your island if you can find someone else with a child about her age, but not if it's completely empty apart from you and her."

"I'll make a list of people who want to move in only on certain conditions," Steel says, "We'll let you know if it fills up."

And they go back to canvassing previous employees. The next one who seems interested is homeless and jobless.

[from_scratch]

Well, now they are not homeless anymore.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel wonders, "Are we going to take him there right now, or keep asking around first?"

"I don't mind waiting 'till sunset or something if you make me a nice hot bowl of soup for the meanwhile," not-homeless guy reports.

[from_scratch]

Here's a bowl of soup. The bowl is that bread stuff. The soup is potato chowder. "The shuttle isn't that big - I can make a bigger one, but I don't want to keep accumulating shuttles. You wanted something for point-to-point, right, Steel? You want it passenger-ferry-sized?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel digs out a spoon from her backpack and hands it to the guy.

"Small passenger ferry, if you don't mind. Maybe 40 or 60 people's worth. Removable or folding seats so it can transport things as well, if possible. Onboard kitchen?"

[from_scratch]

"What do you need a kitchen for?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"If I'm going places with it and you're not there, you can't appear food for me."