Of Cold Counsel
6th of October 2006 A.D.
Maria's 'Alex' or to use his full name as Clippy had found it Alexander Glezos is the grandson of Greek and Georgian immigrants, the VP of a small real-estate agency, family owned a soccer and ice hokey fan and, most importantly for your purposes, a man of no particularly strong religious or spiritual beliefs. Not that being religious keeps one from understanding magic for what it is of course, but the best way to reveal such a thing is rather different. For Izzy and Alec it had been superheroes, for Cindy it had been Harry Potter, for someone who thinks of himself as a rational man in a reasonable world you're going to have to take a page out of Daedalus' Book.
"Remember it's ESP and psychic power, not magic," you coach Maria. "You can get him to more sensible terms later, but right now what you have to do is get a foot in the conceptual door and er... explain why you did not tell him any of this stuff already."
She blushes, motioning at the stacks of paper stacked neatly on the kitchen table. "So that's what all this is about? Technobabble?"
"Nah, technobabble's easy, just the stuff I told you about, this is all reports from vaguely scientifically sounding organizations about how they did tests to find psychic powers and got something other than a flat no. I'm pretty sure 80% of it is bunk, but we don;t need it as actual proof, just as rhetorical cover after we provide the proof, not to mention...." you shuffle a five page stack like they were playing cards. "This is all stuff about alphabet agencies getting into looking for magic, sure it's all presented as 'look at what they have been wasting our tax money on', but it's there."
"I'm not really worried about the government," she points out, but you just shake your head.
"No, you are worried about vampires, but introducing vampires together with the magic is more likely to freak him out, everyone knows why you should be concerned about Agent Smith knocking at your door."
"I'm sorry all this feels really
cold." She shuffles uncomfortably in her seat.
Maybe you should have asked advice from someone warmer then, you bite your tongue on the annoyed retort which Usum calls 'coddling her'. "If you want to cover everything in a manner someone entirely mundane can deal with in days rather than months or years you have to meet them where they are."
So it goes, like clockwork, like code being compiled. Absent the emotional investment of dealing with your friends or the sympathy you felt for Cindy the whole situation from doorbell's ring to clink of whiskey glass, you do not talk about your age or your inability to get drunk, feels almost scripted. No, not quite. It feels like a video game. Prod Maria just so with a joke or a hint and she will tell a story of her childhood that sounds funny rather than scary to the man across the table. You might not be looking for his darkest heart, but you can still read him in every gesture, every blink, every breath.
OK so maybe I am a cold bitch, you think behind a carefully calibrated smile as you say your goodbyes,
but I'm the cold bitch that got them talking without a hitch. Maria and her fiance had started talking about magical kids, giving you sideways awkward looks, hence why you are leaving.
That's got to be worth something.
"To them it is worth the world majesty," Usum says, sounding wistful, almost nice.
"The whole of their narrow world." Almost
***
7th of October 2006 A.D.
The next day both you and Lydia are invited to the wedding, the decorations are pretty, the cake is delicious, if you do say so yourself and the people are nice, even if they don't quite know what to make of the two of the two girls not related to anyone nor known friends of bride or groom. Despite that both of you are such wallflowers you might be mistaken for a floral print, in her case because of shyness and in yours because you do not want to draw a target on the back of some guy you met at a wedding and danced with twice. Really that is another argument why Harry is perfect for you, he is
used to that kind of attention and he can take it.
"I
finally got emancipated," Lydia half-shouts over the loud dance music.
"Oh so
that's why you were so happy, I was starting to wonder if I should be seriously questioning Daniel."
She rolls her eyes. "Speaking of Daniel he's..." You do not think the pause is just from a swelling of the music . "Well he's feeling a bit left out with all this stuff that's going on, He wants to help, he wants to be there in the next fight not just be left wondering if we'll come back. He's trying to learn as much as he can, but there's only so much
power you can get out of a book. There's a part of me that worries that I'm pushing him into this just by being near him. What do you think? Am I being selfish?"
Your first impulse is to say no instantly, but the thought you just had about Harry comes back to you. Daniel is brave and he is clever, but how much more ready is he really than Maria's second cousin to fight vampires, ghosts, fey and
worse things?
What do you reply?
[] Assure Lydia that it'll be OK
[] If the problem is power maybe you could make some stuff for Daniel eventually, they'll probably help Izzy and Alec in an emergency as well
[] Write in
OOC: Since you guys rolled 10 successes for perception and for coaching Maria and this was a normal human with normal human amounts of willpower I thought I'd do something different and show just what it feels like to have that amount of control in a social situation. 
