Let's Play a Game – Chapter 3

As I finished setting the plates, I heard the front door unlock. I see my Dad walk through, clearly tired. Above his head, I see blue words, floating just like my boxes.

DA Head of Hiring
LV 20 Danny Hebert

I blink as a new facet of my power rears its head. On one hand, I never have to worry about forgetting someone's name. On the other hand, I have to remember if I've been introduced to them before I call them by it.

Also, levels? If there were any doubts before, they're gone now. My powers are based off RPGs…I think? Thanks Greg for your many, many unsolicited lectures on video games. I never thought I'd mean that unironically. Again, this is the weirdest day ever. Well, I have a starting point for my research.

"Hi Dad! Dinner's ready!"

His head jerks towards me in surprise, shaken out of whatever he was thinking about. He must have thought I'd still be in my room. To be fair, I haven't spent much time out of it after the hospital. I see confusion on his face for just a second, before he begins to smile weakly, but I can still see a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Taylor, you didn't have to do that. I should be making dinner for you. You're still recovering."

I smile slightly. "Well, I felt better today and finally stopped moping around. I knew you'd be home soon and I didn't want you to worry about dinner." I frown. "Sorry it's not lasagna. After my nap I didn't have the time for it to be ready when you got home. I'll make the lasagna tomorrow night, I promise."

My dad raises one hand. "Kiddo, relax. I'm happy to have any hot dinner you make for me." His smile ticks down slightly. "Are you sure though? It's only been a week since…" He pauses for just an uncomfortable moment too long. "I don't want you to overexert yourself."

"Dad, believe me, I'm not overexerting myself right now." I smirk just a little. "I'm making pasta in our kitchen, not climbing a mountain."

He sighs and looks down. "I'm just worried about you. Just thinking about it…" I can hear the sadness, the residual anger, and guilt in his voice. His hands tighten into fists.

Yeah, Dad's still bent out of shape from the locker incident. So was I a few hours ago, until I napped the dark thoughts away. Thinking about it now makes me queasy along with a host of other emotions. However, now there's clarity, and none of the feelings are anywhere near to the overwhelming extent they used to be. I know now it can really only get to me if I let it.

…Is this what it feels like to be on antidepressants? Whatever.

Dad kind of went on the warpath while I was in the hospital, but considering what snippets I heard now and then when he thought I wasn't listening both here and from the hospital, it didn't amount to much.

Is he blaming himself for what happened to me? I stare at him, trying to understand exactly what's going on in that balding head of his. Suddenly a blue box cuts off my vision, and my eyes widen in panic.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!'

Before my hand even reaches halfway to close the box, Dad looks up and at me. As I try to focus on him, the box goes completely transparent, and almost invisible. I can only see the vague impression of a floating square now that I'm not focusing on it. I can't really read his expression, but I can see his fists slowly loosen.

I inwardly wince, and lower my arm. 'Well…the cat's out of the bag…'

I look down to the floor. I open my mouth with a sharp inhale. What do I say? What can I say? He's already worried as it is. Well, I wanted boxes to appear, here's one now! I should have thought about this before. Can I even have a secret identity if boxes like this pop up all the time? Fuck.

Before I can say anything, my dad sighs. "Let's eat dinner before it gets cold, okay?" He then walks right past me without saying anything about floating boxes.

My mouth clicks audibly shut. 'And the cat has just walked right back into the bag.' I briefly pause, and then shrug. 'What the hell, I'll roll with it...' In annoyance, I glare at the box that almost gave me a panic attack; it suddenly becomes opaque once more.

A skill has been created through a special action.

Through constant observation, a skill to discern information from a target, 'Observe', has been created!

…okay then. I close it, and a red box takes its place. Unlike before, there's no sudden influx of information. There is however a sense of how to use this particular skill…by saying the word 'observe' while looking at whatever I want to observe.

Weird power is weird. Quickly, I skim the new box.

[Observe (active) Lv1 EPX: 0.00%]

A skill using observation to learn about a target.
With more mastery, more information is provided.
Currently provides information on the following:
HP, MP, and a very brief background.

"Taylor? Are you alright?"

I hit the X quickly to close it out and turn towards my dad. I murmur a quiet "I'm fine" before walking to the dining table, and taking a seat. At least now I know I'm the only one who can see them. Having a secret identity is still an option.

Another box pops into view. I see dad looking down at his plate. As sneakily as I can, and hoping it works, I swipe the box to my right. I let out the small breath I'm holding when Dad doesn't notice what I did and when the box slides to my right side.

I'll deal with the boxes later. Given how my new skill likely works, I'd be dealing with a new box every time I "observed" something. The only excuse I can think of, that won't out my powers to Dad if he saw me poking and reading something that's not there, is me needing that trip to the psych ward after all. He might not notice me do it once or twice, but if I do it a few times he definitely will.

It is tempting to observe Dad, but I better not risk it. Especially if he thinks I'm spacing out on him or something. Slowly, I dig into my own food. Neither of us talks. I can almost feel the awkwardness between us as if it were a physical force.

After Mom, we've been distant from each other, both of us dealing with the grief in our own ways. Given the argument Dad had with Mom right before she left the house for the very last time, I always knew Dad blamed himself for Mom's death. I blamed myself a little since it was me she was trying to call while she was driving.

That was a sad fact about Mom's death. She didn't survive, but her phone did somehow. So we knew she was trying to call Emma's house when I left earlier that day to get away from the argument. I think we both knew that about each other…how we blamed ourselves for her passing, but we never really went out of our way to talk about it.

I feel bad just saying it, but I know Mom's death affected Dad more than it did me. It took her death, a best friend that was practically a sister's betrayal, and a year and a half bullying campaign to tear me down. With Dad, a large part of him just died when Mom did. I still catch him now and then, when he's not thinking, try and call out for Mom before seeing him crumple and crestfallen when he remembers.

Even if Mom's death left this big aching hole in our family, that even now hasn't healed, we still loved each other, regardless of what dark emotions festered due to the pain we went through. I…may resent him slightly for wallowing in his grief while I dealt with the hell at Winslow, but was that really fair of me? I'm the one who didn't want to worry him about it while I "dealt" with it. I still haven't told him about who the bullies were even after what I went through, and I know how deeply he cares due to how angry I saw him on my behalf.

He's been more alive in the past week out of sheer anger then he has in the last six months. If I told him sooner, even about Emma's part in it, how much would the situation have changed? Would he have woken up sooner out of his depressed daze? Would he try to fix things? Would Dad confronting Emma's parents or the school earlier on have changed anything?

I sigh inwardly. Even if it didn't change what happened at Winslow, we'd probably have a better relationship then we do now… The gulf between us is just as much as my fault as it is his. Even if he failed at being the best father he could be after Mom's death due to grief, if I wanted us to have a healthier relationship that didn't get mired in all of the negativity in our lives, I had to do my part to fix it. I couldn't just expect him to get better on his own.

For an accurate introspection, your Wisdom has increased by 1.

I barely manage to stifle a laugh trying to bubble out of my throat. So my powers can even make me wiser, huh? It's nice to know my powers seem to even help me in situations like this. Again, with Dad mostly just staring at his plate, I close out the box without him noticing

Well, it's got to start somewhere. I may not feel comfortable talking to him about my powers or who the bullies are just yet, but I can start with something small, and work my way up. Which in hindsight, is just like how my powers seem to work.

"So, Dad, how was work?"

He looked up from his plate, with a confused expression. "You sure you want to hear about that? I'm pretty sure it would just bore you…"

"I don't think it will. I'd like to hear how your day's been. Look, I'll start. I took a few naps, felt better than I did earlier, then I made dinner, and sat down to eat with my Dad while I asked him how his day was." I smirk. "Now it's your turn."

He smiled and then let out a small chuckle. "Alright, but I warned you. This morning there was an issue with…"


Okay, so Dad was right. It was a little boring. Just a minor problem with too much stock being delivered at a full warehouse Medhall was renting from the Dockworker's Association. Someone higher-up at Medhall had apparently screwed up some math and sent one too many trucks.

Even if it was boring, it was nice having Dad talk to me about it. Mom may have had a monopoly on funny anecdotes, especially the Ramen Incident in her English 305 class, but hearing him talk about it and really get into it reminded me how much passion he had about his work.

Dad really cared about the people he hired and managed over there. After he finished talking about his day, the conversation moved from there to subjects of little consequence. It was…nice. Not a massive improvement, but still better than our normal dinners.

Once dinner was finished, he seemed to be in a much better mood. He pretty much forced me out of the kitchen and told me in no uncertain terms he'd take care of it. Well, I guess I'll pick up a dish washing skill later…

I snicker. My power's weird but I doubt something as mundane as that will count as a skill. Back in my room, I take time to read the box I swiped over from dinner as I sit down at my desk.

Quest Completed!
You have successfully completed the quest "Cooking Dinner!"
Reward:
+500 EXP, Increased closeness of father

Okay. I'm not sure how much five-hundred exp is, but it sounds like a good number. Alright, now then, let's test Observe. I grab my notes from before and stare at the book itself. Following the instinct I got from the skill, I say the word "Observe" out loud.

A new tan box opens in front of me.

Notebook
Made by Scholastic Supplies Inc.
A book to keep notes in. Currently, it has a few pages with notes about Taylor Hebert's Gamer power.

I close out the box. Huh. The skill is supposed to get better over time, right? I just have to keep using it…


About an hour later, I had observed practically everything in my room. When I finished there, I went into my bathroom for my shower, and spent some time observing all of the contents in there too. By the time I hugged Dad goodnight and went off to bed, I had gained five levels in Observe. Now I can actually see who owns an object, a bit more in-depth explanation of what the object is, its dimensions in metric, its weight, and more.

Depending upon the type of object, I can see how many uses it has left, like a soap bar or a bottle of shampoo, or even its "defense rating." All of my clothes provide a big fat zero in that department by the way. For five levels…that's a lot of information, and that's just on objects. I haven't even used it on people yet.

If it gives me anywhere near the amount of information for people as it does objects… That means one of my skills is basically a thinker power all by itself that grows in strength the more I use it.

Holy shit…

I'm not even really sure I can imagine what a level 100 Observe would look like. There were some diminishing returns however. I kept one of the boxes with the skill up after it leveled up to see if I could keep track of the experience it gains. After the first time I observed an object of a specific type, objects of that type gave less and less experience afterwards.

So for example, I could get 5% of a level out of the first time I observed one of my books, but now after I've scanned all of the books in my room, I can only eke out a .25% per book. There is an exception to this. If the object is unique enough, it provides full exp regardless of what type it is. Apparently, my notebooks I use to record the bullying since last September are "unique" items and gave me a full 10% exp each. Just like a game though, the higher the level, the longer it takes to level it again.

Again, thanks Greg.

The best possible way to level it is to have access to a large amount of unique objects. If individual people count as unique, well, then any public place will work. If they don't, then the best places to check would be either museums or art galleries. Beyond that, for the sheer variety of objects, a grocery store would work if it counts different food items separately. A pen and pencil apparently were different enough to count, so it should work.

I let out a laugh.

This is just one small, tiny aspect of my power, and already I'm thinking on ways to improve it as fast as I can. I sit on my bed, too excited to sleep. In fact, I don't even feel tired. What other skills could I level from my own bedroom? I think for a second, before shaking my head.

Okay, I should step back some. Skills are nice, but it's only one aspect of my power. Somehow, both my "intelligence" and my "wisdom" increased today. I don't feel too much different, but tackling how that system works first before skills sounds like a good idea.

I don't need to reinvent the wheel here. My gaming power is set-up like games are, and what little I picked up from Greg can only go so far. So I just need to research RPGs and see what applies to me and what doesn't.

I stared at my door from my bed. The only computer in the house is downstairs. We do have internet, but it's not the best. As long as I only look up information about video games and don't research in an obvious "I'm a new cape!" fashion, I should be safe to do research about game mechanics here.

After that, I can put a workout plan together. Already, I know I improve in certain ways at a superhuman level. If I can just get stronger by just exercising or smarter by studying in a day what takes people months if not years in effort…well, I can actually live my dream. I can be a hero.