Toni sneezed violently, a reaction to a sharp but not entirely unpleasant smell. It took her a moment to remember what was going on and this time she managed not to pass out as she remembered seeing the lamp change before her eyes. She looked warily at the scantily clad woman, and finished the interrupted process of covering herself up. "You're real, then? Last time I passed out like that was in the g-sim during fighter combat school." A couple of steps and she was close enough to poke the woman in the left shoulder. "Feels real."<br/><br/>She considered the facts at her disposal. She'd found an abandoned oil lamp in the Iraqi desert, not all that far from the remains of Ancient Babylon, and of course the current city of Baghdad, home to the legend of Aladdin, as well as many other tales of the Thousand and One Arabian Nights, as told by the equally legendary Scheherazade. Many of those stories had some sort of magic or fabulous creature in, So was it that unreasonable to suppose that some of it might actually be true? Anyway, there were two genies in Aladdin, weren't there? One in the lamp that everyone remembers, but also one in a ring... And didn't Solomon have a ring that enabled him to command genies?<br/><br/>She shook her head to clear it. "Okay, so..." she took a deep breath. "If you're a genie and you just popped out of that lamp because I rubbed it, then you have to grant my wishes, right? If I tell you I want something, then you use your magic and make it happen?"<br/><br/>She paused for an answer, and began to grin as she realised the possibilities. The grin froze. "Wait... How many wishes do I get? Aladdin only got three. And so did the Irishman who found a leprechaun." She slipped into her best<i>St Patrick's Day accent. </i>"Did ye hear that one, now? Te be sure, an' Paddy found hi'self an honest te goodness leprechaun, and sez he, Oi'll haf me t'ree wishes, so Oi will. So de leprechaun sez, Okay Paddy, ye got me. Oi'll grant yer tree wishes, what's yer first wish? So Paddy t'inks fer a bit an' 'ee sez, Oi'll 'ave a magic bottle o' whiskey. So de leprechaum claps 'is hands tegether an does a l'il dance and POOF! A cloud o' green smoke an' there's a bottle o' whiskey. So Paddy pulls de cork and pours a shot, an' it's de foinest whiskey 'e's ever tasted. But not only that, no matter how mooch Paddy pours out, de bottle refills itself. So de leprechaun saz, Okay, Paddy, y'e've had yer first wish, what's yer second and third? An' Paddy sez Oi'll 'ave two more o' deese!"<br/><br/>It was nerves, more than anything. Telling the joke was really just a delaying tactic, to avoid making a wish. But the punch-line gave her an idea... "I don't want to waste a wish on something stupid, but what if I were to wish for more wishes? If I used my third wish to wish for three more wishes, you would have to grant that wish, so I could get two wishes and save the third to get more... Ah but, there are those sneaky non-wishes, that we say without thinking.I could accidentally wish I hadn't said something and no realise I wasted a wish... Hmmm. Do it the other way around, then? I think my first wish will be to have an unlimited number of wishes!"