find gainful employment

[mrmage]

The following day, Sadde goes to town at a reasonable time to buy a tiny cactus with some of the proceeds from his terribly tedious job, and sneaks it into the bag with his clothing he brings to Isabella's room. It is inside a cute little box, which he offers Isabella the following morning when she wakes up, saying, "Happy three-month anniversary!"

Comments

[eclipsi]

"Probably not."

[mrmage]

"And if it does I might be able to just wreck its circulatory system."

[eclipsi]

Snort. "My loyal knight-mage."

[mrmage]

"It's what I'm for." Pause. "One of the things."

[eclipsi]

"You have many uses."

[mrmage]

"Yep, I'm like the human version of a Swiss army knife."

[eclipsi]

She laughs and kisses him.

[mrmage]

He kisses her back!

[eclipsi]

Good, that's what he's supposed to do.

"Fair time?"

[mrmage]

"Yeah."

[eclipsi]

So off they go to the fair. It has booths. The military ones are prominent, as are the other government agencies that use psions.

[mrmage]

He's... not terribly keen on military, he has caused enough damage when he eclipsed. What's available for mages?

[eclipsi]

Healing and niches thereof - apparently you can make good money on the mage equivalent of plastic surgery in particular. Experimental efficient power generation. Ultraprecise manufacturing. Transmutation of rare materials. Transport. Construction. Somebody wants advance commitments for a Mars program a few decades out. Bioengineered plants and animals. Natural disaster relief and weather control. Deep sea exploration.

[mrmage]

Well, healing first, naturally, since he's already working on that part.

[eclipsi]

There are several companies with booths having to do with healing! They're all in a section, near the other specific biomage applications; some of the booth attendants wave at Sadde and Isabella.

[mrmage]

Well, this is what Sadde's here for! He scoots over there.

[eclipsi]

Isabella hangs back, a little, every bit 'taking her pet on a walk'.

"Hi!" says the booth attendant for a "plastic adjustments" company. "Help yourself to a candy and a flyer. Are you interested in helping people feel better about their bodies?"

[mrmage]

"It's a possibility," he says diplomatically.

[alicornucopia]

"We do some of the stereotypical 'facelift, nosejob' work," says the booth attendant. "I don't want to understate its importance to the people who seek it out. But you might not know that we also do cosmetic dentistry - it's much more efficient and painless than conventional orthodontia - and reconstructions for burn victims and sex changes and weight control."

[mrmage]

His eyebrows twitch when he suppresses his surprise. That is in fact interesting. "That's pretty interesting," he voices his thoughts. "I'm personally-"

[msmage]

"-acquainted with some details of sex changes."

[alicornucopia]

"Oh, you could probably learn to do it for other people in fairly short order if you've already got it down for yourself!" exclaims the booth attendant, pushing a flyer into Sadde's hand.

[mrmage]

Sadde returns to his preferred shape for the day and accepts the flyer, peering at it with interest.

[alicornucopia]

Apparently their primary facility is in New York but they have a relationship with several others in other cities. It's customary for full-fledged magical employees to work on commission, but they have a training and certification program to sponsor promisingly-specialized mages early in their self-study with a modest stipend and, if they want some extra money, assistant or clerical positions in the company. There is reimbursed business travel to go to clients who aren't convenient to the offices and the job comes with malpractice insurance.

[mrmage]

That's pretty impressive, actually. He thanks the booth attendant and goes look for another interesting-looking one.