On the way home Margerie stopped by the Emporium where her brother was part-timing, he had the force of personality to sell whatever stupid gimmick he was endorsing- it wasn't something she could ever see herself doing. It wasn't that she was shy, but she wasn't like Daniel... he was charismatic, he could rub elbows with anyone and fit in. Margerie was technical, quiet-- not socially awkward, but she didn't really connect with other people the way Daniel could; which inevitably reduced her to a wallflower anytime the family attended social functions.

In that way she often felt like she was a Krietz only in name, maybe her grandmother was right to put so much pressure on her grandchildren. Their inheritance had to be earned, and she had to graduate from a Magical Academy to fulfill the former matriarch's terms. Margerie scowled at her reflection in the window and straightened her back walking into the mall; she walked past groups of students - some she recognized, but nobody stopped to talk to her. She stopped outside the inner convention hall and saw Daniel enthusing to try the Krietz products on display to the people walking by.

Margerie sighed when she realized he was focusing on a new soul tracker model, she gripped her sleeve and tugged it down. Leaning against the wall after setting her backpack at her feet, she watched Daniel convince some cute blonde girl to try the device.

"Sure it might not be gold--" he laughed and began doodling on her arm in what looked like cerulean ink, he drew something swirly and beautiful. "--but this particular model has new vessel properties installed, allowing you to draw with color changing ink! You just channel whatever color you desire, and presto!"

He switched the ink to a pale violet and kept drawing. "Why don't you give it a spin?"

The girl giggled and started toying with it finishing his drawings in a bright shade of pink.

"Have you figured out how to make soul trackers that can transfer writing yet?" She asked, pursing her glossy lips together.

Margerie rolled her eyes - the technology behind that was years, if not decades off. It was a silly question, and she knew Daniel thought so, too.

"I wish! Then we could find our soul mates, quickly, no problem- drawing is so cryptic, isn't it? It would be much more direct just to scribble down a time and address... Unfortunately, I'm not much of an engineer so I can't even guess when that might become a standard integration; but I can bet you that we're working on it."

"What a load of crap." someone remarked snidely - quiet enough to seem personal, but loud enough so everyone could hear it.

Margerie bridled and pushed herself off the wall to see who would be rude enough to interrupt her brother's live demonstration. She couldn't see him well from behind the wall of people especially considering he was wearing a hood.

Daniel paused but then smiled. "Are you an engineer sir?"

"No, but magic doesn't need to be performed with vessels and enhancers. A real magician doesn't need that fancy bullshit to achieve their goals."

Margerie scowled and started moving through the crowd, shoving her way inward was difficult given how small she was compared to the rest of the group, she swore more and more people were casting a popular glamour to be taller these days - that was when she glanced back and saw Daniel's eyes gain a mischievous glint as his upper lip twitched.

"Oh?" her brother said, the pleasant smile plastered on his face. "Would you like to give us a demonstration then? I'm sure you must be a true magician that can back up such boasts."

Margerie stopped and grinned, realizing what her brother was up to. Counter-magic was easy as hell if you had an adequate vessel, and most wandless magic was simplistic in structure and would be easy to dispel for someone with access to a vessel-- and in the process, make a fool out of some loud mouth punk.

Said punk smirked, then he held up his hand and with a flick of his wrist lifted the wand out of Daniel's back pocket.punk smirked, then he held up his hand and with a flick of his wrist lifted the wand out of Daniel's back pocket.

"You won't mind me borrowing this, will you?" he asked sneered.

Daniel didn't miss a beat and started clapping. "A fantastic presentation I'm impressed. I'm so surprised you could do telekinesis so easily, do you specialize in mental energy manipulation?"

He tapped his chin with an expression of wonder. "What's the limit on the weight of the objects you can move? How taxing is it on your body-- I'm fascinated... I'm sure we all are."

The guy in the hood faltered, his smile slipping slightly, and Margerie leaned forward eagerly as Daniel continued.

"How do you channel your abilities so efficiently without a vessel? I wonder at such a feat! Psychic work as we know it is understood to function in theory only with some form of a conduit, yet you must be a genius in your field to demonstrate such a natural talent... oh by the way--" here Daniel paused and smiled knowingly. "I like your ring."

Margerie craned her neck to catch a glimpse of the amethyst ring adorning the guy's left pinky. Amethyst was a perfect conduit for psychic energy, and because of that, it was the most common material used to create enhancers. Double point to Daniel.

Flushing in embarrassment and rage, the hooded stranger tossed Daniel his wand back and made some retort that Margerie wasn't sure she heard correctly - there was no way Daniel was physically capable of doing what the man suggested. She watched him skulk out the side entrance and Margerie laughed, loudly, before she realized she'd done it.

Some of the crowd turned to looked at her, but she couldn't undo it; so she grabbed her bag and slinked out the back entrance, casting one last glance at Daniel, she'd see him at home... it wasn't all that important she talked to him immediately.

Her inner forearm stung and she hissed, yanking her sleeve up. The scribbles appearing on her arm were a little more frantic than usual - her soul mate must have been irritated or anxious about something. She sighed and went toward the fountain, sitting down on the edge and watched as the drawings became more collected and calm. For the first time, she wondered if the soul tracker was less about finding soulmates and more of a coping mechanism for whoever was on the other side.

She smiled and traced one of the haphazard spirals; it might have been silly, but part of her appreciated the less elegant designs... It made her feel like whoever was responsible for the gold across her arm was human, with their own problems, and it was a comforting thought. She was struck out of her reverie when her phone began vibrating loudly.

She didn't recognize the number, but she answered anyway. "This is Margerie Krietz, who's this?"

There was a pause and then a long sigh. "Hi, I'm Saraf Parisi. Professor Nogoyev wanted us to tutor each other?"

She sat up straighter; she liked the sound of his voice; it was rich and smooth.

"Oh, right, of course. Um, what day works for you? I'm usually at the public library every day but Saturday in the evenings... we could work on our academics there."

"I'd rather not go somewhere so public." he replied dryly.

Margerie raised an eyebrow. "And I'd rather not go anywhere private with someone I don't know."

There was another pause, this one longer than the last.

"You're kidding me right?" Saraf sounded exasperated.

"I'm afraid not; besides if we're working on your theoretical work then we can't be somewhere without resource materials, can we?" she pushed her luck, annoyed by his attitude. "Like I said, we can meet at the library."

There was a tense silence, and then he huffed and agreed. "Fine, Sunday at 6 pm works for me; is that good?"

Margerie's lip quirked upward, somewhat proud of herself. "Yeah, that's great. Don't be late."

He sounded like he wanted to reply, but Margerie hung up the phone on him. It may have been impolite, but it made her feel powerful - being able to put a Parisi in their place was no small feat, even if it was for something incredibly arbitrary, such as a study date.