|
Post by »Míríel« on Feb 9, 2012 21:28:57 GMT -5
Tarian shrugged "I have nothing to hide and many can't sense my presence when I am around. I have strength in other areas and prefer to be alone. Don't worry though. I have been told I am a very quick learner."
Tarian blinked at the strange look and raised an eyebrow. What a strange fellow Cecily had found. "I believe you are under appreciating yourself. I think you do have a respect for like, and you also have self control. Perhaps this discussion is best saved for another night." He shrugged, "Still I am appreciative that you are helping... better my mind."
Tarian set his bright blue eyes on Aeryn and smiled brightly. "doesn't bother me a bit, mate. Like I said, I have nothing to hide. I trust you."
|
|
|
Post by saerwen on Feb 9, 2012 21:50:18 GMT -5
"Only under-appreciative for half of me..." Aeryn muttered under his breath.
Aeryn nodded, "I like people like you. You are the different ones, the ones with no secrets they are too prideful to admit." Aeryns eyes slowly began to take on a misty appearance, much like the moon when clouds are covering its face. "If you are so certain then let me begin to help you." Aeryn quickly and easily entered Aeryn's mind.
Your first defense is to build up an awareness that someone is there and that someone is trying to get in. Could you tell I was here before I began to speak?
|
|
|
Post by »Míríel« on Feb 9, 2012 22:10:21 GMT -5
Tarian raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on what Aeryn had said. He laughed, "Sometimes when you get so old you realize that it's all just a waste of time. secrets just harm more than hurt sometimes. Plus if you are open people usually don't pry and talk behind your back as much.[/b]" He shrugged, "Perhaps I learned this faster than others, I don't know." When he asked if Tarian was sure, Tarian just nodded. Usually he was the sort of fellow that when he said ok, he meant it.
Then there was a voice in his head, he blinked slightly. "Not really..."He hadn't really noticed any change no. Quickly his mind scanned and compared the differences before Aeryn and after. "Well... perhaps a slight pressure... or headache, but not much other than that."
|
|
|
Post by saerwen on Feb 9, 2012 22:23:38 GMT -5
For a moment, Aeryn started to wonder how in the world a mythical creature could go through life without building up at least an awareness of telepaths, but then again, he didn't really know what kind of creature Tarian was. He supposed that some creatures might have more cause to go easy on those kinds of things than others.
Well, that is good that you can feel it now, but we are going to have to train you to realize that feeling the second that it starts. It will be easier for you though. Most people don't realize it because they simply feel as if they can't concentrate on anything. The fact that you actually feel pain means that your abilities as a mythical creature are actually kicking in, trying to form a protection. Try focusing on that pain. I can see where it is in your mind, but you need to find it on your own. When you find it, don't pull away, but study it for a moment. You will see an image or have a feeling of something that tells you there is danger. Whatever you most closely relate with danger is what you will find there. Once you have found that feeling, train all of your focus on it so that you memorize what it feels like. By memorizing the feeling, your brain will recognize it the second that it strikes up again and it will be stronger, but the alert will be punctual and effective. Over time, after practicing it, it will no longer hurt.
|
|
|
Post by »Míríel« on Feb 9, 2012 22:35:50 GMT -5
Tarian listened and nodded, even though they were communicating within the mind. At first focusing in on the pain was hard, it seemed hard to locate it. The signal seemed to reverberating around his brain, plus drawing closer was exactly what he didn't want to do. Wincing as he moved closer he focused everything on the pain and tried to memorize what had happened and what it felt like. Aeryn might think he was moving slow, but Tarian tended to take his time the first time around. The next time he would be able to cut the time in half if not more. The feeling that he felt was like a sort of barb within his mind. Yes, it was round with points. He had felt this before.
Wincing again he thought quietly, "How will it not hurt? Do you just get used to it, or do you block it from your mind?"
|
|
|
Post by saerwen on Feb 9, 2012 22:44:22 GMT -5
Basically you do it so much that your mind ceases to recognize it as pain any more. The only way that it would hurt again was if the telepath was actually causing real damage. For instance, if they began to erase some of your memories, it would start hurting again because the intrusion would become more of a danger. Some people think that the mind gets used to it and other think that your subconscious causes you to remove the pain forcibly. I personally happen to think that it is both. After doing it so many times you become used to the feeling so the pain is not as radical and new as usual, but your subconscious also takes a part by using the will power you posses to choke out the rest of the pain. What you are left with is a feeling only you can describe that might resemble the smallest prick of pain, so faint you can't even be sure it was there, or simply an empty feeling of something being wrong. Whatever the case, you will know when someone is trying.
Aeryn began to look around in Tarian's mind. The next thing that he was going to have to teach this man was how to set up walls in his mind to protect the things closest to him, namely his memories and his sanity. Barriers were often a turn off for learning telepaths, but they were a major annoyance to masters. It was best to learn how to avoid those situations too. But he would get into that later.
|
|
|
Post by »Míríel« on Feb 9, 2012 22:49:00 GMT -5
"Ah I see." Tarian nodded again. Suddenly he felt something moving around in his mind. "What are you doing in there mate? I can feel you moving around or something.." IT was strange being able to feel something in your mind, it was something he hadn't been aware of it before. "Now what use is this sensing thing. When I sense someone in my mind is there a way to get them out or to protect myself?" He sighed, "Though this protection thing is something I don't understand, I have absolutely nothing to hide..."
|
|
|
Post by saerwen on Feb 9, 2012 23:10:21 GMT -5
I was looking around to see what we needed to cover next, but you have already stated what we need to learn next. Questions make life easy, especially when you have the answers. I am going to do this a bit out of order from what you asked, but it is the required order.
You ask me why "this protection thing" is important. It is important because telepaths have one of the most crippling and life threatening powers known to all of the world. You are simply lucky that one with evil intentions has yet to find you. Without any action at all, in a matter of seconds, a masterful telepath can kill a person. Aeryn paused for a moment to let his words sink in. You are probably unaware of it, but right now I could do a number of things to you and you would have no way to stop me. I could erase every single one of your memories to such an extent that you would never be able to get them back lest I gave them to you. I could be nice and give you hope for gaining them back, but I doubt that anyone would do that. Or I could reach into your subconscious, sabotage it, and in doing so drive you into insanity ranging from completely incurable to mildly psychotic. Here Aeryn began to show some quick pictures of people that he had seen in just such the states that he was mentioning. They were either covered with blood, a crazed look in their eyes; or they were engaged in some other action like banging their heads against a wall until they bled, running in front of trains, marking the walls around them with tick marks, murmuring to themselves in nonsensical phrases, or rocking back in forth, drool pouring from their mouths. I could cause you to lose you sanity to such an extent that you would be stuck in a straight jacket for the rest of your life. The effects are different on everyone, but in the end you would either become homicidal, unable to live on your own because of suicidal tendencies, or you would form unbreakable habits like writing in your minds own messed up language all over everything at certain times of the day. The sever OCD that you see in people like the having to turn everything a certain number of times or having to clean everything obsessively is usually due to some sort of telepathic tampering. Granted, OCD can be reversed. Insanity often cannot. So, now that you know these things, do you see why I am hoping to help you better secure your mind and help you learn why you need to be able to fight these kinds of attacks? It is not because you have something to hide, it is because you have something to lose.
Aeryn ceased the small slide show that he had just put on for Tarian and then added in a quiet tone, If you still feel protection is not necessary, then I will stop and leave now., but if not, then I will teach you how to protect your memories and you sanity.
|
|
|
Post by »Míríel« on Feb 9, 2012 23:19:21 GMT -5
Tarian listened quietly to Aeryn. He was revealing an aspect of this internal battle that he had never seen before. Becoming insane, that was something he had never thought of. Seeing the pictures of what had happened to others was a eye opening thing as well. That was terrible, though Tarian didn't put it past some people in the world.
"No.. I think it would be best, not for my own sake, but for others. IF I understand you correctly and other things I have heard about this mind thing, this could also be twisted to hurt others, those I trusted. For their sake I will protect myself. [/b]"
|
|
|
Post by saerwen on Feb 9, 2012 23:35:14 GMT -5
Very well then, Aeryn began, this is the easiest thing- protecting your memories. To protect your memories, you must build up walls around them, in order to do this, you must group them together. This can sometimes be hard if they are scattered all over the place, but the best way to do it is to imagine taking pictures and throwing them into a bag or a box. People don't realize it, but their imagination's hold the key to what the mind can do. They are able to do impossible things simply by imagining it to be so. So, if you are having a hard time pulling your memories together, think of them all as pictures and put them into a box.
Aeryn thought about how his own memories were now grouped together. It was like a library with two huge shelves. One side was filled with light and color and the other was black and grey, no white, no light. That was what demonstrated his two sides the best, but no one would ever see that if he had his way.
After you have grouped them together, you have to be able to grasp them tightly in your mind. It is confusing to say "grasp" something that is abstract, but that is the only way to really describe it. You must be able to keep those memories in such a sight hold that they will never be torn away from your grasp. Almost as if you were hanging off the edge of a cliff and the only thing holding you up was a tree that you were holding tightly too, you would never let that tree go for as long as you possibly could. That is what you want to do with your memories. This is the first step to building a defense for you memories.
The next steps come in the form of will power. Aeryn went to one of Tarian's memories and stood in front of it, his true form now quite obvious. You must imagine a wall of some other kind of strong barrier in front of your gathered memories and you must use sheer will power to ensure that it is stronger than the attacks of you assailant. That is the only thing keeps telepaths at bay-will power, because it is the only thing that makes us. Without our will power we fall apart, and if you make us use our will power even more, we crumble to pieces, unable to control the chaos within any longer. It is our greatest battle, and our greatest weakness. So, when you feel like you are ready, create a barrier around you own memories and I will give you a taste of what it is like to have a telepath fighting against you and what you must do to conquer them.
|
|
|
Post by »Míríel« on Feb 9, 2012 23:59:34 GMT -5
So he had to sort his memories? Tarian was thankful that most of this had been done already. Tarian, was a very orderly person. All he had to do was check around and make sure everything was "labeled" correctly and put in it's proper place. If Aeryn could see what was going on he would see the memories being gathered and bundled together. Tarian had always grouped his by date. The ones that were at the for front of his mind were ones those that were by a totally different category. IT was as if they were all neatly in boxes with dates labeling the outside and then file holders on the inside with months and days. Except that one box, it was the one that had no label.
"Grasp them..." Tarian pondered this phrase for a moment, how could he grasp something when he had no hands to grasp it with? Tarian made a face of concentration and squinted his eyes but nothing happened. "hmmm" He narrowed his eyes more and held his breath while he squinted. There was a slight barrier that started to appear, but nothing that just the slightest distraction could cause to fall. "Easily sad, mate, but not easily executed." With a sigh Tarian let everything out of his body and he relaxed. Letting his eyes shut he let his mind clear for a moment. "Shelves, Pictures, cliff, gasping..." He let the words drift out of his mouth as he concentrated, his eyebrows knitted together and his head tilted down slightly. Lifting his hand up he covered eyes. Thing that were blurry were starting to become clearer. "Memories.." It seemed as though his mind came to life suddenly. The shelves shook slightly as the boxes that held the memories were behind a thing barier. Quickly the barrier thickened and grew, from the unlabeled box in the center spreading out like a sort of cancer to the others. IT became thicker and thicker as he tried to grasp tighter to it.
When he had come to a satisfactory, or what he believed to be satisfactory, strength he stopped as his brow relaxed slightly. He could see Aeryn now. "Ah, you are a Kludde I see. Should have guessed." Those were the only words he let out, out of fear that he would lose concentration and the barriers would fall. The shelves were now covered in a lumpy almost rocky substance and locked with the most reinforcement in the center, covering the blank box. It was apparent in his mind that he was ready for Aeryn to try his best.
|
|
|
Post by saerwen on Feb 11, 2012 20:47:45 GMT -5
For a moment, Aeryn wondered if he was going to have to help Tarian get started, but then everything came together as if it had always been there. The last time that he had tried to do this, he was teaching a human and they just couldn't get it. Aeryn had to hand feed them everything, but Tarian was a different story. If all students were this easy to teach there would be no shortage of aspiring teachers. Tarians walls came up around what seemed to be his most prized memories. It spread like a disease from the center and everything else was soon covered in the rocky mass. Aeryn looked at it for a moment and then walked forward. He sat down in front of the barrier, counting in his own mind silently.
Without warning, Aeryn's form began placing powerful blows on the barrier. It wouldn't have felt like just his paws scratching against the surface, but rather like his entire body's weight crashing into it. Each swipe would have placed more pressure on Tarian to hold his defenses as Aeryn slowly added more and more force to each blow. With each bit of increased power, Aeryn's attacks affected not only the barrier, but also the part of Tarian's mind that was alert to his presence. That was a very real and unfortunate thing that Aeryn decided not to replicate to the full extreme seeing as how he didn't want to cause Tarian any pain that was unnecessary for anything other than educational purposes.
After a few more blows, Aeryn ceased his attack. He took a few steps back and waited for a moment before speaking, That is the hardest part to learn, or at least, in my opinion, that is the hardest part to learn. You can decide for yourself. The only other thing that you must learn is how to stop an attack on your sanity. That is a completely different thing to do.
|
|
|
Post by »Míríel« on Feb 11, 2012 21:44:31 GMT -5
Pain, it wrecked his concentration. IT jolted through his mind in a way he had never felt before. His eyes winced as his jaw clenched. Trying as hard as he could to keep his defenses up it was a failure, to some point. When Aeryn stepped back all that was left was a thin barrier with many gaping holes in it. Try as he might to keep the treads up the whole thing disintegrated and he was defenseless. Even though his walls were down Tarian still had the pain in his mind. It seemed that we was sensitive to this, most likely because it had never been touched before.
His eyes remained closed and though he wanted to stop and tell Aeryn he had enough he knew better than that. If life had taught him anything, it had taught him that sometimes the things you need the most are the hardest to get, and may not always be what you want. Instead of letting the pain go to waste, Tarian studied it, everything some of the pain to a close study of it.
This almost made him miss Aeryn's words, but as the Kludde's voice slid over his senses Tarian opened his eyes. "I see. i do not think that my first attempt of protecting my mind was enough. Shouldn't it be stronger?" HE thought for a moment and then shook his head, "Still what must I do to fight back?"
|
|
|
Post by saerwen on Feb 11, 2012 23:43:31 GMT -5
It is true that your mind is not as strong as it should be yet, but then again, not many telepaths would hit you as hard as I have. You see, what I have neglected to tell you is that I am a rare breed, at least in regards to the strength of my power. I have only come into contact with others as strong as me a few times. So in reality, I just gave you probably the worst beating that you will get in a while. Aeryn then thought of someone else that he and Tarian had met that you probably be able to break through protective barriers. She wasn't as good as him yet, but she was well on her way. Unless you happen to get on Miss Jaedon's bad side. She would be able to cause some damage if you got her angry enough. But I doubt that you would do anything to merit that. He smirked as he thought about her. Perhaps he should spar with her sometime. She would provide some interesting contest, although he was currently wondering if she would still be angry with him for playing around with her dearly beloved. If you pressed me, I would say that for having just been told hold to do it, you picked it up pretty quickly. With enough practice, you could protect yourself with enough strength to be troublesome for even me and Jaedon.
Aeryn then took a deep breath. This was going to be interesting to explain. He had never explained this before, To fight back, you must do nothing at all. That is the hardest part about this one. It is completely the opposite of every instinct that we have. You see, telepaths feed off of the subconscious fears and evil thoughts that lay inside of every being, bringing them into the light of the conscious, thus overwhelming the mind with evil things, causing ultimate insanity. But, if you can actually manage to empty your mind completely and fill it with only good thoughts, then the powers of a telepath are made null. Really, all we do is try to expose covered up guilty consciences, and we are shut out by a strong will that can stay focused on the good instead of the bad. Instead of trying to pry the person from your mind, or block them from you subconscious, you must do the opposite, allow them an easy entrance, and then block their every attack with pleasant thoughts. Easier said than done, as well. But, then again, no one ever said that anything concerning the mind was easy.
|
|
|
Post by »Míríel« on Feb 12, 2012 16:55:30 GMT -5
" That is good news indeed. I am glad of that." Tarian chuckled slightly, "My head is still ringing" As Aeryn started talking about Jaedon Tarian studied him for a moment and then nodded. "She is a feisty one. I hope I never get in her bad graces. I wouldn't last long, that's for sure. Then she would have the wrath of Cecily to deal with." HE looked at Aeryn with warning in his eyes, "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
"So let me see if I understand you, I protect myself from someone, but if they make it in I do nothing." It was a confusing thought, but something about it made sense. He nodded slowly and began thinking to himself, forgetting that Aeryn would be able to hear everything. "PErhaps this rocky exterior isn't the right thing. Perhaps something... a bit more smooth. Yes, that would suit me better and would make me mind more like me." The barrier had now gone, and all that was left were the exposed memories in shelves. His mind was whirling slightly as the unmarked box slid forth.
Tarian's eyes closed and his brow knitted together. HE was going to base his mental barrier on a memory, something that meant something to him. It was a good memory, so if what Aeryn said was true this would mean his entire mental structure would be based on this.
The papers within the unmarked box started rising out and falling back in, like someone thumbing through them. Each one had a still picture that played for half a moment before sliding back in its place. Aeryn would have seen images of insignificant things. A park with wildflowers blowing in the wind, mountains with snow sprinkling down, a train blowing steam, empty bench in a park. It stopped at the next one, a pool of water. There was a sense of satisfaction in Tarian's mind as he nodded. Just as something was starting to be seen in the picture it was put back into its place, and could be seen no more.
Things started shifting around them. The grown beneath them flattened and smoothed. The dark ground which was made of no substance that would be recognized, shifted to a semi transparent glass-like substance, that grew thicker. A great roar filled the air as water seemed to pour from the edges of his mind with fury. Soon the stream evened out and the ground was covered in about two to three inches of water. This is where it stopped.
Tarian's mind had completely transformed. It was now a large pool of water with a pleasant sound of water flowing filling the air. Water falls surrounded the edged and poured into deeper pools which quickly shallowed to the two or three inches. Nothing stuck out as important, everything was even and smooth. Strange lights floated around in great numbers, reminding one of fireflies on a summers night, or of stars. As you walked along the surface of the shallow water, the ground felt smooth and almost slippery. A sense that you were being watched, not by unkind eyes though, starts to come to your senses and you feel like a presence is near you, no under you. If you turned your eyes downward instead of seeing your reflection looking back at you, a sight more ghastly would come to your eyes. Your image would seem to have been transformed into a winged horses. The horse was not a well fed one, instead being nothing but bone with a thin dark skin pulled tightly over it, every bone could be seen. A soft, full mane and tail of black seemed a stark contrast to the angular features of the figure. Large bat-like wings sprouted from the back with a thin membrane, torn at the edges in a couple areas, stretched in between the ribs of the wing. Glowing white eyes peered at you like a full moon on a dark night. The hooves, instead of being rounded were sharp and the teeth of the horse, if you could see them, were like daggers.
If one did not flee right away they would see that the eyes were kind and gentle, and the soothing noise of water would soon relax the one wandering within the mind. The image of the horse would probably disappear, or actually come before you to question your presence. It would be then that you would be able to see at what you were standing on. Through the water you would see files upon files, all unmarked except by date beneath a thick "glass". IT was here that the memories were stored.
"There...Feels a bit more like home than all this rocky hogwash." You could tel that his mind was tired, all the constriction, much of it had taken time. Many times as he was focusing on the water, a hole in the defensive "glass" would appear. Then he would have to stop and concentrate on the "glass" before continuing. Aeryn, no doubt would have been amused by his bumbling mistakes and errors, but it also became apparent that Tarian was a fast learner, one who learned from the mistakes and corrected them. It had all started with him remembering how to grasp and create. Now that he was beginning to "see" within his mind. Since this was inspired from a memory, it had been easy to create, he just started thinking about the memory and it started happening. The glass was thick, but only enough to bear ones weight. Tarian was tired, his mind had worked hard and taken a beating. IT wouldn't take much to punch a hole in it, at the moment. Perhaps later he would work on strengthening it, but right now, he just just glad it had turned out.
"Memories protected, check. Nothing standing out, check. Right ho ol' boy, you got this!" Then he suddenly became aware that Aeryn was still in his mind. A sense of embarrassment filled him. "Oh. You are still here aren't you mate. Excuse my... renovations..." His voice in his head seemed a bit nervous, "Don't be frightened when you look down either... but with that being said, what do you think?"
|
|