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

[mrmage]

"Well, like, if you decide to go to college that will be incentive for me to also do that, if I can do it near you, because long-distance relationships are nnnnot ideal and no one's figured teleportation out yet."

[eclipsi]

"I'm pretty undecided on college but if I do go I'll probably pick someplace dense and urban, maybe New York."

[mrmage]

"Oooh, New York!"

[eclipsi]

"Because I've never had a good chance to learn to drive, mostly, what with being at school away from home."

[mrmage]

"Well, it can't be that hard, but big cities are definitely my thing."

[eclipsi]

"I'm not sure I inherited Renée's inherent love of cities but I may have her boredom with small towns."

[mrmage]

"Isn't that in practice pretty much the same thing?"

[eclipsi]

"Not necessarily. Somebody could hate both and want to live in the middle of nowhere herding sheep."

[mrmage]

"Oh, I'd kinda been lumping that one together with 'small town.'"

[eclipsi]

"Totally different aesthetic."

[mrmage]

"I suppose. The only reason I can say I wouldn't die of boredom in either situation is that I have demonstrably not."

[eclipsi]

"Awww, pet." She ruffles his hair. "Are you done looking at booths?"

[mrmage]

"Yeah, I think so. Doesn't look like there's anything much more related to my specialty."

Is there?

[eclipsi]

Nothing obvious, although the military and government booths claim they will find a use for anybody.

[mrmage]

"...let's see what the government has to say and then we'll go," he suggests.

[eclipsi]

"Hello there," says the government, when Sadde and Isabella approach. "Mage or psion?"

"I'm a psion going precog, he's a mage going biokinesis," Isabella says. She takes the generic psion and the specific precog pamphlet the government offers her; the government gives Sadde corresponding literature.

"What kind of biokinesis?" asks the government.

[mrmage]

"I can gendershift, but I've been working on healing since I left virtuality," he fibs the last part. "Way I feel my magic working, though, it's kinda all the same thing."

[eclipsi]

"Military's always got the most use for healers, but there's civilian-side things - VA healers don't have to be military themselves, foreign aid if you don't mind travel. I'm federal but if you go more local there are firefighting departments, especially out West where they have wildfires, who'd love to have a healer on hand."

[mrmage]

"It'll still take a good while before I'm confident to try anything, though."

[alicornucopia]

"I don't know about the firefighters, but the federal government will put you through college and one gap year for a promise of five years' work if you can qualify for a security clearance or demonstrate aptitude exceptionally suitable to nonsecure use. You don't have to commit to military enlistment but under this option you may wind up being stationed on a military base, including one abroad, as a noncombatant, nonmilitary personnel sort of like the Red Cross or what have you."

[mrmage]

He nods along. "That's pretty interesting."

Flyers?

[alicornucopia]

Flyers!

[mrmage]

"Annd I think I'm done here, unless you have something else you wanna do."

[eclipsi]

"I'm all set, lovely."

[mrmage]

Off they go, then. "That was informative, is it always the same booths or does it vary?"