We'll probably end up buying it if there's room in the budget. Only Hailey would ever use it, but physical contact she's not ready for is a little bit miserable for her, and we hate that for her.

I'll think about it. I like coming up with custom powers! It really isn't any trouble.

...Thanks.

On down they go. Closed Book gets a C, Indelible gets an A, Iron Will gets a B, It Gets Better gets an S and a quick note of

Holy shit.

Great Equalizer gets a C and a note that it's "too heavy-handed outside of special circumstances", while Star-Straightened gets an A.

The first three perks under Power of Friendship get Fs.

Ick. I'd like to earn people's attention, thank you very much. I can understand why some people would want this, but we really don't.

Disney Princess, Puppies Everywhere, and Pocket Monsters all get Cs.

They're very situational, and the latter two can't really help unless one's going all-in on pets.

Where The Heart Is gets a B though. And then Cotton Candy gets an S.

Fuck. This is a moral imperative. The ability to make people's lives better just by existing nearby is something I cannot pass up. Ever.

Yes, different people can approach these powers very differently.

It's very kind of you to want to help people like that! I wouldn't want you to take a power like this just because you feel like you're obliged to, though. There's a difference between powers that are genuinely a part of living your best life as your best self, and powers that you take on as a burden because you don't feel capable of doing otherwise.

I... Yes, I have a problem with taking on burdens just because I feel obligated to help people, but this one is perfect because all it does is make things better as a continuous passive effect. I don't even have to do anything. It just works. Part of living my best life is making people have happier and more fulfilling lives, and this power basically means we can get that for free. Just spend a few points.

I think I understand. And you certainly sound excited about it. It sounds like you're right that this power really suits you! ♡

Yeah! ♡

The Best Friend chain of perks gets Cs until Sable suddenly pauses at Transformer.

Okay, this is going to need some consideration, because while we don't want to Make A Whole New Person, Maya here is very much about being the intersection of Ship and Girl: walk around and be snugglable like a humanoid girl, but able to turn into a spaceship or surface ship or airship or car or motorcycle or power armor, and ideally also be able to appear aboard shipform in girlform. Is that something we can manage with some variation on Transformer? Because that would make Maya extremely happy and fulfilled, and I am all about my headmates getting to be happy and fulfilled. (I'm just generally about everyone getting that, but especially my headmates. ♡)

Hmm... I could definitely imagine someone in your position being able to externalize one of yourselves into a Bestest Friend, maybe with a custom power. I'll think about it, but I don't want to start suggesting externalization powers until you've been through the list so you know what the existing options are.

She nods. Then feels silly because the notebook probably can't see her.

Makes sense. We'll keep going then. That's getting a placeholder A with an asterisk for now so we know to come back to this idea.

She marks it down and on they go.

Generosity through Agree to Agree get an eloquently disgusted face and an F.

Nope. Nope nope nope. I only want my friends to agree with me if I'm actually right, and to convince me if they're the ones actually right. And the rest is just too much non-consensual alteration. Or world-selection-narrowing. Or something.

Backchannel, on the other hand, gets an A. 

This one's much better. Just a straight-forward communication advantage.

And then You Can Teach Better gets an S.

Oh wow. I already kind of enjoy teaching, and this really gives me some beastly advantages at it. Yes please, I'd love to upskill all my friends and loved ones in anything they're interested in.

She waffles for a while over Not Like Other Girls, but eventually gives it a B.

This is kind of situational, but as a trans girl, I can't bring myself to knock it down to a C, because prejudice sucks so hard.

Pacifist gets a little "hehe, cute" written next to it, and a C. The Love Interest chain gets a round of Fs on the basis of forcing people, and then she stops in her tracks at Time Enough For Love.

Oh fuck. I...

A tear rolls down her cheek and lands on the paper.

I need this perk. Not having this perk has been the single thing that hurts me most my whole life, and I only see it getting worse as time goes on. This perk is the answer to the oldest, deepest wound in my heart. Thank you.

That gets an S.

Oh, I'm so glad! The best part of this job is giving people the powers they really, really needed. ♡

Sable sighs tenderly.

Well, direct hit, then. 

...May I hug you?

You may! ♡ I'm sorry if my corners are poky, I'm told it's not very huggable of them.

She closes the notebook carefully, picks it up, and hugs very snugly, sighing gratefully and stroking the back cover a few times. After a minute, she sets the notebook back down and opens it back up.

Thank you. ♡ Not remotely poked at all.

Oh good. ♡

And onward they go. Safe At Home and I Can Fix Them get Ds, while their modified versions get Bs.

Not a fan of how Safe At Home limits options, and not a fan of how much agency is taken away by I Can Fix them. The alternates are good though.

Inspirational gets a C.

True Love's Kiss and Eternal Love get Ss, and Rescuer gets an A.

I'm vetoing putting Rescuer above an A just because Sable overburdens herself too easily.

Planned Parenthood gets a B, while Providential Parenthood gets an S.

If we're actually ready for it, we'd maybe consider kids, but the big thing we like better here is the lack of... call it "forced belief." We mostly just categorically don't want kids, but fullness of time and all that shit.

Laugh Together gets a B, while its alternates get Ds. Bop It gets a D, while The Princess And The Dragon gets a B. Opening Up and Reaching Out get Bs, while their alternates get Fs.

And then they stop at Fated Lovers.

Feel complicated about this. Probably meeting good people is very good for us, but also we just tend to meet lots of great people, and Sable can love damned near anyone. Not sure what to do here.

There's also an option later on that reduces unwanted mental interference in general. You could take Planned Parenthood with that, when you get there, if the openness to surprises isn't what draws you to Providential.

If you already meet plenty of potential partners and don't think you need to meet more, I think you can skip Fated Lovers. It's very helpful for people who have a hard time picturing themselves meeting someone who could love them, but it doesn't sound like that's you.

Then Fated Lovers gets a C, as does Fated Friends. The Sorry chain and the Style pair all get Fs, and then the girls reach Like A Mirror. 

Huh. The only part of this that's useful to us specifically is the part about finding alts. We tend to cooperate with ourselves. Also, would this find individual instances or only system instances?

Self-Reflection gets another raised eyebrow.

And this... This is a little like the kind of connection we want to linger if we get individual bodies. We'd prefer something more mental, with the option to just throw balls of thought and info at each other, and maybe support for a persistent and more detailed mindspace, rather than the more physicalist connection depicted in this perk.

And then Chaser Six When.

Oh. Forking and merging. Yeah, this could be stretched to do individual embodiment, I see it. We don't need fully-general forking and merging, though, just one body each — well two if Maya is being a ship and a girl at the same time, if you find a good wording for that. But yeah. I see why you wanted us to see this.

I think the externalization power I come up with for you all might end up looking something like a very specific and limited form of Chaser Six When that only lets you externalize individual people from yourself while staying connected, and perhaps merge with each other and externalize again if that seems like a thing you want. It should also let you merge and split the same way with any multi-body situations you create by other means, but not let you create arbitrary new bodies for yourselves because that would cost more points.

As for Maya, I think I can get Bestest Friend with Transformer to accept an externalized person as the Friend, especially if your mindset is already Friend-like (meaning that you're very friendly with and loyal to the rest of you)... but I might need an extra power to allow a Friend to take a humanlike form, especially if it's simultaneous with another body.

Does that all make sense?

That makes sense and sounds fuckin' perfect. And yeah, deeply "friendly and loyal" is very nearly the most accurate description of Maya. Only more-accurate one would be "steadfastly devoted lover, helper, and ally". Loyalty to the rest of us is what she's about.

And yeah, merging bodies back in sometimes would be nice, because sometimes we want to minimize the number of us who have to be out in the world dealing with something frustrating and have the rest of us cuddle up in mindspace or something.

Okay, I'll work on that while you go through the rest of the list, then! ♡

Severance goes down as a C for how situational it is — not like they're going to tell anyone in their destination world her or Sable's deadnames, so it's not very necessary. Popular and Famous get Fs. Undiplomatic Immunity and Vending Machine get Cs, and the Friends In perks get Bs.

And finally it's on to drawbacks.

Decorative and Beauty Is A Curse get Cs. Even Worse gets a B, because rivals feel somehow less annoying than the constant talking about it. Plain Jane gets a D, while Style of Sisyphus gets a B. There's Another One gets a C.

What d'you think are the odds another vessel turns out to be a threat rather than a potential ally?

Incomplete and Nullified get S-ranked immediately. The girls didn't want to meddle with people's minds anyway. Grimm's Fairy Tales gets an A. Funhouse gets an A with a note.

A variant on this that applies to the plurality perks you're workshopping might be nice, given that we don't need any backing from the Spirit on our loyalty to each other.

The Responsibility chain gets marked down with As, and she pauses.

These very much enable Sable to do the kind of overburdening herself she's vulnerable to, but since she does it out of a sort of deeply personal love for everyone she interacts with, she might be able to leverage the perks to make it not overburden her. Not sure. Thoughts welcome.

It's hard to be sure!

I'm not sure exactly how the question of loyalty will fit into the externalization powers yet, but I'll keep that in mind.

That makes sense. Sable, can you say more about how you feel about these drawbacks and how they would fit into your life?

I think I've got that Personal Space variant worked out, but I'm not sure I'm satisfied with it... in particular, it might prevent any hugs or other contact that you have strongly mixed feelings about. If you're fine with that then I think it's a good power, but if you're not, I should think about it some more.

Name: Personal Bubble - Cost: 3 ☐
(Replaces Personal Space)
No one can touch you if you don't want them to. You can slip through crowds and squeeze past strangers without ever coming into contact, and intimate contact only happens if you're okay with it. When you get into a physical fight, this effect is suspended for other combatants, but still applies to bystanders.

I... If I know a person, I care about them. If I care about them, I want to help them. Everyone deserves better than this world. Everyone deserves more, deserves safety and peace and comfort and affection. And if I have the power to help people, I want to do so. Helping people makes the world feel... less wrong to live in, makes it easier to metaphorically breathe, like something in me unclenches a bit at seeing people's lives become less fucked.

That personal space perk looks great, by the way. A question, though: where's the balance on "don't want to"? Like if I know it's going to suck but I endorse trying to wear down my aversion with a particular person, would it interfere?