Imma vote for purple for shields, hiding cus we don't know what it does, and danny's gonna overreact, and experiment with purple and blue for shields and flight
[x] [Orb] A shimmering Purple gem
[x] [Morrow] Experiment with the Purple Gem
[x] [Morrow] Find a Way to hide the Gems when going out
[x] [Morrow] Experiment with the Blue Gem
Okay, since I managed to write both of the other updates that I need to get down first, I am cutting the voting period a little shorter. So you have about 8 hours to make any changes to the votes
So you have chosen the Yellow Orb as your first orb, which means that the yellow orb gets one additional skill point added to it.
[ ][Yellow] The Skill point connecting Yellow to Violet
[ ][Yellow] The Skill point connecting Yellow to Orange
[ ][Yellow] The Skill point connecting Yellow to Blue
[ ][Yellow] The Skill point connecting Yellow to Purple
[ ][Yellow] The Skill point connecting Yellow to Red
[ ][Yellow] The Skill point connecting Yellow to Green
[ ][Yellow] The Lone Skill point to the Top of the Yellow skill tree
[ ][Yellow] The first of the Top 4 point skill tree
[ ][Yellow] The second point of the 5 point skill tree
[ ][Yellow] The first of the right side 5 point skill tree
[ ][Yellow] The lone dangle off the bottom five point skill tree
[ ][Yellow] The second point in the five point skill tree
[ ][Yellow] The Lone skill point on the bottom of the Yellow skill tree
[X][Morrow] Find a Way to hide the Gems when going out
[X][Morrow] Show the Gems to your Dad!
[X][Morrow] Experiment with the Yellow Gem
Sunday Morning, March 20th
With a soft groan, you throw an arm over your eyes, hoping to keep the light from reaching your brain. Today is Sunday morning. The one day of the week that you don't get up early, the one day of the week that you let yourself lay in bed for longer than usual, relishing in the fact that you don't have anywhere to be, or anything to do.
It is very much a part of why the first thought that comes into your head is that you are exhausted. The second thought is that you end up feeling like this every time that you go and star gaze late at night. Maybe you should...
A soft tinkling noise above your head stops the thought, and slowly, confusedly, you start to open an eye, looking up at whatever could be the cause of the sound...
There, floating up above your head are seven crystal spheres, each a different color of the rainbow, and each with their own unique differences of color and texture.
You freeze, eyes suddenly wide as you stare up at the gems, hoping that whatever cape that has intruded into your room won't...
wait
It takes a moment, but your brain manages to catch back up to the events of last night, where you found the gems after they crashed into your backyard.
Slowly, as the thoughts and memories start to settle, such as your ability to move the spheres, you start to relax, allowing yourself to breath once again. This isn't someone coming to attack you, you've just got some kind of unknown Tinker tech that is somehow connected to you, and that...
That doesn't comfort you nearly as much as you had hoped the thought would have. At the same time... The fact that you have control over the things does mean that you aren't in any immediate danger, so that's fine. That's good.
Taking a moment to think, you realize four major things. First of all - You need some way to hide these things if you are ever going to leave your house again. Just going out with these things floating above your head...
That is just straight up a way for anyone and everyone to know that you have these things.
The second thing that you realize is that something as hard to hide as these things are is not something that you will be able to hide from your dad for long, so you might as well let him know about them now.
The third and fourth things that you realize are far more mundane in nature however. The third is that you smell like grass and dirt, and really need a shower, and the fourth is the fact that you really need to pee.
Thankfully, the latter of those two things are both things that you can take care of in the same place.
And after a short trip to the bathroom followed by a significantly longer shower, you take a breath to steel yourself. There isn't any way that you're going to be able to hide these things from your dad for long, so you might as well just rip the band-aid off right now.
You take a moment, breathing in and out, allowing yourself to relax, and ignoring all the worries and concerns that you have, and letting the stones settle back around your head where they prefer to stay. With that done, you do your best to act naturally as you walk into the kitchen.
3 + 4 = 7
[SUCCESS]
"Morning." You say with a yawn, and dad glances up from his plate of more than slightly soggy eggs, and the mildly burnt toast next to it to glance up at you.
"Morning." Dad says, and then there is a moment, an entire beat of silence where Dad looks back down at his breakfast, before his head snaps back up to you. "Uhh... Taylor..." Your father begins quietly, "You've uh... You've got something..." He says, one finger rising up as he motions up above his own head, slowly spinning the hand in a circle.
"Yeah, I know." You admit, glancing up at them. "I found them last night in the back yard," You start to explain, "They... uhhh... Don't really want to leave me alone." Slowly, your dad blinks at that statement, before sighing. "I don't really know what to do about them, or what they can do either." You continue.
Dad pokes at his eggs for a moment, quiet as the grave. "So..." He starts, "What do you mean by them not wanting to leave you alone?" You point a hand, not to control the gems, but in order to draw your father's attention. All together the stones flow off from above your head, flying to the far side of the kitchen, before they slow to a stop near the door.
"This is as far away from me as I can get them to go," You explain, "And I can't like, keep them there and move in the opposite direction." You try and figure out a way to explain it. "It's like they are stuck to me by an invisible bungee cord."
Dad looks at the gems for a moment, then he looks to you. "And what are you planning on doing with them?" He asks, and while he seems calm... there is something hard and sharp, yet brittle in his tone.
"I..." You start to say, before you pause as you realize that you don't exactly have an answer beyond finding a hiding place for them. "Well, I guess right now I'm going to find some way for me to carry them around that doesn't leave them above my head, letting everyone know about them." You answer.
Dad slowly nods, before he closes his eyes and sighs. Opening them again, the man pins you in place with his gaze. "Are you planning on going off to fight crime?" He asks, the brittle edge still there.
You start to open your mouth, ready to immediately deny the idea, primarily because you aren't thinking about using them to fight crime. But a quick, almost flippant answer wouldn't manage to make your dad feel better. So you slowly close your mouth, before shaking you head. Dropping down into a chair, you look across the table at your father. "Dad..." You start softly, "I... I don't even know if these things can do anything other than float around my head and glow. I don't..." You pause again, and you can see your dad's face soften a little. "I'm... I... I like the idea of being a hero. Of helping people, but..." You draw your legs up, wrapping them in a soft hug. "The idea of having to fight someone... That is the most terrifying thing that I can think of." Well, the second scariest thing that you can think of.
The actual scariest thing that you can think of is the idea of the PRT wanting to take the orbs away to study, which would mean that they would have to take you away too.
"I'm just... Not the kind of person who would run off and get into a fight all on my own like that." You say, and Dad sighs, slowly nodding.
"So you can't get rid of them, and they don't seem to do anything?" He asks, and you shake your head. Then pause, before shrugging.
"I mean, they haven't been doing anything so far." You say, and your father looks at them for a long moment, his head slowly tilting to one side as he thinks.
"Have you tried holding them?" He asks, a question that makes you blink. You open a hand, and with the barest of thoughts, you bring down the yellow orb into your hand.
4
4 / 10 towards Level 1
Immediately, you can tell that the orb is indeed doing something. You see, you are nearsighted, but the fact of the matter is that you haven't had your prescription updated in close to a year and a half now. It was supposed to happen about two months ago, but you were in the hospital after the Trio shoved you in that locker, so you missed the appointment, and just haven't remembered to remind your father that schedule a new appointment. "Huh." Is the first thing you say, looking at a world all around you that is in perfect clarity. "Hey Dad," You say, "I've been meaning to remind you that I need a new Eye Doctor Appointment."
Dad blinks, then chuckles softly. You look at him funny, and that just makes him laugh even more. "The orb makes you remember things that you forgot?" He asks, and now that you see what he was thinking, you can't help but smile a little yourself.
"Nah, it just put everything into perfect focus." You admit, before turning. You glance around the room, trying to find something, anything around that you can focus on to try and show off how good your vision is while holding the gem. "Ah!" You say, before pointing over your dad's shoulder at the calendar on the fridge. You've never been able to read the numbers from your seat, something that both you and your dad know, and the text that runs along the bottom of the picture that marks the top half of the calendar is even smaller than the numbers, but you are able to read off the poem with ease.
"I'll admit," Your dad says, "That is impressive. Does it work if you take your glasses off?" He asks, and there is a hint of teasing in your voice, but all things considered you can't help but smile. Slipping your glasses off, you blink once. For the shortest of moments, everything was indeed out of focus, but a single blink and everything shifts, slipping into focus as if you put your glasses on.
"Ugh." You let out a short sound of disgust, recoiling a little back from where you are. "That was weird." You admit, the hand with the orb coming up to rub at your eye. As you do, you notice that there is a small glowing symbol near your thumb.
Swiping the digit over the symbol, there is a flicker of light from within the center bubble in the gem, before a glowing dot of light slides out of the orb.
It is hard to explain it, but even as the dot moves out of your line of sight, you still have...
Not only a sense of where the dot is, but a sense of what all is around it too. Like a...
Like one of those things that they do to pregnant ladies in order to see the baby inside. Where everything is black and white, and you really don't have any details, just the shapes. You can see your dad in front of you watching the glimmering dot of light for a moment, and you bring the dot of light in front of yourself.
"Okay..." You say, "So what are you, and what do you do?"
Looking down at the orb again, you see that the symbol has changed. You nearly hit the symbol again, but pause. There is all the chance in the world that the glowing thing is some kind of reticle, so you'd rather not have that go off in the kitchen. With the strange sense of awareness that the gem gives, you move the dot to out in the backyard, and then hold the gem up so that it has a direct line through a window without hitting anything. You thumb over the new symbol, and all of a sudden your senses expand. All at once, you are both looking through the window at yourself, as well as looking out into the backyard. Slowly, you turn your head one way, and then the other, and the strange thing is that you can...
You can see through the you that is out in the yard, and the you that is in the kitchen, but as you reach out, you find that you can feel the table in front of you. At the same time, the hand of the you in the back yard is sticking all the way into a tree without any resistance.
It takes a moment for what that really means to filter into your brain, but then, with a thought, you thumb over the symbol again, making the illusionary copy of yourself disappear. There is a moment of silence as you look at your dad, and your dad looks at you. "I still don't want to fight people." You say, and you dad looks... not unsettled, but there is a clear worry on his face.
"Okay." He says, nodding slowly. Then he sighs, "I've still got to head to work. But," He says, looking you dead in the eye. "While I won't make you go and join the Wards, I want you to think about it. Okay?" You start to open your mouth, but the man holds up a hand. "I don't want an answer right now. Spend today and tomorrow to think about it. Really sit down and contemplate what I am asking. The entire point of the Wards is to help with situations like this, where someone doesn't even know what they can do."
You nod, and Dad smiles at you. "Alright, now... You also wanted something that you could carry those things around in as well, right?"
"Yeah." You answer, and your dad hums.
10 + 7
[CRITICAL SUCCESS]
[NAT 10!]
"Alright, I'll stop by somewhere after work and pick you up something. Any ideas for the kinds of thing that you are thinking of?"
[ ][Ioun] A new, bigger backpack
[ ][Ioun] A big purse
[ ][Ioun] A poster tube
[ ][Ioun] A ten gallon hat
[ ][Ioun] A big briefcase
[ ][Ioun] Something else
-[ ] What?
It isn't long after that that Dad leaves for work. What do you do for the rest of the day.
Choose Three:
[ ][Afternoon] Relax, pretend everything is normal
[ ][Afternoon] Experiment with the Purple Gem
[ ][Afternoon] Experiment with the Blue Gem
[ ][Afternoon] Experiment with the Green Gem
[ ][Afternoon] Experiment with the Yellow Gem
[ ][Afternoon] Experiment with the Orange Gem
[ ][Afternoon] Experiment with the Violet Gem
[ ][Afternoon] Experiment with how you use the gems [ ][Afternoon] Experiment with using multiple gems at once
- You don't know what any Gem other than the Yellow gem does, so you cannot experiment with multiple gems yet
[ ][Afternoon] Read a fantasy book
- Tiny chance of advancing Depression
[ ][Afternoon] Read your English Textbook
- Tiny chance of increasing Diplomacy
[ ][Afternoon] Do Exercises in the Basement
- Tiny chance of increasing Martial
[ ][Afternoon] Read your Maths textbook
- Tiny chance of increasing Stewardship
[ ][Afternoon] Watch a Spy movie
- Tiny chance of increasing Intrigue
[ ][Afternoon] Look up science videos on the internet
- Tiny chance of increasing Learning
[ ][Afternoon] Trawl PHO
- [ ][Afternoon] Look up heroes
- [ ][Afternoon] Look up villains
- [ ][Afternoon] Look up independents
- [ ][Afternoon] Look up something else? What?
[X][Yellow] The lone dangle off the bottom five point skill tree
I'm totally just picking something at random, I have no idea what's going on. Where are the labels?
[X][Ioun] A new, bigger backpack
[X][Ioun] A big purse
Two things least likely to draw suspicion, and useful in their own right.
[X][Afternoon] Experiment with the Yellow Gem
Harmless way to get XP. And thinker powers are always good.
[X][Afternoon] Trawl PHO
- [X][Afternoon] Look up heroes
- [X][Afternoon] Look up independents
Doubling down on reviewing the cape scene. We need to know our options for hero-ing in the city, and to compare and contrast how it would work as both types of cape.
