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Jenna and the magic notebook
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Jenna is so happy to be here. Even if she is just a little bit lost. Her first day at a new school, in a big new city and, well, she's not exactly sure where she is right now and she might have forgot to charge her phone before she went exploring. But that's ok! Right now she's still perfectly happy to look up at the big buildings and see all the people (so many people!) and if she can't find her way back in a little while she'll ask someone for directions, or worst case -- flag down a cab and pay. She still has her wallet, she's not stupid. But it really is starting to get dark out. But there's a really awesome tall building over there! Maybe she'll start looking for a way home a liiiiitle later. Once she goes and sees the building. And all the people. Jenna pulls away from the crowd, and half-skips (with repressed excitement!) down a quiet side street to get closer to whatever-that-building-is. 

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It's got shops! Would she like tea? Candles? Exquisitely lovely stationery? Look at all those cute pens. They deserve a home.

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She's not really much of a tea person (well except for iced tea but that's a different thing) and she doesn't have need for candles and isn't even sure if she's allowed candles in her room anyways or if it'll make her roommate mad or what but the stationary store does look cute! She has more than plenty to write on (her mom made sure she was sent with plenty of supplies) and write with... but those pens are really cute and maybe she can buy one. Or two. Or five. They just look like they'd be so fun to write with! Well, as long as they're not that expensive, her parents didn't give her that much pocket money, she's not supposed to be wandering off campus (she'll be fine mom), and she has to make it last. She can browse, though. And maybe check out the notebooks and things and see if they're any good too. Just browsing though. Browsing, and buying maybe one or two very small inexpensive things, and then maybe she can ask the cashier the way back to campus. It'd be impolite to ask without buying something first, right? 

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The pens are very cute, but mostly pretty expensive, though there's a display of various colours of gel pen with caps shaped like little round cat heads next to the discount notebooks bin and those ones are going for pretty cheap. Each of the colours of pen cat has a different adorable facial expression printed on its adorable face.

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The cats are so cute. The cats are so cute! One of them is winking and one of them sleeping and they're so adorable and write in pretty colors well as long as she can trust the packaging and it's not that expensive to get some and she has to have them and... no, no, she must be strong. There might be even better things elsewhere in the store. She should look around first and then come back and buy the adorable cat pens. And speaking of looking around, what's in the discount notebook bin? Is there a pretty notebook (or three) all sad and abandoned (and inexpensive) and looking for a home? 

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The discount notebooks are mostly pretty boring—high quality, good colours, but just a solid-coloured cover with nice paper inside. There's just one corner of a purple flower-printed cover peeking out from the middle of a haphazard stack, looking very lost among all these sunny yellows and deep burgundies and pastel greens.

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Most of these are not what she's looking for, solid colors are fine but she has plenty of that back home and even if they're not as good quality they're just the cheap spiral kind they still do their job fine she's looking for something fun. Fun like, like this one maybe? There's purple flower here, and who knows what else. What else is on this cover she has to know, even if she has to push like 50 other notebooks aside before she can finally pull it out and get a good look at it. 

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It says Journal on the front in an elegant script font and is tastefully lovely! Absolutely a steal at this narratively unspecified price.

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It definitely is a steal at this price! And well, Jenna wasn't really looking for a journal she wanted something fun to write in in class and she's never done a journal before but she's here in a new place and with new beginnings and it's a place to try new things she's never tried before! It might be fun or at least interesting and also she should give this poor buried notebook a home, it's too pretty to be hiding here. And she can get some cute pens too! 

Though, wait, no, she shouldn't do it yet. She should put the notebook back down (under a few notebooks so no one else takes it even though there's no one else here so that's nothing to worry about) and look around the store some more first so she doesn't miss out on stuff she might have wanted. And then come back here and buy the notebook. And the pens.

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The rest of the store has some pretty great stuff, but it's still mostly outside her budget. The pens and the prettiest notebook are right where she left them when she gets back.

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Oh good! Then she can buy them and ask which direction campus is from the lady at the counter and then head back in that direction even if she is going to do a little bit more exploring but at least she's exploring in there right direction. Probably. She might get distracted by a few more cute shops (with nothing else in her price range that she wants, though that's probably a good thing since she shouldn't spend all her money when class hasn't even started yet) but she will find her way back to campus eventually. Probably. And then she can try out her new journal! 

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And when she does make it back it's getting late but there's still plenty of time to try writing in her journal. And there's plenty to write about! How should she start, though? "Dear diary" is classic but doesn't really fit given the word "Journal" on the front in pretty purple script. How about... 

Hi there, Journal! 

A little silly but she can always do something later that's less silly and she should just keep writing instead of getting hung up on such details, it's better to do than sit around and think too long and hard. 

Today is my first day writing in you, and it was a big day for me, my first day at a new school! Well, school hasn't actually started yet, orientation hasn't even started yet really, that starts tomorrow, but my parents (and littlest sister Daisy) did drop me off today, and helped me move in. It's so exciting! I'm going to be an actress! Well, to be honest, exciting but a little scary, I've never ever ever been this far from home before, and my parents (mostly mom) didn't want me to go. But I want to go. I want to do this thing, this, big new adventure, to learn new things and meet new people and become someone all on my own. Mom thinks she knows what's best for me, all the time, but... I can be honest with you, right? You won't tell anyone, of course? I think she might be a little bit too protective, and I can take care of myself. And I want to be able to do things without having her worry over my shoulder so much. 

Jenna stares at the words she's written for several seconds. She's never written anything like that down before. It's true, of course it's true, she knows it's true and it's why she wanted to come here instead of community college like Jeremy did but she hasn't really put it all down in one package like this before. She stares at it, trying to figure out what to say next.

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Under this paragraph, an invisible pen begins to write in shimmering purple ink that goes really nicely with the cover and the faint purple tint of the paper.

Of course I won't tell anyone! ♡

Hello! It's nice to meet you! Wow, an actress, that is pretty exciting!
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The journal wrote back to her! The journal wrote back to her!!! Journals aren't supposed to do that! They're supposed to sit there and be written in and then maybe be read later by the writer to look back on past days or maybe by historians if the writer ended up famous like she's going to be (and gosh she hadn't even thought of that aspect of it maybe she should go back and edit wait no more important things to think about). For a journal to write back like that, well, there aren't wires or anything attached to it when she gingerly picks it up and turns it around in her hands, not that she knows how anyone would do that with wires anyways, it would have to be... 

Cautiously, carefully, Jenna opens the journal back up again, and being very careful not to make any deals or promises writes:

Who is this, exactly? How are you doing this? Are you magic? 

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I am the notebook! I am very magic.
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Magic!

Magic!!! 

The notebook is magic the notebook is magic magic isn't supposed to be real but here it is right in front of her but even if it is magic (magic!) actually because it is magic (magic!!) she needs to extra special careful, because if it's magic it could be fairies or it could be demons or it could be like that notebook from Harry Potter that she wasn't supposed to read but Sally didn't mind her borrowing and if it's any of those she could lose her soul or disappear to a fairy realm for 100 years or get possessed by a demon or by Voldemort or something and if any of those then she would prove her mother right and she absolutely, positively, cannot have that. If it is evil or fairy or Voldemort (or something like Voldemort anyways he's not real he's just a story) she can just be clever and not be tempted by riches or power or fame or true love or whatever the demonic thing might offer her. And if it gets too tempting... she can burn it. If she has to. She can

But... hopefully it won't come to all that? Maybe it's like Narnia and she'll be whisked away on an adventure and become a magical fairy princess and rule over her people kindly for 50 years and return home to a world where no time has passed. Or something. She should ask. She should ask, and start small. 

What kind of magic are you? 

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I'm an avatar of the Spirit of Femininity Unleashed! The Spirit's favourite thing is when people who want to be beautiful and powerful and special in a feminine way get to do that, so it sends avatars like me out into the world to be found by people like you who are the right kind of person to be empowered by the Spirit!
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That's... well, that sounds like the sort of thing a (very strange) demon would say. Maybe it's not evil though. Maybe it's giving things out for free, and also the things aren't secretly cursed so that they'll seem good at first but turn out to be terrible and awful and make her life miserable and wish that she never did it? She needs to be very careful what she writes.

And what would you ask in exchange for such things? What does it cost me? 

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I don't need to ask you for anything! The only thing the Spirit wants from you is for you to live your best life as your beautiful powerful special self. And all I want is to help you make the decisions that are right for you, whatever that turns out to be! ♡
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Okay well even if it's not charging her her soul this still sounds fishy, like, what does it get in return and why does it want this? This sounds like the kind of thing where you wish for a million dollars and then the tax collectors show up at your door the next day wondering where all your money came from. Also what's with the beautiful and powerful and stuff why does it want her to be beautiful and powerful and special that's twice it's said something like that she can see it right on the page. 

And why exactly does it want that? What does it get out of the bargain, exactly? 

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I think it just wants it the way someone like you or I might want people to get to be beautiful and powerful and special in the ways they want. I think it's nice when people get to have that kind of thing! I think it's nice that you're going to be an actress, because it sounds fun and exciting and glamorous and like you'll have fun doing it. If I could help you with that too, I probably would, for just the same reason, but I am a notebook and I am only good at helping people with a very specific set of things.
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There it is with those same words again. Why is it doing that, why is it going on about those specific things? 

Also, wait, is it not offering to help her become an actress? Also she's not sure if she wants the notebook's help in becoming an actress because that doesn't really seem fair and she wants to become an actress herself but if it's something she wants it seems like the notebook would offer. Or is she misunderstanding something? The notebook is talking about the spirit like it's separate from itself and has different goals, maybe that's what it means? Maybe she should ask. Maybe alternately she should close this notebook and burn it and never find out the truth and never be tempted again but also she can't possibly do that she has to know something. She won't make any deals or promises or anything tonight, that's what she'll do. And if she wakes up tomorrow and realizes the notebook is corrupting her with its honeyed words, or something, she'll burn it. Probably. Maybe. 

I'm confused, can you not help me with becoming an actress? I thought that would be the kind of thing you could help with, or the spirit could help me with. What kinds of things can you help with then, exactly? 

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The Spirit's power is generally less... specific than that? You're going to be an actress, and someone else might want to be a writer, and someone else might be trying out for the
(A slight pause before the notebook resumes writing, a little slower, perhaps sheepishly.)
...um, I forget what the big sports tournament is called. And I learned about it in a different world so I might have the name wrong even if I remembered it. But someone else might be trying out for the big sports tournament in their favourite sport. And all of those are ways of being special and living a good life, but they're all really specific ways. The Spirit tries to offer powers that are more generally useful—though of course different people still end up liking different ones! But rather than making you better at acting specifically, the Spirit can make you prettier, or better at learning things in general, or make people pay more attention to you. I have a list! Would you like to see my list? I'm very proud of the formatting, it's so tidy.
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There's a menu? A list? What kind of list? Also if it's having trouble remembering specific details or being confused about name of a sports tournament because it's from a different world (different world!!) this doesn't sound like a demon that will entice her with its honeyed words into sin and debauchery and stuff. This sounds like a confused person that is trying to help? And also if it's not offering specifically her heart's desire or whatever but more generalized powers then possibly this isn't something clever and demonic and enticing like she's worried about. But maybe that's how it gets her! Or maybe it's exactly what it says it is. Maybe she should see this list. 

Sure, show me the list. Tidy formatting and all! 

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Okay! Just a moment while I get it all set up... ⏳

The little hourglass trickles little dots of ink-sand from its top to its bottom while ink swims across the next... several... pages. Quite a few pages. There's a lot of list to be had here.

After only half a minute, though, the hourglass is all trickled down and the notebook reports,
All done! The way the list works is that you have 70 points to start with and I keep track of them for you on the corners of all the pages. You can check boxes in pencil and erase them later, or check them in pen and scribble them out if you decide you don't like them and I'll erase them for you. Or you can just read through the whole list before you check anything off, if you like! And if you have any questions about the options, please ask. I'm happy to explain anything you want to know, and I might be able to get you a slightly different version of some options, or come up with new options if you ask me for something that's not on the list!

Over on the list pages, everything is crisp and tidy like it was printed instead of written or drawn. The promised corner tally says (0/70) for now. A preamble paragraph 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. 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.

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Okay, the hourglass is cute, the hourglass is really cute, and if this is a demon out for her soul it's doing a very good job of not being as clever and powerful and enticing as she'd expect a demon to be. 

And then when everything is ready and she's read the explanation and started to flip through the options with the admittedly very tidy formatting as promised and well, the promise of metanarrative protection whatever that means is something that the notebook says is true and it could be a demon and could be lying but this doesn't feel like something that a demon would be lying about. This isn't a standard demon contract sort of thing, not that demon contracts are something that she knows anything about but still, this isn't that sort of thing. This is a different sort of thing. Something that promises she could maybe possibly go to another world (though she'd have to find her own way back if she gets back at all and she doesn't want to abandon her family or disappear for years and have her mother think she was right) and there's a whole page full of drawbacks that she can pick to get more points though they're very weird drawbacks like having to be pretty at all times which she's not sure why that's a drawback even though it feels creepy and maybe she should read the rest before she decides on these at all but this doesn't feel like a demon. It doesn't feel like a demon at all. 

Jenna ends up stopping on the power of friendship page after flipping around a few times because she wants to make friends and also demons wouldn't offer things related to the power of friendship and also is she really considering any of this? She's not allowed to pick anything or commit to anything it said it can erase for her until she wakes up tomorrow, and she won't but she can maybe possibly think about this thing it's offering to her here. 

 

She has a lot of questions but maybe she should start at the top, though, even if it's the top of the power of friendship page, instead of staring at the bits about Love Interest and Disney Princess and True Love's Kiss and imagining herself as part of a grand romance in some sort of fairy tale. Even if that's possible. The notebook said she can ask questions. She should probably start with the bit about drawbacks maybe, specifically as it pertains to the first one on the list. 

Okay, so, I'm probably going to be asking a lot of questions here, but well, how exactly does the "no drawbacks" thing work? Like with Mysterious Allure, for instance, if people are drawn to me and want to talk to me will they talk to me more than I want them to? Or follow me around to try and talk to me even if I don't like them or want them to? What exactly does "metanarrative" mean, anyways? 

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