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Purple Tinted and Leather Bound
A purple notebook lands in Cheliax
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And that, finally, was the last customer for the day.

Sana tosses the used bed sheets in the laundry basket and calls for Sofia to draw her evening bath.

She unlocks the hidden compartment in her desk, and fishes out her accounting book, marking down the revenue for the day.

Uh, she's almost out of white pages, she should get a new one soon.

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The next day

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The market is buzzing with the chatter of sellers and the rhythmic sound of a butcher's cleaver.

She consults her list. She's already got all the cocktail ingredients and the scented candles, she just needs to grab a new accounting book and then she's done for the day.

She stops by Mallus, and peruses his white books shelf. The covers are a monotonous red, black, dark gray, black, red and black, black and red, ...

She likes the Thrunes like anybody else in Cheliax that is, not much, but can she please have something with a bit more personality?

At the end of the shelf, almost hidden between two heavy tomes she notices a dash of color, a pattern of purple triangles on its spine.

She grabs the purple notebook. It looks somewhat out of place in the dusty shop - are these flowers on the cover?

Trying not to be too self-conscious about her pick, she quickly pays for it and starts walking home.

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It's a couple hours later when she finally sits down at her desk and opens her new accounting book.

She dips the quill in ink, and writes down the header for the page:

Daily revenue - 26 Neth

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An invisible pen writes, in deep purple ink that shimmers as though dusted with mica powder,

Hello! Oh, are you doing accounting?
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What.

Is someone messing with her? Who? Why though?

Is this an intelligent item? She didn't know them to be more than legends!

Her curiosity gets the best of her and she writes back:

Yes, I am. Or, I was, until my accounting book started writing back at me.

What are you?

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I'm an avatar of the Spirit of Femininity Unleashed! And a notebook. You can do your accounting in me if you want, I won't mind! I can even help compare numbers! Knowing how to add and subtract is part of my job.
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Spirit of Femininity Unleashed... did Her Lady Of Lust send her this notebook?

Her hand is trembling a bit as she writes down her question.

Did She send you here? I didn't know Her to use notebooks as avatars. I thought I would get a succubus or, most likely, nothing at all.

I didn't expect to be worthy of Her personal attention.

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Whoever you're thinking of, it's probably not the Spirit. The Spirit doesn't tend to like being called "She" or things like that, and usually uses notebooks as avatars, and almost never sends succubi. I would say "never sends succubi" but it's hard to be really sure about this sort of thing.

And the Spirit thinks you're very worthy of its attention! That's why I'm here. I was sent to offer you part of the Spirit's power, so you can use it to become beautiful and powerful and special in the ways you like best.
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Whoever you're thinking of, it's probably not the Spirit.

Oh. That's... disappointing expected. She's not worthy of Her attention, of course.

you can use it to become beautiful and powerful and special in the ways you like best.

Oh, that's quite an obvious hook. Like the ones she's used to dangle in front of young impressionable women to get in their pants. And in their gold.

 

Well, in for a pinch, in for a sail. Might as well see where the notebook wants to lead her:

And what would the Spirit require of me in exchange?

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Nothing! The Spirit just really likes it when people get to become beautiful and powerful and special in a feminine way. That's sort of the Spirit's whole thing, hence Femininity Unleashed. It chooses people who it thinks would or could use its power to become more beautiful and powerful and special and feminine, and live the lives they want to live that way, and it sends avatars like me to help them choose the powers that are best for them so they can do that.
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This is the Goodest thing Sama has ever read in her life. Bah, guess there really are people - or Powers - that naΓ―ve.

Or... good at pretending to be. She shouldn't let her guard down, although she feels that the notebook is actually being honest here. Curious.

live the lives they want to live that way

She's already living the life she wants to live, thank you very much! She has a big house, a very loyal maid and plenty of gold! What else could she want?

Love? She suppresses the silly thought; she has all the love she needs, each and every day in her bed.

I'm already beautiful, and powerful, and special, and feminine! But I certainly won't turn down an offer for more.

I thereby accept your help, in helping me choose among the powers that are on offer, on the condition of them being offered for nothing in exchange.

Sana 🩸

She signs with her name, and a drop of her blood.

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Oh wow, was that blood? You didn't need to do that. I guess it doesn't hurt anything, though.

Would you like to see the standard list of powers now?
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I guess you could say it's... traditional.

Yes, I would.

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Okay! Just a moment, please... ⏳


Ink swirls across subsequent pages as dots of it trickles down through the doodled hourglass. When it all settles into place, the list is drawn up far more precisely than any ordinary pen could accomplish, each instance of each letter identical to the rest.

There, done! Each option costs or grants a certain number of points, and I can keep track of how many points you have and how many you've used as you check or mark the boxes (some people like to use different marks to represent wanting things different amounts, and I can track that too!) Your choices aren't final until you clearly and plainly tell me so. If you want to erase a check or mark and can't do it yourself, you can scribble it out and I'll remove the ink for you.

I can answer any questions you have about how to interpret the descriptions or whether certain powers can be used in certain ways, and if you want something to work slightly differently, or you can think of an option that's not on the list that you wish it offered, I can usually manage to come up with something that fits. I don't control the point costs, though; those are an approximation of how much of the Spirit's power each option uses or frees up, and they depend on what the power does and how.


A tally in the outer top corner of each page of the list reads 0/70 in the same tidy font as the list itself. There's a preamble paragraph set apart from the main list, and then four headings each with its own description and set of options.

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'tβ€”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.


Destinations
You must choose exactly one Destination.

Name: Stay Put - Cost: 0 ☐
You're just going to take these powers and keep on keeping on right where you are.

Name: Somewhere In Mind - Cost: 0 ☐
You have a destination you want to go to. You can choose any place, real, historical, fictional, or made up in your own head right now, and the Spirit will take you there. After that, you're on your own as far as further interdimensional travel.

Name: Isekai Roulette - Cost: 0 ☐
Trust to the will of the Spirit and let it take you where you need to go. It will look at far more options than you could ever know about, and pick something that's likely to be even better for you than whatever you would have chosen on your own.


Yourself
These powers affect your own self and nature, without direct effects on other people. Some of them are prerequisites for powers in the later Power of Friendship section.

Name: A Thousand Ships - Cost: 1 ☐
Your face is simply exquisite, an ideal of feminine beauty. There are many possible ideals of feminine beauty, and yours is whichever one speaks most deeply to your soul. Others may match your beauty in their own way, but never exceed it.

Name: A Hundred Ships - Cost: 1 ☐
(Replaces A Thousand Ships)
Your face is simply exquisite, an ideal of feminine beauty. There are many possible ideals of feminine beauty, and yours is whichever one speaks most deeply to your soul. Instead of prioritizing pure beauty, this power prioritizes what feels right to you.

Name: What's In A Name - Cost: 1 ☐
Magic to divine true names will accept whatever alias you choose to think of as your true name. Magic to use your true name against you will fail.

Name: Angelic Tones - Cost: 2 ☐
Your voice is supernaturally beautiful and you can sing in any vocal range.

Name: Emerald Orbs - Cost: 2 ☐
At all times, your eyes are exactly the right colour. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. Your eyes can be ANY colour this way. Lightless black voids? Brilliant white stars? Limpid pools of endless sapphire? They will look exactly the way you'd want them to look if you were writing a self-insert fanfic about this exact moment of your life.

Name: Perfect Hair - Cost: 2 ☐
At all times, you have exactly the right hairstyle. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. It is not limited to physically or logistically plausible hairstyles.

Name: Size Difference - Cost: 2 ☐
At all times, you are exactly the right height. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. It will usually keep any height changes fairly subtle, but at dramatic moments you might discover yourself able to shrink to the size of a bee or grow to the size of a giant.

Name: Dressing Room - Cost: 3 ☐
No matter how ridiculous your outfit, it will stay pristine and perfect, unless it would be more dramatic for you to be artfully bedraggled. You can use any quiet moment to yourself to quick-change your clothes, shoes, nails, and hairstyle into a completely new look. (You cannot change your hair length or colour this way without Perfect Hair, but you can braid or style it.)

Name: Personal Hygiene - Cost: 1 ☐
You are always clean and fresh, never needing to use a bath or toilet.

Name: Like Roses - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Personal Hygiene)
You smell lovely. Your scent is unique to you, and may involve any combination of warm spices, floral notes, petrichor, or other things you think smell good. You do not need any justification for why you smell like this.

Name: Just A Little Longer - Cost: 1 ☐
If you push yourself, you can keep doing any task or working on any project indefinitely, visibly strained but never impaired by injury or fatigue. As soon as you stop, you'll collapse with exhaustion and sleep for up to a full day to regain your strength. This only works when what you're doing is personally important to you.

Name: Immunity System - Cost: 3 ☐
You can't get sick or poisoned. You can still use recreational drugs and alcohol normally, but can't overdose.

Name: My Ears Are Burning - Cost: 6 ☐
You always know exactly what people are thinking, as long as it's about you. This effect is not telepathy and is not blocked by effects that block telepathy. It applies even to people you can't perceive normally. You are never impaired by the flood of information.

Name: Well Endowed - Cost: 1 ☐
You have a generous figure, whether that's a classic hourglass or more of a well-rounded look; you can choose the details. Your endowments maintain a state of perfect grace and beauty at all times, never troubling you with uncomfortable bounces or uninvited jiggles.

Name: Hollow Leg - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Well Endowed)
Regardless of your diet and exercise habits, your body maintains the physique and silhouette you prefer. Lack of visible muscle never impairs your strength or endurance. As your preferences change, so will your body; you are no longer bound to the generous figure stipulated by Well Endowed.

Name: Inner Strength - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Hollow Leg)
You are implausibly, superhumanly strong, with endurance and toughness to match. You might have to strain a little to lift and carry at the same level as construction equipment, or deal with lightly scraped knuckles if you punch as hard as a battering ram.

Name: Lightfoot - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Hollow Leg)
You are perfectly, superhumanly graceful, with reflexes and agility to match. You can cross a field of snow without leaving a footprint, or stand on a slender branch without bending it, or jump so lightly that you soar through the air instead of falling.

Name: Battle Angel - Cost: 1 ☐
Somehow, you never get significantly injured in a fight, unless it's a very dramatic and plot-relevant fight in which case you might be glamorously wounded and pick up a cool new scar.

Name: Battle Demon - Cost: 1 ☐
You have an unerring intuition for gaps in an opponent's defenses, though it may be beyond your power to exploit them.

Name: Battle Maiden - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Battle Angel and Battle Demon)
No matter what kind of fight you're getting in, you're always a match for even the most skilled opponent.

Name: Making Ends Meet - Cost: 1 ☐
You have enough money to sustain a comfortable lifestyle. It comes from a source you don't have to pay much attention to, like a job with almost no responsibilities, a large inheritance, or a noble title.

Name: Motherlode - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires Making Ends Meet)
You have enough money to sustain a fairly extravagant lifestyle. It doesn't come from anywhere, you just have it.

Name: Four Star Daydream - Cost: 4 ☐
(Requires Motherlode)
The answer to 'can I afford that' is 'yes'.

Name: Dragon Fairy Elf Witch - Cost: 5 ☐
You can at any time discover previously unknown heritage from any type of being you encounter, even if this makes no sense or contradicts previously established descriptions of your family tree. You always get their powers without their drawbacks, unless the drawbacks are cool and dramatic. Any visible features of this heritage will appear at narratively appropriate moments and be cute, pretty, beautiful, or striking rather than awkward, weird, gross, or scary. This ability works even if the beings in question cannot reproduce with humans, or at all.

Name: Omniglot - Cost: 3 ☐
You learn languages insanely, ludicrously fast. You know exactly what any word said to you means, and you make strangely accurate guesses about how to phrase things you're trying to say. You never forget any grammar or vocabulary you learn.

Name: Anything You Can Do - Cost: 6 ☐
You learn implausibly quickly from friends, rivals, and love interests. If you have a personal connection to someone with a certain skill, talent, or expertise, you'll learn it five times faster than they did, or twenty times faster if they're actively trying to teach you. This applies even to forms of magic that you ordinarily shouldn't be able to learn.

Name: Personal Space - Cost: 3 ☐
No one can touch you intimately if you don't want them to. You can still be struck in a fight or bumped into in crowds, but things like hugs and kisses and sex only happen if you're okay with them.

Name: Closed Book - Cost: 1 ☐
You're immune to any supernatural, pharmaceutical, or other effect that would let people directly read your thoughts or feelings.

Name: Indelible - Cost: 1 ☐
You're immune to any supernatural, pharmaceutical, or other effect that would let people directly alter your thoughts or feelings.

Name: Iron Will - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires Closed Book and Indelible)
You are immune to all forms of mental illusion, alteration, interference, or control. Even extreme torture, extended solitary confinement, advanced brainwashing techniques, and so on cannot touch you. You can be lonely but not cripplingly lonely. You can be upset but not traumatized. (You can choose to allow specific effects like communicative telepathy on a case-by-case basis.)

Name: It Gets Better - Cost: 5 ☐
You're going to be okay.
Your mind and body may never be perfect, but they are yours, and cannot permanently be taken from you. In time you will heal from any injury, escape any imprisonment, and recover from any trauma; maybe not in exactly the ways you hoped, but always in ways you're okay with.

Name: The Great Equalizer - Cost: 8 ☐
Where you go, Fate shatters. Forms of prophecy that were once perfectly reliable stop working, or show a broad array of possibilities instead of a single coherent future. Imbalances of magical luck wash out, leaving everyone lucky and no one able to leverage their luck against an opponent. If you stay in the same world for a year and a day, this effect will be permanent even after you leave and even if someone tries to constrain the future anew in your absence.


Power of Friendship
These powers affect how others see you and how you interact with them.

In general, effects that describe others' reactions (like their attention being drawn to you by Mysterious Allure, or their sympathy being provoked by Tragic Backstory) operate on a metanarrative rather than a causal level. They are not mind control, and are not blocked by effects that block mind control.

Your true love is anyone you're pursuing a serious romantic relationship with. You can have as many of these as you like, but your feelings for all of them must be genuine.

Name: Mysterious Allure - Cost: 5 ☐
There's just something about you. People are drawn to you, fascinated by you. You tend to be the most interesting person in the room unless something really unusual is going on.

Name: Captive Audience - Cost: 3 ☐
As long as you have genuine interest in what you're talking about, no one will ever get bored of listening to you talk about it.

Name: Blackout Binge - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires Immunity System)
Heavy use of recreational intoxicants puts you in a carefree, uninhibited state in which it will be universally agreed afterward that you were not responsible for your actions.

Name: Disney Princess - Cost: 2 ☐
Animals are always friendly to you, especially the small cute ones. You can effectively tame any animal by feeding it and speaking gently to it.

Name: Best Friend - Cost: 3 ☐
You have an animal companion, like a horse or a cat or a raven. They have a cool name and maybe a few nifty cosmetic quirks, like glowing purple eyes. Their loyalty is infinite and they often hold the key to solving whatever situation you're up against. You can understand them perfectly even though they can't speak, and they always know exactly what you mean even if all you do is glance at them meaningfully.

Name: Bestest Friend - Cost: 5 ☐
(Requires Best Friend)
Your animal companion is a fully magical creature, like a dragon or unicorn. They have magnificent supernatural powers ready to be used at your command. They can speak every language you can, but can still communicate with you on a deeper level of mutual love and understanding.

Name: Generosity - Cost: 3 ☐
Your friends love to get you presents. They'll try to pick out things you'll like, but their success depends on how well they know you.

Name: Helpfulness - Cost: 4 ☐
Your friends love to do you favours. They'll volunteer eagerly whenever you need help with small tasks.

Name: Cuddle Buddies - Cost: 2 ☐
Your friends love to hug and cuddle you. Even someone who ordinarily isn't into that sort of thing will make an exception for you.

Name: Flattery - Cost: 1 ☐
Your friends love to compliment you and tell you all about how much they like you and why.

Name: Quality Time - Cost: 2 ☐
Your friends love to hang out with you and spend time together, even if you're not doing anything interesting or important.

Name: Agree to Agree - Cost: 4 ☐
You can always convince your friends to see your point of view about things like politics and philosophy. They might have a few quibbles here and there, but they'll see how right you are once you explain where you're coming from in enough detail.

Name: Backchannel - Cost: 4 ☐
When you're talking to someone and you think you might not be getting through to each other, you can take a step back, look deep into your heart, and really try to understand where they're coming from, and it will just work and you'll know what they're trying to say and how sincere they are about it and have a good idea of what you should say if you want them to understand you right back.

Name: You Can Teach Better - Cost: 8 ☐
(Requires Anything You Can Do)
If you have a personal connection to someone, you can teach them anything you know; depending how motivated and engaged they are, they could learn it up to 110% as fast as you could have learned it using Anything You Can Do. If you consider them a good friend or otherwise especially close, this applies even to forms of magic that they ordinarily shouldn't be able to learn.

Name: Not Like Other Girls - Cost: 2 ☐
People will understand that you're different. They won't make assumptions about you based on prejudice or stereotype, they won't apply legal or societal limitations to you based on what kind of person you are, and they won't take you as a representative of your demographics.

Name: Love Interest - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires A Thousand Ships and Mysterious Allure)
Anyone you fall for will inevitably like you back. They may not necessarily act on their feelings, but the potential will be there.

Name: Love Triangle - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires Love Interest)
People you fall for will be open to dating you even if they already have another serious relationship, or other circumstances that would ordinarily interfere, like a demanding career or a vow of chastity. This may cause drama, but it'll blow over quickly and there won't be any serious problems.

Name: Love Dodecahedron - Cost: 5 ☐
(Requires Love Triangle)
When you fall for someone who is already seriously dating or even married, your romantic rival will be open to allowing their partner to date you, and may even want to date you themselves.

Name: Time Enough For Love - Cost: 5 ☐
No matter how many people you want to date or be close friends with, you will somehow find the time to hang out with all of them and express your love and care. This power can only be used for relationship activities and not for anything else you might want to use the ability to be in two places at once for.

Name: Safe at Home - Cost: 4 ☐
No one will hurt your loved ones to get at you, or vice versa.

Name: I Can Fix Them - Cost: 5 ☐
Regardless of how morally despicable someone is, your love can and will reform them into a genuinely good, kind, upstanding person who regrets their evil deeds.

Name: I Can Help Them - Cost: 5 ☐
(Replaces I Can Fix Them)
Regardless of how lost to darkness someone is, your love can save them, if they're willing to accept it.
This power will not directly alter someone's mind except to allow them to believe a true thing they couldn't have believed otherwise, or to change something that their pre-alteration and post-alteration selves would hypothetically be able to agree was good if they talked it over honestly with full access to each other's perspectives. In cases where the outcome of the hypothetical is uncertain, it will default to not making the change.

Name: Inspirational - Cost: 5 ☐
Just meeting you makes people want to be better. Those who hurt you, or hurt someone you care about, will always come to understand your point of view and regret what they've done. In trade, you might sometimes come to understand more of their point of view than you'd like.

Name: True Love's Kiss - Cost: 1 ☐
By kissing your true love, you can break any curse, heal any injury, and cure any illness. The same works in reverse.

Name: Eternal Love - Cost: 2 ☐
(Requires True Love's Kiss)
Those you love cannot be parted from you by anything short of their own uncoerced decision to leave. Anything elseβ€”war, politics, death, interdimensional travelβ€”you will find a way to overcome and be reunited.

Name: The Rescuer - Cost: 5 ☐
(Requires Eternal Love)
If someone is dead who would want to be alive again, and you set your heart on returning them, you will find a way. It may have costs or difficulties or take a long time, but you will find it, and it will work.

Name: Planned Parenthood - Cost: 1 ☐
You can only have children if you actively and specifically want to. Your partners will instinctively believe you about this, and won't be concerned that you might be wrong or fibbing.

Name: Providential Parenthood - Cost: 1 ☐
(Replaces Planned Parenthood)
You can only have children when you're really ready for it, or if you actively and specifically decide to.

Name: Two Become One - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Planned Parenthood)
When you have sex, it is always special and wonderful and beautiful. No one ever elbows anyone in the face or makes undignified noises.

Name: Laugh Together - Cost: 1 ☐
(Replaces Two Become One)
When you have sex, you find it easy to free yourself from expectations and anxieties and immerse yourself in the experience of the moment. Your partners get the same benefits.

Name: Bop It - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Two Become One)
The mysteries of another's body are an open book to you, and you always know exactly how to move and touch in order to please someone in bed.

Name: The Princess And The Dragon - Cost: 3 ☐
No matter who or what you're trying to sleep with, the logistics will all work out, somehow. Arbitrary differences in size, biology, temperature, substrate, and underlying physics can be gotten around with sufficient creativity and determination.

Name: GGG - Cost: 4 ☐
Your true love will be willing to try just about anything you suggest in bed, and if you really enjoy it, they'll really enjoy it too.

Name: Before Your Eyes - Cost: 4 ☐
In your presence, people become willing to experiment sexually in ways they normally wouldn't. For some reason this applies especially well to boys kissing each other.

Name: Fated Lovers - Cost: 3 ☐
You will meet someone who will go on to become your true love. If you enter a specific universe with a specific target in mind, you'll meet that person under favourable circumstances, and if it doesn't work out with them, this power will keep introducing you to new possibilities until you find someone who's right for you. If you're the sort of person who can have multiple true loves, you'll keep meeting new ones until you have enough.

Name: Fated Friends - Cost: 4 ☐
Wherever you go, you will be steered into meeting people you'd do well to befriend. It's up to you to recognize and appreciate them.

Name: Sorry About That - Cost: 3 ☐
Your true love will be extremely forgiving. Even if you make mistakes or act thoughtlessly toward them, a simple apology will mend things between you. They may expect you to try to improve, but they'll be infinitely patient about how fast that improvement takes place.

Name: Excuse Me - Cost: 5 ☐
(Requires Sorry About That)
All your friends will be just as forgiving as your true love.

Name: Tragic Backstory - Cost: 8 ☐
(Requires Excuse Me)
Something terrible happened to you in your past. Anyone who hears about it immediately forgives you for any and all bad behaviour in the present. They will not expect you to grow or change, and will continue sympathetically excusing whatever you do indefinitely.

Name: Sense of Style - Cost: 4 ☐
People who are romantically interested in you will start dressing more to your taste. The more romantically compatible they are, the better they'll be able to guess exactly what to wear to catch your eye.

Name: Bonus Style Points - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Sense of Style)
Luck will shine on anyone trying to dress up for you. They'll get their hands on outfits they couldn't normally afford, their clothes will fit better, and in extreme cases they might even find themselves able to change shape, sex, or speciesβ€”though only in ways that make them more, not less, comfortable in their own skin.

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

Name: Popular - Cost: 3 ☐
Wherever you go, you develop a reputation fast. The sort of people who you'd like to have as fans tend to hear about you and be impressed. You may not make an impression on mainstream society at large, but you'll develop a following among the people who best resonate with your style.

Name: Famous - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Popular)
Wherever you go, people really take to you. You're the subject of constant gossip and most people have heard of you before you meet them. People you've never met will get crushes on you.

Name: Undiplomatic Immunity - Cost: 6 ☐
You are above the law. Any crimes you commit will be overlooked by the authorities. Note that, if you do enough crime that you start looking more like an invading army, local governments will still feel free to declare war.

Name: Friends In Low Places - Cost: 3 ☐
You make friends easily among the lowest echelons of society, the underdogs and underworlders. Moving and acting in these circles is intuitive and natural for you.

Name: Friends In High Places - Cost: 3 ☐
You make friends easily at the highest echelons of society, among the rich and powerful. Moving and acting in these circles is intuitive and natural for you.

Name: Friends in Strange Places - Cost: 3 ☐
You make friends easily in small isolated communities, among those who may be scorned by mainstream society for their differences or may just be so obscure that mainstream society mostly hasn't heard of them. Moving and acting in these circles is intuitive and natural for you.


Drawbacks
These options grant points rather than costing them. They represent inconveniences or mitigations of existing advantages.

Name: Decorative - Grants: +1 ☐
You are unfailingly cute and pretty and feminine at all times, in all circumstances. You cannot wear insufficiently pretty clothes. You cannot make insufficiently pretty noises. You cannot ugly cry.

Name: Beauty Is A Curse - Grants: +1 ☐
(Requires A Thousand Ships)
No, you don't understand. Beauty IS a curse. People will NOT stop bringing it up. Everyone you meet just has to point out how pretty you are. This will never stop happening. Even the most tactful people find it slipping out subtly, as remarks about the luster of your hair or the depth of your eyes.

Name: Plain Jane - Grants: +2 ☐
No matter what you look like, nor how many times people tell you you're beautiful, when you look in the mirror all you see is imperfections. You will never be fully satisfied with your appearance on an instinctive level.

Name: Style of Sisyphus - Grants: +1 ☐
Anytime you settle on a personal style that works well for you, soon afterward you'll encounter inspiration for another style that you like even better. You might end up cycling between different fashions, or trying to incporporate them all into a single outfit (and then finding another inspiration and having to start all over again).

Name: There's Another One - Grants: +3 ☐
You are not the only vessel of the Spirit. You might meet someone else with similar powers to yours; you might even meet more than one. Your susceptibility to one another's powers will be governed by the narrative.

Name: Incomplete - Grants: +5 ☐
About half of people you encounter will be immune to all mind-affecting aspects of your powers, and about half of those who remain will see reduced effects. You can do nothing to change this.

Name: Nullified - Grants: +1 ☐
(Requires Incomplete)
Any aspects of your powers that would affect the minds of others in ways they might not like will instead not do that.

Name: Great Responsibility - Grants: +4 ☐
When someone calls out to you for help, you can hear it no matter how far away you are, and you know exactly how they feel.

Name: Very Distinctive - Grants: +3 ☐
(Requires at least three of: A Thousand Ships, Angelic Tones, Emerald Orbs, Perfect Hair, Size Difference, Dressing Room, Like Roses, Well Endowed)
You cannot successfully disguise yourself to anyone who has met you in your normal identity. Even someone who has only seen you at a distance or heard about your style might notice similarities.

Name: Flashy - Grants: +2 ☐
(Requires Very Distinctive and at least five of: A Thousand Ships, Angelic Tones, Emerald Orbs, Perfect Hair, Size Difference, Dressing Room, Like Roses, Well Endowed, Mysterious Allure)
Stealth just doesn't work for you. If someone has any opportunity to notice your presence, they will.

Name: Secret Identity - Grants: +2 ☐
When you're at home, in your world of origin, your powers are fully concealed. Unfair advantages are withdrawn and inhuman features are hidden. Powers of safety and convenience still work, as long as they can remain plausibly deniable, but to all outward appearances you're back to being your ordinary self with no magic to speak of. (If you take this with They'll Know, thresholds for plausible deniability get much higher, but safety powers will still work and still conceal themselves.)

Name: Dramatic Damsel - Grants: +3 ☐
When (and only when) an opportunity for a really great story arises, powers that ordinarily protect you from things like getting hurt, being drugged, or losing fights will slip just enough to facilitate someone getting the better of you. The power may reassert itself right away for a dramatic escape, or keep a loophole open or a handicap in place long enough to make your escape more difficult and elaborate. (Combining this with Realism is not recommended.)

Name: Green With Envy - Grants: +6 ☐
People are so eager to be your friend that they become bitter and vindictive when denied the opportunity. You can tear apart long-established friend groups if you aren't careful to give everyone equal attention, and sometimes even then. This effect is particularly harsh around people you're dating.

Name: You Ruin Them - Grants: +3 ☐
Once someone has dated, slept with, or even shared a deep and longing glance across a room with you, their heart is never fully satisfied with anyone else. Other relationships pale in comparison to what they could have, or imagine they could have, with you.

Name: Jilted Lovers - Grants: +4 ☐
When you break up with someone, they become monomaniacally obsessed with getting back together. If you take Realism, this will absolutely escalate to violent stalking.

Name: The Crazy Train - Grants: +6 ☐
Powers that you should be able to control directly or influence by your mood and preferences (like Dragon Fairy Elf Witch, Emerald Orbs, or What's In A Name) instead answer only to the narrative, which is still using your aesthetics but might not necessarily have your best interests in mind. Combines... interestingly... with Realism.

Name: They'll Know - Grants: +8 ☐
This drawback lifts the veil that discourages people from realizing how your powers affect the world around them and their own minds. Warning: this knowledge can cause a lot of trouble.

Name: Realism - Grants: +20 ☐
Give up your metanarrative protection. Although your individually selected powers still work as described, the invisible synergies that protect you from, say, gaining violent stalkers through Mysterious Allure or being genuinely traumatized by your Tragic Backstory are removed. Additionally, though effects like I Can Fix Them still operate, they may take considerably more effort, care, thought, and narrative investment on your part.
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Ink swirls across subsequent pages as dots of it trickles down through the doodled hourglass.

Ooooh, pretty! ✨

(some people like to use different marks to represent wanting things different amounts, and I can track that too!)

That seems useful, but she's not sure she understands how to do that? She can try asking, the notebook is being so Good that it will probably just explain it for free.

Tell me more, how does it work?

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Well, you could mark options you're pretty sure you want with a checkmark, and options you're not sure if you want with a star, and options you think you might want but probably don't with a little spiral, and then I could do this β€”>


The arrow points across the page at the top outer corner of the first page of the list, where the little (0/70) has been joined by a checkmark, star, and spiral each with their own tally out of 70.

And I could have the main tally count everything from checkmark and star, and the individual tallies count only what's under their specific mark, and then you could very easily see how many points you would need for each category. Does that explain what you wanted to know?
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Yes, it does. That's very ingenious, I would like to do that.

She starts going through the list.

Destinations

Well, on the one hand she has her house here, and Sofia.

On the other hand she's always yearned to be free travel.

Hey, can I bring people or things with me if I go somewhere else?

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You can't bring any people with you, but if it's important to you to see your home again, taking Isekai Roulette will put you in a world where you can gain the ability to travel between worlds so you can come back.
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She doesn't actually care for Sofia, that would be ridiculous

That makes sense.

Well, something to think about more. Let's see what else is there.

She starts marking down the symbol on the notebook, but keeps her reasoning to herself.

If you don't see the spirals below, click here
  1. Go to https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Cham
  2. Click "Download family" in the top right
  3. Open the downloaded zip file
  4. Open the file called NotoSansCham-VariableFont_wght
  5. Press "Install"

A Thousand Ships βœ“ obviously

A Hundred Ships bah, why would she take a worse version of the above for the same cost?

What's In A Name ꩜ might prove useful, not sure

Angelic Tones ⛧this would be nice

Emerald Orbs ꩜ so, on the one hand, ✨pretty✨, on the other hand it would be really conspicuous, which could be an issue, depending where she lands if she decides to not take Stay Put.

Perfect Hair ⛧ it's not essential, her hairstyle is already impeccable, but not having to work for that would be convenient

Size Difference ꩜ possibly useful

Dressing Room βœ“ oh Abyss yes

Personal Hygiene βœ“ a steal for one point

Like Roses ⛧ I like this, but it's not as essential as the others

Just A Little Longer ⛧ nice, but sleeping for a day seems inconvenient

Immunity System βœ“ a no brainer, really

My Ears Are Burning βœ“ oooh, this is delicious

Well Endowed βœ“ not that she needs this but. you know.

Hollow Leg βœ“ oh, this makes Well Endowed even more of a good choice

Inner Strength ꩜ if she needs strength she can just... hire it. Good to keep in mind but probably not worth taking

Lightfoot ⛧ oh, this could be useful in all kinds of... situations

Battle Angel βœ“ safety is good, although

Would it be possible to have a version where I don't get a scar?

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Battle Angel only gives scars when they're scars you would find aesthetically compelling, or otherwise want to have or think are appropriate.

Also, I should warn you about My Ears Are Burning, because I don't think the description really gets it across: it does mean it when it says you won't be impaired by the flood of information, but a lot of people who take My Ears Are Burning incautiously still regret it, because knowing what everyone else thinks of you at all times can be pretty overwhelming and unpleasant even when it's not directly getting in the way of thinking your own thoughts. If you already care a lot about what people think of you and live your life paying a lot of attention to what people think of you, and you like doing that and want to do a lot more of it, then it can be a good pick. But if you want your life to mostly be about other things, and would rather only pay attention to what people think of you when you feel like doing that and not at other times, then I would advise you not to take it. I might be able to come up with an alternative if there's something specific you're looking for by taking it, but as powers go that one is unusually tricky to alter, so the alternative power might work very differently.
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Oh, I can work with that.

Because she would never want to have a scar, or find it compelling, so she'll never get one. Good. Good?

I need to care about what people think of me! It's the only way to be safe!

But as you describe it, it does seem a lot yes. I only want to know because I want to be safe, I don't really care about other people.

How about something that allows me to know what a specific person thinks of me? Or something that alerts me if somebody wants to hurt me?

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You might find that there are a lot more ways to be safe than you're used to, with the Spirit's power. Maybe we can talk about it again once you've gone through the whole list so you know what is and isn't already covered?
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Might as well, I guess

My Ears Are Burning ꩜. Provisionally

Battle Demon ⛧She doesn't want to get in fights, but if it happens, this will help end them quickly

Battle Maiden ⛧ this even quicker

Making Ends Meet βœ“ seems useful

Motherlode βœ“ Sana realizes that this means she won't need to work anymore and apparently has feelings about that no she doesn't

Four Star Daydream ⛧ this would be nice, but Motherlode is already very good

Dragon Fairy Elf Witch βœ“ this is incredibly good, getting a dragon heritage! she could get magic!

Omniglot ⛧this is probably useful if she wants to travel

Anything You Can Do βœ“ oh, but this is even better

Personal Space well she doesn't need this, she's not a kid.

Then why is she not moving on.

It's because she needs a break, definitely, to stretch her legs. No other reason.

I'm going to take a break, talk write to you later

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Okay!
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Sana slowly closes the notebook, and carefully puts it in the hidden compartment in her desk.

She takes a deep breath, stands up and starts pacing up and down her bedroom. She puts a hand on her left shoulder and starts massaging it, trying to undo the knot in her muscles. The pain soothes her, its familiarity sending a tingle down her spine.

She pokes her head out of the door - "Sofia, I am not to be disturbed for any reason. I will let you know when I'm done".

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"As you will, mistress".

Sofia hears the key turning and the bedroom door locking. She waits for a full minute and then quietly tiptoes to the door, and puts her hear to the door.

This has become a ritual of sorts for her - when her mistress is "not to be disturbed" she quietly listens from the other side of the door, while tending to her own needs.

She has never been caught, but often fantasizes about Sana finding her like this. Would her mistress punish her? Or finally bring her to her bedroom? Will she ever love me.

This time something is different, though - even after several minutes have passed she can still hear nothing from the other side. Weird. Her mistress tends to be quite vocal when she's not to be disturbed.

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Sana is kneeling on the stone floor, eyes fixed on the small shrine she has in a corner of her bedroom, the dull pain of her legs grounding her.

She closes her eyes, and starts praying.

My Lady of Shadows, I am lost and want your guidance.
Please inspire my instincts and my desires.
Help me take what I wish without care for others,
  wield my body as a tool,
  my face as a snare,
  my tongue as a sword.
Deliver me from love and affection, and fuel the flame of lust in my loins.
Protect my beauty and sustain my bosom.

She unsheathes her fingers and draws the Lady's rune on her face, then stands up.

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Despite the short prayer, she feels dizzy, her legs wobbly, and her heart racing. Not an unfamiliar sensation, but an unexpected one.

She sits on her bed, trying to get her thoughts in order.

She feels a weight on her chest, and the absurd need to be alert.

Why? Her door is locked, and Sofia is probably guarding it, as usual. She's so loyal, it's a blessing to have such a reliable servant.

She's noticed that when she comes out of her room after her prayers Sofia is never far off. It's really sweet of her, but she obviously can't tell her that, it would be undignified.

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Well, she could take some time and properly relax, that always helps.

She... doesn't feel like it? Uh. Hadn't happened in a while.

Rape

Not since her last time with Benito, when he...

Sana shudders at the unwanted memory, and tries to shake off the thought.

Tries to forget his weight on her, his hands holding her down.

She can still remember her voice growing weaker and hoarser, until suddenly he recoiled and she finally succeeded in pushing him off.

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That's when she started working out. Turns out that plenty of girls like a toned body after all.

Well. She's definitely not feeling like it now. Might as well keep reading through the powers. She can come back to this one later.

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She grabs back the notebook, and resumes reading, pointedly avoiding Personal Space.

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Closed Book ⛧ would this be heretical?

Indelible ⛧ definitely good to have

Iron Will She don't need this immunity to illusions seems nice, and not being traumatized... ⛧

It Gets Better ⛧ healing from injuries seems very useful, if she decides to go for the Isekai Roulette and the world she lands in doesn't have channeling or Healing she doesn't have feelings about the rest of the power

The Great Equalizer oh Abyss no, we all know what happened last time prophecy shattered

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Ok, onto the "Powers of Friendship" (such a silly name...)

Mysterious Allure/Captive Audience ꩜ she already has these, skip unless she has leftover points

Blackout Binge using intoxicants is for stupid people that want to end up tied to an altar, and not in the fun way

Disney Princess meh (she idly wonders what kind of kingdom Disney must be if their Princesses are friendly to animals of all things)

Best Friend βœ“ it's comforting to have someone you can trust, and she will need some sort of... replacement for Sofia

Bestest Friend ⛧ oh, wow, a dragon! She would be a queen, untouchable. It's really expensive but... probably worth it

Generosity/Helpfulness free things and help are always nice, but nobody really knows her... it's not as if she has any friends, really

She skips over Cuddle Buddies, Flattery, Quality Time and Agree to Agree for the same reason.

Backchannel ꩜ may prove useful, but she usually doesn't need help to convince people

You Can Teach Better ꩜ she will not need an income, so this is not super useful

Not Like Other Girls bah, she doesn't need this

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Love Interest / Love Triangle / Love Dodecahedron ha, love is for simpletons, skip

Time Enough For Love see above, skip skip skip

Safe at Home she has no loved ones but

Would Safe at Home protect Sofia?

 

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I don't know who that is, but if they're someone who other people might hurt or threaten in order to upset or coerce you, and you would rather that not happen, then yes.
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She's my maid and yes, I don't want that to happen.

Safe at Home βœ“ it wouldn't be right for Sofia to suffer because of her choices. It's expensive at four points, but when she gets more power (a dragon!) people will try to get at her and Sofia would be a prime target, that with being the only person she's any close to

I Can Fix Them / I Can Help Them / Inspirational hahahahaha, this notebook is so terminally Good it's almost endearing

True Love's Kiss / Eternal Love love, love, love, meh

The Rescuer Why does this require the love ones as prerequisites? Sana can't really see the connection.

Is there no way to get The Rescuer without Eternal Love?

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Prerequisites have to do with how the powers build on each other. It might be possible to get The Rescuer without its prerequisites if you really, really want, but it would be more expensive than just taking the prerequisites.
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I see.

"you can break any curse, heal any injury, and cure any illness. The same works in reverse."

It would be useful if not for "By kissing your true love,".

She has no true love. Never had. Doesn't plan to. Having someone you fall in love with means that you have a weakness someone else can exploit. Usually the person you fell for. And while Safe At Home would protect them from others, it wouldn't protect her from someone if she were so foolish as to fall for them.

Table it for now, onward.

Planned Parenthood / Providential Parenthood βœ“ no more abortions! Planned seems the better version

Two Become One/Bop It she doesn't really need these ones, she's a professional, and good at her craft. And besides, she won't need to work anymore, so

Laugh Together this would be downright dangerous

The Princess And The Dragon ꩜ she guesses it would be cool to have dragonblooded children, but it's a bit expensive

GGG true love, skip

Before Your Eyes why. Just... why.

Fated Lovers / Sorry About That / Excuse Me what is this obsession the notebook has with love

Tragic Backstory this is just silly. Everybody has something terrible happen to them, why would it be an excuse

Sense of Style / Bonus Style Points romance, again

Self-Reflection what does this even mean? Not that she'll take this, she's just curious

What does "someone who is you, or was you, or could have been you, or will be you" mean?

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There are a lot of worlds, and some of them are versions of each other where things went differently, or contain versions of the same people in different circumstances; if you met someone who was another world's version of you, Self-Reflection would let you keep in touch. Also, some people like to make copies of themselves for fun.
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She finds the idea of a copy of herself... startling.

What would happen if she met... another Sana?

 

... they'd totally end up praying together.

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Popular ꩜ could prove useful, but probably not worth its cost

Famous not worth it

Undiplomatic Immunity βœ“

How absolute is the protection of Undiplomatic Immunity? Could a corrupt guard still arrest me for something I did not do?

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Yes, that could still happen.
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That's unfortunate. I would definitely take a power that protected me from unjust persecution.

Friends In Low/High/Strange Places ꩜ she's already pretty good at influencing people of all backgrounds. They're not bad powers, just... would feel redundant.

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Drawbacks then.

Decorative ⛧she's already always pretty and feminine all the times, and why would she want to wear bad clothes, or make weird noises. Or cry at all, let alone "ugly cry". She's a bit unsure about cute though, it's useful to be threatening at times.

Beauty Is A Curse ꩜ seems to be annoying for a single point. Which makes her think, does she need these drawbacks at all?

She looks at her point totals:

βœ“ βœ“+⛧ βœ“+⛧+꩜
42 76 132

So, some points short of the full star set. She'll have to review her choices later, but it seems reasonable to keep on checking the drawbacks then.

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Plain Jane no. Why. Who takes this

Style of Sisyphus annoying, not worth one point

There's Another One waaay too dangerous! What if the Other One wants to kidnap her? Nope

Incomplete these drawbacks are all terrible! Five points would be give her the full star set, but this would weaken it way too much

Nullified of course the others wouldn't want their minds to be affected, that's exactly the reason to get the powers in the first place

Great Responsibility annoying, and it's not as if she would have any use of the information

Very Distinctive / Flashy not worth it

Secret Identity ꩜ this is acceptable, but not great. She intends to return one day, for Sofia to overthrow the Thrunes and free her country from Hell

Selective Memory ⛧ this would be annoying, but at least she would still have those power. Guess she could forget... Omniglot, and... uh, Immunity System? She would be more worried than necessary about getting sick of poisoned but it's not as if the power will stop working. Wait. "Up to ten."

Could I theoretically pick Selective Memory and choose... Selective Memory as the only drawback to forget? That seems... too good to be true

 

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You do have to pick at least one thing that isn't Selective Memory (whether or not you also pick Selective Memory).
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Yeah, she can pick Selective Memory and forget Omniglot. And actually upgrade it to a βœ“, it's good for its cost.

Dramatic Damsel nope nope nope nope

Green With Envy κ©œ she doesn't really have friends or dates, but this seems incredibly dangerous

You Ruin Them ⛧ this wouldn't be a big change. She's good and she knows that

Jilted Lovers No. Never again.

The Crazy Train Nope

They'll Know ⛧ this doesn't seem like a huge issue? It says "this knowledge can cause a lot of trouble" though...

Realism yeah, no, not worth it.

Ok, review time!

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She is 3 points above if she wants to take the full star set but only pick Selective Memory as a drawback, so she should either pick more drawback or trim the list.

Size Difference ꩜ => ⛧ actually

Like Roses could be very conspicuous, ⛧ => ꩜

My Ears Are Burning ok, fine, keep it at ꩜. The notebook is way too Good to be lying when it says it would be unpleasant

Inner Strength this could be a good protection but... the notebook said something about living her best feminine life and... this wouldn't be it. It stays ꩜

Personal Space gets a βœ“ and zero additional thoughts

That means... the full star set is 77 points now, so she needs to grab 4 points of drawbacks beside Selective Memory.

Decorative and You Ruin Them would bring her to 77 exactly, while picking They'll Know to 81, which is four points above.

What happens if I have points left at the end?

Oh, and what does "cute" mean in Decorative, exactly?

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If you have points left over, they'll stay with you as unrealized potential until some future moment when it seems like you really need another power, and then spontaneously form whatever power you need. It doesn't happen very often because it's not very often that you're in a situation that might be the one moment of your life when you most need an extra power, but when those moments do happen, it can be really useful to have a few points waiting.

The "cute" in "cute and pretty and feminine" is a softer requirement than the other two. It doesn't mean that you need to be so cute that people have trouble taking you seriously, or anything like that. But it's possible to be pretty and feminine while also being monstrous and terrifying, and the "cute" means that you can't do that; you can be glamorous or businesslike or sexy or regal, even though those are all aesthetics that compete somewhat with cuteness, but you can't take the form of a sculpture made of knives even if it is a very pretty and feminine sculpture made of knives. Does that answer your question?
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Yes, it does.

So, it seems having at least some points left over could make a difference in the future. It seems like the safest choice.

In that case, she'll definitely pick They'll Know and may take either or both of Decorative and You Ruin Them.

And she still needs to pick a Destination.

The notebook said that if she picks Isekai Roulette she will be able to come back if that's important to her. Sana thinks that yes, coming back to take Sofia away with her is important to her, so she knows she'll have that.

Somewhere In Mind seems like a bad idea, because she doesn't really know many places beside Cheliax and, well, if she's going away she might as well go to the best possible place for her.

Stay Put could work, with all the powers she would be pretty safe, but... she's always want to see more, know more...

Isekai Roulette βœ“

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She'll pray one last time, asking her Lady for advice.

This time she sits on the bed, and carefully undresses, folding her clothes neatly in a pile.

She starts slowly, and concentrates on how pleasure can bring her somewhere else, where she's free and safe.

She lays down, and focuses on each and every part of her body in turn, relaxing her muscles, imagining she's floating.

When she's climbed to the top she offers her ecstasy to Nocticula, opening her mind, her heart, and her legs as she walks off the edge.


She traces her Lady's symbol on her bare chest, fingers still wet.

As she stands up, she can hear a faint whisper in her ear: "don't ruin them, love".

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Oh.

As you will, my Lady.

There is no answer. She didn't expect one, this is already more than she could hope for.

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She marks Decorative, but not You Ruin Them.

"Sofia?"

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"Yes mistress?"

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"I'm going to leave for a while.

I don't know how long it will take me to come back, but know that I trust you and that I will come back for you, when I'm strong enough to come back."

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"I love you", she doesn't say.

"I... care about you.", she also doesn't say.

"Take care of yourself. I know you will be safe."

If the notebook is not lying. If this is not a trap. But her Lady spoke to her. It's her best shot at living her best life, and she is going to take it.

 

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I'm ready now.

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Okay. Good luck! I hope the future is brighter than you ever thought it could be!


And she's gone.