You know, Jayati wasn't the best example of a people person, per se, but she knew people all the same. Though she wasn't her mother, who was viewed as a fierce maternal guardian in their Village, sweet and gentle to her people but fierce when they were threatened. Or Lalita who could talk to anyone across any divide and get them to open up about their story, understand them and all their layers. But she had her own intuitions, built from watching people, listening, and a need to protect that was both instinctual and learned.
Her job worked well with those aspects of her, didn't force her to be something that she wasn't - like touchy feeling or open about feelings or some such. She was direct, preferred actions to words most times.
"I see." Is what she said to the man, while her eyes took in his face, his shoulders, the way his eyes twitched and how he held himself. Jayati knew how to read people, though not for the same things conmen or therapists looked for, but she still had a gut feeling about this guy. Luckily for him, it wasn't that he was trouble. Maybe the opposite.
So she did a clean pivot, reached out to touch his shoulder lightly but in a way that wouldn't be easily brushed off, "Hey, you alright?" Quiet, in a way that wouldn't draw attention, calm but steady. The perfect law enforcement tone, especially when dealing with mortals. These last twenty years had made it a reflex.