Concerning. Does he have a stalker now? Why???

He changes his usual path to work. It takes a couple minutes more, but it could throw the stalker off.

They're right back on Saturday. Ahead of him, in fact, lounging against a wall near the edge of an alley. It's not entirely clear if they're looking at him, under that hood.

They're not immediately vanishing into the alley.

Eh, fuck it, it's broad daylight and there are people mulling around, it's not as culty boy could really do anything to him in this situation. Worse that can happen is a punch or two, and he's good at throwing them.

He approaches the cloaked figure.

Now they go into the alley, though they nod first. It's not particularly long but it does make it less broad daylight, there's no one who can obviously see them waiting except Simone.

So. On the one hand it's obviously iffy AF.

On the other hand, if they wanted to rob him this wouldn't make sense, and if they wanted to hurt him it also doesn't.

On the gripping hand, it's not as if there is anything good exciting going on in his life.

Let's keep dancing this deranged tune.

Into the alley, close enough to speak without shouting, but far enough that he'll have some time to react if it comes to blows.

"Why are you stalking me?"

"Guess," she says, and snaps her fingers. There's suddenly a staff in her other hand, and she taps it on the ground.

A wave of... some sensation, pulses past Simone, and everything goes very nearly silent. No street noise, no wind. Looking around, everything's still visible, but there's a faint translucent edge, a sphere centered on the woman (well, going by the voice), about two hundred yards across.

What.

"You are incredibly dexterous, I didn't see you grabbing the staff at all!"

Silence, translucent edge thing. Uh.

"Some kind of skunkwork project? NSA, if I really had to guess."

"Try again," she says, letting the hood fall, which... makes more than just her face visible. Suddenly her body language seems much more expressive, and it's noticeable that she is gorgeous, wearing quite a lot of silver jewelry, and looks just a little bit unreal, like she walked out of a heavily airbrushed Hollywood movie.

Ok, showing her (pretty!) face is a good sign, it makes him a witness so less likely for this to be a danger to his health and more likely to be a danger to his wallet.

Or a really bad one, but if she wanted to kill him, this would be a rather weird way of going about it.

He doesn't even try to keep the admiration from his face. She's pretty, she knows it, and now she knows that he knows too.

"Well, this looks too detailed and precise to be a dream. Guess I could be hallucinating or could be gone batshit insane instead, but my mind seems fine. Not that I would know, probably. But I can see in your smile that it's not the correct answer."

"Oh, you could have drugged me. But see above, I don't really believe it."

It's kinda hard to look properly at the sphere around them without looking away from her, and he's super not looking away from someone this sketchy. Plus he doesn't want to look away. He likes pretty women, sue him.

No, there is something else. Nothing he has seen so far can't be replicated with really good practical effects (or CGI, but you can't CGI in the real world), but... why bother?

Stalking. Practical magic. What is he missing?

"Eh, whatever. Can we skip to the part where you convince me to give you money?"

"Money is for mortals. No, this is the part where I offer you a deal. You get magic, with my guidance, and then you owe me periodic favors with that magic. It has some side benefits you'll appreciate, too, at least when you think about them for ten seconds."

"Sounds waaaay too good to be true. Wouldn't say no to owing you favors, if I can pay in nature."

"Plus there's the tiny inconvenient that magic isn't real."

"No, we just need to keep everyone believing that or the cosmos will collapse again and all this world's mortals will go the way of the dinosaurs. If you really want to check... go look at the street. Every jogger and bike going by will disappear when they reach the barrier, unless they have quite a lot of witch potential like you."

"A cleverly placed mirror is not magic, it's science."

"Oooooh. Is it some kind of candid camera thing?"

"Go poke it if you like. Or leave, and pass on the chance for immortality, fabulous powers, and a full-body makeover that, incidentally, will make you a woman. Just don't keep being tiresome."

Sure, he'll humor her.

The bikes sure are disappearing. Well, that means that the mirror should be approximately...

A cyclist violently collides with his hand, emerging from the shimmering border.

"Look where you're going, idiot!"

That wasn't a mirror. What.

He walks back toward the stalker. No, not a stalker. Something else.

"I don't know what's going on, at this point the insanity and dream hypotheses are looking almost as attractive as you. Just a question, though."

"Can I get the immortality and fantastic powers without becoming a woman? I'm fine like I am."

"Oh, you can, it would just mean a little less magic for something useful. And, as I said, you'll think about it for... about ten seconds."