.

[rehandle]

Comments

[dead_tongue]

how are you so cool?!

you must like Annie Lennox, you've got bitchy gay uncle vibes.

[rehandle]

You don't have to sound quite so surprised.

[ It's funny how being called cool by a youth makes you feel older than being called old by a youth... then, wow. What a review. ]

Only an idiot wouldn't like Annie Lennox

[dead_tongue]

I mean it in a positive way! you've got good taste and you're some sort of magician! did you grow up with that, by the way? some sort of like family induction into a lodge? or were you just like "I must explore the limits of the universe" one day?

so fucking true.

[rehandle]

*sorcerer, or Master of the Mystic Arts if you want the exact brand

It was an abrupt midlife career change.

[dead_tongue]

what's the difference?

I'm starting to suspect you were on a very unusual fast track through the occult.

[rehandle]

Between a magician and a sorcerer? A magician makes balloon animals at kids parties. A sorcerer banishes extra-dimensional entities every other Tuesday

That would be an affirmative. [ But with the casual way he just whipped out that word - ] Familiar with the occult?

[dead_tongue]

isn't that why they added the extra K back in the day? lol I always thought that was silly. so sorcerer, then, sorry. sounds much cooler, honestly.

peripherally, yes. we had an unusual library when I was growing up.
you didn't believe in any of this shit before, did you? you said you were a neurosurgeon.

[rehandle]

Locally? Or family-owned?

Oh, absolutely not. I had my spirit literally evicted from my body and I was still asking what drugs they'd slipped me.

[dead_tongue]

just in my house. my folks liked to have like... potentially relevant literature around. we're church people.

oh my god, that's so traumatic! ate you okay?!

[rehandle]

[ Oh. That is - not the reaction he's anticipating. Maybe in future he should think before he... thinks. ]

I'm fine. Sorry, that's normal. Or became normal. I used it as a study hack once I'd mastered it.

[dead_tongue]

I mean, yeah, you get used to it pretty quickly I guess. but for someone your age with no training that first time? jeez louise.

[rehandle]

[ — uhm. ]

Hold that, you're familiar with astral projection?

[dead_tongue]

oh. uhm.
well I don't do it. but I understand the concept. if I'm out of my body I don't go far, though, I need to stick around.

[rehandle]

So you don't astral project but you do spend time outside of your own body

I wasn't aware that was standard church people business

[dead_tongue]

uhm. well. I'm only telling you this because you died. and you're a sorcerer, so you won't think I'm nuts.

but I know you're a science guy so you're probably gonna make fun of me or talk down about it because everyone thinks we're scammers but

my mom's side have run a Spiritualist church since the 1800s. I'm a fifth generation medium and my mom trained me since birth pretty much.

and no we're not a cult.

[rehandle]

[ Huh. He does sit with it a second longer than the rest, processing, pleasantly surprised, but - ]

I went to Kathmandu in search of a medical miracle and came out a sorcerer. I don't think I have the grounds to say shit about your practice

1800s? That's well established. What does your mediumship entail?

[dead_tongue]

holy shit that's a long way to go.
what miracle? did you find it?

yeah my family were already kinda weird I guess, they were fleeing religious persecution and great-great-grandma just happened to get into spiritualism instead of sticking with the rest of the family.

well. I've always seen and heard dead people, like since I was a baby. so growing up I did a lot of passing on messages. and I'm really good at getting possessed so I did that a lot, too. I was homeschooled so I had a lot of time to practice. oh and I have done the ectoplasm thing but it's super gross, I don't recommend.

[rehandle]

I wanted to fix what no surgeon had managed to. I found magic instead of whatever I was expecting to find, which could technically do the job, so we'll go with yes.

[ As for everything Iggy shares, here's a lot to explore there, but first things first - ]

The ectoplasm thing. Please, expand

[dead_tongue]

'could' but hasn't?

ugh yeah ok
it's a physical manifestation of spiritual energy. the medium extrudes it from their body. you ever see Ghostbusters? the slimy stuff in those movies, that's the same idea, which isn't shocking considering Dan Aykroyd is one of us. I met him when I was little, actually!

anyway back in the day people faked it with cheesecloth a lot, they'd just like tie a string and draw it out of their various orifices.

but some people can actually do it and it's disgusting. it serves no purpose beyond proving that the spiritual can manifest on this plane.

[rehandle]

Could but hasn't. I have more important things to do.

[ Oof. When you're expecting a funny story and get tales of deceit and disgust - sorry, Iggy. ]

And people will find a way to deny that regardless of what you show them, so why bother with the clear up.

And possession? You've a natural aptitude for it?

[dead_tongue]

yeah, saving the world is pretty important. thanks for that. even if you don't exist in my when and where, you probably saved it anyway because multiverse.

I guess. I dunno. Mom always said it was worth it if it helped even one person feel more certain of the continued existence of the human soul. I'm not sure she ever understood how nasty it feels. maybe that explains my 'covered in substances' tolerance, huh.

yeah. I don't remember doing it when I was really little but once I was old enough Mom taught me how.

[rehandle]

[ He'd said the same to Jim on discovering his service to his world, and is equal parts surprised and satisfied to discover for himself how warming it is to hear. ]

Any time.

Maybe so. Your mom couldn't do it herself?

How old was old enough?

[dead_tongue]

hopefully you won't have to ever do it again.
altho time isn't linear so I guess you're doing it right now in a cosmic sense or whatever.

no.

uhhh gosh I think five?

[Which is too young. Way too young. But he has absolutely no concept of this as it's all he ever known.]

[rehandle]

Five?

[ God. He can't help the emphasis, even unvoiced. Thought's in strange order now, responding to the surprise, then trying to draw himself back -]

It's the day job, I'll definitely be doing it again. But I appreciate the sentiment. [ But he can't help but cycle back to - ] You were a child.

[dead_tongue]

well it's really appreciated.

uhm
yeah?
you don't sound particularly okay with it but like it's okay I almost never freaked out, my mom taught me how to relax.