Chaska takes MP4U's doubt

Characters in this scene: Chaska, Celestino, Celeste (MassivePotential4U)

Location: Sanctuary

Outside of Sanctuary, a small group were waiting for an individual. Chaska had his usual getup and jacket while Celestino wore a simple black hoodie and jeans, now with a plain white bandana covering his mouth alongside a large backpack bulging full.

New members had joined the duo though. A small orangutan looking Other with too long jointed limbs was wrapped around Celestino, sitting on the backpack. Chaska carried an infant with wings poking out of him cooing. His eyes were pure white. A vaguely rabbit shaped blob of red hopped around, staying close to the group, dripping just a bit.

A late-teenaged girl walks up, a couple of minutes before the scheduled meeting. She obviously looks uncomfortable on the Path, staring around at everything and moving slowly. She’s also overdressed, with a blazer over a white top and black pencil skirt, and wearing slightly heavy-handed makeup. As she approaches the group, she smiles hesitantly and says “Hi, I’m Potential, or Celeste. Is Friendly on OMO one of you?”

Celestino perks up at Celeste. "Ah, hello! Uh, I'm his practitioner, Friendly is the one with the elk skull and carrying the...baby. Other, I think. You're here to remove your doubt, yeah?" He twitches and jitters here and there, using his hands to gesture at Chaska who gently puts down Gabe and begins to reach for his whiteboard.

“Nice to meet you. Yep—everyone keeps telling me my doubt is holding me back from achieving my potential, and I want to start seizing my dreams. So what exactly do you think would help here?” Celeste is staring at the visibly non-human Others and speaking quickly, visibly unnerved. She’s clearly never really interacted with Others before.

Chaska begins to write white directly staring at Gabe who was beginning to flap his wings.

*"Hello. I am known as Friendly Other as my practitioner has said. Before we begin the process of removing your doubt, I'll be asking a few questions and doing some minor procedures to smoothen the process. Not only that, but an oath on both our parts so ill will and worse will be greatly lowered from occuring. This is fine, yes?"* Gabe attempts to walk and chase Crimsy 2, the blood blob darting between the humanoids legs.

Celeste cringes away from the bloody mess slightly. “Uh, yeah, yep, this works. If it makes it easier. And oaths are good—whatever you need to make this thing go well.”

Celestino drops the backpack and has the primate Other rest on his shoulders, while he begins to open and remove the contents within.

*"Excellent. First off, can you tell us where most of this doubt occurs from, or any major causes of it? Identifying them will assist with precisely finding it within your Self, as attributes aren't easily labeled."*

“Oh, okay, yeah! So I’m an entrepreneur, and I run my own business helping practitioners get books. My aunt helped get me set up, and she and a lot of her friends do really really well with their own businesses. They tell me that you get out what you put in, and you attract positivity if you’re positive, but I’m putting in a lot of effort and I’m just not getting out the results I want. I’m worried I’m putting in the kind of negativity and doubt I hear a lot about my business on OMO, and I think if I didn’t have that weighing me down I’d really succeed!”

"Noted. Next we'll say our oaths before we can get to the deeper procedures. I Chaska, agree to do the least amount of harm possible to you Celeste, while I remove your doubt. In turn, you shall agree to allow me and my practitioner to have claim over your Doubt and allow me to continue with the procedures that removes said Doubt." Chaska finishes writing, and tugs onto his connection to Celestino, pointing to the board.

Celestino had just finished pulling out a medical roll out bag along with a few other minor things, when he looks to Chaska. He gets up and quickly walks to them, skimming the board.

"Oh yeah. I, alongside Chaska agree to what has been written on the board, so long as you agree on your part as well."

“Yeah, you can have whatever Doubt you excise from me—but if I ask you to explain what you’re doing during the procedure, would you agree to stopping and explaining?”

"I was already planning on doing so. My practitioner can also explain while I work. I wouldn't want to have a Practitioner attempt to bind and kill me because they were twitchy with me and my tools nearby. In fact, I'll be scraping some dead skin from you to get just a tad more connections to stabilize the Doubt once taken. You can share more about the causes of doubt should you want to. This is fine, yes?" Chaska writes, as he pulls out a scalpel from his jacket.

“I guess, if that’s what you need to do this. But, uh, we’re going to do this out here?” Celeste questions, pulling in her limbs defensively

"I have worked in far worse conditions. But yes, we should move somewhere else in hindsight. Unfortunately we can't do it here due to Sanctuary allowing no harm, and the procedure(s) involved technically classify as harm. Do you have a certain location in mind?" Chaska nods to Celestino, who huffs and goes to stuff the bag back into the backpack.

“Even if I swear that this won’t be considered harm by me, we still can’t do it inside? I’m not sure where else I could go with you.”

"Sanctuary works on their own rules and laws, so unfortunately not. Perhaps the Ruins? We could set up defenses while we work." Gabe has been playing with Crimsy 2 in the background, and is slightly bloodied. He giggles.

“Uh, okay—if you can find a place a bit more defended and less out in the open, that would be nice. What exactly are the Ruins?”

"The Ruins are a Realm that could be called the immaterial counterpart to the Abyss. Echoes, spirits, and non-corporeal things are broken down to their base components. I am planning to only enter the shallow section for this trip. Has the sided benefit of washing some edges off from our Selves too, should we stay out in the conditions. We shall find cover to work."

“Okay, neat! Just let me know how to go there.” Celeste relaxes into a real smile, almost bouncing at the prospect of learning something new.

"We'd have to leave Sanctuary and the Path to access the Ruins from the real world. We can do it the standard Practitioner way, or a new technique I found. Would you like pick?" As Chaska finishes writing, he pulls out a red stained plastic bag from the backpack, and holds it open towards Crimsy 2. It wiggles and ripples slightly before jumping in, liquefying to the containers shape. Chaska zips it closed.

“I think I’d like to see the standard way first, if you wouldn’t mind? If you would, of course we can do it your way.”

"Then so be it. Let's leave this place to where we entered. We can escort you back to Sanctuary, once the procedure is complete." Celestino finishes putting the medical bag away, along with Crimsy 2. Chaska picks up Gabe, and futilely wipes the dried blood on the bubbly infant.

"Uh yeah, what he said. Should probably tell you to be a bit alert when entering the Ruins though. As you can probably guess, it's not the nicest place. But don't worry! We got protections in place, if we actually need to use them, haha..." Celestino chuckles nervously, scratching his head. Chaska waves in a 'come hither' motion, towards the elevator.

Celeste follows cheerfully, a bit further from the Others than strictly necessary but still enthusiastically.

The elevator ride down is a bit cramp and awkward (especially with Chaska's antler), with gentle music and the sounds of the primate on Celestino picking his hair filling the silence. Chaska fusses over Gabe, stopping the winged infant from sticking his blood covered arm in his mouth.

Celeste picks a corner close to the door and huddles in it; the magic of seeing something new has worn off now that she’s in an elevator, and she’s trying to avoid getting blood or anything else on her clothes.

The elevator opens, and reveals an abandoned open factory with cracked and open windows nearby. Plant life invades any crack in the foundation and brickwork.

The group exits, with Celestino walking in front towards a relatively clear spot in the flooring, and begins to draw the diagram.

"I should probably mention this involves sharing a memory with the group here, so think of one you're comfortable with showing others. Oh! And try not to make it be severely emotionally impactful. That uh, pulls us deeper which we don't want. Something with some ties, but not too strong.