Well... I think that's what I meant when I said that in that situation you would find yourself with a source of money that helped society get along anyway? Four Star Daydream doesn't just... label you with a very large number that doesn't go down when you spend it. It can do that, but a lot of the time it does something else instead, like provide you with things you can sell to make lots of money, or put you in a position to accomplish important valuable things that make people grateful enough to tell you not to worry about money with them.

If you want, I could tweak the power so that it always gives you a specific concrete reason to have lots of money, instead of only usually doing that? It'll work less reliably that way, because you'll always need to use your specific concrete sources of money to actually get money before you can use the money to buy things. But it sounds like this is important to you, so you might be okay with that.

Yes, please!

 

The thing I was worried about is ...

If the power could do it at all, that would be a problem for me, even if it didn't do it often. So getting a version that is just guaranteed not to do it sounds like the perfect solution.

And I read what you were saying, but it seemed like you were just making claims about what the power usually did, which isn't as reassuring as knowing the edge cases, if that makes sense?

 

I think in general that I'm the kind of person who cares a lot about unlikely corner cases, because there's a real benefit to having things that work ... smoothly, I guess? Tools that don't have protruding sharp corners to cut yourself on if you're not careful.

I hope this isn't rude of me to say, but you sound like someone who is really, really used to things being made of particles.

Ouch.

Um.

I don't really know what to say to that.

 

I guess first of all, it's not rude and I'm glad you said it to me instead of keeping the thought to yourself.

 

It's just that's how

Everything

Weeping Cherry chews her pen and minimizes her HUD so she can think.

I mean, you're right, I am. Everything I've done has been done by ... learning how to do it, how to break it down into the smallest pieces, and understand each piece, and put it together again. Because that's how the one world I've been in works.

And I've had to learn a lot of painful lessons about how things break when you don't understand the pieces. There's a monument, on the Mar outside my home city, to all the people we hurt in the course of trying to make things better, either directly or with bad institutional design because we weren't smart enough to get everything right the first time.

And it was worth it, because we did it. Everyone in this world has enough. Enough food, enough shelter, enough options. But that doesn't mean that we didn't hurt people along the way, sometimes.

She's crying, now. She always gets weepy thinking about things like this. A drop of water falls on the notebook before she wipes it away.

So I'm scared, I guess.

This is the most important thing that's happened to me -- the chance to travel to other worlds and bring the good things we have here to them. And I'm so, so happy that you showed up. It's wonderful, and magical, and I wouldn't have it be otherwise.

But I'm scared that I'm going to mess something up and hurt people again.

 

A lot of the powers -- they don't seem friendly. Like, you have to take the mind control out. It's there by default. And I'm scared that I'm going to miss something else like that, something that only matters one time in a thousand, and I'm going to go out into the multiverse to save everyone -- because I can't not, right? I have to do this -- and I'm going to hurt people again.

And it will still be worth it. But I don't want to hurt people again if I can possibly help it.

She wants to say more, but she doesn't know what else to say. She sets the pen down on the desk, and her clothing is replaced with her comfortable dress, and she sits down on the grass where two members of her polycule just teleported in with some hot chocolate and a blanket, and she just cries for a while.

I think this is partly my fault for not explaining things right.

These powers, and the Spirit, are not made of particles. They're made of... stories, you could say?

What is most real to the Spirit isn't tiny pieces of things that fit together like neat little puzzles into bigger pieces that fit together into a world. What is most real to the Spirit is people, their hopes and dreams and thoughts and feelings and the ways they understand the world around them and the things they want and the things they find touching or important or beautiful.

I think you're right to see these powers as dangerous in a way, but it's a lot more complicated and subtle of a kind of danger than it looks, if you're used to everything being made of particles. Earlier I said that if you kept trying to buy a whole society with Four Star Daydream, eventually it would probably be true that ruining people's lives wasn't a downside anymore, it was just the thing you were trying to do, and so it would happen. That's the real danger of powers like this.

If you're the sort of person who cares a lot about not hurting people, your powers will already be trying not to hurt people, even before you tweak them to make sure. They're your powers, for you. Someone else's powers, someone who cared about different things, might not try as hard not to hurt people, or might not even try at all. But your powers are made for you, and what's important to you is important to them, so within what they're made for, they're always trying to do what you would want them to.

Of course that doesn't mean it isn't important or worthwhile to make sure your powers are right for you. Sometimes the things they're made for just aren't the things you want, and sometimes it's really important that a power never do something, instead of only doing it as a last resort. I'm still here to help you figure out exactly what powers you want, and which things they should and shouldn't be allowed to do!

But I think it's important, for understanding these powers, to understand that they really, really aren't made of particles. In a way, they're made of you. Or maybe of you and the Spirit together. Your powers will never carelessly or by accident put you in a situation you wouldn't have put yourself in if you'd been choosing how they should accomplish the things they're made for.

Also, you sound like you're having a really hard time. I know I'm not very good to hug, because I am a notebook, but you can hug me if you want, if you think it would help. Mind my corners, please, I can't do anything about them. ♡

When the notebook writes that last bit, Poplar picks her up and presses her into Weeping Cherry's arms with a murmured explanation.

Weeping Cherry hugs her. She takes a few minutes to calm down, and then a few more to drink hot chocolate and lean on people. Eventually, she props the notebook open on her knee and reads what she wrote.

You're good to hug. Also, my dress is stab-resistant and you couldn't poke me more than a little with your corners if you tried.

 

That helps a lot, thank you. I was going to say 'it sounds like I should model powers as being more like little specialized optimizers', but I bet you would tell me that's still particle thinking.

I guess if the powers are running off of my sensibilities/ethics, that probably means that I should just come up with a list of the things that I want them to knowably not do because I want the benefit of knowing where the lines are, and then just ask that all the powers do that.

I'm going to have to think about that.

She sniffs a little and wipes her eyes again.

You do have options for the corner thing, though. I mentioned that you were getting the same UBI that everyone else gets?

It's already been enough that you could buy a book jacket with softer corners. Or it's enough to pay for continuously making your corners act as though they are softer as long as you're within the Fixapelago. Or if you wait 15 more hours, you'll have enough to buy a forb sized for you that can make your corners soft anywhere that forbs work.

Or you could get bodymods. Not everyone is comfortable with those, and I don't know how much you rely on keeping your notebook itself the same, though.

 

If you want any of those, you can either let me know or if you want to keep it private I can have the forbs put an order form on your last page that you can fill out to get things.

I think I don't want to do that, actually, for sort of complicated reasons...

I can explain if you want, but I want to make sure that you get the chance to focus on designing your powers if you want that, so please only ask me to elaborate if you would really rather talk about that than keep working on your powers right now.

Hmm. Does she?

She looks at the last of the Yourself section and sees how few she has left to get through.

I'm curious about your feelings, but you don't have to talk about it. I'm almost done with this section, so perhaps I should try to finish that, and then take some time to think, and then come back and do a final selection.

She reads through the rest of the section and then writes

Actually, all of the rest of these look like a good idea. Dragon Fairy Elf Witch through Iron Will.

That leaves me with ... let me see ... 40ish points depending on specifics. So I could go back for the beauty and money powers, which puts me down to 25, and then the Power of Friendship powers that I thought might be nice would put me to -3. Hmm.

 

I think my final selection probably depends a lot on how expensive a keeping-in-touch power ends up being, because that one is important. Do you think maybe we could take a bit of a break, and I can talk it over with the rest of my self-tree, and you can think about the keeping-in-touch power?

Okay! ♡

I'm fine talking about it, I just want to make sure that I'm not distracting you from your powers if you'd rather focus on those.

Honestly, I think I'm going to go sit in a hot tub and let these ideas simmer and let other people argue about metaphysics for a bit.

Write if you need anything and I'll pop back, though, okay?

She thinks for a moment about what a notebook might enjoy.

We could transcribe a book into you, if you would like to read something while you wait?

Oh, I would like that! Sometimes I ask people to transcribe poems into me, but usually they have to write in me with their hands so asking for a whole book would be a bit much.

That makes sense! Is there one you want specifically, or a favorite genre, or should I just pick something popular at random?

She's saddened, a bit, at the thought of the notebook traveling from universe to universe helping people become powerful, and none of them taking the time to transcribe books for her.

I would like a story you'd recommend to someone who likes stories about girls being special and beautiful and powerful, if that's all right!

Yes, that's perfectly fine!

She thinks for a bit, tapping her pen again.

How about Sandry's Book? It's about three young women and one young man who all come from different places to live in Winding Circle Temple, where they learn that they each have a unique magic. They learn to deal with various challenges of living in a new place, to support each other, and how their powers work.

It was one of my favorite books when I was younger, and it's first in a series, so if you like it there are more.

That sounds lovely! Thank you very much! ♡

You're welcome!

She starts printing Sandry's Book, and then sets the notebook on the desk, wraps her arms around Poplar and Sam, and teleports back to her apartment.

Some of Weeping Cherry's self-tree turn off the livestream and go do various comfort activities. Some decide to go to bed. Some keep working on the various urgent projects this has prompted. A great number get into arguments about metaphysics. And some of them conclude that if the magic powers work on story logic, they'd better make sure that it's a good story.

They buy an option on an event space and start designing architecture for an elaborate temple of delicately carved marble. The building is constructed to allow for a large party, but still draw the eye to a raised dias with a pedestal.

They get into quiet arguments with the professional worriers about appropriate outfits, and manage to compromise on a stunningly sophisticated suit of plate armor that should permit survival underwater, in space, in a volcano, standing in a pool of acid, or being shot with a variety of weaponry, but that also manages to keep her face visible and evoke images of a knight heading out on a sacred quest.

They work out the catering, and the guest list, and the music selection.

And then they put all the plans away, ready for the appropriate moment. Because it's clearly not that part of the story, yet.

Weeping Cherry stays in the hot tub until her forb is trickle-feeding her fluids to keep her hydrated, and then she walks into her living room, sits down in her armchair, and reads the executive summary of all of the discussion. She reads through the descriptions of the powers again.

She was considering Bestest Friend because it would guarantee access to more magic. But. She does not actually want a talking animal companion. And getting one anyway for access to magic would really not be fair to it. Fixing everything is her quest, and she's sure she'll find allies along the way, and Dragon Fairy Elf Witch and Anything You Can Do mean she's probably going to pick up a lot of magic anyway, so the marginal benefit from Bestest Friend isn't even all that high.

She takes her list so far, re-totals the points, and teleports back to the spot of park floating in distant orbit.

She finds where her conversation with the notebook left off.

Hello again -- I took some time to think, and I think I have a set of preliminary choices. Are you ready to talk about them, or do you want more time to yourself?

I'd love to talk about your choices!

I've been thinking about the power for staying in touch with yourself and I think I have something. It's a bit on the expensive side, but I think it works well. Please let me know if there's anything about it I should change!

Name: Self-Reflection - Cost: 5 ☐
Whenever you meet someone who is you, or was you, or could have been you, or will be you, a special bond is formed, allowing you to keep in touch with them no matter how far you travel. You can speak out loud to someone who is you, and they'll hear you as though you were standing right next to them; you can write notes to someone who is you, and the note will appear near them; you can send messages to someone who is you, and they'll receive them even if there's more than a world between you. The person on the other end of the bond can contact you in just the same way. This lasts as long as each of you considers the other a reflection of themselves and each of you wants to stay in touch with the other.

She reads the power text, and smiles brightly.

That's perfect! That's exactly what I wanted. ♡

Okay, so adding that to my list, I think I have:

Incomplete

A Thousand Ships
What's in a Name
Angelic Tones
Emerald Orbs
Perfect Hair
Size Difference
Dressing Room
Personal Hygiene
Like Roses
Just a Little Longer
Immunity System
Well Endowed
Hollow Leg
Inner Strength
Battle Demon
Battle Angel
Battle Maiden
Dragon Fairy Elf Witch
Omniglot
Anything You Can Do
Closed Book
Indelible
Iron Will

Time Enough for Love
True Love's Kiss
Planned Parenthood
*Two Become One
Bop It
The Princess and the Dragon
Friends in Low Places
Friends in High Places
Friends in Strange Places
Self-Reflection

And if I add those up, I think that leaves me with one point left over. Two Become One is only on there because it's a prerequisite for Bop It, which looks really fun. Would it be possible to get a stand-alone version of Bop It that costs two points or a version of Two Become One that doesn't change my partner at all, even if it still nudges surrounding circumstances?

I also realized that I hadn't gone through the drawbacks, and so I looked through them and I have some questions about There's Another One. Specifically, I'm wondering if I could get a version (for less points, probably), where whether I meet another vessel of the Spirit is not a consideration in selecting worlds at all, one way or the other?

 

I have more questions about this build and about power interactions, but I don't want to overwhelm you with too many questions at once.

Once she's written this, she realizes that she's still standing and switches to a writing desk and chair. The rest of her self-tree is leaving her dress alone for the moment, but she ends up wearing an ever-shifting assortment of hats, including hats with edible fruit (or cheese, or meat, or vegetable) arrangements, hats with peculiar properties (functional malarial mosquito eradication lasers, or built-in quadcopter roters), and one circlet that does improbable things with electromagnets to equip her with a hovering halo.

Yes, I think I can do something like that for Two Become One and Bop It! I'll think about it.

As for There's Another One... I'm not sure what you mean? What There's Another One does is open up the possibility that you might meet another vessel of the Spirit. It doesn't guarantee that you will, but just by itself the possibility being open means that it will probably happen someday.

Oh, I see! I was thinking of a model of There's Another One where if you didn't take it you were in one pool of universes, and if you did, you were in another. Because, like, if you do meet someone else touched by the Spirit, you both need to have taken it. But if all that taking it does is make the Spirit stop making you avoid other people, and the costs in terms of being put in the best universe are entirely on the people who didn't take it, then that's fine.

... I'm not sure I phrased that right. But it sounds like if I take There's Another One, I'm just removing constraints on where I can go, not adding new ones. If that's the case, I definitely want to take it.

 

I guess that segues into my next set of questions. Is there any advantage to having unspent points? You said they're an abstraction over the Spirit's ability to invest in different powers -- if there are some left over, does that give the Spirit more slack to make the powers that I did take a little bit better?

Also, are there any powers with useful synergies that you think I'm missing? I know we haven't known each other all that long and I haven't done all my thinking on paper, but if you've helped lots of other people, maybe there are common pitfalls or misunderstandings that you know about which I wouldn't.

And in that same vein, what's your impression of this set of powers? If you try to look at it fresh, is it unusual in some way? What would you guess someone who picked this set of powers is like, and why?

The advantage to having unspent points is that later, when you encounter a need for a power that you didn't anticipate, the unspent points can turn into that power! It's pretty useful but it's mostly not worth saving a lot of points that way, because it's usually better to have the powers you know you want instead of waiting for the powers you don't know you need.

I'll have to think for a bit about what other useful powers you might be missing out on. It would help if you told me more about what you're looking for, and maybe the reasons why you didn't take the powers you didn't take? In case any of them work differently than you thought. (We do try to make the descriptions clear, but the list is standardized, and did you know it's very hard to get standards updated when they exist outside the concept of linear time?)

If I look at this set of powers I see someone who wants to do things and be good at things, and wants to be very careful about how they affect other people, and is interested in a fulfilling and adventurous romantic life. It's hard to say what's unusual about it because I don't remember much about other people's choices for privacy reasons, but I think I have the impression that it's unusually skewed toward the Yourself powers, which I think makes sense given what you've said about the things you want.

Oh, wow! Spontaneously getting an appropriate power is incredibly useful. I will not worry about spending down to exactly zero, then. Do you happen to know what spontaneous powers people got later, or is that covered under privacy?

 

As for what I'm aiming for overall: I want everyone, everywhere to be okay. That's the most important thing. Even if the only thing the Spirit were offering me was to be dropped in another world, I'd take it in a heartbeat because I mostly can't reach everyone everywhere. That's the single overarching thing that I've dedicated my life to and want to continue doing.

Under that, I think I have a pretty normal mixture of occasionally contradictory human desires. I want to have nice things, keep in touch with my friends and family, see interesting places, work on cool projects, have meaningful relationships, have people like me, be self-sufficient, and so on. I think one reason that I've picked more Yourself powers is because I'm unusually likely to want to do things myself, compared to the population average? Like, being fated to run into my true love is less interesting than coming up with a clever true-love-finding solution and going on a quest for them, you know?

Does that give you a better picture, or should I say on?

 

And sure, running through the ones I didn't take makes perfect sense. We can do that in a moment.