damask'd, red, and white | Glowfic Constellation

mysterious and powerful

There's a limit to the number of pages that can physically fit between my covers, but I can shuffle pages in and out and rearrange them, and I don't have a limit to how many pages I could have tucked away in... well, come to think of it, we're sort of in the space where my pages get tucked away right now, actually. It's a little different here, but in a way you're getting to see behind the curtain of the cosmic notebook! ✨

A pause, and then,

(I feel very silly calling myself that.)

sweetly-played

Rosy discovers that, somehow, without a body, she can still giggle. She draws little hearts all over that addendum.

mysterious and powerful

The notebook draws a few little hearts right back, then stops in the middle of one to move down a line and write,

I figured out that first power you asked for! What do you think?

It inserts itself into the list right after GGG.

Name: Opening Up - Cost: 4 ☐
(Replaces GGG)
Being with you gives your true love more capacity to be adventurous, in or out of the bedroom. Although these adventures might have consequences, those consequences will never be devastating, and it will always turn out that finding out what these things are like is worth the consequences of trying them.

(Then the notebook goes back and finishes drawing that heart.)

sweetly-played

That's perfect!

Maybe not a checkmark-tier power, though... she gives it a heart instead.

mysterious and powerful

I'm so glad! ♡

sweetly-played

Okay. So the checkmark tier now has 88/101 points spent, the heart tier has 109/104, and it only gets worse from there. She's going to need to go through and think about which of these powers she really wants and how they fit together into a picture of a life... though maybe it would be better to wait for those drawbacks to show up, actually, now that she thinks of it... well, she can still think about her priorities even when they might be about to get less constrained. She returns to the top of the list and starts fresh.

Destination: Stay Put is obviously out. Somewhere In Mind would take her home to her family but then she might not be able to visit another world so easily. Isekai Roulette, she must assume, will send her somewhere that will let her pick up lots of fantastic stuff and then get home again in short order, because anyone who's not braindead could surely tell that she needs to go home to her family before they spend too long mourning her. Well, she's assuming she died. Even if she didn't visibly die and just vanished into thin air, though, she's still not there and accordingly going to be missed.

She should maybe double-check her understanding of how easy it is to move between worlds, though.

If I take Isekai Roulette, and I care a lot about getting to go home eventually, I'll end up somewhere that will let me find my way home on my own, right?

mysterious and powerful

Yes, of course! The path home might not be simple or straightforward, but if you take Isekai Roulette and you care a lot about getting to go home, you will eventually do that.

After a moment, it adds,

Unless something really weird is going on. Like for example, if you had someone you wanted to go home to, but only because they had cast a terrible curse on you that made you want to be with them, Isekai Roulette might send you somewhere that would break the curse instead of somewhere that would get you home.

sweetly-played

Why is this notebook such a sweetheart?

I see what you mean, and I think that makes Isekai Roulette the right choice for me. Thanks.

Okay, so the powers...

She's conflicted about What's In A Name mostly because she doesn't want to change her name at all, but, on consideration, also for... let's call them Beloved Damsel reasons. If she gets that Beloved Damsel drawback she's going for, then it will be useful to be protected against misuse of her name, and it won't take away from the thing where giving someone her full name is a special kind of vulnerability. She bumps What's In A Name up to heart tier.

Angelic Tones is cool, but it's not centrally her aesthetic. She has it in slash tier and that seems like... about the right place for it?

Emerald Orbs she feels similarly about. Maybe if she could get a better-tailored "too many appearance powers" drawback than Flashy she'd go for it. Well, she can ask.

I'm looking at the appearance powers, like Angelic Tones and Emerald Orbs, and I'm noticing that I kind of want them but don't really have room for them in my budget. I didn't want to take Flashy because I can imagine myself living a life where it's important to be able to sneak around sometimes, especially if I also have Very Distinctive. Do you think you could make another drawback that might help offset the appearance powers in a different direction? I'm not sure what kind of drawback it should be, exactly...

mysterious and powerful

Oh, interesting! I think I see what you're going for. I can definitely think about that! It might be harder than the Dramatic Damsel upgrade because it's so open-ended, though. Let me know if you think of any ideas for directions I could try that would work well for you!

sweetly-played

Such a sweetheart.

Thanks! I'll think about it.

Right, now where was she...

Perfect Hair is cool because it gives her perfect hair, but now that she thinks of it, it does kind of have a little of that Undressing Room 'transcend physical reality' vibe. She downgrades it from heart to slash.

Size Difference... yeah no she wants Size Difference. Not quite all the way to checkmark tier but definitely heart. Heart it shall remain.

She has no revisions to make to her choices on Dressing Room, Pocket Dimension, Undressing Room, or Personal Hygiene... she pauses over Like Roses, though, and tries upgrading it to slash tier for a second, to see how she feels.

mysterious and powerful

I think I've figured out those drawbacks you wanted! The one about Fated Lovers and Dramatic Damsel, I mean. It sort of turned into two drawbacks while I was thinking about it.

The list shifts to accommodate two new options.

Name: Love Is A Battlefield - Grants: +5 ☐
(Requires Dramatic Damsel)
You can never have a perfect defense against your love interests. Though your defensive powers may hinder them, they can always find a way through. This applies to anyone you're romantically interested in, and to anyone chosen for you by Fated Lovers. As your relationship with them intensifies, your defenses lower further where they're concerned. Breaking up with them has no effect on your vulnerability.

Name: Seen With The Heart - Grants: +3 ☐
(Requires Love Is A Battlefield and Selective Memory)
To the extent that you're vulnerable to someone through Love Is A Battlefield, they also have unusual insight into powers you possess that you may not be aware of. Taking They'll Know strengthens this effect.

sweetly-played

Well those are two options she's immediately checking.

Are you sure you can't read my mind? I guess you never said you can't read my mind. My point is, those are exactly what I was looking for, thank you very much.

mysterious and powerful

I can't read your mind, but I do have a lot of experience with this sort of thing! I'm really glad you like them. Now to see if I can get anywhere on that other drawback you wanted...

sweetly-played

She draws a heart next to "glad you like them" and then finds her place again. Right, she was rethinking Like Roses. Well, heart tier is now 108/112, so she has a little room if she wants to bump it even higher... she doesn't think she quite wants to fill that room with this specific power, though. She leaves it with a slash for now.

Just A Little Longer and Immunity System are both in just the right place. Breathe Easy... she could bump it up to heart tier? But she doesn't think she will.

My Ears Are Burning is still a crime against sanity.

Well Endowed into Hollow Leg still seems like a good decision. Inner Strength... still leaves her conflicted; she stares at it for a long moment, then tentatively bumps it up from question mark to slash. Slash tier is 133/114 now, bursting at the seams.

Does she still want Lightfoot a whole checkmark's worth? ...yes, she thinks she does, and also the checkmark tier can really afford it at the moment. 88/109, a margin so generous she's almost compelled to fill it with something. But no, she thinks it's a good idea to maintain checkmark tier as the highest echelon of desire.

The Battle trio, previously downgraded from checkmark to heart: does she want to push them back up? No, she thinks not. They're more dinner than dessert, as she put it when she was going through the first time, and she thinks the very highest echelon of her desire should not contain powers that she mostly only wants for the pragmatic benefits.

Gloryseeker is kind of neat, she will allow. Maybe a question mark...? No, actually, if she completely wipes out while doing an overambitious ski jump, It Gets Better will have her back and she doesn't need more than that. She thinks she'd rather solve the problem of not hurting herself doing parkour by getting legitimately really good at parkour.

...thinking about it like that, the same might apply to the Battle powers. She thinks about it for a moment, with an odd sense-memory of the way she would be chewing her lip if she currently had a mouth, and downgrades them all to slash tier. Heart tier is looking roomy, now, 103/112.

mysterious and powerful

I hope you don't mind my saying that you're being pretty quiet about this. I don't want to intrude, but do you think you could tell me a little more about your thought process? I want to make sure to help you find the powers and drawbacks that are right for you!

sweetly-played

You've been doing a fine job at that so far without my help, but I take your point. I guess I'm used to... thinking quietly to myself, when I do things like this. I like the security of getting to analyze a situation from the safety of my own desk without having to talk to anyone about it. I guess editing checkmarks in a cosmic notebook feels close enough to count, but... maybe I could write down more of what I'm thinking. Okay.

But she hesitates before going on to the next item. Something just feels...

...I know this is a little silly, actually, but do you think I could finish this run through the list before I start telling you about my thoughts? It feels weird and wrong to switch methodologies midstream.

mysterious and powerful

No, that makes perfect sense! Go right ahead! I'm not in any rush. ♡

sweetly-played

She draws a smaller heart inside the heart and keeps going.

Right, she was just before the money powers. (Pacifist is still silly and can stay blank.)

Do the money powers still seem like they deserve their checkmarks? ...yeah they do.

Omniglot and Anything You Can Do? Yeah, those are still checkmark material. Anything You Can Do does come with some mild social qualms, because Rosy has ever met a person in her life and they often find it really annoying to be casually surpassed, but with You Can Teach Better in her back pocket she thinks she'll be okay.

Dragon Fairy Elf Witch is still a very solid checkmark, though, now that she thinks of it...

Do I have to encounter a being after getting DFEW to acquire their heritage, or can I slurp up the heritage of my entire high school as soon as I land in my Destination? Well, I took Crazy Train so I won't be the one deciding when or if I slurp up the heritage of my entire high school, but you know what I mean.

mysterious and powerful

Yes, you can use DFEW retroactively on beings you only encountered before you got it!

sweetly-played

Excellent, thank you. ♡

Not that it changes her decision, but it's still nice to know.

So, Snowglobe and Unleash The Magic. She could bump them back up from heart to checkmark, she supposes. Will she...? Hmm. Hmmmmm.

The question, as she understands it, should be: where do these powers rank among prospective components of her best life? And she thinks they rank pretty high, actually. But... she would be willing to give them up if she had to. She just very clearly does not have to.

She shifts them up to checkmarks. That's 95/109 points spent in checkmark tier, now, an entirely reasonable and perhaps even overgenerous margin.

Soulbound is staying. Soulbound is absolutely staying.

Personal Space... she feels less threatened by it, for lack of a better term, now that she has drawbacks for specifically being undefended against her own love interests. But she still thinks she doesn't want it. It's not the kind of power that makes a Rosy more Rosy. She's glad the people who need this can have it, but it's not for her.

Closed Book through Iron Will, on the other hand... she can definitely see a case for them. She gives them all question marks, bringing the question mark tier to a hilariously overstuffed 163/114.

It Gets Better is necessary, especially given all the other questionable choices she's making. Though now that she thinks of it, that could stand some clarification.

It Gets Better promises that I'm going to be okay. Is that a 'defense' that my love interests could get around using Love Is A Battlefield?

mysterious and powerful

It is not! It Gets Better is the sort of power that is always operating, though it may not always be acting on the world. Think of it like... It Gets Better won't do anything to stop bad things from happening to you in the first place, so it's not really defending you in that sense. But it's always true, with It Gets Better, that one day you'll be okay again, and absolutely nothing can take that away from you.

sweetly-played

Okay. Good to know. Thank you.

A couple more powers she doesn't really want, and that's the end of Yourself. Powers of Friendship time!

She mostly skips over Mysterious Allure, Captive Audience, and Blackout Binge, and looks thoughtfully at Best(est) Friend while trying to figure out how to even begin to formulate a question that will help her settle whether or not she wants them. But then instead she glances up at Disney Princess, really sees Disney Princess and the Disney Princess part of it, and all of a sudden she's asking a completely different question from that.

Can I get any powers that are... I can't quite figure out how to put this. That bring in other aspects of being a Disney princess?

I think... I think that maybe the life I'm aiming for, with all this, is something like... a gritty reimagining of a Disney-style fairy tale where all kinds of terrible things might happen to Our Heroine, maybe or even especially at the hands of Prince Charming, but the author is a big softie so it all manages to turn out okay in the end. And being more Disney-Princess-like seems like it fits, with that.

mysterious and powerful

You know, I don't think I've ever read a story like that, and yet somehow I feel like I know exactly what you mean.

I'll see what I can do. Let me know if you come up with any requests more specific than "being more Disney-Princess-like".

sweetly-played

I will! Thanks! ♡

In the wake of this personal revelation, she bumps Disney Princess up to heart tier. 105/112. That's... she quickly checks... not quite enough room to afford both the Best and the Est of Friends, but she's still got a custom drawback pending, so maybe it'll all work out.

What does she want from her hypothetical animal companion? What would make a Best(est) Friend part of a good life for her, and what would make one not that?

Maybe this is the sort of vague, uncertain, hard-to-articulate question that's best saved for her next run through the list when she'll be doing more of her reasoning ~~out loud~~ in text and can have a longer chat about it with the notebook instead of firing off individual questions that have to be at minimum coherent enough to express what she's asking about. Yeah, that sounds right. She'll leave the Friend alone for now.

Generosity through Quality Time are just as undesirable as ever. Backchannel still seems incredibly important and You Can Teach Better is a must next to Anything You Can Do.

Not Like Other Girls is still Not For This Girl and the Triangle of Love is still the Triangle of Requires A Five-Point Power She Doesn't Want. (Not to mention the question of whether she wants the Love powers themselves, which she also doesn't!)

Time Enough For Love is still a must.

Safe at Home...

I'm thinking about Safe at Home, and I think...

Instead of "no one will hurt your loved ones to get at you, or vice versa", what I want is something more like, "the objectively reckless decisions you make will never rebound to harm someone who didn't opt in to them". Like, if I get a crush on a guy who turns out to be a bad idea to date, and bad things happen to me, that's on me. If I get a crush on a guy who kidnaps me, forces me to have children, and then abuses them, I'm hurting those future hypothetical children by deciding to take the drawback that lets him do that. Do you see what I mean?

mysterious and powerful