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

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? 

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.

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? 

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.

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. 

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

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.

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.

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! 

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.

Of course I won't tell anyone! ♡

Hello! It's nice to meet you! Wow, an actress, that is pretty exciting!

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? 

I am the notebook! I am very magic.

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? 

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!

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? 

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! ♡

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? 

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.

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? 

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

...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.

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! 

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.

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!

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.

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? 

Mysterious Allure will make people more interested in you, and that might mean they try to talk to you even when you'd rather they didn't, but that sort of thing will happen much less than you might expect based on how interesting everyone thinks you are, and things like people following you around and bothering you will happen even less, hardly ever.

The metanarrative is sort of hard to explain, but what metanarrative protection means is that if you're metanarratively protected from a bad thing happening, it just won't happen, even if really weird things have to happen to make that work, or even if it makes no sense that it isn't happening.

Okay, so it just somehow works out that people don't bother me as much, somehow? I guess that's part of the magic, then! That's pretty neat. And so all of the powers and options in here have positive outcomes, and not negative ones? That sounds really useful, actually! 

Okay, assuming that the notebook is telling the truth which is something she's coming more and more around to, then this might be... this might be a real adventure. She can go be a Disney Princess or a Fairy Princess or go off and fight demons and save a magical kingdom and rule over it justly for 99 years and come back home without any time passing... Jenna flips back to the beginning of the list and rereads the destination options. She doesn't want to stay put because well, because that seems unfair, really. Unfair and dangerous. If she becomes a famous actress because she picks Mysterious Allure and the one that makes her pretty and whatever gives her confidence or something then that doesn't really feel like she did any of it. And she wants to have done it. Maybe the metanarrative protection would fix that somehow, but she doesn't want to try, and she wants to go off on an adventure, not stay here and have magical powers here in the real world where no one else has them. That doesn't seem fair. But with the others, she might be disappearing forever especially since one of them says explicitly that further dimensional travel was up to her, or she might disappear for 99 years and then come home with everyone she knew dead 99 years later, and she doesn't want that either of those. She flips back to where she had been talking to the notebook. Has the notebook said anything further there? If not she has some questions to ask. 

Well, like it says, if you took an option that you didn't like, you could still experience that as a negative outcome. Taking Disney Princess will make animals like you more but it won't make you like them more, and some people don't like animals. But mostly yes! And if you're not sure about any specific thing you can ask me to clarify.

Straightforward enough! Or well, reasonably straightforward enough anyways, it doesn't prevent any bad outcomes at all but it does prevent certain kinds of bad outcomes. Actually maybe that isn't clear since it's not fully obvious which kinds of bad outcomes it would prevent or not but she can try and ask more details about that later because she has a very important question on her mind. 

Is it possible for me to go to a world or a place or a dimension or something where time passes differently, so that I come back home after very little time has passed here, like in Narnia? Oh, Narnia is a book series, if you don't know about it, and it always worked that way more or less in it, the characters would go to the world and then when they came back they were themselves again and no time had passed in the real world. Can I have something like that? I don't want to abandon my family or friends or have them miss me but I do want to go on an adventure. Can I have that only for Place In Mind, or can I get that if I really want it with Isekai Roulette, since I don't necessarily know where I'm needed and would rather go somewhere that needs me? Also, what does Isekai mean, exactly? 

Isekai means going to another world!

If you pick Isekai Roulette and it's really important to you to be able to find your way back soon before your family worries, then you'll almost certainly get that unless there's something out there that's so much more important to you that it's worth getting you that instead. But I think when people really want to be able to find their way home, they really nearly always get it. There's lots and lots of worlds that will give you a way back, and plenty of them that will play tricks with time to let you come back just after you left!

Oh good! Well, maybe she'll pick that one then! Well, she'll pick it tomorrow once she's had a good night's sleep and decided whether or not this is all a demon trick to make her give up her soul but it really really really doesn't feel like a demon trick to make her give up her soul or anything. It feels like... the notebook or the spirit or both want her to go on an adventure and that's exactly what she's going to do. 

It's really important to me to be able to keep my family from worrying and stuff! And I don't want to stay here since there's not really a lot of adventure to be had here in this world and also a lot of these powers seem unfair to give myself if I'm not fighting off the forces of evil somewhere or something. But I'm glad that it will most likely work out if that's what I want, thanks! Let me go look at some of the other options, and I'll see what else I might want or have questions about or both!

Is this really happening? This might really be happening. Gosh. She's... she's so excited! But she should look at all the options so she can think about them and not bounce up and down in her chair like a spring or a ball or some kind of bouncy animal that she doesn't know the name of. Okay. Back to the Power of Friendship, aka the best power. 

Captive Audience seems neat but not as interesting or useful as Mysterious Allure, and Blackout Binge requires the use of Immunity System which she doesn't know what that is but she can guess and also it's giving her an excuse for taking drugs which she is not doing anyways no way no how why is that even an option on this list? No way. Disney Princess seems cute but not really all that important, despite wanting to go somewhere like a fairy tale or something. Maybe she can pick that one if she has extra points left over but honestly there's probably better ones. Like... well not necessarily Best Friend, but Bestest Friend can get her a unicorn. (A unicorn!!) Still not all that interesting compared to some of the others, though. 

Generosity seems pretty neat! She's not sure what kinds of presents they would be but possibly this can be anything from like, a pretty necklace to magical artifacts to help her with her quest! Or just fun friendship things, since it says it depends on how well they know her. That one and Helpfulness seem really useful! But Cuddle Buddies seems, well, a little weird. Jenna loves hugs, but cuddling might be a bit too much? Maybe the metanarrative thing will keep people from cuddling her more than she want them to? Actually, it probably will, though she should check. And Flattery... well, if it's not making them compliment her for things she doesn't deserve, maybe it's ok? She doesn't want to get compliments for things she doesn't deserve. Maybe it just makes people a lot more open to telling her why they like her? That could be really useful, if so! She should go ask about these. 

For stuff like Cuddle Buddies, are my friends going to cuddle me more than I might want them to? Or does the metanarrative thing protect me against that? And for Flattery, will people say nice things about me that I don't deserve, or will they just tell me why they like me, so I know the things they like and can do more of them? I think I like all of the ones that let my friends do nice things for me, but I don't want it to be too much or not something I deserve, if you know what I mean? 

If you take Cuddle Buddies and you don't like cuddles, you might have a hard time, but if you take Cuddle Buddies and you only like some kinds of cuddles or only like cuddles some of the time, you'll probably be okay. It matters a lot what you want and what you're okay with! Some people just want to hear their friends say nice things and don't care very much about whether they mean them, but if it's important to you to deserve all your compliments then all your Flattery should be honest. Likewise, for some people it matters a lot whether they're coincidentally making friends with people who like cuddles and compliments, or making friends with people who might not have liked cuddles and compliments before but start liking them because of the powers.

Oh good! 

Okay, so as long as I like hugs and cuddles at all -- which I do, I think, mostly hugs but cuddles are probably good too and as long as I like hugs it'll probably be okay, right? And I think I like the coincidental version of the thing than the version where they start saying nice things about me because of the power, or give me presents or help me out with stuff like in, um, I forget what they're called, hold on

She flips back to check and then back again

like in Generosity and Helpfulness. I didn't even think about the fact that it might make people do things because of the powers, but as long as I'd much rather that they coincidentally be the kind of person who would have done that sort of thing in the first place, it'll work out that way, right? 

These are very very helpful powers! Possibly suspiciously helpful, even. But it seems silly to assume they're coming from a demon or something bad just because they're very helpful powers, especially since this doesn't seem like the sort of thing someone bad would do. 

Yes! Powers like that, that could work by coincidence or be mind-affecting, will use whichever method you like best as long as it still works. If you care more about it not changing people's minds than about it working, I can fix those kinds of powers so they definitely don't change people's minds but of course it'll mean they don't work as consistently.

Is that better? That seems better. 

I think I would like that! Even if they're slightly less consistent I don't think I want people to do things they didn't original wanted to do just because I picked specific powers from the list. Thanks! 

The notebook is very helpful! And maybe she should worry a little bit about it being secretly Voldemort, more than she's currently doing because she's just going along with everything that's being said, but the notebook is being really helpful! And doesn't seem to be trying to trick her or anything, it even mentioned the mind changing stuff which she hadn't even thought of on her own. Her mother would say that that's just to lull her into a false sense of security or something, but her mother isn't here and probably would be wrong about that sort of thing. 

Any other suggestions before I go back and flip through some more? 

It'd help me out with the making sure things don't change people's minds if you'd take the Incomplete drawback when you get to that section—it makes mind-affecting powers work less well, so I can tweak it to just take out the mind-affecting parts instead. But no rush! You can take all the time you need to read things over and think about them before you decide what you're taking. A lot of people like to sleep on it, and some even take a few weeks to make sure they've thought it through!

Okay, the notebook is literally suggesting she take some time to sleep on it, and possibly as many as weeks to do so, rather than trying to rush her through it. She isn't planning on taking weeks especially if she might be gone for months or years or even longer before she comes back and it's going to be a lot harder to remember all the stuff from school in the middle rather than at the beginning. It's either doing a very very good job at tricking her into thinking that it's trustworthy, or it's just trustworthy. It's probably just trustworthy. It seems just trustworthy. 

She should probably go check out what Incomplete does. It's in the drawbacks. 

Okay, so if stuff in power of friendship don't work half the time, and are less effective also half the time, and all of the powers work by coincidence rather than changing people's minds about them, then that just means that the people she makes friends with might not be as Generous or as Flatterery or stuff like that. That's probably okay, it's a little bit sad because she'd much rather everyone be generous and stuff but if that's what it takes to make things work better she'll probably take it. And it might make some things less concerning, like with the cuddle one not everyone will be trying to cuddle her all the time! This seems like a good thing actually, or maybe good so far. Maybe she should look at the rest of the Power of Friendship stuff. 

Quality Time sounds great, Jenna likes hanging out with her friends. Agree to Agree sounds, well, creepy honestly. Even if she coincidentally only finds people who will agree with her, that seems like it will lead to boring outcomes. Sometimes she's wrong about stuff, or making mistakes! She doesn't want that option. She doesn't want that option at all. 

Love Interest: yes. Definitely. Well. As long as it's coincidental anyways she doesn't want to force anyone into a loveless marriage or anything like that but she wants to find a one true love or something then this seems like the right way to go. Maybe there's a later option that will guarantee that she finds a perfect prince charming or dashing rogue or something to sweep her off her feet and fall in love with. She'll keep her eyes open. 

Love Triangle and Love Dodecahedron: no, no, definitely no, who even are the kinds of people who would want something like that? If someone is married and you like them that doesn't give you the right to try and steal them! Well, maybe if their partner is a terrible person or something, but no, even then! What terrible awful people would pick those things?! 

Time Enough for Love: yes, definitely. She gets to spend plenty of time with all her friends, as well as save the world from monsters or demons or whatever terrible forces she's going to go places to defeat and stuff? How could she ever not pick that option? Well, besides the fact that she's not sure how many points she's spent so far. She's a bit wary of going through and picking options and stuff but the notebook said it would let her change her mind. And the notebook has been, well, very helpful.

You're sure that if I check things off for now and decide to go back and change my mind I'll be allowed to? And there's not a time limit or anything where after like 24 hours whatever I picked is automatically activated and I'm whisked away somewhere else even though these weren't the options I intended or something? And plus I can just leave off the destination option for now just in case if that's not a problem, so even if something does trigger by accident it can't work without the destination part. Or are there defaults? 

There aren't defaults! I can't (and won't!) bestow the Spirit's power on you until you tell me clearly that you're done making your choices and want to start now, and if you haven't picked a Destination by then I have to ask you to pick one so the magic can send you there. And there isn't a time limit either. Some people just never pick anything and die of old age instead and it makes me sad. (But it's okay if that's what they wanted! I just worry that they forgot me in the back of a drawer...)

Oh no, that sounds so sad! The poor notebook, worried that it's forgotten in the back of a drawer, sad and alone, for however long for it takes for wait, for them to die? How does this work exactly does it just persist as long as they live and then go somewhere else where elsewhere is another world? Does picking options and telling it to bestow the Spirit's power on her means the notebook will go away forever which is a little bit sad? Well, she can just ask it.

So if I never pick anything, are you just stuck waiting here until I die? Do you disappear to go somewhere else when I finally die? That sounds so lonely, though, I'm sorry that that's happened to you before! Also, if I make a choice, and you bestow the power, do you leave me also? 

Jenna also remembers that she considered burning it earlier, when she thought it was evil (which is probably isn't but she should still be very very double plus extra sure) and she wants to know what would happen if she tried that but it's probably not polite to ask. It would be upsetting if someone asked her what would happen they burned her, she's not about to ask this poor lonely notebook about it. 

Oh, don't worry, I'm very patient! It comes of being a notebook. To me, sitting quietly alone with my thoughts for a few minutes is not all that different from sitting quietly alone with my thoughts for a few years, and I like them both fine.

Usually, when someone makes their choices and I bestow the Spirit's power on them, I just leave and go to my next assignment! (Sort of. It's complicated. You could also say I'm on all of my assignments all at once all the time, but that's not really accurate either.) But if someone asks, I can instead come with them on their journey through the multiverse. I usually like that quite a lot! It can be fun to be with someone on their adventures and see them write in me about all the interesting things that happen.

Okay this notebook is too friendly, it can't be evil. She's still sticking with her earlier promise not to do anything until tomorrow for sure in case she's being tricked but also: she doesn't need to keep being suspicious. At least not right now. She can be suspicious tomorrow. Right now she can have fun. 

I think I would like that, if you want to come with me! And I'm still sorry about those people, even if it's okay doing that I still think it would be very lonely to be alone for that long. 

Okay, so, time to check off some stuff and see where she is since the notebook is keeping track and she isn't all that good at math and doesn't want to mess up and there shouldn't be any reasons not to check things off. It's fine, right? It's fine. 

She goes and checks off Mysterious Allure (she's going to leave Captive Audience alone, that one still feels weird), Generosity, Helpfulness, Cuddle Buddies, Quality Time, Love Interest, and Time Enough for Love. And then makes sure to also check off Incomplete for good measure. And now are the numbers at the top of the page updated to what she's done so far and how many of her points has she used up already? 

You need A Thousand Ships from the Yourself section to make Love Interest work, but it's fine to not have it checked off yet, it just means I'll need to remind you to check it before I can finalize your choices.

Oh! She should check and see what that is, first. 

Okay, that's not necessarily something that she wants (though having the best face does sound nice she could have less acne that she needs to hide with makeup and her hair could be better though actually wait that's a different thing though isn't it yes there it is) because there's not all that much to complain about her face in the first place unless she's trying to (there's always stuff that could be better but she doesn't need to make it perfect or anything) but as a prerequisite of Love Interest and only one point it's probably worth taking. She checks it. And then checks the hair one for good measure, before flipping back to... no wait the notebook is being helpful. 

Right, thanks for that!

And now back to the Power of Friendship options. 

Where was she? Right, there she was, right after Love Dodecahedron which she is definitely very much not taking ever why would she take that and Time Enough for Love, which brings her to I Can Fix Them. Which sounds useful if she needs it and honestly like a fun part of an adventure with a dashing rogue with a heart of gold that starts out as a mercenary for the bad guy but she converts to their side with a winning smile and repeated complicated ethical interactions where he keeps having second thoughts okay actually yes she's definitely checking that one. True Love's Kiss is cheap and seems straightforwardly good to take, she'll check that too. Planned Parenthood... 

What exactly does it mean in Planned Parenthood that my boyfriend won't care about whether or not I'm having kids? Why is that an option? 

Also, for that matter, she's not how she feels about that concept at all. She doesn't want to have kids, yet, for sure, but if God wants her to have kids... it's one thing to use condoms and stuff (no matter what her mother thinks) but condoms can break and cutting off the option altogether seems wrong somehow. 

It doesn't mean that they won't care about whether or not you're having kids! It just means that they'll believe you if you tell them you have this power, and they'll understand that it really works and you're not making it up or anything. Without that part, a lot of people find that it's hard to explain about this sort of thing and be believed.

Oh, that makes sense! That would probably be useful if she was the kind of person who would want to do that sort of thing... which she isn't. She doesn't have any reason to take Planned Parenthood; she can just let God figure out when she's supposed to have kids and just be very very careful about sex until then. 

Okay, maybe she does have a reason to take Planned Parenthood, she blushes a little when she reads the description for Two Become One imagining perfect sex on her wedding night (or before her wedding night, really, but sex with someone she really loves and enjoys first of course she's not going to have sex with the first hot boy she meets unless he's really really hot and sweet and stuff). And then while trying to think about if it's worth taking Planned Parenthood to get that she reads the next one and blushes even more. 

Is there a reason why Two Become One and Bop It (and also why is it called Bop It) require Planned Parenthood? I don't want to take Planned Parenthood, but I do want Two Become One for sure, and Bop it also sounds really nice. 

The Spirit thinks it is pretty sad when someone has children they aren't ready for, so it wants people who are going to take those kinds of powers to make sure they will use them safely. If you want to have children, Planned Parenthood will definitely still let you!

What if I don't think I should be choosing whether or not I have kids myself? That sort of thing is supposed to be up to God, not me. Other people might want that, but I don't. 

Well, I might be able to get you a version of the power that will let you have kids when you're ready for them even if you don't decide to on purpose, would that work?

That works! Sure, as long as I'm not like, choosing when I have kids on my own instead of God doing it. And I guess I can wait a little while until I'm ready. If you can do that I'd be really grateful, thanks! I really want to take Two Become One and I might take Bop It too. 

All right, one moment!

Name: Providential Parenthood - Cost: 1 ☐
You can only have children when you're really ready for it, or if you actively and specifically decide to.

That is a perfect name for waiting on the grace of God to give her children. She checks off that one and Two Become One and Bop It after a few seconds of blushing thinking about the absolute perfect time having sex with someone on her wedding night or probably before her wedding night honestly but still. It's really cheap and she wants it. And plus if she does find a dashing rogue that starts off as her enemy and she wins him over with a smile and kisses him perfectly and touches him perfectly well, then that'll help convert him to her side, won't it, with the power of friendship and love. Also, it'll be really really hot. Blushing, she reads further. 

And then she starts grinning even further when looking at the next one. The name of it makes it very very clear what exactly it's trying to allow for, and she had never thought that seducing a dragon would be something she ever wanted but it sounds like it could be fun now that she's thought about it. And who knows what kinds of people might exist in the magical world she's going to end up in, there could be dragons and elves and werewolves and fish people and plant people and stuff like that, and her dashing rogue could be any of those. She's not sure which of those she might want him to be, but... there's no reason not to take this one since it's useful. Maybe she can give it up if she takes too many points up? It's 3 points, not just 1, but she checks it off anyways. How many points is she up to now? 

(36/75)

Oh, she's at nearly half already. That's not good. Well, if she's checking all these things off already maybe she can find good drawbacks later, like Incomplete was? Or maybe she can uncheck some things later. The notebook said she could, maybe she shouldn't hold back from checking anything off that she actually wants and she can go back later and cut some of the things out. Still though, she doesn't want to run out of power, or points, or whatever they are, and actually why is there a limit like this at all? 

Question, since I noticed I've used up more than half the points available already, why exactly is there a point limitation? I'm worried that I'm going to end up using up too many points and while I can go back and fix it later so things even out I just want to know why it works this way. Oh, and thanks for the Providential Parenthood option, by the way, since I didn't say it before and got distracted looking at the other skills. It's exactly what I was looking for and I really appreciate it! 

I'm glad I can help! ♡

The points are sort of a way to measure how much effort the Spirit puts into granting you these powers. Different things are easier or more difficult, so they cost different amounts of points. The drawbacks are ways to earn a bigger point allowance by making things easier somehow or other, like making powers work less well or only work some of the time.

Well, okay, that makes sense. There's only so much power this Spirit can put into doing all of these things for her and so she's not going to be able to take all of the nice options. Well she can start by checking off all the things she wants and then come back and filter out the less good ones. Probably tomorrow so she has time to think about it more since she's certainly not going to be doing this until tomorrow anyways. 

Okay, that makes sense! I'm going to check off all the things I want and then remove some of them later if they're too many, so don't worry if I go over the limit temporarily, as long as that's ok. That is ok, right? 

Yes, of course! Until you say you're done it's all just marks on paper, with me keeping track of the math. There's no problem at all with going over temporarily.

Okay perfect! Time to look over so very many more options again she just needs to remember where she was. 

GGG (why is it even called that what does it stand for) doesn't seem all that useful to her, she has an inkling of what might be gotten at here (whips and chains and weird stuff like that) but that's not something that she's into. She's going to have normal sex with people where she touches them and they touch her back and it feels so good and they smile at her with love in their eyes and they share a moment of joy and passion and delight. Normal sex stuff. Not anything weird. 

Before Your Eyes... Jenna thinks about watching two cute boys (Danny and Ron from highschool come most easily to mind she always had a crush on both of them especially Danny but they weren't really who she was supposed to be dating and also her mom would never have let her near them if she found out so she never did anything with it and didn't really want to anyways) make out with each other, touching each other and looking into each other's eyes with Danny's hand running down Ron's back to squeeze his... nope nope nope nope! Jenna blushes and blushes more and goes immediately to the next option. Nope, no way, not at all, that's not something she should want. Not that there's anything wrong with homosexuality, she knows better than her mom and her pastor and such but she's very very much into boys and not girls and it would be weird to be into watching boys kiss each other! That would be wrong. 

Fated Lovers: yes, yes, perfect, a million times yes, exactly what she wants, she puts a checkmark in the box and then circles it and then circles it again for good measure. She doesn't have a target in mind because she doesn't know where she's going to end up though maybe she could talk to the book about if the kind of person she wants to be there and help out is a possibility if she checks the box rather than a specific person because she really likes the idea of converting someone with ethical worries over to her side from the bad guys through the power of love (and kisses, and makeouts, and sex), but even if that's not a thing this is perfect. She's not going to have multiple true loves unless her husband dies which would be terrible but it's good that the option to find new love after something tears her old one from her and she goes through an appropriate mourning period exists.  

Sorry About That is possibly tempting though she's not likely to make mistakes like that but it's good to have a safety net with her one true love but after she reads Excuse Me and Tragic Backstory she has to push the notebook away in disgust and catch her breath. That's awful. That kind of thing is terrible to do to other people! Even if it's through coincidence or whatever she's not going to want to do anything like that to people, she's supposed to be graceful and loving and understanding in relationships and friendships not... be a horrible jerk and get away with it! No. None of these. None of these ever.

Sense of Style doesn't seem that interesting at least not until she starts thinking of swashbuckling rogues in short sleeves that show off their arm muscles or even better if their shirt is open so she can see their muscular chests and plus they can wear tight leather pants to show off their... okay, no, she's checking this option, and the next one. She can always uncheck them later if they're not worth it because they're probably not important and it would be silly to spend so many of her points on something like this and maybe she shouldn't be then she imagines her rogue flexing again and blushes and leaves both boxes checked. For now. She'll remove them later probably. Tomorrow. 

Popular seems fine, and fun -- though isn't that something she's going to accomplish on her own in this world, with being an incredible and amazing actress. It totally is. She doesn't need magical help for that, even if magical help is tempting, but -- no. It wouldn't feel anywhere near as good if she didn't earn it. But she imagines people cheering her name and and blowing her kisses as she travels through a crowd (though that's really more of what Famous seems to do but that one sounds really creepy) and she grins and her pen hovers over it for a while before she shakes her head. No. No, she can do this herself. She can. She will. Probably. Right? 

How exactly would Popular go about working, exactly? Or Famous, for that matter? What exactly would I be popular for, how would it work, exactly? 

That depends! If you already have something to be popular for, like a glamorous acting career (so exciting!), then it's easy to make sure you're popular just by making sure the right people hear about it so they can be impressed. If not, then maybe you get opportunities to do things that people will be impressed by, or maybe the power arranges things so people hear whatever it is about you that would impress them even if it wouldn't impress many other people—so if you happen to have read and liked someone's favourite book, maybe they'd happen to run into you while you had it in your hand, or if you happen to have learned a cool card trick that someone is struggling with, they might see you practicing it. The main difference between Famous and Popular when neither of them is working in mind-affecting ways is that Popular focuses more on bringing you to the attention of people who are already predisposed to think you're neat, and Famous focuses more on getting you opportunities to do cool things that will impress lots of people and then making sure everyone hears about them.

Okay so that all makes sense and isn't too terrible but

Isn't that kindof like cheating, almost, though? I want to be a popular or famous actress on my own, not with help. Plus if I'm going to another world it's probably because I'm going to go fight an evil that only I can fight, or something like that, like in the Narnia books. I don't want to be famous because I picked an option in a book, I want to actually be that awesome and charming even if the idea of walking through a crowd to my latest premiere with cameras going off and stuff is really awesome, it wouldn't be as good if I didn't do it on my own, you know what I mean? 

Of course! Very reasonable of you. If you're the sort of person who cares about being awesome all on your own, then I think you should get the chance to! ♡

Jenna blushes a little at that, happy about how sweet the notebook is being and secretly glad that it's also understanding of her true desires and not trying to tempt her into something she only thinks she wants like she's always been warned about by her pastor's sermons, though usually that's more about the demons of society and not actual literal demons though she was already pretty sure it wasn't a literal demon and now she has extra proof! 

Well, then that's what I'll do when I get back! Actually, wait, is it possible to make sure I only have these powers when I'm not at home? I don't want to affect the people in my real life with them, if I don't have to. 

She doesn't want to take Popular regardless, but it still seems unfair for her to check off something like Mysterious Allure or Helpfulness when she's not on some kind of magical adventure to fight evil and save a planet and then rule over it justly with her redeemed rogue at her side. 

Oh, interesting! I'm not sure I've heard that one before. I think it makes sense, though! Which of your powers would you like to leave off at home? Just the ones that affect other people, or the ones that mostly affect you, too? I guess you haven't gone through that section yet so maybe I should wait to ask until then. I'll think about how to make it work in the meantime!

The notebook is so very helpful! Jenna is so very happy about this and glad about how friendly it is to her. And glad to be making a new friend that almost certainly isn't a demon or anything like that even if it is a magical notebook offering her magic and power and adventure and things! 

I'm not sure enough about the powers that affect me to know which ones I'd want to leave on or off when I'm not here. If it's easier to do all of them, by all means do all of them, I didn't need them before, and I probably won't need them now. 

They're just really really really useful and would be fun to have and use and... no. No, she must stay strong. And besides, if she's essentially like a magical superheroine with a secret identity (especially if she ends up making multiple trips, like in Narnia, gosh, that would be fun, and then it would make sense to have multiple boyfriends and husbands even if she would be so so sad whenever any of them died), then she shouldn't be using her powers to make her secret identity have a better life. That's not how superheroes do it, at least she thinks so, she hasn't had much of a chance to read comics or watch movies because her mom won't let her though sometimes she'll see things at a friend's house but if she was a superheroine she wouldn't do that and she's going to be one kinda so she won't do that. 

All of them turned off might be a better idea, actually. Oh, and before I forget if you want to come with me on my adventures feel free, I promise I'll write my adventures in you a lot so you don't get lonely or bored I know you said you don't but even so I want to make sure you're not if you're hanging around with me. 

I think it's actually easier to make only the powers that affect other people suppressed when you're at home, and have the powers that affect you working all the time. But if you want them all suppressed when you're at home, I can do that too! I'm just worried that if you take the power for never needing to shower or the one for never getting sick, you'll miss them when you don't have them, and also worried that if you take the power for being secretly part dragon it will be weird to be secretly part dragon only some of the time. But I can still probably work something out!

I promise I don't get bored! But I do really like hearing about people's adventures. ♡

Secretly part dragon? Secretly part dragon??? She should not immediately flip through and find that section to read that one or the thing about not ever needing to shower which sounds nice though showers are also nice and she doesn't want to give those up though she supposes nothing is stopping her from taking showers whenever she wants even if she doesn't need them. She should finish the section she's in the middle of first, but also she shouldn't do that because she's in the middle of talking to someone, and it would be rude! 

Let me know what you come up with, then! I'll be glad of whatever you figure out. And you're probably right about the shower thing, and the sickness thing, and possibly other things! So thanks. And I'm glad you like hearing about people's adventures, because I'm going to tell you about all of mine. 

And with that it's time to look at more options again! 

There's actually not too much left to go through here actually. Undiplomatic Immunity seems like the sort of thing made for other, worse people that wanted to get away with stealing or murder or something, though maybe the laws of the land could be unfair and run by a cruel and evil warlord or something but it still doesn't seem worth going with such an expensive option just for that. 

And as for all the rest of the Friends in Various Places options, she's going to check off all three of them of course, because she likes making friends and more places to make friends in is obviously the right thing to do. She'll probably end up unselecting all of them because they're rather expensive altogether and she's not even sure what kinds of things the Strange Places one is talking about though maybe she should keep the high society one because that one sounds fun. And maybe the low places one so she can find and redeem her dashing rogue with a heart of gold. 

And that's all for the Power of Friendship! She checks the number and frowns. She was at nearly half before, and now she's blown past that. Well, she's probably not going to keep the Friends ones or the style ones, so that should clear some stuff up if she needs to. And she can go over for now. She flips back to where she was writing with the notebook to check on it and see how it's doing before going on to the rest. 

Power of Friendship all done! I'm probably not going to keep all of these, but they're all ones I want, at least. 

Maybe you can find some Drawbacks you like, to help make up the points! Depending how exactly I make it work, turning off some of your powers when you're at home might end up granting you a few extra points too.

That could work! But I think I'll look at them later, not now. From what little I've seen of them some of them are a bit, well, I didn't like them, and I don't think I want to look at them unless I have to. But I'll keep them in mind going forward so I'm not too worried when I probably end up going over by tons of points and have no idea what to get rid of. 

Okay! ♡ I'm glad you're taking your time and looking at things at your own pace.

Jenna is glad of this too. And speaking of pace, it's time to look at the rest of her options, the ones that are about herself! 

A Thousand Ships she already has checked because it was needed for something else, though she's having second thoughts on that if it's going to persist even here. It's one thing to be beautiful beyond measure if she goes somewhere else but it's another thing if she is going to be impossibly pretty here. She's already reasonably pretty, she's pretty sure, she's caught plenty of boys looking at her even if her chest isn't that big the way some boys like and her hair is a bit messy and she still has one or two awful zits that she can never get rid of, but even though she's already pretty sure she's perfectly pretty, well, there are plenty of impossibly pretty people who don't have acting jobs though they do do modeling and such so it's not a guarantee but it does seem like stacking the deck a bit too much in her favor. But maybe that wouldn't be so bad? Or maybe that's a horrible temptation that she should refuse. But actually she has an even more important question and she really should ask the notebook before this goes any further. 

If I pick some of these appearance changing options, what happens with people that already know me, like my friends and family? Do they notice? Will they still recognize me? 

There are lots of different possible ways that could work! Usually how it goes is that if the way you want to look and the way you used to look are pretty close, the powers make sure that you're still recognizable even though you're a little different, and that's that. But if the way you want to look isn't very close to the way you used to look, then it matters a lot how you want to relate to that difference. Some people feel like they should never have to go back to looking the way they used to, and they want people to just be able to recognize them anyway (and either notice or not, some people like one and some people like the other). Some people would rather look more like their old self when they're around their old friends and more like their new self when they're around their new friends.

I wonder if what you want might be for the suppression of powers that affect others to also suppress obvious visible evidence of your other powers? So that even if you end up looking very different most of the time, when you're at home you still look mostly the same?

So, exactly like a superheroine! They usually wear masks and things to hide their faces rather than transforming their appearance she's pretty sure but the idea is the same! She's going to be a magic superheroine and go to another world and fight evil and romance muscular rogues that just need to be shown kindness and love and then come home and learn to be a passionate and talented and glamorous star actress! 

I want to look mostly the same, or close enough, If possible. Even with the great idea you're suggesting! I think that would be perfect if the way I looked and anything that affects other people were suppressed while I'm home! And then I could keep the shower thing and sickness and whatever else makes sense to keep that wouldn't be an unfair advantage for becoming an actress when it makes total sense for fighting evil! 

All right! I'll make sure to put that in. ♡

Helpful, magic dispensing notebook is so very helpful. And magic dispensing. 

That would be great, thank you! 

And now off to looking at all the options again! 

After Thousand Ships comes What's in a Name, which doesn't seem all that important to her except for the last clause which seems like it'd be useful protection if that sort of thing exists wherever she's going, which, it certainly could! So she'll check the box for that reason alone. 

Angelic Tones doesn't seem all that useful but sounds pretty nice to have, she'll check the box and probably remove it later. 

Emerald Orbs seems even less useful. She'll check it for now anyways, but Jenna really doesn't see the point in having eyes that change color to suit her mood or desires or "narrative considerations". She'll check the box but, she's already having second feelings about it. It's such a weird power! 

On the other hand, Perfect Hair sounds, well, perfect. Her hair is fine but it certainly isn't perfect, and there are such fun things she could do styling it all sorts of ways with one of those braids crowns or something even more elaborate and plus it could grow really really long too. She's keeping this one. 

And with Size Difference it's back to being weird again. She's not sure when or why it would be a good idea to be small or big or all the other sizes inbetween. Maybe if she was able to properly control it but it sounds like it only happens in times of great need or something like that. She'll check it off for now, but she's unlikely to want to keep it. 

Dressing Room yes, definitely yes. Keeping herself clean is fine and all but the ability to change her clothing to whatever she wants whenever she wants which means she'd get to try out all the pretty outfits she's seen that her mother has always refused her and look perfect while doing it is completely worth it. And it helps with the superheroine thing too, with a quick costume change when the citizens are in danger! Perfect. 

Personal Hygiene is an obvious yes, but Like Roses is just so strange that she stares at it for a while. Maybe it's a stand in for perfume? She's never had a chance to try perfume, maybe it's something she'll enjoy? She'll check it off, for now, but it's probably going to be removed along with the eyes one and everything else like that. 

Just a Little Longer sounds super useful, especially for a superheroine or someone who needs to fight evil or anything along those lines that she's going to end up doing whatever that might be. The sleep afterwards seems like it might be a problem but if she was staying awake anyways keeping watch against a vile evil or brewing potions to ward off demons or standing with her beloved redeemed husband against the tides of hell fighting demons so they couldn't cross the bridge to do... something bad, then the sleep after seems worth it. 

Immunity System is a clear and obvious yes. She has no desire to use alcohol or recreational drugs (ew), but not ever getting poisoned or sick sounds like a great idea, being sick is the worst and eating food that's been poisoned or drugged... wait, huh. 

Quick question, as I'm going through everything, does Immunity System give protection from someone drugging me against my will? Like if the bad guys slip something to knock me out or make me hallucinate into my drink so they can sneak past me or kidnap me or something like that? Though possibly now that I think of it it might be fun to be kidnapped and trick and fight my way free of the dungeon and maybe rescue the long-lost prince while I'm there and so maybe banning stuff that makes me sleep might be a bad idea. But I'd still like to know how it works, exactly! 

Immunity System prevents a lot of that kind of thing, and there are some powers later on that prevent even more, but people might still be able to sneak things in around the edges if it would make for the kind of story you really, really want to live! But if you want to be really sure to allow for that kind of thing, I can try to nudge the power that way? Or maybe invent you another custom drawback... it wouldn't be worth very many points but I bet I could get it to work.

I'm not sure if I really really want to live it, even if it does sound like fun! Fun but dangerous, though, it might be safer if I don't let that sort of drug affect me at all. Even if it'd be really really cool. 

Jenna checks her current total, and sighs, and adds more grinning softly. 

Though since I'm already over the limit even though I've checked off a bunch of things that I'm almost certainly not keeping it still might be good to have extra drawbacks even though I might not take them so if you can make one so I can see it that would be cool! As long as it's not too much trouble since I might not take it since I shouldn't leave myself open for such easy kidnapping even if it might make for a really fun adventure. 

I'll see what I can do! Don't worry about it being too much trouble. Helping you find the powers and drawbacks that are right for you is what I'm here for! ♡

And I appreciate it!

And with that she's flipping back to look at all of the powers again! 

Jenna is not sure what kind of person or, or egotist, or something would want My Ears Are Burning. Well technically it sounds very useful and you could find out all the evil villain's plans as long as they involve her which of course they would because she's going to be a powerful person for good (though also she hasn't gotten to any fighting powers yet are they in here they probably are), or know if they're going to be ambushed, or, or something like that. Okay possibly this one is not as bad as she first thought, but it... even if it doesn't work in the real world she's going to be a famous actress and she doesn't like the idea of knowing what a bunch of people are thinking about her. Especially if... she shudders. No, that doesn't bear thinking about and she's not taking this one. 

Taking Well Endowed is questionable at first (she does want to be a bit more rounded up top even though her mother would disapprove) but she's not sure she likes the choices she'd have to choose between or among or however this works once she chooses that, she likes her body shape the way it is mostly (more or less), but then after that there's Hollow Leg, which does seem like it'll let her have whatever body she desires (and also not need to worry about diet or exercise which is just perfect). So she'll take both Well Endowed and Hollow Leg, and then stare at Inner Strength for a bit. Jenna isn't sure she wants to be that strong (even though it does sound like fun) but there's finally a fighting power here and also it does sound like a lot of fun even if the power is more expensive. She'll check it off for now, though she may go back and remove it later. (She's keeping the other two though.) 

And speaking of fighting powers: fighting powers! No laser eyes or freeze breath or anything (so far) (not that she'd want those, anyways, probably, maybe), but pretty generic ones though on thinking about it that actually makes a lot of sense because she and the notebook and whatever the Spirit is don't necessarily know where she's going to end up and laser eyes in a fantasy world doesn't make the most sense. They do seem useful though! And it doesn't sound like they'll make her too strong to make things boring which wasn't actually something Jenna was considering until just now since the last one says she'll be a match for her opponent which just means as-good-as and not better-than. She'll take all three of these: Battle Angel, Battle Demon (though she doesn't like the name very much) and Battle Maiden. (It probably would be silly to ask the notebook if it can change the name of one of the powers and there's all these other ones to look at.) 

Making Ends Meet (and the rest of them) seem really useful and things but honestly don't make a ton of sense if she's going to be sent to a magical world unless the first thing she does there is find a giant piece of gold or a diamond mine or get mistaken for the long-lost princess (okay that one might be fun but might be bad for the poor long-lost princess) or get adopted by the long-lost princess or okay there are a lot of ways this could work but she's not sure how they make all that much sense. Maybe she can ask about it! 

How exactly does Making Ends Meet and the other two work, exactly? If I end up in a fairy tale world or magic place or something and no one knows who I am then where does the money come from? Do I end up with some source of money really quickly from finding a big piece of gold or something? Or does it not work that way? 

Wherever you end up and whatever the circumstances, the power will find a way to make it work! Finding treasure like that is definitely a possibility.

Hmmm... maybe she'll check off... the first one of those only. The rest of them sound fun or at least useful but they might not make sense for where she's going and as much fun as being recognized as the prophesized princess or being adopted as her sister or something is (also she'd have a sister!) she'd rather keep her options open. She can find a giant lump of gold or something when she first shows up and live off of that. 

So that's what the notebook was talking about!! Dragon Fairy Elf Witch could let her be part dragon or part fairy or part angel. Jenna thinks about herself with a tiny pair of adorable angel wings coming out of her shoulder blades and grins and checks off the option. She could be part angel and part unicorn and part fairy and part... part mermaid! And other things she can't think of! She could be so many different magical things! She's not entirely sure how it'll work and if she does get tiny angel wings and a unicorn horn she hopes that one only happens in the magical world where they come from and not here because that might make it hard to be an actress but... she's taking this one for sure! Maybe she should ask about this one. 

With Dragon Fairy Elf Witch, if I get something like little angel wings or a unicorn horn or something like that, is that something I can hide? Or something that I can turn off when I come back home like everything else? I know you said it would be strange to be part dragon only some of the time but if I want to be an actress it will be a problem if I have angel wings or a unicorn horn in a world that doesn't know anything about magic! I just want to be sure than this won't make it so I need to carefully hide my new body parts most of the time. 

Your Secret Identity drawback (I haven't named it for sure yet, but that's how I'm thinking of it) will take care of hiding things like angel wings and unicorn horns! While you're home you'll just have your normal human body without any visible differences.

Secret Identity drawback!!! 

Feel free to go with that name, that name is great! And thanks, that sounds perfect! You're being really helpful and I'm glad!

She's going to be a superheroine she's gonna be a superheroine she's gonna be a superheroine!!! 

Although actually now that she thinks about it normally she would do nice things for her friends that are doing nice things to her and the notebook here is literally giving her all these nice things and helping her become a magical fairy princess (possibly really a fairy!) and she hasn't done anything for it! Possibly it might be a demon in disguise (there's no way it's a demon in disguise at this point it's too weird to be a tempting devil or something like that) so maybe she shouldn't be doing it many favors yet until she's extra double certain but

Also, hey, do you want anything from me, by the way? You're being really helpful and I like it a lot and I want to return the favor if I can! Normally with people it's a lot easier to do because I can take them fun places and encourage them to do fun things or give them cute presents I know they'll like but I'm not sure what to do in your case since you're a notebook. Is there anything fun you'd like to do?  

If you take me with you and write in me about your adventures, that'll be more than enough nice things for me! I really like hearing about people's adventures. ♡

Well, it's a good thing I'm planning on doing that anyways! We're going to have a lot of fun together! 

And then it's back to the list of options... and back to ask more questions almost immediately! 

What happens if I don't pick Omniglot? If I go to another world and they don't speak the same language as me am I going to be stuck there learning a new language for a year or more before the adventure or something or will I come in knowing one of the languages of the world? 

If you pick a specific world and it's one where they don't speak your language and don't have language magic, then yes, you'll need to learn their language! If you let the Spirit pick your new world for you, it'll most likely put you somewhere that has language magic, but of course that means places that would be great for you except for not having language magic won't be available.

That makes sense, thanks!

Jenna would much much rather be the best possible place for her, even if that place doesn't have language magic, which means she should be picking Omniglot. Honestly that one might come in handy as an actress if she needs to play foreign roles or speak an alien language or something like that, it might go away when she visits because of her Secret Identity thing which would be okay but if it doesn't that means that she'd be able to be in various language films and also not have to worry so much about the French requirement at college! So she'll check that one off and go on to the next one. 

Anything You Can Do sounds really neat! She could learn swordfighting from her swordfighting friend and learn magic from her magic friend and heck even cooking from her cooking friend or what else do adventuring parties have? Archery and pickpocketing (maybe not pickpocketing) and, and diplomacy and karate and who knows what else! This one is really expensive but... but she really wants it! She can learn so much stuff and be the best person she can be! 

And then Closed Book and Indelible and Iron Will just seem like really important ones to take for her own safety! Jenna hadn't even thought about magical control of her feelings or torture or anything like that! She doesn't want to be traumatized! She's actually really glad these options exist. 

And then... that's it! She checks how many points she has, and then flips back to talk to the notebook. 

That's everything, right? I think I might be a bit over the amount I'm allowed to use at the moment though I'll remove some of them the next time I review which should be tomorrow if you don't mind! 

You can also look at the Drawbacks section to see if there's anything there that suits you besides the ones I'm working on adding!

Oh right the drawbacks. She has mixed feelings those, the one she picked actually seemed pretty sensible and useful but the other one she saw at a glance seemed... weird. But maybe there are other good ones in there? She'll take a look. 

Decorative seems fine, but doesn't give many points, and feels oddly creepy. This is the one she saw before, and it was creepy then, and it's creepy now. Jenna can't think of anything specific that would go wrong with taking it, but still doesn't seem like she should take it unless she has to. 

Beauty is a Curse doesn't seem very fun, and certainly not worth one point. Jenna is (mostly) happy with how she looks but is hardly vain enough to enjoy people constantly bringing up her smile (that one already happens enough) or personality (that's the other one people already say though maybe that doesn't count as beauty) or eyes or hair or who knows! And even worse when she's a famous actress and everyone on tv keeps talking about her beauty and her smile and not her acting ability!! Not picking this one.

Plain Jane just seems mean and unhelpful. Why are all these drawbacks so bad? Well, they are intended to be drawbacks, aren't they? In any case, Jenna doesn't want to feel permanently unsatisfied with her appearance. Not doing this one either. 

Style of Sisyphus doesn't give that many points... but doesn't seem that bad? Nothing in the description describes her being as unsatisfied with her appearance the way Plain Jane does, and would mostly result in her constantly changing her clothing style in all different ways and if she's doing that as a princess or famous actress it might send all of her courtiers or fans into a frenzy of trying to copy her latest fashion as she goes from one thing to the next to the next and that might be especially fun as a princess as long as she's happy and inspired and not sad about it. She's not going to check it off yet but it might be okay to pick later. 

There's Another One... huh. That could be weird, but it could also be interesting! 

What happens if I pick There's Another One? Are they likely to be a friend or an ally or even an enemy? And if they're an enemy can I redeem them and help turn them good? I guess I can't kiss them into being good if they're not a boy but I can certainly help redeem them with the power of friendship! 

They might be a boy, just a feminine boy! And yes, you can definitely redeem them with the power of your love, whether friendship or otherwise. They might not need it, but if they do, you absolutely can.

A boy?! Huh! Okay, then this one isn't necessarily getting checked off since there's a whole bunch of other stuff to look into first but honestly someone to share adventures with sounds great! 

Though possibly if it gives her a feminine boy then she might not be as interested in him, Jenna is clearly more interested in muscles and things and other manly traits, it would be weird if she were into girly boys. 

I wouldn't have expected that! These options just seem a lot more targeted to girls than boys, but I suppose there might be some boys that might like them, I guess? Either way, it might be fun to have an extra friend or two on my adventures, or someone to redeem or recruit! 

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. 

With that decided, she finally opens the notebook to read what it's written overnight, her grin getting wider and wider as she does. 

These are great! 

They really are! Secret Identity is exactly what she's looking for (the sort-of-warning about They'll Know is good to know about, that if she uses powers too much in the real world bad things could happen so she'll have to be careful about how much she doesn't shower and still looks amazing and such though the fact that the thresholds are higher is really good), and Dramatic Damsel is pretty much exactly what she was looking for as well. Getting captured by the baddies and then talking to her captors and redeeming them or convincing them to let her free or her whole team getting captured and then her leading them to fight their way free or that sort of thing all sound like a lot of fun! And the warning about Realism is useful and all the more reason not to take Realism. She's still not entirely sure she wants to pick it but she is over by a lot of points and she very well might. 

Thanks so much for these! Can I check them off from here? Or do I need to wait for you to move them into the appropriate section? I probably want to check off Secret Identity and very well might pick Dramatic Damsel (fun name by the way!) but not sure about it yet but regardless it's exactly what I asked for and I love it. 

You can check them off from here or I can move them first, whichever you prefer! I'm glad they're what you wanted.

They really are! 

She checks off Secret Identity for now, she'll probably pick Dramatic Damsel later if she needs the extra points (still over by 18 points when she checks the total) but she should go through and remove some of the sillier things she picked first and see where she ends up. And before that... 

I'd love to stay and talk to you some more and figure all the rest of this out but I should go to breakfast now, and then orientation and such, so I can go meet my new friends and learn about this school and things! Even though I'm probably about to not see them for a long time, they'll be here when I get back, right? Should I take you with me or leave you here? I don't want you to get lost or stolen or something, it would be awful if I had all this opportunity for things and then didn't get it because someone took you from me.

That's actually a lot more worrying, now that she thinks about it. 

Actually, what does happen if someone steals you or something? I don't want to lose you.  

Don't worry, I'm metanarratively guaranteed to be accessible for as long as you need me! And nobody can read me or write in me if you don't decide on purpose to let them. So you can just leave me at home tucked in a drawer if you want, and I'll be right here when you get back. Or you can take me to school and I'll be safe and sound in your bag!

Jenna's still not entirely sure how this metanarrative thing works but if the notebook is guaranteeing that it's not going to get lost or stolen or otherwise have bad things happen to it then she might as well take it at its word! 

I think I'll take you with me, if you don't mind? It still feels weird leaving you alone even though you say you don't mind. 

Okay! ♡

Then into the backpack it goes! (Hopefully it's comfortable in there?) And then off to join her dormmates for orientation, however that's going to work! 

And several hours later, she's back in her room, brain all abuzz with everything she's done and the people she talked to and all the places she saw! Part of her almost regrets that she's probably not going to see them again for years maybe because she's going to go on a grand adventure and make friends with unicorns and angels and save a magical world from destruction and marry a dashing pirate that worked for the evil sorcerer but she turned him to the side of good and things and together they defeated the evil sorcerer with her friends and now she rules the magical world with him and they have two girls and a boy and... it might be more than a few months or years, really. And the adventure seems so much more grand than the one she's about to embark on here. But she doesn't want to give up her ambitions here either. She's gonna be an actress! 

She pulls out the notebook from her bag, safe and sound, where it's been all day except when she checked on it 27 dozen times or so. (It probably was only a dozen or two but she really really doesn't want to lose it even if the notebook says she can't.) 

I'm back! 

she writes by way of greeting. 

I hope you were comfy and okay and stuff! 

I was, don't worry! How was your day?

It was pretty great! I met so many new friends and saw like half the buildings and learned about the meal programs and am a little bit regretting the fact that I'm going to be leaving it all temporarily behind. It is temporarily, right? If I really really really want to come right back here one day I'll get the thing where this world pauses or moves really slow or whatever when I'm in the magical world? Because I don't want everyone to worry and I do really want to be able to come back and pick things up where I left off. 

Yes! If you really want to be able to come back like that, then you will!

Oh good! Then I think maybe possibly I should take notes on everything that happened to me today so I can come back and review my notes and pick up where I left off, because I might be gone for years and years and I just met the people here and might just forget everything. 

Is there a good spot in you to have journal entries or something? Maybe two different places actually, one journal for here and one for wherever I end up so they don't get mixed up. Also do I need to worry about running out of pages, by the way? I assume I don't because you're a magical notebook and stuff but just making sure that I don't use up all your pages and then can't even talk to you! 

I never run out of pages! And I can shuffle my pages around however I want, so if you want to keep two different journals it'll be really easy even if you write an entry in the wrong place by mistake!

Oh that's perfect!! You're a really great magical notebook, you know? Okay, so, I can turn to whatever page I want and just start writing? 

Yes, exactly! ♡ Go right ahead!

And so she does! She turns to a blank page and puts the date at the top (very important for journal entries especially if she's going to be traveling between magical worlds with different speeds of time or however it will end up working). 

Dear Notebook, 

Today was my first day of orientation at MTC, the school where I'm going to learn to be an actress! I'm a little sad that the next day I'm here is probably going to be really far away in my own future, but I'm really excited about the adventure I'm going to be going on!  But since I'm going to be coming straight back here, maybe at most a few hours later, I figured I should take really detailed notes about my day. So this entry may be more detailed than usual, but I bet you're going to enjoy that! 

We started off gathering with everyone else from our dorm room floor and did standard icebreaker games with everyone led by our RA, Cosette. Oh but before that she introduced herself (she's a junior, studying physics). She was pretty friendly! She's kinda tall but that might be because she's older than the rest of us, but she wants us to come to her with whatever problems we have which I think she's supposed to say but I'm pretty sure she meant it. And then it was ice breakers and things! I don't remember all of it even though it was just a few hours ago but we did two truths and a lie and the truth I tried to trick people into disbelieving was that I have been further from home than this (I visited my great uncle in NYC when I was less than a year old which I don't remember but it still counts!) and the lie was that I have five siblings but I don't! I only have 3. Carla got it but most of the rest didn't. 

Speaking of Carla: I talked with her a whole bunch over the course of today. She apparently comes from another nearby town and has a similar like, upbringing to mine but I think her parents aren't as strict because she's studying biology so she can do med school later, which my mom would never let me do. We don't have any classes in common but we are gonna go to church together on Sunday, which is an entire week away here but might be much much longer for me. But I'm writing it down here so I remember. Oh and she's kinda short and has dark hair and likes to smile though she was kinda shy about it in case I forget what she looks like. Hopefully that'll be enough! 

The other people I made friends with and hung out with (we mostly traveled together with people from our floor) are Fiona, who is doing CS and keeps asking me and Carla about our upbringing, which I think made Carla pretty mad after a while but I think she was just curious and I helped them make up, mostly. Oh and she's got curly brown hair and glasses and is kinda fat for a girl but oh well. And then there was Larissa who is also doing computer science and dresses in black and wears makeup and I'm pretty sure my mom would hate her for having tattoos even though they're pretty on her and also she's just really pretty for a girl! I might want to ask her about makeup tips (mom doesn't let me wear makeup) but I might be a little afraid to ask. Maybe I'll come back from my adventure with more confidence? And then there was Darcy who is red haired and shy and doing mathematics and apparently her truth was that she's 16 which is, wow, but kinda neat? She's obviously really smart. She was really shy though and did hang around with us and seemed happy to be included even though she didn't talk much. 

Other people of note: Erica is the only other member of my floor that's also in the acting program but she made friends with Alanna and Alanna doesn't really seem like she likes me much, sadly. I exchanged a few words with Erica but then she stopped talking to me when she started talking to Alanna. Which is really sad! Hopefully I'll figure out how to talk to her again or figure out why Alanna doesn't like me or want to talk to me. Oh, and Erica is blonde and short and wears glasses, and Alanna has like, black hair that's all curly and she's black and stuff. And she's in the music program, though I forget what thing she's doing in the music program. 

I think that's everyone important! There were a few other girls in the music program but I think they mostly stuck together and I don't really remember who they are. Though if someone else comes up I'll let you know. Anyways, after we all did intros and icebreakers and stuff we went to this field and sat in the bleachers and the president did this big speech welcoming us (honestly it was kinda boring even though I paid attention like I was supposed to) and then there were more people that talked about like, campus policy and tolerance and stuff. Which was also pretty boring and standard -- don't be mean to people! Don't exclude people just because they're black or asian or gay or whatever! You know, standard and basic stuff. And then after campus policy the rest of the people talked about like, various other campus events and things and where to go to find out information and stuff and all of that is in the pamphlet they gave us, which I'm going to leave on the desk so I can find it when I get back and reread it.

After that we split off into groups and some people went to lunch and other people went on campus tours. We did the campus tour stuff first, which left me kinda hungry, but that was okay. I have been on a campus tour before but only when I was looking at this college along with others closer to home that Mom wanted me to go to but I only half-remembered so it was good to see it again! We got to see all the buildings where I'm going to be taking classes (mostly just the Donner Arts Building) and also all the other buildings and then the tour paused at the mess hall and we had lunch and also they told us how the meal plan works which is kinda complicated but also my parents already paid for it so it doesn't matter too much -- basically I get some amount of money and some amount of meals every week on my meal card and the meals pay for specific things and the money on top of that can be used to buy extras. I think mom got me the one with the least amount of extra money so I won't spend it on frivolous things like extra brownies which is kinda a pity because I like extra brownies but dad sent me with some spending money so I should be able to get an extra brownie sometimes if I really want to. And plus in a bit it won't even matter if I eat extra brownies because of the hollow leg power thing. And then after lunch we did more tour stuff and then we were done! And now I'm back here! There's a movie in the lounge in an hour that Cosette is putting on which if I get back soon enough I might go see with my new friends but if I don't get back soon enough I might have to miss which is sad but I'll be having an adventure which isn't sad at all! I don't know that I'm going to get back in time, though. I probably won't because I have to review the notebook and stuff and figure out who I am when I get back and stuff which might take a while. Maybe I should go see the movie first? I might go see the movie first but maybe I'll talk to you a bit more in case you have any questions and go over my picks so I go down to things that don't take up too many points anyways, that's it for now, though I think I'll add some in a bit. Anyways, if you have any questions or anything like that feel free to ask, that way they'll be a part of the journal entry I'll read later in case they're important to remembering who I am. 

You're right, I really liked this! I love when people write in me about their adventures, and to me college orientation is just as mysterious and adventuresome as travelling through magical lands! I hope you get along with all your new friends when you're back from wherever you travel to. They sound like nice people!

I think going to a movie sounds like fun and you don't need to be in a big rush to have your magical adventures as soon as possible. Do you know what movie it is? I think you should go to it! Though I'm happy to talk to you in the meantime. ♡

She said it was some old comedy movie, I forget exactly what it was called, but she promised us it was really funny and a good way to let off steam after a long day. She says it's one of her favorites. We'll see. But yeah before I go I should probably run through my choices a bit more first to figure out what I want and stuff since I'm still a whole bunch of points over. And then come back and shower and change... do I need to shower and change, actually? I guess I don't, with the perks I took, but also do I show up wearing my current clothes? Should I go gather supplies and things also? My cell phone probably won't work in a magical world when it runs out of power, which is terrible, but it's not like it's going to get service... but I'll probably find everything I need when I go there right? It just feels like I should be preparing for this some. Do I need to prepare at all? 

I think the best way to think about whether and how much to prepare is: are you the sort of person who would prepare for this sort of thing, or the sort of person who would just set off with adventure in your heart? You can be the sort of person who would just set off with adventure in your heart, and you'll land somewhere that that will turn out all right! But if you're the sort of person who makes a packing checklist and takes a flashlight and a big bag of trail mix, then you probably land somewhere where it's useful to have brought those things. That doesn't necessarily mean it's better to pack things, though, because the sort of place where it doesn't matter how much you bring can be a better place to land than the sort of place where it matters a lot.

...did that help? I am not sure it helped.

I think it did help! I think I think I might be kind with adventure in their heart, and not so much the planning checklists kind. So all right, if you say I don't need to prepare, then I don't need to prepare! Though maybe I should take some trail mix and a flashlight just in case except I have no idea where to get those things. My cell phone is my flashlight most of the time. I can get some snacks out of the vending machine in the lobby, though! 

Anyways, I should maybe go over the rest of the options and stuff so I have everything set so I can head out when I come back from the movie! Though maybe I should sleep first, I'm not sure. Do you think I should sleep first? The problem with sleeping first is that then I don't have as much time to re-learn everything about myself but maybe I can do that before I return. Okay, sure, I'll sleep first probably. Anyways! Um, I should flip through you and scratch off some of the stuff I picked, right? Unless there's anything else you want to suggest?

Jenna might be getting a little bit nervous in addition to being excited. She's mostly excited, she's going on an adventure but also she's a little scared that maybe it won't be as awesome as she thinks it's going to be and also she's missing out on stuff here. But she's not, she gets to do both and everything will be okay. 

I don't think I have anything else to suggest. Go ahead and look through the list again!

And so she does! What did she not care too much about again? She might as well start from the top. 

The naming one was important because it will keep true name magic from hurting her and also is only one point, she's keeping that one, but most of the rest of the stuff in that line was silly. She'll scribble out Angelic Tones and Emerald Orbs (Perfect Hair still seems useful though) and then pause to see what happens with the stuff she scribbles out. Does all the ink just disappear? 

Yep! It sinks into the page and vanishes and now the checkbox is pristine again.

Awesome! Okay, on to the rest! Size Difference seems like it would be useful, but also if she remembers correctly the notebook said that having it and They'll Know might let people know that she has size changing magic which... on reflection, no, that's not a problem, she'll keep it. Moving on, Personal Hygiene was good but Like Roses is silly, she can toss that one. Inner Strength still seems useful, she'll keep that one for now, and... that's it from that category and she's hardly made any headway. Hopefully there's some good stuff to remove in the friendship section? 

There is surprisingly little that she wants to remove from the friendship section. Jenna is not into weird stuff, and removes GGG, and then removes Sense of Style and Bonus Style Points (which together were a lot), and now she's only a couple points over. Which... There's that one "drawback" that she hasn't picked yet, and so she picks Dramatic Damsel, which leaves her with a single point to spare. Almost perfect. 

It's okay if I don't use up every single point, right? I'm one short now but I'm not sure what I'd take to fill in that gap. The only thing left that's one point is Like Roses but I'm not sure if I really want to smell like something special though maybe I can use it like perfume somehow. What do you think? 

If you don't use up all your points, then the extra potential will wait until someday when you really, really need a power you didn't think of in advance, and then you'll get whatever you need in that moment! As long as it's something the Spirit can do. If you never end up in that kind of situation then you'll just have a little bit of extra potential forever, which doesn't seem so bad.

Like Roses will give you a signature scent that's distinctive and memorable and hard to change quickly, so it's pretty hard to use it like perfume. You could smell like your favourite perfume but you would always smell that way until you really wanted to smell like something else.

Oh that's really neat actually, the saving up points for things thing. Do you think I should free up a few more points then in case I need something bigger than a 1 point power in the future? Or should I go as-is? 

From her description of Like Roses given that she can't really change it she doesn't want it anymore. She wants to smell normal, not... like magic roses or whatever petrichor is or something. 

I think it'll turn out fine if you go as-is! People don't turn out to really need an extra power all that often.

Even so, the idea of suddenly manifesting a power she didn't have before to save things when the situation seems dire and all hope is lost sounds like when they're surrounded by the forces of the evil sorcerer and he's about to gain power at the planetary alignment or something sound really awesome and fun so maybe she'll find something else to remove. Is there anything else to remove that she doesn't really want? 

Inner Strength, while really strong... it doesn't really fit the way she wants to be in this adventure. She's here to solve it with cleverness and planning (with some amount of beating up badguys) and befriending people and redeeming the enemy and such and being strong enough to toss boulders isn't really what she's looking for. She scribbles it out. 

I removed one more just in case and because I don't think I wanted it that much. I think I'm done! That took much less time than I thought it would! Maybe I'll hang out in the common room and wait for the movie first and see who else is out there so I can make friends a little more before I disappear for however many years I'm going to be gone. And then I'll be back. It's okay if I leave you here for a few hours, right? Is there anything you think I'm missing or would suggest I do? Thanks so much for all your help by the way! 

Yes, of course! I'll be just fine. I'm glad I could help, and I don't think you're missing anything. Enjoy your movie! ♡

And a few hours later, Jenna is back, back with thoughts of movie and rebellions against the evil crown and extremely silly royal birthmarks and swordfights and magic and also friendship! Friendship is good. Jenna is sad she's going to be leaving her friends for a while but she'll be back and they won't even know she's gone. 

I'm back! 

How was the movie?

It was great! Very silly and definitely old but still a lot of fun! Do you want to hear about it? 

Yes please!

Okay I'll try and relate it all to you but I might not remember everything because we didn't really get into it at first because it was old and silly though by the end everyone was watching pretty intently and laughing so much at all the silly things. It was really good even without any special effects or anything! Anyways, so, at the start of the film, I forget how they told us but there's an evil king that's killed an entire royal family to take over but missed the baby boy, who has been spirited away to the forest by a band of, well, merry men? Like in Robin Hood. And the main character, Hawkins, he's in charge of the baby, and also in charge of like showing the birthmark to people to get their loyalty -- the baby has a birthmark of a purple flower they called it a pimpernel I think on his bottom, which apparently means he's royal somehow, it's very long-lost princess sort of thing except it's a prince instead of a princess and also he doesn't stay lost for very long. In any case, Hawkins and Lady Jean who's also part of the merry men have to go and take the baby away to an abbey for safekeeping, and they get stopped on the road by the king's men but he pretends to be an old man with the Lady Jean playing his deaf and dumb granddaughter and they trick them into not checking on their wine barrels which is where the baby is in a hidden compartment. Oh, Hawkins is a really good actor and things (and his actor is really good too!) because he was part of a carnival troupe or something, there was a whole song at the beginning with him and a bunch of midgets from the carnival being silly for the rest of the merry men before the Black Fox got back (he's the leader) from what he was doing and told him to stop wearing his clothes and stuff. In any case they stop at a woodcutter's hut to get out of the rain for the night and Hawkins sings to the baby and Jean falls in love with him which seems a bit fast but I guess she likes him being sensitive and stuff and good with kids but she tells him she can't marry him until the baby is on the throne and right! They can't do it because they have this whole plan with this secret passage that lets out into the forest but it's locked with a key the king has and so they would need to steal it with access to the king's chambers so the plan can't go into action. And then a traveling jester, Giachamo (I think that spelling is right I'm not sure) shows up at the hut and asks for shelter also and says that he's going to be jester to the king and so Hawkins and Jean look at each other and knock out the jester and he steals his clothes to go in his stead, and Jean is supposed to go the rest of the way to the abbey with the baby but the King... oh right! The king wants to marry his daughter off to some noble person from the north but the daughter wants to only marry for love because her maid (who is also a witch by the way) told her she should, or at least spun her a bunch of fairy tale stories? And so in any case the noble is also a knight and really good at fighting and so there's going to be a tournament and so the king wants to gather up all the pretty wen girls in the kingdom which is really kinda awful by the way and so Lady Jean gets taken by that and the baby ends up at the castle also. 

Does that all make sense? I realized I just wrote a lot, are you following so far? There's a lot more movie to go. I think I might learn to deal with hand cramps from all of this. Or do any of the powers I picked deal with hand cramps from lots of writing? 

Well Endowed and Hollow Leg usually help a little with that sort of thing.

I think I'm following along okay so far! What happens next?

Okay, great! So... oh right! So the king's most evil advisor doesn't like the other three advisors because they want the princess to get married but the evil one doesn't, I'm not really sure why he doesn't but he doesn't. So he wants the other three advisors killed. But luckily (so to speak) he's just sent away for an extremely skilled assassin, who also happens to play as a court jester! In other words, Giachamo! Who Hawkins is now pretending to be, which was the cause of a whole bunch of things going wrong. Jean told him that there's a spy in the castle already and he should whistle the secret whistle to find him and so he sings this song as a jester person about finding love while doing the whistle and then the king's evil adviser whistles back before the actual spy can get to him, because the evil adviser thinks that Giachamo is whistling to find who he works for when in fact Hawkins is whistling to find the spy. And so then Hawkins thinks the evil adviser is actually the spy, despite the actual spy (who's like a person that does fetching and carrying and moving luggage around and stuff so he's not important to everyone) trying to convince him otherwise. And so they agree to meet in an hour (with a bit of silliness) and then Hawkins goes to his quarters where he's met by the maid that is also a witch. Oh, right, something I forgot: the princess tells the witch that she's not going to marry the northern noble person and that she'd rather die and she's going to make the maid kill herself also first (she gives her a goblet of poison and holds a knife on her) and so the maid I think scrambling for a solution hears the voice of Hawkins/Giachamo from the window who is approaching and tells the princess that that's the man that she's going to marry, he's been sent by the gods to do it. And the princess agrees that the man is fair of face and such, and also has a pretty singing voice (he really does, he's not my type I don't think but he can sing very well and is kinda cute), but also that if the maid is lying she'll kill the maid. So the maid goes to Giachamo's room and tries to convince him to go to the princess, but Hawkins doesn't want to betray Lady Jean (and he shouldn't! Good for him!) and so the maid who is also a witch hypnotizes him and puts him under a spell to make him obey her. And then she changes his personality to be very handsy, much too handsy though the princess liked it, and then he swings on a vine to her window and courts her very quickly and she's unsure at first but then he's swinging around the key that he got from the king's room (I forget how that happened) and she's like "you really were sent by the gods, with our way out!" and takes the key to hold against her chest and then the king comes in the room and she tells Hawkins to hide but Hawkins has been hypnotized to not be the kind of person to hide (he wants to cut the king to ribbons) but luckily the princess snaps her fingers and the spell goes away (the witch said he goes in and out with a snap) and then there's a very silly bit where he's hiding and the king and princess are arguing and keep snapping their fingers at each other and he keeps opening the curtains and then immediately closing them and hiding as he goes back and forth between under the spell or not. And eventually the key falls out of her shirt and the king takes it back and is mad at the princess and snaps one more time on the way out the door and then they talk some more and then Hawkins leaves. But on the way back he stops to talk to the evil advisor, who wants him to kill the three advisors tonight, and if that doesn't work run away with the princess, which his new suave personality agrees to do all of it and says that the evil advisor should buy the other advisor's widows flowers. And then he goes back to his room to talk to the witch and reports on his success at which point she makes him forget everything and fall asleep. 

And that's... everything so far. There was a lot of things that happened in this movie? Are you still following along? 

I'm still following! Wow, I hope everything turns out okay!

(Does it explain why there were two different people looking out for the same secret whistle? I feel like the most important thing about a secret whistle should be that nobody unexpected is using it.)

Oh I don't think there were two different people looking for the same secret whistle! The evil adviser just saw the person he hired making some kind of signal and probably thought that the person he hired was makin a signal because he wanted to report in. The secret whistle was not very well thought through I guess because you respond to the secret whistle by whistling back the same whistle which is not a very good secret signal! 

And it does turn out okay! Let me tell you some more before I have to take another break to massage my hand (I'm really looking forward to Well Endowed and Hollow Leg keeping my hand from hurting so much!) 

Hawkins wakes up confused and has to report to be a jester to the king and spends some time doing a song and dance thing to distract from the fact that he was given the baby by the spy by mistake (Jean told him to because Jean thought he had the key but he didn't because the king has it because he gave it to the princess while under the witch's spell and wow that's a long chain of events now that I've written it). And then the advisors die (the witch overheard the plotting by the evil advisor and his minions and decided to help out Giachamo I guess) and then the northern baron is going to show up so he clears away the bodies and the northern baron person is happy to have the princess's hand in marriage but the princess doesn't want him because he's big and awful and so she reveals that she loves Giachamo and gave him her handkerchief and Hawkins is very confused but they search him and find it and the king wants to have him killed but the princess says she'll throw herself off a parapet if he does so instead he decides to (or actually the evil adviser tells him to) make Giachamo a knight so that the northern baron can challenge him in a mortal duel for the princess's hand in marriage. Hawkins doesn't want to become a knight (they're lying to him and telling it so that he can be noble and marry the princess but it's a lie) and normally it takes a lot of training but they cheat at the tasks he's supposed to for him -- he's supposed to scale a wall in armor and they put him in armor and then throw him over the wall, and he's supposed to fight a wild hog with his bare hands and they put him up against a tiny tiny adorable piglet (everybody awwwed, including me) and stuff like that. 

Okay my hands are cramping and I think this is a good point to pause so how are you enjoying this so far?

Oh, that makes more sense. They really should have put more thought into their secret whistle, then!

How did he hide the baby while he was singing and dancing? Was he carrying the baby in a backpack? Did he put the baby in a potted plant? I hear people hide things in potted plants sometimes at fancy events.

...was the adorable piglet okay?

It's a really exciting story! I like it a lot. ✨

Oh! No, the baby was in a basket, the baby was in a basket (with blankets and things) for most of the film. He got passed off to Lady Jean who was there... oh, right, so, the king sent Giachamo to pick one of the girls from all of the girls for him which by the way is super creepy and awful and then Jean escaped and found Hawkins but Hawkins was under a magic spell at the time and so was acting strangely and then the king ran into them both and was very happy with Giachamo's pick of girl for him and the king had her taken away to be dressed in pretty gowns and things. And so she was dressed up pretty and sitting at the hand of the king and stuff. It was all very bad and evil. But she was there in the room and was able to sneak off with the baby while Hawkins distracted the guards. 

It... wasn't really clear if the pig was okay. They pushed him on top of the pig and the pig was in deep mud so maybe the pig was okay? I hope the pig was okay, it was a really really cute pig! I assume the real pig was ok, they didn't show him landing on it and you're not allowed to hurt animals to make movies though this was an old movie and the rules might be different, but in the story I hope the pig was ok. 

So Hawkins is told by Jean and a note that the king is knighting him only to kill him... oh wait no first Jean pretends to be interested in the king so that she can get him alone and take the key off his belt so she can get it to the merry men, which is where she finds out that the king is planning to kill Hawkins, and then she pretends to have a genetic and also contagious disease to keep the king from doing extremely awful and distasteful things to her and I know diseases don't work like that but they probably didn't know back then! So she tells him the king is planning to kill him and he tries to run but ends up at the knighting ceremony and is knighted and immediately challenged by the northern baron to a duel for the princess' hand, which he doesn't want to accept but Jean says the Black Fox will show up to duel in his place so he accepts but then the duel is going to happen immediately. Jean gives the key and a note to the spy who sends it by bird to the Black Fox just before getting caught by the bad adviser and his men (at some point the person who actually made the deal with Giachamo told them that that wasn't Giachamo and so they know that they're secretly part of the merry men and in fact think that Hawkins is the Black Fox and want to use him to kill the northern baron first. And so the duel happens, but the witch decides to help because the princess tells her (repeatedly) that if he dies, she dies, and so she poisons the vessel with the pestle and not the chalice from the palace (the vessel with the pestle has the pellet with the poison but the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true) and tells him all that, and tells him to repeat it, which he immediately gets confused and mixes it all up which is silly, and gets into his armor which has just been magnetized by a lightning strike (lots of silly slapstick from that) and then the witch tells him that there has been a change because they broke the chalice from the palace and instead are using a flagon with a dragon, but instead of keeping the vessel with the pestle poisoned she poisoned the flagon with the dragon (the flagon with the dragon holds the pellet with the poison, the flagon from the with the dragon (I guess you can get messed up!) has the brew that is true). But one of the bad adviser's men overhears and tells the northern duke and so they both have trouble remembering and fight over who drinks from which glass at the toast and the king says that there will be no toast and to just get on with it. And Hawkins immediately loses his weapon, but eventually the spiky ball thing sticks to his shield, I think because of the magnetism, and it pulls the northern baron out of his horse, and so Hawkins wins, and spares the northern baron. 

Okay I think I have one more section to get through after this but I need to rest my hands again. How's it going? Still following? 

I am having some trouble with the vessel and the flagon but apparently so is everyone else. I think I understand the rest! When you say the king sends Giachamo, you mean he thinks he's sending Giachamo but really it's Hawkins, right?

That's pretty fair! It seemed really obvious at the time but possibly it's possible to mess up. Still, they were messing it up in all sorts of ways, mixing words together and getting everything confused, and I don't think I'd ever be that confused. But the witch did repeat it a lot more times at Hawkins than I did so he would really know for sure. And yes I mean Hawkins he just thought it what Giachamo, Giachamo spends most of the movie a captive of the Black Fox or something, we never see him again after they knock him on the head and steal his clothes, and Jean says she'll get the Black Fox to send someone to take care of him. I hope that means captive! Though he is a horrible assassin, so maybe he deserves to die. 

Okay so the king is forced to give the princess's hand in marriage to Giachamo (who is really Hawkins and doesn't want it because he's very into Jean) but then the bad advisor reveals that Giachamo isn't Giachamo but actually the Black Fox and he apparently tortured the spy (that's why they used the whistle and Jean didn't tell him who the spy was, by the way, she described all the tortures they would do to him in a lot of detail it involved among other things pulling out fingernails with red hot pincers so she didn't trust him with the information because he'd talk if they caught him) to find the location of the baby and was going to present that as evidence but meanwhile, the real Black Fox got the letter and the key and went to go through the secret passage with everyone but it didn't work because it was partially collapsed but luckily the midget troupe could fit so they used them, and the midget troupe got up into the rafters and stacked on top of each other to stand behind Hawkins pretending to be a guard but the bottom one cut him free and so then he admits to being the Black Fox (but isn't really but it was effective) and gives the midgets swinging from the rafters the baby and also Lady Jean goes up into the rafters and then he runs away because he can't really fight (just do acrobatics and sing and act) and is perused by the bad adviser while the midgets beat everyone up. I think he was helping the midgets for a while but then had to run away. Also Lady Jean tricks the gate guard and knocks him out so she can let the merry men that aren't midgets back in. 

So Hawkins is in a swordfight with the bad adviser but isn't doing very well because he's bad at swordfighting and the princess and the maid see this and the princess once again tells the maid that if he dies, she dies, so when Hawkins gets knocked down again the witch hypnotizes him when he has a moment into being the best swordfighter, and he is! Unfortunately the spell has the same flaw as last time, and a snap can switch him between good and bad, and what follows is a hilarious swordfight where every time when one of them is winning someone snaps their fingers. Hawkins usually does it when he's winning (everyone groaned, it was great), saying that he was going to defeat him like that, or something like that, and snapping on the word that. And eventually, he wins, and Jean tosses him into the water. 

But the bad guys got a messenger to the northern baron and he's back and going to fight people but then they reveal the baby and his birthmark and everyone bows to the rightful king and Hawkins puts him on the throne and sings about how everything is exactly how it should be now and he can marry Jean and then the movie ends! And then I hung out with my new friends for a bit but most of them wanted to get to sleep soon after (I think they don't enjoy talking to people as much as I do, most people don't!) and I also have an adventure tomorrow morning so I also left! I should maybe get some sleep soon, but first, what did you think of the movie? 

That was all such an adventure! I really liked it, and it sounds like you did too! I'm glad you had fun watching it with your friends.

Sleep well!

I'm glad you liked it too! Talk to you in the morning!! 

And with that she closes the notebook (though she still feels kinda bad for leaving it alone even though it has told her it'll be fine) and tries to get to sleep. 

It's not as easy as she wants it to be. She spends at least an hour or two tossing and turning and thinking about everything that could happen (finding a magical kingdom beset by evil and helping to throw off the yoke of oppression and then become a magical princess to rule the land justly for 99 years or however long and marrying the villain with the heart of gold that only needed to be shown true love and then returning one day to her old life or fighting off demons in a stronghold against the darkness or joining a magical school and learning spells to finally defeat the dark lord or getting captured by the villain's right hand man and convincing him the error of his ways...) as well as all the things she's giving up (she'll miss her new friends and her old friends and never go to church with Carla and miss her brother and sisters and parents terribly and what if she messes up and bad things happen to her and is she really doing this for real) but eventually, eventually, she manages to get some sleep, fitful though it may be. 

And eventually, she wakes up! It's still early yet, and she's nervous but excited. She gets dressed and tiptoes out into the halls of the dorm to the common room with her backpack and spends a not-so-insignificant fraction of her pocket money (dad doesn't need to know, and this is important) on the machine's full supply of Snickers and Doritos, and adds some pretzels and potato chips and Reeses and M&Ms and things for variety, and also buys two water bottles and a bottle of coke. Putting her now much heavier backpack on, she tiptoes back into her room, and opens the notebook. 

Okay, I... think I'm ready. I'm nervous, but I'm ready. And excited! And really nervous. So what do I need to do, besides check off the right destination option, which I should go and do, to do this? 

All you have to do is check off your destination and then tell me clearly that you've made your final choices and you're ready to receive the Spirit's power! ♡

Okay. Is she really doing this? She's really doing this. Really, truly, utterly doing this. She's going on so many exciting adventures even though she's leaving people behind, but she'll be back. (She'd better be back.) 

She checks off her last remaining option, and takes a deep breath. 

Okay, I'm ready. I'm ready, I've made my final choices, and I'm ready to receive the spirit's power. 

All right! ♡