How is that we are so skilled at reading people? It is straight forward. We spend all of our waking time doing it. We do not feel most emotions so we have to learn about them. We also need to learn what you like and dislike so this enables us to ensnare you in the first place. Our need to mimic what you do is fundamental. Thus we watch and observe you and other people to see how you react in certain situations. We then carefully log this in our minds. We know how much you love animals so any adverse comment about a cat or a dog will cause you to be upset. If we target this at your pet then your reaction is even stronger. We are aware that you have a poor relationship with your sister so we will use this knowledge to extract appropriate reactions from you by commenting favourable on things that she does. This may make us seem pleasant by paying her a compliment but we are really doing it because we know it will draw a reaction from you.
Years of practice has made us masters at this. It helps us in two ways. We learn how we should react and thus build up our complement of masks which we use to get us through life. It also enables us to know exactly which buttons to press with you to elicit the best reaction to suit our purposes. You will look back on our relationship and regard it as uncanny how we had this knack. You will wonder if it is some sixth sense peculiar to my kind. People often wonder if its learned at some Narc Academy. The reality is that from an early age we were watching, scrutinising, logging and mimicking in order to apply the best way of manipulating you.