“Okay,” Alexis replied.
“And,” I added, “It’s something that needs more research. What does the gun imply, and all the rest of that jazz.”
“Sure,” she said.
“These are life-altering calls you’re making,” Nick said. “Like I said, the rules are old. You don’t backtrack, you don’t get to decide on one option here and then backtrack. We talked about setting down roots. There’s the tool, the choice of vocation, how you want to face down the world and how you want the world to look at you. Finally, we have the familiar. Kind of like marriage, but with one of the monsters.”
“I’m getting really sick of that comparison being made,” I said. “Can we call it something else?”
“A business partnership,” Nick said.
“Much better,” I said.
“One being you tie yourself to. The demesne, it’s a safe ground. A place you can call your own, where you can defend yourself far more easily. It’s a reflection of you and the choices you’ve made. The other things? Familiar and implement? Might be you have less options on some fronts, and more on others.”
“Can you have more than one familiar?” Ty asked.
“Not so much,” I answered. “It’s more of a commitment than that.”
“Some circles over in Asia do,” Nick said.
I glanced at him.
“Different expectations, different rules. The ritual’s different, too. It’s less like a partnership and more… hostile takeover.”
“Like the Lord?” I asked.
“Maybe. They tend to emphasize having more Others, bound into object forms. Said Others don’t have to be cooperative.”
“I’d be into trying something offbeat like that,” Ty said.
“Tradition has a power,” Nick said. I nodded.
“I’ve never been much for tradition.”
“What about respect?” Nick asked. “Having a familiar earns you some. Go off the beaten track, it’s going to change people’s perceptions of you.”
“I’ve never put a lot of stock in that either,” Ty said.
“It’s an option,” I said. “But it may be an option that has to wait until we have access to my grandmother’s library. Look, we’re running out of time, so let’s not dwell on ‘what ifs’.”
I was anxious, impatient. I wasn’t entirely certain I’d helped myself by bringing these guys on board. It had felt right, but in practice… there was no way to get them up to speed.
“Summing it up, all kinds of power are currency, and anything you do from here on out costs,” Nick said. “Sacrifices, even small ones like being polite, or taking a risk by making a promise, they pay you back. Politeness forges stronger connections, and connections keep you upright in the grand scheme of things. Making promises and keeping them buys you favor from the underlying forces that drive things.”
I closed my eyes, leaning my head against the headrest. “Nick sees things as a broad sort of business. Rose wants to view it as something in the same vein as science or math, with an internal logic.”
“And you?” Ty asked.
“I described it as a kind of art,” I said. “There’s some bullshitting, a lot hinging on trends and abstract rules, vague elements you can’t pin down. Things don’t fit neatly into boxes.”
“I’m not one to talk,” Nick said, “given how I barely practice and how badly the Knights have fucked up when we tried our hands at it, but doesn’t that make you the stereotypical starving artist?”
“By your definition, with power as currency?”
“Yeah.”
“By that definition, sure,” I said. “I guess it kind of does.”
Nick nodded.
“There’s a lot of different ways of doing this stuff,” Ty said. “I’m looking at the short descriptions here, and it’s interesting, but I don’t think there are any ways I can figure out in the next half hour.”
“I’m not expecting you to,” I said. “I’m… fuck. I’m doing this backwards. Rose is supposed to be the long-term planner, I’m supposed to handle the short term. But here I am, shooting myself in the foot in the short term for hopeful long-term gains. We could call you guys my insurance. You maybe back me up, make it so the other guys are scratching their heads and wondering exactly who you are and what you can do, but you should stay out of the thick of things. If things go sour-”
“We bail you out,” Ty said.
I nodded. “Maybe. If you can do it without putting yourselves at too much risk.”
“Okay,” Ty said.
“There are some basic circles and ideas for protections in here,” Alexis said.
I spoke up, “Rule of thumb, you make a circle oppose whatever it is that drives the Other you or magic you want to ward off. You can make it similar if they’re weak, but I’ve had fairly limited luck with that.”
“Okay,” she said.
“I’m not an expert by any means,” I said.
“Most practitioners don’t get in any real fights except maybe a conflict over their familiar or demesne,” Nick said.
“Really?” I asked.
“You might be more experienced than most. Not very knowledgeable, but from what you said about your library, you have a way of fixing that problem.”
“Trick, then, is staying intact until I can make the fix,” I said.
Nick nodded.
There was a moment’s silence. I felt the pressure descending in moments.
“Would be fantastic if we could try pulling off a binding in the next half hour,” I said. “I could do with a little more power.”
“Don’t know where you’d go.”
“Sites of recent murders?” I asked.
“The Shepherd claims all local ghosts, spirits, spectres, phantoms, wraiths, poltergeists, and apparitions.”
“Damn. Goblins?”
“Not anywhere near the heart of the city. Fringes only.”
“Fuck,” I said. “What about… I dunno, the local folk tales, the things that go bump in the night? The miscellaneous monsters?”
“Is the thing we really want to do before you go up against an enemy is to fight another enemy?” Ty asked.
“I want to feel more prepared,” I said.
“I don’t think there are any perfect solutions,” Nick said. “I doubt there’s much of anything you can do to be prepared for tonight, whatever you’re doing.”
“Having more of an idea what I’m doing would be one thing,” I said.
He smiled without humor, my expression was comparatively somber.
“You feel that?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure what he meant. Feel? I felt… tired. In pain.
No, he was referring to another kind of sensation.
“No fucking way,” I said.
“What?” Ty asked.
“Listen up, you two, here’s your first lesson in the field. I want you to pay particular attention to all the weirdness going on around us. Start with the immediate stuff, the connections between each of us, things being carried back and forth. Over time, you’ll visualize it into something like cords, strings, ribbons…”
“It’s more a feeling for me,” Nick said. “Physical. Everyone sees it differently.”