Okay, so Friday I had pretty much to myself, so I had some Huel with my breakfast. The drinks weren't bad really, and frankly, it was so much easier than eating the same calories in actual food. Dad was in his last two weeks with his office, so he went to work, while Mom needed to go to school to sign me out of classes and whatnot. Merida and Mackenzie were in school, so the day was mine. I figured first priority, I needed to organize some sort of schedule. The easy place to start with that was Scouts.

Okay, first let's compile the list of badges I already had:

First Aid, Camping, Hiking, Swimming, Safety, and Reading, the six I'd needed to be a Star Scout.

Okay, so just... one-hundred and thirty-two badges left to get... Okay, this could be considered an issue. That... that feels like way too much, so we need to break it down before we move forward. Categories? Required/Non-required was too broad a net. Eighteen required badges for Eagle, we'll put those off in their own group, but the rest has to be broken down into components. Okay, so handcrafts:

Animation, Architecture, Art, Basketry, Cooking (Required), Drafting...

I kept going, but there was one that stood out as a problem: Dog Care. I mean, technically, I could go help at a shelter, but just thinking about it, I knew I would fold like an accordion. I got on the family text-chain:

Me: "Mom, Dad, I need to get a dog for my Dog Care merit badge."

Dad: "You can't just go volunteer at a shelter?"

Mom: "Dearheart, he swore to eradicate homelessness, revealed his superhero identity, and decided to found a business because he saw one homeless camp at a park."

Dad: "..."

Dad: "One dog, but it's on you. I'm not taking care of it."

Mackenzie: "We're getting a DOG?!? OMG, I turn off my cell phone for one class, and y'all lose your minds."

Mom: "You have your cell phone on during class?"

Mackenzie: "Not important right now! We're getting a DOG!"

There were a couple more comments, but Dad was leaving work early to help me go get a dog. It should be noted for the record that Mom was going to do it, but Dad responded about leaving work early first, before she could get a word in on it. The whole affair was sort of odd, cause he kept saying how the dog wasn't his responsibility, but his actions were completely against that mantra.

We stopped by the shelter, and it didn't take me long to find my dog. She was a husky pup around 6 months old, and while most puppies were either super-excited, or scared of the new person, she just sat very prim and proper, regally even. She didn't bark, or wiggle; those things were Beneath Her Dignity. Oh yeah, that's my dog.

Dog acquired, I figured we would just swing by Fred Meyer for some quick kibble, but oh no, no, Dad ixnayed that, and we ended up at Petsmart. Every time I tried to get something basic, Dad stepped in and upgraded. Simple leash and collar? Nope! Full harness, with the premium leashes, the ones made from actual leather instead of the regular nylon stuff. Some Puppy Chow to get us started? NOPE! He picked the most expensive kibble in the store, AND he got the matching high-end dog food from the cooler that was actual meat and stuff.

I managed to snag video of the cart, and my dad agonizing over pet beds, and which one was best for the princess. Princess would definitely be the name now, cause her name on the paper had been Snowflake, and come on, people. Give your dog a name they can feel some pride in. Princess also got fully insured, signed up for puppy classes, and got a full grooming, the premier brushes for dogs with an undercoat, even the toys. I swear to God, I never managed to put a single thing in the cart myself, cause Mr. "I'm not taking care of it" McKenna could not be stopped. Mom and Mackenzie were nearly peeing themselves with laughter at the whole experience. We wrapped up with Dad getting this insane doghouse, and finally checked out, him admonishing me again that Princess was my responsibility, before getting to the car and breaking out the backseat dog hammock he bought for her, along with a spare pet bed that seemed to exist just for the back of the van. I was nearly crying for holding back laughing.

For what remained of the afternoon, I went online and checking Humble Bundle, I saw they had a ton of game development books and another bundle that was made up of videos. Awesome. So, snatched those up. I also found some videos on dog training, and the technical manuals for it. Tempting as it was to put Princess through her paces, she'd pretty much been in a shelter her whole life, so she needed time to get used to the house, eat, drink, and get used to the people. Currently, she had staked out my bed as being an essentially good spot to be in, and laid herself down there, still looking with that imperious expression on her face. I also looked up breed information, and apparently, I'd picked an incredibly smart breed, but they could be difficult to get control over, and were not that food motivated. Every so often, I reached over to let her smell me, then petted her. I kept this routine up until she didn't bother smelling, and just let me pet. She eventually decided it was time to nap, and walked up to where my pillows were to lay herself down to sleep.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Well, I figure, she'll let me know when she wants attention again, so let's get some more scouting work done. The boys of the troop had already joined the Discord and created their website accounts with a couple of clicks and some typing between classes. There were some messages from adults who needed it explained to them, so I took them through the sign-up process for Discord and got their accounts logged. Darryl would be thrilled to have everyone ready to go with the online stuff. I assigned roles and put out an initial announcement welcoming everyone to the Discord, and letting them know to DM Darryl if they had questions about the site or Discord stuff.

I checked email, and let the Huel people know that so far, I liked the product, and gave them my dad's email to contact him. There were other emails from people, a number of sponsorships, and then a notification from Reddit that a new group had been created that I might be interested in, it was my superhero moniker....

Why not? I clicked, and went to the page, where there were a LOT of posts already. Some were really nice, and some were noticeably less nice. There was a whole contingent on the subreddit that were making huge speculations about my powers, what or if the limits were, and interestingly, a bunch of folks who were trying to work out hacks for the power that could increase its usage. And being honest, much as some of them were pure speculation or utter lunacy, there were a lot of good suggestions.

One of the first ones was that I should be doing memory puzzles, to train my memory to the point being effectively eidetic. Another pointed out that I should be isolating my different senses, to train them specifically. The instance they used was Toph from Avatar The Last Airbender, how she used her earthbending senses to be able to see. I mean, not an earthbender, but I mean, it was otherwise a pretty decent theory. I joined the subreddit, and then looked up sensory isolation, and learned something new: We do not have five senses. We also sense time, we sense temperature, where our body parts are without having to see them, there were a number. They could be improved, and that meant my power would affect them.

Another person observed that while seven minutes of breath holding was certainly interesting, that was nowhere near the record of almost a half hour. The largest breakdown was the body's instinct to try and breathe. Another noted I could learn to control my own heart rate, and that was rumored to be a key aspect in accessing Chi-Manipulation. On that note, someone wrote that I should be learning a bunch of different martial arts, that I could even evolve my own unique style of martial arts from it.

There were certainly other dojos around Portland, and other styles, as well as MMA gyms that taught multiple-doctrine fighting. Everyone agreed that the power was deeply broken, since it also extended to mental skills and abilities.

But, there were more important things than my powers to consider. I had a date, and I needed to prepare. Aimee seemed really happy to go on a date with me, but her dad insisted on me coming over there Sunday. I had cheerfully offered to bring dessert. Now, I could buy something really good, but... I mean, I do need my cooking merit badge, so it would be more efficient in the general sense to make something.

I grabbed bags and rolled out for the Fred Meyer. While I was on the way over, I was looking over various Italian desserts, since her family is actually Italian. In point of fact, Aimee herself was only a second-generation American from the presentation she did in elementary school, and the impression she gave was that they were very Italian. I settled on tiramisu, the ingredients being essentially simple enough, while still also requiring some thought, and Aimee having mentioned it in the presentation.

Okay, so Fred Meyer had most of it, but not all. I was missing the 'Italian ladyfingers', and the Marscarpone Cheese. It is, however, Portland, so getting foodie stuff wasn't exactly an impassable obstacle here. A couple of quick searches, and I found a place, jogging on over, got my last ingredients, and back home, where Merida was absolutely losing her mind that we had a dog. She didn't have a phone, so this morning when she left for school, there was no dog, nor anyone talking about getting a dog, and now BAM.

I memorized the recipe while I waited for the ingredients to get cold, and started my first batch, which would be used on my family. Thankfully, my recipe hadn't decided to give me some thesis statement on the first time they ever enjoyed tiramisu, and their college trip to Italy, cause Jesus, there were so many recipes that pulled that crap. This one was written by someone with the central mantra of, "Here, I don't have time to fuck around with you. Do this, and don't fuck it up."

First batch actually went decent, but then again, according to the recipe, it was a fairly simple dessert. I'd need to make more, though. I mean, not terribly difficult, but I needed other taste testers. My dad signaled me as I was considering what I could do better. Anna had called, and wanted to talk. I gave him the signal to pass me the phone, "Hey Anna."

"Hi Marcus. It's been a month since your awakening, and the H.A.A. likes us to check in and see how you're adjusting. How are you feeling?" The conversation was meant to be light, just a formality.

I rubbed the back of my head, "Well, I'm doing... okay, I guess. I learned Spanish, working on Japanese, but kanji is finicky, did some conflict resolution, got a dog- who is now singing us the song of her people cause we won't feed her our dessert. It has chocolate in it. Got banned from actively participating in family board game night. Got a girlfriend... I think, started back at Scouts, got Senior Patrol Leader, I'm gonna be making a video game with Darryl, OH, and I don't go to school anymore."

Everything but that last part, Anna took with stride, congratulating me quietly while I spoke, and then that last part, "Wait, why don't you go to school?"

"Already memorized all my textbooks before the year began, and I was apparently setting fire to the Bell Curve without really trying to. I think that's also why the academy isn't any good for me. Within... let's give it three months, I wouldn't really be learning anything anymore. I'd just be kinda chilling. I'll be taking the SATs next month to clear that."

There was dead silence on the other end of the line for a moment. Quite obviously, the concept of everything coming together was likely a bit much, before she started talking again, "That's a lot to process, Marcus. Would you consider coming in this weekend? I know your feelings about the H.A.A., but we need to re-evaluate your power, and we'd like to run some more tests, now that we have a better idea of what is going on with you."

Eh, fuck it, lets do it.... "Hey Anna, you aren't vegan, right?"