Amalia was so sweet.  And stupid.  A good combination.  She gave her the ability to find the cave, with or without following her.  Now, the only question was when to go, and what to do once she was there.<br/><br/>=====<br/><br/>She hadn't really been expecting to brush with alien consciousness in her walk through the hall.  She'd just had a relaxed whim.  The effect was incoherent, overpowering, and when she woke up, her first thought was to look for a clock to see how long she'd been out.<br/><br/>One of her projects had been dream journaling.  Reaching into her backpack quickly, she tore out a notepad and began to write down some things.  Anything she could remember about what the alien had said to her.  It was gone soon enough, but she got some of it.  Parasite.  Source.   Emissary in Danger.  Hunter.  Host.  It was alive, and it was trying to stay that way.  Like she had thought when Billy had explained it, the Other's are symbiotic, in a way.  It comforted her to know that.  Whatever was inside her was part of her team now.  She stood slowly and pondered what she had caught.<br/><br/>Parasites were spreading, and the Other Thing wanted her to hunt them.  The Source.. When the Source fades, Esther will rest.  Perhaps that was the God Being that Billy had pointed to when the ritual had been enacted.  Somewhere in all this, Billy, who had called himself the Emmissary that night.. was it really just last night? ..was in danger.<br/><br/>"How the hell." Esther said aloud.  "Could<em>that</em>guy be in danger?" she ponders, taking a little more time to walk through the halls before getting to class.  She feels calmer when she does get there, but something is strange.  She wants to make sense of the Other Thing's speech.  It's a much greater source of knowledge than Billy was, and it's nothing to sneeze at.  At least she can talk to it.  She'll have to try again, later.<br/><br/>=====<br/><br/>This new ability of her's is a strange one.  How is it that Esther can tell another person's weaknesses?  She knew Amalia was insecure, but it made sense.  But picking up that Leila was a lesbian in denial?  That was unsettling, actually.  Even more so because now Cynthia was probably her primary subconscious target.  Not that Esther didn't give Leila credit for aiming high, but<em>what the fuck!!</em>She shook her head, lamenting that people were more fucked up than she cared to dream.<br/><br/>Paint something beautiful.  Something beautiful.  Something<em>beautiful!</em>In the full knowledge that she always got her way, she demanded of herself that she be able to paint something she could be proud of!  It was like a switch went off in her head, and something clicked.  She knew what she wanted to paint.  She had a picture of it in her head.  She reached out with her brush and.. it started to happen.  She felt like she was Bob Ross: a painting of the Pacific Ocean was coming into view, with a rolling, sandy beach and a small, thatched roof hut on the shore.  It was somewhere she'd been, long ago.<br/><br/><strong>OOC</strong>I have a few ideas, two of which work the same way, I suppose.<br/><br/>Esther has traded [Sight-Oriented] [3d6] for [Muscle Mimic] [3d12].  If she watches an action being performed, she can subconsciously store that information and perform it again using this trait.<br/>Ex. Watch Bob Ross and subconsciously know how to paint;<br/>Watch Food Network and subconsciously know how to dice onions;<br/>Watch Wrestling and subconsciously know choke holds.<br/>-or-<br/>Esther has traded [Fairly Healthy] [2d6] for [Intuitive Motor Skills] [2d12].  If Esther focuses on her intended goal, her body will intuitively react to be able to perform it.<br/>Ex. Be able to paint the picture in your head;<br/>Be able to whittle a sculpture you can envision;<br/>Be able to make martial art moves you can imagine yourself doing.<br/>-or-<br/>Esther has traded [Pretty but not hot] [1d6] for [Your Attention, Please!] [1d12].  This allows her to draw attention and admiration to herself or other objects.  Conversely, this could also allow her to ward off attention to herself.<br/>Ex. Make everyone look at and love your painting!<br/>Make everyone look at and love your stage performances!<br/>Make everyone look at and love something<strong>not</strong>you, so you can be effectively invisible!<br/><br/>Personally, I like 1 and 3.  2 has broader scope than either of them, I suppose, but that's precisely why I don't really like it.  Not to mention, door number 3 fits in with the naming scheme you've got going.  What do you think?<br/><br/>