Puzzling Professor

Hello Hello! This is a Out of Character post for the Eye Avatar Arc! A big thing in TMA(The Magnus Archives) are Statements! How Archivists collect stuff for The Eye! so I'll be opening the submissions box up to receive Statements from the other rp blogs if they so choose!

This post is for General Info regarding giving Statements, and rules and boundaries! It'll also include helpful links for general knowledge! I'll put everything under a read more so I'm not taking too much space on your dash!

Several days before Descolauch’s disappearance…

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I looked at the circumstance in front of me.  Life was getting much stranger now that alternate realities were mixing, and as such an entirely different Professor Layton was speaking with my Desmond – my fiancé.  In some ways, the two of them were complete strangers.  But at the same time, they were still brothers in a sense.  The two of them were discussing various supernatural phenomena that had been occurring lately.  It certainly made sense, there seemed to be constant weirdness everywhere I looked these days.  An unexplainable shift in the air here, strange sounds there.

“Blay?  Are you well?” Desmond’s voice suddenly broke me from my thoughts, causing me to blink back into focus to look at him.  He had a mildly concerned look on his face.  Why was he…?

Oh, right.

“I’m just relaxed, Des.  It’s really nice to listen to you talk sometimes.” I reassured him with a smile, giving him a gentle bonk with my forehead.  It was very easy for me to forget that I have a Resting Sad Face when I’m completely relaxed, which is a state that I’m not commonly seen in.  I usually find myself get fidgety and needing to work on something, which causes my face to express a variety of focused emotions.  “I didn’t mean to worry you; this is just how my face looks resting.” I added with a content sigh, earning a relaxed sigh in response.

“Good, good.  After all the stress you’ve had, lately, I didn’t want to ignore you…” He admitted, gently stroking my hand with his thumb, before I shuffled back to where I was seated with my cup.

“Now don’t let me interrupt your talk!  It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything Paranormal!” I chimed with a smile, getting myself cozy.  My excitement earned a lighthearted chuckle from Layton.

“You seem quite used to the subject, yourself.  You’re familiar?” He inquired with a curious smile.

“I actually grew up in a haunted house, but I didn’t witness much of it.  Mostly just the sound of someone running up and down the hall when everyone else was in bed.” I admitted, earning a soft “Ah” in response.  “But we’re not talking about my childhood house, you two are talking about the now!”

“Of course, of course.” Layton chuckled.

The two of them continued to discuss the going ons as of late, an exciting mix of what Desmond himself was dealing with now and other instances happening around.  As they spoke, I began reminiscing on the house I grew up in.  It was one of those ambitious projects that a lot of younger couples attempted to have at that time; The classic American Dream of a spacious house with a yard, two kids and a dog kind of situation.  Given that mom had been managing a Pet Store at the time, the dog dream upgraded to a veritable zoo of animals.  But the dream always seems so impossible when it all only grows more and more expensive.  The house itself needed a mortgage to obtain, and needed plenty of TLC that would have required a second one to be able to fix.  And then having kids?  I had a pretty good idea of how much money me and my brother costed in order to raise.

I started thinking about my brother again.  God, how long had it been, now?  Five years?  Time was relentlessly marching forward.  I thought about my mom’s plan to have brought him to Las Vegas for his 21st birthday, wondering if I would have tried to find a way to go with them.  Wasn’t I working two jobs at the time?  Yeah, I think I was.  I probably could have worked it out if I wanted to.  My 21st was so mild and boring in comparison.  At the same time, would I have?  A sharp pain burned in my chest, and seeing Desmond and Hershel speaking to each other honestly probably wasn’t helping.  These two specific instances of Desmond and Hershel may not have been each other’s brothers, but…  That connection that only siblings have was still clearly present.  Despite Desmond’s more… Dramatic and illegal tendencies, the two of them still had some level of closeness to their corresponding brothers that allowed them to get along well.  Was there a chance I could meet a Ben from a different universe?  One where everything was fine?  One where I was the one who was gone, instead of him?  What would we do?  How would we cope with having to return to our own lives without each other?  What-

“Blay!” Desmond’s startled voice was only just enough to return me to the present as a sudden searing pain shot up my fingers, causing me to drop my cup.  Tea that was now suddenly violently boiling over spilled onto my hand, forcing me to bite back a string of curses as my skin turned a very angry red.  I flinched slightly at the sound of the porcelain shattering against the floor, the remaining liquid almost instantly cooling back to its original temperature.

“Ffffff…. Sorry, that’s my bad…” I hissed an apology, looking at the shattered remains of the cup.

“No, do not blame yourself for this again.” Desmond suddenly demanded, gently pulling my face to look at him.  “You had no means of controlling what had just occurred, just like all the other incidents.  I will not accept you taking blame for this, understood?” His voice was firm and controlling, but also loving and concerned.  I stared into his eyes for a few moments, letting myself simply have this moment of being held.

“Yeah… You’re right…” I eventually sigh, earning a relaxed smile from him as he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

“I will go find some burn cream for you while Raymond clears this mess.” He explained before walking away, Raymond soon taking his place, sweeping up the shattered pieces with ease.

“May I inspect the burn, Mistress?” he asked, holding his hand out.  I gave him a soft smile, letting him look at my hand.

“I don’t think it’ll be too bad… It’ll probably just sting for a couple of days…” I commented as he looked it over.  During that period, I could feel it.

A gaze.

One from something immense.

Something from beyond what I can see was definitely watching me, but it was…  Something new.

It wasn’t whatever was responsible for the tea.

“I believe your observations are quite true, Mistress.  Now, I must take my leave to dispose of these shards.” Raymond commented calmly, backing out of the room with a bow.  I let out a soft exhale in amusement.  Raymond always had this… Uncanny sense of timing with anything he said.  Sometimes I legitimately wondered if he was capable of reading minds, or if the universe simply decided he was going to be blessed with the most comedic timing in all of existence.

But that piercing gaze was lingering.  And it was lining up with where Hershel was sitting.  It was probably going through him.

“Some cultures consider it quite rude to stare, Professor…” I remind him gently, looking over the pattern of red that spread over my hand.  Hershel’s sudden startled noise caused me to look in his direction, allowing me to catch a glimpse of his flustered expression.

“Of course!  My sincerest apologies!” He blurted out, making himself quite stiff.  Just about any Professor Hershel Layton you could meet was quite proper and gentlemanly to a fault, and this one was no exception.  “I was simply… Quite curious about the events that occurred.  You didn’t seem to be present at the time, but your tea just… Started a very aggressive rolling boil.”

Had I been a conventional type of logical thinker, I would have believed such an incident would be impossible.  And under conventional logic, it is.

But the universe is too expansive and unknowing to let conventional be the only thing that can fit.

“Yeah, tea’s not typically able to self-boil like that…” I admit, gently tapping on the burn to gage how tender it was.  Ow, yeah pretty tender.  “Strange things have been happening for a while, so I’ve just gotten used to it…” I muttered absentmindedly.

Maybe I should have kept quiet, I could feel the gaze get more intense.  Whatever this being was, I definitely got its attention.

“Would you like to talk about it..?” Hershel asked gently, but another voice layered over his in the back of my head.

👁M̷̡͕̟̥̳͗̓̇̀̊͌̉a̸̟̎̉͆k̶̥̔̄̅e̶̡͖̯͊ ̸͓̖̗̼͙̐́̍́͋͆͘ȁ̷͉͈̻̲̂͛̓͘̚͘ ̶̩̘̙̲̍́͒̓s̸̨̛̝̦̘͖̊͛̅̄͠t̶͖̗̯͍̾͝͠a̶͉̽́̅̉̂̔̕͘t̵̡̀̈́̽͌̍ĕ̴̳̤͉̓͌͝m̴͙̟͔̪̥̖͈̀͗ḛ̵͖̥̘̣͓̬̑n̵̬̙̳͈̥͐̿t̷͖͎̦̙͍̽̊̐̀ 👁

I couldn’t describe how the voice sounded to me.  It was more like a tangible presence than an actual sound.  But I could feel a strong urge quickly build inside me to talk.

Specifically about the most certainly paranormal activities going on around me.

Fortunately, I could stall it by doing a bit of memory digging.  While I knew when the bulk of these events started, it certainly wasn’t the actual beginning.  I noticed the pattern pretty easily after a while, and my mom was quite sharp in helping me determine when something was off too.  Even if they couldn’t put the problem to words, we knew that there was…

Something.

But I wasn’t exactly very enthused about the idea of something else compelling me to talk, even if it’s completely unrelated to whatever’s causing my other problems.

“I guess… I first noticed things happening when I was still a teenager… My grandpa had passed away from his MS.  We all knew it was going to happen, but… I wasn’t really okay as a result.  My Depression spiked pretty bad, and…  There was this… Burning sensation…” I explained, clutching the fabric of my shirt over my chest.  Even now, that uncomfortable heat sat, like when you swallowed food that was too hot.

“Every time I dwelled on it, it’d get worse, too.  And…  Flames would just act on their own.  Candles would lean towards me, smoke would intensify and follow no matter it’s source… Things like that.  It wasn’t really so severe, until…” I couldn’t help but pause, taking some deep breaths to steel my nerves.

“Until..?” Layton inquired, tilting his head slightly.

“When my brother was killed…” I answered solemnly, giving him the time he needed to process that revelation.

“O-Oh… I… I see… Blay, I am so sorry, I-“ Hershel started, but I gently held my hand up to pause him.

“It’s okay, Professor.  You’re not at fault for this, it’s beyond our control…” I gave him a gentle and knowing smile, watching his expressions as he processed what I had just said.

“When Ben was taken from us, everything just seemed to… Stop for me.  I lived in a constant state where that’s… All I could really think about, and that burning sensation became a wildfire inside me… Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what it felt like to be burned alive.”  I chuckled hollowly.

“After I got over the… Initial mourning, that’s when… This started…” I gestured towards my hand.  “Every time I’d start missing him, things would just go out of their way to burn me… Candle flame almost jumping at me, things randomly heating up at inopportune moments.  The more I miss him, the worse it gets, most especially around December.  And then…”

“And then..?” He almost sounded exacerbated from how this was almost unending, and I honestly didn’t really blame him for it.

“Things would happen… Close calls, near death experiences, or even just… Unexpected events to the people I love… Friends and family.  As things kept happening, I… I got so easily afraid of losing them and… Every time I’d get this… Intense fever.  And it’d persist until I knew that they were okay…” I simply trailed off, losing my steam.  Good, it seemed that the compulsion was running out.

“How long has that been going on?” Hershel asked with genuine concern.

“Tiny bit over five years now…” I explained, scratching the back of my head, before letting out a chuckle.  “I gotta thank you, Professor… It feels refreshing to be able to talk more openly about this to someone…”

“I’m glad I could be of some help for you.” Layton smiled, taking a drink of his tea.

“It’s not exactly… Common for me to find someone who can help me narrow down what sort of beingis causing this…” I explained further, refusing to hold back my punches now.  If whatever was piggybacking off of the Professor was intrigued by what I had to say, I’m gonna let it know exactly who it’s gonna be dealing with.

I watched as Layton suddenly grew very tense, a deep concern flashing through his eyes as they darted about rapidly.

He was trying to figure out how to avoid bringing them up.

“I’m not entirely sure I understand what you mean-”

“I’m not numb to it all, Professor...” I suddenly interrupt him, giving him an exhausted smile.  “I’m all too painfully aware of... The sheer layers of Reality that exist around us.  Every time something looks at me, I can feel the shift...  Whatever’s been causing these burns has been doing this for years, and I felt its presence the moment it got itself involved in my life...  A pizza oven that had been powered off for hours doesn’t just spontaneously heat to the point of causing second degree burns to my arm the moment I brush past it unless something beyond the human perception of reality is at play...  And I have the paperwork and camera footage to back that statement.”

The moment I uttered that word, I watched Layton become uncomfortably stiff, and the presence watching us was... Overbearing.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone that far...” I admitted, feeling myself buckle slightly under the pressure.

“Perhaps not...” Layton confirmed, fiddling with his collar.  He proceeded to chastise me about my choices.

At least, I think he was.

The looming presence made the air around me so heavy that I just… Couldn’t think straight.  The sheer change in pressure was causing a very intense migraine to build, and it was only getting worse with every passing second.  I knew that Layton was speaking, but nothing was being heard.  All I could focus on was the intense pressure pressing this horrific migraine on me, the kind that makes that sharp pain you feel behind your eyes, and this constant ringing in my ears growing louder and louder and louder and-

“OKAY, I FUCKING GET IT!  JUST BACK OFF FOR TWO SECONDS!!” I suddenly snapped, barely registering the way that Layton jumped at my outburst.  It took me a couple of beats before I realized…

He thought I was yelling at him.

“N… Not you, Professor, I’m sorry… I…” I sighed, rubbing my temples.  “I don’t know… What is in the room with us, but… I’ve always been… Painfully sensitive to when… Something big has its attention on me… It’s like a change in air pressure… And this… Thing that’s looking at me right now’s making that pressure so… Intense, that…” My words began to mumble as I trailed off, trying hard to massage the migraine out as best I could.  The worst of it was my damned Tinnitus flaring up to such extremes.  All I could hear was that high pitched whine.

I could see the Professor still trying to talk to me, but the words couldn’t reach me.  I simply shook my head in response.

“I can’t hear you right now…” I explained slowly, focusing on how each word felt as it left my mouth.

“Look, I don’t know what you are… But I can tell you like knowing things… I experience things all the time, and I’m more than happy to tell you all about them as they happen, but… I can’t focus with you staring at me so hard…  I’m still a frail mortal, yeah?  Take a couple steps back, please….” I mumbled quietly, in a desperate attempt to appeal to this thing.  It was absolutely stupid of me, I know.  Trying to bargain with some unknowable entity beyond the human realm of comprehension.  But I really shot myself in the foot getting its attention, so I was just gonna have to do some damage control and lie in this can of worms I opened.

To my relief, it seemed to at least humor me, and the pressure wasn’t nearly as intense as it was.  I let out a sigh as I massaged out the tension in my head, making small pops with my mouth to clear out my ears.  Within a few moments, it wasn’t completely clear, but it was manageable.

“I think... I’m good now...” I sighed as I massaged behind my ears.

“You ought to be more cautious... As you said, you don’t know what you are trying to deal with...”  Layton warned in a concerned tone, taking an absentminded sip of his tea.

“Yeah, I... Definitely let my frustration get the better of me, there...” I admitted, scratching my head.  “Although, in all fairness, I was frustrated in the first place because I don’t exactly appreciate being compelled to speak.”

A slight cough sputtered from Layton as he looked around in a guilty manner.  Yeah, he definitely knew about that.  I let out a light chuckle at his reaction.

“Next time, just let me open up on my own, yeah?  I’m a lot more agreeable once it’s on my terms...” I suggested with a smile, looking around.  Des had been gone for a while...

“Next time..?” Layton inquired.

“Did you think I was just talking out my ass trying to get them to back off?” I laughed, which only grew stronger as I watched him be taken aback by my choice of words. “I have a feeling a lot of strange things are gonna be happening from now on.  And there’s no one better to talk to than someone who understands you!”

“I suppose you are correct there...” Layton chuckled lightly, before noticing Desmond finally return to the room.  “Oh!  There you are..!”

“Are you alright, Des?  You were gone for a while...” I commented, tilting my head slightly as he looked at me with confusion.

“I... Was?  I was sure it was only a couple of minutes...” He answered, thinking hard about what had happened.  I let out a soft sigh.

“Everything weird is happening, I guess…  C’mere, that doesn’t really matter anymore.” I comment, reaching my hands out and making little grasping motions at him.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming.” Des chuckled, sitting next to me and wrapping an arm around me.  “Reaching out for me like a toddler, are we?” He teased, opening the bottle of cream.

“Oh, my sincerest apologies, my good sir, won’t you join me on the sofa for a bit of canoodling?” I playfully mocked, presenting my burnt hand to him, earning a snicker and a playful shove.

Is… is this thing on? Can you hear me?

  Statement of… Jean Descolauch, regarding an experience with… the falling titan.

Subject recording directly, uhm. On his own. With only this tape recorder as company. Huh.

  […Statement begins.]

  I think I have to introduce myself, don’t I? I‘m not quite sure who I am. I am one of many Descoles, I am the only Leek… I think. I am however living with my fiancé, that‘s what’s sure, and… there are plans of a wedding, but I‘m not sure how well that will go on with these recent events.

  I suppose it all started with that godforsaken book. Ex Altiora, it read. I figured out that much in the meantime. I had it with me that day, you know. I was planning on inquiring Hershel further about it. I don’t know what compelled me to act as I did, but- it- the book never reached Hershel. I threw it away. I threw it in the Thames.

I can’t even remember why. Maybe I finally began to distrust He- maybe I just had hoped the ozone smell would fade. But well, the book was washed away, the smell stayed, and that’s when the real trouble began.

I went along my day, finished my errands, and soon was set to head home. Then, there he was. A man appeared behind me. I‘m sure he wasn’t there before. I assure you- I‘m absolutely certain! I‘d have seen him on my way, I‘d have noticed and- well this is no matter now. He was there from one moment to the next one. Immediately, he grabbed my shoulder, leaving me no time to react, and sending… something like an electric charge through my body. I jumped and must’ve dropped my groceries, but the man did not let go. I finally got a look at him. He looked so… ordinary. Like any man you‘d see on the street. Any man you‘d overlook on the street. The look in his eyes, however… I don’t think I‘ll forget it. Like pure horror…. like he‘d seen the end of times.

I remember his words. It’s Eternity, he said. It’s Eternity up there. I hastily shook his hand off my shoulder, still distraught by the touch and I think I left him standing there to just, you know, run off, leave the situation to never think of it again.

  But for some reason, I stumbled.

    And then, suddenly 

    I‘m

        Falling

            A rapid shift in climate, a sudden loss of orientation.

And the pressure. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Up and down were lost.

  There were only the clouds. 

  Grey, stormy clouds, as far as I could see. A harsh contrast to the violent sun of before. I kept falling- further and further, for endlessly long and ridiculously short. Time was gone, washed away by the dull grey that surrounded me.

  The adrenaline that filled me at first quickly washed of, replaced by a dreadful panic that did not allow me to think.

I hadn’t even noticed the lightning at first.

  I tensed, I tried to breathe. Blinding beams of light danced around me, appeared from the clouds and disappeared just as quickly as they came.

    Sometimes the light would come close enough to scorch my coat, but the fall would not allow a flame.

      And it was all so incredibly loud.

        I could almost make out words.

    We are one thing!

  Not afraid that it‘ll kill us!

    A horrible dance, a taunting song, a taunting song at my cost.

And it went on.

  And on.

    Join us, they sang. Chase the fall!

    A song in my ears. I felt lost. I felt loved. I felt.

      For Eternity!

        And I did. I joined them. I had nothing left to lose, after all.

    I suppose I reached out with my hand, because the light immediately reached back.

  Lightning, light my way, and so on.

    Have you ever been struck by lightning? No. No, of course not. 

You see, that’s the funny thing about pain. Once you risk it, you never expect it to be as bad. Until it actually strikes you.

  Would you like to know of this pain? Why am I asking. You wouldn’t let me leave this room if I didn’t tell you.

    It’s white, it’s cold, and yet it’s so very hot. Imagine being burned, being stung, being poisoned, all at once. From the inside out. 

  You want to scream, you want to cry, you want to hide away from it, but there is nowhere to go. It’s only you and the three hundred million volts of energy, clawing and biting its way through you, until there is nothing left to claw and bite through and you get tossed aside like an unwanted toy.

    In the brief moment before the electricity reached my brains to completely shut me down, I… I think I saw a figure through the clouds. 

  Blay?

          When I came to, I was back on earthly grounds. 

  I tried to get up, I suppose. I also suppose that I failed. 

Everything was hurting. Everything was numb. It still is.

    A horrible ache in my hand. My arm, hanging limp at my side.

My coat, burned to pieces.

  A lavender mark, decorating my fingers and spreading further and further up my limb.

    But the solid ground beneath me was all that mattered.

Am I able to...? ah. I am. Perfect.