metalogs | LOVE POTION #9

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LOVE POTION #9

LOVE IS... not in the air! The reintroduction of Confluences into this world has left it rocked, so the season of love is not quite as lovey-dovey as it usually is. People are stressed and anxious. Valentine's events are being cancelled left, right, and center in fear that a Confluence may catch young lovers unawares.

Unbeknownst to mortals, the God of Love really can't afford his month to be ruined by a few little dimensional catastrophes. This is his month! ... And for whatever reason, he seems to be stranded on the Earthly plane.

Surely he can fix things. Push it along a little. Though Gods don't usually meddle in mortal affairs, this is a personal catastrophe. All it takes is a few drops of love potion on a token of affection, and voila! Instant-connection.

(This event has a blanket warning for dubious consent of the love spell variety. To opt out completely, characters can simply not be in Sunset Falls at the time of the event, which runs through Valentine's Day.)

WHITE HEARTS FESTIVAL

Welcome to Sunset Falls, the most magical place in all of America! Literally. The streets are charged with magical energies, and while it won't be spinning your words into spells, it will give anyone who is magically inclined a comfortable little buzz. Maybe it's the boost you need to get a spell working, or maybe it's just a pep in your step. Confluence-displaced metas who take the Guilds up on their offer to tour the new housing will arrive just in time to witness the an annual tradition: The White Hearts Festival, a festival dedicated to all forms of love - familial, friendship, and romantic.

The whole town is decked out in pinks, golds and reds. Town square has been overtaken by food booths peddling elaborate meals and desserts with various magical effects. (It's probably better not to ask why some of the cookies being handed out are in the shape of anatomical hearts.)

Eat an emoji cookie and find yourself sprouting heart-eyes, or gaining a flurry of hearts above your head.

The Bolder Biscuit - by far and above the densest thing you've ever tried to eat - makes you bold. It compels you to march right up to someone and tell them what you think, good or bad.

And there's also the Firework Delight cake, which makes you shoot off literal fireworks the moment you touch that special someone that makes your life complete... but honestly, they go off when you touch anyone. Sorry if you end up giving off the wrong impression!

In addition, pop-up craft stands sell trinkets that guarantee you'll be together with your people forever and ever. The most popular item on sale this year appears to be the Eternal Bond - which is just an enchanted finger-trap that refuses to let go unless you tell someone a deep dark secret.

There is an altar at the town park where you can make your offering and give prayers to the God of Love in hopes he will smile favorable upon you. Lay your chocolate heart at its base and offer up a prayer to the God so that your life will be full of love and connection.

Truthfully, when it started it wasn't as cutesy as it is now. It became a lot more wholesome when people began to offer only chocolate hearts to the God of Love. Now it's fun for the whole family! ... So long as you don't veer into the woods. Some people still practice the old ways, and there are (what you hope to be) animal hearts nailed to trees. This is Sunset Falls, after all. Weird often goes hand in hand with terror.

LONELY HEARTS

For those of you who don't yet have those special people, lonely hearts still single can collect white rose enamel pins from the festival committee. They're expected to pick someone to give it out to as a declaration of their attraction by the end of the festival. However... there seems to be an issue this year. There's more pins here than there are people in town. Committee members start handing them out to anyone, single or not, and from there that's where things start to get a little weird...

You clip the pin onto your shirt and at once, your life has suddenly become a romcom. Everything is just a little brighter, the sounds a little more musical (sometimes literally), and you're suddenly compelled to reach out and find connection.

And the universe is conspiring to bring it your way! Cliches won't stop happening around you. Suddenly people are determined to give you a makeover so you can catch the eye of an admirer. Your friends are betting on your romantic future. A complex love triangle is springing out of previously platonic friendships.

You're not not limited to one partner, and that partner doesn't need to be romantic. It could be a best friend, or a nemesis that you're compelled to fight over and over again for the joy of it. What matters is the connection and the way the world seems to stop at nothing to give you that perfect three act structure: You Meet, You Lose, You Get.

Reach the end of your romcom's little arc and you'll find yourself freed from the spell... and probably will have some choice words for its caster.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Regardless of how you participate in the festival, everyone is at risk when the town itself falls under a love spell.

This may be unlike anything you've known before. Perhaps it's the first stumbling steps of puppy love. You want to be with this person all the time. Hold their hands and work up the courage for a kiss. Or perhaps this is something fierce and passionate. You want to be kissing them always, pursuing these passions heedless of consequences.

This doesn't need to be a romantic love. It can be strong and familial. Perhaps the sort you've always desired but never had. You could fall into a family unit with others affected by the spell. Compelled to hug each other and say words of encouragement or praise. Perhaps you, while living your own love story, are the best friend in someone else's - offering up the speech that tells them they deserve more than they think they do.

Whatever your flavor of love may be, you're prone to dramatic declarations. Confessions at the drop of a hat. It's go big or go home, and since nobody's going home right now, you might as well go as big as you can. Perhaps you're arranging for Flash Mobs to declare your feelings! Or making plans to move in together despite only having met a few hours ago.

This is all fine and well at first, but it may become clear pretty quickly that characters who try to hold their burning passions are likely to burn themselves! If you're the repressed type and you try to resist the compulsions that the love spell puts on you, you might just burst into flames, and someone will need to put you out. Don't worry — move quick enough, and there won't be any lasting damage, and if there is, the Guilds' healers can help you out.

MEET CUTE-PID

For those paying attention to that sort of thing, one constant of all these wild declarations can be spotted in the background. A tall man with curly blonde hair and an all too charming smile never seems to be far from the romance.

Those who are curious enough to follow will find he retreats to a lavish mansion on the outskirts of town. The mansion has the gaudy and abundant decor of a honeymoon suite on the Las Vegas Strip, with lights attuned to music and a massive twirling heart above the roof of the building. Peer inside and you will see hundreds of tiny viewing windows, each depicting a different romantic story unfolding outside of town. The door to the mansion appears to be locked tight and the windows are magically sealed, but some quick thinking may get you inside.

If anyone wants to engage him, HERE is a top level where we will summarize encounters. The more PCs involved in an encounter, the bigger its outcome will be. We will determine the impact on the god of love on Valentine's Day, so get your comments in by end of day on the 13th! You may also use this top level to ask event-specific questions about the effects on this page! (Please refer general questions about the setting to the FAQ, and refer any player plots to the PLOTTING page.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Balthier chuckles at the supporting role comment. ] I am clearly a leading man, but my partner seemed to think I was support. Maybe she was right.

[ Balthier twists the ring on his pinkie figure, fidgeting with the tea cup with his other hand. Coy and aloof is easy. Honest still isn't. ]

No, I'm just putting my foot in my dashing mouth. Forward is good. I quite like forward. And I'm finding I quite like you, truth be told. [ Scions he sounds like an awkward school boy. How do people do this earnestness business? ]

Perhaps you were, in the tale of the queen. But one can be the support in one story, and the lead in another.

[He sees the touch at the ring. Nerves? Perhaps, given the admission.]

Oh, I'm finding myself a bit more charming than I normally am. Truth be told, I'm a bit of a disaster. For instance, this isn't the first world I've been to like this, that kidnaps people from a lot of different places. And that means I've been through some very weird things that just sell the point of being a wreck. I figure you deserve the warning.

I'm wondering if support for awhile would be a nice change of pace, truth be told.

[ Balthier cocks a brow, but feels something in him relaxing. ] Warning me off? You must be interested. And here I was worried it wouldn't be reciprocated. I really am out of practice.

I haven't hopped worlds before, but I've been through my share of disasters and displacements. I think like needs like, to a certain extent. I'm not certain how much of a wreck I am myself right now. Hasn't settled in yet. Things before I came through.

I can recommend supporting rolls. You tend to get hurt less. Physically I mean. Hearts can be broken no matter the role.

[The fact that Balthier didn't seem offended about being warned was interesting in him, but he had to nod. What could he say, he really had developed a thing for bad boys that were, at their heart, good. He thought of Damian, of Tommy, of Nori even, though she was a bad girl. Loki was a more complicated matter, and Kavinsky hadn't fit the bill as much as David had thought.

Boy he was really striking out a lot these days.]

Balthier, don't worry about being out of practice. I'm pretty sure you could radiate a 'come hither' look if you tried. While looking bored. But if you allow me to play the role of concerned friend, I suppose the best thing I could say is that in the last world, some greater force didn't believe in letting us Go. Death... didn't last.

[That was about the level of implication he'd get into here, too worried that being fully blunt would drive hte man away.]

[ He notes the gravity of David’s voice and his need to reassert the warning. It’s sensitive. He can see why, but he’s also genuinely not flustered. Maybe that’s foolish. ]

I’m sorry. That sounds deeply unpleasant, though I’m selfishly glad you’re here.

You know technically I’m 2000 years old. There’s another woman from my world’s future so that makes me an ancient relic.

In more seriousness, my partner’s species ages significantly slower than mine. She was a few decades older than me. Certainly will outlive me.

If you’re looking for a way to chase me off you’ll have to try again.

[Two-thousand years old? He's been interested in older. And it's a 'technically'. So he snickers.]

Really, you just claiming that so someone can tell you that you've aged gracefully? Come on, share your real age. I'll go first, I'm twenty-five, if you don't consider the whole temporal double-time I've sort of lived. I'm not trying to chase you off by saying I'm old, Balthier. I'm trying to point out that I've passed away. Multiple times. It just hasn't sort of stuck yet.

[There, fully blunt. He's expecting the guy to run off now, then maybe reconnect and talk via some social media later.]

[ The implications of that are certainly headache inducing at best. He searches for what to say —- he wants to provide comfort, but how do you soothe a legitimate distress? ]

I spent the last chunk of my life convincing myself that it was rational to distance myself from someone I cared for, and now I’m not going to get the chance to correct that. If you’re here then you’re alive enough for me. [ He clasps David’s hand in his. ]

And I’m 23. I like older men. You’re practically my elder.

[He hasn't even begun to touch headache inducing. He could get there. But that's not what this moment is fore. Instead he considers Balthier quite silently, and thoughtfully. Then he smiles, especially when Balthier takes his hand.]

You're sure you're not a con artist instead of a pirate? Because you have a silver tongue that could get you just about anything you wanted.

[A charmer. Dammit why did he always fall for these charming, damaged men who probably didn't need his mess in their lives?]

I should probably tell you something, Balthier, in case that affects those comments you've made. I came to Sunset Falls to investigate a magical event. Given we arrived in the middle of a Valentines' like festival, that might have something to do with getting along with me.

[He's finally finding himself mostly free of the compulsion, and that makes him wonder if there isn't something... connecting his behavior now to, well, what he and Loki came here to do.]

[ He thinks about sharing the rest. That he murdered his father. That he couldn’t even hide his feelings enough to convince literal children that he didn’t care about Ashe and the kingdom. But David keeps talking and the moment is gone. ]

Oh? Tell me more. I’m not familiar with Valentine’s. [ Magic? Is that what his behavior being off was? But that feels clear now and there’s still a genuine connection here. Still. He moves his hand to take another sip of tea. Something feels like it has passed. ]

[Here David was, trying to avoid the family topic because it clearly hurt Balthier. Don't begrudge him the unintentional dodge, and the attempts to comfort the man that would come after.

David does regret the lack of the touch, but he supposes the distance is better, probably due to Balthier realizing there's nothing really there.]

There are certain religious traditions in my world, and perhaps this one, that venerate a god that tends to allow the spirits of those who have passed deep in belief of the system to become powerful forces for good. A bit like immortal spirits, but theoretically only able to meddle by praying on our behalf or something. One of them was Saint Valentine, who according to lore, did something or other to come to represent romantic love. In my world it's celebrated on the fourteenth of february, and is all about romance and love. People give cards and chocolates and gifts to their romantic partners. IT's considered a big thing, like an anniversary of a relationship.

You suspect some heightened truth to these endeavors then? Someone who came through like us or something local? [ It’s comfortable to switch to business. And disappointing too. That won’t change if he doesn’t. ]

That doesn’t change anything I’ve said or done. I’m not…I don’t feel connection with people often, and I find you both warm and engaging.

No clue. Magic is not my specialty. You talk about it like it's something that can be learned in your world through practice. In mine, you have to have an aptitude for it. I know all about the magic of my world. But I can't do it myself. I don't know why he asked me for help.

[Beyond Loki wanting to get into his pants.]

I am glad to hear I'm not boring, though. For all I knew you might, well, not normally chase guys, or I might be less engaging than I seem. Or maybe you'd think I'm too much of a know-it-all or reading you a lot. See, what I'm doing here is giving you another out now that I'm realizing it might be justified, because if you don't take this one, I might buy you a second cup of tea just to learn about this Strahl of yours so I can be impressed by your engineering skills.

Magick on my world is something else entirely, I think. Most people can train in it, though some of us have some particular affinities. The ocurria and scions and the like were new to me, though I suppose those weren't powers humans could harness.

[ If he's going all in, he's going all in. He's thankful David has stuck around; he clearly would have squandered this the first few tries. ]

I don't normally chase anyone, but gender's never really been my determining factor in attraction. I like people who are smart and to the point -- something most of my close confidants have shared. I have no interest in taking your out and quite a lot of interest in that tea and conversation. Some of that may be helped along by whatever this magick is, but all of that is consistent with who I am. [ There, he finally feels like himself. ]

I don't think magick really changes us. I think it heightens what's there, or can find fears or desires. My father -- I thought my father was under the control of the ocurria, immortal magickal beings for the sake of simplicity. I thought they'd corrupted him, made him go mad. That would have been easier.

It was all there within him. The magick helped but I was a fool for thinking he'd ever been anything else. It's easy to blame something like that on some outside source, but the truth is the hearts of men are simple and often transparent things.

[ There have been much easier ways to work this into conversation, but he's afraid if he doesn't say it now, he won't. ]

You should know I murdered him. To stop the ocurria, to make sure the queen stopped the empire and took back her crown. You asked if I did it for vengeance or protection or her. I don't know. I just know that that man destroyed everything he touched. I wanted so badly for the spell to fall away, for him to use his last words to make it make sense.

[ The confession comes tumbling out. He hasn't said that outloud yet -- everything happened so fast. But he turns it into a grin. ] So there you are. Your chance for an out. Maybe magick works differently here. Maybe I'm just the romantic pirate backdrop in your heroic investigation.

[Well now there's an interesting point of view. The idea that magic doesn't change a person wasn't one David shared, mostly because he knew Loki and Billy. Though he supposed Loki changed Loki and Billy, for all that he was a god to be, stayed rather the same. He just changed everything around him. But did he change people? That's a whole philosophical debate he'd love to get into with Loki sometime. Or Stephen Strange. Still, he takes the point Balthier is making very seriously.]

So you see magic as like a prism. The way it can amplify is like light passing into the planes of glass. While it doesn't destroy the light, it does show us the constituent parts, and perhaps makes some of them a bit more obvious than others. Or maybe a lens is a better metaphor, in that it can enhance and magnify, and perhaps even leave us burned by the intensity of the focus it brings to bear. I've got to admit, that's a new take for me. Though the magic I've run into that I see change people tends to actually be soul magic, and it has a warping affect due to very specific properties of how it damages a soul.

[Fratricide. Some would call it a great sin. From what little he's learning of Balthier's father, he doesn't think it was that simple, or that easy. And David had known people who had done that before, accidentally or deliberately. And had forgiven it as well.

Still, by the end he's merely nodding and, having finished his cup of highly caffeinated tea, he sets the fine cup aside.]

Do you think I'd want to know you less for making a hard choice like that? Saving the world is a hard thing to do. Fighting someone else you love to do it is even harder. Feeling disappointed by, or like we are a source of disappointment for, our fathers isn't simple either. There are still fine details that matter in the grand scale of measurement of the good or ill of such actions. But please, allow me to be blunt, Balthier.

The day I met my best friend, he almost murdered another friend of ours as part of an attack by the anti-mutant group he had joined, not knowing he himself was a mutant. But I still love him. Hell, my con artist ex-boyfriend's subconscious once manifested and stabbed me in the back, leaving me paralyzed. What you did? You did to help someone, and helped the world in the process. Even while hurting you. You clearly don't revel in it. And that? That means that the only reason I'm getting out of this seat is to get us fresh cups of tea. Rose again? Or, would you perhaps be willing to take a recommendation from a strange source? Because my cup was very insistent that it quite likes the spiced orange tea here, and I think I want to consider it's suggestion.

I haven’t encountered soul magick, but I’m willing to bet a good sum that that isn’t what we are dealing with. The occuria could influence reality —- that felt different than this. I think your prism lens metaphor is apt. Sometimes lenses provid clarity, too.

You’ll have to pardon my surprise and mild disbelief. I haven’t met many people who believe in forgiveness or weighing the complexities of moral decisions. Should have stayed in theater I suppose.

[ He’s making light because he doesn’t know how to accept the support. He doesn’t want to be that person anymore. ] Thank you for that. And for the tea. Being open to suggestions from the universe and new forms of magick has been going extremely well for me today. [ He raises his glass, nodding his head to David with a smile. ]

Reality warpers perhaps? That can be a hard power to work around. If you really did win free of them, you've done something impressive on a scale the likes of which few people in my world can achieve.

[So, you know, there's that. The man deserved applause if reality warpers had been shaping his world and he and others hopefully won their freedom. But to have done it at such a cost could not be easy.]

I'll pardon whatever you wish. It's not easy for me, all the time, to forgive what was done. But I feel that it's important to try. And in your case I think your past matters only insofar as whether you feel guilty or not. You clearly feel responsible for the things you did, and given the circumstances, I can't envision a repeat performance.

[In David's line of work sometimes doing the right thing isn't always a good thing.]

The orange spice is hardly a recommendation from the universe. Just my tea cup. One of the gifts I have here is something called psychometry. I can read the history of objects. Sometimes they have opinions. I find that's pretty common at tea shops and coffee houses. Let me go get those cups and then you can sit around and tell me at length about this Strahl and in return, I'll tell you about the vehicle Forge and I built for that race. Two engineers talking about their work, nothing complicated there.

I'm bemused you have so many terms for things I only read about in tales of old. I'll take the compliments though. Always happy to sound heroic.

[ He isn't sure how he feels yet. Though it feels a little lighter today. Maybe the confluence bringing him here wasn't the worst thing. ]

We're all made of universe, aren't we? Go get the tea, and I'll start the ship talk, though I do want to hear more about this ability. I might even be a little bit jealous. [ He'd never thought much about his own magick -- it was typical to be trained at the Academy, and any pirate or warrior worth their salt learned to perfect the basic spells. But he hasn't had much luck with that here -- a few illusions, bad headaches. He's wondering if his magick days are over. ]

My world is really strange. One of my math teachers in high school? Literally could turn the whole world into a ball of ice if it REALLY moved him. We're lucky Bobby is just too busy punning to want to destroy everything.

[A little lighter means a lot, and he wished he knew he had given that to Balthier. He deserved it. Though the statement of 'all made of universe makes him smile. That's familiar to home.]

On my earth, we say 'We're all made of star stuff'. I'm glad the sentiment survives. I'll be right back. While I'm gone, tell yourself it's best not to be jealous of my gifts. They can be painful.

[With that he rises, taking their empty cups to go trade them for full ones. When he returns he moves his seat a bit closer to Balthier's and offers him a scone from the plate of them he'd bought.]

So, do you want to hear of my powers first, or share about your baby?

I'm increasingly surprised your world survived at all. We had enough trouble with one set of meddling gods and overpowered leaders. [ There is some comfort in having met Shaedra; he knows the world survives for awhile, at least. There's also comfort in knowing David's had more turmoil but hasn't shuttered out. ]

I have noticed that Earth people enjoy the word "stuff". [ There is something charming about the phrase existing in both worlds. It gives him the same sense of peace and connection that old art and stories do -- humans, at least some of them, reach for the same beauty, the same urge to create.

He accepts the tea and scones, and doesn't miss that David sits closer ] Cheers. [ He takes a sip of the tea. It's rich and acidic, with some honey to it. ] I think I'll have to go with your powers first, as this tea is excellent.

It's a good season if we don't have a near-apocalypse situation actually. Earth's prone to them. My Earth. And if you want a meddling god, you should meet Loki.

[And that's possible here.]

Oh, we enjoy it? I hadn't noticed. I'll be on the watch for the word now.

[He sips his own tea, the same brew, and has to chuckle at that reason for it.]

Well, I'm 'blessed' in multiple ways. First, I gain knowledge by touch. This falls into two different categories. Psychometry which lets me know the history of objects I touch. Doesn't work on living things, though it does work on formerly living things. I actually made a career of it, in the last world. I got talked into doing this show about the 'secret history of antiques' for television. People would contact my producers and tell us about this thing they owned or acquired, and we'd talk about the history from research, and then I'd handle it to tell them other things involved with it. Then the research team told them more based on what I found if they could. I could also give certificates that verified the history which often made things more valuable.

[As a demonstration he runs his fingers over the plate the scones are on. He's quiet for a moment, eyes closed as he sorts out what he's learning.]

This plate, for instance, has been used here for what I'd estimate is a year and a half. The most common food on it involves cinnamon, it remembers cinnamon, so I'm guessing their cinnamon rolls are very popular here.

[Then he pulls his fingers back and lays his hand on his own leg.]

I can also touch a person to learn things. That's psychomimetry. What happens is my mind makes a copy of their knowledge and skills. That's... easily abused. It's based on what I can do back home, but there I just pick up anything from the minds within a ten foot sphere of me. I don't get to keep the stuff here either. One minute per second, up to two hours. And I still have to organize it in my head. And I only know what they know, which means I don't know if it's right, or incomplete, or even useful. Anyone I touch, I get what they know, but not just what they learned. The things they know deeper than that. The things they know without thinking. The way they tie their shoes or sign their name. Any detail about their favorite show or play when they were a kid that they remember. Anything they memorized or studied.

[He even smiled then.]

How they like to be touched, or kissed, or their favorite meal. It's a form of telepathy. But it also lets me have their skills. Say you're a champion darts player, well, now I am too.

Back home this causes me to be known as 'the smartest man in the room'. I'm a doctor in multiple ways, I'm an engineer, I'm a ballet dancer, I'm a chef. There's so many things this has made me. I used to hate it actually. Because I hadn't earned any of it. I've learned, since, that I can take it all and blend it together and make things that people never consider.

[David was smiling softly down at his own hand. Over the years he'd learned to take pride in what he is.]

And those are the two knowing powers I have. Then there's the technopathy and the energy projection.

I’m still envious of the object reading. I don’t know what television is but that set up sounds fascinating and easy to run as a con, were you so inclined. I’d have been a rich pirate with that ability. Did your make a profit from this at all?

[ He considers the rest. He’s more deeply surprised David has interest in him with the spread of experience he has. And is amazed he’s as relaxed as he is with that much running through his head. How is he even in public? ]

The rest sounds exhausting. I’m surprised you stayed coherent. Are you able to limit the information you take in or did you simply have to build stamina for it? When you do read, can you look for something or is it all or nothing? Do gloves or other physical barriers stop it? And if I may be so bold — Did you have trouble keeping a sense of self? I imagine if I had others rolling around in my mind I would be concerned about which parts were still me. Not that you seem to have trouble with that now, mind.

[ Reading people certainly changes the power dynamic. It also gives him a reason to be less private. He isn’t sure yet if he found that alluring or concerning. But he trusts David thus far so he continues. ]

It sounds like you have quite the advantage in social situations. And when needing a skill. Here I thought we had an overwhelming regiment of skills to master at the academy.

Interesting that your found solace in curation and synthesis. It can be difficult to feel like you’re are a product of circumstance and others, but the sense of agency and creation is truly freeing. I think in the end we are at our core our passions and our choices. [ At least he’s told himself that for a long time. ]

[Of course he'd see the con potential. His ex had too. But he'd also seen how the power had almost broken David at first, so he hadn't dipped into that power like he had the pychomimetry.]

I was making a living off of it, and since I know how to invest money and make a good profit, I could care for myself quiet easily. But sometimes you get hit by things you don't expect. Deep emotional pain can linger with items sometimes. It can be painful and traumatizing for me. And magical items are a lot worse.

[He's brushing up pretty hard against telling Balthier actual weaknesses, ways to hurt him, and yet he's doesn't mind doing it. He didn't think Balthier would use it against him. Beyond that, though, he was impressed with the questions Balthier was asking. They were the right ones in a lot of cases. Even the gloves thing.]

You're not wrong, the power is exhausting. I have a theory that the psychomimetry, the one I was born with, wasn't my only mutation, but I've never had a brain scan to confirm it. I believe my brain is slightly different, structurally, from most humans or even mutants. I process information a lot faster, and can organize what I take in into more or less searchable forms in milliseconds. I know how to remember it in useful ways back home, and I'm good at making new connections between it all. Even without my powers, I'm a genius. As for the rest, I can't limit anything. It comes to me, whether I want it or not, the only relief is being unconscious, or if I run into a proper telepath back home they can either block me out of their minds, or shield my power from functioning. Here though, with how it's warped, both it and the psychometry need physical touch. In fact, before I learned the level of control I have here, a gift from world walking I guess, I really did wear gloves. In fact, I kept every inch of my skin possible covered. My hands were always in gloves, always long pants and sleeves, always turtle necks. I couldn't even easily trust myself to hug people. It was the worst sort of thing.

[The sense of self, oh boy, what a question.]

I don't get bits of personality actually, and so I'm good at literally compartmentalizing knowledge and skills away. The psychometry, though? That can overwhelm me, even now, even with far better control. I've learned how to put up something like magical barriers in my mind to let me control my gifts at something more resembling will. But if I were to let those down, well, let's take this very second as an example. I'd be getting everything all at once from my socks, my pants, my underwear, my shirt, my coat, my glasses, my hand is on the arm of this chair so that, and of course, the tea cup I'm holding. It's miserable. When I first got it, I basically stripped down, curled up in a ball on a wooden chair, and begged a telepath friend to come get me. Sometimes I'd just go float in a pool because water doesn't trigger it. I nearly lost myself from the overload. So, you know, not the best vacation. I have more control now, but it's not flawless.

[There's so much he doesn't know about Balthier though. Hell, he's never even touched the man skin to skin, much less with his barriers down. David's cautious about it, even now, but less so than he was before. There were times, though, that it was a very intimate thing.]

Actually, there's not as much of an advantage in social situations as you'd think. By my power pulling itself back to be touch based, I can't tell when people are lying anymore, except by reading non-verbal cues. And you've got to understand that people know so many different ways of interacting and so many methods contradict each other. Doesn't matter that I have psychology degrees, in the end that one heavily comes down to just me. But in an emergency, when someone wishes 'damn I really wish I had two of me to do this task', guess what? There I am. A second them. Who is also a second this other person who is important. And third person. I'm the man with a plan. In fact, with my investigation team back home, I'm third in command despite my age, probably second now actually, and part of my job is to synthesize together what every one else figures out to come out with the big picture.

[Trevor saw everything. Akihiro smelled everything. Rachel played with viewing time and she was psychometric herself. Put what they had together with what he could do with technology and what he KNEW, and you had a powerful team, even before you mixed in Jean-Paul and his sister.]

I spent a lot of my youth actually scared of my own powers. I think... I think we different influence, I may well have ended up very much like your father actually. I had people to keep me from that path, and to help me find my way toward making my own choice. Not that I really did so until I was actually about nineteen or twenty. Before that I sort of just followed the paths others laid out for me a lot of the time. Except, well, my one rebellion.

[David smiles to himself as he thinks about it. Hopefully Loki follows through on getting that back for him.]

Alright I’m starting to see where the object reading could have draw backs.

[ He listens attentively. He’s not sure he grasps all of it, especially the world specific parts, but he’s certainly getting the broad strokes. ]

Your turn to pose an interesting philosophical debate. Skill and information as separate from personality. So you could read a piece of information I have and how I think about that information I have but not necessarily empathize with it. That seems more manageable, but incrementally.

[ He’s hitting a space he wants to be coy again. He has to slow himself down to be more direct. ] I’m honestly at a loss for words. What you’ve been through is no small feat, and you’re right, many people would go the way of my father and fall prey to fear or corruption. Not to mention the potential to just be entirely overwhelmed by your own sensory experience. Is it easier here, with it limited to touch? Or does it feel limited after getting used to the full spectrum?

[ He’s acutely aware how powerful David is. Scions, here he is falling for someone in a position of power again. And yet…he’s gotten better at falling for kind ones. He feels like he ought to be afraid of what David can do, and specifically do to him, but he’s not. He’s more horrified at how alone he must have been in very dark times. He puts a hand on David’s shoulder and squeezes gently.<\small> ]

It’s always astounding to me how much of a difference even one good person can make. And I quite understand enjoying being up in command.

I wouldn't get your thoughts about the information. But if you know the sky is purple, then I'd know it too. And if you knew the reason the sky was purple because you studied it, I'd get that too. But I won't be able to see a purple sky from your memory, or look at purple with longing. Also I hope your sky isn't actually purple because being here would be weird then.

[Overwhelmed by sensory experience was right, but there was something even more than that.]

Honestly, with different people teaching me as I grew up, my power could easily have driven me to a pure 'ends justify the means' belief and I might have taken over the world. Simple as that. As for how it feels, yes, I feel more limited. Like looking at the world through a layer or two of gauze over my eyes would be for vision. But it's also less fatiguing. And I get to know people because they want me to know them.

I think I like that better. Learning for myself but being able to fall back on what I am if I need to. I like being able to make a difference, though I'll admit, I'd rather be someone's second rather than in charge on my own.

[The touch, though... oh Balthier doesn't know how much that means. He'd spent more than a year barely able to touch anyone without completely shutting his power down, and even this much earns a relieved sigh from him, though he tried to be subtle about it.]

My other powers are probably better to explain when you understand this world better, or maybe need comes up. Those two are the core ones, the ones that most make me, well, me.

I wonder what mechanism determines between information and thought. Your sky example is straightforward enough, but what if I know I like -- or dislike -- purple skies? Do you get that information? Or only if it's because, say, purple skies are harbingers of particular meteorological events, thus I dislike them, so you understand (a) what they represent and (b) that I rationally avoid them? [ Personally, it's relieving that even with touch he wouldn't be an entire open book. ] And what if I know something viscerally but not cognitively, like the order I prefer to put my boots on, for instance?

Not the same circumstances, but I relate to feeling at once dulled and more able to be seen for myself. When I first ran away, I changed my name and obscured my connections and titles. It was hard; I hadn't realized how much privilege those had afforded me, but it was affirming as well; people engaged me for me, not for my connections. I don't think I'd ever trade that back.

[ He notices David's reaction to his touch, though likely not the extent of it. After hearing about his experiences, Balthier had wondered if David was touch adverse, but it seems very much the opposite. He can understand that; to not have been able to touch sounds deeply isolating. ]

Always a good storytelling move to leave a hook for later. [ He grins. ] So with all that experience and all the choice in the world, what still excites you? What makes you feel the most David?

LOVE POTION #9

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