I got a fucking laptop.
Not even a cheap one, I got an expensive laptop and that was before you factored in this little mini satellite uplink thingy that it had that tripled the cost of it.
Well technically I didn't get a laptop. Lisa got a laptop. Which she then shoved onto me. I had no idea where she got the thing either, but now I had the thing, and I ended up sitting through a ten minute lesson on how to learn the freaking thing.
I mean it wasn't a bad thing to have really. I'd get one on my own eventually. I had planned to do so after I'd gotten myself to a level I was comfortable with, both in personal ability and funds. It was certainly useful in that it allowed me access to the all powerful information source that is Google, and was an endless source of entertainment for wherever I went!
Which... honestly was why I was holding off on getting one in the first place. Training time was training time! I was trying to learn how to deflect bullets with my face, not resist the all consuming call of youtube!
And plus this way I didn't really have an excusenotto check in with Lisa now and then...
Okay yeah she was good. Subtle as well, which was a pain in the ass. There were tricks I could learn to bypass pushy people. The charms of Malfeas were great for letting me accept no will above my own, but the subtle stuff?
That was the domain of The Ebon Dragon, and I didn't exactly feel like dipping into that mess just yet.
On the bright side this was one of those problems that would resolve itself. The more I interacted with Lisa the better I'd get at reading her and all the better at countering her little suggestions. It was actually useful in a lot of ways, I was kind of weak on social-fu and she was an excellent sparring partner.
Still annoying that was leading me around at her whims, even if it was good natured.
...At least I hoped it was good natured. Lisa didn't have much of a poker face, too easy to panic or knock off balance, but there was always the possibility of..
And that was the good old anti-thinker paranoia kicking in.
Anyway, the actual shopping didn't take long. A duffle bag, four changes of clothing, about a dozen little containers of cup noodles, this little fancy solar charging kit for the super laptop...
You could tell very easily which items were my choice and which were Lisa's.
I also got more of a 'costume' for myself. Which was basically a long cloth duster I found on a discount rack and a scarf for my lower face. The coat was cliché as hell, but it was a functional one. I mean it fluttered all dramatically, had pockets, kept my legs warm, and was easily replaceable.
Considering the nature of Infernal Charms that last part was pretty important. I was already becoming superhumanly durable, I planned shortly to become a lot more so, but the tricks to making my equipment similarly robust were a little out of my grasp, and I was pretty soon going to be doing stuff like kicking people made of blenders and fire in the face.
A ten thousand dollar tinkertech set of super body armor was not likely to be a long term investment given my relative abilities and opponents.
Well, the abilities I was planning on learning how to make use of anyway.
An Exalt could do some amazing things. A lot were basic tricks just cranked to eleven. Some exalts worked almost entirely on that principle.
Some but not all. Emulating the power of the Yozi would be... tricky, and not exactly something easily or safely done around other people. Which led to my current strategy. Forest training!
It wasn't quite as epic as mountain training. Honestly it wasn't even all that traditional given the stuff Lisa had piled down on me but damn it! I was going to have my mystical kung fu training montage!
After the whole trip was done I took the bus to as close as to the edge the city as it would go, walked down the remainder, hit the tree line and just kept walking. The Navigator of Unknown Skies kept my course relatively straight until I stopped after the moon reached high into the sky.
Then I found a nice flat spot and set up camp.
Really, why did I even need a satellite laptop? I was probably in cellphone range.
Oh well. For the night I would sleep under the stars.
In the morning I'd be experiencing the joys of being a living breathing stereotype in action.