Wish/Matthew/Fix your forest
You really hate the idea of doing a one-off wish, and while you'd like to fix your house (or better yet, make a new one) it is currently occupied by a bunch of officials. Sure you could use your new-found mind control, but you aren't very good at that yet, and there are quite a few people here that you would have to deal with. They all seem rather busy currently; so that leaves fixing your forest.
You sit in your car for a bit thinking about the situation. You could ask for the power to un-burn things . . . but that would be rather limited. Your Time Control wish could be handy if applied properly; but you don't want to jump right to it in case there is a better option. You basically only want to restore the grass and trees, so maybe a Plant Control Power? Interesting, but still rather limited. Grass and trees are living things so maybe a Healing Power? That could actually come in quite handy if properly worded. Some of the plants might actually be dead, so if you go that route you'd have to have some level of life restoration as well . . . could Allorah even do that? You turn to ask her and suddenly notice an attractive female police officer leaning against your car at your window. She seems to have been there for a bit, and appears amused at the fact that you just noticed her. She motions for you to roll down your window, and you comply, of course.
"Oh sorry officer," you say, "I didn't notice you there."
"I could tell," she replies. "Are you Matthew Black?"
"Yes ma'am, I am."
"And who is this with you?" she says looking at Allorah.
It is likely that she read your file, and knows you have no children, so you say the first thing you can think of. "This is Allorah. I was mentoring her when I found out about the fire. Her mother isn't home yet, so I brought her here."
"I didn't think Big Brothers Big Sisters did cross gender matching," said the officer.
"It is uncommon," you say, trying your best to hide your nervousness. "In Allorah's case they felt that she needed a strong male role model; so she got matched up with a big brother." She was probably going to check on all of this now.
"Matthew's the best big brother ever!" chimes in Allorah.
"Well aren't you sweet," she says to Allorah, then turns back to you. "As you can see, the investigation is ongoing. You can survey the damage, but stay out of the areas marked with tape. It might be best if . . . Allorah, was it? It might be best if she stayed in the car. The firefighters said they got all the hot spots, but you can't be too careful . . . especially with someone else's kid."
"Yes ma'am," you say. She starts to walk away, and you jump into her mind. You alter her memory of the event so that she remembers seeing that you had a daughter named Allorah; and alter your conversation in her memory to match that new information. If only you had thought of it before you had the conversation it would have been much easier. You finish with the officer and turn back to Allorah.
"I ummm . . . I changed it so she thinks you are my daughter now. I didn't mean to change the story up. It's just that cops usually know things about your personal life when they're investigating you and I didn't think to use mind control until I already altered the story."
"Okay," says Allorah with a shrug.
"Shit!" you say.
"What is it?" asks Allorah, a bit startled by your outburst.
"She has a body cam. That whole thing was recorded."
"Sounds like you need to make a wish."
"I was trying to figure out which one to make anyway . . . I guess this decides it. Give me a bit to work on the phrasing."
"Of course, master."
You spend some time working out your wish using a pen and some scrap paper, then turn to Allorah. "Okay, here goes," you say. "Allorah, I wish to instantly and irrevocably gain the ability to manipulate the temporal nature of all objects, organisms, and locations with absolute precision to the greatest extent that you are able to confer to me, by using an act of will on my part."
"By your command," says Allorah, "it is done." Again without spectacle or fanfare she grants your wish.
"A fan of Battlestar Galactica?" you ask.
"I don't know what that is," she replies.
"Of course," you say, "how stupid of me. You were in the ring when they made that show."
"I can see if any of the rest of me saw it if it would help?" she says.
"The rest of you?" you ask.
"Jinn are four dimensional beings. We have four physical dimensions and one temporal dimension. You humans are only three dimensional beings with three physical dimensions and one temporal dimension. You see, the universe is constantly branching out into the fourth physical dimension . . . I guess you can call it hyperspace. Each time an event happens, all possible outcomes have a chance to spawn a separate branch of reality. One would reason that they all would create their own reality, but that is not the case. Some eventualities never happen. Three dimensional beings like yourselves get sort of 'copied' when this happens, making two (or more) separate versions of yourselves that go along merrily believing they are the only you. For four dimensional beings like the jinn, it's more of a split than a copy. We are still one being, but with multiple bodies with three physical dimensions. To maintain sanity, we can reason with each body separately; but if we need to we can access other parts of our selves . . . usually for information. We can even go visit our other selves as we can naturally travel through the first hyperspacial dimension."
"Yes, M-theory suggests that there might be six hyperspacial dimensions and one hypertemporal dimension."
"Maybe," says Allorah, "I was put in a ring before I got too far in my science lessons."
"I'm sorry," you say.
"I'm not," she replies, "I always found science kind of boring."
"After that explanation, I find that hard to believe."
"That wasn't science to me . . . more like telling someone how to walk I suppose . . . well not how to walk, more like what the world is like? I don't know how to explain it."
"I think I understand. So from what you said, when I reverse time and redo the conversation with the officer I will actually just be following a different reality. Will this one still exist?"
"Actually, you will be creating a new reality. It's impossible that you'll exactly follow any other branches of reality because your very atoms will already be different. Even if you did somehow manage to go down one of the branches that already exist, there would be two of you and that alone would create a split reality. To answer your question though, this branch will still exist, just without you in it. It will be as though you stopped existing the moment you reverse time."
"Will you stop existing in that reality as well?" you ask?
"This part of me will go to the newly created reality with you. My new split will be one of the lucky ones. Without the ring existing in that reality any longer, that part of me will be free."
"I had been meaning to ask, but I haven't because I'm pretty sure I know the answer; but-"
"No," she says with a sigh, "you can't wish me free. My magic is not strong enough to destroy the enchantment on the ring."
"I thought so," you say somberly. "I was hoping I was wrong."
"Why were you so sure?"
"I assumed that if it were possible, someone as intelligent, charming, and beautiful as yourself would have already convinced a master to wish you free before me."
"Thank you," she says with a blush, "that's good to hear."
"Okay," you say, "let's undo my fuckup."
Allorah looks as if she were about to say something, but stops short, and simply nods.
You find that you already know exactly how to reverse the flow of time. You suppose it is thanks to the absolute precision part of your wish. You make quick work of the time reversal, and find yourself once again in your car rolling down the window.
"Oh sorry officer," you say, "I didn't notice you there."
"I could tell," she replies. "Are you Matthew Black?"
"Yes ma'am, I am."
"And who is this with you?" she says looking at Allorah.
You reach into her mind to edit the memory of her reading your file, and find that she only did a cursory inspection of your file. She didn't even look close enough to realize you didn't have a daughter. You could almost smack yourself. You edit the memory to include her looking deeper and discovering that you have a daughter, then say, "This is my daughter Allorah."
"Well aren't you sweet," she says to Allorah, then turns back to you. "As you can see, the investigation is ongoing. You can survey the damage, but stay out of the areas marked with tape. It might be best if . . . Allorah, was it? It might be best if she stayed in the car. The firefighters said they got all the hot spots, but you can't be too careful."
"Yes ma'am," you say.
Now with that mistake repaired, you need to decide about your forest. You can always restore it with your new time control, but the healing power wasn't a bad idea either. It would likely be faster with time control, but healing the trees might be better in the long run as it would likely leave the trees even healthier than they were before. Then again maybe it would be better to wait until the authorities have gone after all . . . unless you want them to see. That could lead to interesting possibilities as well.
What's next?
- Bring back your forest with time control subtly.
- Bring back your forest with time control obviously.
- Wish for Healing Powers and bring back your forest obviously.
- Play with the cop while you wait for them to finish.
- Just wait for them to finish.
| Reflexes: | 5 | Strength: | 7 | Resilience: | 12 |
| Dexterity: | 5 | Speed: | 6 | Stamina: | 9 |
| Health: 84% | |||||
| Perception: | 10 | Knowledge: | 15 | Willpower: | 10 |
| Logic: | 11 | Wit: | 13 | Focus: | 11 |
| Intellect: 89% | |||||
| Empathy: | 5 | Presence: | 7 | Confidence: | 10 |
| Charisma: | 5 | Rapport: | 6 | Influence: | 8 |
| Sanity: 54% | |||||
- I wish to instantly and irrevocably gain the ability to perceive, understand, and manipulate the thoughts, emotions, memories, and skills of any being through an act of will on my part without detrimental effects to myself. (Due to wording he cannot use the power on himself.)
- I wish to instantly and irrevocably gain the ability to manipulate the temporal nature of all objects, organisms, and locations with absolute precision to the greatest extent that you are able to confer to me, by using an act of will on my part.