Thea never intended to stay long after she did a handoff with Tesera. But she never managed to stick to it, either. Tesera found details to ask about she couldn't possibly actually need, and kept trying to draw Thea out to get her to ask questions. Which she rarely did, to deny her the satisfaction and opportunities to flirt. Somehow, it always stretched from five minutes to forty-five.
And she always left annoyed.
Thea stops. Looks at the soft-looking girl in the floating chair. A little puzzled, a little disdainful.
"What do we have to say to each other?"
"I don't know if you've noticed or if you're as oblivious of it as her, but Tesera's more than a little infatuated with you."
"She fakes it. Wants me to want her, and it's easier if I believe she reciprocates. Don't tell me she couldn't do that if she wanted to."
"Oh, she can. She isn't, though. I've seen the difference up close. The visit where she switched from enticing me strategically, to actually wanting me even if I burned out my magic suddenly and got brain damage, was noticeable. Subtle, but noticeable."
"Ah, but for secret reasons I forced her to acknowledge me as paying her back in bed. Whether or not she wants to count it."
"Then for the same secret reasons she'd really regret it. I doubt I could destroy her coven. And I don't really want to. But I could wreck a whole lot of it."
"Lysithea, is the most dangerous thing about Tesera Peckolsin her magic?"
"Me neither. And I'm not sure about you. Despite the very clever infinite mana hack."
Thea considers the rusalka, who looks... mostly just like a nerd. There's a laptop hanging off the back of the chair. A tray that folds out in front to hold the computer, a tarot spread, or both. Basia's fingers are stained with lab residue, in amounts that suggest, to someone who's made a lot of handoffs bartering tech for potions in back-alley labs, that she's not very good at getting efficiency out of her brews despite being an Academic with an intuition for it.
No sign at all that she's dangerous. Or exceptional in any other way.
Which is a weird sign in itself. Tesera wouldn't awaken a third-rank witch and then take her as her personal favorite bedwarmer just because she was cute and blushed pretty when bossed around. She'd probably get off on it, but Tesera never does things for one simple reason like that. That's half the problem.
"Okay. I underestimated you. Still not sure why I should believe you."
Basia shrugs. "I don't know what proof would even look like. You could watch her interact with Marco. I promise she doesn't care about him."
"Well, also, she gets wistful when she talks about you. So unless she's playing a long game where she fakes me out to subtly persuade me to try to set you up, which I don't think she could pull off, I'm pretty sure it does here and now."
"It doesn't really matter. She's not going to leave Hespatia, and I'm not going to accept it."
"The best a Hespatian coven can be, is cover for the others who are worse. Up until the Crowns give an order."
"You know about Anoush and Saralysse. You cause her no end of trouble. You think she couldn't remove the obstacle if she was willing to?"
"She's killed before. And I make her a lot of money. She'll kill again. Someday, when I stop being useful, it'll be me."
"One for why she wants to, and one to justify it as selfish. You're alive because she trusts you."
"Swear to Dog. And she doesn't trust easily. She trusts me, too. And that's... about it."
"First night I met him at a ritual, Tes asked me what I thought of him, I told her he was dangerous, and she was delighted I saw it immediately. He was a mistake. I help limit the damage."
"Can you imagine the stink he'd make, and get his harem to make, if she acknowledged anyone else as her right hand? Not that she's eager to. The one she wants isn't even in the coven."
The space looked like an empty penthouse on a skyscraper, looking out over what might have been Hong Kong. The lights and decorations on the walls, even the flooring, said 'ritzy luxury apartment,' but the furniture was nonexistent and half the lightbulbs were dead.
"I trust the security here. It's not secret, but it's not compromised either."
"Can you keep a secret? Mostly from Marco, but from the rest of the coven, too, so it doesn't get back to him?"
"No fear. She's been planning how to get rid of him for a while now. I'm helping. She doesn't have a right hand woman, but she has a left."
"You're her left hand? Anybody who wanted to challenge you would send you to the river in seconds. She's flattering you."
"Oh, I'm much better than I look, though I don't get up to rank five like you. Rank four true oracle, among my other tricks. I'm just good at playing the part."
"What do you want? Blind parry with foresight? Spontaneous predictions about your next two days?"
"Sure, but are they easier than being a good diviner? Easier than being an oracle? Pick something else. Psionic attack? Most information-gathering I could have just asked her."
Thea drummed her fingers on an alcove in the wall.
"Rank-four archiving can do it from something closed, right?"
Basia touched the cover of the moleskine with a finger. "J.N. is trying to delay payment and you suspect she doesn't have the money for the next shipment. K.V. hit on you, unsurprising but you don't know why now. Q is nervous and possibly being watched by Alphazon."
"Yes. And Marco needs to be put down before he risks the coven or the entire Veil. So I'm helping."
"Assassinated. Murdered. Whichever. It's not like it gets more palatable when you talk about it explicitly. And I'd be fine just getting him neutralized some other way."
"If you wanted to get rid of Marco, what would you do? Slice his balls off and then do it again when he healed until he shaped up? Persuade him to be better?"
"Throw him to the ORCs. He's straining the masque right and left, they'd already know if he didn't seduce half the witnesses and make the other half lose an hour of memories."
"You think they could hold him alive? He doesn't have anything at rank five but he's got the potential for it, he did that trick where you trade magical potential for mundane mastery and even more power. He's extremely deadly even before the vampire lord thing, blood magic and an intuition for murder and a Disaster four times over."
"To reassure her coven that as long as they're okay with her, as long as she hasn't told them there's a problem, they're safe. Which I appreciate, at least. My dad's a mortal cop in the Met, I know plenty how fragile honor among thieves is."
"Because Tes wants to be very clear that she gave him several warnings he ignored, very publicly repeat them, and then kill him as painlessly as him fighting back allows. And Anoush isn't really the best knife to stick in his gut, for that last part. Or even the first part."
"...I'd object. But I'm willing to be there, and save her ass if she's not as clever as she thinks she is."
"Now you're buttering me up, too? Come on, next you're going to start inviting me to bed the end of every conversation."
"Since about the first time she awakened someone after me. I think when she realized she wasn't going to win me over honestly."
"That or it was when she fell for you. Trust me, she has. I've heard her mumble through some dreams that left her grinning. A lot of them."
"It's not like she's going to be exclusive with me, with the whole coven rituals to manage. I'm fine sharing. And I wouldn't mind if you decide to let her share, neither."
"If you're really lusting for me after this little, you're shallow. So you're probably a liar."
"Aw, you wound me, Thea. I hear plenty about you. It didn't take much to put it together into a complete picture of a woman. One I quite like."
"Tesera wants people to like her. I'm fine just being able to predict them. To know enough about you to be sure of what you'll regret, if I tell you to do something in a hurry. Which, I think, I do, now. So if I do, it will be something you approve of and in your interests."
"Could do. Bad policy. Burns anyone you break with, and then anyone else catches on that you might, and then where are you? Only getting cooperation by force."
"I prefer Go. Or Stellaris. And I think you ought not to claim the title until you've done at least three difficult plots. I'm halfway through two, at best."
"Not sure how difficult it is yet. And what kind of chessmaster would I be if I just told you my schemes you're not even going to be roped into?"
"The kind who is charmed by insightful guessing and then tries to seduce me?"
"Mmm, no, worked on Tes but I think if there's a cheat code for me it's something trickier... Not that making out wouldn't help, if you're so keen."
"Like it would be anything but part of a plan to get me in bed with her."
She laughs. "Oh, that would be a good start. But no. I just have similar taste."
She leans back and throws her hair around, then, as it settled on her chest hiding everything, snaps her fingers and makes her clothes vanish.
"So if you see anything you like..."
The most annoying part is that Thea does, actually. She can't tell what Basia is hiding, but she can tell she's... more honest than Tesera. It feels less like trying to kiss a pit of snakes. And she is pretty. The tangled hair is surprisingly attractive, and the body suggested underneath it is at least a little enticing. Thea's never been one for hookups, but she gets the feeling that under better circumstances she and Basia would be fast friends. And even the feeling without the reality means the prospect of a one-off is a lot more interesting.
(Lysithea Corben knows a hundred people by name and sees them regularly. There isn't a single one she'd call a friend, she's watching for a fated betrayal around the corner every day, and she is very, very lonely.)
Part of her wants to pick up Basia and show her how well massive strength and speed, and a literally electric touch, could turn her on.
But she still feels like it is, somehow, a trap.
"No. You're perfectly nice, but I don't want to get into bed with Tesera even at one remove."
"That's what I expected, but I was curious. And if you did... I'm sure I'd enjoy it."
"If she ever conclusively dumps you... You will. Just ask." Thea can't resist smirking at her.
"Somehow I doubt she will in any circumstance where you'd still offer."
She brings her garment back with another snap.
"But I'll remember it."
"Hespatia is a clusterfuck. She didn't trick me about much in awakening, but she did manage to undersell it. If I'd gotten a Guild awakener I'd probably be with ORC. And redeeming it is probably not going to work. But trying has to start somewhere, and I think she's the one to do it."
She ticks things off on her fingers. "Connections to old families and covens to keep the Crowns off her back for a few centuries to gather power. Ability to be ruthless, and perform ruthlessness, with the best of them. And a genuine conscience that doesn't get damaged when she's ruthless, partly because she half the time refuses to believe it exists."
"Or she's convinced you it does, and half the time doesn't bother to pretend."
"I'm very sure that's not it. I can't manipulate people like she does. I can't get them to want to do what I say. I'm even slower at reading people than she is, probably. But I'm just as good at it. Better, even. Once I'm sure, I'm not wrong."
"I always knew I was good, but I picked up magic for it and it means I can check. And it helps... a little. Speeds it up. But usually I already know what answer I'm going to get."
"Oh, that's easy mode. Angry. Frustrated, in several senses. You were angrier when you came downstairs but just as frustrated. Background paranoia, and that's not always a bad policy but I promise Tes isn't that good. Curious about me, but you think you can probably trust me. Tired, emotionally - can you even get physically tired? And... no, skipping that. Fits under a broader thing, though, hmm. I think the right word is disappointed."
"Lots of things. Her. Me. The unveiled world in general, I think. Probably some other specific people. I'm not a mind reader, and you're all but immune anyway."
"Two ranks off the bat, haven't gotten the third yet. Maybe when I'm not getting ready for a murder."
"Honestly, even if it was the ORCs I'd call it a murder. If you want a legitimate execution, set someone up to commit murder in Lunabella. Or Alfheimr, if you can find a lord's holding that's basically legitimate."
"Mortal logic, basically. Consent of the governed. People fund the ORCs for veil enforcement but I don't think anywhere close to a majority actually approves of how they go about it. There's worse corruption in the world - good job on that so far by the by - but I'd bet a vigilante who did better would get more support, fast."
"Witches and nonhumans seem to be... worse, on that. I like the ORCs fine but they're not really trying to fix it."
"Not officially. Officially they disapprove of my replicating their tech and consider it potentially illegal."
"At some point I may produce some information I want passed to them anonymously."
"I could probably get it to them anonymously. Not sure about getting them to take it seriously."
"Give me a nonsense source name. Just not bloody 'Deep Throat.' They'll learn eventually."
"I think my sense of humor's more mature than that. With your fancy oracle nonsense you might even work out the name means you. And the handful of those around, but if it's not relevant to them they won't learn."
What possible reason could Thea have for knowing significantly more about the advantages and limitations of Oracles than most witches, let alone other unveiled society? The world may never know.
"Got to find my third plot somewhere, don't I? And I'm not that worried. Even if she does catch on. Doubt any of it will push her to do anything she didn't want an excuse for."
"That's- you know what? I'm not saying. That thought belongs firmly in my head and nowhere else."
"Mmm. Why do you think unveiled society is a mess about rule of law and all that rot?"
Thea rolls her shoulders to regain a little equilibrium.
"My guess is it's the personal power making too many individual people above any law not imposed by a god or a witchy demigod."
"Probably. I kinda want to find Mimi Machiavelli or Wulong Mozi out there somewhere."
