Nothing is permanent until you tell me clearly that you want to finalize your current choices. I can clear ink out of boxes if you want to un-tick them, and I can also track more than one point total if you want to use different symbols to mark options that you like different amounts.

Handy! Alright, guess I'd better read through this list and start marking things I like. Mind if I take notes in the margins?

Go right ahead! I can also add blank pages in between each page of the list, for you to take notes and ask questions on.

You can? Sure, sounds useful, go ahead and do that.

With a slight rustling noise, the pages rearrange themselves.

Alright. Time to see what wonders this list holds.

A Thousand Ships: ...does she want to be the most beautiful woman in the world? Well, if you offered it to her for a copper she wouldn't say no, she guesses, but she only has 70 of these points, and there are apparently less frivolous things on offer.

Although, skimming down, most of the others on this page also seem pretty frivolous. Perfect Hair would be genuinely useful for getting rid of helmet hair, though. That box can have a little ~, with a margin note next to it that says "(petty)". And she'll go back up and add a tiny dot for A Thousand Ships, with a note that says "(if I have points left at the end)".

The point total in the corner of each page splits into two, with the squiggle tier including just Perfect Hair and the dot tier covering both choices. The two of them also scoot down the page slightly, as though anticipating there will be more tiers above squiggle.

Does true-name-based magic come up often in the multiverse? I've not heard of it here, although that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. 

If you accept the Spirit's power, what you see when you travel the multiverse is going to be influenced by your preferences and narrative sensibilities. If true-name-based magic sounds like something you would like to see, or that you find narratively compelling, you're more likely to encounter it; if it sounds boring or annoying or upsetting, then it's less likely. It's definitely out there, but if you're not interested in it then I don't think you need to worry about it too much.

Catherine has no idea what her "narrative sensibilities" are about true name magic. She doesn't feel especially attached to the idea of having a true name, even one she gets to pick herself—although, to be honest, she'd probably pick "Catherine Foundling" anyway. Your "true name" seems less important than your Name, in any case. 

Think I'll pass for now, then. 

Moving on! 

...alright, Size Difference is potentially actually useful. She can think of plenty of applications for being able to grow to the size of a house or shrink to the size of a gnat. That's not why she wants it, though. She wants it so she can stop being so godsdamned short. But it's the reason she'd give Black, if he asked why she felt like it was worth picking. That one can have...a little star, for "good to have". 

Dressing Room can get a squiggle...okay, no, Pocket Dimension is too good. That's getting a star, so Dressing Room should probably have one as well...

The star tier fills in the empty space above squiggle.

Cosmetic Equipment can have a dot. It seems like it could be fun, but if she can summon any outfit she needs, it seems pretty pointless to also be able to make her current outfit serve any purpose. Undressing Room goes even further, and she can't imagine any circumstance where she'd want it.

Personal Hygiene can have a squiggle, sure. 

Aha, now they're getting to the useful ones. 

Just A Little Longer seems like it merits something more than a star, actually. That one can have...hmm, she's running out of symbols. Maybe just a standard checkmark, with a note that those are better than stars. 

Now this is what I'm talking about. This is cheaper than Perfect Hair?

I don't have specific memories of my previous incarnations for privacy reasons, but my best guess is that Just A Little Longer was created for someone who had a really specific idea of what they wanted that included its limitations. Something specific and limited is often cheaper than something very broad, even when it's more practically useful.

Won't hear me complaining!

Immunity System would get a star, except that Black taught her how to use her Name to burn sicknesses and poisons out of her body before he brought her to the imperial court, so it's mostly redundant. It can have a dot, because it sounds like it's more thorough than the Name method and doesn't rely on her having to notice and catch it. 

Breathe Easy...hmm. 

Breathe Easy and Warmhearted are both tempting, because they seem obviously useful, but they also seem...dangerous? 

How so?

I worry about...so, being Named already puts a gap between us and ordinary humans, right? I have literally superhuman abilities, fucking fate bends around me to make my life more like a story, and it would be so easy to, to just...buy into this narrative that we're the only people who matter, and everyone else is just pawns for us to move in some fucked-up chess game. 

But they DO matter. Ordinary people have hopes and wants and dreams just like Named, and they're important too. The difference between me and them—the difference between me now and me a year ago—is that I got handed a chance to change the world and I took it. That's all. I don't want to lose sight of that.

Gods Above this sounds so fucking stupid when I have to write it out like this but I don't want to forget that I'm human. 

I think I know what you mean, and I think you're right that it's important not to lose sight of that! Powers that change how you experience the world can change how you feel about a lot of things.

Catherine taps her pen against the page, stopping when she notices it's dripping ink. 

So do you think I should take those two, or no?

Not that she's necessarily planning to follow the notebook's recommendation.

I think that depends!

If you want to make sure your experience of the world doesn't get too different from the kind of experience you're used to and the kind of experience ordinary people have, then it's a good idea to avoid Breathe Easy and Warmhearted. They do have practical benefits, but there are other ways to get similar benefits, depending what matters to you about them; if what you want is to make sure people can't disadvantage you too badly in a fight there's Battle Maiden, and if what you want is to make sure you come out okay even from difficult situations there's It Gets Better.

If you want to make sure you can hold onto your understanding of and respect for other people's perspectives even when your experience is very different from theirs, then there are other options for that - you might want to look at Down to Earth in the Drawbacks section, though I think it's worth taking time to really think about what that one will be like before choosing it. If it doesn't suit you, though, I might be able to come up with something else that would work better for you.

Grabbing a scrap of paper to mark her place, she flicks through to take a look at all of those options.

Aha, Battle Angel is the "never get hurt in a fight" power! 

Checkmark! Actually, Battle Demon and Battle Maiden look even better. She'll go ahead and check all three of those while she's here, they seem solidly highest-tier. (Does she want Gloryseeker as well? ...she kind of wants Gloryseeker. Squiggle.)

Yes, it is!

And it's still cheaper than Perfect Hair! I'm starting to question the Spirit's priorities here. 

Page-turn, scan...

It Gets Better. 

If this is for real then I'm starting to get a sense of how powerful your boss actually is. And, again, questioning its(?) priorities. 

Which things are easier or harder for the Spirit to give to someone doesn't have much to do with how useful those things are in a practical sense. But I do think It Gets Better might be my favourite power, personally.