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

[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."

[self_composed]

"Well, okay, not cash, but... gold, purebred Persian kittens, convenient volcanic islands in tropical locales, stuff you can sell. What do you mean, if not money or any such thing?"

[queensidecastle]

"Magic powers are a thing you can sell," Chris says dryly. "Under certain circumstances. To select people. For varying prices, depending on which powers and who wants them. I'm not in the business, I just know some people."

[self_composed]

"What kinda powers are in the powers catalog? What kinda prices do they go for? Examples. Ballpark."

[queensidecastle]

"There is no catalog," she says. "If you really want to buy some, and if the right people happen to think you're worth their time, I can put you in touch and you can ask them for a magic power and they will ask you for something in return. I don't know what; I've never bought any. But I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's probably beyond the means of your average Stanford undergrad."

[self_composed]

"How do you know these people if you're not in the market, then?"

So they're not actually selling the ability to make wishcoins. As far as Chris is letting on to a stranger who doesn't admit to knowing wishcoins are a thing.

[queensidecastle]

"The usual way. You meet someone, you become friends, you learn about their career... then you learn about their other career."

[self_composed]

"You're making it sound like a drugmarket underworld or something."

[queensidecastle]

"I won't deny that there are parallels. But I'm happy to report that as far as I know, none of my friends are in the drug trade."

[self_composed]

"That's probably for the best. So if you've never bought any... you were just born with your power? Or something? What makes that happen?"

[queensidecastle]

"It came in when I was about six," she recalls. "I had a younger sister who ran into things a lot, and I worried about her, and then one day I could just tell she was okay. And the next time she got overexcited and had an unfortunate encounter with a door, I could tell she wasn't hurt. As for why it happens, your guess is probably only slightly worse than mine. They're rare enough that it's hard to see any kind of pattern."

[self_composed]

"Do you know anyone else apart from Bridget with a 'native' power?"

[queensidecastle]

"A few. One, interestingly, who can detect and analyze other people's powers. He sat down at my table in a coffee shop one day and asked if I believe in magic, and has remained rude yet fascinating ever since."

[self_composed]

"Ooh. I bet he's useful to your weird magic-market friends. Is he? I'm not sure how these things are supposed to interact. Who else?"

[queensidecastle]

"One who has a limited ability to see the future—she makes a decent living as a stockbroker and tends to answer phone calls and emails very promptly. And one who is magically unobtrusive. He's friends with the magic detector."

[self_composed]

"Unobtrusive how?" Bella asks.

[queensidecastle]

"Unobtrusive. Hard to notice. You wouldn't tend to pick him out of a crowd, and if he's feeling especially shy he could be sitting on your couch in a red-and-white striped top hat playing the accordion and you'd walk right past him."