“TONY WAKE UP!!!!”

Jumping across the room Tony stumbles over his shoes from yesterday.

“What the hell?! Tanya, was that really necessary? You almost gave me a heart attack.” Tony shouts angrily.

“No need to shout out loud remember, I am already inside your mind. Just think the words.” Tanya sighs.”Never mind the shouting. Your time is different than in Hell! Your world is linking with mine much sooner! You only have 50 days, not years! Mana is leaking into your world at an increasing rate! You're not ready, your world isn't ready. You need training!” Panicking Tanya’s voice catches.

“50 days till what?”

“50 days till your world and mine will be permanently linked! Demons will be able to come to your world.” Almost breathless Tanya whispers” Creatures from your myths will become real. Every creature you have ever heard about, read about, fought on your computer or even thought about will become real!” Upset Tanya continues “we need to start training. Don't you get it Tony? When our worlds link monsters will walk the Earth…”

“Ok, ok. You have me awake now.” Tony shakes his head. ”I still think I need to be booked into the nut house soon. Prove to me that this is all real, that I am not due to see flying green pigs the rest of my life?” Tony frowns. Probably worried about how he would look in scrubs.

Slowly Tanya materialises at the bottom of Tony’s bed. “Want to become a Jedi, Tony?”

“What are you on about Tanya? I already think I lost my mind, or suffering from hallucinations from poison, probably from the papercut I got last week.” Tony glares at the offending plaster. “As much fun as this has been either prove to me conclusively that this is all real, or prepare to be Prozac-ed into oblivion.” Tony flails his arms around.

“You look like a chicken doing something that only teenage boys usually do. Relax!” Tanya walks closer. Sitting down next to a stiff Tony she gently brushes his hair.

“Tony, are you a virgin?” Tanya smiles.

“No!” Tony angrily tries pushing Tanya away. Tanya giggles as his hands pass right through her.

“That tickles, silly man. Don’t be so offended!” Tanya pouts at Tony’s scowling face. “Nothing wrong with being a virgin. We all were once.” Tanya laughs as Tony starts blushing. “Not a lot of fun being a virgin but we can work on that.” Frowning again Tony moves to his cupboard. “Can you turn around please?” Tony asks politely, still a healthy shade of red.

Turning away Tanya smiles. Tony grabs his navy jeans, red long sleeve button-up shirt, and starts undressing quickly. Looking down Tony sees his slight paunch. Frowning Tony moves to his bathroom. As he gets in the shower Tony realises he didn’t bring a towel.

“Dammit!” Tony angrily starts washing his hair.

“What is it Tony? You forgot to iron your undies or something?” Tanya mocks him.

“Hey! I don’t iron my undies, only my pajamas ok?!” Tony sputters as his shampoo gets into his eyes. Rinsing his face Tony continues “I forgot to bring a towel, that’s all.” Tony starts shaving. Once he is done in the shower he shouts to Tanya “I am coming out, please stay turned around as I dry up and get dressed? No funny business!!”

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Tanya giggles but is turned around when Tony starts towelling himself down. Tony glances at Tanya to check she really isn’t watching him. Tanya sits in profile on his bed. Tony frowns as he realises her profile looks real nice… Definitely a woman! Looking down Tony realises he might need to take another shower.

“Tony my dear” Tanya says in a sing song voice, “thank you for the compliment, but please get dressed now so I can start getting convinced I am real?”

“What compliment?” Tony mutters suspiciously as he starts to pull up his underwear.

“Well, let me give you a tip” Tanya tries to keep back a snort, “when I said I am in your mind I really meant it. That means “Tanya is clearly having difficulty breathing” that…. What you see…. And feel…. And think….” Tanya bursts out laughing as Tony lights up like a neon stop light.

“So you know about Mr Obiwan?? Shit!!” Tony trips over his briefs. Frantically getting dressed Tony glares at Tanya’s outline as she rolls on the bed laughing. Not exactly what he thought of to see when he thought of a woman rolling around in his bed.

“Let’s just get some coffee, ok? This morning has been embarrassing enough. I’ll only speak to you in my mind ok? Either I am crazy or the world is, but I would like to know today still. I hate this uncertainty.” Still giggle Tanya follows Tony outside. Crossing the street Tony enters a local coffee shop. Open 24 Hours shows on the door. Inside Tony sees the crowd is the normal university students mixed with the young executive’s crowd.

Getting a table in the back of the cafe Tony thinks at Tanya “ WHAT NOW??”

“No need to shout, you idiot! I already saw you naked…” Blushing again, Tony can hear the smile in Tanya’s voice.

“What now? You have until my cappuccino get’s here to prove to me you, and everything you said is real.” Tony frowns.

“Ok, ok, keep your lightsaber off… I mean your pants on!” Tanya playfully stimulates Tony’s neck, gently massaging the strain away.

“Ok fine, you have had your fun, start talking.”

“To prove to you that I am real, and you are only crazy in your name for Mr Obiwan, I want you to pick any person you can see that needs to be taken down a peg”.

As Tony looks around the coffee shop he sees a man and woman sitting outside on the cafe’s terrace. The man seems to be critiquing the woman on her choice of lunch. Scowling Tony growls in his mind “I have someone. I always hate it when people give me crap for my choices in food.”

“Good, good. So I am going to teach you how real magic works. Not all the Hocus Pocus, incantations and other nonsense your literature seems to be so full of. Real magic is all about having mana being able to visualise in detail what you want and willing that effect to happen. You have mana due to me being in your head. Once we joined my presence opened the conduits in your body to start pooling mana and also to absorb the mana in the air around us.”

“That all sound reasonable Tanya, but doesn’t tell me an awful lot about what use it is? What can I do with mana? How do I do it?” Tony sighs thinking this will be his last cappuccino as a free man.

“Ok, focus on that jerk over there. You first try at magic will be weak as you have never done magic before, after this you will need to careful to focus exactly on what effect your want as well as how big of an effect you want, the power you use etc.” Tanya explains in her best impression of a slutty school teacher.

“Thanx Tanya, please tone down the sluttyness ok? I can’t exactly focus if the blood is rushing out of my brain.” Tony mind-whispers. “So, if I understand you that means, if I imagine the wind messing up his hair then that will happen? I just need to visualize it and focus?” Tony says with clear doubt in his mind-voice.

“You’ve got it! Exactly like that, I'll walk you through this first time and then we can have some fun with it, ok?” Nodding his head Tony realises he is nodding at a voice in his head.

“So I want you to have a quick hard look at the man, look and try and remember all the detail you can. You don’t need to get the colour of his eyes right, but all the things around him you should be able to picture in some detail.” Tanya instructs Tony, slowly lowering her voice” No I want you to close your eyes for this first time, visualise a strong wind blowing from behind his head towards the table.” Tony nods his head again but keeps focussing beyond the blush creeping up his neck. “Ok now I want you to will a purple wind, the strongest wind to blow exactly behind his head towards the table. Let the pressure build as you focus all the more on the vision in your mind. As you feel that you will almost lose control just will the vision you have to merge with the picture in front of you.” Tanya quiets down, giving Tony a chance to focus.

Tony starts frowning, focusing on his vision. In his mind's-eye he can see the wind pushing the jerk-off’s face, into his bowl of soup. In his mind he builds up the  power of the purple wind. Tony envisions the sound of the wind roaring. A torrent of purple strands rushing by the man’s face. Tony brings his vision into overlay of his memory. BANG!! Startled Tony’s eyes snap open. Outside the jerk is crawling on the ground, blood streaming from his nose. His suit covered in green lentil soup. Frantic waiters try and assist the man with napkins while his date quietly slips away smiling.

“What did I do??” Tony exclaims out loud, earning a confused look from a passing waitress.

Smugly Tanya says “ Magic!!”