She checks the boxes with some satisfaction. Then…

I'm guessing that "whatever that means in practice is up to you" means that taking Carry My Heart with the intent that it acts as a memory sorter won't result in my Bestest Friend, well… essentially mind-controlling me by choosing which memories I have access to at what time.

That's right! The trust that a vessel of the Spirit can share with their Best Friend is always going to be absolute.

I think it also helps in your specific case that Carry My Heart is the power that resulted from your request. That means that, in a sense, the power is for you. Obviously if the Spirit offered someone else this power later on it would work the way they wanted it to, but…

That makes sense. Thank you!

She reads the next few options.

… Hm.

Is there a limit to the magnitude of gifts and favors received, compliments paid, or time spent with the Generosity through Quality Time powers? The description of Helpfulness makes it sound like there's a limit that looks smaller than what Generosity can do, but Generosity costs less than Helpfulness does.

Hmmm…

There isn't a hard limit on any of those powers, but I think they may be designed for a different scope than you're envisioning. Those powers aren't mainly about gifts that are exchanged on gift-giving occasions, big favors done during a time of need, or being there for a friend going through a crisis—though they can, of course, affect those things. But the powers are mostly about smaller, more everyday things that friends can do to show affection.

I would say the point values mainly represent how complicated it is to arrange things so that you get what the powers promise. So Flattery is only one point, because it mainly involves steering you towards people who are well-poised to notice your best qualities and comment on them. But Helpfulness and Generosity are more expensive because they also involve making sure that people come across gifts that they think you might like, making sure that they have time to do you favors, and similar things.

Well, that makes Flattery more appealing. She'll have to double back later.

Agree to Agree sounds pretty good. I guess I am a little worried about it, though, since it sounds like with it I could get people to agree with me even if I was wrong about something…

Oh, you don't need to worry about that! Agree to Agree isn't about objective matters where people can be right or wrong, it's about convincing people of your point of view in subjective matters like politics and philosophy.

Nonsense, there are definitely objective right answers to things like politics and philosophy because there are objective right answers to everything.

Oh, I see. Do you know if I could get a power about objective right and wrong? Like hunches maybe. Or…

Tap tap tap goes the end of her pen against the paper.

Let's say that I have a difference of opinion with someone, but there's something that I don't know that if I did know I would have a different opinion. I'm assuming that Agree to Agree doesn't stop the other person from telling me about this thing, if they happen to know it. But if they don't know it, they can't tell me. I don't really want to make mistakes like that, you know?

Hmm…

I can definitely look into a power that would give you hunches. In addition, you can definitely use Anything You Can Do to pick up skills like information gathering and deductive reasoning.

That definitely answers her first question.

What about my example situation? What would happen if I didn't have a hunch power and for whatever reason I couldn't figure out the unknown information with the powers I had at the time? What if I didn't know there was something I didn't know?

Well, ultimately, all of your powers are based on what you think makes a good story for your life. This doesn't necessarily mean that everything will always be easy, but… it sounds like you care a lot about having all of the information that might be relevant to making a decision. And the Spirit cares a lot about its vessels getting the things that they find important! That's why it gives you so many options for powers and as many points as it can afford and it's why I can write new powers.

So I can't provide a definitive answer about that situation, because ultimately it would be up to you. If you approached that person with your heart open to the possibility that you might not know everything important, I think that they would be able to give you the information you needed.

… So basically this was just another test of character, then. A test of character she blundered right into. Embarrassing.

Thanks. I would really appreciate it if you looked into the hunches power!

All right! I'll work on it.

Cool, cool. She adds a star to Agree to Agree for when she looks at the options again.

Out of the next six powers, four have two prerequisites that she didn't take. Should she just skip over them? She hums for a moment. Well, completeness never hurt anyone.

… Kinda disappointing. On the plus side, uninteresting powers basically mean more points for her? It kinda sucks for the people who want to spend points to guarantee romantic success that they'd need to spend eight points (on top of the six that the prerequisites entail) to do so neatly.

It's so annoying that the best powers (of the six she's looking at right now) require close friendship or dating.

Is there a way to get a version of Time Enough For Love that isn't Powered by Friendship? I think I understand why the version presented to me is, but…

Even though the power itself is amazing, I don't really see myself making enough close friendships for it to ever "kick in," as it were. I mean, I've never found myself feeling the need for something like this. So it feels kind of like

She is NOT tearing up she is FINE

Sorry, I was thinking of an analogy and then as I was about to write it down I realized it might make zero sense to you, since you're not human. But it would be like if I was someone who had basically zero sweet tooth and the power was something like "Time Enough For Chocolate" and it was clearly focused around the ability to visit candy stores and ice cream parlors and the part about having infinite time to do this in was an afterthought. So I feel like I'm stuck between "the abilities described here sound useful and fun" and "I don't know if I would ever actually use them because I wouldn't be using the power SOCIALLY" and

(Stop that. You're embarrassing yourself.)

Um. I got carried away, sorry.

(she wants to scribble that out but it won't change that she wrote it in the first place)

Oh no! You don't have anything to be sorry for, promise. I won't get offended or impatient.

I have a couple of thoughts that I'd like to share but I don't want to hurt your feelings any more than they already are.

I'd like to hear them. I'm not really hurt, just… embarrassed. I generally try to think before I speak and I guess got caught up enough that I forgot that writing to you counts as speaking for my purposes. Which isn't fair to you.

It's all right. I have a different mind from anyone else you've ever spoken to so it probably isn't unfair to speak to me differently!

Anyway, my first thought was that you'll likely be meeting a lot of different kinds of people on your journey, especially since you've expressed interest in Dragon Fairy Elf Witch. If cultivating a metaphorical sweet tooth was something you might be interested in, Time Enough For Love would help you with that. You would meet people you could make close friendships with and whose friendships might help you in other ways, such as being valuable allies. Note, of course, that even if you form a working relationship with someone before befriending them, only genuine attempts to bond with them as a friend would count as valid uses of the power.

The other thought was that, if you'd prefer it, I can absolutely look into a similar power that isn't about friendship. I can't guarantee that it will be as powerful but I will definitely do my best.

I think I'd prefer the second thing. Maybe it can have a focus on being really good at time management? Or have a constraint along the lines of only getting "extra" time if I'm unobserved.

I'll think about the first thing, though.

Okay, I'll keep that in mind! I hope that I helped.

She takes a minute to be sure she means it before writing:

Yeah, you did.

Somewhat relatedly, does True Love's Kiss have to be romantic in nature? Or can it be any person whose life and wellbeing is important enough to me? If I'm understanding the storytelling device that the power is named after correctly, anyway.

It doesn't have to be romantic but it does have constraints similar to those on Time Enough For Love. The person has to be important to you for who they are rather than only for the ways they can help you. This doesn't mean that it won't work on someone who has skills you value but it does mean that if your relationship is only a working one then True Love's Kiss won't revive them.

She pivots the pen on top of her middle finger and uses her index and ring fingers to drum each end against the surface of her desk while she puts together a response in her head.

That makes sense. I know I've already asked you for a bunch of powers, but I'd kinda like one that would protect people working with me. Or rather…

Well, for me. I'm guessing that if I had a highly trusted second-in-command the base version of True Love's Kiss would work for them, but I don't want to leave people who aren't that out to dry.

She wants to look after all of her minions, thank you very much.

What sort of protection are you thinking of? Something like True Love's Kiss, which reverses hardship, or something that prevents it instead?

I'd be pleased by either of those possibilities.