"Mysterious presence dragging me into unconsciousness, sort of... you-ish, seemed sympathetic? Was that not supposed to happen?"

"The mysterious force dragging you into unconsciousness was supposed to happen. Being able to tell I was sympathetic is - different."

"Different how?"

"Different in that you may or may not be Force sensitive, and if you are, it would mean you would have access to my weird not-magic powers with the proper training. Would you be willing to participate in a simple test to be sure?"

"Sure, okay."

"Please close your eyes."

He closes his eyes. "You're going to throw something at me, aren't you."

"Yes. Hold still. This is perfectly safe."

She picks at a bit of the bread still uneaten on her plate, and begins carefully squishing it into a ball.

He keeps his eyes closed. He hums under his breath.

Callida finishes making her projectile, and then closes her eyes.

While she has a presence in the Force, she's not one for pointless advertisement. But if she wants someone without training to be able to react to something she throws, she has to make the throw obvious. And that involves just a bit of projection of herself and what she's going to do. Which isn't particularly hard.

When she opens her eyes, there's subtly more to her to a casual onlooker. Not something dark and foreboding, but a quiet kind of power. It becomes obvious to someone that's paying attention that there's something to this woman, something that goes beyond her relative youth. Something that goes beyond her relatively fragile form. Something she has or something she is. Something that was always there, but didn't make itself known until now, hidden away and silent. Until it isn't.

She takes a moment to study the bread-based projectile, with her eyes and with the Force. Then with a viper-like swiftness, she hurls it, far wide of Miles himself.

With a slight smile, she twitches her still-outstretched fingers, and the projectile changes course, twisting and arcing to hit Miles from behind.

He catches it.

"Congratulations," says Callida. "You're Force sensitive."

Her presence quiets, and she looks normal again. Or - not quite. If someone looks for it critically, it's not entirely gone. It's just muted, internalized.

"Does this mean I get to be a wizard?"

Callida snorts.

"Force-user, and, uh. Maybe. You'd need training for it, and I'm, sort of clearly the only one around to teach you."

"Well, I wouldn't want to impose on your busy schedule," he says, "but on the other hand I definitely want to be a wizard."

The phrasing earns a smile, but it fades in the wake of her somber reply. "It's more complicated than just the power. There's an element of, of heightened stakes. Emotions are magnified, it's easier to get stuck in your own head, go down roads it's hard to come back from. Your bonds with people are deeper, if they're gravely hurt you'll know, if they die you'll feel it. You know about the empathy element, right, if I'm present at - some sort of large scale disaster, where a lot of people die, I'll feel it. Their fear and despair and anger and pain, and then their deaths at the end of it."

"...thank you for the warning," he says. "I appreciate it, and I intend to take it seriously, but I strongly suspect I'm still going to want to be a Force user after I've thought it over."

"Okay. But I'd - I'd be enormously responsible for you, if I don't teach you properly and help you handle it all correctly, it's. It can get bad." And I have so much to be responsible for already.

"I understand," he says. "I won't ask it of you if it's not something you feel like you can take on."

She sighs.

"I don't know. Ask me again after I've tried to contact Occlus."

"All right, I will."

"Sorry." She glances away, and then looks at Cordelia.

".... Force sensitivity does tend to run in families, however."

"There are hazards to training it; are there hazards to leaving it alone?"

"No." Pause. "Well, a roaming Sith Lord finding out and deciding to toss you to the Sith Academy to see if you become Sith, but as the only Sith Lord present, fuck that wretched place."

Cordelia nods acknowledgment.