“I mean, if it was exactly as I said, I’d understand. You’ve spent your entire life being able to simply source the truth from someone’s mind without having to trust in them. I imagine that now, after you’re very invested in this whole thing, not knowing my thoughts is more of an annoyance than the gift you thought it was,” Felix said. “Or so I’d believe if I were in your position. Could be wrong.”
He watched her as he spoke, attempting to catch the subtle tells that people gave off. A partial head nod or shoulder shrug, leaning in close to him or pulling away, folding her arms or putting her hands under the table.
What he got from her was… nothing.
She didn’t even twitch.
Kit just sat there as if she’d been hit in the back of the head.
Letting the silence take hold, he waited.
Silence and steady eye contact could crack even the most obstinate of people.
Well, most people.
Felix waited. Letting the time pass.
Instead, Felix turned his thoughts to his task-list. He even began sorting out what he wanted to do with the portals if and when he could get them functioning.
“I hate it when you do that,” Kit said, leaning back in her chair away from him.
Defensive.
“Hate what, when I wait for you to talk?” Felix asked.
“Yes. That and your stare. That cold stare that burns through me and leaves me no room,” Kit grumped. Slowly, she folded her arms across her midsection.
Defensive again.
“So, let’s cut to the chase. I want to change your power, and give you the implicit ability to read my mind. I think that’d be the easiest way to solve this dilemma. Your dilemma,” Felix said as nonchalantly as he could. “Once we go down that road though, we can’t really go backwards. You’d have popped open the seal to my thoughts and rummaged around in there.
“Also, you don’t need to worry about Miu. I know… what she is. What she thinks. We had a good long talk about it.”
“I know. She didn’t fight me earlier when I started poking around. One thing led to another and I watched the whole thing unwind from her own point of view. Are you sure you’re actually comfortable with that from her? It’s… not normal. It is legitimately insanity. The thoughts that she has in the darkest places were… extreme. Even for me and what I’ve seen,” Kit said carefully.
“Yep. I know. I looked up the definition the other day for the term she gave me. There was a number of examples in media of characters that fit it,” Felix admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “She’s insane. And would do anything I asked, even if I told her I wanted her to capture every blue-eyed woman named Jane Smith in Skippercity that had more than two fillings.”
“Exactly. I mean, you heard her, she wants to kill me and ea—”
“Yeah, I know. But she can’t,” Felix said hurriedly. It’d be best if Andrea didn’t know the depth of Miu’s devotion.
At least, not yet.
“Besides, she’s devoted to me. Do you know how much I can get done with that kind of loyalty? Lots. Also, we’ve trained her up to the point she can take Wraith’s spot. She’s our blade in the dark now. For better or for worse, we can’t exactly change that at this point,” Felix said. “Anyways, no changing the subject allowed. Mind reading me. Yes or no?”
“I want to read your mind,” Andrea said, grabbing his forearm with both of her hands.
Felix snickered at that and gave her a look.
“What… It’d be fun to read your thoughts,” Andrea said defensively.
Looking back at Kit, Felix focused on her again. Kit grimaced at the attention, her fingers flexing on her forearms. Before he could even start to give her the staring treatment, she sighed and hung her head.
“This seems wrong. To make you do this just so I can stop having a crisis of faith,” Kit mumbled.
“Why? This isn’t a silly book, or a story, or a TV show. People don’t just trust for no reason. Everyone wants to know that they’re making the best decision they can. And in that way, we all seek confirmation of our choices,” Felix said.
“To quote a favorite saying of mine,” Felix said. “’The sum of what we are, our experience, is what we draw upon to make choices. It’s what we use to defend ourselves from doubt. We compare them to things we’ve done previously and judge it based on what the outcome had been then.’ In your case, you have no experience dealing with people at face value, and not plumbing their minds for the truth.”
“I trust you,” Andrea said, trying to get his attention once again.
Kit groaned and held her hands up to her face.
Taking the moment that she distracted herself, Felix leaned in close to Andrea.
“Please, help me? This is her problem, and I need your help. Please,” Felix said, inaudible to anyone other than a Beastkin.
Andrea’s eyes held confusion at first, then determination. She gave him a fierce nod of her head, her ears twitching atop of it.
“Thanks,” Felix said, and then kissed her once. Pulling back, he saw Andrea had a silly grin on her face, her tail swishing slowly back and forth behind her.
As if he’d never diverted his attention, he set his eyes back on Kit.
“Is it so terrible to admit a simple truth? Shall I assume that’s a yes? You can just nod your head, you don’t have to say it,” Felix offered.
Kit’s shoulders tightened up, and then she slumped into her chair.
Defeat.
“Nod your head. I promise it’ll be fine, and once you see inside, you’ll feel better. Then we can get back to the business at hand,” Felix said.
Kit nodded her head once.
Done.
Forcefully, he put his attention on modifying her power. Modifying it so that she could actually get into his mind as if he were anyone else.
Except he put in the caveat that it was something that he could deactivate whenever he wanted. It’d limit the scope of the power, give him a back door, and maybe lower the point cost.
Or so he hoped.
Power Upgrade: Directed Telepathy(Owner included)
Required Primary Power: 80 (Met)
Required Intelligence: 70 (Met)
Upgrade?(2,500)
“That’s not so bad at all,” Felix said to himself. Activating the upgrade button, he deliberately made sure to keep his mind tranquil and open. As if it were nothing more than a closed file folder and wouldn’t require any effort to look into at all.
Kit lifted her head up, her hands hanging down in front of her knees. She met his eyes, and he suddenly felt her. Like a finger poking around in his memories.
She was gentle about it, but he could feel her power. The strength of it.
The speed that she went through all of his thoughts.
An absolutely astonishing level of power.
He was suddenly very glad she was on his side. Before he changed his train of thought, he deeply implanted in his own mind the need for her to send him an email.
An email with all the answers to the questions he needed answered, that he was sure she could see in his mind.
Kit smiled and then quirked a brow. “Yes. I can answer those for you. And Lily would be annoyed.”
“Huh? About wh—oh. Hey, hey. Thoughts are private things and aren’t meant to be shared aloud. You said you wanted to look in, that goes with all the baggage that comes with it,” Felix said defensively.
“I don’t think every man wonders about people in his employ quite like—”
“Nope! Not going there. Stop. You’re done. Now, unless you have anything useful to add, like helping me remember something I’ve forgotten, we should change the subject. Like to if you’re feeling better about everything and your doubts are dispelled,” Felix said, desperate to get the topic changed.
“Not going where?” Andrea asked. “Why would Lily be annoyed?”