Second Sight

The Second Sight, often known simply as the Sight or occasionally the Third Eye, is a talent possessed by every Practitioner as a result of the Awakening ritual.

Many Others have alternate perceptions similar in many ways to the Sight, although not necessarily able to be turned off. Practitioners who cross the line from being human may lose their Practitioner's Sight but can gain other forms of awareness.<ref name=":1">“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><ref name=":2">Zed turned around, his eyes flashing as he did.

Four figures stood at the clearing’s edge. At first glance, they could be mistaken for human. One was a man, smoking, with his partner hugging him from the side- a woman with greasy hair and tired eyes who wore a mask that was connected to an oxygen tank. There was a woman with

damp hair, coughing, and a woman with a heavy coat that hid something

she was wearing or carrying, her hair shorn short and dyed red.

“Vessels?” Zed asked.

“Three elemental vessels, and one man with something elemental-related in him,” Edith said. Matthew nodded his agreement, his expression serious.

[...]

These three were vessels. Like Edith was, but these ones were too neat, when he looked at them with the Doom’s eyes. Closer to the space he’d carved out for his Doom, but… a much, much bigger hole. [...] 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.

- excerpt from Back Away 5.d </ref><ref name=":3">Others with extraordinary or nonhuman senses and practitioners who have keen Sight will be able to see one’s relationship to their implement. In many cases, this is a benefit, as such Others are often face-blind when it comes to telling one human apart from the next, but will recognize the individual by their implement.

Much ado has been made about the allegorical ‘diagram’ fragment that an item may represent. Here, we can return to that notion and say that for these Others, the implement and the associated diagram may be placed

around, over, on, or through the practitioner.  It may be a mark on the
forehead, a reflection of one’s sword in their eyes, or a framework

surrounding them. - excerpt from Implementum, quoted in Bonus Material: Implementum Text </ref>

Uses

The Sight is different for everyone, using different imagery (and sometimes non-visual senses.)<ref name=":4">“Listen up, you two, here’s your first lesson in the field. I want you to pay particular attention to all the weirdness going on around us. Start with the immediate stuff, the connections between each of us,

things being carried back and forth.  Over time, you’ll visualize it

into something like cords, strings, ribbons…” “It’s more a feeling for me,” Nick said. “Physical. Everyone sees it differently.” - excerpt from Subordination 6.3 </ref><ref>It’s scheduled to appear in Kennet next. If you open up your ears like you opened your eyes to the Sight, you should hear the song. You can follow it to the epicenter.

- excerpt from Lost for Words 1.7 </ref> Some things, magical or mundane, generally appear the same to different people's Sight however.<ref>“I…” Verona said, with mirth in her voice, “am loving your hair.”

Lucy had to bring one hand to her afro-ponytail to push it to where she could see it. Pink?

“Why the hell?”

Verona laughed.

She closed her eyes, much as she’d opened them. Her hair was normal. Light brown, glossy, with the highlights of blonde she thought of as the only thing she’d inherited from her dad, and total pain to take care of. - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.2

Lucy nodded, her hair bobbing out of sync behind her. With Avery’s sight, the hair was pink at the ends, and Lucy’s eyes were a rosy brown. - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.4 </ref>

At it's most simple, the Sight allows one to see through certain basic forms of invisibility and concealment.<ref>I finished the chapter, rereading the bit on being awakened and the sight. Now, as agreed on by men and Others, long ago, I’d see what was normally hidden from people. - excerpt from Bonds 1.7</ref><ref>"Every time I count heads I see nine, but when I go from person to person and count names, the total comes up eight, and I can’t find the person without a name.”

[...]

I used the Sight, and I found the man with no name, sitting on a chair he’d turned around at the end of the dining room table. - excerpt from Collateral 4.1 </ref><ref>Collateral 4.2</ref> Only slightly less basic is the ability to see Connections between things,<ref name=":0" /><ref>Reminder: your average practitioner will be able to look and see if something’s watching them, even if it’s a camera. - Interlude 10</ref><ref>I switched to my other sight. “June Burlison.”

I could see the connection. Frail, spirits reacting between me and the book, me and Rose, and between me and something out there in the woods. Too general, indirect and fleeting to point the way to anything.

“June Burlison,” Rose said. I could see the same connections forming. The connection passed to me, then out to the woods, like the aftermath of lighting that darted between conductive targets.

Would this same strategy work for finding people? Objects? If I wanted to find Laird, could I call out his name until I could make out the connection? - excerpt from Damages 2.3 </ref> although facility with this varies between individuals.<ref name=":4">“Listen up, you two, here’s your first lesson in the field. I want you to pay particular attention to all the weirdness going on around us. Start with the immediate stuff, the connections between each of us,

things being carried back and forth.  Over time, you’ll visualize it

into something like cords, strings, ribbons…” “It’s more a feeling for me,” Nick said. “Physical. Everyone sees it differently.” - excerpt from Subordination 6.3 </ref><ref>She sat at the end of the bench. Pamela seated herself beside Avery.

[...] Her Sight was more farsighted than not, which was a pain, because she really would have liked to see and study the band that stretched between her and Pamela. - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.7 </ref> Practitioners' eyes will often visibly flash or distort, especially to the Sighted, when they use their own Sight.<ref>“Cheating?” Verona asked. Her eyes flashed that weird almost-purple color. [...] She was aware of Verona and Lucy giving her concerned looks. In that

one corner of Avery’s eye where her Sight was stuck, she saw Verona’s

eyes as purple again. Lucy’s as red where they should be white. - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.7</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>The cat-faced girl had shadow clinging close to her cloak, to the point it was hard to make her out in the dark, not helped by the dark fur of her face. Her eyes flashed violet as she looked over everyone and everything. - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.z</ref>

It can be turned on and off at will;<ref name="1.7e1" /><ref name="2.1e2">A boiling cloud of what might have been vapor, a haze, sat over the city. It was as though stormclouds were rolling in, and they were doing it at ground level. At times there was a fluidity to it, as though the nearby lake had swelled and swamped the area, waves rising and falling, only periodically allowing buildings to be seen, where they dipped low enough.
This wasn’t water or water vapor. It was spirits.
I shut off the sight.
The scene I saw without magical aid was an ordinary one, a simple snowfall, with clouds in the proper places. My view of the buildings was still limited, periodically obscured, but only by snow. - excerpt from Damages 2.1 </ref> if one doesn't learn to turn it off, they can lose their connection to reality entirely over time.<ref>“The book says you need to learn to manage your extra senses. If you don’t, they can swallow you up, and you won’t find your way back to reality.”
“I think I remember.”
“It suggests techniques, but you have to find what works for you. Closing your eyes, but not moving your eyelids. Or try refocusing them, and find that point you reach to where you’re trying to refocus your eyes but you’re doing something else. It becomes as natural as anything else about your body. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s easy.” - excerpt from Bonds 1.7</ref> The sprits within your Self will naturally latch on to patterns and habits of usage, so it is important to use one's Sight in the ways one intends to go on using it at the beginning; overuse can lead to it being "stuck on". Some Practitioners deliberately choose to have some Sight always available.<ref>“My Sight wouldn’t go away. It stayed in one part of my eye.”

“My theory was that it’s like straining a muscle,” Lucy added.

“Have you been using it a great deal?” Miss asked.

Avery shrugged and nodded.

“The part of you that connects to the Sight isn’t physical. It’s your Self, your soul, your ‘you’. The complex spirit or fingerprint that makes up all the parts of you that are distinct and unique when put

together as a whole.  It adheres to patterns, adjusting and adapting by
scales that have nothing to do with muscles or physical health.”

“What happened?” Avery asked.

“It adjusted. As spirits do, your spirit worked off of underlying patterns and assumptions, that you were someone who always used the Sight, so you always wanted the Sight available. There are many practitioners who do this on purpose, refining their Sight so it is something they can always have available, for specific purposes, and keep their vision clear for other things.”

“Uh, so how do I tell my Self to not do that?” Avery asked.

“That might be something that Charles can help you with better than I

can.  Intuitively, it makes sense that if you don’t want it on most of

the time, don’t use it most of the time.”

“Are there any other ways?” Lucy asked.

“You could make the pattern more elaborate, so it is harder to fall into by unconscious habit. Saying a particular word or wearing your mask or a pair of glasses when you want the Sight available.”

- excerpt from Lost for Words 1.7 </ref>

Some Practitioners train their second sight to show them things relevant to their practice.<ref name="2.1e1">With my newly acquired second sight, I could make out the spirits that infused everything. Just as I might focus my eyes, I could focus this sight. I could train it. According to Essentials, some practitioners would train their sight to focus on things better suited to their talents. Imagery would take hold. - excerpt from Damages 2.1</ref><ref name=":0">Damages 2.4</ref> Things a Practitioner might See include:

The existence of minor Spirits everywhere and their general movements,<ref name="1.7e1">I closed my eyes, exhaling, and then opened them.

But for the chalk lines and bowls in strange places, the room was normal.
I reversed the process. Eyes closed, inhaling, eyes open.
Again, there were the hints of life. I could see something faint, like dust motes, spraying lightly where the room ended and the hallway began. As though the space warping effect was creating a kind of friction between spaces.
When I focused on the motes, they stood out in my vision, and I could see more of them in the room.
I cupped my hand to catch one.
It turned, doing a small somersault before darting between the fingers that tried to close around it.
I did what I’d done before, but I didn’t close my eyes.
The effect faded.
I turned it on again, but without doing anything with my breath or eyes.
Natural. - excerpt from Bonds 1.7</ref><ref name="2.1e1" /><ref>We went on our way. I hadn’t turned off my second sight, and I saw how the spirits were shifting. People were milling around the area, which was more like an extended strip mall than a true downtown, but the spirits diverted them from taking one side street. - excerpt from Damages 2.1 </ref><ref>I felt like a weight had been lifted from me, now that I was clear of the room. Every step away from the circle had diminished the volume of the ticking as if I’d taken ten. Being in the living room, I could barely feel it. With the second sight, I could make out the movements of the spirits, as if they were caught up in a current, fighting a headwind. - excerpt from Breach 3.4</ref> possibly developing into the ability to communicate with minor spirits.

Symbolic representations of damage, harm, human presence, or emotion
Dreams<ref name=":5">Matthew spoke up, “The Sight is something you can train. With

practice and specialization, you may learn to see connections that thread between people, to see things like dreams or the approach of Death, or more easily track the spirits and how they move.” - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.2</ref>

the approach of Death<ref name=":5" />
A person's Implement.<ref name=":3" />
Detailed dossiers on everyone they look at.<ref name=":6">Bonus Material: Borrowed Eyes Comic</ref>

Augurs specialize in Sight-related Practices, among other things. Practices which can tie into the Sight include:

Training your Sight to switch between different modes of perception on cue, such as whenever you tap your glasses.
Using the Sight to more quickly and effectively react to things in an athletic or combat situation.
Borrowing another Practitioner's Sight through a ritual.<ref name=":6" />

Some things can produce an effect similar to the Sight, including:

Certain realms, such as the Spirit World, make things obvious in them that are otherwise hidden.
Some rituals and devices can produce visual representations of hidden things and/or alternate realms, very similar to the Sight but visible to everyone present.
Being possessed by an Other may allow you access to their supernatural senses.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

References