Completed (Flashback) A New Approach, an Old Direction

[Kuvarakh]

OOC - continued from Here.

65th day of Summer, 420

Kuvarakh had been dividing his time between his own home and that of his new master, Aldren Trask, for a couple of weeks now. With Kuvarakh's help, Trask had laid to rest his son, one of a dozen young men murdered by Kuvarakh's first master and kept in his ice cellar for future Nuit body switching. Overcome with wrath, Kuvarakh had killed the villain in a fog of rage, dismembering and decapitating him.

In addition to spiriting away the dead man's severed body parts for malediction, Trask had asked Kuvarakh what he would have as compensation for the sudden lack of purpose this execution had made of his life. Kuvarakh had thought he might take over his old master's Alchemy lab, but some device was triggered upon his death and it was incinerated.

He had no desire to learn malediction, but upon mention of hypnotism, Kuvarakh recalled his time as a student at the University. He had enrolled to learn Alchemy, and driven by an obsession stemming from his daughter's death, he signed up for an experimental course exploring ways to generate much greater degrees of djed acceleration. An accident had briefly modified his affinity to connect to others' subconscious in a manner similar to hypnosis, but accessed differently.

Not having formally studied hypnotism, he didn't realize his approach was unorthodox in any way. And given that an additional effect of the accident had been a significant reduction in his mental focus, his memory was not that clear anyway. This was all many years ago and the effects of the accident had been reversed, but, from time to time, it seemed that a trace of the skill remained unlocked in his psyche.

So he had accepted Trask's offer and requested his mentoring in the art of hypnotism.

[Kuvarakh]

Trask sat him before a large mirror, telling him to simply gaze at his own image. Let it become nothing more than scenery to his own perspective. That it would be important to mentally "separate" himself from his awareness of his surroundings, so that he would not be ensnared by what impressions he himself imparted to others. A buffer against his own expended djed.

As he repeated this concept, his voice took on a droning ritualistic tone that soon had Kuvarakh in a dreamlike state. He then began to speak of the sense of djed movement. He knew Kuvarakh to be an alchemist, so he began with the feeling in his thumbs when the acceleration for a transmutation begins. A starting point for the extension of djed necessary to touch someone's mind.

They did nothing more than this for several hours per day over the course of several days. Before long, Kuvarakh began to get impatient, wondering when the next step would begin. He had felt both sensations within the first few days, uncertainly at first, but quite distinctly later. He mentioned this, but Trask acted distracted and didn't seem to pay it any mind.

Actually, Trask had already sensed this, and was, in fact, waiting for it. During the next day's session, he began to reinforce that impatience slightly, allowing Kuvarakh's sense that he was ready for the next step to build. He then, for the first time, actually placed a clear directive in Kuvarakh's mind.

'Convince him. Let him see that I can do it.'

Trask waited, but it seemed that nothing happened. He thought that perhaps Kuvarakh needed a prompt as to exactly what approach he should take. So he added, 'tell him we should stop for the day.'

Again, there was no sense that Kuvarakh was attempting to access his thoughts at all. He hadn't expected Kuvarakh to actually affect him, but he had been quite sure he would at least feel a tickle for his attempt. Disappointed, he pulled his own mild djed enhancement back and sat, giving thought to his next approach.

Kuvarakh suddenly burst with enthusiasm, "Yes! I felt it! I did it! He heard me and he obeyed! I don't want to stop yet. Let's continue."

Trask sat, mouth agape, staring. This was virtually the exact opposite of the result he had been hoping for. Not only did Kuvarakh NOT touch his mind even slightly. He made reference to some other person. And his drive was to continue, not 'stop for the day'.

The surprise passed quickly enough, but not the perplexity. Somehow, he felt that progress had been made. It was true, that the result had not been remotely what he had sought, but the very fact of its absolute reversal of intent, made him think it WAS somehow the result of his instruction. If it had been some random fluke, it wouldn't have been so perfectly opposite. And the way Kuvarakh said he didn't 'want to stop yet' strongly suggested that he received the implanted hint. But his reaction to it was far removed from what Trask had expected.

[Kuvarakh]

Trask held his hand up, "Before we go any further, I need to understand a few things. First, who are you talking about that 'heard you and obeyed'? This was only between you and me, and I was expecting something quite different."

"Well...you've been saying so much about 'separating myself'. Isn't that why I'm staring into this mirror all the time? I don't know, I...I guess I separated...myself." Kuvarakh shrugged.

"That's crazy! I was sitting right here. You didn't...'separate" in any way. I was waiting for you to try to access my mind by touching me and stretching your djed to me. I wanted to see if you could do it. I put the thought of stopping for the day in your mind, so I'd recognize it coming back." He furrowed his brow, puzzled.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you. I got that 'message', but I...well, no, I heard it, so to speak, but it sort of relayed to him, and when he got it -..."

"HE' who? There wasn't anyone else here but you and me." Trask interrupted.

"The...'other'...me. The, uh, 'separated' me in the mirror." Kuvarakh explained, starting to wonder if he had done something dangerous.

Trask was shocked. "In the MIRROR? are you saying you actually SAW a separate you in the mirror?"

"Wasn't I supposed to? I thought that was part of what you meant by separating myself. Did I do it wrong? Is this dangerous?" Kuvarakh was sounding worried now. Trask just stared at him, unsure of what to say in response."I mean, you said it was to sort of buffer myself from being caught up in my own djed suggestion, or something."

Trask shook himself free of his bewilderment. "Well, yes, it IS. But creating a second...separate...self isn't going to protect you. The idea is to create an internal...mental...conviction...that you are not there...AT ALL...and not...susceptible to your own generated suggestions, when you send them out."

"But I think that's what he did! It was so natural...it felt so right, that I just assumed I was doing it the way I was supposed to." Kuvarakh tried to explain, only barely understanding it as he spoke. "The thought came to 'stop for the day', but I didn't want to. As soon as I was aware of it, it seemed it was him...his version...of me that took that notion to himself. It seemed so normal that I assumed it was supposed to happen, so I just took it a step further and...sort of...wished him to leave, to take the thought with him... And he left."

Trask stammered a moment for something to say, "So you got my suggestion, didn't agree to it and...this other you...'accepted' it? And left with it? Effectively banishing it from your mind?" he was incredulous.

Kuvarakh sat, going over this assessment of events. He finally looked at Trask apologetically, shrugged and nodded. "Yes. That's about it. Did I do something wrong, Master?"

Trask winced, "Ugh, don't call me that. We're not in a formal training setting. Just call me Aldren...Well, to be honest, I don't KNOW if there's anything actually WRONG. I've just never heard of such a thing. I mean, I'm sure an illusionist could pull something like that off. Or, I could possibly implant the thought that you had seen it happen. But for you to just spontaneously do it...it's extraordinary!"

"Well..." Kuvarakh said, resolve bolstering his voice, "Obviously, we need to do it again."

Trask smiled, liking his student's attitude. "Yes. Obviously."

[Kuvarakh]

But nothing happened. Try as he might, Kuvarakh could not recreate the event. It did not take long for Trask to see that he was trying too hard. But his suggestions of relaxing and not trying to force it, 'let it happen', were unproductive as well. They considered that perhaps he needed a thought to reject, to enable the generation of his 'other' self. But this time, the suggestion worked the way Trask had meant it the first time, and the idea took hold.

"I think we should stop for the day" Kuvarakh stated blandly.

Trask started to protest, but realized it had been his own implanted suggestion that Kuvarakh was responding to. Clearly, whatever had happened the first time around was not going to happen this time. He considered that maybe it was fatigue, so they broke for the day.

The next morning, they started again, with Kuvarakh sitting before the mirror as Trask spoke in a drone like before. When he got to the part about sensing the djed movement in his thumbs, Kuvarakh began to get agitated, mumbling that 'it doesn't work that way'.

Trask spoke calmly to him to let it work that way, that the sense of djed movement will be his extension of his djed to touch the target. To let it extend to him. He began to put the same thought as the day before, to see if Kuvarakh would react the same way. 'Tell him we should stop for the day.'

He reacted, but not the same way. He swayed suddenly, stuck both thumbs onto the floor and swung his head around to face Trask. "I can't stop NOW, I've got to stay at the ring."

Trask was suddenly inundated with the thought that he had failed by abandoning his post. It didn't stick with him, but he was shocked at the clarity of it. The sense of being Kuvarakh's partner and having broken away in fear as something got out of control.

He had to calm himself as he pulled his djed touch back from Kuvarakh. He knew he was in control. And he knew he had not abandoned anything, but he could also sense the absolute conviction of these conditions in Kuvarakh's mind.

Kuvarakh looked around in confusion, "Professor?" he asked uncertainly, "Where's Andrik? did we..." his eyes popped wide as he saw Trask and the recognition locked into place. He looked as though a vast understanding came to him as he lay back on the floor with a long sigh, "Aaaahhhhhh...I see."

Trask took a moment to be sure that Kuvarakh was alright, and aware of his current surroundings. There was an odd apprehension in Kuvarakh's expression as Trask took a breath and leveled a gaze at him.

"Professor'?...'Andrik'?...What is going on Kuvarakh? What haven't you told me? I know you went to the University for a few years. What happened there?"

[Kuvarakh]

"I...uh..." Kuvarakh hesitated, "I'm not supposed to discuss it. It was a special class, and some...things...went wro...didn't go how they...expected. I was able to do some things I'd never been able to do before. But it got set back right."

Trask's expression reeked of skepticism. "Uh...judging by the reactions I've been getting from you, I find it quite hard to believe that everything is 'set back right', Ku. If you can't tell me what took place, can you tell me what sorts of things you found yourself able to do?"

There was a long pause. "Andrik was my partner...my alchemy partner. When we...were done, I had several of his abilities." he paused, unsure of how much he could tell.

"Abilities?" Trask prompted, "such as?"

Kuvarakh started to pace nervously, as though afraid someone might be listening. "Nothing drastic, I mean we were both already in alchemy, so that wasn't affected. And it wasn't because of him that I learned my meditation technique for better acceleration. It was nothing, I shouldn't have even mentioned it."

"Maybe not, but you did. In fact, you mentioned it as though it explained everything. Now, you're all worried that some secret is going to get out. Well, let me tell you, whatever it is, it's a lot more likely to get out if you have some ability you can't control goin' off all the time."

Kuvarakh turned back, clearly upset. "It doesn't just 'Go Off'! And it was only Andrik that it happened to."

"Ohh...only Andrik!" Trask shot back, "Only your partner. Well, Ku, would you like to consider just Who is your partner now?"

Kuvarakh seethed with frustration, "No! You don't understand. It won't happen to you. It only happened to Andrik because of the alchemy thing, because he was my partner for that! That's the only reason I could do it afterwards. It was only him I could do it to."

"Do WHAT?" Trask demanded.

"Hypnotize him!" he cried, "just by looking at him!"

Trask stared, speechless for a moment, "With no training? just by looking at him? Did you feel a...a...djed push? Through your eyes?"

"What difference does it make? That was years ago. Yeah, of course I felt a push. And no, it wasn't through my eyes, exactly...well not just my eyes. More like my whole face, my head. But it's over now."

"No it's not! Don't you see? That's what's wrong! I was trying to get you to push the djed through your hands. I thought it would be what you would feel the easiest, like you'd use for alchemy. But you've already got it pushed...for hypnosis...through your eyes. I don't know what the 'separation' thing is triggering. Was that part of the...alchemy thing?...So that it's triggering a greater degree of separation? You both got part of yourselves 'separated'?"

Kuvarakh looked lost, but nodded. "Something like that...So what do I DO?"

Trask stood up and walked over to him. "Nothing, for today. This approach is all wrong for you. Don't worry, we'll figure out how to do this. Just call this lesson over until I come up with a better approach."


OOC continues HERE

[Arcane]

Rewards and Treasure! Experience Points +2 Meditation +1 Hypnotism Lores Kuvarakh's Other Self Confusion in Hypnotism Initiation Miscellaneous n/a Comments Hahaha I think I was as confused as Trask at the beginning xD As there was minimal hypnotism in the thread I cannot justify giving you more, but take it as 0.5 for the attempt, and 0.5 for the good writing and story. Although, I want you to understand that failures are just as important as successes, and both can net XP. The only thing is that you actually have to use the skill; IE its the process that grants you the XP, not the results (whether successful or not).