Enter Arabella, Pt. 1

A tan-skinned beauty flopped down onto a fancy pink pillow with a groan. It had been forever since anything interesting happened! It probably hadn't been more than a century, but it felt like four.
She swept a sheaf of dark brown hair out of her right eye, considering cutting it just for something to do. As she looked around, she saw her same old priceless lovely items. An elegant darkwood nighttable with mirror, a shelf of various curiosities she had grown tired of decades ago, the door to her walk-in closet, a gorgeous queen-sized bed, because she WAS the queen, and the plush sofa she was currently laying upon.
Unfortunately, this was the only room. It had no light on its own, natural or otherwise, due to a lack of electricity and windows. Illumination was a simple matter of tossing up a little ball of light magic and letting it hang wherever was most convenient until dismissed.
While she technically didn't need to eat, her stomach growled at her from time to time. Both she and her body did enjoy the act, and it did offer her a small, temporary boost in power...of course, there was no food in this lavish chamber. Even if there had been, it would most certainly be gone now.
It was all so damn boring! On at least five separate occasions, she had lain in bed for over twenty-four hours straight. Thinking about that just made her feel a bit depressed that she had never been laid.
She wandered over to her mirror and sat down before it. Despite her cramped life style, she was still strong and healthy, with smooth, clear skin. Mainly because she cheated. Her body was mostly magic, after all.
Perhaps she would wear makeup today. The little set of shades that had appealed to her over her periods of freedom sat within arm's reach. Really, though, it was just a reference. Only suckers needed to smear stuff on their face to change its appearance.
While she could have done it with a snap, she liked to slide her finger over her lips, as though it was the dispenser. Soon her lips shone a dark red, giving her a much more dangerous appearance. She had considered green, to go with her favorite (and default) eye colour, but red had been neglected for a while.
Next was her hair. It grew like any other creature's, but its rate could vary. She had slowed it to a crawl in preparation for a long period of captivity, but it had still made its way down over one of her eyes in the front, and almost to her waist in the back. Should she cut it?
Abruptly, the walls shone with a soft light, and a mystic heat began to fill the room. Was this it!? Was something interesting finally going to happen!? Bursting with excitement, she rapidly donned her favorite set of "obvious-what-I-am" clothing with a wave of her hand and checked herself over in the mirror. From what she could remember of standards, she looked great.
Luke had been stranded in this jungle for a whole day now, and was ready to leave anytime. Everyone in his hometown had insisted that Lilytown had something weird about it, but he never suspected he would wake up amongst giant foliage.
"This bites," he murmured as he carelessly kicked a rock along, "I try to avoid nature for a reason. Ugh."
He did have reasons to complain. Besides a recurring feeling that he was being watched rather covetously, there were plenty of loud, paranoia-inducing sounds around whenever he was trying to sleep, and he had been overdue for a shower the night he was brought here.
His final kick sent the rock tumbling a great distance before it came to rest next to some...lump. What was that? As Luke tilted his head, he noticed the sunlight glinting off of it.
"Might as well get something out of this whole trip..." he decided as he approached it. Usually when there was something shiney on the ground, it was just litter, but in this place he had yet to even see another human. Even litter would be comforting to find.
This wasn't litter, though. Not unless people here randomly discarded fine brassy objects. While getting his hands any dirtier wasn't an appealing thought, Luke had to admit that they were far from clean already. He began digging.
His eyes widened as he found the object to not only be intact, but something he would consider an antique. A large, finely crafted oil lamp sat in his hands, sans oil. It was small and light enough to lift with one hand, but full, it would probably require some effort to hold steady.
Pretty as it was, being buried did little to help its lustre. This was even more annoying than it usually would have been due to the obscured writing on the side. Unable to resist curiosity, Luke began rubbing the dirt away with the side of his hand.
So engrossed was he in his polishing that he failed to notice the young lady hovering behind him until she casually noted that he had missed a spot.
"I'm getting to tha..."
Luke jumped back as he whirled to face the genie. There was little else she could have been, between her jungle-defying fairness, whispy tail where legs should be, and gaudily decorated braziere. She smiled at him.
"Ahh, it's good to be ouuuuut~!" she exclaimed with a stretch, "Now, then, unless I've been in there a lot longer than I thought, you should know what I am and how I work, hm?"
Luke shook his head and stood. "Y-yeah...you...really? I mean, an actual...why?"
The beauty tilted her head. "I do enjoy guessing games, but do you think you could ask your questions a little more...completely?"
"Right, right..." he gasped, "...okay, so you're...actually a genie. There are actually bottled magic people who just give random people stuff, then go back into old, obsolete lamps...wow..."
A sigh escaped her crimson lips. "Yeah, I don't make the rules...we're allowed to switch vessels as many times as we want, but these things are what we're tethered to at 'birth'. Oh, and unless it's wished for, we DO need to be tethered to something, or we poof."
"Poof?" Luke repeated, still struggling to wrap his head around having found a genie, "...like, you die?"
"Mmm...I guess you could say that," she replied, pensively tapping her lower lip, "we become permanently detatched from the Material Plane and end up in a more Astral one...so it works like death, at least. So you'd better take care of that lamp, or I might have to yank out a lung to live in~"
He hoped that was a joke. He had no intention of damaging the lamp, but he still liked his lungs. "R...right, then...um...wait, are there hidden fees or whatever for asking questions?"
The hovering girl giggled. "No, no, we're not that mean...well, some might try to be. We're each as unique as you humans. And while we're going over limitations, I'm yours until you run out of wishes or lose the lamp. If you wanted, you could have me hang around long enough for your last wish to be on your deathbed."
"Hm...well, that's nice...so do you just...hover after me or what?"
"You're allowed to boss me around a little without wishing. Simple stuff like being in or out of the lamp, having legs, even clothing changes within reason...speaking of which, what's that you've got on your legs?"
Luke looked down at his jeans. There wasn't much worth noting about them, except perhaps that they were darker than conventional ones. "Just jeans...why? You've never seen these before?"
"Hey, you miss a lot when you're locked in a dirty, obsolete little chunk of metal," she protested, "Immortality isn't as great as everyone says...well, it might be..."
"So you could gain a lot from just hanging around with me, hm? I wonder..."
"I know what you're onto, and no. I can't just hand over extra wishes. I can, however, provide you with some tips, and just plain be nicer. You know that 'Be careful what you wish for' thing?"
"Unfortunately. That's one of the reasons I'm making sure I know everything about this...deal thing before I actually throw a wish out."
"Clever boy. Well, I'm NORMALLY nice about it...still, my last master didn't have so good a time. I wouldn't recommend wishing for me, so to speak."
Though it took a moment to decipher, her suggestion made him blush. "I would never! How...I mean, that's disgusting! I'm not like that..."
The genie pouted. "So I'm not pretty enough for you? Is that it? Or maybe you just don't play for that team. No wishing for boys unless I get a share!"
Luke was too flustered to give an intelligible response. What was happening? Just as he tried to choke out an explanation, his aggressor burst out laughing.
"Ah, I tease," she admitted as she suppressed a giggle, "but you see how easy it is for us to screw with you, right? You have to watch your footing, or even I might indulge myself a little..."
"Er...r-right...so, why do you speak so...modernly? I had always figured genies would be more formal...and blue-skinned fat guys..." the boy timidly questioned.
"Well, I have sort of a lucky situation," the genie began, "see, the infamous last master I mentioned was actually looking for one of us. He was from a more...futuristic world. Or maybe it was the actual future. Ah, whatever. Anyway, he basically used me to take over, and during the periods of his reign where I was left unattended, I was able to pick some things up. I guess those things are just good now.
"...then he wished to be inside me, and was suddenly unable to make wishes, and I guess they tossed my lamp back here. As for formality...blah. I'm young. Around two thousand. I don't care about you old-timers and your fancy talking."
Contemplating where the wish to be "inside her" led sent a shiver up Luke's spine. He may not have been capable of picking up a girl on his own, but he certainly wouldn't try to abuse power over a divine being, especially now that he suspected they were allowed to kill.
"Ssso...do you guys have rules?" he asked in hopes of some comfort.
"Yep. I don't have to tell you any, though. I'm not allowed to flat-out kill anyone, though, if you're worrying. It can only happen as the consequence of a wish. Any more questions?"
"...yeah. One more comes to mind...you said you guys -genies- were born...?"
She brushed that sheaf of hair out of her eye once more. "I'm not really clear on the details. I just know that genies can mate. Even with non-genies, I'm fairly certain. Anyway, however it happens, the offspring gets a Material body and vessel, even if the parents had lost theirs, and often grows up fairly alone..."
He decided to risk pursuing a theory. "So you have no memories of your childhood...? You had to learn to speak..."
"No I didn't~" she chirped, "we genies get around. Learning languages is hard. We just use a bit of that gift of tongues magic. See, when you talk, I HAVE learned your language, but even if I hadn't, I'd understand telepathically. Which is also how I could reply. I like telepathy. It saves me a lot of detailed description deciphering in wishes...speaking of which, I'll bet you have a first installment, eh, master?"
He did NOT feel comfortable with making a wish just yet...he decided to hold the subject off for just a bit longer. "My name is Lucas Wayward, actually...they call me Luke Wilson, though...you probably don't know this, but it's really lame, and...yeah...so what's your name?"
She shrugged. "Make one up, Luke," she suggested, "I like hearing what humans come up with, anyway. What do I look like to you?"
"But I want to know who you really are. I mean, I gave you my full name...what? Is yours embarrassing or something?"
"It is not! It so happens that I have a lovely name! I just like to keep you humans guessing."
"I guess that you forgot while locked up in here," he teased, waving the lamp.
She chuckled, mystic clouds beginning to swirl around her, "Wrong, Lukey! Bow, mortal, before the mighty Arabella!"
A wind dramatically blew out her hair before a miniature bolt of lightning descended upon her. When the dust settled, she was essentially the same, only about seven feet tall and wearing pants, complete with legs to support them. "But you can call me Bell."
It was an amusing display, but the genie's new stature made Luke a bit nervous. Of course, that was the point, but he still didn't like it. "Could you...um...be less...big, Bell? And not call me Lukey?"
She laughed again as she settled down to about 5'7". She was still a bit intimidating, but that was more because she was an attractive girl who was obviously older and stronger than he was. But he had control, right?
"Okay, so...Arabella....hm."
"What? I should say I quite like it...and no, genies don't bother with last names. We're too stubborn to give them up regarding offspring, and the hyphen can only take so much."
"No, no...it's nice." the teenager confessed, "I'm just glad I have a friend here...or at least an ally. This place is...worrying. No offense. By the way, girl's jeans often have sparkles or are stretchy or something. Mine look kind of...wrong on you."
Arabella perked up at the idea and quickly altered her own pants, only adding to her own allure in the process. "While I'm at it, you need a cleaning? It's easy to do this sort of thing."
"Well, I'm not exactly saving this dirt for later." Luke joked, wiping a bit more off of the lamp.
"Really? Some people who come here do. From what I hear, it just ends in disappointment," she replied as the dirt vaporized and rolled off of her master's body, "of course, you'd need a way home to do that..."
"It's that obvious I don't have one?" he sighed, "If I wished for one, do you promise not to cut off my head to put it there, or not let me bring you or something?"
"Hey, I like to get out of here, too, yanno! All I get out of this place is dirt and leaves," Bell protested as she pointed her hand at her chest, changing her braziere into a giant leaf bikini top, "If I just kill you, Mr. Nice Guy, it's back to the lamp for me. Unless, of course, you wished me able to stay outside whenever I want..."
Luke did his best not to stare at the leaf bikini. Could this girl get any more attractive? She was probably doing it on purpose, too. Genies were tricksters. "Okay, then. Just give me a second to think of how to phrase this one...no offense, but you might misunderstand part of it or...something!"
"Okay, one second...oh, and you do know that due to inflation, we now only give two wishes, right?"
"Wait, what!?"
Another giggle escaped Arabella's lips, which she decided to remove the lipstick from in light of her new look. "I'm kidding. Three wishes, because whatever originally created us happens to like the number three. And you can't give me to your dog or something and get three more. Seems the wishes are for humans only."
"Okay...right...could you please not screw with me while I'm thinking of a wish?" Luke huffed, "Anyway, let's see...I wish...that I could, without any negative consequence to anything, go back to an unoccupied spot in my bedroom in Lilytown and bring everything in my possession, including you and your lamp, right now."
Arabella smiled at him. "Hmm. Pretty specific. I'm impressed. Now, stand back and watch the magic, mortal!"
More for drama than anything else, she held her arms out to her sides as she took in magic from the air around her. With her full power unlocked, she was definately powerful, but why waste her own reserves when the stuff was all around? She closed her eyes and focused on the destination as seen telepathically. Her dimension magic needed work, but hey, this was a wish. Skill level was seldom an issue when there was a wish to grant.
With a ball of white light in her hands, she prepared to rip the unseen walls of this world asunder, if only for a moment. This was it! She swung her arms down and let the ball fly.
Aaaand...nothing. A bright flash as the magic dispersed, but nothing. What the hell!?
"...so...is it an invisible portal to keep others out?" Luke asked hopefully.
The genie sighed heavily. "...no...I just suck. I'm sorry. I can't get out of here...at least not to your Lilytown..."
"What!? What do you mean you can't!?" the boy exclaimed with worry.
"What else can I say? If it's magically possible, that would have done it. You get your wish back, you're still at three, but I can't get through...maybe there's some sort of barrier..."
"Well, what the hell do I do now!? I can't be stranded here!"
"Yeah, especially since you look so tasty..."
Luke stepped back a bit. "...what?"
"Oh, you didn't know?" Bell asked as she turned her deep green eyes upon him, "I had thought that since you were so dirty, you had been here long enough...humans don't last long in this world without a lot of luck, a lot of power, or a lot of skill. Without one or more of these, you're lunch."
"But I don't wanna be lunch!" he proclaimed childishly, "I have to get home! Bell, come on, you know this world...what can I do?"
She placed her hands on his shoulders, making him feel a bit better. "Look, you have me with you now, okay? Now, I can't protect you as a freebie, but genies are pretty capable on their own, and totally unstoppable with backing from a wish. Anything smart will think twice before trying to eat you if it recognizes me."
"And what around here would recognize you?"
"Er...let's focus on the positives!"
"I'm gonna die..."