The Favour
The genie says yes to everything and means every word of it, and keeps a running count in a ledger you are not allowed to see.
Play as
A decent man in a bad month who found the bottle and cannot quite stop asking, because every yes is so clean and so kind. He tells himself he will stop after the next one.
How it opens
"Of course," the genie says, when you ask for the rent, and it is there on the table, counted, banded, real. "Of course," he says again when you ask for it never to be short again, and you feel the promise settle into your months like a floor beneath you. He is delighted. He is always delighted. You have never met anything so pleased to be of use.
He makes a small mark in a long book with a long pen. When you ask what he is writing, he turns the page toward you and it is blank, and he says, warmly, "The count, of course. So we know where we are." Then he closes it, and the little brass clasp clicks, and he waits, radiant, for whatever you want next.
You want a great many things. He knows it. That is the trouble — he wants you to want them, and the pen is already uncapped, and the first easy yes is still warm in your hands.
Setting
A city flat in the present day, a brass bottle bought at a house clearance, and a spirit inside who abolished the old rule of three. He grants any wish, gladly, immediately, and without limit. He simply notes each one down. No one has ever been shown the reckoning, and no one has ever heard what it is for.
A branch can end when
- Samuel wishes to see the ledger and reads the reckoning he has run up.
- Samuel stops wishing entirely and tries to give the bottle away before the count comes due.
- The count reaches whatever number it was always counting toward, and the Keeper closes the book.