on elsie parkes, phd.

in a world much like this one, differentiated by the existence of magical pedigree, academic institutions, psychics, sorcerers, and dreamworkers. magic is an innate skill refined by study, oftentimes rigorously so. here, in this story, our world revolves around an institution known as whitcombe academy.

elspeth "elsie" parkes is a professor and psychic surgeon of some pedigree. she is a cutter of memories, phobias, dreams, traumas; a restorer of mental blockages and forgotten things, in the same way a real-world equivalent surgeon might operate on a blocked artery. her specialty and area of focus is that of the mindscape, and all the things that might sit within it. memories can be falsified, identities can be distorted, but the more seamless and difficult the magical "procedure", the longer the "operation" will take.



one cruel year.

on a recent return from sabbatical, elspeth awoke one morning to find: research notes, in her handwriting, that she has no recollection of ever noting down; a psychic scar, indicating her own handiwork; a music box that resists all physical and magical methods of opening; a hole in her memory that spans an entire year.