i'm just that fascinating i guess

[self_composed]

The first day Bella spends out and about with her new who's-watching-me powers, she is rather alarmed.

Maybe she's just mistaken about how much time people spend looking at reasonably pretty eighteen-year-old girls. She kills a pentagon to try it on a nearby control - who's looking at that girl over there?

Fewer people. Fewer people are looking at that random girl, and less intently. They're looking at her familiarly - they know her - or casually - they're checking her out.

[I have a spy problem,] Bella says. She makes a faintly exaggerated show of snapping her fingers in frustration and turning around. She's going back to her room to get a mirror and bobby pins and barettes, so she can spy back on the pretense of checking her hair, without making it overwhelmingly obvious that she knows what's going on.

Comments

[nonbird]

[No, I think that covers it.]

[self_composed]

Bella appears three hexes on the plate. [Please deploy only for authorized uses.]

[nonbird]

[Okay,] he says agreeably. First thing, he wishes himself mental defense.

Then he contacts Kolya again.

After a minute, he reports, [All used up.]

[self_composed]

[Good. Has Libby actually convinced you it would be a bad idea for me to know how to safely use my heap of stars? Because that would be disappointing.]

[nonbird]

[I totally agree with her that blowing up the world would be bad!] he says. [I just don't agree with her that you're going to.]

[self_composed]

[I'm not going to blow up the world. I live here, and my parents live here, and cute fuzzy animals live here, and so on,] Bella agrees.

[nonbird]

[Exactly!]

[self_composed]

[So: do we think you're safe from surveillance now? If you magic-door from your place to Alice's lair and gaze meditatively at stars for a while, will anyone notice?]

[nonbird]

[A spot-check with a wish wouldn't catch me,] he says. [But someone with a surveillance power could tell.]

[self_composed]

[Like the precog?] guesses Bella.

[nonbird]

[As an example, yes. Or the distance-viewer.]

[self_composed]

[Hmm.] Bella considers. [You can see magic through the magic door just fine. I could leave a star by the exit in Alice's lair, the door to which is just around the corner from the door to your building, and you could hang around near the door but not go through it and inspect from there. Nothing much for spies to see, and I think we have to expect them to look or I doubt Libby would have been so willing to keep you unwishable. Would that do the trick, do you think?]

[nonbird]

[Well, it'll get me a look at a star,] he says. [I don't know if that will tell me anything about them.]

[self_composed]

[You just used three hexagons, did you learn anything interesting?]

[nonbird]

[I was a little preoccupied,] he admits.

[self_composed]

Bella sighs. [Would you like perfect recall? It's tremendously useful. Wishes work just fine if you wish for a duplicate of someone else's power, we've found, so you can just swipe what I have and watch it happen.]

[nonbird]

[Does your perfect recall make you have paid more attention in the first place?]

[self_composed]

[Not exactly - but it means that anything that registered even for a split second is there when I look for it, so it can feel that way.]

[nonbird]

[And I guess I could pay attention when I use that hex,] he says. [I'll think about it.]

[self_composed]

[It is not at all clear to me why that would even need thinking about,] Bella remarks. [It is a kickass superpower. I am not charging you one meeleeyun dollars for it.]

[nonbird]

[It's a permanent change to the way my thinking works,] he counters. [I want to actually make sure that it's unreservedly awesome, instead of just assuming it and then finding out differently.]

[self_composed]

[Fair enough. Is there anything you do want now? I am going to expect to hear from Libby some unknown time soonish, and would like to know the secrets of stars before that time. Progress is good.]

[nonbird]

[Don't hold your breath,] he advises. [I don't even know what I'm looking for. If I did, I could, well, look for it.]

[self_composed]

[Holding my breath would not do me any harm,] Bella says. [I don't firmly expect you to have a flash of insight the first time you pay close attention to the use of a hex. But I'd feel really stupid if you did, a week after I first meet Libby.]

[nonbird]

[Is there a reason why you want to know the secret when you meet her?]