Editing Matthew Moss (section)

=== Doom ===
Matthew hosts the increasingly powerful<ref>“Is there a way to tap into it as a power source?” Avery asked. “Drain it?”<br><br>''Good question'', Lucy thought.<br><br>“Not much. A little bit at a time, when I need to do stuff for Kennet, but it mostly sits inside of me and I try not to stir it up much. It grows faster than I can drain it. But I grow too. I’m managing, and I’ll grow for a long time.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/07/25 Excerpt] from [[Out on a Limb 3.4]]</ref> [[Doom of Edith James]] the [[Doom]].

The Doom gives him something akin to the [[Sight]] while inside him,<ref>To his Doomsight, there was someone nestled inside her, dark, chafed around the edges and shadowy, like she’d had pale skin before being rinsed in thin black ink that had settled into the creases. It was a woman, long-haired, human sized and human shaped, curled up and contorted into a space as small as this woman’s upper body. Her eyes and teeth were too white and bright.<br><br>
A vessel, but the edges weren’t so neat. Some were, but it was like a space of a certain size had been measured out, and this figure had forced her way in, breaking and straining some parts of the container. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/back-away-5-d/ Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.d]]</ref> albeit unable to be switched off.<ref name=":5">“I feel it. Pressure,” Matthew said. “I was chasing it, driving this way and that. We’re close to a nice big patch of it.”<br><br>“Is that your Sight?” Verona asked.<br><br>“I lost my Sight a little ways into hosting this thing,” he said, giving his chest a thump. The markings flared again, jittery, and Edith backed away a half-step.<br><br>There was a pause.<br><br>“Sorry,” he said.<br><br>She shook her head.<br><br>He took a moment, then looked over at Verona, “My Sight is gone, but my vision is tinted. I’m more sensitive to some things. Kind of like Sight, but not optional.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/06/back-away-5-2/ Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.2]]</ref>

The Doom feeds his connection with Edith, since they are in agreement in wanting to be connected to her.<ref>His connection to Edith was strong, and the power that sat heavy within him fed that connection because it and he were both in alignment in wanting to keep tabs on that. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/back-away-5-d/ Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.d]]</ref>

He has the ability to temporarily release the Doom, with conditions, allowing him to make it fight for him as a powerful ally<ref name=":6">“Doom,” Matthew murmured. “Two min-”<br><br>The girl with the oxygen mask pulled her mask off and inhaled.<br><br>All the air in the clearing was sucked out. Matthew staggered on the spot, the air dragged out of his lungs.<br><br>He couldn’t form the words without lungs.<br><br>The smoker smiled, then exhaled, like he was blowing out a long puff from a cigarette. The smoke came out in a column of thick smoke that expanded out, limiting visibility.<br><br>He voiced the words in his head with as much authority as he could. ''Two minutes. Defeat them first-''<br>[...]<br>''-you must return by the deadline, by the terms of your binding.''<br>[...]<br>He felt the Doom stir within him. Agreeing.<br><br>With one hand, he touched a spot on the binding. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/24 Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.d]]</ref> and freeing up his own Hosting abilities.<ref name=":4" /> However, this is risky, especially if Edith is near.<ref>“It’s frustrating,” Edith said. “You can’t use your full strength while I’m near, which means that as long as we’re waging this war for Kennet, we’re being pulled apart.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/24 Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.d]]</ref><ref>In the off hours, the two were recruiting. They took turns, with the person who was free handling going off into the deep woods. Edith would occasionally hit the spirit world or go to some distant lake or petrified tree, and she’d find a spirit and coax them into helping to guard the perimeter. Matthew did something similar, but it was a little less of a coax and more of a cattle prod.<br><br>He ''could'' use his Doom, and the further from Edith he was, the more comfortable he was in employing it. He moved some Others around, and drove off some that were problems, but not so problematic that John was needed.<br><br>It was scary, seeing glimpses of that. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/03/back-away-5-1/ Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.1]]</ref> The Doom will go after her if it has time left over after it has finished its tasks, but may also draw things out to use up its time without helping him if he doesn't give it enough. Every use strengthens the pattern of its release, which will eventually allow it to go free entirely unless he strengthens the bindings. If she's close, it will be less willing to help him in order to simply reinforce the pattern.<ref>He sat down hard as he felt the Doom slip past. Using the remainder of the time he’d given it.<br><br>He could have given it less. But that was the balance he always had to strike. If he gave it too little time, it might meander. It would hurt the enemy, just enough that he had to wrap up the job himself, or else summon it again. And each time he summoned it, he established a pattern.<br><br>Letting it out.<br><br>If that pattern ever got stronger than the pattern of his binding, it would be able to choose when it made its exit. Forcing him to step up what he was doing, make the binding stronger.<br><br>A constant struggle. Edith was right, that it was easier if they were apart. He could ask the Doom of Edith James to do one thing and return, and it would. Because that contributed to the pattern. In situations where she was close, it was less reasonable. He had to give it a ''chance''. To trust Edith. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/back-away-5-d/ Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.d]]</ref> He ideally uses verbal bargains for this, but can communicate to the Doom inside him mentally if he has to.<ref name=":6" />