Counsel of the Wise
5th of July 2006 A.D.
"Oh... he didn't deserve that," Left unsaid is that you think he deserved something, though maybe not unheard, Harry is a wizard and a detective and really good at both. He sort of looks off to the side a little then back at you sharply.
"
No one deserves to have their mind torn up with magic," the words are not angry, but they feel rock solid, almost like mom or dad talking about being generous to the needy or leaving vengeance to God. Do wizards have faith in magic as a world-spanning power balance and harmony and all that? Some of the New Age folks you had talked to going to occult shops talked about it like that.
"No one does," you agree quickly.
Though you had been hoping that Usum would have some insight on the notion of wizards worshiping magic he says something you did not expect.
"Be on your guard Gracious Judge of the Lowly, you are not the only one with the aid of spirits... see how his eyes moved just then, like he was looking at something, or someone we cannot see. Until we know more about the disposition of this guide it would be wise to assume the worst."
"That's stupid, he's Harry he helps people, he hangs out with my dad."
The spirit part does make sense though, just looking at how useful Usum has been so far well why wouldn't every wizard find a friendly spirit to help out? There were apparently entire world spanning subspecies of beings that bond with spirits.
Don't look at Thomas, don't look at Thomas. He will think you are checking him out. Part of you kind of does want to check him out, but not with
mom here.
If you could find a spirit that wasn't hungry or that you could just feed your magic, which yours were apparently doing well that sounded fine.
"That would be how a familiar is bound to their master, our connection is closer," Usum reels your scattering thoughts back into order even as the officer and the pari said their goodbyes. You have the uneasy feeling that the hard-eyed lieutenant is also a good detective, or at least a persistent one.
"Without you I would be as dust on the wind," your head companion adds, so matter of fact about it you do not know what to say.
"You do not need to say anything my princess, there will be time enough to ponder the meanings of life and death, in this hour bend your eyes and your wits towards the outer world for I fear we are not yet done with the perils of the day."
***
By the time the three of you you make it to the corner of Bloomingdale and Wood the pain in your calf had entirely gone away, not that there was much of it to begin with. Queen Mab needs better spiders it seems. You feel a smile twitch at the corner of your mouth until you spot your mother looking at you accusingly.
What am I supposed to do, never smile again just because she hates magic? You wonder annoyed. Prudently you do not explain that you had been fondly remembering hacking up unseelie fey with a sword.
Healed 1 Lethal Wound
Annoyance tips you right over the threshold before you have any time to doubt if you would be welcome and...nothing happens. Saint Marry's is as you had always known it, familiar in its red brick and white marble, the statues of saints and angels making even the stillness of night seem less lonely. You've known people who call Renaissance and Baroque architecture cluttered and to those people you generally say:
'Wow you must like plain mayo on bread too.'
Sometimes you wonder how mom would take it if you told her you came by your taste in Goth style honestly by way of a school project you did back in Middle School on Gothic architecture and then a lot of wiki diving. It was just plain cool how one style could reach back from now to nineteenth century ghost stories to medieval churches to like barbarians with axes if you really wanted to push it.
"We need to talk," Harry says recalling you from your contemplation.
Now if you weren't in a church with your mother glaring daggers at him you might have been tempted to try to say something a little flirty, but this is a church and you still have important stuff to talk about so you nod.
So while your mother talks to Father Forthil the two of you climb the steps to the top pew. Once you are up there you take a seat and turn to him, waiting for him to talk first but Harry just looks at you.. longer than he ever had before and you feel something starting to happen, a pull that does not move the air.
You turn your head with a snap and ask accusingly. "What was
that?"
"There's a reason I don't look into people's eyes that often," he explains with the tone of something he had done many times before. "They say the eyes are the windows of the soul and for wizards that is more fact that poetry. The first time I looks into someone's eyes I get to see their soul and they get to see mine.
That... Ok that was some heavy stuff. You are not sure how you should take someone willing to show you their soul, even if it is a mutual thing and he is doing it to make sure you are not possessed.
"The soul isn't the mind, I won't see your thoughts or your memories, but just an idea of who you are. Some people see images, some hear songs, I even heard of one wizard who gets it as smells. For me it is symbols flowing into one another, like a painting that shifts and changes. I don't know what it will be like for you but... I think it will be a lot easier to talk once this is done."
You were about to make a quip about checking you for demons and then just letting him do it because you are
really curious about what you'll see when Usum interjects:
"Skilled though this sorcerer may be in the ways of mortal magic I do not think it would be safe for him to behold the a power older than the Pillars of the Elements, older than the ordering of the Heavens and the Hells. Such is your soul now reforged."
"So what am I supposed to say, the spirit in my head says looking might drive you mad? That's not suspicious at all." It's not fair of you to snap at him, but you are tired and you are starting to get hungry and you just want this day to be over.
"I'm sorry."
You can p practically feel him fighting another flood of compliments, but probably due to being literally in your head he just says:
"Think nothing of it." Adding:
"Perhaps you should mention Harry Dresden's own spirit as an example of harmonious cooperation, there is a risk since he obviously wishes to keep it private, but you are alone here and he has just proposed a far more thorough exchange of secrets."
What do you say?
[] Accept the Soulgaze
[] Refuse the Soulgaze, it would be too dangerous to him (Charisma+Empathy or Charisma+Occult)
-[] Write in stunt (Optional)
[] Write in
OOC: The Occult version is you pulling magical secrets out of your demon friend until Harry hopefully concludes you know what you are about