Solo Delay

[Lu Gavima]

33rd of Spring, AV 513

Cool breezes whistled through the training halls of the pavilion, threatening the candles and other flames that illuminated the night time practices therein. Leth's light mixed in with the flickering flames simultaneously enhanced and hampered Lu's attempts at Auristics. His Projected arms were extended before him, his fleshy counterparts hanging loosely at his sides. The faint blue aura of his arms was a third light source among the others and it was faint as his eyes tried to sense the sight that could not be seen. At the Shinya's feet lay a rope, several body lengths long. Knots had been tied at an arm's length along the way four times, the end securely fastened around a smooth stone, the size of a fist.

Lu would close his eyelids, finding the short gaps of light making the arms easier to see. It was a strange sensation, trying to find himself within the changing light patterns. Reaching out with his ethereal arms, he picked up the loose end of the rope, the other extending out two arm lengths to the second knot, the rope lifting at that point as well. Holding the loose end at his side, the second knot was lifted up into the air so that the stone lifted as well, swinging back and forth as a pendulum would. Lu walked through the hall, swinging the stone like a censer, his attention between the stone, the arms and the rope. This constant distraction caused the stone to drop. When it did, he inflicted a penalty upon himself.

Lying back on his back, he would strain and bring his body up into a sitting position five times, then rising up in a squat. Once this was completed, he would focus again on the rope. After two rounds of this, his focus was assure as the burn in his torso and thighs. His first effort would be to change his grip on the knots, switching between the first and third for the second and fourth.

[Lu Gavima]

With renewed attention, Lu extended his farther arm away to the next knot, following the motion with the back arm on the second knot. As there was no friction or physical hand holding the rope, it began to fall the moment attention lagged from its initial purchase. He did keep it from landing, his abdominal muscles cheering him on rather than strain. There was a delay, however.

Regardless of the lengths involved, imagining the rope as one short enough for his physical arms to grasp made Lu realize that there was a delay between his mental command to release the knot, extend to the the next and grip it. He wasn't sure where the folly had occurred, so he retracted it, the stone tapping the ground with an audible clink. Eyebrows furiously furrowing, Lu laid down and did the sit and the squat. Standing, he went to wipe his brow and the rope swung at him, still held by the astral arms. The rope caught him right where no man wants to be hit, sending him hard on his side.

No arms to catch yourself or wipe your brow was too much sometimes. Lu rolled from side to side, breathing in order to quell the pain. Once it subsided, he pushed himself back up into a standing position. The rope and stone remained on the ground. Why not wipe his brow? Moving one of his astral arms toward his face, Lu could feel a strange sensation as it came within his own aura. It was like looking at a reflection of oneself from beneath water. Concentrating, he began to grin as he could feel the beads of sweat sliding horizontally across his forehead.

[Lu Gavima]

So, back to work. Details were important in the use of Projection. Being sloppy in preparation meant sloppy in result. Crouching down to the rope, his attention moved to one hand at a time as he picked up the length. Fixing the length between his hands, Lu slowly coiled it as he would with his mortal hands. It was a slow and arduous process, the inconsistency of sight and astral confusing.

Once the task was complete, he placed the coil over his neck and left shoulder, walking out into the airy plaza before the pavilion's stone heights. Now he could bathe in the cool, milky light of Leth's audience. Reaching over, Lu moved the coil over his head so it hung on his right shoulder, the weighted slack swinging like a pendulum in his invisible hand. He had to listen to the swing, feel the motion. Since his arms had no neural purchase, as far as tactile sensation went, Lu had to rely on other cues.

The whoosh of the rope, the slight pitch of the stone's weight against his body and something else. He couldn't put his astral finger on it, but there were more senses to glean, if only he could access them. His head turned to the right as he watched the swing turn and create a radius, the rock's whooshing more a staccato. With more room, he could try this experiment without damage to himself, the Pavilion or a wayward Initiate. His right hand was on the closest knot to the stone, so when the kinetic motion came around once more, he loosened his grip on the fibers, the rope flying forward.

As the next knot reached the faint aura of his hand, Lu willed it closed around it. The action occurred as it would if it were his hand of flesh. So, there was no delay, though he had experienced it before. When the larger loop swung out, he let the knot slide again, again he grasped it in time. So the delay was not in his normal reach. It had to be farther out.

[Lu Gavima]

The rope was swinging in a larger and larger arc, the cool air of the Peaks flowing through the courtyard. Concentration and focus was tantamount. The movement of his astral limbs, the control of the rope and the subject of the experiment took a real toll on his total awareness. His training had been simple up to this point. while some Projections had been more complex than others, they had all been of singular purpose with no distractions.

This was something very different and it made him long further for a training partner in the absence of Vormav. Apparently, the addition of memory was too much as the rope passed through his astral hand rather than being grasped by it. The length flew out, whipping harder with the extra slack as kinetic fuel. Lu's focus honed to a razor as he reacted, but the rope was caught a few seconds late, resulting in a loud crash as the stone took out a section of a pot holding ornamental shrubbery.

Shaking his head and sweating profusely, Lu let the rope fall from his astral grip, thinking about how it had happened. It was a success of sorts, though not the way he had expected. he would need more work in this area. His discipline kicked in, reminding him that he had one more routine of sitting and squatting to do. Though the experiment had ended, it was right to follow through. After that extra effort, he could only reel in his limbs, though he took the extra time to allow them to rejoin naturally.

Once he was mortally complete, he did his best to clean up his mess that he had made, untying the knots and removing the stone as well. Looking up at the sky, the cool mountain breezes did their part in cooling his fatigued form. He left the courtyard as he had found it, for the most part, grumbling about the treacherous possibilities of Projection delay.

[Elysium]

Lu Gavima

XP:
Projection +3
Body Building +2
Observation +3

Lore:
Projection: The Pendulum Exercise
Projection: Adverse Effects
How to Discipline Ones Body
Body Building: Sits & Squats

Notes: Nice and concise. This was a very effective solo! If you have any issues with the grade, please contact me.

and so, the journey continues...