I gasp as my eyes flutter open and I find myself standing in front of a bathroom mirror. In front of me, beneath the mirror, is a running faucet. I look at myself in the mirror, and take in the details of my face. I memorize every centimeter of my face, even as my hands dart towards my jean pockets. I'm young looking, if I had to guess my own age I'd say that I'm probably in my early twenties.
I have no idea who I am, or where I am. When I reach into the pockets of my jeans I am elated to find a wallet, but when I grab it and bring it to my face I am disappointed to see that there is no I.D. in it, only a crisp twenty dollar bill. I spend a few moments frowning at the currency, unaware of how precisely I know that this paper is money but fully confident that it is.
I place the twenty back in the wallet, and look around the bathroom. To my right are a few urinals, and past them are two empty stalls containing toilets. I take a deep breath before I focus and try my hardest to recall… anything. I attempt this for several seconds, nothing coming to me all the while, before I give up.
"Okay… Then I've got to focus on the present." I remark, to myself. I place my hands on the sink in front of me, as I consider what to do from here.
All I have on me is a wallet with a twenty dollar bill in it. I don't know where I am, but I also don't know if it's safe for me to open the door to my left. I know it leads somewhere, but I have no idea if it leads somewhere I want to go… I elect to try and open the door a bit just to see if more contextless knowledge comes to me and I can piece together my current location.
I walk over to the door and as I am about to open it just a touch I hear footsteps on the other side of the thing. This makes my heart hammer in my chest and I back away from the door. As I do I attempt to act normal, since I do not have the time to try and hide and I thankfully find that acting comes naturally to me.
I put my hands under the running faucet and mentally hiss as the warm water pours onto it. I didn't realize how hot the water would have been, but it is unpleasantly warm.
A few seconds after I put my hand under the water the door opens and I glance at the mirror as the figure responsible for opening it walks into the room. He nods at me, and I nod back, but the sight of him is more then a bit surprising.
The figure whose reflection I look at is a three feet tall cat-person who seems to be glowing somehow. A creature straight out of a children's story who stands roughly forty inches tall strides past me and towards one of the stalls, undisturbed by my appearance and causing me to instinctually assume it'd be best if I didn't reveal my surprise at his.
He was surrounded by a curious green aura, and as I mentally review what I just saw I realize that whatever it was wasn't something that was actually there. The aura was something I could see, but it wasn't something he was truly physically emanating. If someone else had seen the man they wouldn't have seen the figure's aura. I feel a strange confidence that I understood what the aura meant… I assume it means that the cat-man felt calm even when he saw me.
When he shuts the stall door behind him I dry my hands on my jeans, and I walk back to the door. The stranger was not surprised to see me, so I elect to be brave and just open the door. I shove the door open and I find myself looking at the back corner of an empty fast food restaurant. The second I begin to study the scene before me I also instinctively sense that I am being watched and I allow my eyes to dart in the direction I am getting the sense from.
My eyes move until I am looking at a small, cleverly hidden camera. It is trained on me, and I smile at it as though noticing it were the easiest thing in the world for me to do. The instinct that allowed me to notice the camera in the first place is not a natural thing, but I don't have time to think about that right now. I walk towards the front door of the restaurant, moving swiftly out of here.
In seconds I dart out the front door, and find myself on the sidewalk of the downtown of some city. Cars dart down the street directly in front of me, and I can distantly hear the sound of wind rushing through the artificial corridor created by the litany of buildings that surround me. I glance down the street and I see the edge of what looks to be a park of some sort, so I elect to walk that way for now.
The sky overhead is beautifully clear and it's a crisp autumn day. It's not overly hot or overly cold, and my casual outfit seems perfect for today's weather. As I begin to walk away from the restuarant, a curious place I realize is named "Joe's" when I glance behind me and study the signage posted above the front door, I get the sense that I'm being watched again. The sensation is… not fantastic, but I manage to mentally put it aside for now.
I wander down the street for several moments until I find myself at the edge of the park that I saw earlier. I'm standing at the boundary between a sidewalk and the path through the somewhat green area I know this city must proudly define as a "Park", though it's little more than a few trees and some artificial turf that surrounds a small sidewalk leading to another part of this place's downtown district. Still, I'm not about to complain. I hurriedly enter the park, a smile creeping across my face when I stop feeling that I am being watched.
I am alone in the park, at least the part of it that I can see, and so I elect to take this opportunity to sit down. I walk over to a nearby bench and when I sit in it I am surprised to feel my mind begin to fill with memories. The problem is that none of the memories are mine.
My mind is filling with memories related to the bench. Each memory allows me to see times when someone else sat on the bench, and each memory is bright and intense. I let out a quiet chuckle as I place my hand on the bench and I see a bizarre text box appear in my mind's eye.
[Alert:
Would you like to use 'Reclamation' on the bench? Doing so would net you a fraction of the item's cost, at the expense of destroying it. You would earn exactly two dollars dollars by doing so.
This perk is trainable and with practice you can eventually boost it to the point that it'd award you an item's exact worth when you use it.]
I study the text box for several seconds, before I audibly ask it to explain. I am surprised when the text of the box actually changes!
[Alert:
Request received. Preparing an explanation…
'Reclamation' is a perk. A 'Perk' is a power you possess, knowledge you know, or a trait of yours that normally costs 'Choice Points'. Your soul was deemed to be more compatible with an alternative, but more dangerous, method of acquiring 'Perks'; trading for them and interfacing with the world. You can attain perks by finding natives, people who naturally live in this world, who possess them and buying them from the native in question through the usage of 'Goblin Market', one of your perks, as well as by purchasing them through 'Pay2Win', or even as a result of bargaining with sufficiently powerful beings.
You currently possess a number of perks, though it appears that other parts of you were damaged when you were gaining them in the first place. This might be the result of a 'Drawback' or it might be the result of something that happened when you first acquired powers.]
The notification doesn't end there, and though it leaves me with questions it also answers many I would have had shortly after learning about perks. The alert actually goes on and lists the perks I currently possess. I am astounded at the number of them, and note that nearly all of them are focused on one central theme: the power of money.
The perks that fill the text box in front of me apparently give me a number of handy powers, ranging from the ability to invest money in myself to speed my growth to the power to destroy objects and convert them into cash. Some of the perks focus uniquely on knowledge, such as a perk I need to select before I can fully activate it named "Making What You Sell" which gives me a decade's worth of experience with a craft.
There are two strange perks among the list that don't quite fit in with the other ones. One of them is named "Senseless Media Sense" and it's the reason why I could sense when I was being watched. The other is named "Afarkaup Avarkostir" and it's… it's decidedly weirder.
The strangely potent perk is equally an amplifier and a dampener, whenever it's convenient for it to be one or the other. When it's convenient for it to be an amplifier it boosts things like the effects of training and the speed at which I learn things, and whenever it's convenient for it to dampen things it does that instead, such as when it reduces how expensive purchasing something would be for me.
If I wanted to rent a room at a motel and it would cost me forty five dollars to do so for one night I'd be able to pay fifteen dollars and stay there for three nights without anyone getting suspicious. If I paid forty five dollars I'd be able to stay for nine days. That is… It's easily the single most powerful perk in my possession at the moment.
I read through the list of perks and then reread them, doing my best to commit as many of them as possible to memory. These perks are remarkable and I elect to activate one of them purely out of a desire to see what it offers me.
It's called "Pay2Win" and it lets me invest in myself. As soon as I activate it, another menu appears, one that lists out different things that I can purchase, though the costs of some of the things is curious. Not everything requires money, though everything is for sale…
One of the things I can purchase is the ability to access the "Generic Hedge Mage Jump Doc", and to do that I need money and something called "Magical Power". I do not have any "Magical Power" at the moment, but I intuitively sense that I can get some if I know where to look and know how to bargain for it. There are multiple "Generic Jump Doc" things that I could purchase the ability to look at, but there's only one I can afford right now.
I spend a few moments looking at the one item that I can purchase. It is something called the "Generic Bard Jump Doc", and as I study it I note that it costs exactly twenty dollars, after being discounted. It's also on sale, due to the fact that it'd be my first purchase… The word "Bard" is an intriguing one.
I know what it means, it's a profession that revolves around entertaining people often through the usage of theater and music. If I become a bard I could mix that with the perks I already have to boost how much money I make, without worrying about running out of stuff to sell. I'd be selling my own talent, which is good since I own nothing other than my current outfit and the wallet on my person.
If I give up my twenty dollars I would be gaining a slew of new abilities but I'd be sacrificing the only money I currently have. What I'd gain in exchange, however… I consider the number of perks I currently have and what they offer me, as I contemplate whether or not I should invest in this opportunity.
Each perk is a potent supernatural thing, and even the simplest ones offer me a great deal of power, knowledge, or skills. A single perk, depending on the perk in question, can be worth thousands of dollars when examined with a critical eye. I take a deep breath and I decide to try and purchase the "Jump Doc". The second that I do I receive an alert, one that fills my mental vision.
[Alert:
The decision to purchase the 'Generic Bard Jump Doc' will cause all other 'Jump Docs' to rise in price. This is due to the effects of synergies between perks, and the fact that perks blend together well. Each time a 'Jump Doc' is purchased you will gain access to brand new levels of powers due to the effects of 'Afarkaup Avarkostir'.
Additionally, each time such an internal item is purchased the 'Items' listed in each document will be spread throughout the world. They will stand out when you happen across them, and when you acquire them the effects of 'Afarkaup Avarkostir' will take hold.
Knowing all of this, do you still wish to purchase the 'Generic Bard Jump Doc'?]
I mull over what has been revealed to me. Twenty dollars is cheap, I may not know much but I can tell that intuitively. If I can find the right objects I can use "Reclamation" on them and make my money back in minutes, it's the fact that purchasing this makes other things more expensive that makes what me question whether or not I ought to act immediately.
It takes me several moments to steel my will and to decide that truthfully I have nothing to lose. At worst with "Generic Bard" I gain abilities and talents that allow me to sell myself and make a living even when I lack materials and objects to sell or destroy.
I inform the notification that I'd like to purchase the jump doc, and as soon as I do I feel knowledge and power flow into me. At the same time I sense the cash I had on me vanish, and I frown momentarily even as I begin to see what I have earned by making the choice I just made.
I'm glad I'm sitting down, as the power that seeps into me is surprisingly intense. A list of perks appears in my mind's eye and as I read through them I notice the surprising diversity of the powers I have just acquired.
There's an obvious central theme of music and performing, but I have also attained a fairly diverse set of magical abilities, as well as skills with other skills related to performing, speech, and even sex. Abilities that a part of me is eager to go and test out.
I smirk as I wonder how to best use my newly acquired magical abilities, and as I realize that in order for me to find a place to sleep I either need to find someone who'll let me spend the night with them or I need enough money for a motel. Thanks to Afarkaup Avarkostir finding enough money for a motel is easy, but if one asks for I.D. I'd be in trouble… But that's a problem that is hours away, and I am currently penniless.
As I get up to leave the bench I activate "Reclamation" and in doing so I sense a small trickle of cash appear in my wallet. It's not much, but it is a start.