She's been lucky in the past weeks and she knows it: even the natives who've been made aware of her telepathy have been understanding about it. There's been no scramble to explain herself, no reason to fear a visit from a templar. Given how bad things could go, any reprieve is a blessing she needs to be grateful for. She'd been expecting people to fear her when they found out what she could do, she doesn't get to be sad when it actually happens.
That doesn't make seeing the shift in perception any easier to stomach.
"I've been training my telepathy with Doctor Strange," who Julian literally suggested to her for this exact purpose, so hopefully he won't be bothered to have been passed up as a teacher, "and in doing so, testing the limits of what I'm capable of. From what we've learned, I can make someone... "
Ness pauses, considering how to phrase it both correctly and least-alarmingly.
"I can engender an unfounded fondness in others. It comes with no manipulation of memories nor thoughts, according to the Doctor. Just an unaccountable fondness, a sense that we're friendlier than we should be. The affection fades, with time."
Which is still, of course, coercive in natureβbut perhaps less alarmingly so than other things she could be doing. Hopefully that means something. Hopefully her being honest about all this means something.
"I died," with what she thinks is admirable steadiness, "before I arrived here. I have no desire to cut this second chance short with even the suggestion of blood magic, Seneschal, which is why I worry over association with so unsubtle a man as the Enchanter. It feels like painting an even brighter target on my back than is already there."
no subject
She's been lucky in the past weeks and she knows it: even the natives who've been made aware of her telepathy have been understanding about it. There's been no scramble to explain herself, no reason to fear a visit from a templar. Given how bad things could go, any reprieve is a blessing she needs to be grateful for. She'd been expecting people to fear her when they found out what she could do, she doesn't get to be sad when it actually happens.
That doesn't make seeing the shift in perception any easier to stomach.
"I've been training my telepathy with Doctor Strange," who Julian literally suggested to her for this exact purpose, so hopefully he won't be bothered to have been passed up as a teacher, "and in doing so, testing the limits of what I'm capable of. From what we've learned, I can make someone... "
Ness pauses, considering how to phrase it both correctly and least-alarmingly.
"I can engender an unfounded fondness in others. It comes with no manipulation of memories nor thoughts, according to the Doctor. Just an unaccountable fondness, a sense that we're friendlier than we should be. The affection fades, with time."
Which is still, of course, coercive in natureβbut perhaps less alarmingly so than other things she could be doing. Hopefully that means something. Hopefully her being honest about all this means something.
"I died," with what she thinks is admirable steadiness, "before I arrived here. I have no desire to cut this second chance short with even the suggestion of blood magic, Seneschal, which is why I worry over association with so unsubtle a man as the Enchanter. It feels like painting an even brighter target on my back than is already there."