Of Powers Unseen
6th of October 2006 A.D.
Squatting to be at eye level with a kid the better to talk to them is familiar enough, though not the part where you apologize for ripping out the only power Marcy ever had, even if it had been an illusion, sending off the only friend she thought he had and leaving her all alone in the care of strangers, but it turns out there
is an another advantage to an encyclopedic knowledge of the things that howl amid the endless blizzard of the Night Realm, knowing what hooks they like to use, what promises they make most often and all the ways in which their company poisons the mind and heart.
If you had tried to be kind from the start she would have mistrusted you, but showing embarrassment at the initial failure, then feigning some interest in the plots of the now banished demon, that at least got her to listen. Then you started bribing her for information which hundred dollar bills as Father Forthil looks on with queasiness, but it does work and as you thought, hoped really the girl finally starts to talk about her last foster family. Marcy wants, needs to tell someone, but the demon had conditioned her not to trust anyone, especially not those in positions of power like a priest or a social worker
She did not get that last bit from the demon alone... As she tells it, and you have no reason to doubt her the last three years of her life have been a horror show of neglect punctuated by abuse great and small to the point where...
"Sometimes I'd break the rules so Mark would beat me 'cause then at least he'd notice I was there."
It is a good thing that you are a sensible and level headed seventeen, because if you were not you might be doing a live impression of the Punisher right now.
By the end of the three hour long conversation the two of you had become... not friends, more drowning person and lifeline, but she had agreed to let you share the recording you had made with both Father Forthil and the police on the condition that she not be send back to her last foster home.
"Marcy will stab someone in their sleep if she is sent back," you quietly inform the priest as Clippy downloads the interview onto his computer. "One does not have a demon curled up inside their soul for weeks without gaining some skills and the inclinations to go with them."
"Thank you, you are doing the Lord's work Molly," he says with a proud smile.
As you nod and take your leave it's hard to think of what you have done as anything more than fixing your own messes, just a pity the guilt over not telling Harry isn't as easy to salve. But there's just no way...
If you tell Harry and he says wait then the 'kind of Lasciel' will know she's on a timer to corrupt him, even more of a one than just the risk of him getting himself killed, which is the one fear she
admitted to openly. On the other hand if Harry just wants to go ahead with it then the dark spirit will be loose in the world to work who knows what evil. It feels cold blooded as heck, but the world is probably safer with that thing inside Harry's head than out of it and if you are wrong about that... well you'll cross that bridge when you get to it, even if it does lead to an Alien City under a familiar-strange sun. The memory of that absolute command is its own comfort. Even if I had to do that to one of the Fallen in full it would work, sending them howling back into their Coin.
***
8th of October 2006 A.D.
Fortunately you have more than just Harry to worry about. The next morning, a foggy Saturday of the sort that makes for D list horror movies and unsolicited advice from moms the world over to 'bundle up' even though it's not cold, it's just
wet and and both of those things are boon not a hindrance to you, the perfect time to check in on the Order of the Cauldron, see how they made it though the magical DEFCOM Three .
Shaken, but otherwise fine, Olivia explains as you join her for her morning Grand Park, dodging soggy poodles, overly show off skaters and that one guy who thinks that the middle of a run is the perfect time to pick up girls, girls who are
clearly talking to each other.
"Asshole," you mutter, none too softly as the guy in question stomps off to complain to his buddies.
"He probably just didn't notice me," Olivia sighs. "Happens all the time."
"Well lucky for you I'm here to help."
"What? Today?" she asks startled. "Here?"
"Longest journey, first step, fill in the blanks," you wave airily in her general direction. Then in a more serious tone: "Sometimes there really is a simple solution or at least a simple place to start and having a lot of people around should help gouge how well the stuff we can try is going."
Surprise aside she is game, but for the first hour or so all you hit are duds. Breathing exercises, yoga, mindfulness all have no impact on her power and you outright veto Usum's suggestions of 'extreme sensory stimuli', another way of saying 'torture her until she gets it right', but eventually out of sheer boredom you hit on something that works, people watching. When Olivia is focusing on other people, how they are dressed, where they might be going, what they might be thinking she gets more noticeable, at least to one who is looking on though eyes of sin and shadow...
The power to hide, which Olivia had grown so sick of is not the only magic is is capable of, it is one side of a scale and the other is... empathy or telepathy. The thought of revealing that, of having to explain the Laws, especially that one, is enough to make you hesitate. Had some early trauma stuck her power on the defensive?
No, you realize as you consider her earlier struggles with meditation. If it were internal she would at least have gotten
some reaction, even if it was negative, the power curling in like a wounded beast. Which just leaves... someone
intentionally messing with her magic so that she would not run afoul of the Council's Laws. No mortal wizard could have done it so seamlessly, it must have been a god, a spirit or fey.
I'm sick of this! Hiding and hoping the monsters will take someone else instead of me, never knowing which of my friends are going to have a closed casket funeral because vampire ripped out their throat or a redcap slit their throat, not even knowing if their family knows. I hate it! The words from barely a week ago come back to you full force. Turns out she has a power that isn't hiding, or she could have one at least , not all you have to do is explain the dangers of using it oh and figure out who had bound it this way.
"Earth to Molly. You want to let me in on what you're thinking?" she interrupts your thoughts
What do you do?
[] Explain that her magic has another setting, but also the Laws, the Council and why she is probably better off sticking to mental veils for now
[] Give a full accounting, including the fact that something inhuman must have bound her powers at some point in this state
[] Write in
OOC: I was getting ready to do a school update, even rolled up some background stuff and then I realized the next day was a Saturday so instead here's the Cauldron Bubble action and another wrinkle to the Olivia situation. 
