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

[honey_twining]

"If my power wanted to orient defensively I could try it against you," Edward points out. "But it might be a drawback if the Volturi visit. Wouldn't want to look like I have something to hide. My range for people I know did grow over time. Though it's hard to disentangle from my knowledge of people growing while the span of possible ranges was fixed, I suppose. And - emergencies are seldom, but if I had been giving Carlisle privacy when he found Rosalie, I would not have been able to warn you and Yvette. As an example."

[all_too_familiar]

Oh right, he is a test for that, isn't he, with his privacy invasion power. It's easy to forget, it's sort of just part of him now. Even as he practices it at least two hours a day. If Edward wants to test it with him, they can.

Blair gets the implication that the thing to worry about for the Volturi is not them thinking he has something to hide, but them thinking that they would like him to join them. And if he makes a defense, assumingly he could drop it, in which case, they'd see it as a sign of trust. ... Of course, he could always figure out how to just hide certain things, make everything else look ordinary... Bad Blair, don't go thinking of ways to subvert the Volturi, that is how you get set on fire.

Personalized off switches unless a person thinks his name? He doesn't have to use it if he doesn't want to, but there might come a time when he would like to, and it'd be a shame if he couldn't.

[honey_twining]

"Sounds... finicky. But if it really did work like that I suppose it would do."

[all_too_familiar]

Okay, he thinks they need to do this in two parts, the getting the name thing down, and getting him an off switch. Once both exist they seem pretty easy to combine. So - it manifests as hearing. And is based around how well Edward can read people.

Well, Blair doesn't know about Edward, but Blair sure notices when people say his name, or occasionally syllables that are close to his name. Just a - psychological thing that's built into one's brain. Recognizing important syllables that coincide with oneself. Since Edward's power manifests as hearing, doesn't it make sense for it to carry over to it?

[honey_twining]

"I do wind up paying attention to anyone who thinks of any Edward by name."

[all_too_familiar]

Good, that's already mostly-there, then. Other part first, he supposes.

How does his tuning out work, what are the specifics of it?

[honey_twining]

"It's just attentional. Like ignoring a mote of dust. A little harder than that, but I've practiced."

[all_too_familiar]

Well that seems a bit strange - the power is his. It's already doing so much impossible stuff by doing what it's doing, why is turning it off difficult? Or, to be specific, why does Edward think it's difficult?

[honey_twining]

"I was very good at reading people, and you don't have to try to do that. It's automatic, all on a lower level. If you can hear someone you know their tone, if you can see them you can read their expression."

[all_too_familiar]

Yes, but you can choose to look away, or choose to cover your ears, or even - sometimes his sister has had moments where she completely ignores anything anyone says, not even realizing anyone's said anything at all. This is different from ignoring the information one gets after hearing or looking at someone in the form of automatic reading. This is not getting the information to be automatically interpreted at all. Which Edward can't seem to do - that seems incorrect. If this is a secondary effect of a primary sense, he should have the ability to not have to have that primary sense turned towards the person, like any other sense. Does Edward see what he means?

[honey_twining]

"You can close your eyes, but covering your ears doesn't work as well. I can't actually hear unfamiliar minds from farther away than I can hear voices, what with vampire senses. Even if I put my hands over my ears."

[all_too_familiar]

Okay, but it's obviously not actually connected to hearing. He can read people from further than that. And - has Edward tested this, can he read people when he's deaf?

[honey_twining]

"Haven't been outright deaf since turning but I doubt it makes a difference."

[all_too_familiar]

So this is not actually connected to the senses he seems to associate it with. Why does it need to follow the same rules at all?

[honey_twining]

"What makes you think I know?"

[all_too_familiar]

"That was more rhetoric," he says out loud.

It's all about thought processes, letting yourself be constrained by rules that aren't actually rules is a great way to stunt yourself. So if he acknowledges that it doesn't work by any other senses, and admits that it doesn't need to, he's (theoretically) a few steps closer to actually removing the rules.

[honey_twining]

"If you say so," says Edward skeptically.

[all_too_familiar]

Remember, Edward, this is magic. It works by questionable logic anyway, the trick is harnessing the questionable logic and bending it to your will for convenience.




He has to occasionally stop and think What would Addy do, but with his power and experience working with her, his model of her is fairly accurate. Not quite as good as actually having her available, but decent enough to work for their purposes. Blair is kinder than Addy would be, but he definitely displays a stubborn streak. As long as Edward's willing to humor him, he's going to be trying to improve his power. Because damn it, Edward might need or want its improvements one day, and if he ever does, it should be available to him.

But it's up to Edward to make any real progress.

[honey_twining]

Edward mopes his way through the entire process; "humoring him" is definitely the operative motive.

...But one day he manages to stop listening to Blair. And then smiles enigmatically while Blair continues his "not bothering to talk aloud" method of teaching.

[all_too_familiar]

"... Did you just figure out how to stop listening to me," he guesses, after getting no response from Edward about his current train of thought at all.

[honey_twining]

"Yes. You have finally badgered me into switching you off. I'm sure this was your plan all along."

[all_too_familiar]

"Clearly! But we're not done yet, we still need to make sure you'll still catch your name -"

And so it begins again. This time he speaks aloud.

[honey_twining]

The next breakthrough is much quicker than the first.

[all_too_familiar]

Excellent.

(Blair is so happy about this, he keeps resisting the urge to actually dance. Helping out allies! BEST THING!)

That is about the only thing Edward wanted to improve, though, and unlike some other potential magic teachers this actually matters to Blair. So, once they have the second breakthrough, Blair calls it quits and will leave Edward in peace.

Well, after he catches up with the other Cullens. There was some time he spent with them while Edward was away for various reasons, but that's not quite the same as actively focusing on them.

Esme gets help with home improvements; he helps repaint a room and fix siding and then solicits his power to find her a good person to sell the specific type of curtains that go with the style in the bedroom without being too much. Carlisle gets updates on Yvette's progress in learning all of the everything (she is learning a lot of everything, but is keeping away from getting a medical degree until her control's better) and how her control's doing (it hasn't wavered once), and then cheerily talks morality and the value of people and his general philosophy with him. He is not a fan of arbitrary moral constructs, but definitely agrees that people are incredibly important and all deserve the best chance they can get if it doesn't come at the cost of someone else. If it does - well, that gets more complicated. But generally Blair likes to minimize the hurt in the world. Rosalie gets checked on, and then asked if she'd like custom-made jewelry (his sister is planning to practice making jewelry she designs instead of just hunks of metal or endless copies) or anything pretty from foreign places when he inevitably travels around the world. He talks music with Edward, talks about the trends occurring in England and France and promising to get Edward this record while he's over there that's been troublesome to find in the United States.

If he were trying to be manipulative and win them over, this behavior might be annoying, but he's distinctly not. He sincerely likes interacting with them, he likes getting them things they like, likes being friendly. No strings attached.

[honey_twining]

The Cullens are fond of their cousin.