Matthew Moss

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   <default>Matthew Moss</default>
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   <label>Alias</label>
 
 
 
 
   <label>Age</label>
 
 
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   <label>First Appearance</label>
 

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Matthew is a character in Pale. He is Edith's husband, and a Host.

Personality

Louise considered him friendly and easygoing when she'd encountered him at work.<ref name=":2" />

He was perhaps the most agitated about the threat of inviting outsiders to Kennet.<ref>He went on, more agitated. “By the books we’d have to invite outsiders in to handle this, and in the best case scenario, I’m pretty darn sure they don’t leave after. Most likely case, we’re goners. Murder doesn’t get any passes.”

“Calm down,” the woman with the toque said, putting a hand on his arm. “Don’t panic.” - Excerpt from Blood Run Cold 0.0</ref>

Relationships

Mathew is married to Edith, having sacrificed his humanity to try and stabilize her.

After his relationship with Edith broke down he moved in with Louise Bayer.<ref>“I told Louise I’d bring food.”- Excerpt from Playing a Part 15.9</ref> It's later implied that he's romantically interested in her.

Like all the local Others, he is bound to aid the local Practitioner trio. He noted that they were among the few people he knew who might be truly good.<ref>Zed put his fingers in his pockets, thumbs hooked over the sides. “That’s a question for the philosophers, isn’t it? Are any of us truly good?”

“Those girls might be close,” Matthew mused.

“They’re young, that helps,” Zed said. “But you’re not wrong. Brie and I are backing them up, for what that’s worth.”

“It’s worth something. Thank you,” Edith said. “Brie didn’t come?”

“She wanted sleep more than she wanted my company, apparently,” Zed said, smiling. “I don’t mind. She can welcome them as they get back.”

“That’s good. It’s good to know they’re taken care of,” Matthew said. - Excerpt from Back Away 5.d</ref>

He works at Buckheed which handles outdoor activities including tackle & hunting shop.<ref name=":2" /><ref>“Do we know you?” the man asked.

Louise shook her head. “I know you work at Buckheed.” - Excerpt from Blood Run Cold 0.0</ref><ref>Matthew said.  “A colleague who works with me at Buckheed can bring in some dirt, rent a small dozer and push some dirt around to flatten it if you want.  It’s big and it would be yours, if you want it.  The amount of space you start with is pretty important.” - Excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.2</ref>

Appearance

He appears to be a man in his 20s or early 30s, with brown hair and a beard. To the Sight, his eyes are permanently in shadow.<ref name=":0">Matthew Moss
Type according to Matthew: Host
Appearance: Human I guess? Brown hair + beard. 20-35?
Appearance with Sight: His eyes are in shadow.
[...] Married to Edith James. People can see him. He works in town (sales). Was awakened a long while ago. - Excerpt from Notes on Others </ref> His face is round, with his beard hugging where his jawline should be. His shoulders are broad.<ref name=":2">He was… Louise couldn’t place the name. He worked at the tackle and hunting shop. Friendly, easygoing. Twenty-something, broad shouldered with a rounded jawline that made him look slightly overweight, even though he wasn’t. The short beard he’d cultivated to suggest a jawline didn’t really do the trick. - Excerpt from Blood Run Cold 0.0</ref><ref>There was a guy sitting with her, broad across the shoulders, with a chin-strappy sort of beard that didn’t quite match his round jawline. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.1</ref> He's fairly attractive, possibly once very attractive, but tired and a little chubby.<ref name=":7">He was a good looking guy, in a way that made Lucy think that he’d been a stellar looking guy once, and being his age or maybe carrying the doom spirit had made him look really tired. His chin was similar, telling a history, like maybe he’d been overweight and shucked the weight, but it hadn’t quite left his face. Or he’d always had a bit of babyfat. His smile cut through the tiredness and always seemed really genuine. He was still wearing his work apron with the hunting and fishing logo on it and ‘Buckheed’ printed below, dark brown print on the medium brown canvas. Knife in a sheath in the pocket. - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.4</ref>

Abilities and Art

Host

Mathew is, or was, a Host - a Practitioner who specializes in voluntary possession. Although he has crossed the line from human to Other, he still remembers some magic, such as the Awakening ritual.<ref name=":0" /> He knows the construction and weaknesses of once-human Vessels.<ref name=":3">He knew from his studies and work with the Doom that Hosts liked to bind things to key points in the body. It made sense that a Vessel would have their space carved out starting at one of those.

He slammed his forehead into hers. The reaction wasn’t anything special. Which others? The Crown was one space, very top of the head, but he was pretty sure she’d manifest differently if the Other were housed there.

He punched her in the solar plexus.

She didn’t carry the mirror woman there. He hit her again, dead center of the stomach.

There. He could see the Other within her react. It looked like it was housed in two of the seven points. Stomach and groin.

- Excerpt from Back Away 5.d </ref>

He was able to take some of Louise Bayer's pain from her condition and take it on himself, in exchange for her forgetting what she had seen.<ref name=":1">“The people who will look into this will be in need of those clues, and we’ll be desperate and in need of them,” Matthew said. “If my life partner is willing to oblige me, I’d like to offer you a deal. Edith?” The woman with bleached blond hair and a toque took a few steps forward. “She’s in a lot of pain, Matthew. You’re too much a part of this to get involved, and you’re fragile.” “I know. But she’s dying,” Matthew said. [...] “Forget about us, okay? Then, outside of any meetings with us or any other person or people who ask you about it, forget about tonight and forget about… that thing you saw. Make it a total, comfortable amnesia that ends if you’re asked. In exchange, I will take some of your hurt, pain, and suffering, and I’ll give you more time.” [...] “May I kiss you, Louise?” he asked. “There’s nothing romantic to it,

but these things traditionally work better with a kiss than with the 

holding of a hand. Is that okay?” “Yes?” she made it almost a question, again. He touched the underside of her chin to raise her face, and then he kissed her. It had been a long time since she had been kissed, and a longer time since she had been kissed in a way that made her heart warm. That warmth was choked by a sudden hurt, black and bitter. The hurt leaped into her mouth, and it tasted like regurgitated bile, metallic tastes, salt, foul-tasting medications, and the stinging smell of her own body odor when she didn’t shower frequently enough. It filled her nose, and she twisted away. He held her face, not letting her, his fingers gripping her chin to maintain the contact. The taste and smell dissipated. It was him who wrenched his face away, expression twisting. He hunched over. Dizzy, bewildered, she swayed on the spot, watched as this man pressed one hand to his lower back. “You’ve suffered a lot,” he said, grimacing. - Blood Run Cold 0.0</ref> It is implied that he then passed that pain on to Charles Abrams.

When he lets the Doom out (see below), he goes back to being considered a human Practitioner by the universe and can exercise his Practice. For instance, he was able to Host spirits of Earth with a simple diagram and incantation, granting himself their strength and letting him manipulate the earth around him to form large diagrams.<ref name=":4">He dropped to one knee, and began drawing in the dirt, scraping up his fingers as he broke the packed ground. So long as he wasn’t hosting

the Doom, he could practice. He practiced now. A rune, lines, 

inviting spirits of the solid earth in…

And with one dirty finger, he drew a line up his boot, pants leg, and, refreshing his material, continued the line up to his stomach.

“Come, spirits of Earth,” he said.

Inviting those spirits into the hallow in the bed of his own stomach.

He felt the weight of them, the grit of them like sand in his mouth. 

He could feel strength, but it wasn’t easy strength. More of an 

inevitable one, when it could be brought to bear.

He wasn’t looking to bring it to bear in that way, though.

“As I will it,” he told them.

As heavy as those spirits were, they were so much more comfortable within him than the Doom.

Blinking, his eyes dry and stinging from the smoke, he coughed, then touched a hand to the ground.

The spirits flowed easily. Drawing out lines, erasing others. They removed and moved plants in the earth at the clearing’s edge, then carried on beyond.

At his will, he drew out a line, roughly a hundred feet in one direction, a hundred feet in the other, then elaborated and braced it. - Excerpt from Back Away 5.d </ref> This doesn't give him access to his old Practitioner Sight.<ref>He extracted the earth spirits to make room, then he waited, sitting in the dirt. Stomach empty, Sight-blind, and weary. - Excerpt from Back Away 5.d</ref>

Doom

Matthew hosts the increasingly powerful<ref>“Is there a way to tap into it as a power source?” Avery asked. “Drain it?”

Good question, Lucy thought.

“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.” - 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.

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. - 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.”

“Is that your Sight?” Verona asked.

“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.

There was a pause.

“Sorry,” he said.

She shook her head.

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.” - 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. - 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-”

The girl with the oxygen mask pulled her mask off and inhaled.

All the air in the clearing was sucked out. Matthew staggered on the spot, the air dragged out of his lungs.

He couldn’t form the words without lungs.

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.

He voiced the words in his head with as much authority as he could. Two minutes. Defeat them first-
[...]
-you must return by the deadline, by the terms of your binding.
[...]
He felt the Doom stir within him. Agreeing.

With one hand, he touched a spot on the binding. - 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.” - 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.

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.

It was scary, seeing glimpses of that. - 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.

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.

Letting it out.

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.

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. - 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" />

Weaknesses

Edith noted that he was "fragile" and using his powers on Louise was risky.<ref name=":1" /> Any power he channels through him is a potential escape route for the Doom.<ref>“If you wanted to, could you have hurt it?” Lucy asked.

“I don’t think so,” Matthew said. “Not in a way that would take it out like that. Disappeared or dead. I- maybe

with the right tools, the right practices, but I’d run the risk of the 

Doom inside me slipping free of its confines. Anything I channel through my body or spirit is a possible escape route.”

“Could the Doom have hurt it?” Verona asked. She was talking the least and making the most progress through her burger.

Avery looked down. She hadn’t touched her burger, and thinking about it made her tense. She ate more vegetables.

“Possibly, but not killed it. It’s not that strong, and I’m not strong enough to keep something capable of killing the Carmine Beast inside me.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.5 </ref> Everything magical he does either draws directly on the Doom or is twisted by it, limiting him to doom-adjacent magics.<ref>I carved out a hole in myself to take it in using the practices I was taught as a youth, but Edith’s darkness is too large and unwieldy for me. I have power if I need it, I can draw on its strength, but I have to be very careful. I can’t really practice and haven’t practiced for seven years, and the practices I can do are all touched by the force I hold inside myself, or directly related to it. Darkness, pain, doom. At this point I would better be considered a human turned Other than a practitioner. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref>

The Hallow within him, which he has created to better Host things, is in his stomach.<ref name=":4" /> If a Host is struck in the body part anchoring their hallow it will affect them and the thing inside them.<ref name=":3" /> When the bindings are weak, even something as minor as thumping his chest can make the Doom strain within them.<ref name=":5" /> If he were injured or the hallow was occupied by something else, it could allow/force the Doom out.<ref>I harbor constant worries that Matthew will get in a car accident, and the Doom will be loosed, and I’ll only know he’s dead or hurting when it

comes for me. Or that something else might happen, weakening his 

resolve or protections, or filling that hallow with the Doom inside and displacing it so it can roam free. - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.5</ref>

Exposure to a Skeptic like Sharon Griggs could weaken his bindings more than it does the Doom, risking it escaping.<ref>“If it was Matthew and-or Edith, then being near Sharon would be dangerous. Losing the spirit or losing the bindings that keep the Doom contained,” Verona noted. - Excerpt from Back Away 5.5</ref><ref>“The skeptic. She’s watching,” Verona said. She looked around, scanning the darkness.

She didn’t see any faces. She didn’t see any camera.

“Get somewhere safe,” Edith said. “Matthew-”

She stopped.

Matthew was stock still. One fist clenched, the other wrapped around it, held at waist level.

“I’ll go,” Edith said.

“But-” Verona said. She looked back at the fire, and the smiling ghoul, lit by the ring of flame.

“I have to go. It’s too dangerous if I don’t. If something happens to Matthew, you may have to deal with the skeptic, before the Doom hits its full strength.”
[...]
“Come,” Matthew said. He started striding the other way. “I think the best thing to do would be to get very close to her, or get very far from her. The middle ground is the most dangerous.” - Excerpt from Back Away 5.2</ref>

Avery speculated that he wouldn't be able to physically exert himself much in a fight without drawing on the Doom, because he couldn't afford to exhaust himself and risk freeing it.<ref>“Draw a quick barrier for Edith. Matthew… I don’t even know.”

“If it’s Matthew,” Avery whispered, “I don’t think he can do a lot without letting the Doom out. I think even Verona could outrun him. They’d both get exhausted, but he can’t afford to get so exhausted he lets his guard down.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.8 </ref>

Tools

Matthew has mentioned that he "mostly" relies on Magic Items, which don't risk freeing the Doom, although no examples have been shown yet.<ref>Verona went on, “And you can’t tap into the Doom. You don’t have any other tricks or powers?”

“I know some things, but practicing is dangerous for me. It doesn’t take much to shake this Doom loose and if it escapes it hurts me or Edith. I can take being hurt but I can’t take my own stupidity hurting Edith. I remember each and every time. I mostly stick to using tools; items are something you can use, even if you’re technically innocent.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.4</ref>

History

Before the Story

Was a scared little boy trying to hold on to what he could.

References

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