Mysterious Allure will make people more interested in you, and that might mean they try to talk to you even when you'd rather they didn't, but that sort of thing will happen much less than you might expect based on how interesting everyone thinks you are, and things like people following you around and bothering you will happen even less, hardly ever.

The metanarrative is sort of hard to explain, but what metanarrative protection means is that if you're metanarratively protected from a bad thing happening, it just won't happen, even if really weird things have to happen to make that work, or even if it makes no sense that it isn't happening.

Okay, so it just somehow works out that people don't bother me as much, somehow? I guess that's part of the magic, then! That's pretty neat. And so all of the powers and options in here have positive outcomes, and not negative ones? That sounds really useful, actually! 

Okay, assuming that the notebook is telling the truth which is something she's coming more and more around to, then this might be... this might be a real adventure. She can go be a Disney Princess or a Fairy Princess or go off and fight demons and save a magical kingdom and rule over it justly for 99 years and come back home without any time passing... Jenna flips back to the beginning of the list and rereads the destination options. She doesn't want to stay put because well, because that seems unfair, really. Unfair and dangerous. If she becomes a famous actress because she picks Mysterious Allure and the one that makes her pretty and whatever gives her confidence or something then that doesn't really feel like she did any of it. And she wants to have done it. Maybe the metanarrative protection would fix that somehow, but she doesn't want to try, and she wants to go off on an adventure, not stay here and have magical powers here in the real world where no one else has them. That doesn't seem fair. But with the others, she might be disappearing forever especially since one of them says explicitly that further dimensional travel was up to her, or she might disappear for 99 years and then come home with everyone she knew dead 99 years later, and she doesn't want that either of those. She flips back to where she had been talking to the notebook. Has the notebook said anything further there? If not she has some questions to ask. 

Well, like it says, if you took an option that you didn't like, you could still experience that as a negative outcome. Taking Disney Princess will make animals like you more but it won't make you like them more, and some people don't like animals. But mostly yes! And if you're not sure about any specific thing you can ask me to clarify.

Straightforward enough! Or well, reasonably straightforward enough anyways, it doesn't prevent any bad outcomes at all but it does prevent certain kinds of bad outcomes. Actually maybe that isn't clear since it's not fully obvious which kinds of bad outcomes it would prevent or not but she can try and ask more details about that later because she has a very important question on her mind. 

Is it possible for me to go to a world or a place or a dimension or something where time passes differently, so that I come back home after very little time has passed here, like in Narnia? Oh, Narnia is a book series, if you don't know about it, and it always worked that way more or less in it, the characters would go to the world and then when they came back they were themselves again and no time had passed in the real world. Can I have something like that? I don't want to abandon my family or friends or have them miss me but I do want to go on an adventure. Can I have that only for Place In Mind, or can I get that if I really want it with Isekai Roulette, since I don't necessarily know where I'm needed and would rather go somewhere that needs me? Also, what does Isekai mean, exactly? 

Isekai means going to another world!

If you pick Isekai Roulette and it's really important to you to be able to find your way back soon before your family worries, then you'll almost certainly get that unless there's something out there that's so much more important to you that it's worth getting you that instead. But I think when people really want to be able to find their way home, they really nearly always get it. There's lots and lots of worlds that will give you a way back, and plenty of them that will play tricks with time to let you come back just after you left!

Oh good! Well, maybe she'll pick that one then! Well, she'll pick it tomorrow once she's had a good night's sleep and decided whether or not this is all a demon trick to make her give up her soul but it really really really doesn't feel like a demon trick to make her give up her soul or anything. It feels like... the notebook or the spirit or both want her to go on an adventure and that's exactly what she's going to do. 

It's really important to me to be able to keep my family from worrying and stuff! And I don't want to stay here since there's not really a lot of adventure to be had here in this world and also a lot of these powers seem unfair to give myself if I'm not fighting off the forces of evil somewhere or something. But I'm glad that it will most likely work out if that's what I want, thanks! Let me go look at some of the other options, and I'll see what else I might want or have questions about or both!

Is this really happening? This might really be happening. Gosh. She's... she's so excited! But she should look at all the options so she can think about them and not bounce up and down in her chair like a spring or a ball or some kind of bouncy animal that she doesn't know the name of. Okay. Back to the Power of Friendship, aka the best power. 

Captive Audience seems neat but not as interesting or useful as Mysterious Allure, and Blackout Binge requires the use of Immunity System which she doesn't know what that is but she can guess and also it's giving her an excuse for taking drugs which she is not doing anyways no way no how why is that even an option on this list? No way. Disney Princess seems cute but not really all that important, despite wanting to go somewhere like a fairy tale or something. Maybe she can pick that one if she has extra points left over but honestly there's probably better ones. Like... well not necessarily Best Friend, but Bestest Friend can get her a unicorn. (A unicorn!!) Still not all that interesting compared to some of the others, though. 

Generosity seems pretty neat! She's not sure what kinds of presents they would be but possibly this can be anything from like, a pretty necklace to magical artifacts to help her with her quest! Or just fun friendship things, since it says it depends on how well they know her. That one and Helpfulness seem really useful! But Cuddle Buddies seems, well, a little weird. Jenna loves hugs, but cuddling might be a bit too much? Maybe the metanarrative thing will keep people from cuddling her more than she want them to? Actually, it probably will, though she should check. And Flattery... well, if it's not making them compliment her for things she doesn't deserve, maybe it's ok? She doesn't want to get compliments for things she doesn't deserve. Maybe it just makes people a lot more open to telling her why they like her? That could be really useful, if so! She should go ask about these. 

For stuff like Cuddle Buddies, are my friends going to cuddle me more than I might want them to? Or does the metanarrative thing protect me against that? And for Flattery, will people say nice things about me that I don't deserve, or will they just tell me why they like me, so I know the things they like and can do more of them? I think I like all of the ones that let my friends do nice things for me, but I don't want it to be too much or not something I deserve, if you know what I mean? 

If you take Cuddle Buddies and you don't like cuddles, you might have a hard time, but if you take Cuddle Buddies and you only like some kinds of cuddles or only like cuddles some of the time, you'll probably be okay. It matters a lot what you want and what you're okay with! Some people just want to hear their friends say nice things and don't care very much about whether they mean them, but if it's important to you to deserve all your compliments then all your Flattery should be honest. Likewise, for some people it matters a lot whether they're coincidentally making friends with people who like cuddles and compliments, or making friends with people who might not have liked cuddles and compliments before but start liking them because of the powers.

Oh good! 

Okay, so as long as I like hugs and cuddles at all -- which I do, I think, mostly hugs but cuddles are probably good too and as long as I like hugs it'll probably be okay, right? And I think I like the coincidental version of the thing than the version where they start saying nice things about me because of the power, or give me presents or help me out with stuff like in, um, I forget what they're called, hold on

She flips back to check and then back again

like in Generosity and Helpfulness. I didn't even think about the fact that it might make people do things because of the powers, but as long as I'd much rather that they coincidentally be the kind of person who would have done that sort of thing in the first place, it'll work out that way, right? 

These are very very helpful powers! Possibly suspiciously helpful, even. But it seems silly to assume they're coming from a demon or something bad just because they're very helpful powers, especially since this doesn't seem like the sort of thing someone bad would do. 

Yes! Powers like that, that could work by coincidence or be mind-affecting, will use whichever method you like best as long as it still works. If you care more about it not changing people's minds than about it working, I can fix those kinds of powers so they definitely don't change people's minds but of course it'll mean they don't work as consistently.

Is that better? That seems better. 

I think I would like that! Even if they're slightly less consistent I don't think I want people to do things they didn't original wanted to do just because I picked specific powers from the list. Thanks! 

The notebook is very helpful! And maybe she should worry a little bit about it being secretly Voldemort, more than she's currently doing because she's just going along with everything that's being said, but the notebook is being really helpful! And doesn't seem to be trying to trick her or anything, it even mentioned the mind changing stuff which she hadn't even thought of on her own. Her mother would say that that's just to lull her into a false sense of security or something, but her mother isn't here and probably would be wrong about that sort of thing. 

Any other suggestions before I go back and flip through some more? 

It'd help me out with the making sure things don't change people's minds if you'd take the Incomplete drawback when you get to that section—it makes mind-affecting powers work less well, so I can tweak it to just take out the mind-affecting parts instead. But no rush! You can take all the time you need to read things over and think about them before you decide what you're taking. A lot of people like to sleep on it, and some even take a few weeks to make sure they've thought it through!

Okay, the notebook is literally suggesting she take some time to sleep on it, and possibly as many as weeks to do so, rather than trying to rush her through it. She isn't planning on taking weeks especially if she might be gone for months or years or even longer before she comes back and it's going to be a lot harder to remember all the stuff from school in the middle rather than at the beginning. It's either doing a very very good job at tricking her into thinking that it's trustworthy, or it's just trustworthy. It's probably just trustworthy. It seems just trustworthy. 

She should probably go check out what Incomplete does. It's in the drawbacks. 

Okay, so if stuff in power of friendship don't work half the time, and are less effective also half the time, and all of the powers work by coincidence rather than changing people's minds about them, then that just means that the people she makes friends with might not be as Generous or as Flatterery or stuff like that. That's probably okay, it's a little bit sad because she'd much rather everyone be generous and stuff but if that's what it takes to make things work better she'll probably take it. And it might make some things less concerning, like with the cuddle one not everyone will be trying to cuddle her all the time! This seems like a good thing actually, or maybe good so far. Maybe she should look at the rest of the Power of Friendship stuff. 

Quality Time sounds great, Jenna likes hanging out with her friends. Agree to Agree sounds, well, creepy honestly. Even if she coincidentally only finds people who will agree with her, that seems like it will lead to boring outcomes. Sometimes she's wrong about stuff, or making mistakes! She doesn't want that option. She doesn't want that option at all. 

Love Interest: yes. Definitely. Well. As long as it's coincidental anyways she doesn't want to force anyone into a loveless marriage or anything like that but she wants to find a one true love or something then this seems like the right way to go. Maybe there's a later option that will guarantee that she finds a perfect prince charming or dashing rogue or something to sweep her off her feet and fall in love with. She'll keep her eyes open. 

Love Triangle and Love Dodecahedron: no, no, definitely no, who even are the kinds of people who would want something like that? If someone is married and you like them that doesn't give you the right to try and steal them! Well, maybe if their partner is a terrible person or something, but no, even then! What terrible awful people would pick those things?! 

Time Enough for Love: yes, definitely. She gets to spend plenty of time with all her friends, as well as save the world from monsters or demons or whatever terrible forces she's going to go places to defeat and stuff? How could she ever not pick that option? Well, besides the fact that she's not sure how many points she's spent so far. She's a bit wary of going through and picking options and stuff but the notebook said it would let her change her mind. And the notebook has been, well, very helpful.

You're sure that if I check things off for now and decide to go back and change my mind I'll be allowed to? And there's not a time limit or anything where after like 24 hours whatever I picked is automatically activated and I'm whisked away somewhere else even though these weren't the options I intended or something? And plus I can just leave off the destination option for now just in case if that's not a problem, so even if something does trigger by accident it can't work without the destination part. Or are there defaults? 

There aren't defaults! I can't (and won't!) bestow the Spirit's power on you until you tell me clearly that you're done making your choices and want to start now, and if you haven't picked a Destination by then I have to ask you to pick one so the magic can send you there. And there isn't a time limit either. Some people just never pick anything and die of old age instead and it makes me sad. (But it's okay if that's what they wanted! I just worry that they forgot me in the back of a drawer...)

Oh no, that sounds so sad! The poor notebook, worried that it's forgotten in the back of a drawer, sad and alone, for however long for it takes for wait, for them to die? How does this work exactly does it just persist as long as they live and then go somewhere else where elsewhere is another world? Does picking options and telling it to bestow the Spirit's power on her means the notebook will go away forever which is a little bit sad? Well, she can just ask it.

So if I never pick anything, are you just stuck waiting here until I die? Do you disappear to go somewhere else when I finally die? That sounds so lonely, though, I'm sorry that that's happened to you before! Also, if I make a choice, and you bestow the power, do you leave me also? 

Jenna also remembers that she considered burning it earlier, when she thought it was evil (which is probably isn't but she should still be very very double plus extra sure) and she wants to know what would happen if she tried that but it's probably not polite to ask. It would be upsetting if someone asked her what would happen they burned her, she's not about to ask this poor lonely notebook about it. 

Oh, don't worry, I'm very patient! It comes of being a notebook. To me, sitting quietly alone with my thoughts for a few minutes is not all that different from sitting quietly alone with my thoughts for a few years, and I like them both fine.

Usually, when someone makes their choices and I bestow the Spirit's power on them, I just leave and go to my next assignment! (Sort of. It's complicated. You could also say I'm on all of my assignments all at once all the time, but that's not really accurate either.) But if someone asks, I can instead come with them on their journey through the multiverse. I usually like that quite a lot! It can be fun to be with someone on their adventures and see them write in me about all the interesting things that happen.

Okay this notebook is too friendly, it can't be evil. She's still sticking with her earlier promise not to do anything until tomorrow for sure in case she's being tricked but also: she doesn't need to keep being suspicious. At least not right now. She can be suspicious tomorrow. Right now she can have fun. 

I think I would like that, if you want to come with me! And I'm still sorry about those people, even if it's okay doing that I still think it would be very lonely to be alone for that long. 

Okay, so, time to check off some stuff and see where she is since the notebook is keeping track and she isn't all that good at math and doesn't want to mess up and there shouldn't be any reasons not to check things off. It's fine, right? It's fine. 

She goes and checks off Mysterious Allure (she's going to leave Captive Audience alone, that one still feels weird), Generosity, Helpfulness, Cuddle Buddies, Quality Time, Love Interest, and Time Enough for Love. And then makes sure to also check off Incomplete for good measure. And now are the numbers at the top of the page updated to what she's done so far and how many of her points has she used up already? 

You need A Thousand Ships from the Yourself section to make Love Interest work, but it's fine to not have it checked off yet, it just means I'll need to remind you to check it before I can finalize your choices.

Oh! She should check and see what that is, first. 

Okay, that's not necessarily something that she wants (though having the best face does sound nice she could have less acne that she needs to hide with makeup and her hair could be better though actually wait that's a different thing though isn't it yes there it is) because there's not all that much to complain about her face in the first place unless she's trying to (there's always stuff that could be better but she doesn't need to make it perfect or anything) but as a prerequisite of Love Interest and only one point it's probably worth taking. She checks it. And then checks the hair one for good measure, before flipping back to... no wait the notebook is being helpful. 

Right, thanks for that!

And now back to the Power of Friendship options. 

Where was she? Right, there she was, right after Love Dodecahedron which she is definitely very much not taking ever why would she take that and Time Enough for Love, which brings her to I Can Fix Them. Which sounds useful if she needs it and honestly like a fun part of an adventure with a dashing rogue with a heart of gold that starts out as a mercenary for the bad guy but she converts to their side with a winning smile and repeated complicated ethical interactions where he keeps having second thoughts okay actually yes she's definitely checking that one. True Love's Kiss is cheap and seems straightforwardly good to take, she'll check that too. Planned Parenthood... 

What exactly does it mean in Planned Parenthood that my boyfriend won't care about whether or not I'm having kids? Why is that an option? 

Also, for that matter, she's not how she feels about that concept at all. She doesn't want to have kids, yet, for sure, but if God wants her to have kids... it's one thing to use condoms and stuff (no matter what her mother thinks) but condoms can break and cutting off the option altogether seems wrong somehow. 

It doesn't mean that they won't care about whether or not you're having kids! It just means that they'll believe you if you tell them you have this power, and they'll understand that it really works and you're not making it up or anything. Without that part, a lot of people find that it's hard to explain about this sort of thing and be believed.

Oh, that makes sense! That would probably be useful if she was the kind of person who would want to do that sort of thing... which she isn't. She doesn't have any reason to take Planned Parenthood; she can just let God figure out when she's supposed to have kids and just be very very careful about sex until then. 

Okay, maybe she does have a reason to take Planned Parenthood, she blushes a little when she reads the description for Two Become One imagining perfect sex on her wedding night (or before her wedding night, really, but sex with someone she really loves and enjoys first of course she's not going to have sex with the first hot boy she meets unless he's really really hot and sweet and stuff). And then while trying to think about if it's worth taking Planned Parenthood to get that she reads the next one and blushes even more. 

Is there a reason why Two Become One and Bop It (and also why is it called Bop It) require Planned Parenthood? I don't want to take Planned Parenthood, but I do want Two Become One for sure, and Bop it also sounds really nice. 

The Spirit thinks it is pretty sad when someone has children they aren't ready for, so it wants people who are going to take those kinds of powers to make sure they will use them safely. If you want to have children, Planned Parenthood will definitely still let you!

What if I don't think I should be choosing whether or not I have kids myself? That sort of thing is supposed to be up to God, not me. Other people might want that, but I don't. 

Well, I might be able to get you a version of the power that will let you have kids when you're ready for them even if you don't decide to on purpose, would that work?

That works! Sure, as long as I'm not like, choosing when I have kids on my own instead of God doing it. And I guess I can wait a little while until I'm ready. If you can do that I'd be really grateful, thanks! I really want to take Two Become One and I might take Bop It too.