The Paragamer

Tutorial 1.7

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

I wake at 5 am, exactly five hours later to the minute. I wrote down all my bar values prior to sleeping and write them down again. Now I just need to calculate out how all this works and figure out how to maximize using this ability.

Sleep always restores the fatigue meter to maximum, and multiplies my HP and MP (and maybe SP?) regen rate by about 5. I'll need to rest with a non-maxed out SP to test it. I gained 6 HP and 212 MP while sleeping. SP regen is already high, about one point per 2 minutes, 20 seconds while awake.

Hunger and thirst bars only go up by eating and drinking, and lower steadily over time. Write the time and current values down now; check them later to find the rate of decline. Thirst declines faster than hunger does. I don't know what happens when they hit zero. They weren't at zero when I got the hungry and thirsty status effects, but those had little effect besides minor discomfort. There are some games where hitting zero in those means you die, others where hitting zero means you get hit with a nastier penalty and a timer of some kind before it kills your character. I think it's the latter because the rate of decline I've seen so far means zero would be reached before a normal person would die of thirst or starve. My power won't make me worse than a normal human, right? Most games I've played don't even have the damn things.

When fatigue hit zero last night, I got an undesirable status effect with a timer on it. I don't feel like learning what happens when that hits zero yet. Theoretically though, if the penalties aren't too bad, I could skip sleep for a while if needed.

I want to take a shower but I'm not going to risk leaving stuff unattended unless Julia can watch it for me. The shower line might make me miss the line for food. Food's more important.

I might as well get in line for breakfast now. I read the geometry book while waiting. Will it qualify as 'studying important information'? I’m not sure what schooling level I'm at. Will this seem like stuff I knew already or it was learning new? People give me some weird looks, but no one says anything. Will flipping through the book act like in a game? No, damn. Books in games I've played work one of two ways. Instantly gain skill points related to the skill book you 'used', or instantly have X time in game pass for reading the book, then gain skills, open new quests, update existing quests or make new dialog nodes available later. In most games it works as the former. The latter usually only applies when doing clue or research hunting on a quest line. Maybe it's a good thing that nothing happened? If it did something weird, I don't want to out myself.

I fetch breakfast for both of us again, same as yesterday, and gain +8 HP. The Play-doh helps me grind crafting while waiting for Julia to get up. Damn, it doesn't grind Artistry at the same time. A quest notification fires off.

Exercise your Mind

Finish reading and complete all the problems in Julia's Geometry book.

Time Limit: Before School starts

Success: +300 XP, Mathematics skill, Geometry Specialty, better math placement

Failure: Stuck re-learning what you already know.

Huh, that's different. Erm, before school starts? I'm in a fucking disaster zone, I don't give a shit about school. Still, XP is XP, I'll do it.

Actually, it seems reading the geometry book also makes some small gains in Basic Academics, really small, I'm only half a chapter in. Basic Academics seems like a useless loss of a skill slot. Grinding Crafting (Stone & Pottery) is more effective. Does this mean there are other crafting skills? Why tie Stone and Pottery together? Why should crafting be more specific while Artistry seems more general?

I really need to figure out a way to multi-task and grind several things at once; maybe after I get out of this dump. I could weight train or use a treadmill while listening to audiobooks or something. My injuries and the environment make everything difficult.

I finally get my second level in Crafting (Stone & Pottery), it's still rising but the rate of gain has suddenly dropped. Damn, that's a sign of progressive difficulty in skill XP advancement. It's been several hours now, why hasn't Julia hasn't come out yet? I pack my stuff and head over there, her food in hand.

"Women's section, no boys inside, who do you need?" The watch lady asks me. Time to put my speech skill to use.

"Bringing food to Julia Mendez, her leg is injured, she can't stand in line to get it herself."

"I can bring it to her."

"While I appreciate the offer, we've had food stolen from us, so I'd rather give it to her myself." Plus I want to use Observe on her to make sure she is okay.

"I can't just let you wander in."

"Perhaps you can escort me? I've seen husbands, fathers and kids go in, so I know it happens."

"Wait here"

Eventually she comes back and leads me inside. Julia is sleeping. "Observe" All the basic information and descriptions were the same as the other day, but…

...Suffering from Severe Depression, PTSD, Extremely Stressed...

Currently Feeling: Severely Depressed, Traumatized, Lethargic, Pained, Suicidal

Conditions: Sleeping

What are those status effect descriptors? No… no Julia, even if my damn relationship sheet doesn't say so yet, you're like the only friend and person I know in the world right now. I put the food down on her bed. I want to wake her but don't make the move to do so. She has a gun, that concerns me, not for my safety, but hers, considering what I just read; except, she doesn't have ammo for it. I don't want to reveal she has it either, that would probably be bad. I have to do something about this but I don't know what. A quest alert pops off but I ignore it.

"Alright, it's time to leave." The watch lady insists. I return to my cot and look at the nagging quest notification.

Help Julia recover from her trauma

Help a companion to recover from the mental trauma and stress inflicted on them recently, by any means necessary.

Success: +250 XP, Skill gains, increased relationship with Julia Mendez.

Failure: Decreased relationship with Julia Mendez, possible loss of companion.

Fuck, possible loss of companion? What the hell is that going to mean exactly you fucking troll? Oh and this one from yesterday.

Visit Camp Alpha and Charlie

Visit the other shelter camps before you leave the island to look for information, supplies, or anyone who might know you.

Success: +50 XP per camp.

Failure: None

I accept both. I need to figure out the most surefire way of getting her the help she needs. Ask one of the trauma counselors to go see her? Line was long the other day. See one myself to ask or learn what to do? I need a professional, not my meager knowledge.

My thoughts are interrupted by more notification messages going off. My medicine is wearing off and I get another level in Disease Resistance. I dismiss them, and take my pills.

It's near lunchtime, assuming there is some; I go check the line and get in. How am I going to get her help, what exactly can I do? First off, getting off the island and out of this bad situation would be best. I'm not sure what is going with that though.

"What are they handing out today?" I ask.

"MREs again" someone answers.

I throw several Observes at them to find the best ones, get two, and stuff them into my backpack. Well, time to ask support workers about evacuations and getting to Houston again.

"…There aren't enough permanent FEMA shelters set up yet in Houston to handle the load for people that have no place to stay. The bridge is still out, so the only way off is by ship or helicopter. Helicopters are dedicated to evacuating priority cases of the sick and injured. Priority for ferry passengers is non-urgent but non-ambulatory injured, young children and their parents and family and the elderly. There are 23 to 24 thousand survivors on the island; all of them need to be evacuated. You are non-critical ambulatory and above the age of 12. It's going to take some time before we get to your group. Next in line please."

Well, fuck. There is a waiting list. How long does it take to move that many people? Assuming we're all together and ready, which clearly we're not. Don't really know. Fuck is I can't do it that way, how can we get bumped up in priority or otherwise jump the line? Special privileges, favors, bribes? Bribes probably won't work. I know! Someone with the power to make it happen and has a reason to do it for you. I got the quest DING as I started to head over there. Oh right, set Interface volume to zero., that's fucking annoying.

Convince the PRT you are a Parahuman

If you can convince the PRT that you are a Parahuman, they'll probably ask you to join the wards. In exchange you can likely make several reasonable requests, like a place to live, income, food, help for your companion, and getting off the damn island.

Time Limit: 6 hours

Success: +1000 XP, Becoming a hero, Money, supplies, shelter, training, ???

Failure: Decreased relationship with PRT, ???, ???

Do you wish to accept? Y/N

Yes, I accept. I walk up to the PRT officer I saw the other day. His overhead tag is still the same as before.

"You again, kid? I had enough trouble with that crowd you caused yesterday."

"Um, yeah, I observe-d something and wanted to submit notifications."

??? Jones has gone from Stranger to Annoyance

Name: ??? Jones

Level: ??

Gender: Male

Class: PRT Officer

Faction: PRT

Summary Description:

Agent Marks is a member of the Parahuman Response Team (PRT). He is currently assigned to guard duty at the PRT Medical and Support tent, to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering the premises and bothering the Heroes and staff. He dislikes this duty but is vigilant in doing it anyway.

Currently Feeling: Annoyed, Vigilant

"You mean you wanted to notify someone?"

"Um, crap, yeah." He's annoyed at me, great, not a good first sign.

"Well what is it then?"

"What?" Damn was still reading my pop-up.

"Jesus kid, I don't have time for this. What…do…you…want…to…notify…someone…about?"

He spoke each word of his last question slowly and deliberately, as if he was talking to a simpleton. Asshole.

"I um…" I gulped nervously. "I think I need a mask?"

"What?"

"I…think…I…need…a…mask."

"You're shitting me."

"Nope"

Officer Jones pulls his radio up and sighs audibly before he speaks into it. "Code 64 at the east side entrance."

The radio crackles back. "Another one? Are you kidding me? How many is that today?"

"Wish I was" Marks replies.

"Someone is en-route." The voice on the radio replies back.

Marks looked at me again. "Wait here"

"Like right here, here? Not inside or somewhere that's out of the cold wind?"

"Yes, here, here."

I wait, eventually, a couple of people come out. More PRT officers, the overhead tags aren't too useful. I almost use Observe on them but my mana is low. Myself and my bags get searched. Glad I got rid of those magnetic security tags. Jones takes my screwdriver and pliers and holds on to them. He gives me a weird look after inspecting the Play-doh before putting it back. An officer takes over for Jones on guard, while he and the other guy escort me to a small empty tent. I catch a glimpse of his name tag.

Henderson gives me a domino mask. Looking at it, they're kinda crappy for actually disguising anyone, unless it's some weird tinker-tech material. Feels like plain cloth though.

"Pink? Really?"

"It was what was handy. Put it on and wait here." Henderson says, pointing to a chair. I sit down and he leaves, closing the flap. I can still hear them chatting outside, but can't make out what they're saying.

There's a makeshift desk with a computer, two monitors and a webcam on the other side of the tent, opposite the chair I'm sitting in. I wait, then I wait some more. This is boring, might as well grind so I start doodling. By the time I hear someone new talking to Jones and Henderson, I get my Artistry past level 4. An African American woman walks in, holding a coffee and a clipboard with papers, and sits behind the desk. She looks to be in her mid-thirties.

"You're a counselor."

"Yes, I am serving in that capacity. I'm also Dr. Renner's assistant. He will be joining us on the webcam after I get some preliminary questions out of the way. The tag updated itself: "How did you know?"

"Well I guess that's part of the reason I'm here, I see things, information about people, like a sign over your head, that said Counselor, and that just updated itself to say Assistant when you told me."

"Oh, okay, related to your power I assume, we will get to that shortly. I have a few other questions first. These might be a bit difficult to answer, but it will help get things started. Do you know what a trigger event is?"

"No"

"Let me start with a basic summation then…"

She speaks for a fair bit, starting off with an explanation about trigger events. Then she went on to briefly summarize types of powers, and the purpose of the PRT. It's confirming some of what I already know but includes a fair number of things I hadn't considered.

For performing a repeated action you may gain the 'Parahuman Lore' skill.

"Skills" I whisper, although I don't know why I bother to, I already decided to tell them what I could do.

Parahuman Lore (INT, WIS) (Passive): Level: 1 (0.00%)

This skill provides a basic understanding of the world of parahumans, events related to them, and who the major public cape figures are at the world, national, and local level.

Do you wish to accept this skill? Y/N

"What was that?" she asks.

I click yes. "I was checking more information, I have these window things that appear and tell me about stuff. The stuff you just told me gave me a Parahuman Lore skill."

She starts jotting some stuff down on her clipboard. "More power related things I assume?" I nod and she continues. "So do you feel you may have had a trigger event recently? I understand that would be difficult to speak about. I'm not asking you to describe the experience at this time, only to confirm if and when it occurred. Though you can provide details if you wish to."

"Yeah, the 19th when... I call him the Aquatic Chupacabra because… it helps. He was 50 yards away from me. I fell in that sinkhole. I passed out, and when I woke up Lifeline was pulling me out."

"I see, what other details are you comfortable with sharing?"

We talk more and she takes notes. She's gently easing me into more difficult questions, and teasing out information about my psychological state, which isn't good, and we haven't even touched on powers yet. She's skilled. Every question is 'gentle' and 'non-confrontational'. Somehow, my psychology skill is letting me know this approach is practiced and intentional. I've been getting notifications, but stopped caring about hiding my pokes to the air and saying 'skills' and 'notifications' and what not. I need to convince them so I tell her almost everything, the amnesia, my dead friends and parents that I can't really remember, about being homeless and hungry. She just nods and listens attentively. I gain a good +12 Stress points just from getting it all off my chest. I don't mention Julia. I want to save that till after I've convinced them. I don't mention the looting either, but I rat out the villains.

"You mentioned amnesia. Have you noticed any unusual tattoos?" she asks.

"I haven't noticed any. Although the showers at the camps, they're not comfortable, or give quite an adequate feeling of privacy to make me want to thoroughly check. Uh, if that makes sense."

"It makes sense. Do you know about Case-53's?" she asked.

I shake my head no, and then she goes into another brief explanation. Apparently they're all found with amnesia, some tattoos and very frequently don't look entirely human. She concludes the lack of a tattoo and my decidedly human appearance rules out that possibility.

The counselor, heck I haven't even gotten her name, nor had she asked mine, takes a sip of coffee. The bottom of the shiny porcelain mug has 'Heath' written on it. Her tag updates, . There's a reflection of faint blue screens, the monitors were on. In fact now that I pay attention to it, despite the fact that she hasn't used the keyboard or mouse at all while we talked, and only wrote notes by hand, the computer has been humming away quietly the whole time. Now I also realize she's been glancing at the screens a lot.

"Alright let's talk a bit about your power." Ms. Heath said.

I look at the computer, the webcam and Ms. Heath. "Observe, Observe, Observe"

"I am watching."

"Oh no, that's me getting information."

"Thinker type of powers then?"

"Something like that."

The computer tells me nothing useful, the brand of the manufacturer, which was also visible on the side of the case. The webcam is on, and also gives me useless details about who made it.

Name: ??? Heath

Level: ?

Gender: Female

Age: 30-39

Ethnicity: African American, ???

Class: Counselor/Assistant

Faction: Protectorate

Summary Description:

Ms. Heath is a counselor who works for the PRT to help heroes deal with the stresses of their job, council newly triggered capes, and help them balance the difficulties of a cape and civilian life. She regularly volunteers to assist in trauma counseling for Endbringer attack survivors and refugees. The time and travel this requires makes her married to her job, and because of such she is recently divorced. She is also working as an assistant to Dr. Renner to perform power testing, interviewing and research into Parahuman abilities.

Currently Feeling: Calm, Curious.

I take a deep breath. "Alright, your last name is Heath. You have a level between 6 and 9, I think, because I only see a question mark there. You're female, but that's obvious. You're in your thirties. Your ethnicity is African-American, and something else, but I don't know what. You're a counselor slash assistant who is affiliated with the Protectorate. You're a counselor that helps heroes deal with the stresses of their job, counsel newly triggered capes, and help them balance the difficulties of a cape and civilian life. You regularly volunteer to assist in trauma counseling for Endbringer attack survivors and refugees. The time and travel this requires makes you married to your job, and because of such are recently divorced. You're also working as an assistant to Dr. Renner to perform power testing, interviewing and research into Parahuman abilities. You are currently feeling calm and curious, oh and now you are also feeling intrigued." The Observe window updates itself with that after I lay out my spiel. My skills screen shows I bumped my speech skill percentage up a bit too, so I hope that's a good sign.

"That was a very astute assessment."

"Oh and the webcam has been on for a while actively recording. You're paying attention to your computer screens a lot even though you're not using the keyboard or mouse, occasionally reading something there." I don't actually know if it’s actively recording, just that it was on, but it seems a logical thing to conclude. Although shouldn't they have informed me first?

"I think I will interject now, Jordan." A deep male voice speaks from the computer. Jordan's tag updates with the rest of her name. She does something with the keyboard this time, then stands up and turns one of the monitors around. An elderly, bearded black man looks back at me from it.

"This is Dr. Renner, and yes he has been listening in and watching so far." Jordan said.

"I hope you don't mind. I would have been there in person, had I been on site, but clearly that is not the case. Normally we would do these kinds of things at the Houston Protectorate headquarters, but…"

"Yes, bridge is out, people are stuck on the island until things get settled. However, I wouldn't mind going there at all, if I could bring…"

"We just want to get a few things verified and demonstrated first. It's just a precaution; we've had a number of people making false claims to try and get special treatment, but only one that was verified."

"Sparky?"

"We're not at liberty to discuss…" Jordan had started.

Man, fuck that asshole, he still has an enemy status on my relationship sheet. "Oh it must have been Sparky. I heard Rappel mention he got him away from the PRT yesterday morning. You know I saw him getting pulled out of the sinkhole at the same time as me? That guy hates me for some reason. You know he nearly electrocuted me and my friend in the water there?"

"Um, that's. Thank you for that information, is that what he is calling himself?" Dr. Renner asks.

"Yeah, definitely, must be his cape name." No. actually he said his name wasn't sparky, and Rappel said it was temporary, but fuck them.

"I'll make a note of it. But we should focus back on you and what you can do. Now I've heard what you have mentioned so far, it seems to be along the lines of thinker abilities, correct?"

"Yeah, though I have skills too, but they seem kinda low level except for…well"

"Skills still fall under a thinker classification. You've kept mentioning levels, and stats, and several other key words like 'observe', 'notifications', and 'skills'. How do you define levels exactly?" Dr. Renner asks.

"Well it's a progress indicator. I am not sure what that means when I see it on other people. I've only seen numbers on kids. I guess it means accumulated experience or maybe even a threat assessment, but I'm not entirely sure."

"Can you see a level on me? Or make your observation ability on me?"

"Well I can't see an overhead tag over you, but let me try. Observe"

A live video conference with Dr. Renner

This conference is being conducted, via webcam and satellite hookup and displayed on a widescreen LG 24" LCD monitor. The topic of discussion is whether or not you have any Parahuman abilities.

"Any luck?"

"Umm, no. I don't think that worked. All I got was info about the video conference we are having over the webcam and monitor. There's nothing about you directly. I don't think it works over tele-presence."

"Alright let's clear up a few other matters before moving on to basic local testing. Given the state of your injuries, I'm inclined to rule out any Brute abilities. Do you concur with that?"

"Well I don't know, probably yes for now."

"For now?"

"Well I've gained some strength and agility and constitution, and corresponding HP and stamina, but I don't know what those values are relative to other people. Power even says I gained some disease resistance but it's pretty low."

"HP, I am not familiar with that term."

"Hit Points"

"Still don't know what you mean by that."

"Ah…that's …damn how do I put this."

"Well most powers follow a kind of theme. What best sums up the theme of yours?"

"Yeah, I'm going to sound crazy, but it's like video games, more precisely an RPG or a rogue-like. That's the theme. Everything is kinda quantified into stats and numbers for me, and presented to me in game windows."

"What, like arcades? I'm aware of video games, but what are RPGs and rogue-likes? I've never played any video games, except electronic pinball or foosball in college a few times. That and penny slots a few times while the wife and I were on vacation."

"Those aren't even… You don't…. oh man, how old are you?"

"I'm sixty three. Jordan, do you have any familiarity?"

"I've played lots of games on my phone. Matching games, virtual coin dozer, puzzles and object finders. No console stuff like my little brother got into. There have been a number of psychology studies examining the relationship of video game playing on behavior and addiction. The studies have been varied and sometimes controversial." Ms. Heath replies.

"Alright, let's just move on to some basic thinker tests that can be done on the computer. Jordan, can you set up a basic thinker suite? This will take a few hours to complete, so I'll get some lunch and check in later."

"I don't suppose I can get something to eat too?"

"I'll send for some food." Jordan says.

She gets up and walks over to the tent entrance to speak to the guards outside. She returns and does a number of things with the computer before the food arrives. I eat, get +5 HP, and then she puts me through the paces.

Hours go by as I do numerous thinker tests. They're a mixture of puzzles, memory testing, and what seems like blind number guessing. They have me read an eye chart, and listen to some headphones to test my sight and hearing and so on. She asks to examine all my doodles, takes photos of them and quizzes me on what I think are tinker ideas. Despite all this I have no idea if I'm succeeding or failing at whatever these tests are checking. I try using Observe several times; even on the hidden cards she's holding. Apparently my power is being a troll and doesn't reveal shit to me, at least nothing that was irrefutable proof, and then I'm out of mana. Now, I'm sitting here in the chair again, doodling, waiting for Dr. Renner and Ms. Heath to go over my results. This is annoying. I've spent more time on the tests than I have actually talking about my powers. The unread notification counter bumps up again. "Notifications" I scroll through the ones I've ignored during all this.

Your Artistry skill has increased by 1

Your Psychology skill has increased by 1

Your Parahuman Lore skill has increased by 1

Due to continuous study and problem solving your INT has increased by 1

-10 Faction points with PRT

Even the timestamp on the INT gain is right before I completed all those tests, so it didn't even help while taking them. -10 faction points with the PRT? "Fuck." Ms. Heath walks in right at that moment.

"Pardon?"

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"We believe that you think you have such abilities. That much is plainly obvious. You have been through an unbelievable amount of trauma recently. But you failed on every single Parahuman test we had, showing only normal human abilities. You have displayed above average observational skills and attention to detail, but it is not beyond what a normal human can achieve."

"What about getting your last name right or the divorced status? Those were correct weren't they?" Oh fuck me if my power actually lied to me on any of those observes."

"As I said, you are a keen observer. Dr. Renner pointed out that I put my name on the bottom of my coffee mug when we spoke over the web-cam. When I had picked it up to take a drink, that was when you saw it as well wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but it still just filled in the missing fields, I just need higher levels in it. But what of me knowing your divorce status? How do you explain that?"

She frowns a bit at that, and then points to a pale but obvious indentation mark on the ring finger of her left hand where her wedding ring was no longer located. "Once we noticed, we had overlooked the writing on the bottom of my coffee mug; we considered what else might have been ascertained from mundane observation. It is a clever observation, but mundane none-the-less. Please understand though, that it doesn't disprove your claims either. But at this time, there is insufficient evidence."

"But were the reasons accurate?"

"No actually, they were not."

"Wait." Why have I not tried this before! How can I have been so stupid to have let this slip my mind? My god I want to kick myself, it's a staple of every single RPG and rogue-like. "INVENTORY!" I shout the word. My heart races with excitement. I see a ping as my unread notifications bump up immediately in response to my shout. I tap the air to read it.

Your Gamer's Interface skill is not high enough yet to access Inventory features

God damn it.

"Based on your prior answers, we have some concerns for your mental well-being. You've been through a terrible traumatic experience. This is very common after Endbringer attacks. This coupled with your verbal and somatic ticks, due-diligence must rule out other possibilities. You're welcome to come in for further testing in Houston. In the meantime, I advise you to seek help from some of the other local counselors on-site." Dr. Renner says through the screen.

"You think I've had a psychotic break."

"I wouldn't put it in those terms. But this reminds me of an old movie called Mazes and Monsters. In it some young man gets so caught up in a fantasy game he was playing that he loses himself in it, he even forgets who he is. Your amnesia, you said yourself the doctors on site could not find a physical cause, yet you remember these video games and characters. Sometimes the mind transfers itself onto concepts that have been very strong or pervasive in their lives when the hardness of reality is too much to bear. These video games seem to have been a pervasive escape for you, but…"

"…but the bottom line is I have no concrete, irrefutable proof do I? Even though powers are undeniably real, and people have them. The fact that they are real makes a whole lot of crazy people think they have them, when they in fact don't."

"I would be happy to test you further at the PRT headquarters in Houston. Many things are possible; perhaps there is something that we can find. The situation and the facilities that you are in right now, are far from ideal, and very, very, limited. Even if we find nothing, I have many colleagues that I can recommend to help you cope with any issues you have."

Quest: Convince the PRT you are a Parahuman has failed.

Has it been six hours already? Fuck me. So what does that tell me about the situation? I also realize that I am being unexpectedly calm and detached from this pretty serious set-back to my goals. Why?

Your Gamer's Mind skill has increased by 1

Oh that's why. I guess it's not all bad; I got a new skill, some skill bumps and a point of INT out of it for all the thinker tests.

"Okay so I have issues. I also have a friend with issues that I am very worried about. You want me to go get help? She needs some too. We can't exactly do that while we are stuck on this island. The evacuation waiting list is too long. I'm worried… that she won't make it."

"Alright, I can't make any promises, but I will see what I can do." Jordan says. "Are you willing to give your and your friends names?"

I pull the pink mask off. "I'm Simon Anderson, my Friend is Julia Mendez. We…don't have any …living guardians. We're in Shelter building D…"

Your Speech skill has increased by 1

****​

Back at the shelter, I go to see Julia again. More speech skill, I show my escort I'm bringing food. She's awake this time and has eaten the breakfast I had left her. "Observe." The 'Suicidal' under currently feeling is now replaced with 'Reckless Apathy'. Is that better or worse?

"Hey" she looks up but doesn't respond. "Here." I give her one of the MREs, and we step out to eat together, +8 HP. "You want to take turns watching each other's stuff so we can use the showers?" She nods and I go wait in line.

Hmm, I should use up this 'Shower In a Can' thing Lifeline gave me because it's about to expire. It's … pretty damn effective, got my clothes clean and smelling nice too. I get back and Julia speaks up for the first time to me today.

"Ms. Heath spoke to me while you were in the showers. We talked briefly and are supposed to again tomorrow afternoon." She leans over and whispers. "Her card said she is a PRT/Parahuman counselor though, what gives?" Julia looks at me intensely enough to stare holes through the back of my skull.

"She also volunteers to help Endbringer survivors too, that's why she is here, in…all this…right now. Didn't she mention that?"

"Yeah, she did. You went to the Protectorate though, didn't you?"

"Yes? Was that wrong in some way?"

"I'm going to sleep now."

"Uh, do you want to go visit the other shelter sites with me tomorrow? We could find people you know. We can go and be back before you are supposed to meet with her."

"I'll think about it."

"You are going to meet with her right?"

"I'll think about that too. I'm going to sleep now Simon. Goodnight."

That's not a pleasant 'goodnight', it's a get off my cot and leave me alone 'goodnight'. I grab my stuff and go back to my own. Guess I'll just spend the rest of the evening grinding Artistry and Crafting, and blow all my mana back to zero using Observe. I really need to improve that skill more…

There, a lot more progress so I can stop for the night. Wait, I'm forgetting something. Oh right, Gamer's Interface! I do have an inventory. I just can't get to it yet. Damn how do I grind this? What qualifies as a creative use of the interface? They're just fucking windows. They do what windows do, open, close, get moved around and so on. Damn it's past midnight now. It's a problem for tomorrow.

"Sleep"

Simon's Character Sheet:

Name: Simon Clarence Anderson

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Race: Parahuman

Class: Refugee / Petty Thief

Money: $305.00

Title: Vermin Stomper

Level: 2 (98.75%)

XP: 395

Primary Attributes

STR: 6 (-0.85) 5.15

AGI: 5 (-1.25) 3.75

CON: 9 (-1.40) 7.60

INT: 16 (-2.78) 13.23

PER: 9 (-2.00) 7.00

WIS: 18 (-2.78) 15.23

CHA: 10 (-0.98) 9.03

LUC: 8 (0.00) 8.00

Unspent Points: 0

Secondary Attributes

Health Pool: 93/154

Stamina Pool: 143/143

Mana Pool: 0/320

Stress Pool: 78/340

Attack: 5.75

Speed: 2.66

Dodge: 7.18

Armor: 0.20

Carry: 51.50

Allure: 2.25

Skills

Max Slots: 27

Free Skill Slots: 7

Artistry: 4 (57.23%)

Basic Academics: 8 (11.55%)

Computers: 5 (11.09%)

Crafting (Stone & Pottery): 2 (47.65%)

Disable Device: 2 (97.56%)

Disease Resistance: 2 (43.54%)

Empathy: 2 (13.75%)

Gamer's Body: 5 (7.45%)

Gamer's Interface: 5 (48.85%)

Gamer's Mind: 7 (6.76%)

Language-English: MAX (0.00%)

Meditation: 1 (0.00%)

Null Resistance: 1 (0.00%)

Observe: 3 (84.65%)

Parahuman Lore: 2 (13.56%)

Programming: 2 (67.45%)

Psychology: 2 (12.54%)

Speech: 2 (14.16%)

Strategy: 1 (0.00%)

Video Games: 25 (23.37%)

Unspent Skill Points: 10