glowfic | Offering The Commission

"Attend to me!"

At her shout there was a great rustling as her servants exited their hiding places. Shambling skeletons clattered out of her closets, bringing with them her armor, cloak and her more defensively oriented magic Items and began weaving them into her hair with their bony fingers.

Mr Fluffles," she hissed to her currently alive cat, "I will need some more squirrels. Take Wuffie and Bello and eat some."

The medallion around the cats neck began to glow and an eerie echoing monotone answered. "Sure you will come back? You should scout that Forum place a little longer before going jaunting through the Multiverse."

"I don't know how long I have left, but breathing has gotten a little harder again after the ritual. There have been no complaints in the rest of the Forum. Now go."

"Yes Master." The cat shook her head and left the premises, two Mummified Dogs in tow.

Her skeleton squirrels were done with her hair in a minute and her skeleton birds(wearing rubber gloves over their wings) fitted her exoskeleton and had draped her hood over her head. A gem shone on her chest and her horn lit up with dark power as she synchronized the hundreds of mouse bones to her movements.

When the door appears, she opens it with her telekinesis, striding through with confidence born of a century of negotiations with the procurers of various dark artifacts, hoping against hope, that THIS time everything will go alright.

They might seem strange and foreboding, but then so does she, doesn't she?

Edited 2015-07-16 22:39 (UTC)

The room beyond the door is lit by a ruby chandelier, its rough-carved centerpiece filling the room with blood-red light. Beneath it, a silver-haired woman sits, her fingers trailing crimson fire behind them as they dance across the crystalline surface of her desk. She sits in an antique leather chair, which would be reminiscent of a principal's office if the leather were all one color. Across the desk from her, a vaguely-couchlike crystal formation sits, red velvet cushions positioned strategically to allow Lady Death to sit or lie across it. The walls are shrouded in iron vines, razor-sharp flowers blooming here and there: but the window in the western wall opens over the central gallery of a vast library, aisles of books stretching off towards the horizon.

The silver-haired woman looks up.

"Lady Death, I presume? I wasn't expecting you to be pastel. Please, feel free to take a seat." She gestures to the 'couch'.

Lady Death the yellow and pink strides into the room. That's... big. Well, she has dealt with Minotaurs before. "The rich colors of our people are a sign of our great magical prowess. Naturally our hair is a brown or blackish color, as stillborn foals demonstrate, but our innate magic seeks expression. Children like bright colors, so that's what they get." She approaches the couch and eyes it for a second, then lights her horn. Will the crystal respond to the iron will of the two feet high dreadlord whose armor might make her strong, but doesn't give her the flexibility to climb up on her own?

The crystal flares red with the touch of her telekinesis, but it doesn't reject her hold.

Eva seems satisfied with Lady Death's explanation. She sits and waits for her to find a seat.

Well, then she will command it to grow her some steps and climb onto it. She folds her legs under her with only a small amount of creaking. The jagged dark additions to the couch fall to the floor with a loud "clinck" as soon as she relaxes her magic and begin to evaporate silently.

Lady Death's Eyes, smoking with Dark Magic focus on the... Sasquatch.

"I am Lady Death, Dread Necromanceress of Creepy Glade. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mrs?"

"Evangeline Ingram. Of the Oifilei Trade Consortium. Would you like me to adjust the scale factor? If it would be more comfortable for you, I could also shift, but I generally prefer this form."

"No, no, it is okay. In my youth I traveled a lot. I am used to Dragons and Minotaurs. If I am going to adjust sizes I'd rather do so on my own. Now that my demise is no longer imminent I will have ample time for the finer points of Sorcery."

She leans forward a little. "That is also my most pertinent question at the moment. What are the hours? Now that I have the time to get to many long neglected projects of mine I am not quite sure I should take a day job, when I can just sell some of my workings. I do not think I will require more OTCs then what the many good pon- people on the Forum are willing to gift a dying old crone."

Edited 2015-07-17 00:23 (UTC)

Eva adjusts her hair. "Eight hours per subjective day."

"Half of every day? That's a little much. What would I have to do in that time that would justify such a large commitment? Are there free weekends? Wait, are there even weeks, is the hour and day the same?

Edited 2015-07-17 00:40 (UTC)

"We use twenty-four hour days, so eight hours for us is a little more than five hours for you. Work is five days out of every seven, on a flexible schedule. You would likely be hired as a creative consultant."

"That is much better. I guess you hope my Talent with Magic is broadly applicable across multiple kinds of Magic and seeing as I now have unlimited time to study that will only increase as I collect whole new kinds of magic. Would I be able to choose from a pool of problems those I think I can solve most easily?" Then her tail starts to slowly swish from one side to the other. "You offer many kinds of goods and services, but my real talent lies in spell development." Her gaze is stern and foreboding, her eyes burning with intensity, "Would my research into expanding my capabilities and developing new magics count as working hours?", but her ears go up and forward in eager excitement.

Edited 2015-07-17 07:18 (UTC)

"So long as you share your knowledge with the corporation, your personal projects to increase your own ability with your magic system could well be billable time, yes. However, the Consortium is likely to prefer you using your talents on more difficult problems."

"Mh... I would give the company access to my research documentation, might take an apprentice even, now that I have the time. Well, then what kinds of problems would you have me take on?"

"At the moment, we're looking for a way to grant people close-to-arbitrary conjuration abilities. The specific methods we're working on are confidential currently, but that problem is available for you if you're interested. Others also exist, of course."

"Manifesting Magical power into solids is a true and tried method for storage and/or utility. Combined with various transmutation or Golemisation techniques you can build a solid library of conjurable objects. After looking through the forum's magic the most immediate idea are of course the daeva. People have to "die" to become daeva, but I should be able to devise a ritual that could skip this step and have someone repeatedly "die" until they have the desired magic. Unless the kind of deva is somehow predestined, then I would need to find that factor and look into modifying it. Before that however we would need to bind the candidates with vows of nonviolence. They should be from a species that is incompatible or purged of Equestrian Magic so they cannot modify or game the..." That is when Lady Death starts to cough and hack and immediately two bony claws deploy from her armor and slide into her throat. The coughing stops and she begins breathing. A deep, mechanical and perfectly regular rhythm of breathing. The left claw has a thin hose running along it that flashes red, then green as fluids are rapidly pumped through it. A dark shield shimmers into being around her and dark malevolent forces swirl through the air, trying to creep into the minds of nearby people. "Back off. Begone. My wrath will be terrible..." they whisper.

Edited 2015-07-18 15:17 (UTC)

Eva takes out a heart-shaped crystal the size of her fist from her desk. It pulses, the quiet thump of a beating heart matching flashes of crimson light.

"Please, feel free to have a complimentary Ka for coming to the interview. If you wish, we could extend health enchantments to you as well for the duration of the negotiations."

The potions hit her system. Magical Cough Syrup for two bits and a Saganoma-Grade Draught of Sadko's Magical Journey. (Who ever said you had to be underwater to use one? Oxygen is Oxygen.) At once she is better.

She rises and eyes the crystal.

The dread whispers cut off, the shield pops and the bones retract out of Grandma Creepie's mouth and through her mane into her Armor. Smearing it with drool in the process.

She moves as if to politely cough, but fails due to the potion.

"Ahem." She says instead. "Thank you." and nods, taking the Ka in her shaky Telekinesis and hovers it over a small circle on her shoulder.

The Armor tries to sacrifice it in a variety of small rituals, but the Circle is incorrectly drawn and thus each and every one of those rituals fails miserably. Magical Sensors note how much Magic the Crystal almost released and analyze how and why it was created as well as what the creator felt and if it was stolen or extorted.

The results of this are whispered into Lady Death's mind.

The results appear to be [proprietary information blocked in order to preserve customer privacy].

Eva watches Lady Death with a quizzical look.

Thaaat is... slightly unsettling. Or is it? She can't make up her mind. "Yes... the Ka. That is another thing... How are they made? I mean they can be extracted from po- people, aging them, but do you have means of making them that doesn't steal the life of sentients? Because asking people to part with their lifespan for things they might desperately need isn't a practice I would like to promote. There's a similar if rather lossy ritual for that" a drop of drool falls into her eyes and a second aura quickly wipes over her face, cleaning her. "Ahem." She says again, being unable to actually cough. "that I was hoping to exploit if I can get a loan of certain expensive but reusable material components from somewhere. Can one find out how many Ka one has left, or rather how many Ka one can safely mint?"

Edited 2015-08-05 20:25 (UTC)

Eva's eyes glaze over slightly, and her voice takes on a droning, ritual tone.

"OTC maintains strict ethical guidelines regarding minting of any type. In cases of people spending lifespan or vital time that they cannot live without, or selling memories or desires core to their personalities, we are quick to reccommend alternatives such as our various subcontractors. OTC is committed to ensuring that our minting procedures are safe for all involved, and we encourage all our customers to mint the coins that are right for them. That said, 'caveat emptor': it is always the customer's responsibility to decide what value their lives and experiences hold. For this reason, we sell currency visualizers at reasonable prices in order for our customers to be able to make more informed buying descisions. OTC ethical guidelines assert and affirm that offering more choices to sentients is never a harm, and we act in good faith to the best of our ability in order to ensure all customers are adequately informed before making significant buying descisions. Multiversal trade bears unusual risks, which OTC makes every effort possible to minimize: however, we acknowledge that interactions between foreign physics are inherently unpredictable, and not all such risks may be discovered even with extensive testing. When the risks are well-known, OTC ensures as best it can that appropriate warnings are given to its customers: however, we expressly disclaim all liability for negligent or criminal use of our products or currencies."

Eva lets out a breath, her eyes tinged slightly with a deep, mossy green.

"Did you... did you just use some form of Dark Magic or equivalent to influence your mind into not being bothered to recite that memorized speech?" Lady Death asks half impressed, half wary.

"Uh, anyway... that tells me that you are responsible about it, but being intimately familiar with dying of old age I would still like to... devalue the Ka. And with the resources of the forum that shouldn't be all that hard. If I manage to manufacture very large amounts of Ka then it's marked value should drop and people all over the part of the multiverse you supply should stop dying of old age." She took a deep breath and began to slowly draw the life force from the Ka like she would a Dark Crystal, dissolving it.

"What does taking a full time job at OTC get me that I cannot gain by accepting commissions? And make it good, because being unable to freely and for free cooperate with that World Tree Coalition sounds like a severe downside. Also, if I signed up... could I quit again?"

Edited 2015-08-07 11:52 (UTC)

"The OTC lives in its contracts, at least partially. Reciting boilerplate brings me closer to the OTC, because the boilerplate is like one of its bones, and I've just grabbed hold of it with one hand. In a very real way, the corporation was speaking through me when I recited its established policy."

Eva smiles slightly. "Being an employee of the OTC is in some ways like being a priestess of an active, interested god. It's definitely not for everyone. That said, it's also very rewarding. To start with: I'm paid a full Sol each month. That's fifteen thousand Chron, or a little under five million OTC. If I save, I can afford to buy godly time - and that's just my wages. Immortality and perfect health are standard employee benefits, and I'm sure youth could be arranged as well. You'll also have a chance to make the OTC as a whole more the sort of corporation you would like it to be, even as a low-level employee - the OTC is composed of people as much as anything, after all."

She pulls out a contract written in deep green ink. "The standard employee contract is for five years, with a renewal option. If you quit before then, you're bound by a noncompete clause for the remaining time - if you are fired without proper cause, you are not bound, and may be entitled to a severance package depending on circumstances. The health package is made permanent at the end of your first five-year contract with us: if you quit or are fired before then, it will subside when the contract would expire."

That is... much more unsettling than she thought. She will have to ruminate about that. But her ears perk up when she realizes that the OTC doesn't want to buy her soul, just wants five years of it. Except, who knows what five years of regular "being closer to the OTC" does to her wants.

"Uhm... That's nice.", her ears don't think so anymore. "I get that this job would get me all the wonderful things the OTC sells. But what I want is freedom and studying Magic, pushing it to it's limits. I need health and youth and inter-dimensional travel, everything else I'd rather earn myself. How often does anyone ever quit the OTC? And how many employee's does the OTC have? If your work routinely brings you closer to the OTC does that incrementally influence your mind to like the OTC's goals? About the noncompete clause, you know, the one you have been avoiding: The OTC seems to effectively sell anything. If I were to use my... the job does come with free dimensional travel, doesn't it? If I were to use that pro bono, to eliminate Death of old age and other causes in big parts of the multiverse, freeing up a lot of Ka, would that be competing with the OTC? I'd rather trade my services at an individual rate for..."

The only thing she really needs the OTC for is dimensional travel...

...

"Celestia!" She opens a compartment in her armor and begins scribbling furiously, her tail wagging, her ears in the air.

Edited 2015-08-10 09:45 (UTC)

Eva smiles.

"The job does come with free dimensional travel, at least for research specialists like you would be. I'll also note that I'm the same person as I was before, save where I personally have modified myself using Udi and Buddhitanka - the OTC is very careful not to affect the minds of its employees, and use of bodies is a seperate high-level contract which is only ever offered to dedicated, long-standing members of the company. You are likely to have far more of an impact on the OTC than it will have on you, even if you are only one of hundreds of thousands of employees. As for 'freeing up Ka elsewhere..." Eva shakes her head with a small snort. "That's the furthest thing from competing with the OTC there is. With that attitude, you'll be looking at promotions, not getting fired. And yes, employees can and do quit: while the OTC tries to hire people that it thinks will fit with it, philosophical differences have led to people leaving the company in the past. Not often, but it does occur."

She taps the contract on the table.

"Incidentally, I don't believe I've finished my sales pitch. As you can see in the contract, at the end of each year with the OTC, there is a year-end-bonus of one OTC-chron for an entry-level employee. OTC-chron are only ever available to OTC staff. They represent more or less what you would expect: 5.26 seconds of the OTC dedicating its full strength to fulfilling your request. The last month of the year is informally called 'prayers month' among employees for this reason. As a local branch manager, I now get a full hour of the OTC's time each year. I'm still not certain what I'll ask for..."

She finishes transcribing a bare bones spell.

A quick calculation brings that to five days per a hundred thousand employees. "Well, I would like to have people mint their Ka before becoming immortal, it could be for OTCurrency, or the immortalization as long as everyone can afford it, and the Ka to become cheap, so people that reside in worlds where I haven't made immortality widely available yet would have plenty of Ka. Anyway, you can make your employees immortal, I assumed that you do this by giving them Ka taken from your costumers, is that true? If not, could you not sell immortality to everyone? It's got to vitalize economies everywhere it goes, giving you more business."

Lady Death's ears fold back a little, go back to the front and then swing around in a circle resignedly. The OTC is her best bet for mass producing and distributing anything she makes. She'll join. "What IS the goal of the OTC anyway? What does the OTC want to happen? Amassing stockpiles of those currencies? Maximizing revenue? Creating as large a trade corporation as possible or becoming the sole trading company in a large chunk of the multiverse? I think by knowing that I would be able to help it more than by figuring out the solution to problems you give me."

Edited 2015-08-10 23:14 (UTC)

"The creation of immortality is a service extended to us by one of the many gods who owe us Cernnous. We have a limited amount of true agelessness and perfect health, rather than simply 'arbitrarily large amounts of lifespan.' We are starting to transition away from this model, though, given the Eclipsite medical technology we've recently acquired."

She smiles.

"As for the OTC's goals - I'm afraid I literally cannot discuss corporate strategy with you until you sign the contract. That sensitive information is subject to aggressive nondisclosure agreements. That said, I can deny things: OTC is not out to 'own the multiverse' in any capacity, or to establish monopolies. We maximize profits in order to satisfy our shareholders, but 'maximizing profits' is no more our goal than the goal of commercial space exploration is to 'maximize profits'. It is merely a neccessary prerequisite."

She blinked. Ears: Up with you. "I'm impresssed. I do remember the complete and utter failure of pony doctors to help a chupacabra with a case of the sniffles. I have some medical training in most biologies on Equestria, but I couldn't begin to imagine how one could heal a brain that doesn't use magic to achieve sapience. Freaky Changelings...", she mutters the last two words.

Her ears are doing push ups today: "That it's goals aren't something the OTC can advertise with robs me of some of the confidence, to be honest. Amassing stockpiles of those currencies would have been slightly concerning as it would include some amount of withholding Ka from needy people. Maximizing revenue would have been an excellent goal! It would mean raising the standard of living in it's operational area. Creating as large a trade corporation as possible or becoming the sole trading company in a large chunk of the multiverse would also be worthy goals, because the obvious means to that would be being better than all the competition, becoming a household name everywhere." She sighs.

"The contract contains the exact wording of the noncompete agreement, doesn't it? If there's nothing else we'll have to discuss I will review it at my convenience, look at some other options for my career in the larger Multiverse and get back to you, if that's acceptable."

Edited 2015-08-11 09:58 (UTC)

"I'll simply say this: the end goal of OTC is beneficial to the vast majority of sophonts, otherwise I would have quit working for the company long ago. I honestly believe OTC does far more good than harm, and our reasons for not advertising our goals are far more about operational security than they are about bad press. The exact wording of the noncompete agreement is of course set out in the contract, and if you feel it's overbroad I'll be happy to discuss it with you at your convenience. That said, the offer is not available forever. Would a one month decision period be acceptable to you?"

"Yes, that would be acceptable." Lady Death nods sagaciously. "Thank you very much, also for the Ka. For what it's worth I think I will accept the job, and even if I end up deciding against it I am sure we can work together very well." With that Lady Death stands up and eyes the two feet drop in front of her. Dark Magic flares again and the staircase is back.

Eva nods cordially to Lady Death, and opens the door for her.

"Thank you for your time."

Lady Death confidently strides through the door. "Goodbye." Just before the door closes however she sticks her tail through it. Backing through the door once again she asks: "Can I have, borrow or buy a device to check how many Ka an individual can safely mint? There's an experiment I would like to do soon."

Edited 2015-08-11 21:36 (UTC)

"Yes, you may."

Eva produces a palm-sized crystalline device, then looks at Lady Death and quickly resizes it to something appropriate to her scale before offering it to her.

"Thank you very much." Lady Death turns and stalks out of the room, her ears displaying her excitement for her new toy.

Edited 2015-08-11 22:35 (UTC)

Offering The Commission

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