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 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?"

[all_the_worlds_have]

"You should probably message me via the forums for faster service."

[poll_the_stars]

"Sure. It shouldn't take long, I can't just use the standard method, but you're not too strange." She could just send the instructions to Eva via the forum, like she did with Miles, but having a forum record of the technique to gain arcany rather defeats the purpose of the contract. She will not be doing that.

[all_the_worlds_have]

Eva taps her lip.

"...Since you're concerned about infosec, you should note that some people are able to see auras. I can't interpret yours particularly accurately, but I can guess that you've got more than one kind of magic. I won't pry, though - I'd expect that you'd share if you had more extra senses."

[poll_the_stars]

"Thank you, for that. You're correct, I don't have any other senses, though I do have some magic that lets me gather information. But it's not, well, arcany." She smiles a little. "My first magic spoiled me for sheer sensory information density."

[all_the_worlds_have]

"I've never encountered another magic that would give me so much all at once as yours. So thank you. Thank you..." She waves her hands futilely, then settles on repeating herself.
"Thank you."

[poll_the_stars]

"You're welcome."

Inavet does so like making people happy.

[all_the_worlds_have]

Eva just stands there for a moment longer.

"... Well, I should probably go earn my salary."

[poll_the_stars]

"Probably," says Inavet, lightly. "But I will need the gem back first if I am to cheerily share my death."

[all_the_worlds_have]

Eva blinks.

"Oh, yes."

She hands back the stone, fingers parting from it a little reluctantly.

[poll_the_stars]

Someone notices this.

"If you have another gem," she offers, "I can hold that so you can keep a record of the extra senses for a little while?"

[all_the_worlds_have]

"I have many, many gems. One of the first things I saved up for was an Infinite Inventory Method."

She pulls out another gem, seemingly from midair, and offers it.