Since the Celestial Dojo has been updated and added to and tweaked since I started writing it, I was curious as to how it could have gone differently. So here it was with a few quick dice rolls and I shifted the "Trigger Event" back in time a bit.

Chapter Text
Celestial Dojo: Different take 1

* July 9, 2009 *

Summer Camp had been okay until now, when it went into a bit weird.

Okay, thoroughly weird.

Dreams of some vast mechanism, of Beings of Light discussing things in a language she didn't know, of Angles That Were Not, and of Colors That Could Not Be.

That was when the first of these "rolls" took place. At the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, causing her to trip and land face-first in her potato salad, navy beans, and hot dog.

There had been a tak-tak-tak noise and a sense of building power, rotating Constellations that bore strange names like Altered Ancestry and Skills To Pay The Bills.

That first constellation had been Weird Stuff and the second such apparently-random selection had been "No Sell, No Tell - Blank Spot" which had been confusing until a box of flavor text had explained it.

[No Sell, No Tell - Blank Spot. 100CP]
[Precogs, Seers, the Undead, and Psychics have trouble perceiving you as you are a Blank Spot in their perceptions.]
[Such forces can still see you indirectly, and consequences of your actions can be seen as they leave your presence.]

As she didn't know of any 'Precogs' or 'Seers' or so on - she wasn't sure at all if this was even real, much less what they all meant. Was it real or just her imagination going someplace strange?

The next day she'd been going about her business, until she got lost on a nature trail and exhausted herself running back and forth.

At which point she'd sunk to her knees in the grass, wondering if wild animals were going to gnaw on her bones.

This time the constellation had been "02 - Ki Based Martial Arts" and the "star" had been "08 - Hokuto Shin Ken" and she'd suddenly not been in New Hampshire at all.

* The Camp *

The figure sitting at the campfire, an air of sadness clinging to him like some particularly weighty blanket, was HUGE.

Especially to a thirteen year old girl.

"Where am I? Who are you? What's going on?!" chatterboxed Taylor, the words trying to race themselves out of her mouth.

"Between Life and Death. Toki. And an opportunity for you to learn useful skills and for my life to mean something," said the white-haired man in tattered clothing. "Fortunately, time here progresses differently than back in the world of the living."

"I don't get that at all," confessed Taylor.

"You get to learn to manipulate your inner strength, your chi, to learn how to fight. You wanted to be a hero, yes?"

Taylor nodded. That was good and it gave her something to focus on. This guy looked huge and strong but not very scary for some reason.

"That's good. We have to start with getting you in shape and learning to harness your chi - that inner strength," said Toki. He looked around at the ruined city they were in and sighed. "Hopefully your Earth follows a different path than mine."

* Thirteen seconds later in the real world *

Taylor frowned as she reappeared in the real world. She was thirteen again. Checking her arms and legs she was at least partially relieved that she still had some of the slender muscles and figure that she'd developed over the years in the wastelands of post-nuclear Japan. She still had the callouses on her hands from learning Hokuto Shin Ken in general and the Hokuto Jū no Ken style in particular. She could still name the major pressure points, bones and tissues of the human body, and a fair amount of herbalism though the Wasteland had damn little of the supplies needed.

There had been no nuclear exchange in the 90s here. No wasteland. No roving bands of Mad Max wannabes.

She'd be able to find the herbs and medicines here.

In the meantime she would be taking the First Aid course to provide cover for her knowing things she technically shouldn't.

The next time she heard that takity-tak-tak noise was two days later, while learning how to kayak. She hadn't really enjoyed all the physical activities in the past - but now that she had the level of fitness conferred by knowledge of her meridians and workout routines? Yeah, it was kind of nice.

She put too much strength into rowing at one point, hit a submerged something in the lake, and the kayak flipped.

The instructor was reaching over to grab her when she flipped it herself, being in a shallow enough spot to manage it without getting out of the kayak.

At which point she heard the noise and wondered what the trigger actually was.

[300 CP banked from patron.]
The constellation she could see rumbling closer in the rotation was [12 - Altered Ancestry] which sounded interesting. By the time the instructor had been satisfied that she was okay and had righted herself to the woman's satisfaction that the next thing came up and made her wonder what it meant. What the heck was [08 - Viltrumite] supposed to mean?

[Insufficient Points. Lock for later use, Bank points for next roll, or Reroll?]

Taylor was happier at being given an actual choice and was quick to make one.

[11 - Blessing] came up with the star that tried to connect was [07 - Aphrodite] but she didn't notice anything immediately.

What exactly was that supposed to do, anyway?

[100 points used. 200 points remaining.]

[Blessing: A deity from the greater omniverse has taken a liking to you, and has given their Blessing to you.]
[The form this might take varies and the gods are a fickle bunch, but it is generally a positive effect]
[based on their specific focus/portfolio.]

Wait. She could get an explanation of this stuff?

Taylor tried to remember and did come up with the Blank Spot thing having an explanation. Her brow furrowed as she walked back to the cabin she was sharing with the other three girls. Aphrodite. Goddess of love and beauty among the Greek gods. Had an affair with Ares at one point. Her mother being a teacher of English literature had brought up some of the classic literature from other groups at one point or another. Usually when Taylor was in grade school learning some of this.

[Aphrodite has upgraded Blessing (Minor) to Blessing (Intermediate)]

So... why were her roomies staring at her?

* Danielle Dubois *

It was just effing summer camp. Time away from school and living in a neighborhood that was basically going downhill faster than a soapbox racer.

Well, this seemed to be benefitting some of the girls better than others.

The "hoody-girl" "fashion disaster" girl in their little hut for example.

Yeah, her taste in clothing went for practical and comfortable-looking over fashionable and complimentary.

Damn though as she stripped off her wet clothing and changed... she had a promise that when she grew up she was going to be an absolute looker.

If someone taught her how to do makeup and stuff because apparently the girl had no clue.

Danielle sighed. Well, she could use a wingman (winggirl?) when the boy camp fought the girl camp in volleyball later in the week.

"Hey, uhm. Sorry, I forgot your name, quiet girl. Tanya?"

"It's Taylor."

"Right, Taylor. Your mother never show you how to do makeup?"

Oh heck. Judging from that expression, some issue there.

"she died last year."

Danielle winced. "Okay. Uhm, sorry. But that just means I need to show you how to do this, right?"

Aretha was looking at me strangely, but I just looked back. Did that one-shoulder shrug with cocked eyebrow. Girl-talk for "help me out here?" that apparently was something Taylor didn't pick up on.

"Yeah, right," said Aretha, apparently knowing a bit more than Taylor when it came to girl-talk. "Come on, we may all be thirteen but this is the foundation years."

"And that's where we'll start," said Danielle with a nod at her co-conspirator. "Never too early to start."

After that it was just maintaining the usual easy chatter, nothing meaningful, just three girls doing girl things.

Dang though if there wasn't just something about their roomie that suggested the flower was about ready to bloom.

* July 13, 2009. Camp Robindel at Lake Winnipesaukee *

Taylor was a bit nervous about the way attention had been going.

The other kids stared, particularly if she was wearing her swimsuit such as now. She wasn't sure why. It was just the same one-piece she'd brought. Just a bit tighter now.

It stretched. It was fine.

Sure, she had a bit more muscle on - partly that was her time learning martial arts under Toki having an effect. Partly it was the whole "Blessing of Aphrodite" thing she supposed. It was very very strange though.

Like making friends other than Emma. Danielle and Aretha had been kind of stand-offish, but the two were now carrying on like they were friends. Not close friends but a lot more friendly lately.

Taylor stretched out before the swim. Had to do it, requirement after all.

"Why the HELL does she wear baggy clothes to conceal THAT!"

All the other girls stared at the one who'd spoken up, then at Taylor.

Taylor was thinking about how awful she must look with an old swimsuit that probably violated some fashion law.

Still, she got on the starting block and waited for the call.

"GO!" yelled one of the instructors.

Taylor and the other three all dove, simple swimming race. No problem. She just had to participate, nobody (least of all herself) expected her to win.

Tak-tak-tak-tak-tak

Taylor decided to ignore that. She had a competition to lose but she wasn't about to just give up.

[12 - Altered Ancestry.]

This one again. Probably didn't have the points for it anyway.

[300points available.]
[10 - Dragon]

Concentrate. Stroke-stroke-stroke. Keep kicking. Almost there.

[Dragon type: Water, Sky, Celestial. Searching. Tien Lung]
[Parental line: Mother.]
[Retroactive Adjustment: Y/N?]

Taylor spared a moment in between one stroke and the next to jerk her head back to try and clear the annoying messages.

[Adjustment made.]

Tap the target, curl in on herself, kick off and head back to the starting point.

[Timeline alteration complete in 5 seconds.]

Lots of yelling, so someone had already finished. Wasn't like she could keep up after all.

[Timeline alteration complete in 3 seconds.]

What did 'retroactive' and 'timeline adjustment' mean anyway? If this rotating-constellations power was a parahuman ability it was certainly a weird one. When she got back to having computer access, she was going to look the hell up out of this.

[Timeline alteration complete in 1 second.]

* Elsewhere *

She stirred in the bed, her nose already telling her from the smell of antiseptics that couldn't quite overwhelm the smell of human crap and blood where she was. A hospital room, specifically an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) room in an older hospital where it was all just one big room with a dozen beds.

Annette Hebert opened her eyes.