i'm just that fascinating i guess

[self_composed]

The first day Bella spends out and about with her new who's-watching-me powers, she is rather alarmed.

Maybe she's just mistaken about how much time people spend looking at reasonably pretty eighteen-year-old girls. She kills a pentagon to try it on a nearby control - who's looking at that girl over there?

Fewer people. Fewer people are looking at that random girl, and less intently. They're looking at her familiarly - they know her - or casually - they're checking her out.

[I have a spy problem,] Bella says. She makes a faintly exaggerated show of snapping her fingers in frustration and turning around. She's going back to her room to get a mirror and bobby pins and barettes, so she can spy back on the pretense of checking her hair, without making it overwhelmingly obvious that she knows what's going on.

Comments

[regularsized]

Bridget laughs. "Biology," she agrees.

[self_composed]

Biology ensues, both in the usual way with both of them respirating and metabolizing and the like, and also as a study topic.

[regularsized]

Apart from that first exchange, it is largely uneventful. And after Bella goes home, Bridget has a conversation.

And a day or two later, she sends Bella an email, CCed to someone with the unlikely username of "O-O-O" on a free email service.

Hi, Bella!

My friend finally caved. You can direct your nosy questions to her now. (Hi, Chris!)

[self_composed]

Ooh!

Bella replies-all.

Hi, Chris! Thanks for agreeing to talk to me. First of all, if you don't trust email for the topic in question, let me know and we can work out something else. If email's fine, let's start with the obvious:

What is it you do?

-Bella

[queensidecastle]

It takes Chris until late that evening to get back to her, and she replies only to Bella.

Short story: I protect people.

There's a progression of longer and longer stories if you want more detail, but some of them are going to take a lot of explaining. I won't trust email for all of it. If you're the kind of person who likes to have the whole story (and I'm betting you are), we should definitely find a more secure way to talk.

[self_composed]

You bet correctly. There's various forms of electronic encryption. I can also get anyplace in the South Bay pretty readily to talk in person, although it occurs to me that I have no idea where you live. Phones are generally insecure if someone's looking to spy on you, but harder to sift through with robots for general topics of interest because voice recognition is spotty. What's your preference?

[queensidecastle]

The turnaround time is much faster on this one.

For our purposes, I think a phone will do the trick. Please call me when it is daylight on the east coast.

She adds a phone number, with a New York City area code.

[self_composed]

Bella obligingly calls her at midday Pacific time the following day, after a quick lunch and before the scheduled cancellation of Operating Systems for the professor's niece's wedding.

Ring ring.

[queensidecastle]

Ring ri—

"Hi," says a slightly amused woman of indeterminate age.

[self_composed]

"Hi! Is this Chris?"

[queensidecastle]

"Depends who's asking," says Chris.

[self_composed]

"This is Bella, Bridget's friend."

[queensidecastle]

"In that case, yes, this is Chris."

[self_composed]

"Who would you have been if I were Tricia, calling about whether you're satisfied with your current credit provider?" Bella asks, amused. "Do you often have to implausibly deny your identity to callers?"

[queensidecastle]

"No, I just have a twisted sense of humour," Chris says cheerfully.

[self_composed]

"Ah-huh. So. Protecting people. How's that work?"

[queensidecastle]

"I pick someone, and they are protected until I decide otherwise," says Chris. "From pretty much anything you can name. Which is the part where it really gets interesting. Just so we're on the same page, if I say 'wishes', am I going to have to waste time explaining that to you or are you going to know what I'm talking about?"

[self_composed]

Bella is going to play dumb.

"Genies or something?" Bella asks. "At this point you could probably get me to believe anything."

[queensidecastle]

"Not genies," says Chris. "Just wishes. Evidently you already believe in magic powers; well, there are some very lucky people whose magic powers let them grant wishes of varying sizes for themselves and others. Which I mention because my power protects against everything, including kinds of harm that can only be accomplished by magic. Like, say, mind control. As far as I know, there are no people running around with native mind control powers."

[self_composed]

"Bridget was kind enough to let me test hers, so yes, I believe in magic powers," says Bella. "Why 'native'? Is there a way to get magic powers? Because that would be the best thing."

Playing dumb playing dumb la-la-la.

[queensidecastle]

"I meant native as in a power that specifically does mind control, as opposed to the wish-power, which can do a lot of things, mind control theoretically included. Why, do you want some?"

[self_composed]

"I cannot even tell you how thrilled I would be to acquire magic powers."

In the past. With an instruction manual. And actually she was only slightly thrilled because they had the fuckuppedness problem. But still!

[queensidecastle]

"It's not out of the question that I might be able to hook you up," says Chris. "But it wouldn't be cheap."

[self_composed]

"How not-cheap?" Bella asks slowly. "Er, do you mean money? Is someone selling magic wishing powers for money? Is there some reason not to just wish for the money directly?"

[queensidecastle]

"I don't mean money, no," says Chris. "And you seem like a smart kid, so I'll let you think about the economic problems inherent in wishing for a big pile of cash out of nowhere all by yourself."