Mathew was a little disappointed, he didn't read carefully enough earlier. It turned out, braiding courses had a form of singular per subject classes. Maybe it was just this place, but this place is where he went. Since this one lesson was enough to teach him what he wanted and it couldn't turn into regular entertainment, the mage didn't apply for another course. For today, he kept some strands of hair flowing freely in the front, braided the sides to connect at the back, above some more freely flowing hair.

The mage looked back on the office building the course was in, shrugged and made his merry way towards home. When he reached the his building, he stopped in front, looking at the door. Since it wasn't a gym or psychologist day, he had a free evening. He didn't feel like rolling around on the floor in his apartment till he'd go to sleep, so he stood outside thinking. Finally, we strolled towards the subway. The about ten minutes of travel would give him time to decide between museum and cinema. "Museums... are not fun alone. Maybe if I'd go back to grab my sketchbook, but I really don't feel like it. Cinema then... I have no idea whats playing, the smaller, artsy ones would be shot in the dark for something of interest... so a commercial one. There should be some blockbuster to kill time." Mathew made his decision as he reached the subway entrance. For a change of pace from the Crystal Abode, the man walked a flight of stairs further down to take the train going to "Shub'Niggurath".

Despite the rather sinister name, it was a colourful commercial district. The Black Goat was a cheerful creature that often helped people out, it was part of a community of Eldritch creatures that could interract with mortals. The community in question, consisted of beings that over their long existence became enamoured with the lesser creatures and found ways to live among them in relative peace. They also refused to comment on Dieties, or Cosmic Horrors, aside from giving warnings against seeking out Black Holes. Like many others, Mathew wondered if Lovecraft actually met the beings and misjudged them because of their appearance, or if it's just one of those cases where a story matches some other reality. Maybe there were some of the lesser Horrors that were as evil as depicted.

When the mage got off at his stop and walked up to the surface, he wasn't sure if he should be saddened or glad the being wasn't around. On one hand, it was said meeting it brought good luck, on the other the creature might have acted like a happy puppy, but was horrifying to look at. Mathew strolled around for a bit, window shopping and watching the crowds. Out of the entire city, here people dressed the most colorfully. The more magically powerful, or just wealthy in outfits that floated around them shining with gaudy enchantments, mixed with those wearing technical marvels of fashion that imitated the magical clothing. Of course there were some who wore the same outfits, they fell for a decade ago. The mage ruffled a bit his simple black jeans and black t-shirt with a logo of a metal band, looked up to the sky, shrugged and went into the cinema he reached by now.

Mathew didn't recognise any of the movie titles on the screens behind the cashiers, so he picked up some flyers and sat down with them on one of the coaches lining the walls. Browsing for a couple minutes, he finally put away everything except for one action movie employing Magicians to act and provide special effects. There weren't any well know actors on the roster, but the promise of real special effects intrested the magician. The movie was some sort of hero thing, the antagonists on the flyer looked demonic and the description mentioned the main character fixing his own mistakes. The mage noticed the release date was quite a while ago, but when he looked at the schedule, screens showed it would have a single showing in half an hour. Mathew put on a thoughtful face and looked around, the Black Goat wasn't around. Maybe today he was running on his own luck. He might have not had too much of it though, as he had to wait about ten minutes in line; the hall being mostly empty was to be expected for a movie that had it's last showings. He picked sit in the middle of the third front row.

With a ticket in hand, the man gave only cursory glance to the lines for popcorn. He didn't have the patience for another conga line and made a beeline for the attendant checking tickets. There he also bumped into a line, finally after two minutes that felt like forever, he could finally sit down and wait yet another fifteen for the movie.

When Mathew got out of the cinema, he wasn't sure what to think. Rather than an exciting action flick, the movie was a mess of an accidental documentary and educational video about demon summoning. Everything was fine until fifteen minutes into the movie, the main character attempted his first advanced ritual magic, against the advice of his mentor. The next two hours of the movie was the crew running around like headless chickens, the actors and Mages in charge of the special effects fighting off a third circle demon of pride. "Well, kudos to the cameraman for not running away. If he wasn't one of the mages though... one must wonder about his mental faculties." Suddenly bumping into something, awoke Mathew from his thoughts. When he looked down for a moment he was drowned among the Many Maws, mewling and barking of kittens and puppies, almost drowned out by the screams of the Consumed. As soon as the visions came, they were gone. The Black Goat nudged the silly human and trotted away.

It took Mathew a moment to shake out the sensation of seeing the world through a pair of infinite eyes, aside from his own seven. He furrowed his brows, took a deep breath and looked into the sky. The firmament flashed with the Web of Her who owns everything She Knows, and the mage was back within himself. The usually invisible formation was the only reason minds lesser than Archmages could interract with the Eldritch.

"Thank you," the man said towards the sky and gave a slight bow.

A slight shiver went through his body, prompting him to hurry back home. Maybe the excitement of the events, would motivate him to work harder for a few more weeks. On the subway the magician tried meditating, his mind still too shaken, interrupting his focus. When he got off at his station, he was falling into a trance. The next day he only, vaguely remembered reaching the entrance to his apartment.

Mathew woke up to the sound of children going to school, the System shining in his eyes and a slight ache in his back. Without parting his eyelids, the man slowly stretched and got up. Back on his feet, he opened his eyes, before him was the painting of his hands and the well between them. The bottom of the well was now filled with maw like, golden runes. The left hand had a bit of delicate, dark but of a hard to describe color, spider silk painted on it. Underneath the hand was a perfectly normal, white and grey goat. The mage briefly considered painting over the additions of last nights, he hoped it was last night, madness. Something within him stirred, at the same time System flashed in his eyes a wordless warning, just a blank screen. Mathew understood, concealing those influences would bring them back into himself and he wasn't ready for them, likely would never be. He turned to leave the room, but the System flashed again, this time informing him about meditation. The man complied, his mind seemed at rest and with each breath and cycling of mana, the slight weight connecting him to the wall lessened until it snapped half an hour later. The mage also checked the progress on his runes and found none, everything was the same as the last time he meditated.

As Mathew got up to leave the room again, nothing stopped him so he made his way to the bathroom. He dropped his clothes on the floor, now noticing they were covered in paint, far more of it that the little painted on the wall would suggest. Waving it away as magic being magic, he got in the shower, the cold water got rid of the last traces of the morning grogginess.