Blame this.
Operation MIDNIGHT PUMPKIN
What they’re doing in the airports is a facade. A sham. A ruse, to keep our attention occupied. The TSA’s real focus is much, much more esoteric. After all, who would think to look there for a secret coven of herbalists and natural alchemists?
Don’t think that such things exist in the modern world? OK. But consider the following herbal ingredients:
- Cinnamon. Delivery vehicle for magical-herbal effects. Provides the base for a variety of spells and potions.
- Ginger. Magical accelerant. Decreases significantly the amount of time that spells and potions need to take effect.
- Cloves. General suppressing agent. Particularly useful for eliminating undesirable random chance and negative emotional energy.
- Allspice. Willpower-booster. Like most of the items on this list, generally used for manipulating probability.
- Nutmeg. Specific charm for ease of traveling.
So, hey, enjoy that pumpkin spice latte. You might as well, really. After all, your coffee shop still gets paid by the US government whether you do or not.
…And if you’re wondering what’s stopping the Black Ops people from putting something a little less herbally benign in your food supply, why… nothing. Nothing at all. And is pumpkin spice really all that benign in the first place? Most of those ingredients are also used in love spells, which is semantically equivalent to ‘reduce intelligence or willpower spells.’ Ethical witchery banned such things decades ago: but the Shadow Government has its own esoteric Crafters, of course. Maybe they’ve come up with a more subtle form of alchemical mind control?
And, hey, maybe they haven’t. Fun thing about being an adventuring party working for the Men in Black: you never know when they’re being jerks for real, or just for cover. Some days, you’re not sure if they know, either.
Here I was expecting a Cinderella spinoff….