Finders Keepers

[all_too_familiar]

Sometimes witches have powers before they turn. But this is rare, uncommon.

More often, a potential witch displays almost nothing out of the ordinary at all. Just, say, a little more skill with people, a little more natural charisma. An extra dose of something that could almost be called luck, if one were paying attention and on the lookout for witches.

There is one such maybe-potential, right over there. He's not from around here, but he is fluent in Italian and French and German and he professes that English is his first language and laughs when people call him a liar because of his perfect accent. He might not be the most powerful, but a polyglot witch could be useful for something. And who knows, maybe there's more to it.

Maybe someone would care to find out.

Comments

[taste_tester]

"I'm more of a risk-taker. Hasn't killed me yet."

[all_too_familiar]

"Well, whatever works for you."

Blair feels pretty justified in his measured and calculated unease. According to his power this woman is scary. Not just in the sense that she could likely kill him - that's not really a surprise, he's still very young, drinks animal blood, and has kept out of fights in general - but in the sense that she's just completely amoral. Very like she's focused on something else, but his power's not telling him just what that is.

... But he could hazard a guess, considering the circumstances. Does she hunt witches? Not to kill, certainly, but for something else. He just can't figure out what.

[taste_tester]

Maybe she will show him. "D'you want to get out of here? This croissant is not as good as I was hoping, you know how I get, we can catch up somewhere else."

[all_too_familiar]

This is about all he can get from his power on her, there's no point in keeping this up any longer.

"Yeah, sure. I don't know the area very well, you know a good place to go?"

[taste_tester]

"Oh yeah. I'm visiting with a friend, but she's going to be at work for hours. You'll try to get along with her if she gets home before you leave, won't you?"

[all_too_familiar]

Human or vampire? It's hard to tell, from that. Likely human, but it could be a vampire. Either one, he's not out for causing trouble.

"Of course," he assures.

[taste_tester]

"Good. I couldn't bear it if something happened to her, you know."

She leaves a few francs on the table and gets up and crooks her finger at Blair. "Thisaway."

[all_too_familiar]

Subtle.

Thisaway goes Blair.

[taste_tester]

His teacher's friend lives in an apartment above a boulangerie, three floors up.

His teacher lets herself in. The lock doesn't work.

The apartment doesn't smell like any vampires other than her.

"So," she says, rolling her long sleeves back from her hands. "What brings you to me?"

[all_too_familiar]

"I'm a witch. Tracker, personality-based; I get snippets of what the person's like along with where they are. It's not as good as it could be, and I hit a proverbial brick wall with training it alone. So I prodded it for help and it led me to you."

[taste_tester]

"Oh, I'm flattered! Well, hello, my name is Addy, and I will be your witchcraft consultant today. Take off your gloves."

[all_too_familiar]

"Blair, nice to meet you," he says.

Off go his gloves, along with the scarf and the hat; not like he needs to hide from the sun indoors.

[taste_tester]

Handshake?

[all_too_familiar]

She's getting something from this, he's got a suspicion as to what, but backing out now is just silly and antagonistic. She's not going to hurt him; he's giving her exactly what she wants.

Handshake.

[taste_tester]

"Huh," she says. "Turkey. Oh, I like this, I like it a lot. Any way in particular you were hoping to make it jump?"

[all_too_familiar]

...

She copied his power.

Okay. That's fine. She's absolutely fucking terrifying, but that's fine.

"It can't tell the difference between vampires and humans at all, I'd like to figure out a way to tell with just my power. That's the major one that bothers me, but otherwise it just feels like it's - not accurate enough. A bit unfocused, maybe."

[taste_tester]

"It found you me - it could not have done better, you came to the right place - and you can't make it find 'eidetic memory'?"

[all_too_familiar]

"Nope. Tried. It doesn't like it, I think it feels too impersonal for it? And a while back I was looking for someone that could help with freezing organs and it got very bizarre on me. I don't know why, or how to have it be accurate instead of bizarre."

[taste_tester]

"Ooh, bizarre how?"

[all_too_familiar]

"Well, it sent me after people who had fruit preservation as a hobby, one that preserves leaves in books, and then a taxidermist - and then I managed to get it to focus on preserving bodies instead of items and got funerary workers and hospice workers and a dentist."

[taste_tester]

"Hmmm."

She starts trying variants. 'Someone who will never forget it if we meet'? 'Someone potentially dangerous'? 'Someone who really fucking knows what pain feels like'?

[all_too_familiar]

The first gets nothing, the second gets an answer but it's not vampires only, the third does the same but with different subjects. Blair is included in both the second and third. It might be possible to have multiple 'searches' out at once, but the power doesn't seem to have that ability.

[taste_tester]

"I think you could find vampires if you could get it to do intersections," she concludes. "I can't make it do something like that until you've managed it. What happens if you try?"

[all_too_familiar]

"It switches to an entirely new search, though I can get a bit of mileage out of being very specific. I'd like intersections, though."

[taste_tester]

"What are some things it finds most easily?"