My Special Power

Remember how we’d want special powers when we were kids? I remember wishing that I was Superman, flying everywhere I wished. I even tried wearing my underwear on the outside on one occasion. Trust me, if you think red underwear on the outside is bad enough, try locking yourself in your room, wearing your cotton briefs on the outside of your pants and looking at yourself in the mirror.

There were other powers I wish I had too, like mind-control, or self-heal, or owning some super-powered armoured suit that could beat the cr*p out of bullies.

I happened to have one of these “what power would you want now?” conversations with Tf and L on 2 separate occasions recently.

A few options we arrived with:
Time manipulation: Allows the user to move back time up to a degree of several minutes. Also allows users to pause time.
Tf and I agreed that this will be very helpful in getting out of sticky situations which you got yourself into in a matter of the past few minutes, like accidentally sending a sarcastic email meant for your peers to your boss. Also works best for dates:
Person: You look great today. I love how your low cutting emphasizes your breasts
Date: Excuse me?
[Time manipulation]
Person: You look great today. I love how your pretty dress with the plunging neckline shows off your umm…
Date: Excuse me?
[Time manipulation]
Person: You look great today. You have nice assets.
Date: Excuse me?
[Time manipulation]
Person: You look great today. Let’s enjoy the night.
Date beams at the compliment and they both enjoy a wonderful night.

Wall meld: Allows user to meld with the wall, choosing either to press himself flat against it or going through it to the other side.
Tf thinks this will appeal to the wallflower in everyone. Since you already look so good leaning against the wall with that fruit punch in your left hand, why not go one step further and make yourself totally camouflaged when pressed against the wall?
Also works well when trying to avoid the girl who dumped you, the girl you had a fling with and the big muscular jock you just made fun of.

Tf and I were looking at why these powers appealed to us. Apparently, we both didn’t want to be caught in situations where we won’t be comfortable. At large parties, we don’t expect to mingle well, so we prefer to stay at a quiet corner, thus the wall meld power. With that in mind, we came up with our greatest power:

Normalcy: User sends weak-form psychic signals up to the size of a room. Users will find even the most boring jobs normal. However, others will also see whatever the user is doing as the most exciting thing in the room.
Remember all those times when you felt silly tripping in public? Or you wish people hadn’t seen you when you knocked into a low-hanging lamp in Plaza Singapura’s KFC? Or the time you walked into a glass door without realizing that it was there? Or the time you tripped on a floor tile while running through a busy shopping centre and was sent flying through the air?
Instead of wishing you were invisible, or melding into a wall, or going back through time, why not make whatever you’re doing the coolest thing to the people in your immediate vicinity? People will be trying to trip themselves in order to look as cool as you flying through the air!

We wish for powers to get out of embarrassing situations. But like all normal people, we have to contend with sheepish grins and a very thick skin. -Jimmy