A side-job offer

Morning didn't come swiftly, as you barely slept at all. The thought of your childhood friend Victoria as this person with these magic powers to be controlled by virtually anybody plagued your mind the whole night. So many questions, so many what-ifs ran through your mind! That vision of her with the unbelievably large breasts bouncing all around so carefree haunted you whenever you closed your eyes.

But when the sun rose, you knew another day had to begin. You shuffled out of bed and started to cook breakfast, doubling up on the portions since you had a guest who was likely as hungry as you. You flipped some bacon and worked on some scrambled eggs, filling the house with a pleasant aroma of a morning meal.

It seemed enough to rouse Tori, as she stumbled out of bed in pajamas to follow her nose. You couldn't help but snort when you saw her, pointing a spatula at the girl with severe bedhead, some larger-framed older glasses that she kept by her bed, and an oversized shirt on top of her baggy pajama pants. "Now that's the Tori I remember growing up with. The one who was too busy chasing frogs to bother with a hairbrush."

Tori smirked and stumbled over to some of the moving boxes she had brought in from your car last night. She didn't have much, four boxes and a duffel bag made up the entirety of her wardrobe and other personal belongings to decorate her new temporary residence in your guest room. While you cooked, she decided to sort through her things.

"Yeah, but then I grew into myself," Tori said, voice cracking with sleepiness. She looked like she'd managed more rest than you did last night, which would make sense if those sorts of magical detours were regular occurrences. "You didn't turn out half-bad either. You had that big gap in your teeth, and you're one to talk about hair! You had longer hair than me for a while, and it was pretty goofy."

You set some plates on the table and Tori immediately forgot whatever she was doing to make her way to the table. Sabel plodded up to the table as well, rubbing your leg in hopes that her affection would buy her a bit of an extra breakfast treat. Lucky for Sabel, you'd put a little bit of the shredded cheddar cheese on her morning dry food, which seemed to satisfy her plenty. Tori watched, chin resting on her folded hands as she smiled at the cute rapport you had with your cat, before she started to dig in.

While you two ate in relative silence for a bit, a question eventually bubbled up. "So, is it only people and animals? What about a machine, could you channel one of those?"

"Oh my gosh, Pete, that's how you want to start the conversation?" Tori said, giggling through her words. "Have you ever seen a toaster with needs? The answer's no, I can only channel living things."

"Well, what about a really advanced AI or something?" You doubled down on your absurd premise.

Tori shrugged, sipping some orange juice. "Do you know of any? I'd give it a shot, maybe I'd be better than a Turing Test for consciousness. I will admit that I don't know if a sufficiently advanced AI would count. But that Hilda app on your phone doesn't count, I promise. It has to be a true need that compels me, anyway."

"How about if two people need something at the same time? How do you choose?"

With a quirked eyebrow, Tori dug into a bite of food first as she thought about the question. "I don't really choose. It's first-come-first-served, unless I can't get to the being in need, then usually the magic either wears off on its own or I'm pulled somewhere else. But I can usually get where I'm needed. Heck, a lot of times my simple act of getting to the being in question is enough to solve their need, no further channeling required--like a cat trapped in an abandoned house, I get a door open or break a window, cat runs out, need is fulfilled. But my curse doesn't weigh which need is more important, at least I don't think so..."

Tori and you ponder things for a while, working your way further into breakfast before your friend leans forward on the table, squirming a bit in her seat like she was going to ask for a big favor. You knew precisely her body language in that moment, you'd seen it before when she needed to ask you for something, like to copy your answers on math homework she'd forgotten when you were both in middle school. "So..."

"So? Just spill it, Tori. Nothing you can say could be any more of a shock than what you'd already told me in the past twenty-four hours."

With her eyes squeezed shut, Tori nodded. "Right. Yeah. Okay, so I do my vet work on the weekdays which works out pretty well, I go to nearby towns and all the farmers have a little bit of an area set aside for a 'quarantine zone' where I do my work. If I get in and voluntarily channel my patient first, I keep some control and I can usually do a proper diagnosis and follow up on treatment. It's a very delicate situation though, I've had to come up with a lot of rules to make sure I don't accidentally channel anything else before I reach the patient, I've missed a few appointments in my early days because I've had to do something stupid like get peanuts at the store for a squirrel that lost their winter cache. Plus, I usually can't go out and about when I'm channeling like that, at least not without someone helping."

With a bite of bacon, you squinted a little at Tori. "You're saying you want me to come along with you on your vet trips? You know I have my own job, right?"

"You do all that stuff on your laptop and phone, you can work anywhere! Wouldn't it be more pleasant to work out in the fresh air where you could see all of the world's natural beauty? Plus then you can keep me focused! Even if I were channeling that squirrel, that channeled outcome can still behave like a vet, just a vet who craves nuts."

That last sentence hit a little differently than Tori likely intended after yesterday, and you nearly choked on your bacon. But you quickly composed yourself, as you realized something else. "...Plus you don't have a car and you would want to borrow mine anyway, is that right?"

"I, uh... I mean, I did use Mike's truck a lot, until I can put a little more cash away to get something of my own..." Tori sighed. "If you don't want to come, then can I at least borrow the car?"

You smiled, picking up the finished plates from the table. "I didn't say I don't want to come. I'm just trying to get all the facts straight. I'm guessing Mike didn't help you out much other than loaning his truck. I'm normally pretty busy at work, but I have this burning need to prove that I'm absolutely superior to that jerk, so... I'll go with you a couple times, let's see how it goes."

Tori blinked, and then tapped on the table with her fingers. "Oh, uh, great! Didn't even have to, um, negotiate further. Really convenient..!"

You quirked an eyebrow at Tori, but before you could press further, a noise snapped your attention away from the conversation at hand.