I'd also allow an item that normally couldn't be used by others to get handed off for a fate point, much like loaning an item of power.

And a character who functions on enchanted items from "I know a guy..." is perfectly valid - if that's the character's concept, and it's been approved by the GM as such.  For example, this guy.

Then just comes the question: "Does a pure mortal with access to someone else's enchanting shop lose that bonus refresh?"  (I've got a prankster NPC in my game who would love to have access to bottled veils, for example, but if giving him regular access to that will cost him that bonus refresh, I can't do it without dropping him into negative refresh)

The fey in question is Tylia, a wyldfae nymph (exiled from Summer due to an offense to Titania a few centuries back).  A few decades back, a focused practitioner-binder managed to catch her and bind her to his will; as a result, she spent the last 20+ years as the concubine/maid/cook/etc to this scumbag (and gaining a great deal of familiarity with household "ferromancy" in the process). 

Now the PCs enter the picture; one of them, Gene, is dating the local Summer representative, a nymph named Melia.  The PCs do what PCs do, and become annoying, so, the scumbag executes a series of distractions at the PCs, tailored to keep them occupied while he gets his plans finished (it worked, btw).   Gene's distraction is Tylia-in-a-box.  A large package is dropped off at his younger brother's apartment, where all of the Christmas presents are being accumulated, addressed to Gene, CO his brother Fade (Gene and Fade are nicknames; their actual names are pretentious as hell).  Inside the box is an old fashioned steamer trunk.  Inside the trunk is a Tylia whose memories of the last 20 years have been carefully removed.  On the trunk itself is an enchantment that'll transfer the slavery-binding on Tylia to the first person who opens it.

If Gene had opened it, and Tylia had made him her master, that would have disrupted his relationship with Melia wonderfully (Her being the official Summer rep for the region, and Tylia being a Summer exile).  As it was, with a few judicious compels, the younger brother opens it, and finds that he is now the... proud? owner of a beautiful woman. 

After a few months of research, the wizard-PC figures out how to break the slavery-binding, and out of gratitude for his kindness, the debt owed for freeing her, and not really having anywhere else to go except back into the same exile that got her captured in the first place, Tylia decides to stick around and stay with Fade.  Shortly, nature takes its course, and Gene is informed that he's acquiring a sister-in-law and uncle-hood.

The current scenario is the culmination of her personal arc, in a way; the PCs have been tracking down the binder, and have found him; where we ended last session, we were about to start a four-way battle royale, and Tylia is participating on their side--hence the major milestone. 

So, we have a smart, house tech-savvy fey who has more links to the mortal world than the Nevernever and is pretty damn happy to have it that way, is shortly going to be acquiring a sur-name via mortal ritual, and has been dealing with a cautious, smitten young man who had been prefacing most of his statements with "What do you want?" (so as to avoid taking advantage of her while she was under the slavery-binding).

With that context, you can see why I'm considering positive refresh.

I like the various thoughts, and I'm definitely filing some away for future use, but I think I'm going to go with the following:

Last year, a UK member of the White Council went off the deep end out of despair (possibly helped along by a discreet WCV) and began commiting familicide (descendant-cide?) after the death of one of his beloved great-grandchildren.  Not wanting to have to face that pain again, he came to the deranged conclusion that it was best to just make a clean sweep of it, all at once, and save himself the future pain.  He got through about 3/4 of his extended family before he found out that the derided coppers of his own youth have left their own highly capable successors who have definite thoughts on little things like hostage situations, serial killers and possible domestic terrorism.  And, as he only believed (and was thus magically capable) in killing his own descendants, the police shot first in a tense situation.  Wizard dies, the Wardens are a little late to the party, but they're occupied with the Red War and they at least engage in a little clean-up and coverup. 

Now, one of his great-great-grandsons, living across the Atlantic in the US, has an accident; a fatal one.  And his 13-y.o. son and two preteen daughters managed to survive in the back of the car, but he and his wife were killed when they swerved out of the westbound lane and into the front fender of a Mack truck in the eastbound at a combined speed of about 150 mph.  The survival of the kids is being called a miracle (of car safety design).  The kids do have some latent talent--all of them--that comes through their mother's side, but they had a bit of help. Their maternal great-grandmother, also a magic user (but not a full wizard, sadly) made a bargain with a Black Shuck (a semi-benevolent black dog spirit of the UK) to watch over her line. 

As a result, witnesses to the scene will report--erroneously--that the car swerved to avoid hitting a large black dog on the freeway; this should hopefully make the spirit's job alot harder and the ghost's easier.  (And given some of what else I have planned for the main plot--that should be more than enough possible complications to keep PCs occupied)

Hey, all, have a favor to ask.  I need some help fleshing out a subplot for my game; I've got an idea that I like, but all of my elaborations on it are making my muse yawn.  So, suggestions welcome.

The core idea:
The wizard PC (Ariel Ramirez) is contacted by her mentor, Wizard Banks, who she has a cordial but cool relationship.  Banks has a job for her.  In the newspaper, there's a story about a rather nasty car crash; parents killed on impact, the two daughters and one son in the back seat still alive.  Reading between the lines indicates that probably at least one of the kids managed to throw up a shield and protect their siblings.  Banks wants Ariel to go test them for magical potential and see if any of them are suitable as her new apprentice(s).  She would go herself, but, for character-plot reasons, cannot leave her house for extended periods of time or too often.  Thus, she's delegating to her old apprentice to find her replacement(s).

To make things interesting, I'm thinking that all three kids have some degree of power and that the family has attracted some sort magical McNasty that is trying to wipe out the family line.  However, I'm having a hard time figuring out which McNasty (my knowledge of world mythologies is hardly encyclopedic), especially that'll make for an interesting and viable opponent for the PCs at their currently power level. 

So, suggestions welcome.

Game statistical information: 4 PCs (1 Emissary of Power: Ishtar's Avenger, 1 Wizard, 1 Were-puma, 1 Pure Mortal soldier, 8-9 refresh, different group of gamers from my last game; these know how to RP, but are still working their way through the system), time setting, Summer, around Blood Rites, in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Just ran an ordeal trial for one of my PCs last night.  Went like this:

Ariel, the apprentice, is told that it is time for her to take her vows as a Wizard.  Her ordeal is simple: she must reach Edinburgh, by herself, via the Nevernever, in a timely manner.  Dressed in her apprentice robe--and only her apprentice robe--with a small bottle of water and two slices of pizza (her choice), she's brought out to a snow-covered meadow in one of the city' parks.  She has a choice on opening the Way; a cleaner Thaumaturgical method, while she's standing here in the snow, or a quick and dirty "rip" through to the Nevernever.  She chooses the ripping method--it's cold!--and finds herself standing in a Summer meadow, surrounded by trees.  Finding a soft, chalky rock and a sturdy piece of bark, she tries to make a map, to little results.  

After wandering for a while, she hits upon the idea of trying a tracking ritual, scratching a pentacle as her target to try and find other pentacles--the markings of the Wizard Ways through Winter.  Just as she's about finished, she realizes that she's being watched.  A smalled wizened man is watching her, perched atop a nearby tree stump.  With a laconic manner that was a joy to RP, the gnome agrees to take her to the other pentacles that he knows of, in exchange for her pizza.  

With a slow, trundling walk designed to test her patience, the pair walk onward, up the side of the mountain, coming out of the forest and above the primary treeline, eventually coming to a river gorge... and where a tree branching across the gorge used to lay.  A replacement tree is found further down, which she knocks over with Earth magic, re-secures the roots, and crosses over; the gnome trips and falls on his crossing, grabbing onto a branch below.  She tries to get ahold of him, but he lets go, and then, when she points out that he hasn't fulfilled his debt to her, changes into a blue-bird on the way down.

The bluebird proceeds to guide her through a mountain pass (massive Endurance test), and down the other side, where it leads her to a tree with a pentacle carved into it.  Underneath the tree, in a meditative pose, sits a monkey in monk's robes.  And eye quirks open as she approaches.  The monkey monk invites her to sit and meditate with him; he is contemplating the nature of this symbol and it's meaning.  She meditates (Discipline roll, interval of an hour, threshold of her Conviction-squared), and emerges from her trance to find the monkey-monk working on something, a sculpture of some sort; from different angles and thoughts it seems to represent different aspects of magic--the elements, thaumaturgical processes, etc.  he hands her a blob of clay, telling her to show what she now understands (intended to be a Craftsmanship and Lore combination roll; roll both skills separately until both skill-rolls hit the same value on the same roll), but she makes a Lore declaration that there's a piece missing from his sculpture and uses her clay to fill it.  

The monkey monk nods approvingly at this, hands her the sculpture, and tells her to follow him.  She does so, and is lead to Ways entrance featured in Turn Coat, and is given over to the custody of the Wardens there as a full Wizard.

(EDIT: A good topic for my 400th post, methinks)

One thing that I've been speculating on for a while is that I think WCV have some control over their fertility, given their general lifestyles and such.  Harry's surprised at how infrequently Daddy Raith spawned, Thomas thinks nothing of bedding a random jogger, etc and so forth, in a race where family is a Big Deal.  Just a thought.

Even an unsuspecting target might be engaged in attacks of their own

Yes; social combat is certainly an option here, but the key is that they don't suspect that the guy that they're chatting with is brainwashing them.  Therefore, their attacks are resolved on a different level than these mental attacks, and does not qualify as a "counter-attack".  Or, in short, he can brainwash his victims while having a pleasant debate on the current political issue, inflicting mental stress on them.  However, while their rebuttals to his points might cause social stress, they cannot use the same channel to fight back and inflict mental stress upon him.