Strings of Fate

Strings of Fate Cam 51- Poison and passion I sit dumbly as I try to think of a diplomatic way to say that Ryann is just completely wrong. Either resisting Incubi is totally impossible OR Harry has way less control than she thinks.

“Ryann... Are you totally sure about Harry being controlled?” | ask quietly. She nods.

“Sure, he’s an expressive person, but | think that’s part of how he manages his emotions. He lets them out so he doesn’t let out his magic. It makes sense toat least.” She hesitates a little, probably because she’s making a lot of assumptions there.

+10 Bor “I can sort of see that.” | agree. It’s starting to feel a little weird talking about Harry like this. Was it a mistake to basically go to his friends to get info on him? It's starting to feel a little creepy. It was fine when | was asking about Incubi in general, but asking about Harry... | feel like this is something that | should be talking about with him. Still, maybe I'm just vulnerable to Incubi magic because I've never been around it until him. Is that a thing? “Is it possible to be especially weak to Incubi magic?” | ask, | can feel heat in my cheeks as they blush red. | do my best to ignore Megan's snickering and Darrien’s smirk. Aaron actually just seems curious about the answer and waits attentively. | think he might be growing onbecause out of the group he’s the only one not makinguncomfortable right now. His silence that is usually imposing is now comforting. | risk a small smile at him and he gives a small nod. Yeah, he knows what he’s doing. Ryann takes my question very seriously.

weaker “I don’t THINK you can be especially vulnerable. | mean if you're drunk you might be to it, but alcohol would make you weaker to most magic, | mean it’s technically a poison, right?” She smiles awkwardly, probably remembering that | own a bar.

“A fun poison.” Megan adds.

“Also if you're doubting Harry's control you shouldn't. The only Incubi I've really been. around is Harry so | haven't had a chance to build up resistance either. I've almost never felt anything from him other than the occasional happy vibe. | like to think of it as Harry manages to control like ninety five of the emotions he has aroundso | just feel a little of his magic. Of course you're going to feel way more, he HAS way more feelings around you and | suspect that he has less control around you because he’s probably more relaxed around you. | mean imagine trying to stay in control of your emotions and magic ALL THE TIME.

05: 1/3 Cam 51- Poison and passion Wouldn't you want to relax around the person you are about most? He's complained +10% Bonus 04:59 fifty times that his magic barely seems to affect you but | always thought he secretly loves i I'm sort of amazed to hear that it does affect you after all.” Megan sounds fascinated. | really need to steal someone’s phone and find out what the hell they're all saying aboutin this text chain.

“Uh... yeah. Well anyway, eventually you can learn to resist Harry’s magic, but that will take stime. It's part of why Incubi tend to struggle with relationships, they overwhelm people. But... is it really so bad? | had to distance myself from him as a teenager because | definitely DIDN'T need to feel whatever it was he was feeling aboutat the time. But would a little extra insight be so bad in your case? Particularly since you apparently feel the sway about him anyway. It might make your emotions more intense, but if you didn’t actually feel those emotions they wouldn't last more than a few minutes. His magic is pretty focussed on you, he probably isn’t doing it on purpose or anything. He just loves you and that makes it hard for him to hold himself back. He usually avoids people when trying not to share his emotions around so much. Like he refused to csee us last night because he didn’t want to make us ‘pissed off and miserable’ to phrase it his way.” Ryann sighs and Megan pouts. Great, now | feel even worse. Harry is sitting around alone while | have all his best friend's undivided attention as they try to makefeel better. Actually, they're not trying to makefeel better. They're just trying to fix the situation as a whole. That's the whole point of this conversation and | need to remember that.

So, what have | learned? Harry hasn't been going around shoving magic at everyone, justand it was probably an accident anyway plus he thought it wasn’t affecting me. No wonder he got so jealous when | implied that | had another Incubus friend. He believed it because he thought | was immune to his magic s | MUST have spent taround other Incubi. They're also saving Harry can’t make people feel things he doesn’t feel.

“Are you guys tellingthat an Incubus who is in love, or at least focussed on someone, won't really have magic that works on other people?” | ask, trying to see if | have this right.. Ryann shrugs.

“Not quite. | mean, you can love someone and still lust after someone else. Plus there are always other emotions like anger and stuff that they can push on people. But their magic does tend to stick to one person if that's who they're obsessing over. | mean, I'm sure if he worked on it, Harry could drag out skind of feelings of attraction to any remotely appealing person. He's good at seeing the good in people. But why would he want to? He might enjoy the attention, but he is loyal. So | wouldn't worry about it.” Ryann says the words. almost as a warning. Yeah she wantsto trust Harry, and | probably should. But is he really 2/3 Cam 51- Poison and passion loyal to me? Because | have never done anything to deserve that kind of loyalty. Still, his magic has been affectingmore and more, and everyone else insists they barely notice it. So basically I'm an idiot and | really screwed this up. | admit as much to the group of them and thank them for their help.

“I could probably think of a million more questions to ask. But | don’t think you're the one | should be asking.! need to talk to Harry, assuming | can get him to listen, that is.” I sigh.

“He'll listen. Maybe not right away, but | seriously doubt he will stay away for long.” Ryann sighs and crosses her arms over her chest again.

“Look, we don’t love what you've done to Harry. You really didn’t treat him how | would have liked. But you wouldn't have calledif you didn’t really care about him. | know Harry has told you | have a bit of a cheat code magic when it comes to relationships and that helps too. But mostly I just like you. | do think you're good for Harry so I'm willing to help you out this once.” She says sternly.

“But don’t expect us to keep trying to help if you screw him over again. You will be totally on your own.” Megan warns me. | promise | won't and | mean it. | have no intention of hurting Harry like this ever again.

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