And if I want the ability to invite someone I would either need to rely on the powers like Anything You Can Do or ask for another custom power. Or just happen to meet someone who could visit with their own abilities.

Yes. Or wait until you're close enough to someone that they count for Dream Together.

That makes sense.

I think the thing I'm struggling with regarding Closed Book and Indelible is that they seem very absolute. Especially with Closed Book. I'm more okay with Indelible being absolute. On the side of people just reading my mind, I would be okay with someone having insight into my surface thoughts to use the term from stories, maybe not all of them but at least a lot of them. What I want to be protected from is people digging into my deepest memories and using them to hurt me.

I think if you want people to have insight into your surface thoughts in fairly ordinary and unexceptional situations, you don't want Closed Book.

I agree with you there, I think the question for me is whether I want to ask for some sort of custom power or just to trust that if I do end up somewhere where mind reading is a thing that I'll be able to learn to protect myself in the ways I want to. I guess when I put it like that what I really want is the powers like Anything You Can Do.

There are stories where there isn't any way to learn to defend yourself though.

Do you think those are the kinds of stories you'd want to be a part of?

That's a hard question. I think, I don't want to be in a story where I'm just being led around by someone else who has a plan and there's nothing I can do. I could see some cases where I would be okay with it but those are also stories where I would be okay without Closed Book. I guess that answers the question.

I think I will keep Indelible though, you said I could stretch it to allow people to communicate with me, and I'm a lot less interested in letting people directly force me to believe things or do things.

That makes sense!

I think I will keep Personal Space. Even if some of my drawbacks mean it won't always work, I like the fact that it will mean that if it is breaking it's as part of a story instead of someone randomly being an asshole.

Oh, I see what you mean! That does sound like a nice thing to know about your life.

For Making Ends Meet am I right that it finds a way to fit with the world I'm in instead of standing out? Also is it using my definition of comfortable or the local meaning?

The definition of comfortable it uses is somewhere between yours and the world's. If you're used to a standard of living that not even royalty can meet, you won't become richer than royalty, but you'll be able to get by at least as well as your peers and small comforts will find their way into your life wherever possible. And yes, it does avoid standing out.

I think I want that then. I want to focus more on doing things than, to make a bit of a joke, making ends meet.

She increases it to a checkmark.

I also really want Immunity System, I don't think it occurred to me on my first pass but it isn't just about protecting me it also makes it safe for me to help people who are really sick without risking making other people sick.

She increases that to checkmark too.

Yes, that's a very helpful side benefit of that power!

Alright that leaves Just A Little Longer and What's In A Name.

I feel like the aesthetic of Just A Little Longer isn't something I want. It's about letting you use unhealthy habits. I would say that it lets you do it without consequences but it does have those. Still, part of what I want is to be a good role model and it's not modelling behavior I would want people to try to copy.

What's In A Name is still important for the reasons I talked about before. I can imagine not taking it if I'm really close on having enough points or leaving a point free in my final build so I can get it if I need it, but if I have enough points I want it.

Yes, I think Just A Little Longer is a power that encourages people to do things other people shouldn't imitate.

She draws a little smiley face next to that reply.

And she flips back to choose a new category.

Okay, so the next power I haven't looked at this time through is Pocket Dimension. I don't really remember any powers like it. I want it for the ability to recall sentimental possessions and to stow them away safely.

I can see other uses for it and a part of me worries about using it as a solution to every possible problem but if I end up taking The Crazy Train I think that would prevent it and I also think I might have enough self-control regardless.

It's also not necessarily a bad thing to have powers that solve your problems. But yes, Pocket Dimension can have very different effects on your life depending on how you use it.

That's true. I don't think I was expressing myself well there. I feel like a story where the whole point is to get a the sort of thing Pocket Dimension could let me make isn't a story I'm interested in being a part of so having it to solve those isn't a bad thing. And in a sense having the power means that the story of my life isn't as focused on things like that and instead it's about other things that are hopefully more satisfying.

The part I'm more worried about is using it like it's Four Star Daydream without the narrative protection that Four Star Daydream brings with it. Does that make sense?

Yes, I see what you mean. It sounds like you'll be able to avoid doing that kind of thing, though.

I think I will yeah.

Hmm, the next perk I haven't examined is Soundtrack. I've already talked a bunch about how much I like it. I'm a little less sure how to group it.

I think it's centrally about making me more aware of the world around me and the people in it. In a broader sense what I want from it is to help me be more connected with other people. I feel like there's a lot of powers in my list about connection though and less that are focused on understanding.

I think I'll list all of both for the moment and see if that looks like how I want to divide them up.

She flips through the list some more and ultimately produces two short lists.

Understanding
Soundtrack 1 +
Omniglot 3 +
Backchannel 4 +
Roundabout 2 +
Friends In Places 9 ✓

Connection
Inner World 2 +
Cuddle Buddies 2 -
Quality Time 2 -
Time Enough For Love +
Work-Life Balance ✓
I Can Help Them 5 +
True Love's Kiss 1 +
Eternal Love 2 +
Dream Together 1 +

I'm not sure if that's the perfect way to divide them up. And there's also some overlap with the other two categories I noticed while looking through things, the ones focused on changing the world and the ones focused on I think growing. Or I think growing is a good way to summarize the powers like Anything You Can Do.

I like that these are categories you're focused on! Understanding and connection can be prety important.

That makes me wonder about other ways people could see these.

I know Soundtrack can do a lot and I'm focusing on a part of what it can do.
I can see how a lot of people would just take Omniglot as a way to not worry about speaking the right languages.
I guess a more cynical person could use the Friends In Places powers to manipulate people instead of actually trying to make friends.
And True Love's Kiss isn't really centrally about connection I just grouped it in that way because it's needed for Eternal Love.