[Flashback] It's Levioooosa... nevermind

[Raiyari]

It's Levioooosa... nevermind Winter 80, Winter 505 AV "Clear your mind," The Shinya spoke softly, but all the children could hear him. His voice carried through the room, like a whisper on the wind, yet the message it carried was clear to all the Acolytes who sat on the reed floor. Raiyari straightened her back, settling into the meditation posture. She'd been practicing, trying to get the feeling back into her left pinkie through projection via much meditation. It was no use, the finger just stayed there, unmoving, limp as a soggy noodle. Luckily, no one had noticed it yet. But there was one benefit to all of this, she'd had much more practice with meditation. It hadn't accomplished what she'd wanted, but at least it gave her a bit of a headstart among her peers. "Straighten your backs, but don't make them too tense. Cross your legs and keep your eyes partly open. Now, place your hands as I showed you last time, just so," The Dian instructed the young teens, showing them the proper placement of the hands. The Acolytes began shifting their positions, following what the Dian said. After a brief minute where all Raiyari could hear was the shuffle of their movement, they grew silent, confident that their posture was correct. Their instuctor wove among them, correcting positions. This hand here, straighten up a bit, don't lean forward so much, each Acolyte was given a quiet tap on the shoulder and told how to fix their posture. Finally, the Dian came to Rai. He peered down at her, taking in her posture. After a moment of concideration, he asked "Good. Have you been practicing, Acolyte?" "A bit, Dian," Raiyari blushed in response. Great, just great. Now everyone in the class would be looking at her. She could feel their stares boring into her. No one wanted to look like a goody two-shoes. "That is wise, child. For if we do not seek out learning, how will we find it?" The Dian left her and walked back to the front of the group, facing the students. Rai and her peers were left a couple of seconds to try and puzzle that out.

[Raiyari]

"Now, focus on your breathing. Use your nostrils, not your mouth. Direct your thoughts inwards," The Dian said, folding his arms across his chest as he surveyed the students. "You will want to think of other things. Do not." Rai did as she was told, letting her mind slip from what was happening around her. Now, there was only breathing, only the faint tickle on her skin under her nose as the air brushed across it. As the air entered her system, she felt her chest rise. There was nothing but breathing, nothing else existed... Except that petching fly that was buzzing right beside her ear! The Acolyte bit her lip, resisting the urge to swat at it. No swatting, that would interrupt the silence and stillness of the training. Annoyed, she tried to ignore the insect, her thoughts delving deeper within herself, focusing once more on her breathing. But it still kept buzzing! If anything, it was buzzing louder. Her next exhale was more akin to a sigh than natural breathing. How could anyone else not hear this? It was loud, so very petching loud! Her hands, once folded so neatly in her lap, were now holding themselves down. Rai's knuckles had turned white, she was gripping them with a hostility that she only reserved for family. It was that anger, the disgust that drew so close to hatred, that allowed her to ignore the fly's buzzing. Her mind had jumped to something else, something that provoked more than simple annoyance. But just as quickly as her anger had risen, she pushed it away, locking it behind the walls that she reserved, just for it. Never show your anger. Not to others, not to yourself. That was Rai's rule, one that she followed with every waking moment. Anger was a weakness, it led to misjudgment. Misjudgment had no place among the ranks of the Shinya. Therefore, it had to be suppressed. The young Acolyte calmed herself, seeking the small measure of peace that she knew lay somewhere inside. The tiny trickle that she managed to draw a steady stream from, to keep her face and actions polite. To rein in the other emotions. She used it now, and it settled over her like a calming blanket on a winter's day. Now she could concentrate. The distracting thoughts slid away, and her mind did not allow them to return, building make-shift walls along the borders of the inner peace she was experiencing.

[Raiyari]

The Dian surveyed the students. Once they had settled into the meditation, slowly they took on a more relaxed air as more and more of them accomplished the peaceful exercise. They were seated in rows on the floor, and he quietly walked among them placing small pebbles at their feet. "Now, draw on your Djed. We've done these practices before, so I expect you to remember. Use it to remove the astral layer of your soul from your left hand. There is a pebble in front of you: Lift it," The Dian spoke softly, since there was utter silence in the room, trying not to disturb his students' concentration too much. Raiyari, instead of focusing on her breathing, brought her thoughts deeper within herself, searching for the astral portion of her soul. It resided somewhere inside herself, radiating with an aura that she could not see. Carefully, she unclenched her hands, wringing her left one as if ridding it of water. At the same moment, she pushed the astral body out of her left hand, starting at the wrist and moving down to the fingers. A numbness spread through her hand, until she could feel completely nothing. Had she tried, Rai would have been unable to even move her left hand. She couldn't even feel its presence. It simply lay limply in her lap. Her eyelids fluttered open, and her vision centered on the pebble before her. Lifting it was an easy enough task, compared to how she had had to search for the key at Midwinter. Raiyari simply sent the small portion of consciousness that was her hand towards the pebble, picking it up and cradling it in her palm. Slowly, the small rock rose into the air, seemingly floating. "Raiyari, you have finished. Rest while your fellow students complete their task," nodded the Shinya, giving Rai a small smile. She couldn't help but feel guilty as she returned the tiny grin, since she had practiced the magic without his consent. Gently, she set the pebble back down on the floor, so none of her classmates would be disturbed. Her hand drifted back to her, tired from the minor task of keeping concentration. She reattached it more carefully this time, focusing on gluing back to every inch of her hand, except her pinkie. That was long gone. She'd done it all wrong at Midwinter. Rai liked all her fingers, thank you very much, and was determined to keep them. The Acolyte reattached the hand from the tips of her fingers, like reapplying a sticker. Slowly, she moved up, finishing with her fingers, and at last setting her astral wrist back into place. [END]

[Ophelia]

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Thread Award. ‎‎<3 ‎ ‎EXPERIENCE.‎ ‎+3 Meditation ‎+3 Projection‎ ‎LORES.‎ Clear your mind Practice makes perfect Ignore the fly, ignore it… ignore it…‎ Never show your anger Lifting a pebble ‎ADDITIONAL NOTES.‎ Loving your work. ‎Don't hesitate to pm me with questions, queries, or anything else!‎ Love,‎ Ophelia <3

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