[ She needs to learn to hold back. After all, Ashe doesn't toss dynamite around all willy-nilly. She knows exactly how long the fuse lasts so she can set it off at the right moment. So she needs to learn when to let the fire out and when not to. And the lightning too. ]
[ Exactly. He's not sure if she gets it, but he'll give her the benefit of the doubt. ]
Sit and close your eyes.
Try to block out everything but the music and your sense of self.
[ He plays this song, but slowed down, deliberate, each note meant to invoke a greater calmness and sense of peace, blocking the outside world so one can focus on what happens internally. ]
[ She nods and takes a seat. There's no denying that this isn't something that comes naturally to her. She's a firecracker in more than one way. But she closes her eyes and listens.
Focusing on her sense of self. What does that mean? She hopes he's not wanting her to do a deep examination of herself, because she already knows she's messed up. She's spent most of her adult life trying to fight against the way her brain perceives the people around her and what they must think of her.
Eyebrows furrow. This isn't what she's supposed to be focusing on, is it? Okay, she's going to listen to the music. Start it out easy. ]
[ That's what the music is for - it should help give her a focus point, particularly if she's got a lot on her mind, or is trying to avoid herself. He has worked with someone before who was so lost even this music couldn't reach him. It took him another sixteen years to heal. But Wangji is nothing if not patient.
He plucks the strings, starts it over again from the top. Only Ashe will know if it's working or not, and maybe she will only know she's reached that state of consciousness once she's back to full consciousness.
His voice is soft, as he says: ]
Can you feel your gem?
[ He now has two sources of power - the core he was born with, and the gemstone. It is a bit awkward to focus on the gem, but only because he'd spent so long developing his core. At the very least, the gem has a visible presence; even though it sits over his heart, he feels it with his lungs. Wherever Ashe's is, maybe she can find a nearby body part she can feel to link it with. ]
[ He supposes it might be easier for her to feel tomorrow in the way that working a certain muscle group will make it sore the next morning, and the more one practices, the more isolated those muscles become until they become more familiar individually.
He has the upper hand because he was born into this, because he's been practicing since he was a toddler. It was like learning to read or write, or walk. ]
[ She does so, while fighting off thoughts that this is stupid. She's very quickly had to adjust her worldview concerning what's possible, so she really can't rule this out. ]
Like...
[ She can't think how to word it. Ashe does feel something. Like a weight? But not a disruptive weight. Just something that's there. ]
[ It isn't really supposed to feel that heavy, but as long as she feels it, that's what matters. ]
Do you feel the energy connecting it to you?
[ He wonders if that feels heavy for her, as well. For him, it feels intrusive, annoying but otherwise unremarkable, like a stuffy nose or a canker sore.
[ She still has her eyes shut because she doesn't want to lose the focused feeling she has on her gem, but she moves her hand into a good position for him. ]
[ He comes over and gently, barely, as if he's never touched a single hand in his life, places his on top of hers.
It's not because he hasn't, but rather that he doesn't like to touch strangers and won't recategorize their relationship as anything else just yet. Maybe she doesn't like to touch strangers, either.
But all these feelings of anxiety and excitement over being somewhere new, this yearning. At least that's something they share, because his gem starts to glow purple, faintly beneath his robes.
[ His isn't the first hand she's touched here, but when you hear a guy's been an incorporeal ghost for a hundred years, unable to interact with anyone, you offer your hand to hold.
Beneath her black and white striped t-shirt, a faint red glow appears. ]
Yeah.
[ She feels it now. If the gemstone is an anchor, then the energy produced feels like the chain, tethering magic to her. ]
[ It definitely was unpleasant because she did that out on the toxic plain.
She does as he instructs, feeling the warmth as she thinks on it. It seems to swirl around in a little ball within her, and she pictures it becoming fire. But she's in control of this little swirling ball. It doesn't exploded outwards. She keeps it spinning in place; contained and safe until she's ready for it to show itself.
It shouldn't feel so natural, but somehow it does. She'd thought there would be a harder learning curve and there would be accidents along the way, but feeling it in this way feels so right. Almost as if it's always been there. ]
[ There's something that shifts, something that tells him that it might just be working. ]
What do you feel?
[ He hasn't even worked out his aerial power for himself, not yet. He can feel them brimming in him, and almost touch them as if they were books on a shelf, waiting to be read.
Today, they can create a proof of concept. It's just the start, just a small flame. But he can help her grow it, help her work with it. ]
I feel... energy, I guess? I know it's meant to be fire once I let it out of me.
[ But that requires knowing how to open that door. It's inside her now, but producing it outside of herself while in full control of it hasn't happened just yet. She thinks maybe she could? It still feels natural to her. ]
[ Right. The hand that's not busy at the moment. She turns her palm upwards and pictures that swirling ball of something leaving her body down through her arm and out of her palm. She thinks she can feel a warmth shoot down her limb as she visualizes it, but doesn't know if that's real or fake. However, soon enough a tiny flame flickers on her palm, though she doesn't yet know it. Her eyes are closed as she keeps picturing it, and she's fireproof now so she doesn't notice the heat. ]
[ This is honestly a lot of words for him, but she's being pulled out of her comfort zone as well. He doesn't want for her to open her eyes just yet, in case the flame is too weak and disappears. ]
[ The senses come so easily to her. Fire feels simple somehow. Is it because the gem makes it that way? Is it all the gem and not her? The flame flickers and dims as that thought moves across her mind.
Make it stronger. No, it can't be the gem. It's her. She focuses again and the flame stretches upwards, like when the wick on a candle is left too long. ]
[ It's strange to be taking orders from someone else, because Ashe is usually the one in control. But she's also not stupid and she knows when she's the one in the dark. All she needs is a guiding hand to find the light and she'll be back on top again.
So when he tells her to open her eyes, she does it, very slowly letting her eye lids lift. Immediately, she's drawn to the flame dancing in her hand and she releases a soft laugh of delight. It flickers and starts to recede, but she purses her lips and narrows her eyes. Keep it strong. She does so and it expands a little. Not to dangerous levels that could spill out over the edges of her hand, but just enough that she can tell that it's because she's making it happen. ]
[ It's there, solid, and flickering. And the best part is, she seems to be getting the hang of controlling it. She's a good student. ]
There.
[ He points it out as if she's not aware that she's controlling it, that she's doing well with it too. He reaches into his sleeve and takes out a candle, but places it on a table. ]
[ Ashe is pretty smart, but she always needed to lash out in her youth to get attention that she wasn't getting at home. Because of that, she was always known more as a schoolyard bully than a diligent student, but she can apply herself when it'll get her something she wants.
And, okay, he just pulled a candle out of his sleeve. What else has he got stored up there? She looks to the candle, and would give him a look too if she wasn't afraid of the flame petering out. Carefully, she pushes off the couch to sit on the floor in front of the table and contemplates how the hell she's going to do this. Obviously she needs to keep pushing that energy outward, but instead of making the flame bigger, she needs to control where it moves.
It's easiest to just visualize it happening. See what she wants in her mind's eye and then the flame will follow suit. It doesn't happen immediately, though. That would be too easy. Instead the flame increases in size so she has to bring it down again. She does get it the glide out of her palm and down to her fingertips, but how to pass it?
It takes several attempts while looking so focused she wouldn't be able to tell if the building collapsed around her, but eventually she forces the flame to extend off her hand and on to the wick. She holds completely still as the flame licks the candle wax away and takes hold of the wick and then she slowly draws her flame back to see the candle is still lit. Then she breathes because she'd been holding her breath since going still. ]
Okay, why the hell do you keep a candle up your sleeve?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ She needs to learn to hold back. After all, Ashe doesn't toss dynamite around all willy-nilly. She knows exactly how long the fuse lasts so she can set it off at the right moment. So she needs to learn when to let the fire out and when not to. And the lightning too. ]
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Sit and close your eyes.
Try to block out everything but the music and your sense of self.
[ He plays this song, but slowed down, deliberate, each note meant to invoke a greater calmness and sense of peace, blocking the outside world so one can focus on what happens internally. ]
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Focusing on her sense of self. What does that mean? She hopes he's not wanting her to do a deep examination of herself, because she already knows she's messed up. She's spent most of her adult life trying to fight against the way her brain perceives the people around her and what they must think of her.
Eyebrows furrow. This isn't what she's supposed to be focusing on, is it? Okay, she's going to listen to the music. Start it out easy. ]
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He plucks the strings, starts it over again from the top. Only Ashe will know if it's working or not, and maybe she will only know she's reached that state of consciousness once she's back to full consciousness.
His voice is soft, as he says: ]
Can you feel your gem?
[ He now has two sources of power - the core he was born with, and the gemstone. It is a bit awkward to focus on the gem, but only because he'd spent so long developing his core. At the very least, the gem has a visible presence; even though it sits over his heart, he feels it with his lungs. Wherever Ashe's is, maybe she can find a nearby body part she can feel to link it with. ]
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I can, yeah.
[ She really doesn't like it lodged there, but other than the odd feeling of where it meets skin, it hasn't given her any problems. ]
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[ He supposes it might be easier for her to feel tomorrow in the way that working a certain muscle group will make it sore the next morning, and the more one practices, the more isolated those muscles become until they become more familiar individually.
He has the upper hand because he was born into this, because he's been practicing since he was a toddler. It was like learning to read or write, or walk. ]
How does it feel?
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Like...
[ She can't think how to word it. Ashe does feel something. Like a weight? But not a disruptive weight. Just something that's there. ]
Like an anchor, maybe?
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[ It isn't really supposed to feel that heavy, but as long as she feels it, that's what matters. ]
Do you feel the energy connecting it to you?
[ He wonders if that feels heavy for her, as well. For him, it feels intrusive, annoying but otherwise unremarkable, like a stuffy nose or a canker sore.
If he ignores it, he often forgets it's there. ]
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[ Energy. It's hard to think of it being within her and not like, electricity or nuclear power. ]
It's all real new and it's hard to know what's what.
[ It would be far too easy if this all just came naturally to her right off the bat. ]
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[ It's alright, he understands. It's frustrating, but it's not like he can force her. He stops playing for a second. ]
I can touch your hand.
[ She'll be able to feel that, and hopefully trace it. ]
May I?
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[ She still has her eyes shut because she doesn't want to lose the focused feeling she has on her gem, but she moves her hand into a good position for him. ]
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It's not because he hasn't, but rather that he doesn't like to touch strangers and won't recategorize their relationship as anything else just yet. Maybe she doesn't like to touch strangers, either.
But all these feelings of anxiety and excitement over being somewhere new, this yearning. At least that's something they share, because his gem starts to glow purple, faintly beneath his robes.
He finds, this is how it's easiest to feel it. ]
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Beneath her black and white striped t-shirt, a faint red glow appears. ]
Yeah.
[ She feels it now. If the gemstone is an anchor, then the energy produced feels like the chain, tethering magic to her. ]
It's there. I feel it.
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[ He continues holding her hand, but that kind of makes it hard for him to play, so maybe they can just do it this way. ]
Think about warmth, emanating from this point.
[ He knows that another red gem user had breathed fire. Sounds unpleasant, but maybe she can channel it elsewhere. Hopefully not to her hands. ]
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She does as he instructs, feeling the warmth as she thinks on it. It seems to swirl around in a little ball within her, and she pictures it becoming fire. But she's in control of this little swirling ball. It doesn't exploded outwards. She keeps it spinning in place; contained and safe until she's ready for it to show itself.
It shouldn't feel so natural, but somehow it does. She'd thought there would be a harder learning curve and there would be accidents along the way, but feeling it in this way feels so right. Almost as if it's always been there. ]
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What do you feel?
[ He hasn't even worked out his aerial power for himself, not yet. He can feel them brimming in him, and almost touch them as if they were books on a shelf, waiting to be read.
Today, they can create a proof of concept. It's just the start, just a small flame. But he can help her grow it, help her work with it. ]
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[ But that requires knowing how to open that door. It's inside her now, but producing it outside of herself while in full control of it hasn't happened just yet. She thinks maybe she could? It still feels natural to her. ]
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In your hand.
[ Hopefully the other hand. Not the one he is holding, because he isn't fireproof. ]
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Focus. Make it stronger.
What does it sound like? What does it smell like?
[ This is honestly a lot of words for him, but she's being pulled out of her comfort zone as well. He doesn't want for her to open her eyes just yet, in case the flame is too weak and disappears. ]
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Like... crackling. Like wood smoke.
[ The senses come so easily to her. Fire feels simple somehow. Is it because the gem makes it that way? Is it all the gem and not her? The flame flickers and dims as that thought moves across her mind.
Make it stronger. No, it can't be the gem. It's her. She focuses again and the flame stretches upwards, like when the wick on a candle is left too long. ]
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Keep it strong in your mind.
[ And, after a brief pause so she can brace herself: ]
Open your eyes. Slowly.
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So when he tells her to open her eyes, she does it, very slowly letting her eye lids lift. Immediately, she's drawn to the flame dancing in her hand and she releases a soft laugh of delight. It flickers and starts to recede, but she purses her lips and narrows her eyes. Keep it strong. She does so and it expands a little. Not to dangerous levels that could spill out over the edges of her hand, but just enough that she can tell that it's because she's making it happen. ]
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There.
[ He points it out as if she's not aware that she's controlling it, that she's doing well with it too. He reaches into his sleeve and takes out a candle, but places it on a table. ]
Pass the flame.
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And, okay, he just pulled a candle out of his sleeve. What else has he got stored up there? She looks to the candle, and would give him a look too if she wasn't afraid of the flame petering out. Carefully, she pushes off the couch to sit on the floor in front of the table and contemplates how the hell she's going to do this. Obviously she needs to keep pushing that energy outward, but instead of making the flame bigger, she needs to control where it moves.
It's easiest to just visualize it happening. See what she wants in her mind's eye and then the flame will follow suit. It doesn't happen immediately, though. That would be too easy. Instead the flame increases in size so she has to bring it down again. She does get it the glide out of her palm and down to her fingertips, but how to pass it?
It takes several attempts while looking so focused she wouldn't be able to tell if the building collapsed around her, but eventually she forces the flame to extend off her hand and on to the wick. She holds completely still as the flame licks the candle wax away and takes hold of the wick and then she slowly draws her flame back to see the candle is still lit. Then she breathes because she'd been holding her breath since going still. ]
Okay, why the hell do you keep a candle up your sleeve?
[ It just needs to be asked. ]
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