School

After an hour, you realize you probably should have stayed home and slept in. Yes, you can function because of coffee… but you're not tracking so well. Still… you have the reading assignments and your notes… mostly make sense. You think. You can't be sure until you've had some rest.

But last night was SO worth it.

Ringo is exceptionally quiet all day. The only time he speaks up is when you remove that particular bit of jewelry to wash up between classes, in the dorm washrooms because you have a room to your name for the rest of the year: “Hey, I'm still studying that!” He shows up in the mirror.

It's not a particularly private place, so you subvocalize, ‘Just for a minute to wash up. You already make me immortal, what's the big deal?’

“First, it will let me make you ageless even after we’ve parted ways,” he begins, leaning in the reflection of the counter. “Second, I don't halt your aging, I can only reverse it with some rather unpleasant methods: This could fix that. Third, that thing can solve the ‘zeroed when dying and reviving at eighty’ problem, at least in theory.”

‘Fair…’ you consider, ‘but I still need to wash up.’

“Fine, fine…” the old man in tweed still looks annoyed, but he doesn't stop you.

You wash up, put the jewelry back on, and go about the rest of your day: Classes, lunch, combat training, washing up, and then it's time for hero training…

“Umm. Ringo?” You speak up when the guy on your finger is ten minutes late.

“Sorry…” he begins, “...I'm distracted. I've isolated the deltas and can apply them separately, but this doesn't make sense yet.”

“How so?” You’re not actually sure you want to hear the answer, but it's the polite question.

“Well… it's digging into deep cellular mechanics of the epigenome, which is expected of any anti-aging solution…” he begins, “...but it's not working with the Yamanaka factors like the commercial reset solutions of… oh, right, that hasn't happened yet… anyway… it's instead isolating what the reset solutions will erase via the Yamanaka factors.”

You only caught about a third of that… “So… she's stockpiling her age?”

There's a silence for a bit, “Yes, yes she is. That's exactly what she's doing. Fine for her, as it's a classical super ability, can't be tsken from her... but if I put this on anyone else, they'll stop aging and soon be young again, yes… and get it all back quickly if they ever lose contact with whatever vessel I use. Ugh.”

“So… what,” you consider, “...I'll crumble to dust?”

“Oh, not exactly…” the voice on your head considers, “...anyone I do this for will end up with a piece of jewelry, which will act as a slight ‘weight’ on their magic, using that power to get them to and keep them in the prime of life. If it's ever broken or lost, the suppressed age would come back at a cellular level… ten or twenty years wouldn't be a big deal - they'd certainly feel it, but would be okay. Fifty or so… they'd feel like an old woman after a few days, wrinkle up, start growing white hairs, but they'd live. Losing it after a century or more, though… the cellular machinery would fall apart: Their cells would drop dead in droves over the course of a few days, causing organ failure and death.”

“But that's only if they lose it,” you consider, “and even at that they're not any worse off having lost it than they would have been at that point had they never had it?”

That gives him pause, “Umm… yes, I suppose that's largely true… and it doesn't have the cancer risk of the commercial reset.”

“Cancer?” You frown.

“Yes…” Ringo chuckles, “the full treatment will reset your effective age to about twenty-five over the course of a month, pretty cheap at about a hundred bucks to manufacture the thirty day supply… and carries about a ten percent chance of causing a nasty form of malignant cancer. Official recommendation will be to take it at sixty-five and every forty years thereafter… once the FDA gets over the ‘known carcinogen’ thing and makes one. Before then a lot of very rich people will get themselves killed trying to stay young by getting them on the black market, but I digress…” he pauses, “...I think we're about ready to take off the training wheels; go ahead and take off that titanium ring. I want you to change without it.”

You nod and follow instructions… and feel *really* good when you take it off. Pausing with that ring in your hand, “Ah… how much ‘weight’ did you say you had on here?”

“I didn't say,” he chuckles, “and the units wouldn't be meaningful to you anyway. But it's also not wasted. It's leeching your magic to save it for a bad day… it's tied to injury. Make sure NOT to wear it when you're getting vaccinations, surgery, piercings, tattoos, or anything else that works below your skin. Also: Do not let anyone else wear it, ever.”

“The mind mix thing… you mentioned that…” what was it, exactly? You're not tracking perfectly right now.

“Right,” the ring seems pleased. “If it gets anyone else's energy, we'll need to purge it to keep you from getting a dose of them when it's triggered. If anyone else triggers it, they'll get a dose of you. Either is problematic.” He takes a breath, “anyway… try changing without the ring.”

You feel yourself pushing into the ring that's not there a little, but have no difficulty forming the shell of your hero persona over your body. It feels slightly less stable, but it's easier.

“Good…” Ringo speaks into your mind, “Now go to sleep. You're exhausted, and I need to get your immortality ring running.”

You're not tracking well, but even you can see where that's going… “You’re leaving?”

“Yes. At this point, all you need is study and practice.” He takes a breath, “so I'm going to move on soon. The training should let you charge and use the other jewelry and the motor home as well. Just a bunch of utility stuff, nothing essential to your hero persona. It is all set up for training, but you know how to do that yourself at this point.”

“How do I know…” you begin.

“Left a manual in the glove box,” he chuckles, “not that many people use that compartment for gloves anymore. It has simple instructions on what each piece does and how to trigger them. Also some… practical advice on heroing, a little investment advice, and you can keep what I'm leaving in your account. I'd advise investing most of it and finishing your college courses.”

“So when are you leaving?"