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Tom is wandering. London's a big city; wandering's a decent way to spend an afternoon, when you've got no classes and your homework's done and you don't have any friends you'd rather spend the time with because everyone around you is a contemptible idiot you're the kind of introvert who needs a bit of solitude to recharge. He's glancing at the shops he passes, in case any seem more interesting than the walk. Miracles do happen*.
*No they don't. Magic isn't real and neither is God.
"Tempting... yeah, I'll pick it up." Low on the priority list, though. He's remarkably good at that already.
"They are a bit silly if ever so convenient. Third eye awakening to let you see auras?"
"Read emotions, magical fingerprinting - unless they've secreted theirs away but this is unusual."
"Ah. Yes, then, definitely. I'm a bit worried I'm going to fill up on bread, here, but I've got room to grow, too, right?"
"Lots and lots!" she promises. "Next one interfaces with Witchery, it's one of the ranked magics over yonder. Witchery is the dressing the part bit of being a witch, hat and robe and rod-meaning-wand-slash-broomstick. This one lets you use your hat as a portal, connecting to duplicates of itself or if you have enough Witchery and a little Portals letting you hop onto any normal portal network. Also allows you to telekinesis your hat and rod and garment even if they are far away or you can't see them."
"Portals are a yes. Unless - with enough portal-magic of my own could I do it just as easily without jumping into and out of a hat?"
"Enough Portals is very schmancy and good but will not strictly speakingwise let you hop in through somebody else's portal that you can't get to the far end of."
"Next one is not popular, more like a fun drawback than like a perk. Mood weather. What it sounds like. Gloomy weather when you are a gloomy gus."
"Didn't think so. This one lets you swap your mana charge method, you have three methods so it is likely not called for."
"...it's one point, and one of my charge methods is sleeping, which I don't! Does it have to be from one of the ones I was offered?"
"No, if you want recharging from making homemade mead you are out of luck because you do not make honey but you could do the one for eating meat or hanging out with dwarves or whatever."
He sifts through the options available. Some of them feel very narrow, others too broad. He comes up with a few: one that feels like glass crunching underfoot, one with the prickly smell of a winter breeze, one like hot sunlight, and one like the clash of steel. ...and then one that tastes spicy, because if all the other senses are represented, it's just weird not to.
"What're all these?"
"Destroying stuff, standing against a temptation or a social pressure, being famous and emotion-inspiring about it, fighting, toasting marshmallows - that is, setting things on fire."
...he wants the famous and emotion-inspiring one. But he's already got one for being perceived, being desired - he wants to cover his bases, not just shore up his strengths. And it'll be potent once he's established, but once he's established he'll need it less.
The burning one isn't high-throughput, he'd have to burn a lot for any significant effect. Destruction is better. Standing against social pressure, that could be good.
But the fighting one would be obviously useful, exactly when he wants it, and his existing ones can keep up in his downtime, and even though it starts out barely a trickle, it looks like it grows as he fights. He'll be very thankful for it, he thinks.
"Fighting," he says reluctantly.
"Anything else? I'm getting anxious to get to the magic, but I will heroically tolerate more superpowers."
"These are magic, just not ranked magic. We can go look at ranked magic and come back to these but there are only a couple left, this one that soups up your divination if you have enough ranks in it and that one that lets you summon the devil Mammon to be heinously ripped off buying anything that is for sale anywhere without having to put on shoes."
"Mm... anything on sale anywhere sounds potentially handy, but enough portals can get me most anywhere already, right?"
"Yes, if you know where has it in stock. Devil also takes barter and mana instead of cash, and any kind of cash, just, will be charging you at least twice as much as you would get at Tesco."
"I'm not exactly wowed. How much does the other one soup up my divination? It looks like I'm getting a good discount..."
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