Sveta rolled her eyes at the school reference. Getting that was basically the extent of her pop culture knowledge. And her knowledge of actual magic wasn't much more extensive either. The idea of an armadillo in a wizard hat was amusing, though.

>>”No owl is bringing me a letter, I don’t have some wand to swish and flick around. I have a magic knife. A knife that makes apprehending criminals easier.”

"You hear yourself, right?" Sveta turned as they reached the landing to the apartment door. She fiddled with the keys and opened it. Magic wand, indeed. The guy had a knife that he used to catch criminals.

The studio apartment was small; basically a corner kitchenette, a living room with a pull-out couch, and a bathroom at the end. Sveta closed the door behind them and headed to the kitchen to open the fridge. "Beer? Ice pack?"

Sam gave a small chuckle, ”Oh, I hear myself. I sound a lot like the nonuplet you questioned, only with more jokes.”

Svetlana let them into the apartment. It was small, as most apartments were in New York City. Very uninteresting for something Haven had. However, that was almost precisely the point. Svetlana made her way to the the fridge and offered Sam beer or ice.

”Yes.” Sam called in reply as he made his way over to a window to glance outside.

The window opened to the fire escape, and the brick firewall of the building on the opposite side of the alley. It wasn't exactly a great view, but it did provide a second way out of the apartment. Whenever the grates on the window weren't locked, anyway.

Sveta fished two beers out of the fridge and opened them, then opened up the freezer part and pulled out two packs of ice, stored for a similar occasion. She placed all of them on the counter, before walking to the sink to wash her mouth out. There was still blood between her teeth. She might get a black eye from this. Damn.

Spitting the bloody water out, she wiped her mouth, and pulled off her sweater, which was torn and bloody in several places. The tank top was still in decent shape, at least. She also pulled off the torn gloves. The detective was clearly not a mutant.

"So... if I looked into your... what was it, bag of tricks? I wouldn't find any magic toys that mess with mutant powers, would I?"

Sam walked over to the counter and took a beer in one hand and an ice pack in the other. He sipped the beer and pressed the ice pack to his lower ribs. He stepped away from the counter to stand more in the middle of the space. His eyes scanned as he sipped his beer. He was looking for cameras and anywhere a weapon could be concealed. A blending of what he had been up to lately with his police training.

After removing her torn sweater and gloves and washing out her mouth, Svetlana went straight to the heart of it. Did his bag of tricks have anything that messed with mutants.

”No.” Sam said before walking back to the counter and setting his beer down. ”Look. Here’s what I have.” Sam removed a pair of keys, they looked dated. Older style keys like a home would have before the more modern mass produced and standardized designs. Both keys had unique patterns of sigils and runes engraved in them. ”Add the knife and that’s my whole bag of tricks.”

Were Svetlana to demand to see his gun, there was nothing to find. His sidearm was unenchanted and all the mystical bullets he had in his spare magazine were fired. As always, the top 3 in the magazine.

>>”No.”

Sveta frowned. It had been a rhetorical question. And now he was lying. She picked up the other beer, and held the ice pack to her jaw. "I don't believe you."

>>”Look. Here’s what I have. Add the knife and that’s my whole bag of tricks.”

She looked at the keys. She noted the symbols, similar to the ones on the knife. She pulled the knife from her belt and put it on the counter as well. "Dat's not really a bag. More like a purse." she smirked, looking up at him. "But you're still a mystic. Were you planning on telling me that?... Does the MRC know?"

Sam shrugged, Svetlana could believe what she wanted. His bag of tricks had nothing that messed with mutant powers. Further denying would do him no good so he let it drop. She could believe what she wanted.

”I’d have gone with keyring” Sam said, a purse could hold more than just the three things. Sam did not fail to notice the knife was left on the counter. He left it alone. No sense making it an issue by taking it at that moment. ”Yes. I can make a few trinkets that help me in my work. No, MRC does not know. Mystics aren’t exactly common knowledge. Walking in and announcing I’m Samuel the White won’t accomplish much more than to get me sent to a shrink. As for telling you, most likely no. We have a business arrangement. My ability to make a knife that makes people’s clothes arrest them or a key that gives me more time to take someone to a hospital aren’t exactly germane.”

Sveta was convinced he was not telling her the whole truth, but at least he was not flat out denying the fact that he dealt in magic.

>>”Yes. I can make a few trinkets that help me in my work. No, MRC does not know. Mystics aren’t exactly common knowledge. Walking in and announcing I’m Samuel the White won’t accomplish much more than to get me sent to a shrink."

"If I were you, I'd not call myself that in this neighborhood." Sveta smirked at him over the counter. He was right, mystics were not common knowledge. She was only beginning to put the pieces together herself. She knew more since having met Hercules, but only barely. She took a swig from her beer, looking at the keys and the knife.

>>"As for telling you, most likely no. We have a business arrangement. My ability to make a knife that makes people’s clothes arrest them or a key that gives me more time to take someone to a hospital aren’t exactly germane.”

"Now see, that's where you are wrong." she looked up at him. "You are not some guy with a weird crafting hobby. I don't know much, but I do know that as a mystic, you have to get your powers. Intentionally." She tilted her head. "So, how did that go down? Got tired of chasing down mutants, and decided to level the playing field?"

Sam had to laugh. ”You have me there. Sam the Grey then.” It probably said something about Sam’s psychology that when looking to self describe he used the names of a Maiar.

Then the accusations began again. Svetlana asserted he got his powers to level the playing field with mutants. While his magic does help with that, it isn’t all it does. ”I was an officer when I discovered I could use magic. Just a beat cop. I was later promoted and moved to MRC because I was good at my job. My record is solid. I won’t argue that having the clothes someone, even a mutant, is wearing restrain them makes the job a lot easier. It also helps when those who were victimized can miraculously not bleed out before they reach the hospital. My magic is used to help people.”

Even to help mutants. Who are corrupted by their own mutations.

>>”I was an officer when I discovered I could use magic. Just a beat cop. I was later promoted and moved to MRC because I was good at my job."

So, the magic came first, and then the MRC. She believed he was telling the truth there, at least. She was not sure about him 'discovering' his magical abilities, but that was a discussion for a later time.

>>"My record is solid. I won’t argue that having the clothes someone, even a mutant, is wearing restrain them makes the job a lot easier. It also helps when those who were victimized can miraculously not bleed out before they reach the hospital. My magic is used to help people.”

"Oh, I'm sure it is" Sveta smirked. Everyone always said that. She'd heard it from SUPER, she'd heard it from the Sanctuary, she'd heard it from the goddamn Matchmaker. The thing was, though, a lot of those times the help was not actual help...

"Look, detective, I fought you, remember?" she pointed out, tilting her bottle of beer at him "You can't tell me you weren't messing with my powers. Or that the knife and the keys are the only things you have. Everyone I've met over the years... MRC, SUPER, you name it... everyone had the best tech, the best assets, the best adapteds, the best whatever, to put up a fight against an out of control mutant. It would make sense that you do too."

Sam knew he wasn’t about to convince Svetlana of everything, or anything really. His only real goal now was keep the meeting cordial and maintain their working relationship.

”I remember the fight. And I can tell you I wasn’t messing with your powers.” Sam said as he produced everything from his pockets. Change, wallet, his home and car keys, and his service pistol. ”Here’s everything. I’ll even show you what everything does… Here.” Sam pointed to one of the keys. ”That key is what you want. Take it, imagine someone, a human not some animal, and then place the key against one of us and when it enters, turn it… Well first, pull a few hairs from the person. Hell, even imagine a power with it. See what happens.”

>>”I remember the fight. And I can tell you I wasn’t messing with your powers.”

Sveta sighed, hanging her head as she rested her elbows on the counter. Sure. This was how it was gonna go then. Just because they took out some goons together didn't mean the detective would trust her any more. TO be fair, the feeling was mutual.

He emptied his pockets.

>>”Here’s everything. I’ll even show you what everything does… Here. That key is what you want. Take it, imagine someone, a human not some animal, and then place the key against one of us and when it enters, turn it… Well first, pull a few hairs from the person. Hell, even imagine a power with it. See what happens.”

"Yeah, no" she shook her head, drinking more beer instead. "I'm not putting anything into anyone." Hair or no hair. She'd had enough freaky magic for one day. "So, you make these? Just... what, trial and error? Or do you have some magic crafting circle going?"

”That’s fair. It was a big ask.” Sam conceded, ”The point was to show you that the magic—which interacts with genetics—does not and cannot affect the x-gene.”

Sam sipped his beer and shifted where he held the ice pack. He was not the biggest fan of discussing how he makes his tools. Yet, sharing a little wouldn’t hurt him.

”Yes, I make them myself. No musical crafting circle involved.” Sam set down his beer and moved his hands over the ensorcelled items, ”It takes a lot of study and a lot of trial and error to craft these. I have a library full of ancient cultures’ signs, sigils, runes, and texts on alchemy from the Enlightenment.” Sam traced lines on one of the keys with a finger, ”I design the enchantment with the symbols and then engrave them into the objects to give them power.”

Luckily, Travis did not push the idea of putting a key... into someone. Sveta was not sure she even wanted to know what he meant.

>>”That’s fair. It was a big ask. The point was to show you that the magic—which interacts with genetics—does not and cannot affect the x-gene.”

Does not, sure. Cannot... that remained to be seen. Wouldn't be a big leap, if the detective put his mind to it.

>>”Yes, I make them myself. No musical crafting circle involved. It takes a lot of study and a lot of trial and error to craft these. I have a library full of ancient cultures’ signs, sigils, runes, and texts on alchemy from the Enlightenment. I design the enchantment with the symbols and then engrave them into the objects to give them power.”

"So, you're a nerd" Sveta smirked at him, sipping more of her beer. A magical nerd. GO figure. Sounded like a whole lot of study and work, to give an object the right magical power. "You know, with my people" she gave him a pointed look "Everyone has a story about how their powers manifested. Some are... more dramatic than others. And you just... what, doodled a sigil one day, and boom magic?"

Sam gave a soft chuckle. He would never consider himself a nerd but he guessed after what he had just said, it fit. He then raised an eyebrow at Svetlana saying ‘her people’. Like mutants were somehow a different people. Not people like everyone else, only difference was they were carrying around a curse.

”That’s partly how it was…” Sam looked around, ”Do you have paper and a pen? Maybe cardboard and a knife? I can show you how easy it was.” Sam made his request but carried on with his explanation, ”I studied philosophy at NYU. As part of this I was exposed to philosophies from all throughout history. This included the enlightenment and Alchemy as well as a study into religions both mythical and modern. The Ripley scroll is a fascinating document that more or less focused my… magical study once I found I could.”

>>”That’s partly how it was… Do you have paper and a pen? Maybe cardboard and a knife? I can show you how easy it was.”

"You just wanna show a girl a magic trick." Sveta grinned, but she did walk to a drawer and got a pen and a note pad. Wizards were nerds, and no one could tell her otherwise. She still did not fully trust Travis, which made poking at him more fun. Maybe she'd poke something loose.

>>”I studied philosophy at NYU. As part of this I was exposed to philosophies from all throughout history. This included the enlightenment and Alchemy as well as a study into religions both mythical and modern. The Ripley scroll is a fascinating document that more or less focused my… magical study once I found I could.”

"You were a philosophy major?" Sveta blinked at him incredulously. That was... not at all what she had pictured for someone who had the death wish of being a detective in New York City "How the hell did you end up with the MRC?"