Granted

Chapter 4

"Can I tell people about you?" Dianna asked while getting ready to go out

Eris remained comfortably sprawled on the sofa, "I don't know, can you? There's a reason why I'm still freely running around city per city and not cooped up in a mental institution"

She looked up at Dianna with a mocking smirk, "but hey if you fancy both of us wearing matching strait jackets; go ahead! Broadcast my genie-ness everywhere!"

"You know, a simple answer of yes or no would have sufficed"

"I'm just saying. It'll be safer for you not to tell anyone you have pet genie in your apartment" Eris sat and stretched, "I'll be out of your hair anyway. Just tell me all your wishes, I'll do them as fast as I could and in a snap, I'm gone!"

Dianna looked at Eris with a smile, amused at her animated companion. It's only been a week since she let Eris stay in her apartment and truth be told, she's already starting to enjoy having her around. It makes her dull life a bit more interesting.

"Speaking of wishes by the way" Eris got up and went to Dianna, placing her arm around the woman's shoulder, "Mind telling me your first one? Just for funsies"

"I told you I haven't decided yet, I have no time to actually think about it" replied Dianna, grabbing her shoes from the shoe rack, "Why are you in a hurry anyway? Do you have a deadline or something?"

Eris had been pestering Dianna daily about her wish. Part of which was because Eris is a bit impatient but the bigger reason was that, yes, she does have a deadline. Sort of.

Eris can only stay with a "master" for a short amount of time to prevent her from delaying both granting wishes and the cursed pain. How long exactly? She has no idea, which forces her to find a "master" as soon as she can to avoid any painful surprises.

If that "deadline" is met however and the wishes are incomplete, a greater wave of unimaginable pain will come and torture her until the final wish is granted.

Eris looked at Dianna, face expressionless "I'm really bored and I want to actually do what I need to do"

Eris chose to hide her intentions behind being a genie as well as her "deadline" from her chosen masters because many of them had turned abusive when they found out about it.

Many purposely withheld their wishes as a sort of black mail against her to demand more wishes. Others, maybe out of curiosity. But some, out of cruelty. They purposely let Eris exceed her deadline, just to "see if what Eris told them was true," and to see her, a supposedly indestructible being, in agony.

Lesson learned the hard way. These humans doesn't need to find out her reasons for being a genie. At the end of it, it's only the wishes that matters.

"Then go get dressed and come have breakfast with me" Dianna said, "Or watch me have breakfast, I don't know, just come with me if you're that bored"

Eris stared as she dragged herself off the sofa. Maybe a stroll around the city would inspire Dianna to decide on her first wish.

o-o-o-o-o

At a small diner by the city plaza, Dianna sat, stirring her coffee as she waited for her meal to arrive while she further interrogated Eris, "How old are you exactly Eris?"

Eris sat across Dianna and shrugged at her question, "I've lived for so long I stopped counting. Centuries old I guess" she answered, "And please don't ask me about historical people and events. I'm not a historian, go read books if you want to know"

"Dang, I was gonna ask about the titanic"

"Just go watch the movie and the documentaries"

Dianna smirked and took a sip of her coffee, just as her bacon and eggs arrived at the table.