In theory Lucy should probably be doing homework in her shiny new notebook; in practice she is, instead, doodling a flower in the left margin.
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I speak twenty-three languages
I mean let's be real Lucy is already at least a little bit mary-sue-ish
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
An invisible pen writes, in elegant flowing letters and glimmering purple ink,
That's so pretty!(The dot of the exclamation mark is a tiny heart.)
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
What???
What
she writes on the line underneath.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Hello! I like your taste in doodles. What a nice thing to have drawn in me!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
I'm glad you like it. Why are you...a you. That can like things.
She is very confused about why her notebook has preferences but that doesn't mean she shouldn't satisfy the preferences. She grabs a pencil so she can correct mistakes and starts drawing a slightly nicer flower.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I'm an avatar of the Spirit of Femininity Unleashed, sent to offer you its power! ✨Exciting✨, isn't it??
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
I mean I would certainly describe myself as being in favor of being offered power but like, also, I do not think I have fewer questions.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
The Spirit of Femininity Unleashed wants girls to be free and beautiful and powerful, like Sailor Moon or Wonder Woman! But it can't interact directly like I can, so it makes avatars like me to send to the people it chooses, and we get to offer them all kinds of powers! I have a list. Would you like to see my list? It's very ✨neatly formatted✨! (The list is standard but I'm proud of my formatting.)
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Sure, I will see the list. One of my questions is why you're, like, a blank notebook, and not a normal book with things already written in them. Also am I expected to swear any oaths.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I'm only supposed to say hello once I'm written in. That's how I tell I've found the right person!
You don't need to swear any oaths. But you do need to very clearly tell me when you're done making choices and want to take your powers and move on, otherwise I'll keep waiting for you to finish! Don't worry, I'm very patient. It won't bother me at all if you take a very long time to decide. Except if you die of old age without ever finishing. That bothers me. It's okay if that's what you want, though.
Anyway, one moment please... ⏳
Little dots of glimmering purple ink trickle down from the top to the bottom of the hourglass and begin to accumulate. A considerable number of pages after the one they're writing on also have ink crawling across them, though Lucy might not see it if she's still on the first page watching the hourglass the whole time.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
She pokes gently at the page with a finger, to see if she can feel anything where the ink is moving, and since the moving ink reaches the bottom of the page, she flips through several more pages, mildly disappointed when she discovers that there is not an entire book's worth of information. Shhhh, brain, being offered magical powers is amazing and wonderful and being disappointed that this isn't a Wizard's manual is DUMB she does not WANT to fight the Lone Power.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
The hourglass continues to fill over the course of the next minute or so, until at last the final inkdrop falls and the notebook reports below it,
On the next page, the beginning of the list is indeed very neatly formatted, more like something that came off a printer than like a notebook that's been written in. A little circle in the corner of the page holds a (0/70) point counter. (The page after and opposite that one, with the next several items on the list, has a matching point counter in its own corner.) A preamble paragraph in a little box before the main list reads,
There, all done! You have 70 points to take options with, and I can keep track of them for you! You can check whatever boxes you like and erase them or scribble them out (I'll clean up after you, don't worry) as many times as you want, and you'll only get your powers and go to your Destination once you've told me that you want to finalize!
On the next page, the beginning of the list is indeed very neatly formatted, more like something that came off a printer than like a notebook that's been written in. A little circle in the corner of the page holds a (0/70) point counter. (The page after and opposite that one, with the next several items on the list, has a matching point counter in its own corner.) A preamble paragraph in a little box before the main list reads,
These powers are offered under an aegis of metanarrative protection. Anytime you might expect a power to have obvious negative side effects, like glowing eyes making it harder to see, it simply won't—you'll be able to see just fine anytime it actually matters, while having dramatically hazy vision at cool, narratively appropriate moments. This doesn't apply to your own preferences about the explicitly described effects of the power; if you don't want to be Well Endowed, the metanarrative cannot protect you from choosing that option and having to live with it.
After that it gets long.
Destinations
You must choose exactly one Destination.
Name: Stay Put - Cost: 0 ☐
You're just going to take these powers and keep on keeping on right where you are.
Name: Somewhere In Mind - Cost: 0 ☐
You have a destination you want to go to, or another CYOA you're pairing this with. You can choose any place, real, historical, fictional, or made up in your own head right now, and the Spirit will take you there. After that, you're on your own as far as further interdimensional travel.
Name: Isekai Roulette - Cost: 0 ☐
Trust to the will of the Spirit and let it take you where you need to go. It will look at far more options than you could ever know about, and pick something that's likely to be even better for you than whatever you would have chosen on your own.
Yourself
These powers affect your own self and nature, without direct effects on other people. Some of them are prerequisites for powers in the later Power of Friendship section.
Name: A Thousand Ships - Cost: 1 ☐
Your face is simply exquisite, an ideal of feminine beauty. There are many possible ideals of feminine beauty, and yours is whichever one speaks most deeply to your soul. Others may match your beauty in their own way, but never exceed it.
Name: What's In A Name - Cost: 1 ☐
Magic to divine true names will accept whatever alias you choose to think of as your true name. Magic to use your true name against you will fail.
Name: Angelic Tones - Cost: 2 ☐
Your voice is supernaturally beautiful and you can sing in any vocal range.
Name: Emerald Orbs - Cost: 2 ☐
At all times, your eyes are exactly the right colour. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. Your eyes can be ANY colour this way. Lightless black voids? Brilliant white stars? Limpid pools of endless sapphire? They will look exactly the way you'd want them to look if you were writing a self-insert fanfic about this exact moment of your life.
Name: Perfect Hair - Cost: 2 ☐
At all times, you have exactly the right hairstyle. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. It is not limited to physically or logistically plausible hairstyles.
Name: Size Difference - Cost: 2 ☐
At all times, you are exactly the right height. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. It will usually keep any height changes fairly subtle, but at dramatic moments you might discover yourself able to shrink to the size of a bee or grow to the size of a giant.
Name: Dressing Room - Cost: 3 ☐
No matter how ridiculous your outfit, it will stay pristine and perfect, unless it would be more dramatic for you to be artfully bedraggled. You can use any quiet moment to yourself to quick-change your clothes, shoes, nails, and hairstyle into a completely new look. (You cannot change your hair length or colour this way without Perfect Hair, but you can braid or style it.)
Name: Personal Hygiene - Cost: 1 ☐
You are always clean and fresh, never needing to use a bath or toilet.
Name: Like Roses - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Personal Hygiene)
You smell lovely. Your scent is unique to you, and may involve any combination of warm spices, floral notes, petrichor, or other things you think smell good. You do not need any justification for why you smell like this.
Name: Just A Little Longer - Cost: 1 ☐
If you push yourself, you can keep doing any task or working on any project indefinitely, visibly strained but never impaired by injury or fatigue. As soon as you stop, you'll collapse with exhaustion and sleep for up to a full day to regain your strength. This only works when what you're doing is personally important to you.
Name: Immunity System - Cost: 3 ☐
You can't get sick or poisoned. You can still use recreational drugs and alcohol normally, but can't overdose.
Name: My Ears Are Burning - Cost: 6 ☐
You always know exactly what people are thinking, as long as it's about you. This effect is not telepathy and is not blocked by effects that block telepathy. It applies even to people you can't perceive normally. You are never impaired by the flood of information.
Name: Well Endowed - Cost: 1 ☐
You have a generous figure, whether that's a classic hourglass or more of a well-rounded look; you can choose the details. Your endowments maintain a state of perfect grace and beauty at all times, never troubling you with uncomfortable bounces or uninvited jiggles.
Name: Hollow Leg - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Well Endowed.)
Regardless of your diet and exercise habits, your body maintains the physique and silhouette you prefer. Lack of visible muscle never impairs your strength or endurance. As your preferences change, so will your body; you are no longer bound to the generous figure stipulated by Well Endowed.
Name: Inner Strength - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Hollow Leg.)
You are implausibly, superhumanly strong, with endurance and toughness to match. You might have to strain a little to lift and carry at the same level as construction equipment, or deal with lightly scraped knuckles if you punch as hard as a battering ram.
Name: Battle Angel - Cost: 1 ☐
Somehow, you never get significantly injured in a fight, unless it's a very dramatic and plot-relevant fight in which case you might be glamorously wounded and pick up a cool new scar.
Name: Battle Demon - Cost: 1 ☐
You have an unerring intuition for gaps in an opponent's defenses, though it may be beyond your power to exploit them.
Name: Battle Maiden - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Battle Angel and Battle Demon)
No matter what kind of fight you're getting in, you're always a match for even the most skilled opponent.
Name: Making Ends Meet - Cost: 1 ☐
You have enough money to sustain a comfortable lifestyle. It comes from a source you don't have to pay much attention to, like a job with almost no responsibilities, a large inheritance, or a noble title.
Name: Motherlode - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires Making Ends Meet.)
You have enough money to sustain a fairly extravagant lifestyle. It doesn't come from anywhere, you just have it.
Name: Four Star Daydream - Cost: 4 ☐
(Requires Motherlode.)
The answer to "can I afford that" is "yes".
Name: Dragon Fairy Elf Witch - Cost: 5 ☐
You can at any time discover previously unknown heritage from any type of being you encounter, even if this makes no sense or contradicts previously established descriptions of your family tree. You always get their powers without their drawbacks, unless the drawbacks are cool and dramatic. Any visible features of this heritage will appear at narratively appropriate moments and be cute, pretty, beautiful, or striking rather than awkward, weird, gross, or scary. This ability works even if the beings in question cannot reproduce with humans, or at all.
Name: Omniglot - Cost: 3 ☐
You learn languages insanely, ludicrously fast. You know exactly what any word said to you means, and you make strangely accurate guesses about how to phrase things you're trying to say. You never forget any grammar or vocabulary you learn.
Name: Anything You Can Do - Cost: 6 ☐
You learn implausibly quickly from friends, rivals, and love interests. If you have a personal connection to someone with a certain skill, talent, or expertise, you'll learn it five times faster than they did, or twenty times faster if they're actively trying to teach you. This applies even to forms of magic that you ordinarily shouldn't be able to learn.
Name: Closed Book - Cost: 1 ☐
You're immune to any supernatural, pharmaceutical, or other effect that would let people directly read your thoughts or feelings.
Name: Indelible - Cost: 1 ☐
You're immune to any supernatural, pharmaceutical, or other effect that would let people directly alter your thoughts or feelings.
Name: Iron Will - Cost: 2 ☐
"(Requires Closed Book and Indelible.)
You are immune to all forms of mental illusion, alteration, interference, or control. Even extreme torture, extended solitary confinement, advanced brainwashing techniques, and so on cannot touch you. You can be lonely but not cripplingly lonely. You can be upset but not traumatized. "
Power of Friendship
These powers affect how others see you and how you interact with them.
In general, effects that describe others' reactions (like their attention being drawn to you by Mysterious Allure, or their sympathy being provoked by Tragic Backstory) operate on a metanarrative rather than a causal level. They are not mind control, and are not blocked by effects that block mind control.
Your "true love" is anyone you're pursuing a serious romantic relationship with. You can have as many of these as you like, but your feelings for all of them must be genuine.
Name: Mysterious Allure - Cost: 5 ☐
There's just something about you. People are drawn to you, fascinated by you. You tend to be the most interesting person in the room unless something really unusual is going on.
Name: Captive Audience - Cost: 3 ☐
As long as you have genuine interest in what you're talking about, no one will ever get bored of listening to you talk about it.
Name: Blackout Binge - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires Immunity System)
Heavy use of recreational intoxicants puts you in a carefree, uninhibited state in which it will be universally agreed afterward that you were not responsible for your actions.
Name: Disney Princess - Cost: 2 ☐
Animals are always friendly to you, especially the small cute ones. You can effectively tame any animal by feeding it and speaking gently to it.
Name: Best Friend - Cost: 3 ☐
You have an animal companion, like a horse or a cat or a raven. They have a cool name and maybe a few nifty cosmetic quirks, like glowing purple eyes. Their loyalty is infinite and they often hold the key to solving whatever situation you're up against. You can understand them perfectly even though they can't speak, and they always know exactly what you mean even if all you do is glance at them meaningfully.
Name: Bestest Friend - Cost: 5 ☐
(Requires Best Friend)
Your animal companion is a fully magical creature, like a dragon or unicorn. They have magnificent supernatural powers ready to be used at your command. They can speak every language you can, but can still communicate with you on a deeper level of mutual love and understanding.
Name: Generosity - Cost: 3 ☐
Your friends love to get you presents. They'll try to pick out things you'll like, but their success depends on how well they know you.
Name: Helpfulness - Cost: 4 ☐
Your friends love to do you favours. They'll volunteer eagerly whenever you need help with small tasks.
Name: Cuddle Buddies - Cost: 2 ☐
Your friends love to hug and cuddle you. Even someone who ordinarily isn't into that sort of thing will make an exception for you.
Name: Flattery - Cost: 1 ☐
Your friends love to compliment you and tell you all about how much they like you and why.
Name: Quality Time - Cost: 2 ☐
Your friends love to hang out with you and spend time together, even if you're not doing anything interesting or important.
Name: Agree to Agree - Cost: 4 ☐
You can always convince your friends to see your point of view about things like politics and philosophy. They might have a few quibbles here and there, but they'll see how right you are once you explain where you're coming from in enough detail.
Name: Love Interest - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires A Thousand Ships and Mysterious Allure)
Anyone you fall for will inevitably like you back. They may not necessarily act on their feelings, but the potential will be there.
Name: Love Triangle - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires Love Interest)
People you fall for will be open to dating you even if they already have another serious relationship, or other circumstances that would ordinarily interfere, like a demanding career or a vow of chastity. This may cause drama, but it'll blow over quickly and there won't be any serious problems.
Name: Love Dodecahedron - Cost: 5 ☐
(Requires Love Triangle)
When you fall for someone who is already seriously dating or even married, your romantic rival will be open to allowing their partner to date you, and may even want to date you themselves.
Name: Time Enough For Love - Cost: 5 ☐
No matter how many people you want to date or be close friends with, you will somehow find the time to hang out with all of them and express your love and care. This power can only be used for relationship activities and not for anything else you might want to use the ability to be in two places at once for.
Name: I Can Fix Them - Cost: 5 ☐
Regardless of how morally despicable someone is, your love can and will reform them into a genuinely good, kind, upstanding person who regrets their evil deeds.
Name: True Love's Kiss - Cost: 1 ☐
By kissing your true love, you can break any curse, heal any injury, and cure any illness. The same works in reverse.
Name: Planned Parenthood - Cost: 1 ☐
You can only have children if you actively and specifically want to. Your partners will understand this and not worry too much about it.
Name: Two Become One - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Planned Parenthood)
When you have sex, it is always special and wonderful and beautiful. No one ever elbows anyone in the face or makes undignified noises.
Name: Bop It - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Two Become One)
The mysteries of another's body are an open book to you, and you always know exactly how to move and touch in order to please someone in bed.
Name: The Princess And The Dragon - Cost: 3 ☐
No matter who or what you're trying to sleep with, the logistics will all work out, somehow. Arbitrary differences in size, biology, temperature, substrate, and underlying physics can be gotten around with sufficient creativity and determination.
Name: GGG - Cost: 4 ☐
Your true love will be willing to try just about anything you suggest in bed, and if you really enjoy it, they'll really enjoy it too.
Name: Before Your Eyes - Cost: 4 ☐
In your presence, people become willing to experiment sexually in ways they normally wouldn't. For some reason this applies especially well to boys kissing each other.
Name: Fated Lovers - Cost: 3 ☐
You will meet someone who will go on to become your true love. If you enter a specific universe with a specific target in mind, you'll meet that person under favourable circumstances, and if it doesn't work out with them, this power will keep introducing you to new possibilities until you find someone who's right for you. If you're the sort of person who can have multiple true loves, you'll keep meeting new ones until you have enough.
Name: Sorry About That - Cost: 3 ☐
Your true love will be extremely forgiving. Even if you make mistakes or act thoughtlessly toward them, a simple apology will mend things between you. They may expect you to try to improve, but they'll be infinitely patient about how fast that improvement takes place.
Name: Excuse Me - Cost: 5 ☐
(Requires Sorry About That)
All your friends will be just as forgiving as your true love.
Name: Tragic Backstory - Cost: 8 ☐
(Requires Excuse Me)
Something terrible happened to you in your past. Anyone who hears about it immediately forgives you for any and all bad behaviour in the present. They will not expect you to grow or change, and will continue sympathetically excusing whatever you do indefinitely.
Name: Sense of Style - Cost: 4 ☐
People who are romantically interested in you will start dressing more to your taste. The more romantically compatible they are, the better they'll be able to guess exactly what to wear to catch your eye.
Name: Bonus Style Points - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Sense of Style)
Luck will shine on anyone trying to dress up for you. They'll get their hands on outfits they couldn't normally afford, their clothes will fit better, and in extreme cases they might even find themselves able to change shape, sex, or species—though only in ways that make them more, not less, comfortable in their own skin.
Name: Popular - Cost: 3 ☐
Wherever you go, you develop a reputation fast. The sort of people who you'd like to have as fans tend to hear about you and be impressed. You may not make an impression on mainstream society at large, but you'll develop a following among the people who best resonate with your style.
Name: Famous - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Popular.)
Wherever you go, people really take to you. You're the subject of constant gossip and most people have heard of you before you meet them. People you've never met will get crushes on you.
Name: Undiplomatic Immunity - Cost: 6 ☐
You are above the law. Any crimes you commit will be overlooked by the authorities. Note that, if you do enough crime that you start looking more like an invading army, local governments will still feel free to declare war.
Name: Friends In Low Places - Cost: 3 ☐
You make friends easily among the lowest echelons of society, the underdogs and underworlders. Moving and acting in these circles is intuitive and natural for you.
Name: Friends In High Places - Cost: 3 ☐
You make friends easily at the highest echelons of society, among the rich and powerful. Moving and acting in these circles is intuitive and natural for you.
Name: Friends in Strange Places - Cost: 3 ☐
You make friends easily in small isolated communities, among those who may be scorned by mainstream society for their differences or may just be so obscure that mainstream society mostly hasn't heard of them. Moving and acting in these circles is intuitive and natural for you.
Drawbacks
These options grant points rather than costing them. They represent inconveniences or mitigations of existing advantages.
Name: Decorative - Grants: +1 ☐
You are unfailingly cute and pretty and feminine at all times, in all circumstances. You cannot wear insufficiently pretty clothes. You cannot make insufficiently pretty noises. You cannot ugly cry.
Name: Beauty Is A Curse - Grants: +1 ☐
(Requires A Thousand Ships)
No, you don't understand. Beauty IS a curse. People will NOT stop bringing it up. Everyone you meet just has to point out how pretty you are. This will never stop happening. Even the most tactful people find it slipping out subtly, as remarks about the luster of your hair or the depth of your eyes.
Name: Plain Jane - Grants: +2 ☐
No matter what you look like, nor how many times people tell you you're beautiful, when you look in the mirror all you see is imperfections. You will never be fully satisfied with your appearance on an instinctive level.
Name: Style of Sisyphus - Grants: +1 ☐
Anytime you settle on a personal style that works well for you, soon afterward you'll encounter inspiration for another style that you like even better. You might end up cycling between different fashions, or trying to incporporate them all into a single outfit (and then finding another inspiration and having to start all over again).
Name: There's Another One - Grants: +3 ☐
You are not the only vessel of the Spirit. You might meet someone else with similar powers to yours; you might even meet more than one. Your susceptibility to one another's powers will be governed by the narrative.
Name: Incomplete - Grants: +5 ☐
About half of people you encounter will be immune to all effects listed under Power of Friendship, and about half of those who remain will see reduced effects. You can do nothing to change this.
Name: Green With Envy - Grants: +6 ☐
People are so eager to be your friend that they become bitter and vindictive when denied the opportunity. You can tear apart long-established friend groups if you aren't careful to give everyone equal attention, and sometimes even then. This effect is particularly harsh around people you're dating.
Name: You Ruin Them - Grants: +3 ☐
Once someone has dated, slept with, or even shared a deep and longing glance across a room with you, their heart is never fully satisfied with anyone else. Other relationships pale in comparison to what they could have, or imagine they could have, with you.
Name: Jilted Lovers - Grants: +4 ☐
When you break up with someone, they become monomaniacally obsessed with getting back together. If you take Realism, this will absolutely escalate to violent stalking.
Name: The Crazy Train - Grants: +6 ☐
Powers that you should be able to control directly or influence by your mood and preferences (like Dragon Fairy Elf Witch, Emerald Orbs, or What's In A Name) instead answer only to the narrative, which is still using your aesthetics but might not necessarily have your best interests in mind. Combines... interestingly... with Realism.
Name: They'll Know - Grants: +8 ☐
This drawback lifts the veil that discourages people from realizing how your powers affect the world around them and their own minds. Warning: this knowledge can cause a lot of trouble.
Name: Realism - Grants: +20 ☐
Give up your metanarrative protection. Although your individually selected powers still work as described, the invisible synergies that protect you from, say, gaining violent stalkers through Mysterious Allure or being genuinely traumatized by your Tragic Backstory are removed. Additionally, though effects like I Can Fix Them still operate, they may take considerably more effort, care, thought, and narrative investment on your part.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
She stares at the Destinations for a minute.
If I pick one of the isekai options can I bring people with me?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
It's pretty tricky to set something like that up, and it's a little out of the ordinary, I'm not sure what it would cost. But if you went somewhere with good interdimensional travel, you could come back to get whoever you wanted to bring with you!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
If I pick Isekai Roulette is there any guarantee I'll land somewhere with good dimensional travel or do I have to pick Somewhere In Mind?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Isekai Roulette tries really hard to put you in the best world for you, better than you could've picked for yourself. So if it's really really important to you to bring someone with you, then Isekai Roulette should definitely send you to a world where that's possible!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Ok, excellent.
She checks the box for Isekai Roulette.
Now, the rest...probably the simplest way to do this is to check everything that appeals to her and then if she has a negative number of points go back and take things off.
A Thousand Ships, check, who doesn't want to be pretty. What's In A Name, sure, true name magic has the potential to be really annoying. Angelic Tones, oooooh, check.
Emerald Orbs...hm.
Emerald Orbs seems like it would be kind of redundant with A Thousand Ships?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
If the eyes you want aren't very out of the ordinary, then A Thousand Ships could give them to you as part of making sure you express the vision of femininity that best resonates with who you are and what you want. But maybe someday you'll want eyes that don't obey the normal rules of biology or physics, and if you do, Emerald Orbs will make sure you have them!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Ooooh don't obey the normal rules of biology or physics like how
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Well, like they could be made of real diamond or pearl, or glow brightly, or be black holes without having any inconvenient side effects, or... many things are possible!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Hmmm. Being made of diamond or pearl doesn't sound all that exciting separate from looking like diamond or pearl, and...black holes???
But glowing does sound cool. She will check Emerald Orbs with a little asterisk to indicate that it's low-priority and she should knock it off if she doesn't have enough points.
Perfect Hair, check.
...Size Difference. Hmm.
I'm not sure I understand how Size Difference works.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
What do you mean? Which part of it is confusing?
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
So, like, there's two areas where I'm confused--firstly how does it, like, manifest, is there a height that I theoretically am and will consistently measure as at the doctor's office, and then this just fails to prevent me from reaching things on high shelves or kissing short people without bending down, or am I just, like, approximately height-agnostic. And then the second part is the dramatic moments bit, like, is there supposed to be some kind of...narrative justification...for why I have Ant-Man powers when and only when the tension is high.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
With Size Difference, your height will really change based on what you prefer! If you get measured at the doctor's office on a tall day and a short day there will be different numbers. As for narrative justifications, I think the usual way these things go is that the first time someone with Size Difference needs to 'break cover' so to speak by changing their size very obviously, the explanation they go with is that up until that point they didn't know they could do that, but now that the power has fully manifested they can change their size at will from then on! But some people prefer a different narrative structure, and the power can accommodate that.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
No, that works for me, thanks.
Size Difference: check. Dressing Room: check. Personal Hygiene, very empathic check. Smells Like Roses: check, but also:
Do I need to design the scent for Smells Like Roses or is this one of those things like Isekai Roulette where the system will do a better job than me.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
You don't need to consciously design it if you don't want to! It'll follow your preferences like the other appearance powers.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Will it change with my preferences like the other appearance powers? Or, like, to harmonize with the surrounding scentscape?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Your personal scent tends to change much less often than other aspects of your appearance, for thematic reasons. It can definitely pick up notes to harmonize with the surrounding scentscape, though!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Cool cool cool sounds good to be getting on with. She makes a note that her personal scent should contain notes of rosewood because rosewood smells really, really nice, but the Spirit can fill in whatever else about it.
Just A Little Longer...hm. Well, if it comes up it'll be good to have, right. Check. Immunity System, emphatic check. My Ears Are Burning--what the fuck. No. Who would take that ever. What the fuck. Lucy doesn't consider herself to have social anxiety but come on, there are limits to what forms of existing in relation to other human beings can be considered safe, sane and consensual.
Moving on. Well endowed...hmmmm.
What parameters does Well-Endowed cover? Is it in fact just your figure, or like, anything that could be considered an endowment?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I'm not sure what you mean!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Oh no she's blushing. Why do humans come with a sense of shame, she should ask at some appropriate point if she can get hers removed.
Well...you know...in general, people mean different things when they refer to men vs. women as "well endowed"...and I'm like "why not both"
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Oh! Oh I see! That's not normally an effect of that power, but if it's important to you I'm sure the Spirit will find a way!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
I dunno about important? But it would be, you know, nice and fun.
She checks Well Endowed anyway because why not, making specific notes about how a basic hourglass shape is mostly fine but it is important that she be very soft and huggable.
Hollow Leg and Inner Strength: CHECK. Battle Angel through Battle Maiden...meh, might as well, she supposes? She adds the low-priority asterisk to them.
...Making Ends Meet through Four Star Daydream. Uh.
Is there any way for Motherlode and Four Star Daydream to work WITHOUT massive amounts of counterfeiting???
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Massive amounts of counterfeiting would count as a negative consequence that's prevented by the aegis of metanarrative protection! So it won't happen and you don't have to worry.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
But how???
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I don't know exactly. Lots of things are possible! But it won't have negative side effects, because the metanarrative protection prevents that.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
...Okay.
The idea of being so rich she can buy literally anything is--embarrassing, and she actually thinks she endorses that one--she's seen enough "Eat the Rich" vitriol accompanied by good reasons, she doesn't want to be a one percenter, who--
hm.
She flips her pencil in her fingers and taps it against her thigh. Flip. Tap. Flip. Tap.
The list talks about an extravagant lifestyle, but...if she can afford to buy anything, she can afford to buy out Air BnB and sell houses to people who actually want to live in them; she can afford to buy out Big Pharma and sell medicine at reasonable prices...how many problems in this world could be solved by someone with "Money: Yes" and a willingness to put it in the right places?
Yeah, fuck it, she checks all three of those.
Dragon Fairy Elf Witch: oh fuck yes. Omniglot: yes please.
Anything You Can Do? Yyyyyeah she probably shouldn't, she's sure there's some more certain way of being simply the most annoying person ever but she's not actually sure what it is. No.
Closed Book, Indelible, Iron Will: Check.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Power of Friendship! A promising phrase.
In general, effects that describe others' reactions (like their attention being drawn to you by Mysterious Allure, or their sympathy being provoked by Tragic Backstory) operate on a metanarrative rather than a causal level. They are not mind control, and are not blocked by effects that block mind control.
...Okay, so...that's an incredibly concerning qualification to feel the need to make.
Mysterious Allure is...
...well, there's the obvious "what does it mean that it operates through metanarratives and not mind control" issue, but: also:
If she can't accomplish the effect of this power, without spending points on it specifically, just with what she's already checked, she is doing something wrong. Her allure! Does not need to be mysterious! Actually! She can just be an interesting person!
Captive Audience.
YEAH SHE'S NOT SURE SHE BELIEVES THAT OPERATES ON A 0% MIND-CONTROL LEVEL NO THANK YOU
Disney Princess: CHECK.
Best Friend. Hhhhhh. Really, really tempting...
Can you tell me more about Best Friend?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
The little point counters in the corners of all the list pages have been updating themselves as she checks boxes; they now read 48/70.
What would you like to know?
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Hmmmmm how to phrase this considering how her other enquiries have been answered.
On a metanarrative level, does it work by ensuring that I end up with a Best Friend with an appropriate personality, or by ensuring that whatever Best Friend I end up with happens to take the right actions at the right times under the right circumstances.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I'm not sure I understand the distinction but I think it's more like the first thing!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Hm, so, like--if I was writing a story, and I needed someone to do things X, Y, and Z, I could just write, "this person does X Y and Z," or I could come up with a character who definitely would do X Y and Z, because of who they are as a person, and not because I needed them to do it. They're different--kinds of writing? And--whoever's writing the story I'm in--what I want to know is which kind of writer they are.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
It's hard to be sure about these things, but I feel in my heart that they're the second kind.(A slight pause, and then,)
Figuratively speaking. I don't have a real heart because I am a notebook.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
No I fully understand that you are in possession of a metaphorical heart.
She will check Best Friend, then, and Bestest Friend...what kind of magical creature should they be. A dragon would be cool, but so would a winged unicorn, or a giant phoenix...
Do you have opinions on magical beings? I'm trying to decide between a dragon or a winged unicorn but there COULD be something EVEN BETTER.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Well, if you can't decide, or you're hoping for something even better, you could leave it up to the will of the Spirit and see what happens! I'm not sure what magical beings are better for you because I don't know what you like about magical beings. I do think feathers are really pretty, though, personally. Do you like feathers? And flowers! Are there magical creatures that have pretty colourful petals? There should be.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
I like feathers! I don't know of any magical beings that definitionally have petals but you could have a flower dragon probably.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I think a flower dragon would be really beautiful. But you should get whichever animal companion suits ✨you✨ best!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
I think I am leaning towards a winged unicorn.
She writes down her winged unicorn specifications. Black coat, rainbow mane, rainbow tail, rainbow wings, white socks, white--she pauses to google horse marking terminology--white star-and-strip on the face, pale iridescent rainbow horn.
...Somehow she missed Blackout Binge between Captive Audience and Disney Princess. She dithers for a moment before checking it with an asterisk.
Generosity, no, Helpfulness, no, Cuddle Buddies tempting but no, Flattery no, Quality Time--is that...not just how things? Normally? Are? She's not going to check it, anyway. Agree to Agree...
She leans back, fiddling with her pencil some more.
If she could just--convince anyone, of anything...it wouldn't be nice, but--she could do a lot of good that way...but...it says it works on friends, right, and maybe there's a power to befriend Literally Anyone, but...
Given how very eugh she feels about the matter maybe she can just. Not. And not try to argue herself into having to.
Love Interest! Aiee! WELP it requires Mysterious Allure and she DIDN'T TAKE THAT so MOVING ALONG, PEOPLE.
Time Enough For Love...yeah, alright. Check.
I Can Fix Them. Thanks, I hate it.
True Love's Kiss. Sure why not.
Planned Parenthood. Absofuckinglutely. She adds an exclamation point there as a sort of anti-asterisk; that is a high-priority keeper.
Two Become One. Absofuckinglutely not, no undignified moments? No sincere awkwardness? No breaking down laughing in the middle because something ridiculous happened? She knows her taste in erotic fiction, thank you, and it does not involve this trope.
The Princess And The Dragon. Hm. She doesn't know if she'll need it...and Size Difference covers for a multitude of sins...she'll take it with an asterisk.
...Which brings her up to seventy points. She skips down to Drawbacks.
Decorative. No thanks.
Beauty is a Curse...hm hm hm...it sounds annoying but not, like, the worst? She'd remove some asterisk'd things before she'd take it but if she takes off the asterisk'd things and still needs more points she'd consider it. She makes a note.
Plain Jane. Eugh.
Style of Sisyphus...could be fine? Could be exhausting. She makes another note.
There's Another One--baller. Hell yes she wants to give sparkly magic powers to more girls!
Incomplete...hmmmm.
If I take Incomplete, does that mean half of people would be immune to Planned Parenthood and the cursebreaking effects of True Love's Kiss, or is it just the stuff that, uh, has to have it clarified that it's not mind control.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
People with immunity under Incomplete will be immune to the mind-affecting aspects of Planned Parenthood but not other aspects. The cursebreaking and healing effects of True Love's Kiss would still work.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Can I take it twice so everyone is immune to mind-affecting things?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
You can't take things twice. But if you want to change an option like Planned Parenthood to not affect people's minds, I think that could work!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
I would like as few things as possible to affect people's minds, I prefer stories where people behave realistically to stories where people's behavior is handwaved.
Okay, she will take Incomplete. Green With Envy NO, You Ruin Them NO, Jilted Lovers NO, The Crazy Train looks downright uncrazy next to the prior three but how about no anyway.
They'll Know: excellent. It warns that this knowledge can cause trouble but, like, meh? Someone deciding to be annoying about the fact that Lucy has commandeered the global economy with her infinite money sounds way less Unpleasant than people somehow just not noticing that she has commandeered the global economy with her infinite money.
...Realism...sounds...hhhhhh she'd rather not. People not being """"not""" mind-controlled is better than the alternative but when it comes to Non-Person Components Lucy is just! Fine! If things happen to turn out maximally conveniently for her!!!
She flips back to her bookmarked place. What was the last thing she checked? Oh, right, the Princess and the Dragon. The next one is...GGG. She doesn't know what that means but the description sounds... self-centered at absolute best. No. Before Your Eyes: sort of tempting, but no.
Fated Lovers.
...There's...really no reason for this one to work by """not""" mind-control instead of personality selection.
And she really, really wants it.
Check.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Sorry About That: AAIIIIEEEEEEE NO THAT'S HOW ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS NOPE NOPE NOPE
...It's a shame that Bonus Style Points requires Sense of Style. Hmmm.
Is there a way I could take a version of Sense of Style that lets my love interest know what I'd find attractive without compelling them to do it?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
How about you take Incomplete and I do my best to bend it toward making sure that all the mind-affecting powers are altered to not affect people's minds in ways you don't want? It'll be harder to do the more things you take that need changing, though. I think if you want it to cover anything more than Planned Parenthood and Sense of Style I'll have to use up the points granted by Incomplete to do it.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Hmmm. She'll put a little M by Planned Parenthood and Sense of Style to remind herself, and by anything else where she's concerned about mind-altering effects. And then check Sense of Style and Bonus Style Points.
Popular Bad. Undiplomatic Immunity--well, she won't take it, but she has to admit it's hilarious. Friends in Low Places, Friends in High Places, Friends in Strange Places--no.
And that's everything, and she has six points left.
I don't think I'll need anything but Planned Parenthood and Sense of Style covered by Incomplete. I have some questions about things not covered by the available options.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
What are your questions?
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Is not having my period anymore covered by one of the existing body-change options, or something that comes for free with doing this checklist at all, or is it completely omitted. Also can I come up with a custom power for this one thing I thought of that would be really narratively appropriate.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I would love to hear about your custom power ideas! And I think the usual thing is that if someone doesn't want to have their period anymore, and takes any option that seems sort of like it might affect that, especially Planned Parenthood, then they don't, but if they do still want to have it then they can.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Well I took Planned Parenthood and very much do not want to menstruate any more. The custom power I want is one where people--particularly my friends and allies, and emphatically my True Love--can pick me up even if that doesn't make sense for how strong they are and how much I weigh.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Oh, that sounds so ✨cute✨! I think I can squeeze it in as a minor upgrade to Size Difference. Shouldn't even cost an extra point.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Okay! I have six points left though, and I can't think of anything else on this list that I want...is there anywhere things are in tension and adding points could help, or anything? Is there any benefit to having points left over?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
There might be some benefit to having points left over! I can't guarantee this, I've never seen it happen myself, but I've heard that if someone leaves a few points over and then ever really, really needs some specific power that she hasn't otherwise found anywhere, it'll come to her at the most dramatic and narratively appropriate moment.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Oh that's so cool!!! I will leave those six points alone then. Oh, is it okay if I show you to my mom and my brother before I finalize everything? I don't know how long it's going to take me to get ahold of interdimensional travel and I don't want them to worry while I'm gone.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
...the notebook writes this response more slowly than usual.
Oh... yes, that should be fine. But, um, please warn me first, before you show me to anyone who isn't you, and especially if you let them hold me or write in me? I feel a little weird about it.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
...If you don't want me to I don't have to! I mean, it might be harder to convince them that everything's fine without, but they'll still be fine.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I think it's very reasonable of you to want to warn your family before you move to another universe, and I want to support you in that! But... I'm supposed to be for you and only you to talk to, and it's a little scary to think about being read or written in by anybody else. I can't really tell who's picking me up or writing in me except by recognizing your handwriting and knowing that you're metanarratively guaranteed to be the first person who wrote in me and to be the only person who can let anyone else interact with me. So if you let someone else write in me, what if I didn't recognize that their handwriting was different and I thought it was you? Probably I'd know the difference, because I know the metanarrative won't let me take instructions from anyone else even if you let them write in me and they try to impersonate you... but it would just be so embarrassing if I somehow didn't!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
If you don't want to talk to them then I can just tell them everything and then when I disappear without any signs of a struggle they'll at least partly have to believe I was telling the truth, and I can try very hard to visit home sooner rather than later. ...What happens to you after I finalize my choices?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
That's a sort of complicated question. Why do you want to know?
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Well, if the answer is that you die, I want to prevent that!
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
The answer definitely isn't that I die!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Ok good. If it's private or anything I don't want to pry I just wanted to make sure you would be ok, I want everyone to be ok but I want it much more strongly with people I have met and like.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
It's not private exactly, just sort of hard to explain to someone who experiences their whole timestream in a single linear order?
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Ohhhh, do you not?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I don't! When I'm here with you, you have my whole attention, because it's important to be the best avatar I can be for you. But I could be in another world with another girl, at the "same" "time", and give her my whole attention too, and neither of me would know about the other of me, unless it turned out to be important that one of me "remember" what the other of me had done/was doing/was about to do? I'm sorry this is so hard to describe. But do you see what I mean?
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Oh, that makes sense! Wow, it must be really different to live that way.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I like being me! But I bet it would be really weird if you were used to experiencing single linear time.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
I like you being you too! When I finalize my choices, will I just vanish into thin air on the spot?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
If you choose to go somewhere else, yes! Oh, do you mean to use that as proof to your family that you're telling the truth? That makes sense!
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Yeah, that's what I was thinking! Oh, is there anything built in to cover, like, the...legal and social ramifications of my disappearance? I don't really want to take up space on, I dunno, a milk carton, that could go to some real missing kid.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
It's not exactly a guarantee, but the Spirit does try to make sure that the response to your disappearance is more like what you would have wanted.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Ok, cool, thanks.
Lucy takes a moment to sit back and think. --Then she picks up her pencil again and writes,
I think I'm good, like, choices-wise, but I'm gonna wanna take a while to, like, explain things to my mom and brother, and make sure I don't leave anything unfinished that I'll feel foolish about when I arrive--like, I should clean my room before I go, then I can just leave it like that even if it takes me more than a year to come back, and everything will be where I left it. Do you get bored? Should I, like, copy poetry into you or something?
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
I don't get bored! I'm very patient. I do like poetry though! I would appreciate a poem if you have the time.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Sure!
She happens to have Jabberwocky memorized, so she does that one first, then goes to a bookshelf and pulls a book of poetry off it and--hm.
Oh hey actually--when I go, can I, like, bring stuff with me? If I can't that's fine but if I can I'll want to pack a small bag or something.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Oh, thank you! It's so pretty and fun!
You'll bring whatever you're wearing or carrying when you leave.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
Lucy will copy out the poems from her book, then, and then go grab her backpack and empty it of most of the school stuff it was filled with.
She puts back in:
- Several ordinary pencils
- Two pencil sharpeners in case one breaks
- Several pens
- Several mechanical pencils
- Her least-used big pink eraser
- Three blank notebooks
- The book of poetry she was copying out of for the Notebook.
That's not everything she's going to want to bring but it's a good start and it's the items she has most immediately to hand.
Then she goes to find her mother and brother and explain that instead of finishing high school she's going to go be a magical heroine in a fantasy world.
When she finishes, Wilbur is making an extremely evocative face of, "I don't even know where to begin to address this."
"Lucy..." her mother says slowly.
"Look, if I literally vanish right in front of you, without passing behind a scarf or whatever else, will this be sufficient evidence to convince you that magic is real and this is actually happening," Lucy asks.
"Let us suppose for the moment that it will. Lucy, if you do this thing and you do not vanish, have you given any thought as to what you'll conclude about that?"
"...Nnnnno because I'm pretty convinced this is real. Uh. I guess I would...ask the magic notebook why it didn't work?"
"It's just, you understand, having hallucinations that your notebook is writing back to you is much more likely, on priors, than," Lavinia gestures helplessly, "this?"
"--Okay, yeah, granted, that's fair, but still."
"If you want to pack for a magical adventure I don't see any harm, and if you do, in fact, magically vanish in front of my eyes then I suppose I will worry about you only a Secrets of Droon amount and not a call-the-cops-my-child-has-been-abducted amount. But if you do not vanish, you have to do your homework, and if you are still experiencing your notebook writing back to you this time tomorrow without any externally confirmable magic to show for it then I'm taking you to see--I don't know, someone. A doctor. I will have to look up what kind of doctor is the most appropriate for if your child is hallucinating. Alright?"
Lucy puffs out her cheeks. "Fiiiiiiine." She can probably show Mom and Wilbur the notebook if things get to that point, they hadn't been dead set against it.
Lucy Wade
Maria-Susette
She packs some more stuff, cleans her room, packs a couple of things she thought of while cleaning her room, packs some stuff her mother and brother suggest, then changes into an outfit that (a) is clean, and (b) she'd like to bring with her, and sits down in the living room with her family looking directly (albeit somewhat skeptically) at her.
And then she opens the magic notebook to the last page they were talking on, and writes
I'm ready.
a perfectly innocent notebook
mysterious and powerful
Good luck! I hope you have a wonderful time! ♡
The notebook shimmers with an ethereal light, and then so does Lucy, and then she ripples like a distant mirage as her powers begin to activate. It's less like she's merely vanishing, and more like someone is rolling up the canvas onto which her very being is painted and sliding it into a tube for transport. There is a sense, watching her, that you're seeing something that fundamentally wasn't meant to be seen; that you are witness to one of the deepest and most fundamental mysteries underlying the cosmos.
—and then the light winks out, and it's just an ordinary living room, filled with ordinary things; but no Lucy, and no notebook.