There are definitely a lot more girls than boys touched by the Spirit, but anyone can be touched by the Spirit as long as they're open to the feminine and find joy in being special and beautiful and powerful. And of course some people are aliens that don't really have human gender, and they can still be touched by the Spirit if they happen to be the sort of people who like what the Spirit is offering!

Aliens!? She's definitely checking this one off now if she gets to meet aliens maybe especially if they're aliens that don't have a concept of gender and reproduce by splitting in half down the middle or something though before she does that she wants to ask about aliens first. 

So there are aliens out there? I guess that makes sense if there's all kinds of magical worlds too but also aliens are really cool. Do you know if there are aliens in my own home world? Will I get to meet any? How many different kinds are there? If some of them don't have gender how do they reproduce, or is that rude to ask and maybe I shouldn't? 

I don't know very much about your world specifically, or about aliens! I don't learn much except for what people write in me and usually they're not telling me about how they reproduce. But if you meet some aliens and they're friendly and the sort of people you can comfortably have slightly awkward conversations with, maybe you'll get to ask them!

Aww. That makes sense even if it's rather unfortunate. Well maybe one day she'll manage to do as the notebook suggests and find an alien and talk to them and befriend them and have adventures with them and maybe possibly one day get around to asking about how they reproduce to satisfy her curiosity. Or maybe she won't! Maybe she'll never ask and be curious forever or maybe the alien will just bring it up so she doesn't need to ask awkward or embarrassing questions and make things weird between them! But it seems silly to speculate on such things when there are other things to look at which she should go and do! (After checking off There's Another One, of course.) 

Incomplete she already has selected and can skip over. 

Green with Envy, You Ruin Them, and Jilted Lovers all feel really really self-centered and selfish. She doesn't want to tear apart relationships or make people only believe that they can be happy and satisfied with her (ew) or make people obsessed with her or anything like that! They are intended to be drawbacks, but still! No way no how. 

For The Crazy Train... Jenna is pretty sure it's not something she wants but also she has no idea what it is or what it means. 

Can you explain the Crazy Train one, please? I'm not sure I really understand what it's getting at. 

Well, for example, normally Dragon Fairy Elf Witch works mostly under your control—if you meet someone who has heritage that you'd like to have, you can decide you want it, and then you'll have it. But if you took The Crazy Train, then instead you would just pick up heritage from people you met whenever it was narratively appropriate. You wouldn't be able to decide for yourself which heritage you wanted, either to pick some up on purpose or to avoid some you didn't want.

So for instance, it might make me part demon instead of part angel if it was somehow more narratively appropriate for me to be part demon? 

If that's the case there's no way she's choosing this drawback. She wants to be a pretty dragon fairy angel princess, not a demon pig-person bat-thing or something just because it would be more amazing how she overcame her evil heritage, or something like that. Even if it would be amazing now that she thinks of it, she'd still rather be pretty and sparkling and have tiny angel wings on her back. 

Yes, things like that.

So that's a no then. She already knew that really but it's good to be certain. 

Alright, thanks for explaining! 

And now, onto the rest! 

They'll Know seems, well, dangerous. In theory it doesn't seem all that bad (she's not going to do anything bad with this just help things turn out well and make good friends and redeem the devilish rogue that just needed to be shown love and be good at fighting off the hordes of evil and stuff like that) but she's worried it might be misunderstood and then everyone will think she's an evil sorceress or a witch or something. It does give a lot of points, though. 

How exactly does They'll Know work? Will people just know that I have lots of magical powers from the spirit and be wary of me because of it or will they only figure out that I have powers because I managed to redeem someone who used to be evil and no one ever did that before? It seems like it's a lot of points but also might make people scared or misunderstand that I'm there to help and be good and not evil. 

They'll Know doesn't directly inform people of anything, it just makes your powers stop hiding themselves where they might otherwise be inclined to do that. Normally, when you use I Can Fix Them, it's not obvious to the person you're redeeming that you have a magic power for redeeming people with your love; if you take They'll Know, then if they pay attention they can figure out that there's something special about you that makes them want to be redeemed in a way that other people might not be able to manage, and they can figure out that the special thing is magic instead of just you being very personally special. The same goes for other powers that are usually discreet—the easiest example is Size Difference, which normally tries to only shift your height in ways that are easy to miss, so people aren't confused by why you're getting shorter and taller. When someone with Size Difference takes They'll Know, their height just shifts openly, without managing the timing or adjusting the lighting around them to make it less obvious.

And so as long as I go somewhere with magic, people won't be mad at me or call me a witch or stone me to death for using magical powers on people or on myself, right? Am I likely to go somewhere with magic if I take the Roulette one, or is there no way to know? 

This one doesn't seem all that bad honestly though maybe she'll need to be careful with the friendship powers and stuff but in all honesty it seems pretty worth it for an entire 8 points. As long as she goes somewhere where magic is okay, that is. If not that might be a problem. 

If you take the Roulette with They'll Know it will definitely try to put you somewhere where people will be okay with you doing magic, either because they have magic themselves or for some other reason!

Oh good. Then in that case she'll take it. She's a lot of points over and even if she's going to eliminate a bunch of things she picked she's a lot of points over and as long as she doesn't do anything bad with the friendship ones this shouldn't be a problem. 

Awesome, thanks for explaining!

She checks it off, and then reads the last one, and it's a doozy. 

Realism seems... significantly more dangerous and less fun. She didn't choose Tragic Backstory (that one was terrible) but she did take Mysterious Allure and I Can Fix Them and while making I Can Fix Them more challenging seems well fun almost the potential from Mysterious Allure getting her violent stalkers or Omniglot not working nearly as well or the one that made people be potential love interests work like that other one that made those people be ruined forever is not something she wants. She wants things to go well, and if that means losing a little bit of realism that's probably okay -- she'll have plenty of realism in the real world when the very helpful notebook comes up with whatever those powers are. The fact that picking Realism would make her points work out exactly makes it slightly tempting, but she has several things to uncheck and also she's going to get additional drawbacks from the notebook or the spirit or whichever she's still not clear on how that works so there's no need to take it. She leaves it as is. 

I think I might be done for now! I should probably sleep on this at this point, and I have orientation and everything tomorrow besides! Will the new powers you're or the spirit are working on (thanks by the way!) be ready by tomorrow morning, do you think? Regardless I think I'm more or less done for tonight. 

Yes, I should have those drawbacks ready for you by tomorrow! They're pretty tricky but I think I'm getting somewhere. Sleep well!

Thanks! You t
Huh. Actually, do you sleep at all? I'm guessing you probably don't now that I think about it. I was about to say you too but I guess that doesn't apply to you! Will you be okay on your own?

She has a sudden thought.

Is there anything I can do to make your stay less boring? I know you said you didn't get bored but it still seems sad to be on my desk all alone with nothing to do for 8 hours. Could I give you a book to read, maybe? Would that even work? 

It's true, I don't sleep.

I can read things but only if the page I'm trying to read is pressed right up against my cover or one of my pages. You could copy out a short poem for me if you like, I like poems! Or maybe put a pretty bookmark in me if you have one lying around? I'll be okay, though! I don't mind sitting and thinking by myself.

Well, that sucks. 

I don't have any poetry on me, though I guess I could copy something out from the internet if you want! What kind of poetry do you like? I also have some bookmarks with some pretty landscapes and bible quotes on them that my mom gave me if you want to look at those, I suppose. None of those seem like they'd occupy you for very long, though. Are you sure you'll be okay? I almost feel sad leaving you alone for a while. 

I'll be fine, I promise! Notebooks can be very patient. Being alone with my thoughts just doesn't bother me! I will be happy to see whatever bookmark or poem you think is nice.

But what poem does she think is... hmmm. Actually... 

I actually have a good one memorized, or at least I think I do. I used to use it for practice memorizing and reciting stuff when I was younger, though I got it all mixed up. If I have any of it wrong I'll go look it up I think. Here goes!

 

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here
To see his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Amidst the woods and snowy lake
The darkest evening of the year

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound's the sweep 
Of easy wind, and downy flake

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

 

I think that's right, anyways, I might have misremembered a word or two but I can go look it up for you if you'd like to be sure I am pretty sure it's evening and not season but not entirely, and I think the word is easy. Let me go look it up to be sure and then I'll also go find the bookmarks mom got from a church event thing to put in your pages too.

That's really pretty! 💖

It is! Though apparently I didn't get it quite perfect, "Amidst" should be "between," among a few other things. 

She crosses out the word and writes the other one next to it in the margin, and also adds all the missing punctuation marks that she hadn't memorized at all because she was speaking it. 

There, that's better, I hope? And let me grab the bookmarks for you also. 

She hasn't used them, they're not really her style at all, but her mother gave them to her and there wasn't much she could do about it. They're tucked into the back cover of her bible, four different landscapes with different bible verses on them -- one of a forest, one of a mountain above a lake, one of a field with flowers, and one with the sun setting over a beach. She folds each one neatly between a pair of pages, so the notebook can see them clearly, if that's how the notebook works (it said it needed to be pressed right up against its pages so this should do the trick). 

There. I feel a little silly about the poem, you've already gone and read it, but I guess there's not much to do about it. I hope you enjoy the pictures! 

I always read poems several times so I can take my time thinking about them! And these bookmarks are really pretty too. ♡

Oh! Well, I hope you enjoy reading it the next few times also and enjoy thinking about it! And enjoy looking at the pictures on the bookmarks too! I should probably go to bed for real now, I think. But I'll talk to you tomorrow! 

And with that, she heads off to bed, to think about the notebook and all the adventures she's going to have and the kingdom she's going to save or rule and the pretty boys that she's going to get to kiss and touch and redeem to the side of good and then kiss (and also probably other things in addition to sex that just thinking about makes her blush) and also make extra double sure and certain that the notebook isn't some evil demon in disguise though she's not sure how it could be. It might be slightly difficult to fall asleep with all these thoughts in her head, but she does manage it eventually. It's been a long day. 

Goodnight!

I think I have something. Let me know what you think of these...

Name: Secret Identity - Grants: +2 ☐
When you're at home, in your world of origin, your powers are fully concealed. Unfair advantages are withdrawn and inhuman features are hidden. Powers of safety and convenience still work, as long as they can remain plausibly deniable, but to all outward appearances you're back to being your ordinary self with no magic to speak of. (If you take this with They'll Know, thresholds for plausible deniability get much higher, but safety powers will still work and still conceal themselves.)

Name: Dramatic Damsel - Grants: +3 ☐
When (and only when) an opportunity for a really great story arises, powers that ordinarily protect you from things like getting hurt, being drugged, or losing fights will slip just enough to facilitate someone getting the better of you. The power may reassert itself right away for a dramatic escape, or keep a loophole open or a handicap in place long enough to make your escape more difficult and elaborate. (Combining this with Realism is not recommended.)

Meanwhile, Jenna has been trying to consider whether or not the notebook is a demon or devil or some evil force or entity or something before she talks to it again. (It's somewhat difficult when she keeps thinking about all the fun adventures with magic and worlds to explore and stuff that she's going to be doing.) But from all of the consideration that she's managed she's pretty sure it's not an evil demon or anything. It's not trying to convince her to do evil or anything like that, and it's not asking for her soul, and it's not doing something even more sinister where it gives her everything she wants and then her life becomes boring and miserable. (The opposite of that is happening! It's going to be full of excitement!) Despite Jenna knowing that her mother would be practically screaming at her to burn it (she'd start off doing that firm thing she does "now you know that that sort of thing is evil and should be destroyed, don't you?" or something like that but if Jenna didn't listen it would eventually escalate to screaming) and her memory of that bit from Harry Potter where the notebook turned Ginny into Voldemort for a while the notebook seems to be exactly what it says it's supposed to be. There's no other good way to explain it. Maybe someone with magic is playing a truly awful practical joke on her but if they are they're a jerk and they'll laugh at her but it still means there's magic in the world (magic!!) and she'll know that forever even if there's someone making fun of her with a magic notebook somehow. And even then that's unlikely. No, she's going to treat this as real, and not an attempt to be evil or steal her soul, and not worry about these concerns anymore. No matter how much her mother might want her to.