"You mentioned Iomedae not handing out more clerichoods – do other gods do that?"

"Hand out clerichoods? Yes. It's one of the things that defines a god, though some other kinds of beings can also do it."

"Is there a special procedure for asking a god to do that that we might have lost track of?"

"No. I mean, prayer, but it's possible for gods to reach out without being asked, though my understanding is that it's always possible to renounce one's god and the power granted thereby. If the popular god of this planet doesn't do it - you said 'Jesus Christ'? - then either he can't or there is some reason not to create clerics on this planet in particular. Iomedae continuing to grant me spells suggests it's not the second thing - some ways I could imagine this planet being a no-cleric zone would involve pulling my spells upon my arrival - but not overwhelmingly."

"Yes, Jesus Christ. I'm going to pray to him later about this but I doubt he'll make me an empowered cleric even if I bring up the possibility with him, there isn't much reason to do that with me and I'm not very holy. …the things I brought up earlier, when you were asking what spells to prepare, like turning water to wine or walking on bodies of water, those are things he did when he was on Earth. I don't know what to think of that."

"Technically I would hover about an inch above it. It would also be useful for making progress on the ice if I were trying to do that. And the wine spell will work on any nonmagical liquid."

"That's not – It seems possible that you have no idea how famous you are going to be, if you stay. We have billions of people. Most of them have the option to hear about sufficiently big news from other continents. People will want you to endorse whatever it is they're doing, condemn their enemies, sign your name on miscellaneous objects, bless things, et cetera. Possibly people will attempt to break into your house for the opportunity to see you, proposition you sexually, call you the Second Coming of Christ, call you the Antichrist…"

"What is the purpose of the signing my name on various objects? Was Jesus Christ reputed to be able to bless things remotely that way or something?"

"No. People want anyone famous to do it. They ask athletes and authors and singers to do it and none of them are supposed to have any magic powers. It's optional."

"I don't think we have this custom." Sigh.

"I'm curious, are you more concerned by that than by potential stalkers and if so why?"

"- no, everything you said sounds concerning, I just have fewer questions about the rest of it, unless you were about to tell me that the sexual propositions aren't optional or something."

"Ah, okay. The propositions are optional. Usually what people do is they sell things they signed for a lot of money, and then people like you would donate the money to some kind of charity, maybe run a charitable foundation."

"...huh. I suppose that's acceptable."

The device in Chris's pocket beeps.

"Let's go get your clothes. I can tell you about how the drying machine works while we head over."

"I thought I was hang-drying mine?"

"That's what I originally suggested, but I figured if you knew how the machine worked maybe you would be able to guess if your clothes were compatible."

"All right." He will follow.

"The clothes go into a rotating drum and get spun around while hot air is passed through the drum. The clothes shed little bits of fiber that forms lint, and some garments can shrink."

"...which ones are the ones that shrink?"

"I think wool's particularly at risk but I don't actually know, so maybe let's stick with the original plan."

"It's all wool."

"All wool. Nice. Let's stick with the original plan, then. You can hang things on the frame of the bed in your room, how about, the air's very dry here and your room's not very crowded."

"The Worldwound border is not as cold as it is here but it's still cold enough that one wants to be wearing lots of wool. And fur, the coat has fur." He will wring everything out into the tub of the washing machine and then go hang things up.

Things are actually fairly wrung out just by the spin cycle but there is some room for improvement.