Hmm...

I'm not sure whether I could make you a power that gives your loved ones something like It Gets Better. True Love's Kiss and Eternal Love cover a lot of things, but not quite as much as It Gets Better does.

That makes sense It Gets Better is a lot on its own. I guess I Can Help Them would let me do it myself if I can get them back and they're willing to let me help. I guess I'm wondering whether the uncoerced choice part of Eternal Love also applies to the part about people being okay with being alive again.

I also just... I don't want people to suffer like that and I especially don't want it to happen to people I care about. I guess that's probably too big to guarantee with a power though.

I think which of these powers you can expect to really need also depends on how you're planning to live your life. Opting In is the kind of power that I expect someone probably requested because they were specifically planning to provoke a lot of dangerous people, and wanted to make sure that they wouldn't cause a lot of extra trouble that way. Most people don't need powers like Opting In because they're not going to live the kind of life where Opting In comes up a lot. Does that make sense?

Yeah... that makes sense. A lot of these powers are about extreme circumstances because these powers in general let people live extreme lives. I think... trying to make the world better could mean powerful people get upset with me but I'm less sure it's as personal as Opting In might be built for.

I think making powerful people upset with you by trying to improve the world is the kind of situation where Cotton Candy, True Love's Kiss, and Eternal Love will do plenty to keep your loved ones safe, and you can still take Safe at Home or Opting In if you're worried, but you shouldn't expect to need them unless you think the narrative you'd want for your life would specifically involve endangering your loved ones. Does that make sense?

Sapphire takes a deep breath in and then lets it out. "Right, because the kind of story I want to be a part of influences how the world around me works."

"It's a big adjustment."

"It is."

Thanks that makes sense. I'll go without for now then. It's hard to shift towards thinking in narratives after spending a lot of time training away or mitigating my bias towards thinking that way.

That makes a lot of sense! I can imagine that thinking in narratives when your life isn't as directly influenced by them could be pretty troubling.

It is. I think one of the worst elements is that a lot of people think that good things happen to good people and the same for bad. On the surface that isn't a terrible belief it's kinda hopeful in a sense. Unfortunately some people see that as meaning that if a bad thing happens to someone they must deserve it.

Oh dear. Yes, that would be very troublesome indeed.

Yeah.

She draws a small frowny face next to Yeah.

Ooh, I Can Help Them is next. That gets a plus.

Oh and it has a friend. Okay, Ever Onward is every bit as wonderful. I am a bit curious about the word redeem though. Does that also apply to people I'm trying to help with their inner problems who aren't hurting other people or at risk of doing that?

Yes.

Oh that's wonderful! You're such a good notebook.

I try! ♡

I think Ever Onward definitely does what I was hoping Inspirational would... it won't work as well on large groups but I'm okay with that.

Yes, if you want to influence a large group with Ever Onward the best way to do it is indirectly, by making connections with people who will go on to make connections with others.

I understand. I prefer this way anyway. I just thought I would have to be working with large groups to achieve what I wanted to.

Can I ask what it is you're trying to achieve?

That's a big question and I'm not entirely sure I know. I think the big underlying theme is that I want the world to be better kinder, or I guess by the world being kinder I mean I want people to be more inclined to kindness.

That's always felt like too big of a goal for one person though so I had decided on one thing that I was hoping would help with that. The choice I had tentatively settled on was helping people be less worried about sex and nudity.

I'm not sure if that's the most important part of the problem to focus on but it's a part of it that matters a lot to me so even with your arrival it still feels like a reasonable focus.

That sounds like the kind of thing that Ever Onward could help a lot with!

It is, that's why I'm so happy about Ever Onward.

"This is going to be really good for you and also you're going to help a lot of people."

"I will. It's great." She takes his hand and squeezes it.

Then she turns back to the notebook.

Alright, I guess the next one to think about is The Rescuer. I wasn't sure about it in the first round and I think I'm going to take it out now.

Maybe there's an element of selfishness when I don't have to worry about the people I love dying and other people do but I also don't want to make my life's work be bringing people back from the dead.

I think, if you're generally in favour of people getting brought back from the dead, but you don't want to do it yourself, you're pretty likely to meet someone else who can take the lead on that at some point. I get the impression that wanting people brought back from the dead is a common preference.