Mind Games and Public Appearances

I am astounded by how quickly my followers work. I explained the situation to them and they jumped on the situation and began making a plan. Our paid engineer left the project but he was glad to help. Our dedicated follower stayed on and agreed to help continue broadcasting as needed. With the new changes, he would need to come up with a different solution. We used the public utilities to take over the worldwide broadcast. If we were going to continue moving around we would need to move to a satellite-centered setup. I've been told it is possible so I will trust him.

The equipment that we moved out after the broadcast was quickly shuffled to California to a residence that we had rented. We managed to find a house that was fairly close to my next destination. The letter I left with the MPs called out for whoever ordered my capture to meet me in a remote section of the Death Valley National Park.

But before then, I have some work to do. We met up with some of the local church organizers that volunteered to head out to this rental property. The house was large enough that we could fit four of them into one of the bedrooms. They demanded that I have my own so they gave me the master with an attached bathroom. They set up bunk beds in the second bedroom to make the most use of the space. The broadcast equipment was set up in the basement with a satellite relay installed in the yard.

Now I have to being damage control. More and more reports are coming out on the news that magic users are causing damage. There are a lot of influencers and streamers that have started telling the world what they are and what they do and it seems to be a back-and-forth between the two of who can out-scream the other. I have to get my face back out there and start talking to people.

I speak with those who have had some experience with PR and public speaking. They agreed with me, either by their own expert opinion or not wanting to go against me, that I should get my face on to one of these major news stations that have been covering this story. They can send the broadcast from the house to the studio. There will be a heavy delay by going through the satellite but it'll help hide us unlike before.

I wondered if any news station would be willing to bring me on. That question was put to rest within an hour. Once we decided on a list of stations that would be best for me to appear on, an email was sent out and within an hour we have four of them reply with fervor for an exclusive interview. They wanted to make it so no other news station got to speak with me. That showed that there was strong interest but we can't do that. I should get out as far as I can. An exclusive interview would stifle that.

We send back the requirement that this will not be an exclusive interview. Three continue to push for exclusivity but one agrees to the non-exclusive. They are the ones we will go with. We let the others know we will be going with the one station and if they would like to have a follow-up or schedule for a later date, they are welcome to contact us.

They want me, badly. They're trying to get me on tomorrow. We request a list of questions that they plan to ask so we can prepare for them. They gave me quite a few. I don't know how they plan on condensing this to 30 minutes or an hour live. Some of these questions require some deep explanation. I'll have to dumb down or cut out a lot of details to explain some magic theory. Some of these are more political as well. I'll have to choose my words carefully but I manage. We don't have as long as we did with the broadcast to prepare for this. I think it will be along the same lines as we practiced before. As long as I maintain consistency, I'm in a good place.

I'm learning that the news world is cutthroat. The three that we told no to are coming back dropping the exclusive request but wanting an interview later today. We need the time to prepare for something like this. We will be unable to accommodate their request.

I watch as everyone gets things installed and set up for living. The basement becomes the hub of everything. I'm assured that they have it under control and that I should relax. I had to travel across the country in a short amount of time. I have five days left before the note I left needs to be acted upon.

We order food. Someone goes and picks it up so we can keep the address hidden. Everyone else seems to be on edge being around me. The only one who seems any kind of calm is our technical engineer. But he's been around me the most. The rest of this group are all new folks that were told I was on my way. They're on edge because they knew of me. It's just like the church back east. They were all hyped up and worried about making a wrong move. After a week they started to even out. I'll have to hide away in the master bedroom if this keeps up.

Dinner is finished. Everyone goes back to their work. I grab a notepad and look over these questions a little bit more. If I can write something coherent down I'll remember it later. I'll also have to be ready for any pop-up follow-up questions. Those will be the hard ones as I will have to come up with an answer on the spot.

The hours pass by as I pour over these questions. Again, I don't know how they plan on compressing these down to less than an hour. Maybe they don't. Maybe they got our email and were ready to clear a lot more time. No matter what, I'll need to keep my guard up and my wits about me. Any slip-up can cause major damage to any of my points and I know there are people out there ready to tear me apart.

I manage to get a good night's rest. Morning comes with the sun. The team is already working hard in the basement to ensure that the connection is stable. I grab a nice shirt that I brought with me. It might be the same one I wore during the broadcast. It'll work just fine.

They have the news station up on a small TV that they will face away from me when our conversation begins. They'll use it to judge how our feed is doing. They've got a few others watching online activity to measure where we are in the public eye.

I get myself sat down and set up in my spot. They double-check the lighting. Everything was ready to go. We got our connection secured. I got an earpiece so I can listen to the call. And away we went. The lady zebra that introduced me was courteous. Her lion counterpart was just as polite as they began. "We have a surprise guest who many have seen in the past week making rounds around the internet and the news. I am pleased to welcome him for his first interview since his world premiere, The Fox, Red. Hello Red. You are joining us via satellite and I am glad we get to speak with you today."

There is a delay in the type of communication we are using. I make sure to smile and use a pleasant tone, "It's a pleasure to be here. I'm glad that we were able to make this happen."

"And we are as well. You've caused quite a stir across the world with this…" She paused as she chose her word carefully, "...magnanimous announcement you've made. There are many naysayers who are saying that this is a farce, that this is a stunt, but on the other paw there have been many who have come forward from many different walks of life that are working to confirm your claim that yes, magic is real."

I nod along as they talk in my ear. They go over the announcement that we have made. The many news stories that have come out since then. They touch on some of the influential people who have come out to say that this is truly a thing and tried to show evidence that these claims are true. "Now Red, how can you prove to us that your claims are true?" They reworded one of the questions. On the list they sent me it said "How will you prove that magic is real?" but they've changed it to a more denialist view.

I can only continue with the answer that I prepared. "In all honesty, I can't. Not from where I'm sitting. It's one thing for me to display my abilities from where I am. Anyone who wants to can say that it's a greenscreen effect or an illusionist trick. It's another thing if we were face to face where you can experience it."

"If we were face to face, what would you show us?"

"The most convincing spell that I have is climate control. To raise and or lower the temperature of the room to an extreme that is not feasible by the HVAC system of a normal room."

"And that's a spell? Actually, are they called spells?"

"They are called spells. I've heard techniques. I've heard castings. There is a wide terminology used for what can be referred to as a spell."

"That's good to know. But would that kind of technique be a spell that anyone can learn?"

These are the follow-up questions that I could not prepare for. However! This is an easy one to field, "Possibly, yes. And I say possibly because the method that I use to perform this spell is considered highly advanced that not a lot of mages have the knowledge or ability to do."

"So is there a class system for mages like there is for people of wealth?"

What kind of question is that? I have to answer honestly. That's the path I've decided to stick with. "Yes, there are people of influence who can make decisions that affect others. In matters of skills and schools of teaching, there are different levels of magic where there are forms that are more advanced than others. You can think of it as the difference between grade school, middle school, high school, and college level academics. The more you learn, the more advanced the classes you attend become. Such as the grade school volcano science project to applied aerodynamics used to calculate launching a rocket into space. For those who are watching who know magic, I use alchemic magic."

Her cohost pipes in, "Alchemy is real?!"

"Not like you think it is. It's not turning lead into gold. It's using what's already present and reshaping it into something else using the same elements. It's more like a chemical reaction to get the desired reaction and output."

They both seem lost at the explanation. If this goes where I think it is, then I am golden. I've got them hooked on the magic portion and less on the message I wish to send. We can work on this to bring understanding that magic is accessible to people rather than the political aspect of it where I have to fight to give mages the ability to breathe easily. The zebra comes back in, "This sounds more like a science than fantasy."

"It is. I could go on for hours on magic theory and application but it boils down to a different kind of science. There is a surprising amount of overlap."

"Do you think magic and science could work together?"

"Absolutely!"

That was probably the easiest question I'm going to answer. I mull over the other questions in the list they sent wondering which one they're going to pick next. The lion comes back with a current events question, "Red, recently there was a car accident caused by two magic users that resulted in the injury of two military personnel. What do you have to say about these kinds of people using magic for these reasons?" That is way too on the nose for this not to be the same accident I was in. "Where did that take place?"

"It took place in Franklin, Tennessee on Highway 96. Just south of Nashville."

Exact location, "I'm familiar with this incident and I'm glad you brought this up." I adjust in my seat as I brace myself for a long answer.

To give the immediate answer to your question I am glad that this event happened because I was in that vehicle. I'm not sure what details were released but the men in that vehicle were MPs who were ordered to arrest me for the broadcast that I had conducted days before. They arrested me at a church I had been taking refuge in because the US government blacklisted me.

The story behind that is I enlisted with the US Army earlier this year. During basic training, they discovered that I had magical abilities and separated me from my training platoon. In one night, they picked me up and moved me to another military base where I completed my training, It included magical training. Once I completed that, they assigned me to a squad out of Florida where they were doing intensive training to get a small team ready for an off-the-book mission to somewhere they never told us.

For anyone wondering, a mage in the military is nicknamed 'mage bomb' for the explosive power they are trained to unleash. They act in a supportive and offensive role. And it's been happening for a very long time. The mission we were on went bad. The ship we were on was attacked by pirates. They killed most of my squad and attempted to kill me. The cargo ship that we were on was sunk leaving me to float onto a beach in Cuba. I requested assistance from the embassy on the island and they were unable to confirm that I was a US citizen. I learned that once the word that our ship was lost at sea, they scrubbed me and I assume the rest of my team from everything to prevent anyone from discovering what we were doing.

I still don't know where we were going or what we were supposed to do. It's no secret that governments wage secret wars all the time but for many, this is the first time that you are hearing that they've been using magic users to fight these wars. They discovered I was alive when I returned to the base where I was deployed for this mission and still refused to assist me in getting my life together.

I made the broadcast that I did and I believe that they are coming after me for it. The MPs told me that I had released classified information to unauthorized individuals. And that is very true as I just have. But people need to know. Those who are in the military and are mage bombs don't get recognition. They don't get benefits. They do not exist. They disappear like I did.

Now, for the incident. The individuals who did this were in the wrong. They acted out in a manner that is not how I want magic to be used. I am grateful for what they did for me but this is not the method that I want to see magic used. I ensured that they understood my intentions. I made sure that the MPs that were injured were left in a non-critical state so they could recover with no long-lasting effects. And I left a note with them that I hope they passed on to their superiors who ordered this arrest. I wish to meet with them and I will take this moment to call them out on live TV.

I will not be intimidated. I will see that mages are free to live in the open. Everywhere.

There's a long moment of silence before I hear the lion talk again. He sounds in absolute shock, "You mean to tell us that our government has known of magic and mages?"

"I am telling you this. They have known for decades if not centuries. And I guarantee it's not just our government."

"You have a very large target on your back."

"I wear it proudly if it means that the average person can live freely."

I'm getting silent claps from the crew in the room. They are proud that I am putting in my mission statement as much as I am. Their nerves about being around me have faded now that they know that I'm not here to use them but give them a life they can also live. The lion continues, "I'm still skeptical about all this, if I may be honest with you. That story sounds far too out there to be true."

"I understand and I do not blame you. Any other time, if I had told this story, I would be committed. But these are the facts of my life. These events happened. I am a magic user. And I am a creature of legend called a nine-tailed fox."

I undo the illusion spell that hides my tails allowing them to flow freely behind me. I have to be honest with myself. I'll have to watch this section back. I want to see their reactions. "That's another claim that you've made that I wanted to ask about. What is the nine-tailed fox and how do you know you are this creature?" That was close to one of the questions they sent me so I have an answer prepared.

"The nine-tailed fox is a creature of extreme power. I've learned that there can only be one in existence at a time. When the previous one dies, that power is passed on. There are many things I do not know about it that I am learning. For example, I only have six tails at the moment. With each one, I grow my power increases immensely. There have been side effects as they appear that I have been dealing with. I don't know what caused them to grow and I don't know what I need to do to get the rest." I make sure that all of them are visible and within what I imagine the frame would be.

"What do you use that power for? It seems like someone shouldn't have that kind of power."

This is what I was worried about. This could end up in fear-mongering if I don't tread lightly. "I didn't know I had any magical ability until a year and a half ago. I started with absolutely nothing but had a structured teaching to learn the basics of control. If I may be honest with you, this power is a burden rather than a gift. Because of this, I understand control and restraint when it comes to using it. It's like a CEO of a company that makes sweeping decisions. They have the power to drive the company into the ground or promote growth. They have the power to make these calls but it's how they use it. That is the same with me."

"And what's stopping you from just using that power to create a new class where magic users are superior to non-magic users?"

I have to try not to smile. I was hoping that this question would come up. It wasn't on the list but this is where I can make or break this entire interview. "As I've said before and will continue to say. Magic users have had to live in the shadows. I am giving them the freedom to live in the open. Just like the civil rights through the 60s and any movement where a group of people wants to be treated equally, I don't want superiority. I want an even chance to live. For myself and other mages."

The zebra pulls the interview away from this topic, "In your broadcast, you mentioned that you wanted to bring more into your world. What do you mean by that?"

"Unless you were born into or introduced to magic by someone who already knew magic, many people don't get to even try their hand at it. How many great mages could we have had that could have advanced magic or technology but never got the chance because they were told that magic is a fairytale? I want to make sure that everyone who wants to try has the opportunity to attempt it."

"Does that mean I could have latent magical powers?"

I didn't even think of this. I wonder if I could get her to try a basic-level exercise and explain how magic works. "Do you want to try?" I can hear the excitement in her gasp, "If you are willing!"

"If I can get you to perform a simple spell, would that convince you that magic is real?"

"Yes!"

Her cohost chimed in, "Yes. It would turn me into a believer."

"I cannot promise results but we can give it a try. You have to let go of the preconceived notion that magic is not real. If you have that mental block, you will not be able to succeed."

She sounds excited, "I will give it my all!"

I have to focus on something that will be simple. Air is the easiest but the hardest to show on live TV. A small gust could be attributed to a draft. Fire is dangerous and could end badly. Earth is the most difficult. I'll have her go with water. "The basics of magic come down to focal points in the body. Every muscle, every joint, and every organ can be used to help channel certain elements to produce certain spells. To keep it simple, we will use a simple water spell that they teach at a grade school level. If you can tackle this, you have the ability to use magic."

"OK! OK!"

She is far too excited. "Hold your… hoof out, palm up. Like so." I move so she can mirror me. They turn the TV around so I can see that she is taking the action I have instructed. There's a huge delay so I have to wait and it gets a bit weird. But once she is in position, I can continue. "The most concentrated area within your body for water is your gut." I lean back to give a better view as I point to a spot about 2 inches lower than my ribs. "You want to focus on this area. For me, it's a couple of inches below where my ribs meet my sternum. As you are taller than me, it'll be lower. If you were wild in your younger years, it would be where the burn of a liquor shot would settle." I got a laugh out of her.

Part of my plan is to come off as likable. People are more likely to take your side if you have charisma about you. If I can present myself as a person for the people, I can get more to look at me and think that I'm not crazy. "Now, imagine that there is a sphere of water there. You want to pull that water from that location to your hoof." I motion from the point on my body up my chest to my shoulder and down my arm to my palm. It's second nature for me as I begin to pool water in my paw. It quickly becomes too much and drips off onto the floor. "You can do this motion if it helps you visualize the movement."

She begins to move from her stomach up her body and down her arm to her hoof. Nothing happens but that's to be expected. It took me who knows how many tries before I was able to get results. As soon as that mental block was gone I was let free. She repeats the motion a few times with no results. As much as I would like for her to be able to show on live TV how easy it is to get your start in magic, we cannot have this whole interview be about this. "There's a lot of practice involved. You would have an amazing affinity with magic if you were able to do that within the first few tries." I have to keep expectations grounded. She seems disappointed but she understands that they must go on.

She's got a strong interest in this simple spell, "I can see that you have water dripping off your paw. Does that water act like water?"

"It does! By combining and removing other elements we can see the three basic stages of matter. I'll demonstrate."

I have the water from a floating ball above my palm. "Just like putting water in the freezer, when you remove heat or lower the temperature from it, it freezes." I have to put on my showman hat. I bring my other paw close to the water and act as though I grab a string. I pull back from the water bubble drawing the heat from it and freezing it in place. The water clouds as it freezes into a solid sphere. "Of course, if you bring heat to the ice it will melt." I push my palm back towards the ice to let it melt back into the ball it was. "And just like if you put it in a pot and boiled it, you can get steam." I push toward the ball again. The water turns to steam staying contained in the small ball.

I release the constriction on the ball letting the steam disburse itself into the air. "This is why I say science and magic can work together. The rules are the same. Magic can just do what science can but at an accelerated pace. For most things." I have a captivated audience both inside and outside of the studio. They're watching the online activity from the interview. There is a frenzy of support and strong opposition. This has people split.

The interview continues with no issues. They have some hard questions that I am glad they sent me ahead of time. The interview runs for over an hour but by the end of it, everyone feels like I've done a wonderful job of explaining everything I can. "Red, before we let you go, is there anything else you want to add?" I pause as I think. "There is. I do not doubt that a lot of the information that I've told you will upset quite a few people. To those people that this upsets, and you know who I am addressing, I already left you a note with where and when you can find me. I hope that I see you there. And to everyone watching, I hope that you please look at this objectively. You may not want to believe that magic is real but you may have friends or even family that have these abilities that they have been afraid to show. Approach this with an open mind even if it is a 'what if' mentality."

There's a brief pause of silence before I hear the zebra speak again, "Thank you again Red for your time and words. You've given us all something to think about."

"Thank you for having me on."

We cut the communication from our side. I sit up until I get the all-clear. I feel every muscle in my body give out as I lean forward. There's a certain stress that comes with a situation like that. The broadcast that we did was only minutes. This was over an hour and required my full attention the entire time. Everyone in the room gives applause for a job well done. I get notes on what to improve for the next interview. The list that we contacted grew during the time that the interview took place. They were watching and reached out to try and secure a spot with me. We'll have to pick and choose who we go with. I know some in there will have ill intentions. We have to avoid that otherwise we risk damaging our reputation.

I cannot function. That took everything I had out of me. I head upstairs turning on the TV to the news station that we interviewed with. They've moved on to their next segment but something caught my eye. As the lion talks, the zebra is off to the side with her hoof facing upward. Her breathing is rhythmic until she speaks. She's still trying.

She's changing how she does it every so often. Occasionally I see her touch her stomach near the focal point I told her. The lion was in the middle of a sentence when I saw her face change. Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped. She moved her hoof letting a single water droplet fall to the table. The lion stopped what he was doing as he noticed her strange reaction. She took another breath as water began to appear one drop at a time. Before long she had a small pool the size of a quarter. This started a fight.

"Will you stop? We are in the middle of a show."

"But I can do it. Look!"

She continues to grow the small pool a little at a time. His disbelief begins to show, "It's just dripping from somewhere are your sweat is pooling."

"No, there is no leak and hooves don't sweat."

She rotates her hoof to let it fall on the table. She continues to focus as little droplets fall from her palm into the news desk. The murmur from the crew can be picked up on their mics. The lion even seems to be caught speechless. She continues letting the pool grow to the size of a small plate before she covers her face. Tears well up in her eyes as the world she knows shifts before her. Magic is real and she believes it. Who knows how many people are watching this broadcast. It's done more good than we did.

I get hit with a wave of excitement and relief. This is a momentous occasion that I know is going to spread like wildfire. There will still be those out there who will say what they want to rationalize that this isn't real. But I can assure myself that this will make a believer out of quite a few viewers. I just need to trust that those who are out talking to people know about this and use it to their advantage.