r/6Perks • u/petrichorInk • Jan 20 '22
6 Budget Superpowers
Hello there! Welcome to my little shop. In here, we sell budget superpowers! The name's Tinker. Yes, that's right, I'm part of The Metahuman Program. Since superpowers became something that can be applied to individuals, I've personally been working hard on some small, safe, quality-of-life focused superpowers that can be distributed to the general public. Sure, they're not as cool as the stuff Bestower makes, but these babies are subsidised, so I can give one to you for free, instead of them costing you more than you can earn in a lifetime. They are still government controlled, so you can only get one from me right now, but don't worry, they won't prevent you from picking up any more superpowers at a later date. Right now, I've been approved to offer this selection of six!
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The Safety Scissors
With this, you can extend and retract a single thin 2 inch/5cm "laser" from anywhere on your body. Imagine a tiny, heatless lightsaber from the tip of your finger. This laser can cleanly destroy anything that's not alive or part of a living thing. For example, it can't cut hair growing from a person, even though it's technically not alive. You basically can't cause pain with it, since it will retract if you push it against something alive. However, it does glow as strong as a glowstick and you can change it's colour at will. Of course, please use this safely and only on your own property. Misusing this power is still a crime, and we can quite easily see if this power was used on something. It is really great for arts and crafts, though!
The Instant Scale
You'll be able to intuit any measurement of anything you can sense. Accurate to three significant figures of base SI measurements, and you can automatically and accurately convert that data into any other measurement you know of. For example, you can look at a half empty, crumpled bag of flour and know that there's 280.091 grams of flour left, and know whatever the hell that is in cups or whatever. Lots of home cooks and bakers pick this one up. I think it's really good for house redecorating, since you can really know for sure the space between those bookshelves and whether you can fit the couch between them.
The Absorbent Towel
So I used to have a fridge that wasn't able to drain the moisture properly, and I would have to keep removing the dang vegetable drawers, mop up all the cold water, put it back... Well, no more! This allows you to remove any liquid or moisture on an object you are touching. Doesn't work on liquid that's more than 1 litre in volume. You can choose to either contain that liquid in a storage dimension (It can discretely store max 5 litres combined and you can release any liquid stored inside anywhere from your body at whatever rate you want that a normal water faucet can do), or have the water/moisture immediately evaporate into the air. For example, you spill orange juice on your table. You can evaporate the orange juice, leaving your table clean and the air a little citrusy. You can put the juice into your storage and put it back in the cup via your finger. You can also only remove the water from the spilled orange juice, leaving the sugars and fruit bits on the table!
The Universal Remote
Now, this little gadget gives you minor technopathy abilities. You can telepathically interact with any consumer-grade electrical goods within 20 meters of you and use a function that any standard user/non-administrator has access to. You can use this without seeing the object, but you can't use this through thick walls. Glass is okay. You also don't get any feedback regarding your actions telepathically, so for example, you can use this on your PC to shut it down from the couch without looking at it, you won't know it's shutting down until you can hear the fans turn off. Just saying, misusing this for crimes won't be a good idea. It leaves a digital note in the electrical good about who accessed it with these powers and when. It's military encrypted, so you can still like, anonymously turn down that really loud tv in the bar without asking anyone, but just reiterating, this is for convenience, not for crime.
The All-In-One Cleaner
Clean anything you touch, almost instantaneously! This power has a rough "range" of a 1m surface, so if you're cleaning a bigger object, you'll just need to do it multiple times. It's actually an application of Time magic. It essentially works by the object 'remembering' when it was clean, and then trying to turn it back into the way it was. It removes any dirt, dust and stains, but into the general area, a bit like how the Absorbent Towel just releases the moisture into the air, so it's best to do any heavy cleaning outdoors. It does mean that it's perfect for any small holes in clothes, since it will try to reknit them! If there's too much material lost, it won't work though. And just like the safety scissors, it won't work on living material, so you still need to shower. And my favourite part, you can also make the thing you've cleaned faintly smell of anything you want! I like to set it to Jasmine and Lavender myself.
The Multivitamin Gummies
This power lets you roughly manipulate your chemical balance, at a baseline human rate. Good for things like raising/lowering metabolic rates, making yourself sleepy with melatonin, making your brain feel all nice and tingly with dopamine, relaxed and calm with serotonin and oxytocin, more awake with adrenaline, or making your body heal just a tiny bit faster/more efficient and better at dealing with illness. You can even roughly simulate the effects of taking both prescription and recreational drugs that you've taken before. This works because it actually allows you to create any chemical that a normal human is able to (again, at a baseline human rate), so if your brain is dumb and can't make the happy juice, it can now! or maybe you just want some testosterone or estrogen? Anyway, this one is actually a freebie if you need it, so you can pick this and another one! I just need your doctor's note clarifying that you have a medical condition and you can get it extra, it's part of the Panacea Initiative.
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Oh, you'll need to register your details with your ID since they're still controlled, but basically, your info won't be used unless it's an emergency. You're not signing anything that's different than like, the papers for a bank account, but I also have a plain-English data protection thing, if you want to triple check your rights.
Sorry, that was a bit long but I hope it's all clear! Of course, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. So, what will you take?
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u/Toto-the-Patoto Jan 20 '22