"You're right," she agrees.

I was considering taking Great Responsibility but I talked it over with my brother and we agreed that it's much more for someone trying to personally help a lot of people instead of someone trying to shift society.

Yes, I think I agree!

She checks both Very Distinctive and Flashy. She's not really interested in sneaking around.

Secret Identity...

How does Secret Identity interact with very distinctive? I guess maybe they only sound at odds? Also what does it mean by home?

Home means this world, the one you're starting in, and Secret Identity would suppress Very Distinctive along with everything else because it's an outwardly apparent power. But people who knew you at home would still recognize you elsewhere once Very Distinctive was operating again.

So if I pick Stay Here and Secret Identity it's as if I just didn't take anything unless I find a way to leave?

Taking Secret Identity ensures that you will both leave this world and return to it, regardless of your chosen destination.

Thanks for explaining.

She is definitely not taking that then.

For Selective Memory and especially the Veil what happens to my brother's memories. If I take the veil and leave does that mean I just disappear and he has no idea why?

Tom tenses a little, squeezes her shoulder and waits for the Notebook's response.

Yes, both of your memories would be affected since you're both participating in the selections.

"How about not that one, at least not if you're leaving. I think that would be really bad for both of us. If you're staying maybe it wouldn't be as bad."

"Agreed."

I don't think I would want to consider The Veil unless I choose Stay Put then.

She checks Selective Memory

Dramatic Damsel is not appealing.

The next three are... just terrible.

Does The Crazy Train override Providential Parenthood's guarantee about not having children unless I'm ready for them?

Not at all! But it does mean that you can no longer invoke Providential Parenthood on purpose.

I think that's at least worth considering then. Thank you.

She checks that and after reading it They'll Know.

I think that's the first pass done. Is there anything about my initial list that you think it would be good for me to think about?

It looks like you've checked some powers that you weren't sure you wanted; are you going to think about those next and decide whether you want them?

Also, I'm still working on the custom powers you've asked for; some of them are pretty tricky. You might want to keep in mind that there are more powers coming while you think about what your list looks like right now.

Yeah, I might take a bit of a break first though. Try to get fresh eyes on things. I'll try to find you a poem or two to read in the meantime.

Thanks for working on coming up with those custom powers for me.

I think I'm going to play some games with my brother to try to take my mind off things, if you'd like I think some of the games we like would be possible to include you in if you'd like to play.

What sort of games?

There's a few different ideas I have but generally they're all games about words and associating words together. There's also one about telling stories together.

That sounds interesting! If you need a break, though, maybe I shouldn't be pestering you to play games with me.

I mostly want to take my mind off the powers for a little bit. I don't think you playing with us would make that harder. Besides which, you're doing something really nice for me and I want to do something nice for you back.

Okay. In that case, I'd love to play word games with you!

I'm glad, would you rather I just picked one or would you like me to tell me about some ideas so you can help choose?

I think you can just pick one. Whatever you pick is probably going to be new and interesting to me!

Alright, I think a good place to start is a game called Rolf. I'll go grab the cards and then we can get started.

She walks off and then comes back.

So, the way this game works is that there are cards. On the front of the card is a letter or letter pair in this case B and word that starts with those letters in this case Bucket. On the back of the card are two phrases in this case "Kick the bucket." and "There's a whole in my bucket." The current reader picks one of those phrases and then we all try to come up with more words that starts with B to replace Bucket with.

Whoever comes up with the funniest or coolest idea gets the card and we keep playing until we get bored or run out of cards. Does that make sense?

I'm not sure. Maybe you could try an example?

So say I'm the reader and I pick the second phrase "Kick the bucket"

Some possible substitutions would be: Banana, Building, Beehive, Bread, Ballista, Bra, Bricks, Beach, and Bridge. Of those I think "Kick the Bra" sounds funniest because it sounds to me like it's suggesting a bra is a bad habit or something to gripe about. But maybe you would like a different one of those words or have a word of your own which you thought was funnier or cooler.