"...if I can specifically ask her about my concerns then yes. Ideally privately."

"I'll ask."

so it occurs to me that i've been assuming these powers are not shareable and i'm the only one who gets them but i don't know that that's true

could i give them to other people? or, like, have others go through the same power selection stuff i did?

"There's Gabe and Fel," Marcus says, nodding in their direction a ways over there.

The Spirit can only touch those who are open to femininity, and open to the kind of power the Spirit offers, people who could live their best lives as vessels of the Spirit. I don't know whether your friends qualify. I could ask! But I probably won't get back an answer I can understand, and your friends will either get their own contact from the Spirit when they're ready, or they won't. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.

...I could try to offer you a power that's like There's Another One but more targeted, but I think I still wouldn't be able to target it to specific people, I'd just be able to make sure that in general your friends get extra attention from the Spirit to see if they're the right kinds of people to be chosen, but not necessarily these friends, maybe just other friends you meet later. And I'm not sure it would work, I haven't tried yet.

so no letting them fill out the same forms as i am on you, then, that makes sense

does the Spirit ever touch multiple people in the same world? i'd have expected to have encountered this before but then again maybe other people's stories don't involve me finding out about them

One person touched by the Spirit almost never hears about another unless they've both taken There's Another One. That doesn't mean they won't ever come from the same world, but like you said, their stories won't involve people finding out about them if the people who find out might someday be chosen themselves, because no vessel of the Spirit should have to encounter another one if they don't want to.

yeah fair enough, thank you!

He offers Vivian the notebook for her to see these last bits of conversation. "It's really annoying how slow handwriting is."

And here be froyo!

"What'd we miss?"

"Not a whole lot, some clarifications about powers but that's all. I cannot become a Twilight dhampyr that doesn't need to sleep until and unless I actually run into a Twilight dhampyr, more's the pity."

"Of course you'd want to be one."

"I begin to doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion. ...can I still talk with her."

Vivian: visibly troubled.

"I assume if you introduce yourself again it's probably fine? What's up?"

"...I might tell you after she calms me down? I'm kind of in my head right now."

"...sure, sorry, go ahead. I'm here if you need me."

She takes the notebook.

Hi. Vivian again.

I know I'm not who the spirit chose and on balance I'm glad it went to Pete. But I want to 

She pauses, and belatedly puts an ellipsis.

...get some clarification on what would've happened if I was chosen, I guess. If I even could have been chosen.

I don't know if you could have been chosen! It depends on whether being chosen by the Spirit would be right for you.

I guess that's the thing? I'm a woman. But I try not to... be a girl? I don't like being feminine. And I don't think

I want to

Sorry. Words are kind of hard.

I'm a woman but if I'd found a magic notebook representing the Spirit of Masculinity when I was like 12 then I probably wouldn't be? But I am a woman and I care about that. And I guess the thing I'm asking is. If I found you instead of Pete and you said your thing about transcendent femininity, and then I used your powers to make myself look like so androgynous that old ladies called me "sir" and maybe gave myself a dick but... in a female way.

would you be sad about that. I guess.

Well, I wouldn't be sad about that. I would be happy that you were making yourself beautiful in your own way! I don't think the Spirit would be sad either? It's hard to be sure, though, because the Spirit isn't very good at explaining itself, and because concepts like "what does femininity really mean" are hard to talk about.

Vivian finally exhales.

Okay. That makes me feel less fucked up about all this. Thanks.

...can you hide this like you do for Pete. I feel kind of embarrassed about getting my gender feelings all over you.

Of course! ♡ Now, or do you have more to say?

Nah. I feel like I'm kind of unjustifiably hogging you already.

Friendbook back to Pete. "Sorry. Apparently I have, like, kind of complicated feelings about the objective arbiter of womanhood hypothetically deciding I'm not one. Notebook was nice about it and now I'm just anxious about nothing, which is a strict improvement."

She removes a pill bottle from her backpack, snaps a tablet in half, and dry-swallows it. Thumbs up. "Cured now."

(The notebook ruffles quietly as she hands it back, and the pages they were talking on disappear.)

Gabe offers her her froyo after Peter's taken the notebook back.

"I'm glad it got, uh, resolved? Do you want a hug?"

"Wouldn't say no to one."