the occasionally manipulated, never duplicated - Matt Jamison - Milliways

[mm_merky]

After things go pear-shaped with Tiwa ...

They go arguably even more pear-shaped. (Warning for sexual content of dubious consent in both links. Also: demons.)If you thought you'd seen Matt at the most miserable and exhausted he could get, you haven't seen him tonight. He's in the middle of the bar at a (relatively) brightly lit table, methodically

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[nita_callahan]

Nita had a bad night herself last night. Although, you know, bad is a relative term here.

When she comes into the bar, though, she's already looking a little tense.

She scans the bar for familiar faces -- one in particular. The sign on the board hasn't registered yet.

[nita_callahan]

This is a kind of evasion technique, she knows. But it's something that has to be addressed, and now is probably better than later, even if she is worried about him.

She nods. "Okay. Yeah. Good start. Do you know its name?"

[tantric_slacker]

Matt hesitates.

"... I might," he says.

"It depends on whether it was responding to its name, or if it just latched onto the sigil ... fuck." He frowns.

"I told you how I got my scar, right?"

[nita_callahan]

"The one on your cheek? I remember you mentioning it once, but . . ."

[tantric_slacker]

The thought of telling the story now makes him feel sick, but it does seem germane.

The last time he talked about it was with Rache.

"Okay," he sighs.

"I tried to summon a demon, once. When I was in high school. I got the runes from a book, I don't remember what book it was or which runes, and I drew a circle, and that night ... I had a dream that it came to me, and told me it was going to spare me. Because it thought someday I might be interesting." His tone is carefully devoid of emotion. "And it touched me, here."

Matt's fingers brush the thin line of the scar. "The next morning it was bleeding, and I felt like total shit. That's why I got the tattoo on my back. I got paranoid."

[nita_callahan]

She nods again, slowly.

"Maybe that's how it got past the tattoo, then? There was a preexisting connection."

[tantric_slacker]

"I think it was in my dreams."

Matt's voice is hoarse. He clears his throat, wishing he had more coffee.

"Remember? I kept dreaming someone was in the house. And when Tiwa and I went to the Dreaming--" Oh god, Tiwa.

"She ... she was convinced the thing she saw tried to eat us. But I kept forgetting."

[nita_callahan]

"That's okay," quietly.

"How did you get it out of you?"

[tantric_slacker]

With precision, "I didn't. It let me go."

[nita_callahan]

"Okay."

A deep breath.

"Matt, I'm sorry about all the questions, but -- did it say anything when it left?"

[tantric_slacker]

"No," he says, running a hand through his hair, "don't worry about it, it helps to get it all straight. It told me a few things."

He pauses to make sure he's remembering right.

"It said it was wrong to doubt me. That I have delicious friends. And that it had 'places to go, people to do.'"

[nita_callahan]

"And you're certain it stayed upstairs."

[tantric_slacker]

"No," Matt admits.

"I just think it is."

He wants to throw in a word like feel, or know.

"It's like ... dream knowledge."

[nita_callahan]

She nods.

"I get it. I -- had a dream last night that seems similar."

[tantric_slacker]

"You did?"

His expression sharpens; it's alertness, but also fear.

"What did you dream?"

[nita_callahan]

She closes her eyes, thinking.

"I was in a stone hallway with doors on either side," slowly. "The doors looked like they led to different places, maybe different worlds. I was walking with someone, but I couldn't tell if it was you or Ronan. He asked me when a door is not a door, and told me the answer is 'when it's a metaphor.' I tried to get a better look at him and he told me I had bigger problems, and turned into something -- big, I don't know. It scared me."