17.05.2019 Shadow Puppets Pt. 1

Shadow Puppets Pt. 1
The mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Players	Oktav Teagan
Location	Teagan's Mind
Spheres	Mage
Theme Song	https://youtu.be/Po4rx-8SJiI

You know, there are many teachers who prefer to conduct their lessons in places of peace and relaxation, where the mind has nothing to focus on save the learning. Perhaps some wind chimes in the distance, playing gently against themselves in the mountain breeze. These teachers are renowned for their patience and kindness, and so it is deeply unfortunate that Teagan has been summoned to the room of broken glass and stale beer.

Oktav stands before Teagan with his arms crossed, decked out once again in his typical training gear - an enormous coat with demonic sigils embroidered upon it, combat boots, sunglasses, the whole nine yards. He stares directly at Teagan, though it can be hard to tell through the thick shaded lenses, and speaks. "I trained Saskia in the use of Mind for the sake of strengthening her, for bolstering already strong defenses. Her lessons were harsh, but forgiving - death was not on the table. In your case, Teagan, your life has already been threatened by your lack of ability. Not just your life, either - the lives of your comrades in arms."

The room grows darker, the air thicker, the stench more stagnant. "Your lessons will not be a punishment, but they will be punishing. Are you prepared?"

Teagan has decided to not dress particularly formally in case of anything going wrong. She's wearing an oversized gray sweater, and a pair of black lounge pants. Very aware of the shattered glass situation, she's made sure to bring sneakers with sturdy soles. She's twirling her hair idly as Oktav speaks, trying her best to appear at least somewhat comfortable in this unpleasant environment. While Oktav is wearing shades, it's clear that Teagan is struggling to maintain eye contact with the man. She doesn't speak yet, instead choosing to simply nod along.

"Um..." She finally speaks after letting Oktav's word hang in the air for a good few moments. "Yeah, I mean, as ready as I'll ever be, I guess." She tries to conceal it, but there is an unmistakable uncertainty in her voice. It looks like she struggles to find anything else to say and eventually just settles for staying quiet. With a deep breath she closes her eyes in anticipation of what's to come.

Oktav, in turn, allows Teagan's words to hang in the air. "You know, it is far easier to do this sort of thing with arrogant people. I take it Evaline and Saskia have told you their stories? Then allow me to tell you - each lesson in Mind is a unique experience. It was far different for Evaline than it was for Saskia, and it'll be the same for you. You are still in the world of logic and sense, where one plus one equals two - take another breath, and then another. The air here tastes better."

Of course, he doesn't allow her to breathe for long. Two breaths later, the room grows cold. "By the ancient laws of the Lemegeton, let the heart be stilled, and reflect what rests beneath. I bind thee, one and all, to the great work. May my temple flourish in glory, and expand to new soil." The Seal of Solomon burns brightly in the apartment once again, the wails of distant demons echoing through unseen halls, all of them connected via unseen means to this very room. A heart begins to beat, each deep thrum drawing the room deeper and deeper into darkness, until...

Teagan and Oktav have returned to the place of dark water.

Silence. Complete and total silence. At least until Teagan draws her first breath. The sound fills the space for only a brief moment before vanishing without even a hint of an echo. Opening her eyes, Teagan is once again met with the endless expanse of nothingness, everything within shrouded in an impenetrable darkness. The ground is covered in an odorless liquid, barely reaching above the ankles. Teagan bites her lip before taking another few uneasy breaths. "So, uh, here we are." She says nervously, hoping Oktav is close enough to hear her. "I'd offer you a tour, but I don't think there's much to see..." She tries to make light of the situation, but it falls flat on her face as she's unable to maintain any semblance of positivity within her. "What's the first lesson, or whatever?"

Before long, there's a tiny glimpse of light, just barely visible over the horizon. It moves towards the two in erratic steps, but is much too far away to look like anything but a blot of pale white light. It's pretty hard to miss considering it's the only thing that isn't pitch black in here, and Teagan's attention is quickly drawn towards it. Her eyes linger on it as it inches closer. "Is that-" She tries to locate Oktav, forgetting for a moment that it's too dark to see anything. Glad he's probably not able to tell, she turns back to the light. "Good? ...Or bad?" She's worried, but the fact that Oktav is there in case anything goes bad gives her some semblance of reassurance.

Oktav lands in the ocean an indeterminate distance from Teagan, her voice the only indicator of her presence in this cavernous maw. Oktav has been here before, has plucked Teagan from its clutches, but there are teeth in the darkness now. The air is thick and hard to breathe for him, the water lapping at his ankles bringing to mind memories from a lifetime ago. Teagan's question goes unanswered as Oktav reaches from deep within him, his influence reaching out towards the light in the distance - and then the Magi grimaces. "An oncoming train, then. That light is hostile, Teagan. Brace yourself for immediate combat!"

Up until the moment Oktav reaches for his weapon, the Magi has it all under control. And yet his Colt, the Colt that should always be there, -must- always be there, even in the realm of darkest nightmare, is gone. Oktav's blood goes cold, his face snapping instantly pale. "Oh, shit." And then, as though its distance were an illusion, the light is upon them! Oktav leaps to the side, turning what would have been a death blow into a nasty wound, and covering himself with fetid water. The Magi whips himself to his feet, the wound ignored in favor of facing the enemy. "Teagan! First lesson, don't die!"

"Brace myself for immediate combat?! By doing what?" Teagan thinks to herself, the familiar feeling of panic slowly settling in again. Her eyes remain locked on the approaching light, mouth agape as her mind tries to process what's happening. Then, soundlessly, the source of light is next to the two, giving Teagan full view of the state Oktav's in. Needless to say, this does not put her at ease. She stares at the man in wide-eyed disbelief before slowly moving her head to look towards the light. She sees... herself? It's not easy to make out over the blinding light, but it certainly does look like her.

"It's a shame, really. You could be so much more if you just tried. Tried to be anything but a miserable piece of shit." It sounds like Teagan's voice, but it speaks in harmony with itself, several voices combining to make one tone. "Instead, you come here. In hopes of what, exactly? You're not actually concerned about her. Maybe this is a pitiful attempt at making yourself feel better? Well, either way." She smiles at Oktav as she raises a hand. In it, Oktav's Colt. "How's this for poetic?" Bringing it down to point at him, there's a loud bang as the trigger is pulled.

Oktav, luckily, does not get shot. Instead, he finds himself on top of a neatly made bed inside a fairly small room. The walls are plastered in band posters of all kinds of rock groups, and there's a desk against one of the walls with a small sea of books scattered around it. On the carpet lies Teagan, bleeding from her shoulder. She's still conscious, but her breathing is strained and often interrupted by grunts of pain. She looks at Oktav, straining to smile. "Didn't die." She says proudly between pained breaths.

Oktav's eyes whip back and forth in a sort of stunned frenzy, leaping off the bed in one dramatic motion. He reaches for the gun that isn't there yet again, looks under the bed, throws open the closet, rips some of the posters off the wall - nothing behind them, either. His face is set in stone, and yet the panic burgeoning underneath it is clear - perhaps because this is, after all, Teagan's mind?

After Oktav's anxiety attack is over, the Magi leans against the wall and slides down until he's sitting, his knees drawn up close to himself. Teagan's smile gets a look - first frenzied, then calmer. "Didn't die." He replies, though he seems less happy about it. Oktav buries his head in his hands, giving himself time to breathe deeply. Moments pass, the only sounds pained breathing from the two, Oktav's own wound becoming more obvious now that the immediate danger has passed. In time, the Magi rises once more to his feet, his semblance of calm a little stronger than before.

"Okay. We went too deep, too fast, that's my fault. Real big fuckup, we went straight to the final boss. Now the real question is, why did that creature send us here? This is a peaceful place, one she can't reach so easily, I'd bet. If her aggression is only towards me, which I'd expect from that speech, why send me along, too?" Oktav babbles to himself along these lines for a while, a thousand theories bursting from his lips like a storm as he desperately tries to make sense of his failure. "And she had my fucking gun! How can she overpower me?! Years and -years-, I have conquered actual living demons, for God's sake! Almost a decade now have I studied the secrets of the Mind, and she makes a gibbering child out of me! What is in your mind, Teagan?" Scratch that semblance of calm.

Things do not improve when Oktav tries and fails to cast a spell. "My god. She's sealed it. That shouldn't even be possible, but she's sealed it." Oktav rips his jacket off, throws off the shirt underneath, and uses the mirror to catch a glimpse of his back. What should be there is a dense, incredibly intricate drawing of the Seal of Solomon in its entirety. Instead, it's an enormous tattoo of a clockface depicting demons and men running amok, killing and fucking eachother in ways that grow only more grotesque the more you look, an orgy of violence and death and disgust. "Hooooooooooooooooooooooh fuck. Oh you fucking bastard, you shit, you absolute goddamn-!"

It is around this time that Oktav remembers that he's currently in the mind of a terrified, wounded girl barely in her twenties. He takes another couple of deep breaths, wrenching his eyes away from the horrific tattoo. Carefully, he puts his clothes back on. Then he regards Teagan. "Alright. We're alright. We need to leave as soon as possible, but we're alright. Your wound is, uh, relatively shallow. So's mine. Now, we're probably safe here, but I don't want to live here forever, and besides our bodies are currently standing in a room of broken glass. They'll still get exhausted if we take too long, and they might just fall down after too long. I'd say we've got about a day before your body gives out. Now I'm not saying you -will- die, but it's a whole lot of glass and it'll fuck you up. That was the point. I didn't expect this to happen."

Oktav smiles widely, a frenzied expression. "But we're gonna be just fine!"