A lot of animal communication is soundless, and most of that is through movement and posture. I've learned to understand that and make the appropriate motions in return. That much is obvious to anyone's eyes, though they may not realize that I intuitively understand the sounds animals make as well. When communicating back with them it can get tricky, I haven't learned many of the right sounds in their speech. Thankfully they understand my tone of voice for emotional context, even when I'm whistling to a bird or meowing to a cat. They seem to pick up on human language, at least when I say it, but it's like someone speaking with a bad accent. If I'm slow they get enough, and maybe part of the problem is that humans use more intricate concepts linguistically. Animals don't need most of that.
Anyhow, they get me and I get them, but I'll keep learning more of their sounds so we can talk easier and also not be understood by humans when we talk.
Some legends talk about humans learning the languages of animals, often from a mystical source like tasting dragon blood, but also as simple as being taught bird tongue by a bird. How did this ability spontaneously manifest? Honestly, it's through an inherent connection with animals that comes about from latent and innate shapeshifting abilities. It's in the blood, metaphorically anyway.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may understand and communicate to terrestrial animal as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
When attacked purple energy forms around the hoodie and blocks the attack as if there was an invisible forcefield around you
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 3 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
You may Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction to double your armor rating for the Round.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed or shredded, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor penetration. Your Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.
Any time your Armor prevents damage, your total Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 1. Whenever you go two Rounds without preventing any damage, it is restored back to its full value.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level each Round. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.
As long as at least half your body remains intact, you cannot die and remain at Incapacitated, regardless of how many Injuries you take. It is clear to observers that you are still alive.
If you do die, as long as a piece the size of a finger remains, you may fully regrow back to life from it. This takes a full month and you must be in a habitable environment.
Elizabeth looks at the cupboard, and the cupboard, without her touching it, opens. It was containing dishes and cutlery of all sorts, but out of them, only teacup carefully floated and lands on a table next to her, followed by he tea spoon. Cupboard closed, and she looked away from it, focusing her attention on the teapot. And, as expected by now, it also flew towards her, and slowly poured its contents into the cup, before floating back to its original position.
Elizabeth was unsure of when she "awakened" her "gift". Maybe she had it since childhood and just never noticed, and thus it never developed properly, or maybe only recently, when her phone flew into her face during one morning, but either way, now she could use her mind for telekinesis. Now she didn't had to get up from her seat to brew tea, which was cool, even if impractical.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You can interact with things that are within 75 feet without needing to physically touch them or be near them. Any rolls made for Actions taken in this way use a Mental Strength of 2 in place of your Brawn rating, a Mental Agility of 2 in place of your Dexterity, and otherwise use your own Attributes and Abilities.
Telekinetic actions have the following restrictions and behaviors:
The Ringmaster is worth listening to. The Ringmaster is your favorite person. The Ringmaster would never lie to you. The Ringmaster is SO cool.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Charisma rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Charisma (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).
You also gain the following effects:
You are an unnaturally pale, still, lifeless human with intense burn scars all over your body, including your face that gives it a shocking and horrific appearance. In some places, your marred skin hangs too loosely to the limbs. Instead of fresh blood, a sticky, poisonous black ooze appears from any piercing injuries you receive.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You are permanently and visibly transformed: a zombie. You are considered to be a Sapient, Non-Living being when targeted..
Your Injuries no longer degrade with time.
Any creature that consumes or is injected with your bodily fluids receives a Severity-1 Injury. Every minute, they must roll Body Difficulty 9. If they fail, the Injury worsens by 1 Severity. If they succeed, the Injury stops worsening.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Disfigured.
Finally, the girls are fusing the way theyโve wanted to since they began Contracting, three and a half years ago. It took Graceโs left eye for them to try this, but the girls are now able to spend a week focusing their energy towards a Battle Scarred area and permanently replacing it with The Spiritโs ghostly flesh. The replaced chunks, eyes, arms, whatever may come, appear just as The Spiritโs: bluish and semi-transparent, but now function just as the respective physical flesh would.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 6 hours. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.
All Injuries you receive are considered Properly Stabilized. You may also choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that may not have been caused by an Injury. Doing so takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: any scars that heal this way leave the flesh in that area bluish and semi-transparent, causing you to be viewed as a freak by most people who see you.
You never know whether or not the musician's death is merely part of the performance.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you donโt die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state. This state lasts for the next hour, at which point you fully return to life. Unstabilized Injuries do not degrade while you are Incapacitated
If, while you are unconscious, your wound level rises above your rating in Body + Charisma, or if you take an Injury with Severity greater than your rating in Charisma, you die. After you return, the Injury that would have killed you, as well as any Injuries sustained while Incapacitated, are healed. Battle scars obtained during this time remain.
The detective has trained their eyes to notice the smallest of details.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
As long as the Ninja is dressed in an appropriate uniform, their movement is almost silent.
You gain the following benefits as long as as long as you are visibly dressed head to toe in black with hardly any skin showing.
You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you or your equipment specifically from other, additional senses fails automatically.
If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. Activating a targeted or obvious Effect, attacking, or being Injured ends the Effect. When the Effect ends, it is disabled for one minute.
You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: compulsion to test the awareness of allies by sneaking up on them with a weapon.
The mobster's been through tougher scrapes than this. A few cuts and bruises won't stop them.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Stress from Injuries is reduced to 0. Does not reduce Stress from Mind Damage.