Closing time (peacefully)

I had apparently napped for a couple hours, because I woke up to a loud chiming sound. Apparently, the Library is closing. I’m going to have to finish reading these later. While I gathered my books into a pile, I became aware of a gnawing sensation at the back of my mind, the sounds of a cheering crowd. I listened to the uproar, and as I listened, I fell into bliss. Filled joined by a crowd as we share in joined purpose, an excited torrent of ambition washed over me, and I felt some kind of intrinsic knowledge of the things I can do and became trapped in a world of purple and red hues.

Robert Clerk

Inciter:
HP: 6
EXHAUSTION: 5/16
Incitements: None (7 selections available)

MIGHT: 3
SPIRIT: 7
INTELLECT: 7
DEXTERITY: 2
WILL: 8

Learnable Incitements:

MIGHT:
Cow: After Target believes they lost Contest of Might, Compel a sense of shame. Resisted by WILL-.
Goad: After target believes they won Contest of Might, Compel a sense of domineering. Resisted by WILL-.

SPIRIT:
Incite Emotion: Compel a powerful Emotion. Exhausting. Resisted by WILL+.
Incite action: Compel an abrupt action. Exhausting. Resisted by WILL+.
Incite relaxation: Compel target to Relax. Resisted by WILL. Can Be kind or soothing to lower resistance.
****: After bringing up unsavory information, Compel subservience. Resisted by Will.
Incite Reflection: After performing an action or emotion, compel another to mirror you. Resisted by WILL.
Incite Competition: Compel target to desire a competition, instilling competitive spirit and reckless impulse. Contest of Spirit.

INTELLECT:
Trickery: After winning a contest with INTELLECT, adjust the action loser takes. Resisted by WILL-, can exhaust for stronger effect.
Overwhelm: After Target believes they lost Contest of INTELLECT, Compel a sense of futility. Resisted by WILL-.
Pride: After target believes they won Contest of INTELLECT, Compel a sense of Pride. Resisted by WILL-.
Advice: Guide the rationalization of an action someone takes. Effectiveness dependent on relevance of emotion. Resisted by WILL
Double Bind: Amplify compliance and subservience if subject was shamed twice by mutually exclusive expectations. Resisted by WILL--.

DEXTERITY:
I'm not this bad!: After target believes they Lost Contest of Dexterity, Compel desire to save face. Resisted by Will-.
Pitiable, Indeed: After target believes they won Contest of Dexterity, Compel feelings of pity. Resisted by Will-.

WILL:
Mental whiplash: After resisting SPIRIT with WILL, Boost your SPIRIT Incitements against loser by an amount equal to the assailant’s SPIRIT for a couple seconds. (Passive)
Victim-and-Offender: After target believes they won Contest of WILL, compel feelings of guilt. Resisted by Will-.
Kneel: After target believes they lost Contest of WILL, compel feelings of submission. Resisted by Will-.
Auto hypnosis: Put self into a relaxed trance, nullifying pain and quickly restoring EXHAUSTION, but vastly lowering WILL for the duration.

Some of these choices seemed blatantly immoral. Plus, none are particularly useful in a fight. Little adventuring for me, I guess. All the same, these decisions would stick with me, and I don’t know exactly how often each of these would be useful. None of these affect a crowd, though, which was my hope. Maybe they will after I get stronger. As it stands, my talents lie in SPIRIT, INTELLECT, and WILL, and highly at that, so I suppose I’m rather resilient to others’ attempts to manipulate me. I hope that doesn’t have too many unforeseen consequences. As far as skills are concerned, Trickery and Advice seem to be a strong combination. Incite Reflection is a good all-around social skill. Then top it off with incite relaxation. I can choose the others later. I’m not in a big rush for anything but the bedroom.

As the cheering in the back of my mind quieted, I found that I could leave my inner world once more. It’s still begging me to come back and finish my growth, but I can probably ignore it long enough to think on the rest of my decisions. I realized as I came to that the clock was still chiming. Did I not spend as much time doing all that as I thought? That’s useful. Or maybe not. I guess I don’t know the rules of how my inner world functions. Oh well. Plenty of time for that later. I need to sleep. I gathered my things and headed to the Exit. Along the way, I had to stop by the front to check out the books. The librarian was still there, eating a muffin. Although the library was entirely empty. “I'm sorry. I know it's late. Could you help me with these?” She looked at me scornfully “Yes. But you know, Ro…” She stopped for a moment as she read me once more. “Mr. Clerk! No wonder you’re so late to leave. It’s a wonder you woke up at all with how tired you must be! Congratulations on the class! What are you?” She asked, genuinely interested in the change. Wait! She can’t read it? Because of my WILL, maybe? Or because she can't read that much?

“Take a guess!” I challenged jokingly, gesturing to the books. “Ah.” She said, somewhat disappointed. I was slightly offended, to be honest. “A scholar?" When I didn't reply, she continued. "Well, they can still ascend into interesting things, I’m rooting for you!”

I was definitely offended at that. I know I’m not a scholar, but I initially wanted to be. Who just says things like that? I know she meant well, in a classist sort of way, but still! Plus, her opinion changed right quick as soon as I earned my class. I started to get an inkling that maybe I should mess with her a little bit. Use some of my newfound incitements? Trickery perhaps? And then My thoughts turned to the scene before me. Her smooth, beautiful breasts bouncing and squishing as she handled the books. I stopped and interrupted her labor, a spark of inspiration coming to mind. “Um… Excuse me. You’ve got some crumbs in your….” I gestured to my chest. She looked at me for a moment before looking down to hers. “Oh! How embarrassing!” She began to pull at her shirt to brush the nonexistent crumbs away. I activated Trickery. I felt my legs weaken drastically; this may have been a bad idea. Oh well, I’m committed now. I need to see this through to get out of this in one piece.

In response to my Incitement, the beautiful girl in front of me inverted her shirt and bra, to wipe them and her breasts free. Suddenly, she realized what she was doing and looked up in a panic. I thought quickly and activated Advice to try to edge her response towards flirtation. She doesn't really mind me looking after all, she must not have worried about doing that for some reason. The exhaustion washed over me once more. Oh Gods, this was definitely a bad idea. She cracked a grin and began to shake her breasts back and forth in front of me for a moment before covering them up. “Of course, you noticed the crumbs, perv. You’re still staring.”

Her grin turned into a mischievous smirk. “You should really show me more respect.” I, despite my exhaustion, played into it. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll give it a try.” I cracked my own smirk in response to hers. “How about I try and respect you over dinner tomorrow?” *Once more.* I thought to myself. Incite reflection. How do classes get anything done, I'm already damn near passing out. “Oh my!” She seemed slightly conflicted, but her prior actions and reflection carried her with it. “You better respect me well after dinner, too.” She said with a wink “Katie, by the way. I expect you here to pick me up when the bell chimes.”

“I’ll be there!” Katie handed me my books and I started to walk away. “But first, I’m going home to sleep this off.”

“Take care! It’s nice to meet you, Robert!”

“You too, Katie!”

I turned to walk out the door but Katie interrupted me one last time.

“Robert!”

“Yeah?!” I called back, walking backwards, and almost falling in the process.

“Don’t sleep too *hard*!” She shouted, pulling her dress’s window down just a hair. Not remotely as good a look as I had gotten a few moments prior, but her forwardness alone made it far more erotic. And I couldn’t help but stumble out the front door.

I swear I could still hear her laughing as I left the building.