Solo Sing, sing for the night....

[Amelia Cross]

[7th day of summer 513.a.v.]
[The Institute Of Higher Learning]

Proudly, Amelia walked through the halls of the huge building, which made outsiders awe in bout amazement and horror. Amelia was well aware of the fright others fell when gazing upon this building, she felt the same way when she had just seen it the first time, she remembered that time well, as it was her first visit to Ravok. She remembered her father spending time with her, and giving her a tour around the city. Oh lovely time, but this day, it was not about it. It had other games up its sleeves.

Today, Amelia had decided to finally stop just reading books, and actually do something more practical regarding her hypnotism studies. And so, she had to go through the initiation process. The lector had guided her to the room within the institute, which held mirrors all over. It was one of the rooms dedicated for meditation, this one, specifically for hypnotism initiation. Truth be told, she didn’t know what to expect when she pushed to thick doors open, but one thing was certain, she wouldn’t leave the room with the same mindset as with she entered. Would it be good, or bad, was still a mystery though.

When the door was open, a relatively small room came upon her eyes. The walls were all covered by mirrors, making the room appear bigger, while in truth, it was just big enough for one person to feel comfortable. There was just one window, positioned in the upper corner of the room to keep the air coming in fresh and clean, yet no distracting from the meditation. All in all, this was sort of what she imagined, yet not quite.

One way or the other, this was the place where she would unlock her ability, if she had it. The door firmly closed behind her, she sat down on the ground. Amelia made sure to have herself in a comfortable position, her body relaxed, but her back kept straight to ease the breathing and keep it stable. A deep breath in, a deep breath out. Amelia was doing the best she could to calm her body, before she cleared her mind.

She knew that meditation was something that couldn’t be taken easily. She tried to erase all known thoughts running through her mind, she concentrated on her breathing. Nothing besides it really existed to her on that one moment. She was breathing in and out, letting her mind follow the temp and how it felt. She tried to feel how the air entered her body, where it went and how it affected her senses. The key, to concentrate on herself and her body. So far, so good.

Amelia had finally decided it being enough, she felt like she was prepared to look in the mirror, to look in her eyes with an empty mind. So she did. Slowly opening her eyes, she met her own gaze in the mirror in front of her. But she failed to focus, the multiple reflections dropping from the other mirrors distracted her and she started looking around.

Failing to concentrate, she repeated the actions, making sure she was sitting comfortably and toke another series of deep breaths. Following the earlier sensation of lightness, she opened her eyes and refused to look away from her own eyes, from the ones in the mirror. Only now did she notice how empty they appeared, like shadows, empty and cold. Still, it didn’t distract her. She just continued starring into her own eyes. Waiting to feel what she thought she should, waiting to feel the magic of hypnotism unlocked in her.

One bell, two bells, the third one passed. She had spent too much time doing this, but she couldn’t really stop, she knew it might take even days, if someone isn’t initially open to magic. But Amelia was, she was open for Reinmancy, she was initiated, it must be easier for her djed to come out…

Another bell, and then one more…but Amelia had no clue of it, she was in her own little world, where nothing existed, aside from the mirror in front of her, nothing. Her mind became dizzy, her hearth began to beat slower, and it looked like her eyes were glowing. They weren’t, her gaze had just become a blur, and soon enough, every bit of focus disappeared, the only one left, was her eyes. Was this what she was looking for? She wasn’t sure, but her mind began hurting, her body passed a small shiver and she lost the concentration upon the mirror. Everything came back to how it was initially, more or less, except a fog in her own mind.

When Amelia got up from her spot on the ground, she realized there was no more light shining from the small window, it had already been nightfall. Slowly, she stumbled out of the meditation chamber and walked around the halls, prepared to leave the institute. When she bumped into a man, judging by the apparent age and the fine clothing, she assumed it was one of the teachers and slightly bowed her head. ”Good evening” she said, ”Good evening, and who might you be?” clearly surprised to see someone wondering around the halls of the institute at this time. ”Amelia Cross” she introduced herself, the man just nodded, not giving a name of his own, just acknowledging her ”and what where you doing here, at this time? Usually students are at the library…after dark” ”meditation, hypnotism meditation” ”so you study that, and did you manage?” to this, Amelia found a bit harder to answer to ”I, I’m not sure…since it’s a solo sort of thing, I didn’t have anyone with me to tell me, how was I doing, and was I even doing it correctly”

The man didn’t say anything more, he just began walking away, Amelia was about to turn around and leave, when he turned around and spoke ”well, aren’t you coming?” he asked, or was it an order? She wasn’t sure, but she followed. And despite her not exactly knowing where, she trusted the man to do no harm to her. Why? Simply because he was a teacher, Amelia has a lot of respect to those, who share their knowledge.


The walk wasn’t long, maybe it was because the halls were empty, maybe her mind didn’t register distance and time that well. Either way, they entered a room with animals. They were caged and you could see a variety of them, birds, small reptiles, rats and even cats. ”what was this place?””this is one of the places we keep our pets in, after all, to morph you need a models, to make poison, you need someone to test them on, you need auras to read and…things to hypnotize” ”did he read minds?””Its quite common to make beginner hypnotism students to practice on little, rebellious kelvic slaves or capture little birds at the courtyard, but for this case, we have special animals...” he smiled and toke a little bird out of its cage, it was obedient and sat on his finger. The bird was quite beautiful actually.

”come now, make it sing””but, birds don’t sing during nighttime” a smirk from the man as she answered ”exactly” and Amelia wondered, what might be the deal behind the task?”if you have unlocked your skill, you should be able to suggest the bird the simple action of singing, see, this is a special bird, she is used for this purpose of testing someone initiation of hypnotism, she reacts to a simple suggestion” now it was clear.

Amelia tried to recall the last bits of her study, how did hypnotism actually work and how was it meant to be given further, activating it. After a chime or two, she made up her mind and came closer to the man, the bird on his finger. It was clear that the bird was trained for something; it didn’t move and wasn’t frightened by her. ”the night is so beautiful, sing, sing to the night” she said, looking at the birds puzzled little eyes. The bird didn’t seem to react at all, for a moment she thought that the bells spent meditating where a waste of time, but then the man spoke once more ”one more time, but try to be more direct, a bird doesn’t understand your words that much, it needs to be told to its mind”

She listened to the instruction, and looked in the birds small, black eyes once more. For a moment, she wondered, what kind of things had the bird seen while being here, in a cage? It was beyond her to imagine, but, that wasn’t the goal of this meeting. She needed to see, has she had any progress, or was her knowledge just…theoretical. ”sing” the suggestion was simple enough for a bird to follow, but it hesitated, for a moment, she felt like breaking. The Cross girl, as many referred to her, was about to break down and cry. One who was observant enough could see that she had her eyes watery. So close, slowly with her nerves on the edge she began nibbling on her lip and her gaze began piercing the floor.

But then, it sang, silently and seemingly just for Amelia. ”Looks like you did it” the man said, looking the bird in the eyes, making it stop instantly. ”I don’t know how much time it toke, for you to get that far, to actually unlock it, but you did it…even if you need more practice in wording and concentration…for now, you should probably get back home and rest” he gestured to the door and Amelia just bowed in respect, saying her farewells for the time being, and left. Soon enough she was outside of the institute and with a lucky call, she managed to catch a ravosalaman.

[Amelia Cross]

The young man helped Amelia sit down in the ravosal, and they parted from the walkway of the path she was one. They had little discussion in between, but none of it was really worth mentioning and keeping track of in her mind. Of course, the young boy was charming and Amelia was polite, maybe even a bit flirty, but she was too tired to keep mentions of him in her mind, at least now, maybe next time?

No more than a few chimes, as the traffic was easy and obedient, and Amelia had reached her desired destination. No, it wasn’t the place where she rented a room. It was her father’s home. Amelia decided to use this opportunity instead, as it was closer and if she would return to the Institute early, she would be in little rush.

The girl knocked on the wooden door, waiting for it to be open. She was sure her father was not asleep, he rarely was this early. Sometimes, she even though he slept during daytime instead, as nights were spent having fun or doing research, or doing his job. Amelia knew her father had a job aside from his position as an agent of the sun, she even assumed he was better known for that than the service for the black sun, as he was nothing but a simple agent, who didn’t even hold a mark. Another knock coming from the girl, and finally the door opened to reveal her father. As always, dressed finely, in what appeared to be silken robes, hair let loose in a mess, but somehow, it made him look quite charming. At times like this, Amelia could see why bout men and women were quite found of his company.

No questions asked. Even at times when you and your child are in a bad relationship or just going through a hard time, you don’t question the reasons behind their visit, at least not at night. A silence between the two as Amelia entered and walked directly to the room that was dedicated for visitors. Her father joined her, sitting down in the armchair that had a lovely design of flowers, all black. Sitting there, he reminded her of a painting. ”didn’t expect to see you” the voice was cold, she could sense it, but it still had that glister of what Amelia could never understand, but always loved to hear. ”I just finished my studies for the day, at the institute, and I hopped you’d let me stay here…I was scared to go alone to my apartment” the sentence seemed to bring a smile upon the man’s pale lips ”so you finally got yourself a proper home? Nice to hear…”

”and I am attending the institute…””but you refused to accept my funding, what it the point of studying just one discipline?””I study hypnotism, and that is enough…” Amelia didn’t want to speak of her apprenticeship under Clyde, that had nothing to do with her father. However, her bandaged palms didn’t fall unnoticed. ”what’s with you palms?” was that actual concern? It was hard to tell, he was a good actor, something one must probably learn when they are at such positions. ”I just cut myself””on bout hands?” he questioned, rising an eyebrow at his daughter. He knew she was lying, and Amelia knew that he knew.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to tell him, the truth ”I have a teacher...of magic, he is skilled and knowledgeable…” Amelia explained, but it didn’t seem to make her father pleased ”do I know of him? What can eh teach you, that you can’t learn at the institute?” Amelia was unsure what to answer, so she spoke from the top of her head ”he is a master, and he is wise beyond his year…” when Amelia was talking around a subject like this, Dominick knew, he knew that it was pointless to speak with her. ”you have to get that cleaned” he just said, a bit coldly and stood up, leaving to the kitchen.

Amelia was just left there, sitting in the armchair. She curled up like a small girl, hugging her knees and letting her head rest against them. She wouldn’t cry, no. She was just confused and felt lonely, she loved her father, even more than she loved her mother. The bout of them could understand each other from half a sentence, he always threated Amelia as a gift from the gods, and she knew, if the sun would go against her, for one reason or the other, he would die in order to protect her. She knew it, he said it, but she always had trouble believing it. ”I shouldn’t have come…should have gone home” “home is where the hearth is” she lifted her head up, to see her father holding a small bottle of some translucent liquid, probably water, and some bondages. ”you should clean the wounds, and put new bondages” the older man said while putting them on the coffee table. Then, from near the bookshelves he got a dagger and placed it next to everything else.

Amelia was silent, she just stretched out her hand to take the dagger. She held it to the bondages and cut them apart, letting them fall into her lap. Once done, she placed them on the coffee table and ripped a small part of the fresh bondages. ”clean it first””with water?” she asked in confusion ”its not water, just do it…” he explained. Amelia toke the small bottle and toke the cork out of it. Letting some drips fall onto her wound. Instantly the girl cried out, as she felt intense pain coming from her palm, making her question was the initiation that painful ”shhh, it means its working” the girl listened to her father and dropped some more of the concoction on her wound. ”now, with the scrap of bondage you got there, clean off all of the white and red foam” carefully, following her father’s instruction she cleaned it all off, and repeated the steps onto her other palm. She then tried to bondage it herself, but seemed to fail as she was highly inexperienced in such things. Her father just let out a small sigh and went over to his daughter, helping her bondage the wounds.

Latter, he toke everything back to its initial place, throwing out the used bondage and its scraps ”you know where the free bedroom is, feel at home” the man said, before leaving up to his own bedroom. Amelia was tiered, she heard her father speak, but didn’t pay enough attention to it. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep there, in the armchair.

Bells latter, Dominick had come down to get himself a drink, and in the dim light of the lamps outside of the window, she saw his daughter curled up like a cat, hugging herself and muttering nonsense words. She said blood, birds, water, stars and a series of other things that didn’t link together. The man didn’t wake her up, instead, he just picked the girl up in his arms and carried up to the empty room. There he laid Amelia down, and covered with a blanket. Leaving , he couldn’t help but say ”You might look like me, little bird, but you are just like your mother…” The doors closed. ”my little, little….black bird…”



oocI'm not sure is this actually how an initiation to hypnotism would work. But I hope I got it at least some-what right. We learn from mistakes?

[Alric Wilmot]

Grades Amelia Cross Meditation +2 Hypnotism +1 Lores:A bird's song can make or break, Daddy's little girl, Hypnotizing a bird, Animals don't know common Notes Secret : I really liked the interaction between Amelia and her father, and was hoping to see a longer conversation, alas it was not meant to be. Still, a rather solid introduction. I can't wait to see where you go with your hypnotism. In the mean-time, please delete the post in the Ravok Request thread or edit it so people know that this has been graded.