So, here's what I had:
"The genie was blue. Royal blue. It was absurd, but there you had it: he’d actually summoned an honest-to-goodness genie out of his phone using a silly phone app, and it looked like it had come straight out of a 90’s Saturday morning cartoon. He tried his best not to gape, with little success. All his furiously spinning mind could tell him was that he might not want to wish for a repeal of the Sonny Bono Act, just in case...
He felt equal parts like laughing hysterically and curling up in a ball. In the end, he just stood there instead, and all that came out of his mouth was a strangled « Why? »
- Kid? The genie asked, with an all-too-familiar voice.
The voice, as well? He just... gestured wildly towards the genie, completely unable to find words to express his befuddlement.
For a miracle, the genie seemed to understand.
- Listen, kid, it’s just easier this way. This way, you already know the rules, you know what this is about, and people liked Robin. If I’d come out of that thing in a belly dancer’s outfit, you’d be wondering if you had infinite wishes, and whether I want to marry you. The answers to both are, no, and heck no, by the way.
- So... three wishes, no killing, no bringing back the dead, and no magical roofying?
- See? Easier. So, what’ll it be, kid? And please don’t make me break into song.
Well, that made more sense, in a completely absurd way. It *was* the kind of thing he could have conceived of, in his sillier moments. It did, mind you, vastly improve the odds that he was dreaming all of this, but, to be fair, the odds on that were pretty much 100% to begin with, regardless of how awake he felt.
Might as well, he figured, go along with it. Either it was a dream, and nothing he could say mattered, or a really elaborate prank, in which case... in which case only one (corporate) entity had both the means and the rights to pull this one off... without getting sued into oblivion, at least. He smiled. Either he was about to sprain his own brain outsmarting himself, or someone in a back room somewhere was going to have a heck of a time getting any useful footage out of this."
I might finish this at some point. Probably going to come down to 2000 - 3000 words. Just too bad my inspiration only came upon listening to Zandra and Lizstar talk about wishes on stream... on November 30th!
I hope everyone had a good time writing!