Ed breathed a sigh of relief and sat back, tension leaving his shoulders in a rush. "Like I said, it's a combination of skills that are likely paired with an incredibly high Charisma stat. You know what the other attributes do, but have you considered what Charisma does?"
"Make you more attractive?"
"Yes, but HOW? What is attractiveness? Or attraction at all?"
Zavier considered the question. "Well, attractiveness is, at its most basic, a physical appearance that signals a good mate. It's an evolutionary byproduct that says 'this person will create healthy, breedable offspring and keep the species alive.'"
"True, but think past the physical. What else makes someone attractive?"
"Well, skills, abilities, intelligence, obviously. Other traits that are highly desirable in a mate."
"What about people that don't have those traits? Or just have one? A highly gifted athlete makes sense, even if they're unattractive. They have physical traits. But what about people who are unhealthy, unattractive, aren't intelligent, but have a ton of money? Are they attractive?"
Zavier laughed in response. "Hell, they might be the most attractive of all."
"Why is that?"
Zavier had never considered that before but felt like he was on the cusp of an understanding. "It's… well, it's still an evolutionary byproduct, but not for breeding. For… Safety!" Light blossomed in his mind. "They might not create the strongest offspring, or the most intelligent, but their offspring would be the safest. Safe from poverty, starvation, homelessness, and even the law. If you have enough money your children are safe from pretty much any danger, no matter what form it takes."
Ed nodded. "Exactly that, Zavier. Exactly that."
Zavier's eyebrows furrowed. "But okay, so that's another form of attraction. How does that apply here?"
"Well, this is where System Fuckery comes into play."
Zavier barked a laugh. "System Fuckery?"
"It's a term from a genre of books I used to read, before The System made them real. I'll have to tell you about some in case you run across a bookstore - there's some good ones out there. Basically, The System twists or ramps things up to make them more effective in the new world. In this case, Charisma isn't just physical appearance or safety or the idea that this person would be a good match for breeding - it's the concept of Attractiveness pushed to an extreme level. It pushes the standard reasons for attraction to a point past our defenses, or just creates new ones in ways outside of the ones we've evolved to spot. So much so that we don't even know it's happening to us. Think about it like this; if you saw a woman who was supermodel levels of gorgeous, would you be out of control around her?"
"No, obviously," Zavier said.
"Why not?"
"Because I love Tess!"
"What if you weren't married to Tess, would you then be out of control and unable to deny her anything she asked of you?"
Zavier shook his head with a rueful chuckle. "Definitely not. Just because someone is super hot doesn't mean I lose control of my faculties and become a hapless idiot. I'd treat her just like anyone else, looks or no."
"And that's because we also evolved the ability to see past traditional attractive qualities and assess them for what they are. People can love and be attracted to their partner more than they would be to a random supermodel because our brains know that those traits, although ideal, are not necessarily what we want or need. We find fulfillment and satisfaction with the people that are right for us and, in the end, are attracted to them even more than someone who may, ostensibly, be the more attractive person."
"But System Fuckery doesn't care about evolution. It can take the base instincts that you crave and make them even more attractive - things like safety, reassurance, happiness, and peace. Or it can give people new types of attraction that we have no evolutionary response for, no biological defense against. It can present to us in a way that is so undeniable and inevitable that we can only see through it with the help of The System itself."
Ed fixed Zavier with an intense look. "If you don't mind my asking, what's your Intelligence at right now?"
Zavier paused for a moment, unsure of why. This felt like a personal question, but why should it be? In the end he answered honestly. "My intelligence is a bit broken right now, which is why I can't access The System but it's at 27."
Ed whistled in amazement. "Holy shit dude, you might be the smartest person on the planet right now."
"Doesn't feel like it," Zavier rubbed the back of his neck.
"Regardless of how it feels, The System balances your intelligence against skills meant to deceive or trick. That's why you were able to see past parts of my illusions. It must be close to Gabriel's Charisma stat. If you were a lot higher you'd see through his skills easily, but as it stands you're still affected by them. The good news is that you're able to analyze his skills' impact on you and, at the very least, question them. If you had no doubt whatsoever this next part would be much harder, if not impossible."
The dubious expression had returned to Zavier's face. "And what is this 'next part?'"
"Given enough time I have no doubt you'd overcome Gabriel's skills on your own. Your natural skepticism, confidence, and high Intelligence stat would start causing his blanket skills to start fraying around the edges, which you'd notice. We don't have time for that, though, and since you can't break past his skill with Intelligence alone you need a skill to do it for you. That's where I come in."
Zavier made Ed walk him through the explanation and details, not wanting someone to put a spell on him that might affect him long-term.
"So it just helps me see the reality of his skill, nothing else? How does that even work? Will it have a permanent effect?"
Ed waved away his concerns. "Think of it as magical sunblock. It's not going to do anything to you, it'll just block his skill from working on you. I don't know exactly how his skills work, but I do know that once someone sees through it they're always able to see through it after that. He can't reapply it once it has been identified and removed - unless the person wants him to. The person has to be willing and they have to choose to fall back under the spell."
"That could happen? People could see through it and still choose to go back under?"
Ed's eyes went dark with memory. "It can and does happen. There will always be someone willing to go back into The Matrix if it takes away their fear or unhappiness."
Zavier could hear the truth in those words and see the pain in Ed's eyes. He didn't press - everyone had their secrets.
Zavier shook out his shoulders and sat up straight in the chair. "Okay then, how does this work?"
"Well, like I said I don't know his skill exactly, but I know the effects intimately. He can put a lot of different ones on people, but they all follow the same, lazy path: emotional control. At his heart he's a lazy, pathetic man who is just letting The System do his dirty work for him. Unfortunately, it's very effective. Fortunately, it means the solution is the same in every case. I just block all external emotional controls from affecting you. It won't be long and as soon as his spell over you breaks my spell will dissipate as well. The nature of my spells are that once they're no longer needed they fade."
"Ephemeral," Zavier said.
"Ephemeral," Ed nodded, then he got to work.
It was done in moments, Ed's practiced hands dipping into the palette and coloring patterns in the air. Once the symbols were drawn and filled in he pushed it with his hand and it drifted towards Zavier, picking up speed until it shot into him like a burst of colorful light. A luminescent, iridescent skin covered every inch of Zavier, the colors shifting in multitudes before coalescing in front of him. Aurora borealis patterns covered the front of his body, obviously coming from the direction of the cul-de-sac outside. Understanding filled Zavier's eyes and the shimmering field suddenly shattered like stained glass before fading into nothing.