You woke up the next morning feeling pretty damn good. You had called to cancel on Coleen, when you woke up this morning you realized your Legion training was retroactively incorporated into your body and you're in WAY better shape than would be explainable. You spent about ten minutes looking in the mirror and admiring your new eight pack. The Legion perk was absolutely amazing and you were excited to explore some of the Goblin Munitions eventually, but you would need to get a bit more powerful before you could do that. Goblinfire was insanely dangerous, the stuff could consume anything and fed on magic, and you couldn't put it out. Took seven days for the green flames to fade and you needed to summon, kill and grind up demons to make it. That was a bit much for your current level.
Artisan however was perfect for your current situation, and as you dropped into your chair for a game design session you considered how much you could get done. Artisan was a pretty interesting perk, because it allowed you to not only do almost anything like an inconceivable genius, it also allowed you to practice and get better. You were already a computer genius and a mechanical genius, and though you could sense that those subjects themselves were considered science and not art your execution of them was a different matter. Because of your existing talent in game design and mechanical engineering the Artisan perk let you take those to superhuman levels of skill. Sadly the perk drew a line between art and science, presumably because if it didn't any future perks would be useless, but things that were already in your wheelhouse were part of YOUR art, so they counted, since you were using them creatively.
Basically you couldn't just artistically know quantum physics like you could say, pottery, but if you learned quantum physics you could artistically apply that. Your Legion combat training, which was already at pretty much peak human skill, synergized with the Artisan perk amazingly too. The combination put you at insane skill levels in terms of combat. You weren't going to be putting down Captain America or anything, but you were pretty sure you could take Black Widow or Hawkeye and you could train others too. Not to mention war was an art. Shaking away your dreams of training a super Legion of badass teenagers and taking over the city you got back to your game...before you had an interesting idea.
What if you could create a game that both got you a ton of money and also let you track down people who you could train and work with. Your mind raced along with your fingers as you started coding something completely new. You knew training or intent would push Artisan to new heights but you hadn't considered what actual inspiration would do to it, and you felt the perk synergizing with your epiphany and producing something truly amazing. The code spider webbed across the screen, twisting and growing like a living thing, getting more and more refined as you went, correcting spots where you missed an opportunity or could have done better as you used your Artisan power for inspiration for your natural talent and vice versa, the inspiration creating a feedback cycle. You finally snapped out of your fugue when you felt your power fire again.
Celestial Forge accessed: Duct Tape Master (CATastrophe) (200CP) Sufficient CP! Purchased: 200 CP! Remaining CP banked: 0
You didn't even pause as you felt the new knowledge hit. This was perfect, you hadn't been sure you could make what you needed for this game, at least not with basic parts, but this whole perk was about making something amazing with minimal resources, and with your Artisan perk mixed in you knew you could do it. You started grabbing parts, your fingers flying and twisting in ways that didnt seem possible as you stuffed more tech into the small device in your hand than should possibly have fit, and finally you finished, breath heaving, fingers sore, mind whirling at what you had made. A set of white sunglasses sat pristine and gorgeous on the desk in front of you, the single most amazing thing you'd ever made. The glasses were part of your new game, though it wasn't done yet. This would be a bigger project than your little zombie platformer, you would need some money for startup, luckily your zombie game had been selling well and you had some untouched cash in your account.
The glasses were amazing, they put the wearer into a trance when turned on and hijacked the part of the brain used to lucid dream. Essentially turning the human brain into a virtual reality simulator. They allowed the code to be downloaded into the brain through the eyes without disturbing the subject essentially programming your brain with the game. The technology was something I couldn't have made without my natural talent, my Duct Tape perk, or my Artisan skills, and it was still pretty shoddy even with all three. The game couldn't connect to a server or anything so multiplayer was out though the glasses would record certain brainwave patterns and upload them to my computer system so I could use the game to scout for talented combatants for my new Legion of...whatever I was going to use it for.
The game was simple but amazing, a gorgeous and brilliant showing of technical skill that would have been impossible had you not already been a world class coder before the Artisan perk, and even then unlikely without the inspiration and memories from your Legion perk. You had made a Legion training simulator. Memories of being a member of the Legion of Darkness combining with the game mechanism and the glasses to create a situation where people could experience your training and life with the Legion as a form of entertainment. With this you could track down promising recruits and give them the real course, and the best part was the game didnt build muscle memory, so people wouldn't develop those skills on their own, without the pain and feedback of real exercise the combat techniques wouldn't stick.
You stared down at your masterpiece with a demented grin, this was a true work of art, a brilliant merging of every single ability you had and your current magnum opus. You couldn't wait to see the world react. Just a shame you couldnt make more games like this without more memory packages or probably months of careful backstory and environment design. As you looked on in satisfaction you noticed the clock in the corner and winced, did you have to go to school now?
You frown down at the clock on your workshop table. It's a neat little thing, giving you a side by side reading of both outside and inside time to help keep track of how long you spend crafting. You scowl at the thing for a moment then shake your head and make a quick call to the school calling in sick for the day, you follow it up by dialing another number you haven't had time to use yet waiting through the ring until a melodious, husky voice picks up "Hello?" You smile at your girlfriend(?)s bleary tone, noting she clearly isn't much of a morning person.
You can sympathize you aren't much of one either luckily this is pretty much still the middle of the night for you "Hey, it's Anthony, I'm not coming in today because I'm exhausted, I was wondering if you wanted to come over, I have a few really cool things to show you. We can play hooky and spend the day together, if you're up for it." You decided that it will be more fun making things if you have someone to share them with and Felicia is sweet and super hot, you can show her a few things, though you probably wont bring up the forge itself just yet.
You hear a low sultry laugh rumble through the line "Oh you have a few thing's to show me do you? I'll bet you have all kinds of interesting things for me to do today." You grin at the innuendo because hey, you arent an idiot, if your bombshell lady friend is interested in a booty call you're more than happy to oblige...after you test your brilliant now brain interface on her. Which isn't as bad as it sounds, you'll be monitoring her the whole time, and you dont make bad tech. The forge is full of fully functional and tested methods of creating tech, even when innovating you can do better first try than most manage after years of testing. Not to mention your Artisan perk makes your first attempt at anything basically perfect, and even better when you try harder. Your glasses triggered three simultaneous perks, they have pretty much all the determination in you behind them and you doubt anyone can make something on that level at all no matter how many QC hoops they jump through. Plus if you do testing yourself and collect the data you can use it falsify a trial history for them so it looks like you tested them thoroughly. Before you can respond to that you feel the forge trigger again.
Celestial forge accessed: Magic For Dummies spec: Enchantment, Rune Carving (I Saved Too Many Girls And Caused The Apocalypse) (800CP) Insufficient CP: 100 CP banked. Total Banked CP: 100.
You blinked at that one. Well damn, you had a sense of the general scale of the size of the forge and it was huge, you could feel that the chances of hitting the same power twice like that were slim, weird. You shook your head, luckily having only taken a second to space out and register the roll before you could respond to Felicia "Not what I had in mind Kitten, though it's certainly on the table, or against the wall, or over the counter, basically anywhere you want I'm up for it. But in any case you'll need to come over to see." That caught her interest and she agreed to come over. You considered eating breakfast but decided to cook for her when she got there so you just took a quick shower after you got off the phone while you waited for her.
It only took her about thirty minutes to show up, which was good timing because you needed to boil yourself a bit to wake up and then get dressed. You decide to wear a tighter shirt than normal, figuring your usual baggy clothes hide your form enough to give a plausible explanation for her not noticing you were fucking shredded now. Luckily the legion prized maneuverability so it was all dense tight muscle. Explaining why you were suddenly a Mr. Universe level body builder would have been complicated. You might worry about her having noticed it when she was on your lap at the movies, but you were pretty sure she was distracted by your coma inducing magic fingers.
If you though you looked good though, you have nothing on your girl. Felicia decided to take the opposite approach to her usual tight pants and top look and wear a loose flowing yellow sundress. It was still low cut and she still wasn't wearing a bra (honestly with tits that size you suspected going braless like that must be a superpower itself) but she came across wholesome and sweet, even if the hemline on that sundress showed a nice amount of fairly thick but toned cheerleader thigh. She looked amazing, and you could tell she knew it as she smirked at your slack jawed stare. She clearly tried hard to look good because it was January and that meant cold as hell, which because of her lack of bra you could tell for sure she had noticed.
She giggled at your expression "I'd ask if you were happy to see me but I think that's pretty obvious, sorry i took so long, I had to double back a bit, my GPS took me right into a three car pileup. Luckily my driver knew an alternate route to this part of the city so it didn't hold us up too much." She gave you a happy smile, and you appreciated her not mentioning that she was meeting you at an orphanage. You didn't exactly advertise your living situation but she wasn't making a big deal of it and that meant a lot.
You walked over to throw your arm around her, feeling how soft her skin was and seeing her own jaw drop when she got an up close look at my muscles. You saw a flash of mild confusion before almost literally seeing her have the thought that she had been distracted and misremembered. Following that she cuddled up a bit closer so she could feel you better and vice versa. You grinned at that "So Kitten, I waited for you before I ate, I thought I could make us breakfast before I show you what I've been working on."
The smile she gave you was wicked but you could swear you saw a faint blush on her cheeks for a second "Aren't you supposed to tire a girl out BEFORE you make her breakfast? But I wont turn down a free meal, besides I have to test your cooking skills. My daddy always says you can tell a lot about a man by how much effort he goes to when he cooks for his woman." You grin at both the blush and the sentiment and lead her into the kitchen, plopping her rather voluminous butt on a stool as you dig into the fridge for a few eggs.
"Is that what you are then? My woman?" You saw the blush come back out of the corner of your eye, enjoying seeing the outspoken beauty a bit on the back foot as you snagged some cheese and a few vegetables as well as some ham, deciding to make her an omelette. You almost seemed to be juggling the ingredients as you took them out casually passing them over to the counter as you got out a pan. Luckily there were only a few kids at the orphanage and none of them were up this early so you didn't have to worry about your date being interrupted. It took only about five minutes with your apex level cooking skills (thank you Artisan) to finish making the most gorgeous omelette you had ever even heard of and sliding it piping hot onto a plate for Felicia while you made your own.
Your skill level was high enough that you could watch her and cook at the same time and you couldn't help a smug grin at her literal moan of pleasure when she took the first bite. Her eyes widened as she stared at you "This is literally the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. I knew you were good with your hands but dear god, you could open a restaurant with food this good. And this was just a random meal you threw together from a fridge." She gave you a greedy look "Yes, yes I'm definitely your woman. And I expect you to cook for me again soon. A nice meal, like a fancy dinner." You grin at her eagerness as she goes back to her omelette and you slip yours out of the pan. Luckily your timing is good because as soon as you slip it onto the plate your power triggers again, unnoticed by your distracted girlfriend as she experiences her first foodgasm.
Celestial forge accessed: Pocket Watch (Wonderland No More) (50CP) Sufficient CP! Purchased: 50 CP. Remaining CP banked: 150.
You feel the pocket watch drop into your pocket, and while interesting a watch that makes you faster for a bit while you wind it isn't really useful right now so you put it out of you mind to focus on finishing your meal. Which is...holy shit Felicia wasn't kidding, you had put in some real effort on this omelette to impress her and it kicked the quality up just that little bit past natural. This was probably the best omelette in the world. You cleaned your plate and had to physically take Felicia's to stop her from literally licking the bottom of it to try to get bits of omelette, which you only managed by promising to cook her a prime rib dinner and distracting her by taking her hand to take her upstairs. She blushed again at that, the intimate couple behavior seemingly more out of her comfort zone than flirting but she followed you anyway, staying unusually quiet for her.
You finally made it up to your room, thanking the gods above you lived in a small orphanage with individual rooms and you didn't have to share with one of the other tenants. You sat Felicia down on the bed and looked pensive for a second before deciding to just rip the band aid off. "Felicia, I have superpowers. You can think of me as like a super scientist, and I built something interesting I want to show you. My power also gives me a workshop and I want to take you there, but the entrance is weird so i wanted to warn you first." You expect a dramatic gasp and fluttering eyelashes but mostly you just get an intrigued look.
Your surprise at the lack of reaction must have shown on your face because she shrugged "Honey, I'm blonde, not an idiot, I may not have been finger fucked before but I know it isn't supposed to be that good, not to mention the kissing. That was not my first kiss, and you're clearly better at it than is feasible, not even bringing up that omelette. I don't know what science has to do with any of that but you clearly have something going on. Plus you weren't that ripped when we had out date. I won't ask you to explain all the details since you want to keep it simple to start and I appreciate you telling me but MSST has been attacked by supervillains like thirty times, this kind of thing isn't really a shock."
You grin at her casual acceptance and mention your artisan power, getting another greedy look from your girlfriend before distracting her with a trip into your closet to take her through the archway. She was of course unable to see the thing until you took her through but once you brought her in you finally got a bit of a reaction, which was satisfying. "This" you said gesturing grandly "Is my workshop, and the site of my most recent project. I considered surprising you with the content but it seemed safer and better for the test if I give you a rundown. I recently created a new video game, though not like any one you would have played before. This one is a training and battle simulator for a fantasy Legion. It's pretty damn immersive so just be warned."
You take her over to the table and site her down in a fairly comfortable chair you usually sit at when you tinker before showing her the glasses. Her face lights up as she takes them in "Those are so cute! And I love the white, that is so my color. Are these a gift for helping you with your game? Because I could get used to cute presents from my sexy master chef super genius boyfriend." Her enthusiasm for the glasses has you mentally checking your bank account for a possible shopping trip before remembering you're a master artisan and you aren't going to pay for shoddy mortal crap to drape across your woman when you can make her supernaturally beautiful goods.
You give her a fond smile "No Kitten, though I can make you a pair of decorative ones while you're playing if you'd like, and if you have any other requests you can ask, though I dont have the stuff for like shoes or clothes. I could maybe do like a clutch though?" Duct tape master meant you could repurpose most things to be used for most other things but making a dress or shoes out of metal would take a long time even for you. A clutch could be hard enough that it wouldn't take much tweaking to make her one and it would be a good distraction while she played. Speaking of "Anyway sorry no, those are the access terminal for the game, I won't bore you with how they work but if you can lean back and put them on you can start. Don't worry I'll be monitoring you, and when you come out I'll have your presents done."
She pouted a bit when you told her the glasses weren't a gift but brightened up at the mention of the clutch and shades. She gave you a bright smile before sliding the things on and slumping back against the chair, out like a light. Wow, the state wave manipulator you included to shift a person into REM sleep worked fast. You pulled up the link program on your computer and connected to monitor her brain function, setting some parameters to trigger an alarm if they exceeded safe thresholds before plopping down on a spare stool at your work counter to begin making your lady her new accessories. The shades were easy, having already made a much more advanced version you were even able to improve them a bit since you didn't need to add in all that tech. You had just finished adding a scaling lens tint function when you felt the forge trigger again.
Celestial forge accessed: Hammer Upon the Wailing Muse (Exalted - The Abyssals) (200CP) Sufficient CP! Purchased: 200 CP. Remaing CP banked: 50 CP.
You blinked as you finished up the final touches on the shades unconsciously because of Artisan and started up on the clutch. Well apparently you could now make magical metal, Soulsteel was a supernatural alloy created my forging the souls of the dead into metallic ore. Aside from the moral implications of tormenting someone for eternity by shoving their spirit into metal, you also didn't happen to have any souls laying around and you weren't going to turn into a serial killer for a shiny new metal, so this particular perk didn't really do you much good. Scowling at the waste of CP you went back to your presents, finishing the clutch for Felicia just as she finished her session. You had been impressed with her responses from watching the readings, Felicia was a talented athletic girl and you might consider training her at some point, though beating her with a training sword probably wasn't a good place to start your relationship.
Felicia looked a bit shell shocked when she took the glasses off, her eyes wide as she stared at you. "That was...wow. That felt real. Like my muscles dont feel anything now but I can still feel the adrenaline in my veins. I felt the pain from the training, felt the fear when I saw the enemy. That was intense. This game is going to be so fucking popular Anthony. This is going to sell to everyone. Even older people who don;t usually play games will buy this. Fuck I even feel well rested, like I just took a good nap. God baby this is so amazing!" You could see her get more and more excited as she talked, nearly vibrating with energy. Being involved with something world changing like this at our age was an exciting prospect, and you smiled at her enthusiasm for your work. You had been right to call her over.
You grinned and pulled her out of the chair over to your work bench. "Glad you like it Kitten, but for now I have presents." You handed her the shades explaining the tint shifter so they would change lens color in brighter light, and you had even worked in a thermal option in case she needed it. She squealed cutely when she tried them on and posed in front of a hand mirror you had for checking uniformity in production. But the big reaction came from the clutch. You had used platinum as a base metal carefully sculpting a cat into the surface of the small case with a beautiful artistic filagree of your girlfriends name below it. You'd have liked to add some emeralds for the eyes so they would match hers but sadly while platinum could be and was used in making machines emeralds were not considered a "standard material" and as such your workshop didn't supply them.
Felicias green eyes were wide with adoration and surprisingly lust as she looked at the present, and she threw herself against you, kissing you fiercely. Despite the flirting and even the fingering Felicia was a virgin, and you had expected to take things slower, but you were pretty sure she was ready for sex. Like right now. You supposed your first time was usually awful and losing it to an Artisan sex god would definitely be a pleasant experience. You shoved her hips back and broke the kiss, sliding down and ignoring her needy whine when you pulled back. You pushed her fat asscheeks up over the edge of the chrome counter ignoring her hiss at the cold metal as you reached up under that gorgeous sundress to strip off the yellow lace thing she had worn below it.
You had felt her pussy before, but you had never seen it and it was gorgeous. The trimmed patch of silver platinum hair above her dripping cunt only made how needy she was more obvious and you leaned down to run your tongue over her, drawing out a hiss. You knew your Artisan perk would work here. What you were about to do to her was an art, and you were going to put in your best effort. You latched onto her slit, tolling your tongue across it and sucking it between your teeth gently as you slid you fingers back into the hottest, tightest, most responsive place they had even been, Her hips tried to smash upwards but you pinned them in place, licking and sucking and rolling your tongue in the most perfect ways you could imagine. You were careful this time, you had enough control to keep her from passing out if you wanted and you definitely did. You ate your girlfriends pussy for about twenty minutes, not allowing her to cum, edging her to a screaming squealing moaning soaking mess on the counter as she begged and cursed and cried for you to let her finish and when you had her just on the edge and you knew she couldn't take a single second more you hit all three spots you had before, and shoved a finger right up her ass to hit her g-spot from the other side as you did it.
Felicia...exploded. Her voice actually went out from the screaming. Every single muscle in her body tensed up and tightened then just relaxed as the orgasm ripped her fucking worldview apart rolling from her cute little painted toes to the top of her platinum blonde head. She collapsed backwards, and you caught her head before she bumped it on the counter and left her panting and dazed on the counter. Luckily you had finished her off because you felt the forge trigger for the third time in a single day, a first for you, and you didn't mind a bit of a distraction right now to calm you down. if you fucked her right now without taking a second after watching that you would blow within seconds.
Celestial forge accessed:Augment Blade System (Dark Cloud 2) (200CP) Insufficient CP: 150 CP banked.
Thank god, you couldn't have processed a new power right now anyway. You stood up and grabbed Felicia by the hips dragging her ass forward to the edge of the counter as you reached for your belt. You grabbed her by the hair with your other hand to pull her up, but made sure your grip was spread enough that it didn't pull too much, you assumed she would prefer it to having you possibly rip her dress. "Felicia" you said to your cum drunk girlfriend "Baby I need to know if I should stop, if you're too out of it I wont go anymore, we can do this later, I might have gone a bit overboard there."
Her lidded eyes flew open and she lunged forward to fumble at your belt "No! Please give it to me baby, I need it so fucking bad, I'll be good baby I promise just fuck me!" She buried her face in your shoulder as she fumbled to take your cock out moaning "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me, please baby I need it, need you so bad." Unable to find a reason to possibly argue you let her take your dick out and pressed it against the soaking pussy you'd spent the last twenty minutes tasting and memorizing. You would do better this time, oral was definitely an art, but fucking Felicia was an art too, and you were quickly becoming a skilled practitioner, the more you did the better you got and harder you tried, you were improving not just at sex but at sex with Felicia, so when you shoved you cock into her you knew exactly how deep, how fast, and how rough to go after spending twenty minutes learning every little reaction.
She keened as you shoved into her. You didn't have to worry about her hymen, Felicia was a gymnast and a cheerleader and had broken it years ago, but she was still SO fucking tight. it was like being inside a fucking velvet volcano. She was so hot and tiny and you were pretty sure you literally couldn't have even gotten your dick in if you hadn't spent the last half hour getting her hornier than should have been physically possible. You heard yourself muttering something to her about how hot and tight she was and how perfect she felt but you honestly barely even registered your mouth moving. This was your first time too, and literally the only thing that kept you from cumming inside her right now was the Artisan perk. She felt like fucking paradise, and you literally didn't know if you would ever get enough of this. But Felicia was more important so you angled your hips to the exact spot you knew would feel best and pushed with just enough force, before starting up the perfect rhythm as you fucked her.
She was panting now and her eyes were unfocused and her face the biggest stupidest grin you could imagine on it as you slammed into her. She hooked her ankles behind your back and you adjusted your motions to compensate, hitting her exactly where she needed it and she threw back her head and quealed with joy "FUCK! Yes, that's it right there! You're so good baby, I need it so bad, you're fucking perfect please don't stop, don't ever fucking stop." You could feel her building to another orgasm, having lasted this long only because she'd been recovering from the brain melting you gave her earlier and you weren't far behind.
You grab her by the thighs and lift her off the counter holding her in mid air as you pounded into her, the discarded mirror she had used earlier showing me her thick milky ass jiggle and bounce each time you drove into her, you were fucking hypnotized watching her cheeks roll as you tried not to think about the fucking heavenly furnace you were shoving your cock into and you couldn't even bring yourself to break line of sight with the mirror as you leaned down to groan into her ear that you were about to cum. She shook her head so violently she almost headbutted you in the face, her christmas tree tinsel hair smacking you across the face as she whipped it back and forth in denial "Don't care, don't care, don't care! Inside me baby I need it inside, fucking cum with me!" That was the last you could manage and you looked up into her burning emerald eyes as you slammed her back against the wall next to the counter, bottoming out inside her as you filled her pussy with a frantic scream and then literally fucking blacked out.
When you came too you were both on the floor, luckily when you pinned her against the wall you had fallen against it and after blacking out you slid down and neither one of you got hurt. You were... in shock. That had been your first time having sex too, and it had been...insane. What you hadn't considered when you decided to fuck Felicia with your Artisan abilities was that art was enjoyed by everyone, as evidenced by your omelette this morning. You fucked Felicia like a sex god, but that meant you had lost your virginity in a sex god level fuck too, and your brain had melted just as bad as hers. You felt your girlfriend cuddle up closer to you making cute mewling noises and smiled, that had been, amazing. this whole day had been. A thought that almost like magic triggered the damn forge AGAIN.
Celestial forge accessed: OrgoTek Bioware Database (Trinity) (400CP) Insufficient CP: 250 CP banked.
As you picked up you snuggling bombshell of a girlfriend gently to carry her out into your room you thought about how amazing today had been. You couldn't wait to have more days like this, who needed to go to school when your brain was a repository of extradimensional knowledge. You hadn't slept for like two days relative time now not counting a brief stint being passed out, and you could use a damn nap. Falling into bed beside your beautiful lady friend you kicked off your shoes and pulled her against you grabbing a handful of that fat ice cream ass as you dozed off. You only wondered what the night would bring.
You stretch with a yawn as you wake up, noticing Felicia is still on your chest and your palm is still full of big thick ass cheek. You let go with a sad expression and slip out from under her, penning a quick note, which thanks to your artisan perk came out looking like some kind of elven scroll of ancient lore, except readable. You stuck the note, which was on a sticky note pad, to her forehead so she couldn't miss it and slipped out to run to the grocery store to pick up the things for her dinner. The other tenants in the orphanage rarely used the kitchen, there being only a few of them and most of them being in their rooms or out as much as possible, like you usually were.
Once you got to the store you checked your bank balance, your zombie game had apparently become something of an underground hit, and you actually had a few thousand in microtransaction fees on your debit card now. You decided to splurge a bit and went to Whole Foods, knowing the harder you tried the better the food would be and procuring the best ingredients was definitely trying hard. You were wearing a new set of clothes because your old ones reeked of sex, and your hair was a mess, though luckily hairstyling was very artistic so it only took a few minutes with a comb to make it look amazing. You headed for the meat aisle and on the way slammed right into someone.
The tiny girl you smashed to the ground went flying into a shelf and you felt your eyes widen as you had to dive forward to catch her. Her blue eyes appeared to be swimming a bit as you helped her stand and apologized profusely. "Oh holy shit, I'm so sorry, I got distracted for a second and I didn't see you come around the corner, are you ok?" You noted bitterly that apparently walking is not an art, especially if you aren't paying any damn attention. Though you guessed it could become on if you did it deliberately or something.
The girl you had bumped into was cute and tiny, with blonde hair (the regular kind not silver like Felicias, and blue eyes. She was cute and looked pretty badass, wearing a spaghetti strapped top with spiked leather bracelets and several necklaces with different designs. Her blue eyes were ringed with...whichever makeup thing went around eyes, you were pretty sure mascara, and her body type was thin and toned as opposed to your girlfriends curves, but still in a very pleasant way. She gave you a wry smile and raised an eyebrow "No big deal man, thanks for the save, if you had actually let me fall I would have been pissed." The catch HAD been done at artisan levels, so nothing had fallen when you caught her and it had probably looked awesome. She held out her hand "Hi, I'm Ruby, Ruby Hale and I'm afraid I'll need to keep an eye on you for the rest of your time shopping here so you don't lineback any more poor defenseless girls."
You raise your own eyebrows "Why do I get the impression you're anything but defenseless? You give me the vibe of someone who can kick some serious ass, but if a pretty escort is the only price for almost knocking you through a wall of pasta jars I think I got off easy. I'm afraid I'm on a mission though, I'm making my girlfriend dinner, so I might be in a bit of a rush." You expected to see a bit of disappointment in her eyes when you mentioned being taken but the girl just gave an easy shrug and a relaxed smile, giving the impression that she wasn't really bothered by much.
Ruby trailed you through the whole store, telling you about how she was new in town, her mother was an army general and they moved around alot. She had some kind of posting at Fort Hamilton and was always at work so Ruby was always on her own and had no idea where anything was. She was obviously fishing for a tour and you were happy to offer, though you would bring Felicia with, Ruby seemed really cool and you bet they would hit it off, even if she seemed like she might have been interested in you there to start. When you mentioned that Ruby seemed excited to meet her and you promised to talk to Felicia about making plans. You picked up some really nice prime rib and some asparagus, as well as some ricotta and a few baking odds and ends to make a ricotta cheesecake. A bag of potatoes and some seasonings and some very nice salted butter.
You said goodbye to Ruby on the way out, getting an enthusiastic hug from the snarky but very friendly girl and smiled to yourself about making a new friend for you and Felicia as you headed home, hoping to get there before she woke up. On the walk home the forge triggered again, but you didnt mind the timing, which seemed to be mostly hitting during lulls in your day recently.
Celestial forge accessed: Pym's Protege (The Avengers - Earth's Mightiest Heroes) (600CP) Insufficient CP: 100 CP banked. Total banked CP 350.
You slipped into the house and started cooking, shooting a text to Felicia you were downstairs in the kitchen when she woke up if she wanted to come down as you started prepping the meal. You do a nice herb butter crust on the prime rib and slip it into the oven at a low temp so it cooks down with more flavor, before grinning to yourself and slipping your hand into a pocket. You pull free your pocket watch and loop the chain around the oven door before winding it up and letting it go. Getting to work on prepping the asparagus and the potatoes and making the cheesecake as the prime rib slow cooks in accelerated time. If not for your artisan perk you would never have tried to eyeball this without doing thorough testing on the watch first, but the watch came with detailed instructions on how to use it and you were enough of a chef to be comfortable free handing it a bit.
You cooked the asparagus in a frying pan with some butter since you couldn't risk messing with the oven, and added plenty of salt and butter to the potatoes as well as a bit of sour cream for taste and consistency and after you finished assembled the cheesecake in record time just when you needed to take out the prime rib. You pulled it out and checked the temperature, grinning at finding a good use for that pocket watch as you left the perfectly cooked prime rib to rest while you slipped the cheesecake in. That one you didn't use the watch on, setting the timer for an hour as you went to wake up Felicia for dinner. Your girlfriend was already up when you got to your room, though not really awake, but that changed quickly when you mentioned you'd made dinner, your lazy sleepy Kitten bolting awake at the thought of your cooking.
You slipped down to plate everything as she went to clean up, and you could tell she was annoyed you hadn't given her time to go home and get ready but didn't feel like she could say anything without come across as a brat. You had wanted to snag some wine in whole foods but sadly it wasn't to be, but you had grabbed some sparkling apple cider, which honestly you preferred, not being much of a drinker. Alcohol abuse was one of your fathers vices and you made a point to stay away from the stuff for that reason and a few others. Finally Felicia came down, she had somehow managed to clean up enough to look like she'd specifically come here for a nice dinner which was impressive.
You pulled her chair out and gestured for her to sit down. "Your seat mademoiselle. For your dining pleasure tonight we have pan seared asparagus in butter, homemade mashed potatoes, and a slow roasted prime rib with an herb butter crust. Dessert will be a ricotta cheesecake with a caramel drizzle and our pairing for the meal is sparkling cider." As you talked you saw Felicia beam down at the food and up at you, her face flushed with adoration and joy. Going to so much trouble had clearly made her feel special, and you smiled fondly down at her as you took your seat, honestly looking forward to the meal as much as she was. Your cooking skills blew your mind as much as anyone elses.
As you poured the cider into a set of cheap crystal glasses you'd picked up in whole foods Felicia reached over and took your hand, pulling one away from the pouring and drawing my gaze. "Anthony...this...this is amazing. My first time, my first home cooked dinner with my first boyfriend, tonight has been... I feel like a princess. This whole thing has been perfect, YOU have been perfect. And I feel so lucky to have you." She looked right into your eyes, emerald green meeting the sapphire blue you got from your mother, and you kissed her hand gently as you smiled back at her.
"Kitten, you aren't the only one who feels that way. You're my first girlfriend, that was my first time, and I honestly cant think of anyone I would have rather had this day with. I'm lucky to be able to show you how much i care and how much this has all meant to me." You leaned across the table to kiss her gently, smiling at her blissful expression before gesturing to the food. "Now eat, woman, I don't want it to get cold and the cheesecake will be done in about fifteen minutes." You smiled softly up at her "You look gorgeous tonight by the way. How you managed to make that dress look so high class and elegant after we rumpled the hell out of it I have no idea."
You dug into your own plate, and as Felicia did the same you both moaned. Dear god you were an amazing cook. Slow cooking the prime rib had been the right choice, even if you had cheated with time sorcery or whatever. The juices had slowly cooked into the meat, mixing with the herb butter in the crust to create a symphony of flavor on your tongue. The inside was uniformly slightly darker than pink, perfectly cooked without the usual layer of more well done meat that less skilled chefs got with a less even cook. The asparagus was crunchy and hot and the mashed potatoes were perfectly seasoned and both thick enough to hold together and melt in your mouth soft. You finished eating before Felicia, who insisted on seconds which you indulged in yourself, but had to slip off to take out the cheesecake before you had your second helping so it could rest while you both ate. As you finished you felt the forge fire again.
Celestial forge accessed: Soft Physics (Generic Builder) (300CP) Sufficient CP! Purchased: 300 CP. Total remaining CP: 150.
You busied yourself cutting the cheesecake as the knowledge slotted into your mind, so your back was turned to Felicia when you raised your eyebrow at the new ability. Some kind of space warping ability that only worked inside machines you built. That would actually help you streamline the glasses quite a bit, but not in any useful way right now. Duct Tape Master let you accomplish things you shouldn't be able to do with materials that shouldn't quite work for that. Not on the level of completely taking the place of a material or anything, but you could use steel instead of titanium and still make it work, which was the only reason the glasses could even work. Now you could probably figure out more complex ways to make the original materials work which would let you share the design, but only by warping the space inside them which other people couldn't do anyway.
Then again you didn't need other dimensional tech to accomplish things. You could probably build a suit with this power. Better than your fathers in some ways, though you doubted you could manage an arc reactor. Duct tape mastery didn't eliminate the need for parts, just let you use shitty ones, and you had no idea what was used to power the arc reactor or even how the damn reaction worked. You cut a slice of cooled cheesecake for your contentedly purring girlfriend, smiling at the apparent food coma she seemed to shake off to eat her dessert. You could manage a suit right now but you would need to use a ton of lower quality batteries to make it work, and at the lowest levels the perk only let you warp space a bit. No you'd have to wait until you got something else, some key type of tech to base your style on, something to slot into place with your other perks and truly push you into a realm above mortal creation.
You shook of your ambitions and focused on your cheesecake, which really was fantastic. You weren't in a rush you had plenty of time. It's not like anyone was aware of you yet. Once people got a hint of what you could do you'd need to out yourself as a Stark or you'd be at risk, organizations like Hydra and Shield would come out of the woodwork to find you, but you hadn't caught their attention yet. besides you were a genius, you would definitely be smart enough to spot a Hydra agent if you met one, right?
Perks:
Duct Tape Master (CATastrophe) (200CP)
Peerless relics aren't the only thing that's shiny. You're a master at jerry-rigging mechanical components into an ungodly abomination of gears and circuits that somehow still works as intended. Fixing broken things is a breeze (though they might break more easily now) and making new technology by recycling parts from old ones is within the realm of your skills.
Pocket Watch (Wonderland No More) (50CP)
An ornate silver watch with an hourglass engraved upon its casing. If you wind back the watch, you will gain enhanced speed/quickness until the watch finishes unwinding or an hour has passed. You can also immediately stop the watch's effect by snapping its case shut.
Hammer Upon the Wailing Muse (Exalted - The Abyssals) (200CP)
Much of the Underworld's economy rests on the production of soulsteel, one of the magical materials, which can only be produced by combining shavings from the walls of the Mouth of Oblivion with the melted corpus of a ghost. Forging soulsteel is difficult for even the best smiths.
Soulforging is the process by which the souls of the dead are melted down and then shaped into useful items or are used to produce soulsteel. First, the corpus of a ghost is carefully heated with soulfire crystals so that it can be reduced to a viscous state without damaging its integrity. Once liquified, the corpus can be smelted with other materials and then worked into any shape appropriate to conventional metalworking.
Soulforged items normally have the consistency of mortal steel. However, if the liquified corpus is smelted with molten ore taken from the Labyrinth, the result is soulsteel, one of the magical materials... and the only one that screams when struck with the smith's hammer. Proper soulforging is a highly specialized art that requires rarified equipment, access to Labyrinthine materials and a willingness on the part of the soulsmith to condemn another ghost to eternal torment. Understandably, soulforging is a heavily regulated art. But one you have mastered to extent rivaled by only a scant few amongst the dead, able to forge souls into proper soulsteel, combine soulforging with jadecrafting to forge sophisticated artifacts, and having gleaned the secrets of creating Oblivion's panoply, jealously guarded by the Deathlords. Though you would need to delve deep into necromancy to put the latter into actual practise.
Soft Physics (Generic Builder) (300CP)
You have a touch of madness in your soul, your creations often make physics cry. Or maybe you're some sort of comic book style super-genius, with a device or invention for seemingly every occasion? Regardless, the things you make have a lot more leeway in just what they can do, thanks to not necessarily needing to obey silly things like 'physical laws', 'thermodynamics', or similar. As with all Builder related powers just how far you can stretch this depends mostly on how skilled you are and how long you've been developing your abilities.