Teagan’s Thursday afternoon odd encounter(Teagan)
Date: 2025-09-11 16:49
(Teagan’s Thursday afternoon odd encounter(Teagan):Teagan)
[Thu Sep 11 2025]
Haven Lighthouse
The faculty office presents itself as a modest rectangular space with dark
wood paneling that has aged to a deep mahogany hue over the decades. A heavy
wooden desk dominates the room, its surface worn smooth from years of use,
positioned to face the door with a high-backed leather chair behind it. Two
visitor chairs with cracked leather seats sit before the desk, their wooden
frames matching the overall aesthetic. Tall bookshelves line the walls,
packed with academic texts whose spines show varying degrees of wear,
interspersed with curious artifacts and specimens in glass jars that catch
the light from the single window overlooking the quad. The window itself is
framed by heavy velvet curtains in deep burgundy, partially drawn to filter
the daylight. A brass desk lamp with a green glass shade provides additional
illumination, casting shadows across stacks of papers and an old inkwell that
still holds position on the desk despite the presence of modern pens. The
floorboards creak softly underfoot, particularly near the threshold and
beneath the window where the wood has warped slightly with age. The air
carries the distinct scent of old paper and leather, mixed with something
faintly medicinal that seems to emanate from the specimen jars./span>/spanIt is about 60F(15C) degrees. The mist is heaviest At Birch and Hart/span>/span“Timeline will help.” Matias says as Teagan gets ahead of herself applying what she is being told to other things she happens to have heard in passing. “Humanity discovers magic in ancient times, pre-written history. It is likely religious in nature but always involves human sacrifice and blood. The earliest form of magic is ritualism performed by regular humans, like yourself, and heaps of blood.” he lets that sink in looking at Teagan with those slate-grey eyes so feline-esque in their attentive lack of blinking.
“It is not until 8500 BCE that sorcerers began to crop up as dynastic lineages where hereditary lines sharing their knowledge with the next generation. These humans are what we might called ‘Gifted’ nowadays. They have innate magical apptitude but they are not magical themselves.” he explains with his attention roaming over Teagan now he briefly sends a few messages and then clears his throat. “The next 2000 years leading to 6000BCE is when supernatural races are developed. You see the sorcerers which began with rudimentary rituals and human blood sacrifices developed arts known as fleshforming and fatecrafting. These allow the user to reshape reality, flesh, and history. This is where supernatural races come from the use of fleshforming on humans to create a new subrace such as Werewolves and Vampires.”
“Human sacrifice. We were afraid the sun was gone, we got desperate, we killed someone, the sun came back. Ergo, we must do so every year.” Teagan doesn’t seem too bothered by this. It’s basic history across many ancient cultures throughout the world. Particularly those distant enough from the equator to have long winters. She doesn’t begin writing immediately: nothing is particularly new yet.
“But what… that implies at some point it ended up in their genetics. Not just passed down through teaching. So some part of it was made manifest.” She is scribbling notes down now, biting at her lower lip. Trying to figure out that connection. “So there is still that… gap. Yes, humans through this reshaping created these other… races, but somewhere along the way, we tapped into magic. So there is some kind of… Other.”
While she is puzzling over this, however, Matias receives a notice. A known Problem — a faeborn, in face — who is known to enjoy abusing students in various ways for the sheer fun of it has been spotted on the campus. A former student himself, Joseph Creed, was expelled when it was found he was forming a club specifically to act as a sort of cult for himself: brainwashing students (humans and angelborn mostly) into committing crimes ranging from getting answer sheets in advance for him to outright stealing from dorms, teachers offices, and surrounding businesses. A petty thing, but problematic. Unfortunately, he’s remained in and around New Haven and has increased to worse things including a few missing students attributed to his name.
Matias checks his phone as he gets a notice from the schools security team. Not the dolls, but the actual paid security which makes the school fairly safe. There is a bit of a squint as he responds with the fact he will handle it and then tucks his phone into his pocket, refocusing on Teagan. “Miss Lawson ever the one to extrapolate. You are wrong. Magic is not Other. Magic is simply energy, intent, and manifestation.” he explains while rising up from his high backed chair and retrieving the SNS 9mm pistol from the table and tucking it into the hidden holster at the small of his back and then reclaiming the knife which vanishes up a sleeve or into a pocket. “The sorcerer dynastic lines were exposed to magic repeatedly. They married for magical talent. Whatever naturally occuring thing that let people make blood sacrifices for rituals became stronger until they were innately gifted at Ritualism and from there developed other arts of magic.” he walks around the table and says, “Please pack up your notes, we are going to do a walking lesson.”
She can’t help herself. Teagan’s mind just runs off down pathways. It’s part of why she’s ended up in the degree program she is. It was that or… Philosophy. Ew.
“So you’re saying magic is just forcing your will on the world. The old… magic is in a child’s smile line of bullshit?” She does look confused when he stands and gathers up his gun, thinking the lesson is over. Perhaps that she made a mistake? Her notebook is held up a bit closer to her chest, almost defensively. She purses her lips slightly. “But at the same time… it is something tangible if it grew stronger… So, why don’t we have a way to… see it? Is it in DNA somewhere? Something we just haven’t sequenced? There has to be a… point where it’s either science or not. ‘Magic is just science we haven’t explained yet.'” That old quote.
But he tells her to pack up and Teagan stares for a moment before following orders and getting her things back in her bag, gathering it up and getting it over her shoulders. “Okay,” she tells the Professor, waiting for him to lead.
The alert says Creed was last seen leaving Plymouth House, talking to a new Freshman as they walked toward the Dorms.
“There are many forms of magic, but essentially magic is converting energy and intent into manifestation.” Matias says as he lifts his hand and the door knob of his office door turns on its own and then a strong gust of wind blows the door open for them. “Magic.” he says simply while motioning for Teagan to walk ahead of them through the door and following after to then fall in line beside her. The door closes with a slam from another gust of wind, indoors, from nowhere. “As for in the DNA, yes we can draw blood and analyze it to determine what flavor of supernatural or magically inclined you are. So to reiterate magic was discovered by humans much like yourself. Between pre-history and 8500 BCE it was rudimentary rituals but then sorcerers became a thing. These magic focused scholars pursued many arts not just Ritualism. Mancing, Sorcery, fleshforming, fatecrafting and more. It is in this era that fleshforming creates vampires and werewolves, but further down the line the sorcerers began fleshforming themselves into immortal Gods and True Fae. We are skipping ahead a little but since your mind is already doing so we need to address this. Werewolves, Vampires, ascended Gods, True Fae, Angels, and Demons. All of them are products of fleshforming either others into more powerful servants or themselves into higher powers. Angels were created to serve the Gods. Demons were created when the Gods had a fight over a woman.” he says oh so helpfully to Teagan.
At this point they have walked down stairs, past the library, through the adminsitrative building, and he opens the door to the archway between Plymouth House and the Admin building. Peeking outside to see if Creed is still there he waits and lets Teagan mull the explanation further.
The expression on Teagan’s face, if Matias looks back when the door opens is one of ‘Magic. No, really?’ but she’s too polite to actually be sarcastic aloud. Yes, she has seen enough magic at this point to be aware that he can do such things as that. And that they are basic displays of such for him. Would it have been the same a couple of weeks ago? No. So it is progress, at least.
The itch to take more notes persists, but she walks with him and just tries to mentally file it away for later. “Why would anyone turn themselves into anything other than a God? It seems like the natural solution to do so.” She does not seem surprised that there was a fight over a woman. History is full of such wars.
And Creed is, indeed, still there. Not quite to the central fountain in the quad yet, no. But the man — tall, blonde, rakish: the exact kind that draws people in — has his arm around a young brunette who is giggling at something he said while he guides her along. He leans in, whispering something to her, an orange maple leaf in his other hand that he twirls absently. Matias can see the magic coming off of it, bespelling the girl who is blissfully ignorant that she’s being led right into danger.
Matias takes off his glasses and tucks them into his pocket and looks at Teagan before holding out a hand to her, “May I carry your bag Miss Lawson?” he ask but with how his fingers curl he is clearly expecting it and so when the Junior on scholarship complies with her Advisor and tutors instruction he hooks it on his shoulder and then musses his hair. Given he is already painfully young for a Professor without the glasses, messy hair, and a bag he looks like a student. Taking a step back he instructs Teagan, “There is a troublemaker on campus, so we are just a Senior and a Junior on a walk and I am enjoying the sound of my own voice.” he places his arm around Teagan’s shoulders and the age gap between late twenties and early twenties becomes obvious but it is New Haven so it is not terribly scandalous. Out the door they go!
As they walk into the quad the duo swing a right towards the fountain. “There is some debate about God versus not God. To explain that the first step was becoming an immortal ageless sorcerer. Then from there an ascended God. The True Fae were the last sorcerers to leave Earth. You could say those that could become Gods did and True Fae are a lesser or different variant of God. Suffice to say you do not want to run into a True Fae or a God, they are more or less all powerful and can alter reality including your past.” now as a ‘college couple’ they are making an approach on Creed ideally form behind while they ‘chat’ but really the latino just keeps the lesson going, how many lesson incognito has he given one might wonder!
“Uhm-” Teagan does hand over her bag. She doesn’t quite understand *why* initially, but she does as told and, well, sometimes it’s nice to not be hauling everything around all the time! Laptops, in particular, are weighty. She looks further confused as he messes up his own hair. The explanation comes and there’s a slight ‘ah’ of understanding, but it’s certainly an incomplete understanding.
Except for him liking the sound of his own voice. That doesn’t need explanation.
“So they built up a certain amount and now… it is diluted again? The… blood, that is? Or is it just that no one’s… bothered to get to that point again? Could magic fade entirely?” Is she helping the narrative? Or just unable to stop her mind from running a million miles a second? Possibly both!
Creed does not seem to notice nor care about them at all. Sure, he gives Matias and Teagan a sidelong glance, but his attention is completely on the girl. The girl? Doesn’t even bat an eye or miss a step. Her eyes are near completely glazed over: more on the leaf that glimmers than on Creed, even. “Now,” Creed is telling her, voice pitched low. “You promise your roommate is in class still?” The girl giggles, “Oh, yeah, all day on Thursdays!” “And she didn’t take the keys with her?” Matias may know the brunette: freshman, Tilly Farmer. Local, not much to speak of really. Her roommate, however, Samantha, comes from a very well-off family. The keys could mean to her BMW, the family home, or both.
“Yes and no.” Matias replies somewhat vaguely while he intentionally moves towards Creed on the opposite side that the girl is so he has even less reason to look back at the duo. He reaches up and touches the rosary on his neck and murmurs something and suddenly his breath inhales and exhales with the sound of thunder in the distance. Shaking out his hand he looks aside to Teagan and explains, “The height of magical power on Earth was before the return of the druidic circles and the fall of the council of Rome. That was when Gods still walked the world. After the Temple’s third or fourth rising and the fall of Rome it was deemed that the supernatural conflict was to harmful to all parties. The Gods created the Godrealm and withdrew to it. The remaining Sorcerers created the Golden City and withdrew as True Fae. That left immortal but powerful sorcerors behind. Technically at this point every human on earth has supernatural latent blood. There is a seventy-five or better chance of forcing activation if it does not happen naturally. Even for you.” he points out and then takes a few hurried steps to reach out and try and catch Creed’s shoulder. “Creed, it has been so long.” he says and if he manages to get that man’s shoulder he… lightning sorcery him into the ground. His touch turning into a blinding light of eletrical discharge flowing through his body and likely knocking the glazed eye girl away from him as Creed is experiencing what it is to be a lightning rod.
“Doubt.” That does bring a stop to Teagan’s racing thoughts and perhaps for the best as things suddenly get moving more quickly.
“I’m sorry do-” And as Creed is turning to tell off this interloper, lightning arcs through him and the man goes crumpling to the ground, the leaf in his hand simply sizzling into nothing. The girl is knocked away- a good distance in fact. Teagan is startled out of her own daze (at the mere idea that even she has some of this so-called latent supernatural blood) and moves to the freshman’s side, kneeling beside her to check on her. There’s a startled look over toward Matias, but it doesn’t last long as she instead puts her attention on Tilly.
Creed, for all that he just took lightning directly to his form, is still alive. His clothes are largely destroyed, his shoes melted to his feet, and he’s barely moving… but he’s alive. He’s coughing and grasping uselessly at the ground within reach, but he’s alive. There are attempts to speak, but it just results in more coughing as his supernatural blood works overtime to try to repair the massive damage that’s been dealt.
Matias shakes out the hand that had just arced lighting through the interloping supernatural criminal. There is a brief look at Tilly and Teagan seeing both of them are fine. Crouching down beside the fucked up Creed, the latino possessing as a Senior with messy hair and no glasses (the perfect disguise) reaches towards the burned up clothes checking pockets and the man’s body for any arcane focuses or weapons. “Creed. You really should not have come back to school. You know we take student safety very seriously.” he says in a disappointed baritone of a voice while patting the man down. Then to Teagan, looking up again, “Is the young Miss Farmer alright, Miss Lawson?”
No weapons. There is a keyring that holds a skeleton key unlikely to just be a fashionable keychain. Likely a focus. And handily (for Creed or Matias protected from the lightning by nature of the material it’s made from. It does show some damage and may be part of why Creed is struggling so bad: bronze is a fairly good conductor. The pitting shows it arced a few times, likely into the blonde man’s legs. He grunts his answer to Matias, rolling onto his back as he starts breathing normally again.
The grunt is not very informative.
“I… think so.” Teagan looks down at Tilly as the girl comes to from her dazed state, looking more than a little confused. Not wholly dumb to these things of course, but as an only recently activated Angelborn, well. One of Creed’s favorite targets and not very aware of the risks that can be presented. Likely on about par with Teagan, frankly. And maybe that’s what has Teagan giving longer looks toward the man that Matias has summarily fried. “Think you can stand?” she asks the freshman, who nods slowly, staring at the scorch marks arrayed around where Creed fell. “You should go to the Union. Have some coffee, hang out with people for a bit?”
Since Creed does not appear to be masterminding an escape plan Matias stands up and agrees with Teagan. “Miss Lawson is right, please go to the student union get a drink find some friends. Maybe next time do not get to chummy with… Well troublemakers Miss Farmer.” ever the judgemental man, he pulls out his glasses and puts them on while calling in Creeds location for the Illusium Court to claim the credit of bagging him. Keeping the bit of skeleton key he tucks it into his pocket and say to Teagan, “You should go to Professor Kane’s birthday I believe Mister Ashford is organizing it.”
Tilly flushes, but does go off, apologizing profusely. Teagan however scowls at Matias as she gets to her own feet, brushing herself off. “That wasn’t very nice,” she tells the man, for once actually talking back to him (in a sense). “I imagine this was rather traumatic for her. She doesn’t deserve to be chastised. You could ask someone like Miss Kane to speak to her later when she’s had a chance to calm down and recover.” The mention is a reminder and she pulls her own phone out of her pocket to glance at. “Oh, yes. He did text me to ask if I was coming.” But she was being polite and not staring at her phone! There is a look down at the man and a brief twitch of her mouth. “Saturday, then, sir?”
“Indeed. Oh and please give Professor Kane this gift.” Matias produces a small box. “It is from Eloa and myself, she picked it out, and I paid.” he explains while he awaits the Court operatives to reclaim Creed and thus cannot attend clearly. As for being called not nice he simple smiles faintly, “Hopefully you found the lesson helpful, we will continue on Saturday.”