Is never being elegant something you see as part of your best life?

The idea that if we ever have to go to a fancy ball, the girls have to make my ball gown sufficiently punk to not count as elegant? That makes me fucking cackle. No more making me look all stuffy and high-society, I'm narratively forbidden from ever being something other than my badass punk self. Like, I could maybe enjoy a touch of elegance if it was wrapped in a layer of goth and punk sufficient to piss off any stuffy noble bitches who see me, it's not the elegance itself I mind, it's the fact that 90% of elegant outfit options block me from looking like me.

All right, I think I can work with that. Let me see...

Name: Signature Style - Grants: +3 ☐
(Requires Style of Sisyphus)
The effects of Style of Sisyphus are inverted. You are now locked in to a single personal style. It can be an established fashion genre, or just the expression of your personal taste in clothing, but it must be something that resonates with you narratively and personally. It will never change, and your clothing, hair, makeup, and other styling will always conform to it, no matter how hard you or others try to dress or decorate you differently. You may find yourself at peace with this style in the long term, or not.

Oh that's fucking sweet. I love it. No one can make me dress up normie-fancy anymore.

She locks those drawbacks in.

Thanks ♡

You're very welcome! ♡

Okay. I think our builds work. The only thing left hanging is trying to see if there's a way to make Sable not burn herself out saving people.

Yes, I've been thinking about that... I think I have something, I'm just not sure it's the right thing.

Name: Work-Life Balance - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires Time Enough For Love)
You count as your own friend for the purposes of Time Enough For Love.

Oh that's clever. That could help a lot of people, but I think it might not land right for Sable, because she recharges best in the company of others. It's very cool, though.

That makes sense. So what would give Sable more room to recharge?

Making her spend time cozily with people she loves.

I'm not sure I can do a power that makes someone do something; that would be more of a drawback situation. And Time Enough For Love already provides lots of opportunity, so I'm not sure how to facilitate it better... hmm. Maybe we're looking at this from the wrong perspective? What about powers that make it easier to help people, or easier for other people to help you help people?

Oh huh. That might work. Make the process easier and cheaper on her, by costing less of her effort and having more help. Yeah, you might be onto something there.

Let me see...

The girls pass the time carefully sifting through their builds, looking to see if anything stands out for Ruby or Neo to spend on, or any other tweaks they want to make. They unfortunately don't think of anything.

How's this?

Name: Ever Onward - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Cotton Candy and I Can Fix Them)
When you reach out to someone with love in your heart, whether to redeem them or just to connect as friends or lovers, your power can spark something in them. If they choose to believe in love and kindness with you, they can draw strength from your companionship, and pass that strength on to those they spark in turn. The effects of this power are subtle, but very far-reaching. Those you uplift with it, directly and indirectly, become better both at living their own best lives and at helping others.

oh. That's lovely. That's gorgeous. Can it work with I Can Help Them too, or just I Can Fix Them?

Yes, the way requirements work with replacements is that any power that replaces another can also substitute for it in requirements.

Also, I don't know if this part was obvious, but the people you connect with through Ever Onward also pass on their spark back to you. ♡

eep ♡

It seemed to me like something you could benefit from. ♡♡♡

She locks that in for her build, a happy tear dropping onto the paper. 

Best Notebook. ♡

I try. ♡

After another look over all the builds, Sable nods.

I think maybe we're done? We've checked through a few times, and everything seems as good as we can make it. All that's left is to make sure people aren't confused about what happened to us.

Okay. Just let me know when you want to finalize, then. ♡

They take a few minutes to set things up. First they go find the old analog kitchen clock with a seconds-hand an old roommate had left. That gets set up behind their chair on a dresser, so it'll be in easy view from the webcam. Then they grab a backpack, packing a couple basic-boring blank notebooks, their new set of pens, a few pencils, the solar crank radio they can charge their phone off of, a set of headphones, a bluetooth speaker that can also charge off the radio, and some granola bars and other small snacks. They configure their computer so that the next recording will run until exactly ten seconds after they take their finger off the spacebar, once started, and to be sent to their family and friends once complete.

Then Sable gets out her purple pen again and writes to their notebook friend.

Okay, have a plan. Going to record things and disappear on camera a bit theatrically, to try to provide more proof to everyone that they don't need to worry. But then I got to thinking, and now I've got a question. What happens to you when we're done here?