Jeanie Bottle 817
Oct29
on October 29, 2024
at 12:01 am
and modified on October 29, 2024. at 12:51 am
Chapter: Story 17: I Dream of Home Sweet Home
Robert’s away this evening. Any corrections will be made by him later on.
In the meantime, look who’s discovered shopping… (kinda)
(EDIT: Corrections have been made)
Well, that Jewel looks like an armband used by the Haji harem. Also, the sign said $20 not $40.
$20 for the jewelry, and $20 to not call the cops.
That is fair.
Yeah, that’s what I noticed immediately. It’s probably what caught Alya’s attention.
> Also, the sign said $20 not $40
Stupid Tourist Tax(tm)
Jeanie’s outfit doesn’t have pockets. Any bets the $40 came from his own cash register?
He’s smiling enough that she might have overpaid, too.
She absolutely overpaid. The sign says $20, and he verbally demanded $40. She clearly paid him $40.
I meant, like handing him a pair of 50’s.
(to be fair the merchant’s outfit doesn’t have pockets either – it’s just the artstyle)
Jeanie was obviously not in a mood to notice things like that.
@CD – I’m kinda loving this new dynamic. This should be fun.
Jeanie acting as a mother hen and collecting her wayward children.
She’s having to be the responsible one for once.
It’s a good thing it’s just costume jewelry now. Next thing’ll be the real things—the hard stuff.
Yeah. Costume jewelry was my gateway drug, too.
But to a genie, what is costume jewelry? Are they familiar with plastics? I once saw a history show about ancient Egypt where in one of the oldest tombs a beautiful necklace with a large red “gem” was set in the center. Modern technology determined the “gem” was just glass, but since the only way the ancients were able to get glass was to find it in the sand after a lightning strike, it was considered one of the most valuable substances at the time. A literal gift from the gods. Further, Napoleon had a full tea set made out of aluminum because at the time it was more valuable than platinum as the modern ore extraction process had not yet been invented?
Kiran/Ifta has definitely transformed more into Ifta than Kiran. That comment “Ohh… Shiny…” is not something an adult male would make.
We’ve all noticed (I hope) that Jeanie has become more and more girly in her mannerisms as time goes on, and she’s only been female for a year or so and never spent an extended period confined in her totem. Kiran/Ifta, however, spent over 120 years confined in hers. That has to account for something.
I think Shula is wrong. Ifta is not a human with genie powers anymore, she’s a youngling genie that needs guidance and training. That’s something that Jeanie might not be able to provide on her own, so it’s a good thing Shula has joined the harem.
Jeannie needs guidance and training, herself. The blind leading the blind.
You know, if Ifta had said this, it would make more sense. But Alya was born a genie, and knows full well that she can instantly poof up a perfect copy of anything – so why even bother to ask for it? Plus, even back when she was born, commerce existed, so she must be aware of the idea of shops, and buying things.
Yes Alya could do that, but she also knows she has a limited supply of magic so why expend magic when she can just ask to have the thing?
Alya is one of the youngest genies (Jeanie excepted), and I don’t think she’s ever been out in the real world. Assuming what SaylorA said is true, and all genies know their limitations, then there must be craftsmen that produce items from naturally occurring resources that are available for the asking, and Alya is polite enough to ask.
I covered this a little in my Nell fanfictions. Imagine having a jeweler in your palace that has been their trade for over 1,000 years… and he’s the apprentice. Modern technology might not be able to replicate that skill, but Alya isn’t really going to know the difference.
Hm. Your line of reasoning seems sound, but I’m not sure about the initial assumptions. Where does the statement “all genies know their limitations” come from? After all, Jeannie didn’t know there were any limitations to magic use, until Kazom happened to mention it. And Alya, as a (comparatively) very young genie, might not yet have encountered anyone older who might think to bring her up to speed about magic use. After all, as Jeannie said, all she has to do is think of something, and it happens. So it seems natural that if she thinks, “Oooh, pretty bauble!”, POOF! – suddenly she has one.
If you can point out some (canon) reference to support automatic knowledge of how much magic a genie has, (a sort of magical fuel gauge, if you will,) then I’d accept that premise. But absent that, I don’t see any reason to think she would be unaware of the concept of purchasing goods. Even in cultures without money, people trade for things.
Same thinking goes for artisans. I find it hard to imagine any genie stooping to do physical labor when they could just magic things into existance.
Jewelry straddles the border between labor and art. If they think of it as creating works of art, then that supersedes the attitude of “labor is for servants”.
Anyway, Alya asked if she could have it, and was naive enough to take the merchant’s reply literally. If he had responded with the price immediately, then she would likely have realized that he wanted payment.
Okay, art makes sense. I’ve seen artists give away paintings to people who admired them.
I was responding to SaylorA’s remark that “she also knows she has a limited supply of magic.” Wouldn’t it be logical to assume that since Alya has lived with genies for (as I recall) 60+ years she would have learned that? Jeanie, on the other hand, was literally born yesterday when she met Kazom.
Logical, maybe, but I’m thinking of all the things that humans tend to assume that others know, and given genies’ enormous life spans, it’s possible that, at “only” 60, no one has yet bothered to explain the genie ‘facts of life’ to Alya. She’s barely more than an infant by their standards. Even Ifta has been a genie longer.
It just struck me as a little strange. When Jeannie feels hungry, breakfast appears. So why shouldn’t jewelry show up when Alya feels like having some?
Good point.
Wasn’t it established that *every* new genie must go through training? Jeanie’s training with Kazon was cut short, but he told her *that* first. Surely the usual training includes the warning about magic use reducing one’s lifespan.
There’s also the likelihood that Alya thinks about her own magic running out to the same degree that a ten-year-old thinks about their own eventual death from old age—i.e. from her perspective, it’s too far away to have much emotional impact. And given that Kazom did not appear to be taking any extreme measures to conserve energy prior to a few years ago, it is likely that most genies can last a couple thousand years with ordinary levels of caution.
@Robert :
Yes, I recall that Guano made that statement, but at the time, it sounded like he was referring only to genies that had been converted from humans by empty totems, since presumably they would have grown up having no knowledge of genie culture. And even if it applies to everyone, Alya is so young, she may not have even gotten to that point, yet.
I recall from my childhood a picture book telling the tale of Aladdin & the Magic Lamp. It was quite different from the Disney version (not surprised) but the first genie Aladdin encountered was a genie of the ring, who was powerful, but not nearly as powerful as the genie of the lamp. The genie of the ring had enough power to get Aladdin out of the cave, but not enough to enact justice on others (or something like that). Just food for thought.
Is it just me or does Alya’s new ring look a lot like “The Eye of Solomon.”
I believe that’s a shoulder bracelet. It is the right size, and looks very similar to the one that Rouyaa wore to represent her station within Haji’s harem. Alya likely picked that because she wanted to emulate the high-tier genies in the palace.
Jeanie has already sort-of made Alya the third-or-so concubine in the Heir Apparent’s harem, which likely means that she sees herself as a member of the newest up-and-coming elite group.
You mean an armlet?
Too late now, but maybe you should have teleported to a nice quiet park.
Jeanie is such a good mom.
I wonder if this newfound responsible aspect of Jeanie’s personality will carry through to when she’s dealing with her own offspring? We all know that that’s coming… someday.
Only as long as she doesn’t have to change diapers.
Ifta was blocking trafic, Alya was shoplifting, what kind of trouble is Shula getting into??? Jeanie will have to take them to Coco Beach and find the bottle.
We previously had Jeanie-Pool and now we have Wolver-Nat
Hm. Maybe she could use those claws to neuter Rodge.
Thanks for the heads up. I had to do the F5 refresh to see it.
Children get so excited on the first trip to the mall.
Love the Wolverine banner.
Is that Jeanie with brunette hair as Wolverine or is that Natalie as Wolverine in the header?