The spectators oohed and aahed appropriately as Kammler levitated an anvil, Klaus walked through it, Reinhardt reduced it to a puddle of slag. They embraced the suggestion that overcoming one's limitations was the province of all Germans. They clapped when the men from the Reichsbehörde demonstrated their immunity to small-arms fire, each in his own spectacular fashion. And they cheered the lie: how simple it was, how pleasant it was, to become more than human.
Klaus and the others took care to keep their wires hidden. They had learned in Munich that the prospect of brain surgery dampened people's enthusiasm.
I smiled at him. "I can see you looking at a flock of sheep, and three days later, half of them are dead. I can see you getting a clip round the ear from an old man, who then falls and breaks his leg. I can see a burning hayrick, sorry, no, make that three. Antisocial little devil, aren't you?"
The tears in his eyes were pure rage, and I softly mumbled lorica. But he didn't lash out, as I'd have done at his age, as I did during this very interview. He just shook his head and muttered about proof. "I don't need proof," I said. "I've got a witness: you." I waited three heartbeats, and then said, "And it's all right. I'm on your side. You're one of us."
—Return Of The Pig, by K.J. Parker
Time is ticking so I'll cut straight to the chase. I work in talent acquisition, specializing in a highly unconventional sector for a very particular client, and they're particularly interested in your kind of talent: fucking stuff up, putting it back together, altering the fabric of space and time - basic thaumaturgy. My client is only interested in the best of the best. That's where I come in. Your talent is raw, but it's... obvious. My client has the means to refine that talent and make the most of what you've got, and I'm not talking about money. Well, not just money: protection, power, the best parties in the biz. We're prepared to give you a unique opportunity, a chance to prove you've got what it takes to hang with the big boys and girls - to rule the world. It's up to you to grab that opportunity by the balls.
—The Talent Shark, The Secret World
