Don't expect mercy from my government

[poll_the_stars]

One elf is starting to run out of time. The assassins plotting to kill her could show up any day now. She would really rather they didn't.

The irony doesn't escape her. She's still sending messages about her plans to sell off all of her lifespan and die to become a daeva with a lot of OTC currency. If she wanted, she could mint a ton of Ka, then let the assassins kill her. But the idea doesn't appeal. Some form of giving up, of letting them win. She's not often petty, but in this particular instance she thinks she'll indulge herself. Besides, it's not like they're the merciful type. She recalls Aisilian's perfect comprehensioned words. You were in quite a lot of pain...

No. No, she'll - not do that. She'll go spend a little while in Nexus.

She sends Miles a message.

So everything is packed and I have everything I need with me to flee my dimension before I get assassinated. Is now a good time?

Comments

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet jumps, and stares at the kobold.

"What. How long have you. What?!"

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold doesn't take her eyes off Eva, but turns her head to make it clear she's addressing Inavet: "Yeah, sorry. You kind of startled me, coming here, and then I couldn't leave without scaring you."

[poll_the_stars]

"Oh," says Inavet. She blinks. She does realize that she was sort of alarming, earlier. "Okay. Thanks."

[all_the_worlds_have]

Eva just looks back and forth between the elf and the kobold, clearly not quite following the conversation.

[lurkingkobold]

That's... acceptable, of Eva.

The kobold sits directly next to Inavet.

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet... Finds this confusing. But she doesn't comment. Instead she looks at Eva.

"Not you personally, but - the act of giving you arcany - the sensory magic - also gives you the knowledge of how to give other people arcany. At least the basics of how to do it, getting good at it would take practice. But it's the sort of thing I'm nervous about throwing to the multiverse, because it's the sort of thing that can spiral out of control. Even though I want everyone to have it, because magic senses are awesome."

[all_the_worlds_have]

"Oh. In that case I'll just mint it afterwards and give it back to you."

She shrugs.

[poll_the_stars]

"... That would solve it rather nicely, though you might be able to figure out how to do it given long enough with it. And I just sort of assume everyone has the rest of forever to do things now. Mm. Do you have binding contracts?"

[all_the_worlds_have]

"You are asking the employee of the multiversal god-corporation whether she has binding contracts. Do you have muscles?"

[poll_the_stars]

"I sort of figured," snorts Inavet, "but it seemed rude to assume. Okay. Then - one of those preventing you from helping other people directly get arcany, with permission that you may send people that would also like it to me for a similar deal. And... Mm. Are you willing to be an in-between in case I would like to bind other people to binding contracts that all parties agree on?"

[all_the_worlds_have]

"I may charge a small fee for the latter, but otherwise that sounds entirely reasonable. I have a form contract that ought to be just the thing - we use it when our suppliers want to be sure we won't reverse-engineer their product."

She snaps her fingers, and a small sheaf of vellum appears in her hand with a flare of green light.

"This should have all the necessary specifics. And here's a pen."

She hands over a crystalline cylinder filled with a suspiciously-colored ink, along with the contract.

"Sign on the dotted line if you agree to the terms. It should already have my signature."

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet represses the urge to laugh at just how excited Eva is about getting magic senses. It's kind of cute, but it would be rude to laugh.

She reads over the contract. Any weird loopholes?

[all_the_worlds_have]

Nothing immediately stands out. May be voided by mutal agreement and return of the minted memory, minter commits to preserve said memory to the fullest extent possible, in case of loss must pay a fairly hefty penalty (but nothing that she wouldn't be able to absorb, though it would probably smart)... Full exclusivity, no subliscensing etc etc etc... an amazingly exhaustive list of interesting ways to share memories or express ideas to other people and a stern reminder that all of them are included in the above... if breached by Eva, she pays an astonishingly-hefty fine to Inavet, because that would entail deliberate circumvention of the magic... nothing really extraordinary.

[poll_the_stars]

Oh, good.

Inavet has a brief debate over if she would like to make money from this or just be a nice magic-giver. Hmmm. Rampant commercialism, being nice. Being nice, rampant commercialism. Choices, choices.

Augh, fine. Magic for everyone.

"Before I sign this, I should check to make sure that I can get you magic, sometimes people are tricky. To check I will need physical contact, may I have your hand?" She offers hers.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold scoots back a little bit, so Eva isn't obligated to get into easy biting range, and observes.

[all_the_worlds_have]

"Certainly. Though if you check subsection B.2.iv you'll see that's written in already."

Eva offers her hand in return.

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet takes it, and closes her eyes. She makes a thoughtful 'hmm' sound.

"A little weird," she pronounces. "I can tell you are connected to the OTC, or at least, something big, but nothing too bad. You're not nearly as hard as some of the other people that want arcany."

She releases Eva's hand, re-reads the contract to check for any things she might have missed (she hasn't missed anything) and then she signs.

"I am also being very nice and not shaking you down for every Chron you have. Or, literally any."

[all_the_worlds_have]

"Aw, that's so sweet! But still, I insist you take something in return." She produces a soft mote of blue light, which she holds strangely, fingers wrapped around the space beside it. "Here's a Chron for it at least."

[poll_the_stars]

"Sure," agrees Inavet. She's much happier to accept freely given money than shake Eva down for Chrons. "Thanks."

[all_the_worlds_have]

Eva carefully transfers the Chron to Ina, making sure she has a firm grip on its invisible octahedral shell.

"It's no problem at all: I get paid a full Sol each month since my promotion."

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet finds the Chron's invisible shell kind of fascinating, but has little trouble holding it.

"Nice. Congratulations on that, by the way."

[all_the_worlds_have]

"That's what happens when a low-ranking member of the OTC suddenly ends up in charge of a major branch. I have a window in my office now and everything."

[poll_the_stars]

"Did they just hand it to you because you were present, or did they put you in charge before it turned out to be uh. Itself?"

[all_the_worlds_have]

"Both of the above, more or less. Combined with quickly negotiating multiple major contracts within about a week of the branch opening, I was promoted rather than being replaced."

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet nods. "Makes sense. Uh. When I have the method to get you arcany, will your door just..." She waves a hand to it. "Again?"