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James and Sirius, for today an accountant and a dentist, respectively, put the finishing touches on the Haunted Mansion (they had started the night before, and upon finding that in the morning their changes were still there, they had been quite pleased and finished up). Now that the room where the ceiling rose was magicked so that everyone would fit in it and still have plenty of space to move. On top of that, they had magically rewired the loudspeakers to the room, put up some spooky decorations, and even completed it with fake, scary looking ghosts (they had both been quite disappointed in the morning to discover that some of their ruder decorations, including hot, naked ghosts, were removed).

Then, James began to write the letters, and started some music.

Crowley,

We're throwing a party at the Haunted Mansion. Do you think you could provide refreshments? Feel free to come as well.

- James Potter and Sirius Black

Then, identical letters were sent out to everyone in the park.

Hey,

There will be a Halloween party at the Haunted Mansion in New Orlean's Square. Come around and have a great time. Also, if you have drinks or food that you want to bring to share, feel free.

- James Potter and Sirius Black

On the bottom of the paper, there's a witch flying on a broom, actually moving around on the paper.

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"Well...it's sometimes hard, even for me, even after all this time, to understand the way he thinks. But he did say that it was because he preferred me to love him as an equal, not adore him as a god. (Er, he left off that the latter part at the time, of course.) And you know, there really is something in all those stories about mortals not being able to look on the true face of a god without being destroyed. Some people find me frightening."

"Gods", the drone knew, were quite often highly advanced beings who thought it would be fun to mess around with primitive civilisations -- do a few tricks, corner the market on whatever valuable resources were available, and then move along as soon as they'd gotten bored. There'd been at least one case of a renegade Mind that had done that, centuries upon centuries ago, when Contact was still developing its protocols. That had gotten messy before it was all over.

If the drone could have convinced itself that this girl was such a being, along with the other "gods" of which she spoke, it would have felt marginally better about her. Except that didn't completely square with the narrative, did it? Nor with the incredibly aberrant readings it had picked up from her, nor with her apparently unshakeable conviction of her own reality and experience.

The whole business really pissed Skaffen-Amtiskaw off, frankly.

Its aura colour went a deeper grey and took on a slightly metallic sheen. "You, frightening? Can't imagine why. Seems like you've designed yourself to have exactly the opposite effect."

"Designed...? Oh, this is just how I looked when I was human. Well, with the addition of the wings, of course, but those just sort of...happened."

((Whoops, accidental delete, there.))

"Really." Oh, grief, what was it with all this impossible shite? "Not your choice? Or did someone else decide that when they ... changed you?"

She shook her head ruefully. "I think they're best explained as a sort of metaphor made flesh. (Well, sort of flesh, anyway.) I don't think Zeus had anything in particular in mind when he gave me my divinity...well, he said he didn't at the time, and looked rather surprised, though of course now he claims he knew exactly what my Office and Aspect would be. But you might say it's a pun on my name. In Greek, you know, psyche means 'soul' and 'butterfly.'"

"It fascinates me that your kind are fond of silly puns and wordplay. How very human, really."

It wasn't touching the "metaphor made flesh" thing with a fifty-foot pole.

"Well, the two facts are not unconnected. I mean, we are at least in some sense inspired by human understanding."

Really very much despite itself, the drone was curious about this logic.

"Is it an 'if you didn't exist, humanity would have to invent you' sort of thing? An extremely elaborate chicken-and-egg problem?"

"Something like that. It's been suggested, in fact, that we're formed and powered by belief. I know of at least one other universe where it does work that way. Which does lead interesting directions in regard to the world's creation. At least, I think they're interesting. Most of the rest of the pantheon just shrugs, although Hermes humors me a little now and then."

If the drone had a nose and fingers, it'd be pinching the bridge of said nose and wincing hard. The metallic sheen of its aura grew even more marked.

"Do you have any idea," it said wearily, "of just how little logical sense all of this makes?"

"Oh, I don't know that logic has much to say to it either way," she said cheerfully. "Science, now: based on what you've mentioned of your Culture's technology, you're well ahead of any science I'm familiar with...and admittedly, when I'm only using my own head, I'm not too well-versed in science and higher math. The consequences of forming habits of thought before such things were invented. But we did have logic when I was young. And I never thought it intrinsically incompatible with mystery."

"Oh, there's certainly mystery inherent in science," the drone replied. "Even the most determinedly rational Culture citizen will concede that -- science can only go so far to explain the vagaries of sentient thought, emotion, and what have you. However," and here it closed a bit of distance between itself and Psyche, "even the mystery of science doesn't allow for what you are."

Psyche looked mild as the drone pulled closer. "Well, I'm afraid I'm not terribly likely to stop existing simply to oblige your ideas about the universe. Isn't the scientific method about changing theory to square with facts?"

"I said nothing about anyone ceasing to exist," the drone said, sounding a little miffed. "And you are correct about the scientific method, of course, but the method has its limits in dealing with such blatantly unscientific things as this place. And I do so resent having to file entire classrles of phenomena under the heading of 'it's magic'. I expect you will consider that a character flaw."

"Oh - not really," she said. "You know, you needn't call it 'magic.' It's a useful word for some of us, but inexact. What does seem a...I wouldn't say character flaw, but perhaps a mistake? ...is resenting those of us who have inexplicable traits. It seems a misattribution of blame, and unlikely to be helpful to you in the long run."

Skaffen-Amtiskaw was starting to feel really annoyed now, not least because the girl had a point.

It really didn't want to like her. It really didn't, not one bit.

"Have you always been such a voice of sweet reason?" Snarky choice of words notwithstanding, its tone was about 30% sarcasm and 70% sincere. "Or was that something that happened when you ... changed?"

Psyche laughed, surprised but amused. "Nearly always. Not, I assume, when I was very young, as toddlers, for example, are seldom reasonable. But early enough that I can remember it frequently annoying my family. My sisters especially. There was," she added in fond reminiscence, "a fair amount of hair-pulling that went on."

"That's good to hear," the drone replied. "Because I was beginning to wonder what I found more unsettling: what you are, or your self-possession."

Was that quite possibly a joke? Might the drone's aura have lost some of its steeliness?

Psyche would like to think so. She smiled, and said, "Oh, that. Well, I let people think that's the result of great age and experience, but if you want the truth, it's mostly self-defense. And I'm not always above using it offensively, either; my parents did rather get the rough edge of my tongue when they were weeping and wailing about me having to be sacrificed."

The drone tilted slightly. "You seem remarkably disingenuous, sometimes, for a millennia-old goddess. And do you know, I'm beginning to think that's not really an act either."

"It's hard even for me sometimes to say how much of it's an act," was the wry response. "I try to remain the same person I was, which does seem to require a high standard of self-awareness. But that's part of the nature of humanity, isn't it, the way growing up means fashioning raw potential into a persona one feels comfortable regarding as oneself? It's just a little more conscious, in my case."

"And is that so for all of your kind?" Despite itself, the drone's curiosity really was getting the better of it. "Not all of your fellow deities were mortals first, were they?"

"Oh no, no, I'm very much the exception in my pantheon. Most of the few others who lived mortal lives first were demigods to begin with - Hercules, for example. And the full mortals who come to live with the gods aren't usually made gods in their own right, just immortal attendants like Ganymede or Ariadne."

"No, most gods are...well, I want to say they're rather confused about their identities and origins, but really they don't seem to find it confusing at all. My husband, for instance, is the mischevious young son of the goddess of sex and beauty, with one of, oh, half a dozen possible fathers, or born of an egg laid by Night, or one of the original forces of the universe, just after Chaos. I mean he is all those things, depending on what aspect he wears. It can be rather hard to wrap my head around sometimes, but, well, he is my husband."

"You see, this is the other part I'm having difficulty grasping," the drone said. And the fact that it was actually admitting as much said a great deal. "You and yours seem to exist in a state where story-logic is as real and tangible as, say, the biology of cellular reproduction."

"Yes," she said simply.