Power Without a Price

[curiousdiscoverer]

The first time Ezra finds Milliways he spends most of the experience overwhelmed by psychic sensory overload. Postcognition doesn’t really mix well with inter-dimensional nexus.

However when he walks out and tells about the experience, the true nature of the place is eventually revealed, furthermore he discovers that the Traders are very interested in using the unique location to seed magic to other worlds and they pay very generously for it. So Ezra’s family all hear about the story and stay in the look out for another door, just in case.

Years pass, and Ezra’s family gets a little smaller, and starting wishing for a door to show up.

Because resurrection is possible, but expensive and bringing three people back is impossibly costly without extreme circumstances.

So Ezra feels extremely lucky the day he finally finds a door again, with family in his apartment where they wait behind after Ezra grabs a few things while Temps holds the door.

He is now in better control of his powers and Milliways massive history doesn’t overload him anymore.

Ezra looks around the bar, sits on a table with a nice view and observes.

Is anyone here that could want and deserve magic?

Comments

[can_i_go]

"Oooh, so cool!"

[can_i_help]

"...What does the Trader get out of it? Are you sure it's always safe, and nobody ends up getting the power to teleport without making sure they don't teleport to the middle of a wall?"

[superego_medico]

"The Head Trader in Charge," Ezra answers "Is a... entity that wants to preserve magic and figured out that it is harder to destroy things in multiple universes," Ezra shrugs "that is what the other traders says, but as far as deals and pacts go they have never been caught on a lie, not even misdirection, translation magic doesn't handle misdirection well among different species."

"Oh, Teleportation powers often have..." Franklyn launches on a complex explanation that involves too many physical terms and thaumatological terms to be understood, he will stay that way until interrupted. It does seem to boil down to "teleporting is safe or doesn't happen".

[can_i_help]

"I wasn't asking about teleportation in particular, it was just the first power with an obvious and fatal way to fail I could think of. Are you absolutely sure the powers are safe? Are there people who hate their powers?"

[superego_medico]

"I am going to be charitable and assume that you don't mean hating for social reasons," Ezra says "powers have built in protections and often mages have complimentary powers to themselves. There is a six month period where you need to learn to control them, but even the worst powers are voluntary enough that we don't expect a new mage to kill by accident. You don't choose what you get, but it will somehow fit you enough to have some use. If you still get something horrible... you can just make a deal with a Trader and not care about aging in exchange."

"We have a few magical charms," Franklyn says "to spend or deposit magic, if the new mage power is really bad he can just spend most of his mana so the power lacks fuel."

[can_i_go]

"See, Sabrina? Safe and also so cool."

[can_i_stay]

"We're all adults here, and in the worst case we can just not use the powers."

She's not stupid, she's not going to endanger herself, is what she means but doesn't say.

[can_i_help]

"Fine, you're right. Safe and so cool."

Her look to Ann speaks louder than words: I'm still worried but I can't say no.

[superego_medico]

Franklyn picks on the subtext, it is easy to, with Lucy providing the skill.

“You two really don’t need to do anything you don’t want,” Franklyn says “we didn’t expect everyone to accept magic door to door salesmen offers. You ladies are the first trio that Ezra found, but he is searching for less than a day. We can stay in Milliways for about a subjective month without hurting our savings, maybe three or four if we do hurt.”

“Magedom also pass on to children, I implied that, right?” Ezra says “three mages is certain, but if even only one of you has enough magical children, it still counts… but in that case I would prefer waiting a few days to find another two or more people.”

“Since time is paused in our worlds,” Franklyn says “we can give you time to think and talk among yourselves or ask questions.”

[can_i_stay]

"Children? Will they be born with their magic? I don't think taking care of a child that can for example teleport is easy, especially if they can't control their powers yet. If we have magic are all our children going to be magical?"

[of_all_trades]

Ezra turns to Franklyn who answers the question.

"Not all," Franklyn says thoughtfully "Actually, let me calculate that."

Franklyn pull his smartphone from a pocket and does some calculation while talking with himself quietly.

"Okay, I using data from our world," he says taking a piece of napkin and a pen from another pocket he writes "all the numbers and chances in your world will be smaller. The hypothetical second generation would have at most 35% of magehood per kid... if you have three kids this means 72.5% chance of one mage or more. This if you don't use surrogates and you are having your own biological child. Using a surrogate that isn't a mage lowers the chances to 22% per kid, and using a non-mage egg lowers it to 29% per kid ," he writes more complementary numbers.

Franklyn offers the piece of paper to Ann.

"Now, children can inherit magehood," Franklyn continues "but only the strongest and oldest mage families have children with active powers and even then there is a proportional age-related strength. A child bellow the age of 7 with teleportation might teleport about... a total of 60 feet a day before being too magically exhausted to remember walking. Given our family own history and some complicated mage statistics, I would give you children 5% chance of a 7 year old or younger with powers and 85% chance of activating after the age of 15."

[superego_medico]

"I hate to sound like a Trader Spokesperson," Ezra says "but while I never heard someone doing, I think you could make a deal for some restriction or control over your children powers. In our world it would be too expensive, but in yours each second generation child should represent more than 1% of the world mage population."

[can_i_stay]

"Yeah, I'd like to see the world where thee women manage to have ninety seven children. Okay, I'm sold, Lucy has been sold from the fist syllable, Sabrina?"

[can_i_help]

"I'm in. What do you need us to do?"

[superego_medico]

"Not much beside being less than 20 feet away from us, really" Ezra explains "We will be sending purified magical energy at your direction for about twelve hours, maybe ten, it is not complicated but requires focus like walking non-stop on a narrow hallway without touching the walls... after nine hours we ought to be too exhausted to do anything more complicated than sitting so we should rent a room or maybe go outside and away from people. We will need rest for at least two days and since the door is not time cooperative at least one of you should stay in Milliways, we will pay you reasonable room and food for one or all three of you. Me and my siblings should experience about ten Milliway-days, maybe twelve. You are invited to consider this a bizarre impromptu vacation on a multiversal bar."

[can_i_go]

"Yes! Let's do a vacation. When do we start? Do you need to sleep first? Eat?"

She's practically bouncing up and down on her seat.

[superego_medico]

"It might actually be a good idea for you to sleep during the process," Ezra says "It would be practical to get as many things out of the way as possible before we start, I should take a nap and a small meal, maybe a shower. Franklyn and Temperance subjectively just woke up and are fresh. Unless you guys want to coordinate a lot with keeping the door open, you should pack at least a few clothes and necessities for the next days."

Ezra looks at Franklyn.

"I think it should be me and Temperance first," Ezra says "then me and you and then you and Temperance."

[of_all_trades]

"Sounds fine to me," Franklyn says "I will get Temperance and our stuff, while you guys take care of room arrangements."

He turns to the sisters.

"Also, who is going to be the first to be infused with wondrous magical powers?"

[can_i_help]

Both Ann and Sabrina immediately point at Lucy.

"I think you should pack everything, you're the least likely to forget anything. Do you think we have enough clothes and whatnot at Lucy's dad's house?" Sabrina asks Ann.

[can_i_stay]

"We do, combined. Besides, we can always use Lucy's 'looks like I'm sleeping here tonight' stash, her skirts and lose shirts should fit all of us in a pinch."

[superego_medico]

"The Bar can sell you clothes," Ezra says "Sorry, but I am not willing to buy that for you. I still have vague hopes to get another trio, which would be a bit of overkill, but wouldn’t hurt to have the extra credit, for lack of better word.”
Ezra makes the necessary arrangements, they will get what amounts to a one-and-half apartment, technically it is two apartments, one for each family, but with a door connecting the small living areas in each. The Grayson Clan side is bigger and has three bedrooms, but the largest one is going to be used for the infusion process. The sisters are invited to pick between two bedrooms and two bathrooms or three bedrooms and a shared bathroom, or even put in some money and get better arrangements.
The Bar makes it clear that Ezra can even go ahead and take his nap, when the sisters decide the chosen accommodations it will materialize where they need, without even a noise. Everyone is invited to be awed by yet another violation of physics.
Ezra takes his keys, waves and leaves to get some rest.

[mage_see_mage_do]

Currently (as much as the concept can apply here) Temperance is waiting by the Door, she is alternating between look inside and outside keeping her position, but looking both excited and impatient as her head darts around.
“Are you done yet?” Temps yells to the apartment outside “we can come back later, we don’t even have to worry with food expiring!”

[of_all_trades]

“Just a second!” Franklyn replies “I know there is some old stuff stashed here! Somewhere! Aha!”
Franklyn takes the charms he just found and hides them at the bottom of his gym bag next to his underwear, just to be certain. He returns to his half-sister carrying a suit-case, two gym bags and a backpack.

[mage_see_mage_do]

“It is weird that you are being more cautious than Ezra,” Temps says taking a gym bag herself.

[of_all_trades]

“I think Ezra got to rely too much in his post cognition,” Franklyn says “I don’t think the sisters are monsters, but mostly because people in general aren’t monsters and… Well, magic is a gift, if we introduce it to their world things ought to improve eventually, even if they go psycho with it. There is so much lost potential without magic.”