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hippo2 — Setting Things right - Part 10
Published: 2014-03-15 07:33:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 2758; Favourites: 8; Downloads: 0
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The DuelMartha hastened back to the hotel with Michael in tow, but without Amelia. She feared what task was in front of her: Telling David what had happened to his fiancée. How should she start the conversation?
That question was answered to her, when David saw Martha return without Amelia. "Martha, you're back? Where's Amelia?"
Martha took a deep breath. "David, I have bad news. We run into an evil genie and she took Amelia prisoner."
"Prisoner?" David asked. "How did that happen? What did you do this time?" A mixture of fear and anger was in his voice.
Martha tried to calm David down. "Listen, we ran into Katrin, another genie, who had enslave her boyfriend Mike here." Martha pointed out her companion. Mike bowed slightly to David before Martha continued. "We managed to free him from Katrin's control, but she took Amelia prisoner."
"I thought you genies can't force the mind of a human?" David asked.
"Oh, we can! It's just against the genie laws." Martha explained.
"What a pity that there is no genie police we can ask for help." David said. "What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to duel Katrin tomorrow morning. If I win, she will hand Amelia over."
"And if you lose?" David asked.
"She will get Michael back and will keep Amelia as well." Martha admitted. "But I won't let that happen."
"I hope so, Martha." David was really worried now. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"I could need some help. I need someone to wish that I can use my full potential against her. Otherwise I'm not sure if I can beat her."
"Is she that much stronger than you?" David worried.
"She can't be stronger than me, since I was already a genie for a year when I made her one. But she's a free genie and has full access to her powers."
David gave Martha a disapproving stare. "It was you who made her a genie?"
Martha's lowered her eyes. "I granted her wish and turned her into a genie."
David simply shook his head. "All you genies do is causing chaos."
Martha felt her anger rise. "How dare you..." She closed her fist."
Will you two shut up for a moment!" Michael interrupted them. "For my part, I don't want to become Katrin's slave again. And as far as I see it, Martha is the only person who can stand up against Katrin. David, if you want your girlfriend back, you need Martha's powers. And to defeat Katrin, Martha will need your help. So stop fighting each other and work together, will ya?"
Martha and David looked at each other. Both nodded. "He's right. I'll help you defeat Karin the best I can." David said.
"I can help you too." Michael declared. "Katrin loves to be the center of attention. And since she became a genie, this trait of her became even more dominant. If you flatter her, she might let her guards down."
David took a deep breath. "This sounds like a recipe to disaster. But I'll help you for Amelia's sake. I'll come with you to the duel tomorrow."
"I'll come along too." Michael said.
"Thank you, boys. I really appreciate this." Martha concluded the discussion.
The next morning, Martha, David and Michael met Katrin on an empty soccer pitch at the Dolder Sportspark. "I was worried you wouldn't show up." Katrin teased Martha.
Martha couldn't let that laying down. "I didn't think you would be brave enough to show up."
"I see you brought my boyfriend with you. And who's the other guy?" Katrin asked.
"I'm David, Amelia's fiancée." David introduced himself. "Where is she?"
"Alright, since you brought my boyfriend along, it's just fair to show you your fiancée." Katrin blinked and a small cage with a shrunken Amelia inside appeared.
"David, help me, please!" Amelia begged.
David waved at her. "Don't worry, my sweet! Martha will take care of this meanie genie!" Then he turned his back to Katrin and produced Martha's lamp. "I wish that you beat Katrin for good!"
Martha nodded. "I'll do my very best." Suddenly, without warning, Katrin hurtled a bolt of magic at David and Martha. "Look out!" Martha yelled. Quickly, she raised a magic shield that enveloped her and David. The magic diffused on the shield. "Hey! You keep David out! Eat this!" She unleashed a chain of magic lightning at Katrin. With a swift move, Katrin avoided the lightning, which hit the next soccer goal and set it on fire.
"My turn!" Katrin levitated over the lawn. She floated towards Martha and David, while she threw a series of magic bolts at David and Martha.
With a swift move, Martha placed herself between Katrin and David. "Take cover!" she yelled. Then one magic bolt struck her. Martha's face distorted in pain. "Hide!" She yelled at David.
Martha blinked and teleported right behind Katrin. The pudgy genie was taken by surprise, as Martha stretched her arms and unleashed her magic on Katrin's back.
Katrin took a direct his but except from a few scorched hairs, she took no damage. Enraged, Katrin turned to Martha. Again, she showered the green-skinned genie with a series of magic bolts. This time, the bolts were aimed more precisely. Martha managed to block a few of them, but eventually, she was hit several time. Each hit drained more of Martha's energy until she collapsed on the lawn. Karin prepared to finish of her opponent.
"Superb!" Katrin suddenly heard a voice behind her. She turned and saw David kneeling on the floor. "You are so powerful, so graceful, such a superior genie. You are so much better than Martha." he flattered her.
"You really think so?" Katrin asked with a wicked smile. "Am I like a goddess to you?"
David saw that Martha was still down, but she was slowly moving. He had to buy her more time. "Oh yes, you are my goddess."
"Do you want to serve your goddess forever?" Katrin was now completely fixated on David.
David was in a terrible fix now. Martha was still not ready to fight back. If he would agree to serve Katrin now, he would probably end up as her slave. "Errr... that sounds tempting.... but then..."
Katrin raised her eyebrow. "Are you not sure yet? Or are you just stalling? Anyway, I can help you with your decision." She raised her hands and reached out with her magic for David's mind.
David felt his thoughts change. 'Now would be a good moment, Martha!' he though. Slowly, his resistance against Katrin melted away. Why was he so upset? Katrin was truly a nice person. And she would take good care of him, no doubt. He would do anything she asks for him in return. Desperately, David tried to hold on to the most important thing he had in his mind - Amelia. He tried to envision Amelia's kindness and loyalty, her passion, their deep mutual love... when suddenly, he felt the images of Amelia turning pale in comparison to Katrin. 'No... I don't want to lose Amelia!" he thought.
"GOTCHA!"
Suddenly, David's mind cleared. He focused on Katrin and saw, that golden bands had wrapped around her forearms and legs. The bands led back to Martha, who finally got up on her feet.
"Let me go!" Katrin yelled.
Martha took a deep breath. She focussed her energies and hurled a terrible magic bolt at Katrin. The attack was so hard that it knocked Katrin to the ground.
David rubbed his temples. "Thank you Martha. Is she dead?"
"No, she's just knocked out."
"Good." David said. "And what are you going to do about her now?"
A Make Katrin human again fav.me/d7aui1u
B Punish her the genie way fav.me/d7aui31
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Comments: 66
Then you will see how it will change your account next week. Together with your other desicions, you will then get your ending for this story.
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I know. But it's only a strange coincidence. Katrin is an OC from an older story from 2011 hippo2.deviantart.com/art/Geni… She's wearing the IdoJ-Costume because she was a cosplayer back then. I had the idea for the duel in October 2013 when I planned this story arc. So, it's just a strange coincidence that in your webcomic, there's also a duel going on.
Btw: I like how you did the first round of the genie-witch duel. Jeannie is overreacting as always. Can't wait for next week to see the next part.
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Very exciting!
I choose B, but it would be interesting if Martha made her powerless but still connected to a lamp or other object. Like the old school djinns, where if you wished for money they would have to physically go and get some instead of POOFING it into existence. Maybe after 99 wishes granted she's turned back to a normal human?
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Interesting idea. I'll think about it.
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Choices are insufficient. Remove genie powers and a since she had no issues with mental manipulation,
give her a heavy mind screw to be nice to people, to give of herself generously. etc.
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You really propose Martha should break the genie law herself and manipulate Katrin to make her a nicer person? Sorry, but she won't do that.
The Great Genie Law, that prohibits mind manipulation is one of the few things genie Martha holds dear. Aside from changing the past, wich is no direct mind manipulation, Martha only did it wantonly twice (A different point of view fav.me/d329fkk and Rubber and smoke fav.me/d37bd7e ) but since then, she avoided mind manipulation. In all other cases she was forced by her master/mistress to manipulate another person's mind.
Unlike Katrin, she never used her powers for mind manipulation of the scale what Katrin did to Michael. Rewriting Katrin's mind would mean that Katrin won't learn anything from her punishment.
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Eye for an eye is a normal part of genie stories.
And it's not a law if there's no enforcement. It's just a guideline. Either it's a LAW that Martha can use as a basis for NOT granting certain wishes. Or it is not a law. You point out that Martha has already violated this law. It's not much of a law then, is it?
And Katrin can mentally manipulated to "act nicely" but still be aware in her head that she's being forced to do so. She'd eventually learn from that.
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I see your point. In the old genie realms, there would have been a the nobles who would have punished a genie who broke a law. A genie could break this law willingly but he or she would have to face punishment. Just like our laws don't prevent crime from happening automatically. We can choose to break the law but we have to face the consequences then, as long as they are enforced. The old genie realms might have had a law system but these realms seem to have gone. So it's technically a law free room, in which genies can do anything they want.
So how do the other Great Genie Laws play into that? Bringing the dead back is basically beyond the powers of a genie. Maybe they can create a zombie from a corpse but that definitely not bringing back the dead. Once a person or an animal dies, the soul leaves the body and can't be brought back.
No killing seems to be similar to no mind control rule. We had already discussed out that many transformations come close to killing but this whole story arc is about undoing such transformations. I see it like this: Killing a person or an animal means, the soul or spirit leaves the corpse and goes to whatever afterlife or reincarnation or simply disappears. But in case of the transformation, the souls is still inside the new body. Then, the transformation can be undone. The current story arc even showed how the mind of transformed person can be restored. I imagine that here we have a limitation of genie powers, that don't allow to separate a soul from any body (thus mindswapping is possible since both souls are still in a body). So genies can't kill with their magic, but they can surely kill manually, like humans do.
The two rules that limit the duration of servitude (Not wishing for more wishes, not wishing that the genies is bound indefinitely to the master) are related to who the genie vessel (lamp, bottle ring, mobile phone etc.) controls the genies. Sami explained, that the vessel forces the genie to grant a limited number of wishes only. Once these wishes are granted, the genie is no longer forced to grant any wishes for this master. As long as the master holds the vessel, he can still command the genie, but once he lets go of the vessel, he has no more control (and who wants to hold a genie lamp for all time?) You can wish for a million wishes but you would most probably end up as a genie slave yourself who has to grant the million wishes yourself.
Martha could certainly grant the wish in the way you propose. But I've choosen two different ways to punish Katrin because I think they fit my story better.
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Note, that you've brought up the transformations themselves warp people's minds. Why doesn't that violate the law against manipulating someone's mind? And if you can say that doesn't violate the law, than the wishes Amelia is making to restore people's minds, violates the law. She's forcing the natural mental acceptance of form from happening. How is that not mental manipulation?
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As you say, the adaption is a natural process. Just after the transformation, the old mind is still intact. And yes, Amelia's wishes might count as mind manipulation (in which case my list isn't complete, I admit that.) Since the Genie Law doens't automatically prevent mind manipulation, it can be broken by Amelia's wishes.
But there is a difference in between what Katrin did and what Martha does: Katrin enslaves her boyfriend for her own personal gain. Martha grants Amelia's wishes to do something good: To restore her victims. In a court, she might get leniency for this.
I don't know how it is in the US, but here, if you see your neighbour through the window lying unconscious, and you break into his house to help him, you commit the crime of breaking and entering, but if you save his life that way, you will get leniency or even be freed of charge at all. You neighbours life is considered a higher value than the integrity of his home.
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It's not Amelia breaking the law I'm talking about. It's Martha. She doesn't mind ignoring the law when it is convenient for her to soothe her conscience.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter, your Martha character is yours. And you should write her your way. I'm just pointing out some inconsistencies in your treatment "No mental manipulation".
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Both.
Firstly a then b while still being a human.
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I say choice B. If she becomes human again then she'll just be stripped of power but still be able to live freely. She should be punished the genie way: eternal enslavement to her bottle, forced to serve whoever owns it.
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She will be a very evil genie then. Shall I send you her lamp?
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Please do. I'd love to see how I get on with an evil genie
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You receive a parcel, in which you find a purple bottle in arabian style.
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Oh my...what a beautiful bottle! I should clean it immediately...but first I better pull out the cork to air it out.
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You pull the cork. The bottle begins to vibrate and a pink smoke streams out of it. The smokes forms into the shape of blonde, female genie. "I'm Catrynia, the genie of the bottle. How can I serve you?"
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"OMG! A genie? A real genie? Do I get three wishes and all that???"
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*sigh* "Yes you get three wishes." Catrynia says. "But none more."
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"Hmm...I'm guessing that you want me to use one of my wishes to set you free, right?"
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"If you would be sogenerous..." Catrynia says.
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"A few questions first: what are the limits of my wishes, how did you end up in there and if you are freed, would you still be a genie?"
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"The limits are the usual limits: No killing, I can't bring th dead back, unless you want a zombie, you can't wish for more wishes and you can't wish that I'm bound longer to you as until the last wish is granted.
How I ended up in here: I was once human. I was at a Con as a genie cosplayer. There I met Martha, a real genie. When I wished that I would win the competition, Martha turned me into a real genie. Of course I won the competition, but Martha also made me a slave of my bottle.
About your last question: That depends on how you word the wish. You can wish me back into a human or you can wish me into a free genie."
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"I see! It sounds like that Martha twisted your wish! So if I was to wish that you be a free genie, what would you do?"
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"I would enjoy my freedom. What else?"
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"Well, would you try and bring this Martha to justice for twisting your wish and making you a slave to your bottle?"
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"I'm not sure. This Martha is much stronger than me. Without help, I wouldn't be able to defeat her."
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"And what would happen to your bottle? Would it just become an empty bottle or would another genie have to take your place?"
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"Ah, I understand what you mean. No, you wouldn't have to take my place, unless you wish so."
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"Hmm. You seem like a very nice genie and nothing like the bad genies I've read about! That Martha though...she sounds evil to me, twisting your wish like that! I think I know a way to use my wishes to help you!"
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"That sounds wonderful, master!"
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"Okay...so my first wish is this: I wish that after you grant my two other wishes, that you become a free genie and are no longer bound to your bottle."
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"Wish granted!" Catrynia says and snaps her fingers. "What are you next wishes?"
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My second wish is this: I wish that, after you become a free genie, that you become more powerful than Martha. A nice genie like you should bring a bad genie like her to justice! I hope there is some kind of genie court you can take her to."
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"Mhhh... I like that!" Catrynia snaps again.
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"And now, my last wish, which is for me: I wish to have all the power of a powerful genie which I can always use to it's fullest!"
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"Wish granted!" Catryna snaps and a golden appears around your finger. A similar ring appears around Catrynas finger.
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"What a beautiful ring! You have one too. Does this mean we're friends now?"
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"More than friends! We are married now!"
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"What?!?! I didn't ask to be married!!!"
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"You wished for the powers of a powerful genie and you wante to be always able to use them. I'm the genie you wished for. And I will grant all your wishes." Catrynia grabs your arm. "Trust me, I can be a very sensous genie."
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"But I wanted to have the power myself! I wished you free. Why would you want to be married to me?"
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"I think you are cute. And didn't want to lose you." Catryna says. Suddenly, you feel a strange affection towards her growing. (Adding some mind control here)
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"welll....you are very beautiful...but I don't kn...maybe this will be good. I do like you...a lot...more than that even..."
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"I told you it will be good. You are happy to be married to me right?"
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"Yes, I am so very happy to belong to you...I mean, be married...no, I DO belong to you! I am yours, my beautiful genie wife!"
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