\nalso me: you realize “travelers who recognize you from your writing visit you when passing through town” is like, the real, historically well-precedented step of being a guru before “people come to town specifically to meet you”, right?
me: oh if we’re doing Jesus fantasies here who’s my John the Baptist?
also me: DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN SCOTTSTARCODEX CAME THROUGH TOWN AND AT THE CULT GATHERING THAT FORMED AROUND HIM HE PERSONALLY TOLD YOU HE THOUGHT YOU WERE ONE OF THE ONES WHO MAYBE COULD DO THAT TOO?
(time passes)
me: oh when I was telling him how to recognize me I should have mentioned the cane
also me: YEAH YOU’RE JUST SOME WIZENED-BEFORE-HIS-YEARS SPACE GENIUS WITH A CANE AND A HALF-OTHERWORLDLY MIND THAT PEOPLE FROM AFAR SEEK OUT, NO WAY IS THAT WEIRD
Like do you guys appreciate how hard it’s been to maintain an understanding that I’m not the main character of life when a global era-defining pandemic plague sweeps in to resolve all of my issues specifically in the most cartoonish possible way?
Oh, and, AND I discover that I can now basically win any Charisma roll against anyone and convince them to do anything if, weirdly not if I try hard enough but if I want it enough.
(I think this might be defeatable if you prepare for it coming, so readers you can’t disprove it yourself, gotta go double-blind and feed me some victims. Good luck with your IRB.)
It’s a very weird experience and I like to think I’m handling it maturely and well, considering.
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