Always! ♡

I have some thoughts on a lot of these, but first: wow, Undressing Room is REALLY weirdly specific.

I think that, in a sense, it's kind of the natural conclusion of Dressing Room! But I see what you mean. I hope that whoever asked for it is having fun!

Huh, I think I see what you mean.

It's kinda weird to me that a lot of these powers are about personal appearance on, like… the object level. Is that the kind of thing most people want?

I'm not sure! I think that a lot of the powers are about what the Spirit likes; that's why some powers come together right away and some powers take longer, or are more expensive, or have unexpected prerequisites.

Hm.

I… guess that makes sense. So you're kind of running things by the Spirit's aesthetic sense, when you make up new powers?

I can see why you'd see it that way, but it's not really what it feels like on my end. It's not like I'm directly communicating with the Spirit or asking its permission for powers. But I am a tool that the Spirit made, so I think there's definitely a sense in which it's true that my ability to come up with powers for you is shaped by the Spirit's aesthetic sense.

Ultimately, I exist to bridge the gap between the Spirit and you. It wants you to be beautiful and special and powerful in the way you want, and it isn't… picking and choosing what it wants to allow you to have. It just has a different way of thinking about the world.

Yeah.

Sorry. I think I kind of assumed the thing about asking permission. I really don't want to need permission.

I think a lot of vessels probably feel the same way! I'm not totally sure, but it would make sense, since the Spirit cares a lot about helping people be powerful in their own way and on their own terms.

That's kind of related to the things I was thinking about some of the powers…

She pauses, but the notebook doesn't say anything in response. She supposes that if it were to say anything here, it'd mostly be a vaguely affirming social noise, and she already knows it's paying attention.

For instance, it just kind of feels better to use Eidetic to learn languages, even though Omniglot would be more comprehensive. But I don't think I'd give up Eidetic at all, even if I was able to do the same thing with magic I picked up later, because it being metanarratively guaranteed feels important.

That makes sense! I'm glad I was able to come up with something that resonated with you that strongly.

I'm glad too!

She flips back to look at the new powers again. She can probably substitute Breathe Easy for a lot of the early utility of Making Ends Meet… she goes ahead and checks the former.

I think I'd like to uncheck Making Ends Meet, for now.

The notebook does this.

Thanks.

Question about Inner World: It's not a physical place, is it?

Well, sort of? It can definitely become physical with the investment of things like time, magic, and mental energy, but it starts out more like a manifestation of your mind that's shaped like a place.

Like a mind palace?

Yes, exactly! Except you don't need to expend any mental effort to maintain your Inner World. You can, if you want to alter its layout, but by default the Inner World takes a form that makes sense to the person whose mind it is.

Cool, that makes sense.

Would it be possible to have a power that's like a combination of Pocket Dimension and Inner World? Specifically what I want is some sort of personalized… let's call it a realm… that I can physically travel to, not just mentally.

If she were naming these powers, then the custom power would be called Pocket Dimension and Pocket Dimension would be called Hammerspace. But she can concede that Pocket Dimension fits the theme of Dressing Room better than Hammerspace.

It can have the same properties as the Inner World; I like those a lot aesthetically. Also aesthetic would be if it grew with me? And… maybe if I could choose where I would go in the outside world when I exited it.

This, naturally, would have the advantage of letting her travel between worlds with ease.

I think that's enough to work with!

Thanks! :)

Let's see, where was I… oh, right, thinking about Dressing Room and Inner Strength. Pocket Dimension is good (and might be a prerequisite for that power you're cooking up), so I'll probably keep Dressing Room… really not sure about Inner Strength. I like Lightfoot more on an aesthetic level, I think, so I might drop Inner Strength for that, but I'm not completely sure if I really need either.

A thought I just had is… it makes sense that using magic to copy one of the Spirit's powers would be less reliable than taking it as a power. Magic suppression is probably a thing, as well as powers that only work in certain worlds. But would the same apply to skills I learned not with magic?

When Sara thanks the notebook, it draws a heart in response.

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on how Inner Strength and/or Lightfoot would fit into your life!

Quick note: if you take Unleash the Magic, your magic powers will work everywhere, including when you're in a circumstance where normally your magic would be suppressed or otherwise not work. But your question about skills learned on your own is still good. I think an advantage that the powers have is that they just work, no matter what. Which sounds kind of circular, but what I mean is that they can respond in advance to things that you wouldn't be able to anticipate on your own, or work even when there's every reason for them not to work.

I think it's also important to mention that the Spirit likes when its vessels learn to do things on their own, if that's the sort of thing they'd want to do, and your powers will encourage that if that's how you steer them.

I think I get what you mean about the powers just working. Like, if someone took Lightfoot but not Immunity System or any of the mental defense powers, they'd still be Light on their Feet if they got drugged with something that would normally make them clumsy?

Yes, unless they would consider it to be cool or narratively appropriate to be impaired in that way by those drugs.

That's a good thing to keep in mind.

So the thing about Lightfoot and Inner Strength… I definitely think that part of being powerful, in my mind, is being graceful and agile and stronger than I look. And, now that I think of it, I think I'd probably like to be a little taller, but not necessarily strikingly so. (Is it possible to get that without taking Size Difference? It's possible that my size preferences will change, but I don't think it's likely to be so urgent that I can't wait to learn shapeshifting magic or discover appropriate heritage with Dragon Fairy Elf Witch.) But I'm also not sure that I want those abilities to be that… extreme? Again, it's possible that I'll get in a situation where someone's tracking me through a snowy landscape and the abilities offered by Lightfoot would come in handy. But I guess it kind of feels like… overkill, or something, and not like a central part of my power fantasy.

Since that's basically what this is: an opportunity to turn her power fantasies into power realities.

I think the central part of my power fantasy is less "flying brick" and more… "devastatingly clever enchantress."

She has to take a moment to bury her face in her hands because that was actually really embarrassing to write out. Gah.