This one's got pretty flowers! Can't go wrong with pretty flowers. The paper quality is great too.

She'll buy that one. It's a nice spring day as she walks back to the apartment she's sharing with her brother and she takes her time. When she gets home she yells a quick "Hi, before yanking off he dress and walking the rest of the way into her bedroom and hanging it up before sitting down at her desk. She writes her journal entry with a blue ballpoint pen.

New Journal. The previous one had a blue bubble texture with a red heart sticker on the front cover in the upper left corner.

That sounds pretty!

She stares at that for a few seconds. Then she pushes her chair back and goes to knock on her brother's door. "Tom can you look at something for me?"

"Sure," comes his slightly muffled voice. He opens the door and looks her up and down. "So, not a clothes question? I don't think that's new underwear."

"No, it's something a lot weirder. I think my new journal wrote back to me."

He looks carefully at her face. It doesn't look like she's joking. "Okay, show me."

She leads him back to her room and shows her what's been written so far. "I don't think I own a pink gel pen. And that definitely wasn't there before I started writing."

"That's weird." He pauses, "Try writing back I guess?"

"Okay." She carefully picks back up her pen and slowly writes back.

Hello, I'm not used to things writing themselves in my journals.

Most people aren't. I'm a pretty unusual journal.

Hello! I was sent by the Spirit of Femininity Unleashed to offer you its power.

"You saw that right?"

"I did. So... the Spirit of Femininity eh? I can see it."

"Yeah. That feels right."

I'm still a little stunned. That sounds interesting though. Can you tell me more? I'm Sapphire by the way. Maybe you already magically knew that somehow.

I don't know anything when I'm sent to talk to someone except that they'll be the first person who writes in me.

What would you like to know?

I'm not sure where to start. I think maybe you could tell me more about the Spirit? Or I guess you just said you didn't know why it picked me.

The Spirit is a very different type of being from you or me. It has a lot of power but can mostly only use it in very specific ways. One of its favourite things is when people get to be special and beautiful and powerful in a feminine way, and live their best happiest lives like that, so when it sees someone who would do well with a little bit of its power to help them, it sends someone like me to give them that power. So I know that you're open to being special and beautiful and powerful and feminine, because if you weren't, the Spirit wouldn't have sent me to you. But I don't know anything else about you, because it would be pretty weird and uncomfortable to spy on people before I say hello!

I guess? It feels like you could be more helpful though if you knew more ahead of time.

"There's this thing called privacy, Sapphire. Most people care about it more than you."

But you might not like me to know a lot about you, and while I could find out whether you want me to know things without necessarily having to find out much else, I think the sort of person who's uncomfortable with me knowing a lot of things might still be uncomfortable with that. And if I have to sometimes not know things because people don't want me to know them, it's easier for me to just always not know things and get lots of practice with that situation, instead of sometimes knowing things and sometimes not.

She has to read that a couple times.

I think I understand. Does that mean you've done this with a lot of people before? Can you tell me anything about them?

I don't retain specific memories of my other work while I'm with someone in particular, for privacy reasons! Also because the nature of my relationship with time means there's not always a clear answer from my perspective here with you about whether I have or haven't spoken to a specific other person yet.

"Her relationship with time." He frowns. "Does that mean time travel is a thing?"

My brother's here with me and he wants to know whether that means time travel is a thing.

That's sort of a complicated question but I think the simple answer is yes. It might not have ever happened in your world, though, or be possible here without outside intervention.

"Can you ask how much she knows about our world and what other worlds might exist?"

"Do you just want to write her yourself? If this is important to you?"

"Sure." They exchange places.

Hi this is Tom, I'm Sapphire's brother. How much do you know about our specific world and what other worlds exist?

Hi, Tom!

I don't really know much about your specific world. I can guess some things from what it's like to be a notebook here, but there are a lot of worlds where being a notebook in them is very much like this.

Lots of other worlds exist! The structure of the multiverse is sort of hard to explain, but one way to think about it is: there are a lot of different ways that worlds can be, like being with or without magic, or with or without particle physics, or with or without time or space. There are a lot of different ways that different worlds can relate to each other, like branching timelines, or networks of worlds where it's only possible to move between adjacent ones and a lot of specific things from one world will stop working in worlds that aren't adjacent to that one, or big piles of unrelated worlds where you can move between worlds that are very different from each other just by having any way to move between worlds at all. And all those ways for things to be are all real in different places, and it's possible to move between them, if you find the right ways to travel.

I think that makes some amount of sense. I guess the multiverse is a lot bigger than most people think about it as being then. I'll let Sapphire write again.

After they switch back, Sapphire writes again.

Okay, I'm back. So... you said the Spirit wanted to give me some of its power. What could you tell me more about what that will be like?

The usual way these things work is that I show you the standard list of powers, and help you decide which ones you want, and if there are any that you want to change because they're not quite right I can see about alterations, and if there's anything you want that isn't on the list I can see about providing it, and I can help explain any descriptions that confuse or concern you, and I can keep track of which boxes you've checked and how much that adds up to—for convenience the powers are labeled with amounts of points, and you get 70 points to start with.

Do you want to see the list or do you want to ask more questions first?

I think the list would help me a lot in knowing what questions to ask.

Okay! One moment, please... ⏳

"The notebook has a loading animation. Objectively this should not be weirder than it writing back at all but it absolutely is."

"Yep, I'm very curious to see what sort of powers it offers you though."

"Me too. Earlier today, I thought I knew where my life was going now... I don't think I do but I'm hoping it's going to be even better."

All done!

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.

"Metanarrative; does that mean these powers let me live my life like it's a story?"

"That sounds like a good question to ask the notebook."

She flips to a blank page.

Your introductory text references narrative and metanarrative does that mean these powers will let me live my life like it's a story?

Yes, sort of. It depends what you mean by that. But for many possible meanings of that, yes.

I think I mean that I should expect what happens to be more based on what makes for a good story than what I would expect from a world which runs on physics and doesn't really care about stories or people except where people try to make it care.

Is that what you mean? Can you say more about what other things you thought I might mean?

Once you accept the Spirit's power, you aren't really the sort of person who has to care about physics anymore. I mean, you are a little bit, because most worlds have physics and you're still interacting with those worlds. But powers granted by the Spirit work on a level outside of the laws of any specific world or collection of worlds, and they'll keep working even if their working means that those laws have to bend or break or just be sidestepped.

Sometimes people are worried about only existing inside of a story and not really being real, and that's not what accepting the Spirit's power is like. You're still the sort of thing that keeps existing when no one is looking. And sometimes people think that they can stop worrying about anything and just do whatever they happen to feel like in the moment and it'll all work out, and that's only complicatedly true, because while the Spirit's power can make a lot of things into good or at least reasonable ideas that are very bad ideas without it, powers granted by the Spirit care mostly about the things that the person they were granted to cares about, and people can learn to care about more things than they used to, and someone who thinks everything will work out if they just do whatever they want can end up regretting that later when they start caring about more things.

"Huh, why would people worry they aren't real?"

"I think it's like, if you're living your life as if you're a character in a story some people would worry you are a character in a story and so you aren't really in control of your actions or maybe only what the person making that story pays attention to is real?"

"I guess?" She pinches herself. "Feels pretty real to me. I guess I can't really prove anything else is but living like it's not seems like a fast path to being an asshole."

"Or just spending a lot of time overthinking things."

"Yeah, that's fair."

Okay, thanks for explaining that. Sorry for the delay I was just talking about your response with my brother. I appreciate the clarification that my actions will still have consequences... I think I understood that but it's a good reminder.

I'm glad I can be helpful!

Do you have any other questions?

I'm sure I'll have lots, I'm trying to take things a little bit at a time though. My next question is how these checkboxes work. Should I only check something if I'm absolutely sure I want it? 

Oh, no! I'm sorry, I forgot to mention. If you check something and don't want to keep it, you can either erase the checkmark if it's erasable, or scribble it out and I'll erase it for you. Your choices aren't final until you tell me clearly that you're done deciding and want to take what you've chosen.

Okay, thank you that helps a lot.

She reads a little more.

Is there  If I go somewhere else is there a way for my brother to come with me?

Tom hugs her, "I'll be okay. I'll miss you but I'll be okay if that turns out to be what's best."

There isn't a way to take him with you to your destination, but if it's important to you to be able to see him again, you'll be able to find a way back.

Alright, that's good to know.

She takes a breath and turns back to reading. She flips through to see how long the list is and pauses to look at the headers for the different sections.

In the Power of Friendship what does it mean for things to not be mind control? Does it make people do things or think things they wouldn't want to think or be surprised by in a bad way? Also what does romance mean here? I don't think I usually understand what people mean by that and it seems like it could be important.

What the description means when it says that those powers aren't mind control and aren't stopped by things that stop mind control is that they don't use any specific mechanism to change people's minds, and ways of preventing people's minds being changed by specific mechanisms won't make a difference them. The powers can still affect people's minds, and they will if necessary to fulfill their functions, though if the person with the powers is uncomfortable with changing people's minds then the powers will prefer other mechanisms where possible, and there's an option later on to turn off the mind-affecting aspects of all powers (which makes them work less well, but some people think it's worthwhile anyway).

As for romance, options referring to love or true love can apply to close intimate friendships as well as romantic relationships; does that help sort anything out?

It does thank you. Does intimate here just mean sexual or can it also mean emotionally intimate, like sharing secrets and hopes and fears type intimacy?

She can just have sex with people to make them count as intimate if she needs to but not everyone is comfortable with that.

I meant intimate in the emotional and social sense. The sexual sense isn't relevant to whether someone counts as a true love.

That's good to hear.

She flips forward until she reaches drawbacks and confirms that's the last section.

Is there a good way to ask questions or write notes about specific powers without them getting lost?

Would you like me to insert blank pages between every page of the list? That usually helps with that!

I think I would like it a better if there was space between the powers instead but if that's harder blank pages work for me.

I can do that too, but some people say it's distracting when the rest of the list keeps scooting down to make room for more notes in between. I can still try it if you want, though!

She hums to herself for a moment. It's important to take these things seriously.

If we do the page by page thing can you rearrange it later when I want to go back over things?

Yes, definitely!

Alright, let's do the page by page way then. Thanks for being patient with me and giving me such helpful advice.

I'm glad I can help!

She skips past the destination options for the moment. That needs a great deal more thought and it's a bit scary.

If I like the way my face looks already does A Hundred Ships just mean I don't need to put on makeup or worry about it getting messed up? Also, this specifically says my face; is there some other power that applies to the rest of my skin? It would be pretty weird if the rest of my skin got old and wrinkled but my face looked perfectly youthful.

The semicolon is added after the rest of the text when she reads back over her words.

The Ships powers do exert influence over the rest of your appearance so that your face doesn't look incongruous; helping your skin look nice is part of that. If you like your current face just fine, A Hundred Ships won't change it in ways that make it worse, but might make it just a tiny bit more the way you imagine it or want it to look, and will definitely help you not need to put on makeup in order to look your best. (Though if you like putting on makeup, you still can!)

So, it's based heavily on what I want then? Does that mean that makeup I didn't actually put on could get runny when I'm crying if that's what feels right in the moment?

I'm not sure! I think A Hundred Ships mostly won't provide the effect of actually wearing makeup, as opposed to just making your face look nice in a similar way to how makeup can make faces look nice; putting on actual makeup is more of a Dressing Room kind of thing. But if makeup is a part of your appearance that's really important to you, A Hundred Ships might be able to manage something.

She nods to herself and checks A Hundred Ships. At the very least it seems like it doesn't prevent makeup from getting dramatically messy. For this first pass she's just checking everything she thinks she might want.

Thanks, I'll look at Dressing Room when I get there.

The tally in the corner updates appropriately.

Does What's In A Name do anything about people trying to find my old name in other ways or people who know my old name trying to find me?

Not by itself, but some people ask for a followup power that does that.

What would that look like? I don't think I really need it even if I'm staying but it feels worth seeing.

Let me see if I remember...

Name: Severance - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires What's In A Name)
Identities that you gravely and deliberately cast aside no longer describe you or refer to you. You cannot be traced by them or identified with them. No one will ever know that you are the same person you were once known as, unless you choose to personally tell them.

"That's... wow, I don't... I never really expected to see them again but that's very very final."

Tom pulls her up and into a hug. "It's okay, none of this is final yet. And even if you do take this you can still go find them if you want to. This just prevents them from surprising you. They can't do anything to you anyway you're an adult now."

"I haven't thought of them in years but..." she takes a slow shuddering breath. "I left for good reasons. I just wish I could have protected everyone else."

"I know, I know you do, but you were ten, it wasn't your responsibility, and they got out. It took longer but they got out. You checked."

She nods against his shoulder. They stand like that for a while. And then she dries her tears and sits back down.

Tom rests a hand on her shoulder.

She checks both options.

That brought up a lot of feelings. I don't really need these but I'm glad they exist and I might decide to take them if I have enough points. My first parents weren't good people and I chose a new name when I ran away.

That makes sense! I'm glad you found a better life for yourself.

Thank you. I'm really happy I found my brother and my new parents are also nice people if a little distant.

What does it mean for a voice to be supernaturally beautiful? Is that just hyperbole or does it mean my voice does something to people?

It means that you can make beautiful sounds with your voice that voices can't ordinarily make, and if you encounter music- or voice-related magic you have a big advantage at it.

Does this just give me more options or does it also mean whatever I say or sing sounds different in some way?

If being able to speak and sing the same way you do now is important to you, Angelic Tones won't take it away. If you would rather usually sound different from the way you're used to, Angelic Tones can do that.

I think I'm seeing a pattern here. Are there also powers where I can't stay mostly the same if I want to? And if so is there an easy way to tell which powers those are?

Well, for example, Well Endowed defines a specific type of figure, so if you didn't have that figure before, it would change. But then Hollow Leg lets you change it back. I think most of the appearance powers have some allowance for leaving things as they are, but you can ask me about any where you're not sure.

She checks Angelic tones. 

Alright thank you.

Is there a benefit to Emerald Orbs other than aesthetics?

That depends on whether you think it would be really cool if your eyes could see in the dark.

"Hmm, that seems kinda niche and I'm not sure I could muster the desire to have my eyes look different just so I could see better."

"You could ask whether your eyes have to look different but honestly it seems like you're checking everything it might be good to just leave this out if you don't see much benefit in it."

"I've been checking everything I think I might want but yeah that's been a lot and I don't really think night vision is that important to me."

She leaves Emerald Orbs unchecked and looks further.

I think I'll skip that one then.

What does it mean for a hairstyle to be physically impossible. Logistically impossible just sounds like something that actually I'm not sure what that would mean either. Could you explain?

Normally, in worlds that run on physics, hairstyles have to be made out of hair which is made out of the things that hair is made out of, and be possible for a person to construct using their hair and other objects made out of real substances, and behave in ways that result from the things they're made out of and the shapes they're arranged in according to the laws of physics, and appear to be consistently in the same places at the same times according to different observers. Perfect Hair removes those constraints.

"Do you understand that because if anything I'm now more confused."

"Not really. I guess we could go line by line?"

"Alright." She reads through it again more slowly this time. "I think what she's saying is that it would let me have hair that defies gravity or blows in the wind when there isn't wind or looks perfect from every angle even if that would mean it looks different for different people."

"I still think I want to ask for more detail though."

Wow, that took me a while to process and I still don't think I fully understand. I think the first example that's jumping out at me would be like if I was naked my hair would let the people I wanted to see my vulva see it and make sure the people I didn't want to see it couldn't. Could I do that?

The somewhat more out there idea I had is that my hair could literally look like normal clothes so I could appear naked to some people but fully clothed to others. Would that work?

Are those examples near the limits of what it can do or am I thinking too small still?

The first example is very easy for Perfect Hair; the second example would probably need Perfect Hair plus another power, but if you felt strongly enough about it Perfect Hair might be able to manage something.

Okay that's helpful, is the other power I would need already in the list or would I need a custom one? Also could you try to help me understand why the first one works but not the second? Is it about the hair not looking like hair or being too much unlike what hair is like?

You could probably get somewhere with Dressing Room but if you wanted your clothes to definitely be the same thing as your hair and definitely be visible to only some observers then I think I'd have to build you a custom power for it.

A set of clothes isn't a hairstyle. A hairstyle that looks a lot like a set of clothes is possible with Perfect Hair, but not a hairstyle that is a set of non-hair clothes, so observers who saw clothes-like hair would be able to tell it wasn't really clothes if they tried.

That makes sense, I don't really care about whether my clothes are also my hair but the idea of some people seeing me without clothes while other people see me as wearing them might be something I want. I think it depends on whether there's other powers that address the underlying desires better.

I have a lot of feelings around modesty and nudity that mostly amount to wishing that nudity wasn't so closely associated with sex and also relatedly that sex wasn't seen as something shameful that people have to hide or be embarrassed about.

Thank you for the explanation regarding why the second option idea doesn't work. That makes a lot of sense. I'll definitely have to come back to this but it seems like a really cool power.

She puts a check on Perfect Hair.

I'll think about what a power for appearing clothed to some people and naked to others might look like. I'm glad I can help!

Thank you.

She takes some time to read and think about the next power. "So... this is just Ant Man's power without super-strength."

"After a suitably dramatic moment."

"I don't think I really want that, maybe I'm thinking about it wrong though. What would I want to do that this power could do?"

"That sounds like a good way to frame things yeah."

She takes a bit to think about this.

So I'm thinking about what I might want to use Size Difference for. The obvious one is to get my height to line up right for kisses and other bits of intimacy. That seems like it wouldn't need a dramatic moment. The more striking one that I would like to be able to do is shrink down and play with kids at their level instead of as an adult trying to squeeze into kid sized spaces. I don't know what sort of Dramatic Moment I would need to unlock that though.

"Aww, that's adorable. You're adorable." He reaches down and squeezes her shoulders.

The dramatic moment isn't strictly necessary; it's just that Size Difference starts out in a mode where it's trying to adjust your height in a subtle, plausibly deniable way, for situations like kisses and intimacy and reaching things on high shelves and not bumping your head on doorways, where you don't need your height to change by very much and it doesn't need to be obvious that you're doing it. When you encounter a situation where you need a more obvious height shift to do what you're trying to do, Size Difference will accommodate that, but by default it will do it in a way where it seems like you're gaining the ability to change your height for the first time in response to that situation. If you just aren't at all interested in hiding Size Difference, though, it can have its full range unlocked from the beginning.

Alright, I can see how that makes sense. Also, I guess I should ask: can Size Difference make me look like a kid or does it make me look like an adult hit with a shrink ray?

The colon is also added after the fact.

Size Difference by itself can't make you look like a kid, but it could do that in conjunction with other appearance powers—Hollow Leg and one of the Ships powers should cover it.

Alright thank you.

She checks Size Difference and jots down a note that says Kid Mode next to A Hundred Ships.

She frowns at dressing room.

Would dressing room alone be enough to emulate having pockets when I'm not wearing anything? Or would I need some custom power for that? Also, does Dressing Room include purses and backpacks?

Dressing Room won't let you have pockets without clothing by itself, but the power I'm working on for being selectively clothed should cover that. Dressing Room does include purses and backpacks and other accessories.

Yeah it seemed like that would be a stretch. What about things inside purses and backpacks that also seems like a stretch but it would be really cool if it worked?

You can summon the contents of pockets, purses, or backpacks by summoning the specific pocket, purse or backpack that you carried a specific thing in, if the contents are sentimentally valuable to you or if they're what you habitually carry in that pocket, purse, or backpack. Summoning sentimentally valuable items this way is guaranteed; summoning things you habitually carry is usually possible but might fail; summoning things you've only carried once or twice and aren't attached to is much harder.

That sounds really useful. And the limitations make sense since otherwise you could just get anything with this one small power.

She checks it and moves on.

Hmm, how does always being clean and fresh interact with sex? Lube is pretty important there and also even though I've never understood it some guys really like to see their cum on your body. Same question for like massages that use oil or things like that.

I don't really have experience with that sort of thing, because I am a notebook, but my understanding is that various oils and other substances can count as clean if they are on your body because you want them to be there and they don't contain anything you find gross or unpleasant. Someone who wanted to have substances on their body but experienced those substances as yucky and unpleasant-feeling would probably find that Personal Hygiene got in their way by prioritising the desire to feel clean and nice over the desire to have stuff on them, but as long as those desires aren't in conflict there shouldn't be a problem. And besides just removing things, Personal Hygiene can also keep them clean as an extension of keeping you clean - so a piece of candy held in someone's hand wouldn't get unpleasantly sticky or melty and wouldn't pick up dirt or lint from the environment, for example.

Oh wow, that's really convenient. I think that would probably close off some options for me but I think it sounds worth it.

She checks the box.

For Like Roses is my scent always exactly the same or can it have like layers. Like just normally, I smell a little different when I'm aroused and a lot different if I've just had a bunch of sex though maybe Personal Hygiene would already reduce that. Would those kind of changes still happen?

... Also I'm just realizing some people are uncomfortable talking about sex. It doesn't seem like you're one of them but I can be more circumspect if you would prefer that.

Tom laughs. "I guess I'm too used to you because it didn't occur to me either."

Like Roses definitely allows your signature scent to encompass subtle changes for different circumstances, like mood or recent activity, though the base scent will be very stable.

I don't mind the way you talk about sex; I'm only as hesitant about it as I am about any other experience that I can't really relate to, like eating. Well, maybe a bit extra hesitant because I know it's a delicate subject for a lot of people and I don't feel confident navigating that.

"What are you thinking here? You don't wear perfume."

"I'm thinking about the research about how scent has an especially strong link in memory and so maybe if I have a unique scent like this it'll make me have more of a presence and stick in people's minds better."

"And why are you focusing on that? What are you looking for here in general?"

"I think you can guess from the shape of my questions but I want to change things. To show people a different way of being and make them maybe reexamine their assumptions about the world and become more comfortable in their own skins."

"That makes me want you to pick Stay Here just so I can see you doing it. I guess that even if you don't that would just mean you'd do it later whenever you can back."

"Yeah... I'm still putting off that decision. Nothing I've seen so far really works better if I leave."

She turns back to the notebook and checks Like Roses.

She checks Just A Little Longer and Immunity System without questions. And then she rethinks things for a moment.

With Immunity System do I have control over how much alcohol and such impacts me or is it just that it protects me at the point that it gets dangerous?

You're protected from being more affected by those things than you want to be, but you might not have direct control of exactly how affected you are; it mostly runs on your general preferences rather than in-the-moment desires.

Thanks.

She turns her attention to the next power and huh. Does she want this?

"Don't you dare."

"Would it really be that bad?"

"If you were just planning to be a mostly unremarkable person then no it wouldn't be but you've just said you're planning to be a public figure. That means constantly being bombarded by thousand or millions or maybe even billions of people's thoughts. Would you even be able to sleep? Would people's disapproval, and you know many people would disapprove, erode your confidence? Please don't do this to yourself."

"You're right... maybe there's some way to focus or control it but without that you're right it's too much."

She pauses to think about why she wants this. It's about being able to reach people and avoid making bad assumptions about their thoughts and feelings. Is there anything else in the power that appeals? Well there's the side benefit of being able to know who's trying to oppose her efforts and also the benefit of knowing when people are hiding near her. She can see a lot of ways it could be useful actually but only if its more flexible than it sounds like.

How controllable is My Ears Are Burning? I feel like a lot of parts of it could be useful but I think a lot of my plans end up with me being at least somewhat famous and if I can't ignore some of the impact of that this would probably make me really unhappy.

My Ears Are Burning is only really good for some specific kinds of person and if you think you aren't one of them I think you're probably right. You can't control it or turn it off; you can think your normal thoughts and pay normal amounts of attention to other things, but you can't go back to not knowing what people are thinking about you and you can't really not pay attention to it, not fully.

I think I'll skip this one then.

She quietly checks Well Endowed considering a more generous figure a price well worth paying for resolving one of the lingering issues she has with nudity.

She smiles widely upon reading Hollow Leg since it removes that cost. She checks that too and adds the note of Kid Mode remembering the Notebook's earlier comment.

Then she gets to Inner Strength.

How strong does Hollow Leg make me? Could I carry someone else like I could a kid or would I need Inner Strength to be able to do that?

Hollow Leg will let you get just about as strong as an ordinary person can get, if you try, but I'm not sure if that's strong enough to do what you're asking about.

Okay, I think I might have just asked wrong. I'm pretty sure firefighters can carry most people if they need to. Maybe they need help for unusually heavy people and it probably isn't as easy as doing that with a child but they can do it. I think that's enough strength for what I want.

Are there other reasons I might want Inner Strength beyond being really strong? I think it also talked about toughness and provided an example there but it didn't explain as well about endurance.

Inner Strength mostly makes it that endurance isn't an issue for you anymore. Since you have to go so far to strain yourself, and your endurance is enhanced on top of that, most people with Inner Strength don't feel fatigue from exertion ever again unless they're working long hours doing the kinds of things construction equipment is for.

Wow, that's pretty amazing. Does that just apply to physical fatigue or does it also help with mental fatigue?

It wouldn't help directly with mental fatigue, but it would help with the parts of mental fatigue that are more about the body than the mind.

That still sounds worth it. She checks the box. Lightfoot is interesting. She's sure there's a lot of people who would see this as their absolute favorite power it doesn't quite feel like her though.

She crinkles her nose in response to the battle powers. Those also really don't feel like her but she's not sure if she should be taking them anyway.

Is there any sort of power that would help me avoid fights instead of winning them? It feels like the battle powers would keep me safer and help me a lot if I was getting into fights but that doesn't really sound like something I would want to do.

Some of the Powers of Friendship later on make it less likely for people to try to fight you, and there are powers for being safe from certain kinds of things, but if you wanted to be safe from ever getting into fights at all I think I'd need to make you a custom power for that.

I think I'd really like to see a power like that. Maybe other powers would do what I want though. How hard is it for you to make new powers? Should I wait to ask until after I've seen everything else and I'm pretty sure I want it?

It's not that hard! Usually I just think about it in the back of my mind while talking about other things and it'll come to me eventually.

Alright then, please do that for a power about avoiding fights.

While we're talking about you, is there anything I could be doing to meet your needs better here or just make this a more enjoyable experience for you?

My brother and I have been talking with each other about powers for example would you like it if I copied those exchanges down for you? Or would you like to take breaks sometimes? I haven't met any talking notebooks before so I'm not sure what kinds of things you might want.

Okay, I will!

I don't need breaks, but I would like it if you copied down what you and your brother have been saying about the powers! That sounds like it would make it easier for me to help you.

If you want to do something nice for me personally, though, I always like it when someone copies a poem into me. Poetry is really pretty.

She flips back through the pages and thinks.

It looks like I mentioned a lot of what we talked about. I didn't really explain why I like "Like Roses" I think that might make people remember me better and if I'm doing things right relax more when I'm around just because of how important smell is to memory for a lot of people.

I also don't think I explained some things about how I'm choosing powers. I definitely said some of this to Tom but maybe not all of it.

I'm trying to choose powers that let me be more myself than I could be without them, that's why I asked so many questions about whether powers would force me to change things. At the same time I'm also picking powers that might be able to help me convince other people of some of the things I really believe in. Especially the way people think about sex and their bodies.

I'm also trying to err on the side of checking things I might want instead of leaving things unchecked.

I think the only other thought that I didn't tell you about is that Lightfoot sounds like something a lot of people would really like but it doesn't really sound like I want it. Maybe I'm getting hung up on the really extreme parts of it and I would like the more low-key parts though. Does Hollow Leg help at all with balance?

Hollow Leg helps a little with balance but not very much. Would you like me to try to come up with a less extreme version of Lightfoot?

I like the idea of being a bit better at dancing and things like that but I'm not really sure I need grace to be a part of who I am forever. And maybe there's existing powers that do that. I generally like to see more options though. If toned down versions of powers are a thing would it be possible to get a version or Inner Strength that's toned down too? I don't really want to be as strong as construction equipment.

For complicated reasons, I can tone down Inner Strength but it won't cost any less if I do. Do you still want me to?

Can you just add a note that it can be toned down like that so I remember when I'm doing a second pass?

Okay!

She looks over the money powers and checks Making Ends Meet but not the other two.

I think I mostly have inexpensive tastes and I don't really want to bribe people into doing what I want. Depending on Isekai Roulette it might make sense to take motherlode if I might end up in a world where people are a lot worse off than they are here.

She continues.

I don't think I want the heritages power, it feels like that's about changing me into something other than who and what I am so I can fit into new places.

She checks Omniglot.

I don't think that's how people usually see Dragon Fairy Elf Witch, can you tell me more about what you mean?

I think I'm starting from the examples in the name. I don't really want to be a dragon or an elf or a fairy or even a witch. Maybe I'm not thinking broadly enough but every example I can think of would be a way of changing myself to be more like some other type of person. If I became a witch, in theory that just gives me more options but it also pulls my focus in a new direction.

I think...

If it's important to you to definitely keep experiencing the world the same way you do now, then Dragon Fairy Elf Witch is not the power for you. Dragon Fairy Elf Witch is about new options and new powers and new ways of being.

But I think a lot of people see Dragon Fairy Elf Witch not as making them less themselves, but as letting them explore different ways to be themselves. Travelling the multiverse, it's possible to meet someone who is the person you would have been if you had been born a dragon; some people like to experience what it's like to be that version of themselves, even if they never meet them.

I might come back to this later and change my mind but I think for now it doesn't sound like what I want. Right now it sounds like it's a path towards a different story than the one I want to live.

She moves on to Omniglot which gets an immediate check. Anything that helps her understand people better is good.

Anything You Can Do feels too strong and too absolute to me. It feels, I was going to say like a way to grow past people but it doesn't do that I guess. I still feel like if I become as good as everyone I care about at the things they care about really fast that it would be easy for that to push us apart instead of bringing us together. I'm not sure exactly how to fix that though. The part about rivals feels especially weird.

Weird in what sense?

I think mostly I don't imagine myself as the sort of person to have rivals.

Not everyone does! But a lot of people really like the feeling of being energized by that kind of relationship and learning quickly and easily from it.

I think it's the asymmetry of it that bothers me most. If the people close to me were also learning quickly it would be more something we were doing together instead of something I'm doing apart from them.

There's also a power later on for teaching your friends really easily!

Could you highlight that somehow so I can find it easily and look at it?

Sure!

She breaks out in a wide grin. "This Notebook-"

"is adorable." Tom finishes.

"It so is."

My brother and I were just commenting on how adorable you are. It's not related to the powers but I thought you would still want to know.

Awww! ♡

Ooh, yeah that does help a lot. I can definitely see how these would be really neat to have together.

She checks both and then goes back to where she left off.

She reads Personal Space... she wants that, she wants that quite a bit... but there's a sense in which it feels unfair.

I'm having a lot of feelings about personal space. It feels like something I would really like but it also feels kinda unfair for me to have it. Because I'm trying to convince people to be more comfortable with themselves and less afraid and if I have this I don't have reasons to be afraid but the people I'm trying to convince do.

"Sapphire, if the things you're trying to convince people of are bad ideas then you shouldn't try to do that but if they're good ideas it doesn't help anyone for you to be hurt or uncomfortable."

He squeezes her shoulders again.

I think I see what you mean.

I guess maybe the question is... do you need that shared experience of vulnerability, in order to take people's needs and feelings into account when you're trying to convince them of things?

My brother said something like that too. I think I probably don't and I do want this a lot so I'll check it for now. I can consider it more later when I have a better sense of how many things I want. Thank you.

She does that.

What does directly mean in closed book and indelible? What sorts of things are covered and what sorts aren't?

Directly isn't quite the right word for it; it's more like, if someone is trying to use telepathy to read your mind, or a truth potion to make you tell them your secrets, or future-sight to find out how to get you to do what they want, then they're trying to get at the inside of your head more directly than they should be able to, and it won't work.

That makes sense.

She looks at those a little longer and notices that Iron Will requires both as prerequisites so she reads that too.

So, Iron Will says that it works on a case by case basis. Does that mean I need to allow something everytime or can I let it work more automatically than that and be more about the kind of thing I'm okay with?

There's some flexibility about how automatically it works depending on what you prefer and are comfortable with. If you'd rather it work more automatically, it can do that.

That makes sense, it seems like in general these powers are very friendly. Am I thinking in the right sort of direction to feel that they're going to be more part of me than something external?

Yes. Your powers always want to do things the way you'd want them to, within the constraints of what each power is made for.

That's a really good way for powers to work.

She checks the entire set of mind powers and then moves on. She also checks It Gets Better and The Great Equalizer. That last one is especially expensive but it feels right.

And then she's onto power of friendship.

She's also at 62/70 points so she's either going to need to cut a lot or take a lot of drawbacks. Speaking of drawbacks...

I remember you saying that there were options that made these powers not change people's minds in ways they're not okay with. Could you highlight those for me so I can keep them in mind?

Of course!

She looks through the power of friendship and doesn't find them.... which means. Yes! They're drawbacks. She laughs happily. If she's going to protect herself from having her mind changed in ways she doesn't want it's only fair that she doesn't change other people's minds in ways they don't want.

She checks both of them and flips back to the start of the friendship powers.

She holds the idea of mysterious allure in her mind for a moment. Does she want to always be the most interesting person in the room? She feels like it would be useful sometimes to hold people's attention but it would also make it harder to help people who are on the edges of a party and not enjoying themselves.

If she wasn't already so high on points. No that's silly if she starts thinking that way she's going to end up with earlier powers even if she likes later powers better the amount of points doesn't matter yet.

I'm not sure about Mysterious Allure. I feel like that might make it harder to help people who are feeling left out if I'm usually the center of attention. Is that something that the metanarrative protection would help with or should I just not take this one? Also... I'm realizing that this would apply when I'm shopping or doing other mundane things and that doesn't sound enjoyable. I think I've mostly talked myself out of this but I'm curious about your thoughts.

Mysterious Allure can definitely be inconvenient if there are times when you don't want to attract attention! It can turn itself up or down depending on your mood but it can't really turn itself off.

I think I'll leave it out then. Thanks for explaining.

Oh.

Captive audience is much more like what I wanted Mysterious Allure for anyway. Does this help with I Can Teach Better too? Also, how does this interact with nullified?

Yes, Captive Audience helps a lot with teaching.

With Nullified, Captive Audience has much subtler effects. You can get more of an effect by explaining to people what the power does and asking if they want to participate, or by taking They'll Know—They'll Know lets people opt in to power effects like that more automatically, without you having to individually explain.

I'll keep that in mind thank you. Is They'll Know another drawback?

Yes!

"It's pretty cool how some of the drawbacks also have benefits. I guess it's that whole thing about one person's trash being someone else's treasure."

"There's definitely some truth there. Just make sure you think things through carefully. These powers seem friendly but they also have a lot of depth."

"Yeah, that's true. We can definitely sleep on it and read everything carefully before I make my final choices."

Per her agreement she copies down this exchange for the Notebook.

I think it's a very good idea to sleep on it and read everything carefully before you finalize!

She draws a little thumbs up under the Notebook's response and then checks Captive Audience.

She has no interest in Blackout Binge. She wonders what would make that appeal to someone. Maybe somebody who feels like people are always blaming them for things that aren't their fault or has crippling social anxiety.

Disney Princess isn't quite her thing but it's cute enough that she'll give it a check anyway. 

She pauses at Best Friend and Bestest Friend. Does she want these? She's leaning towards no. She knows people who get really attached to pets but that hasn't really happened for her so far. And a magical companion is very much changing the genre of her life again.

Of the "your friends" powers the two that appeal to her are Cuddle Buddies and Quality Time.

For the powers like Cuddle Buddies do they do anything to help me be the sort of person that someone would want to cuddle with? Or are they only acting on other people and the world around us?

They're pretty open about how they accomplish their goals, so if you prefer that they help you be someone that other people want to cuddle with rather than making sure you meet cuddly people or encouraging people to be more cuddly, they can do that!

That's great I'm glad they're flexible like that.

She checks Quality Time and Cuddle Buddies and then looks at Agree to Agree.

Is there any sort of guarantee here that I'm actually right and not just convincing people of what I think even if I'm wrong?

For that, I think you want Backchannel.

Conveniently that is the very next power in the list and looks much better. She checks that. 

Oh that's excellent. I love Backchannel.

Oh good, I'm glad!

Not like other girls is... she can see how that would be important for a lot of people but she doesn't think she wants that. It feels like that would get in the way of trying to convince people to change society. She thinks briefly about whether a power like this would let her go places where she's supposed to wear clothes without wearing them but the Notebook is already making her a custom power that might help with that.

She doesn't need people to reciprocate feelings she mostly doesn't have.

Time Enough For Love is incredible. Is there anyone who doesn't take that? She checks it.

Wow, Time Enough For Love isn't something I would have thought to ask for but it sounds amazing. Can you tell me more about how it works?

To start with, it just stretches time a little while you're hanging out with someone in a way that's about wanting to be close to them, or get to know them, or enjoy your closeness, that sort of thing. You still get tired if you spend a long time like that, but you'll find that you have more time than you expected, and if there's somewhere you need to be afterwards, you're mostly on time to get there. When you have more people you want to hang out with like that, you eventually start being able to spend time with two different people in two different places at what would normally be the same time, and you and your friends don't get tired as much when you're together.

Oh wow, if it makes you less tired that's even better.

She's not sure if she needs Safe At Home but she can think about that later it's definitely something she would want to have if she had spare points so she checks it.

I Can Fix Them and I Can Help Them seem pretty good as well she thinks she prefers I Can Help Them though.

What does the power mean by "Your Love" in I Can Fix Them and I Can Help Them?

It means that the power works with people you're close to emotionally and supporting in an ongoing way in the context of a relationship or friendship.

Hmm, I wonder if being someone's therapist can count for that. I think it would be worth it even without that but that would just make it so much better.

I'm not very familiar with therapy but I think it's usually supposed to be a less personal relationship than those powers need. If you're okay with being more personal than usual about it though, I think it could work.

That makes sense, I think it would be something I would need to think about carefully for each person.

Could you explain a bit more about how they're different? They have the same language about my love helping people but they seem focused on very different things. Is that a real difference in what they can help with or is the difference more in how the explanation is focused but they can help with the same things?

They can both help with the same set of things; it's just the descriptions having different emphasis.

So then with Nullified is there a big difference? It seems like the standards under I Can Help Them are more complicated and maybe a little broader does that override the version in Nullified or not?

Yes, I Can Help Them overrides Nullified as far as restrictions on affecting people's minds.

She checks I Can Help Them

Where does Inspirational get the meaning of better from? Also, is it still a guarantee with Nullified?

The definition of better is a complicated one, but it's shared with I Can Fix Them and I Can Help Them. It has to do with what they want and what you want and what they're okay with and what you're okay with and what lets them lead a happy life without hurting people.

It's not a guarantee with Nullified; most things that guarantee things about how people will change or react aren't guarantees anymore with Nullified.

Is I Can Help Them a guarantee then?

It's not any less of a guarantee with Nullified than by itself, but it's not an absolute guarantee by itself because it needs the person to be on board with changing.

Right, that makes sense. Could you help me understand the difference in who I can help with that as opposed to Inspirational?

If your goal is to help people, I Can Help Them is probably a better fit than Inspirational; Inspirational is made in a bit of a weird shape. It's hard to describe what's strange about it, but it's not as well suited to helping people as the other two.

Maybe I'm just using help more broadly but I feel like inspiring people is usually a nice thing to do for them. Especially if it only works when they're okay with it. I'm less sure about the people regretting hurting me and people I care about specifically. Is that what you mean by it being a strange shape?

Yes, that's a big part of the strange shape. It doesn't do nearly as much inspiring as the points would usually indicate because a lot of that power is going into trying to make sure that specifically people who have hurt you or your loved ones get inspired as hard as possible. I might be able to make a variant that was better for your purposes, but especially with Nullified toning it down, I don't think it would be enough better to be worth taking on top of I Can Help Them unless you really really care a lot about having that kind of effect on as many people as possible.

Alright, being able to inspire people would be nice but it looks like I'm already going to be low on points so let's hold off for now.

Okay!

"Well that's disappointing. I guess these powers can't do everything though."

"You could still ask for it if it's important to you."

"Yeah, that's a good point."

She adds a note

Note to self: Maybe ask about a more purely inspirational version if I have points.

True Love's Kiss and Eternal Love are both very good. She checks them both.

The Rescuer is not what she was thinking about doing with her life but there is a pull to it. She checks the box and writes a note.

The Rescuer would be the kind of thing I could build my life around but it would also be the sort of thing that would shape my life around it. Not a casual choice.

Yes. It's powerful, but in the kind of way that makes some lives much easier to live than others.

Yeah.

Does Providential Parenthood take my partner's comfort level with having children into account? Like I can imagine being ready to have a child but having sex with someone who isn't but wouldn't be okay not having a part to play.

The power only takes your partner's readiness into account if your readiness depends on it.

Would it be possible to change it so that it does care about whether my partner would be okay with it?

I'm not sure... what situations are you imagining where you would want to have a child even if your partner didn't, but you don't want yourself to be able to have that child?

Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what the power means. One scenario I have in mind is that I might be having sex with two people and while I don't think it would matter to me who my child's other parent was I could see it mattering a lot to them. Does that make sense?

Would the fact that it mattered to them matter to you, though? If it would, the power will take that into account.

Oh, I think I understand now. You just confirmed a little while ago that these powers are a part of me but I think the wording of this power made me forget that. Of course my definition of being ready includes whether my partners are okay with becoming parents. And the power works on my understanding of what ready means at least in large part. Does it sound like I'm understanding correctly now?

Yes, I think so!

I think the only reason it would make sense to want a version of the power that explicitly took your partners' preferences into account would be if you expected your future self to care less about that than you do now, and wanted to make sure that in that case you still wouldn't end up having children that your partners wouldn't want you to have with them. But I think that if you expect your future self to care less about other people than you do now, and you want to make sure that in that case you won't end up doing things that the you of now would disapprove of, becoming really powerful might just be a bad idea in general.

I think I trust who I will be in the future to have good reasons for having changed if they do.

I'm glad you have that kind of trust with yourself!

Thank you. It helps that I'm imagining myself having powers like It Gets Better and Iron Will but I think I trust myself even without those.

I'm interested in the difference between Two Become One and Laugh Together. They sound very different but from other pairs of powers I expect them to be pretty similar.

They're more like two different approaches to the same problem. A lot of people have strong feelings about their intimate moments and want them to happen just right and get upset when they don't, or are anxious about their partners feeling that way. Two Become One solves this by making sure that things happen the right ways; Laugh Together solves it by making it easier to take difficulties and mishaps in stride.

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining.

She checks Laugh Together and then since she apparently forgot to Providential Parenthood. She goes ahead and also checks Bop It for good measure.

I feel like for having sex with humans I wouldn't need Princess and the Dragon. That sounds like it's more something for interacting that way with really different kinds of people. Am I understanding that correctly?

The Princess and the Dragon can help sometimes with having sex with humans, but it's mostly useful for having sex with dragons, ghosts, beehives, planets, and abstract concepts, yes.

Tom snorts.

... why would someone want to have sex with a beehive? Even a planet feels like it makes more sense than that.

Some beehives are people and some people like those people!

"Well that's me told then."

It sounds like there are a lot more sorts of people than I imagined there being before today.

The multiverse is a really, really, really, really big place.

It would have to be, even this one universe is bigger than I can really wrap my head around. I think I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around all these new types of people I might meet so for the moment I'm going to leave this unchecked.

This does make me wonder a little if I should rethink Dragon Fairy Elf Witch but I don't think I'm going to do that right now.

That makes sense! Those powers might be something you'll want after years and years of wandering the multiverse and meeting new kinds of people, but it can be hard to get a sense of how much you'll want them without wandering the multiverse meeting new kinds of people for a while first.

If you're still having a hard time deciding by the time you finalize your choices, you could leave points open for them without taking them. That way, if you do grow into someone who would really benefit from those powers, they will probably develop, and if not, the unrealized potential of those points will be waiting to form different powers for you if you ever really need them.

Oh, that's great. I'll definitely keep that in mind. Do I need to keep five points free for a five point power? It sounded like that wasn't how things work but I'm not sure if I was understanding right.

If you're hoping for a specific power or set of powers to show up later if you need them, then yes, you should keep enough points open that you could have used those points to choose those powers.

That's a lot of points to leave open but I guess I'll have to see what things look like after thinking about things more.

GGG is another power that's for people different than she is.

Before Your Eyes is... intriguing.

I have a thought about using Before Your Eyes to help people do the things that they want to do but can't quite convince themselves to. It looks like that's within the letter of the power but I'm wondering if that's stretching it. My expectation is that centrally this is about people doing things I would find arousing.

Yes, I think if you wanted something that was more centrally about helping people have the confidence to explore their own desires I should make a variant power. Would you like me to think about it?

That would be wonderful. Please do.

Okay!

She moves on to Fated Lovers and also catches a glimpse of Fated Friends.

I'm interested in the difference between Fated Lovers and Fated Friends. Does Fated Friends specifically not introduce you to people you might grow to love?

Fated Lovers focuses on people you could have close, emotionally intimate, long-term relationships with, and keeps providing more until you're fully satisfied in that area, then rests for as long as you're satisfied. Fated Friends isn't as narrowly focused and will look for any social relationship that would benefit you, and it never fully stops working, only slows down somewhat when you're more socially saturated.

How does it help to have both?

If you have both then they can work together to bring you more and better-quality social connections, but you might also find that you end up with too many good social connections and have to prioritize. Time Enough For Love helps a lot but even with Time Enough For Love some people prefer to spend only a certain amount of their time on social relationships and combining Fated Friends with Fated Lovers will generally leave you with more social relationships than that.

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining.

I think from that it sounds like I probably want to choose and the choice is between fewer deeper connections or a larger number with greater breadth in the type of connections. I think I'm currently leaning towards the larger number.

She checks Fated Friends.

The perks for being forgiven for unkindness don't appeal to her.

Sense of Style seems entirely unappealing, at least before reading Bonus Style Points.

Would it be possible to get something like Bonus Style Points that isn't focused around people looking good for me but instead more centrally about being themselves?

That's a pretty tricky one; I can look into it, but I can't promise anything. I'll try though!

Yeah, that makes sense. It feels like most of these powers are centrally about me and that's pushing a power into being less about me.

I see what you mean, and that's a good way of putting it!

Thanks, I'm glad I'm understanding things.

She keeps reading next up is Self-Reflection

Are there worlds where I'm likely to run into more people who are me? Or worlds where I would end up making more of myself or something like that? This feels a lot more specific than most powers.

It's surprisingly common for people who travel the multiverse a lot to meet more of themselves. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it happens a lot! And some people like to make more of themselves on purpose, too.

Interesting. I don't think that's too important to me and if I want to keep in touch with another me that I care deeply about I think Eternal Love would let me do that. Am I right to think Eternal Love could work like that?

Yes, Eternal Love will help you keep in touch with the people you care about even if they're you. Self-Reflection is for people who want to be in close contact with themselves even across vast distances.

She nods then writes

Makes sense

Next up is Popular and Famous.

For the next two reputation powers how well do they work with Nullified?

Still pretty well! Coincidence management can go a long way, especially for Popular. Famous is a little trickier and with Nullified it usually has to resort to giving you opportunities to do lots of cool stuff so people can hear about it.

And if I'm understanding right it would be cool stuff I would want to be famous for. That actually sounds pretty nice.

She checks both.

Yes, Famous will always lean towards picking the kinds of things you would want to see yourself get famous for if they're available, and it can do quite a bit to see about making them available if they aren't.

Great.

The next power is Undiplomatic Immunity. She thinks about it for a moment but if she wants to change society being immune to the law isn't precisely counter-productive but it feels weird. She skips that one. The Friends in places powers she checks.

"On to drawbacks then."

Decorative would separate her from other people in a way that feels uncomfortable.

Beauty Is A Curse feels like it would be grating. If she really needs one point she might consider it but for the moment she's not checking that.

Plain Jane feels like a trap... it actually feels really out of character for the Notebook.

I'm confused by Plain Jane being here I don't understand who would take that unless they didn't understand what it would do to them and that feels out of character for The Spirit.

I do try to warn people away from it, because it's pretty rare for someone to be okay with it, but some people want to take it even with the warnings.

It's good that you try to warn people.

Style of Sisyphus again doesn't appeal. She's especially worried that it would rewrite her opinions on nudity.

There's Another one feels like something she needs to consider more but it feels like it's at least a strong possibility. She checks it.

Great Responsibility is the same kind of thing as My Ears Are Burning but it is more specific. Maybe it's okay?

She looks over at Tom.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Only if you are changing what you're going for. Right now you don't really have powers focused on helping individual people. And you're specifically going for being really prominent it just doesn't match your plans."

"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.

And then we decide whose word was best?

Exactly.

Okay! I think I understand how to play.

Alright, how about you take a turn as reader first.

The next card says:

C Cake

It'll be a piece of Cake

It's the icing on the Cake

And I have to substitute a word that starts with C?

How about...

It's the icing on the Clown

Tom kneels down by the desk and grabs a black pen to contrast with Sapphire's blue one.

Hi, It's Tom in case our handwriting isn't different enough to tell I'll use the black pen while Sapphire uses the Blue.

My proposal is "Icing on the Cloud"

Oh, that's a good one hmm, for maximum absurdity "Icing on the Constellation"

I think icing on a cloud sounds really cute and sweet, and icing on a clown sounds really funny, and icing on a constellation sounds weird and hard to imagine. I'm not sure what to pick!

I think it's between cloud and clown. I don't think constellation really works beyond just being bizarre. I think I'm gonna go with clown just because funny is a bit more central to the game than cute.

Yeah, the image of clown makeup but instead made of icing is pretty amusing let's go with that.

Neat, I did a good job! ✨

Whose turn is it now?

I'll go. The card is E, Executioner, "I am my own Executioner." I don't have an idea just yet.

Does that mean we should wait until you think of something, or should we suggest our own replacement words?

The order we give ideas isn't important you can even give more than one if you want though it's nice to wait for everyone to come up with at least one idea before suggesting more so you don't accidentally give something someone else was also thinking of.

Okay!

My suggestion is "I am my own Ermine."

I am my own Elephant. Like Elephant in the room.

I am my own Entertainment.

I had another idea: I am my own Elegance.

Which one of your ideas should I be evaluating, or should it be both?

We usually just go with both. Feel free to suggest more ideas if you have some. The exception is just if you have way more ideas than everyone else.

I think I like Elegance because it's a pretty word, and Elephant and Ermine both because it's kind of cute and silly to imagine someone being their own creature of some sort, but I think "I am my own Entertainment" is funniest.

Yeah I think Entertainment is the best fit. It's also a happy message in some ways.

I graciously accept my victory.