Excitable Boy They All Said

[Rakvald]

70th of Ashan 720, morning.


Chanter waited beside the door to the room that held the agitated becomer and graft mage. The last day or so had been difficult for the one known as Pygmalion, and Chanter wanted to be certain that he was mentally fit for any visitors. Thus, if Devin came to visit, Chanter would be prepared to stop him at the door.

"Academic." He greeted the young man. Chanter's gray wings were folded behind his back, as his eyes searched the expression of Devin. As if sensing something that he expected to find, he nodded his head. "I see... He did some form of magic on you, and perhaps that rubbed off, or perhaps not. In either case, you two need to get a grip on your magics and your enthusiasm. Magic is not a toy, becoming especially is not a wardrobe of various totems and forms!" If asked how he knew of such things, Chanter would only tap his nose. It was a little known secret that the head psychologist of Dukahrns was an Attuner of some considerable skill.

While he had no intention of soothing Pygmalion, or even Devin if he suffered ill-effects, he wasn't averse to use his powers to suss out signs of magical addiction. He would not stand for it, as a mage of responsibility and good moral standing. Whether Pygmalion or Devin would listen, that was another matter entirely.

Before he opened the door, Chanter saw fit to brief the Academic. "He's resting off having overstepped in his magics. I'm not sure how he overstepped, or exactly what occurred in there, but I know magical overuse when I sense it. Whatever he did to you, it caused his spines on his back to fuse together. I'd ask that you not touch them, lest you become attached for the next tentrials..."

So saying, Chanter swept the door open, revealing the Dubaebo, who was still in form.

The Dubaebo lifted his head eagerly to sight Devin, and gave a guileless, snarling smile. "Good see you, Devin! How nails work? Did you use dem to scratch anyone yet?!"

The Dubaebo's tail began wagging involuntarily.

Chanter sighed, and stepped into the room, leading Devin in. He said to the two of them, "You both need to get a handle on your magical impulses. So I'm going to teach you some meditation techniques, whether you like it or not."

[Devin]

When Devin visited the man that he thought was Rakvald’s father, but that was really Rakvald himself, only with amnesia, for the second time, he actually looked like the Academic rather than a fraud – or like someone that might become the Academic in a couple of arcs, as he was a lot younger than most of his fellow politicians. He had traded his usual flashy outfit for a somewhat understated, but fashionable suit of black with hints of silver – because he wanted his improved nails to be the focus of his look. He was so proud of them!

He walked with a spring in his step and a huge smile on his face because he was just so excited to talk to his new friend again. When he noticed Chanter waiting next to the door, his smile faded, but only for a moment, before he smiled even more and extended a hand for the Avriel to shake. “He did!”, he confirmed in an enthusiastic tone of voice, as if he hadn’t noticed that Chanter was criticizing him (which he had, of course, he just chose to not react to it) before he abruptly furrowed his brow as something occurred to him.

“Wait!” he interrupted him and raised a hand (which incidentally allowed Chanter to take a better look at his new nails). “How do you know that I’m a Becomer? I didn’t tell you. Did Rakvald’s father tell you – or do you have some sort of magic-detecting magic? If it’s a magic, I want to learn it!” he proclaimed and proceeded to make puppy-dog eyes at Chanter because a magic that allowed you tell if other people were mages sounded pretty awesome.

When Chanter mentioned overstepping and that the Dubaebo had overstepped, the Mortalborn who had been enthusiastic, happy and overly excited before looked rather subdued all of a sudden. He loved magic, and he loved wearing different faces (and giving his self-totem Biqaj ears!), but he was extremely afraid of overstepping. He didn’t want to become ugly, and he didn’t want to become a monster, and he definitely didn’t want to die (his mentor Adeline had told him that you could theoretically die if you overstepped extremely badly).

“Could that really happen?” he asked Chanter, his violet eyes a little wide and his voice soft. He shuddered involuntarily. “Could I really become attached to him? I don’t want to become attached to him!”

When Chanter opened the door in order to finally let him in, Devin hid his hands behind his back as if he were worried that he would lose control of them somehow and that he would touch the Dubaebo against his will. Why was Rakvald’s father still in his Dubaebo totem anyway?

“Not yet!” he exclaimed when the Dubaebo asked him if he had scratched anyone yet. “But soon! They work very well though – and they are so much better than my boring old human nails!” he continued. They were pretty and versatile and quite sharp.

“Thank you so much for giving them to me!” he remarked. Normally, Devin wasn’t a particular grateful individual, but he was so excited about his new addition that he’d decided to make an exception, and he was about to thank the Dubaebo even more when he heard Chanter’s comment. He furrowed his brow for the second time in just as many bits.

“How do make someone meditate against their will?” he asked. “Do you threaten to beat them up if they don’t sit still, close their eyes and clear their mind?” he wanted to know – before he abruptly sat down on the floor cross-legged (his roommate always sat like that when he meditated) and looked at Chanter, his violet eyes a little wide because there was something about the old Avriel that was just a little bit intimidating (even though he’d never admit it) – and because he really, really didn’t want to accidentally overstep and become ugly!

[Rakvald]

When Devin begged Chanter to teach him his magics, the avriel shook his head, unamused. "Nevermind how, Rakvald's father told me nothing, as for my magic? You're hardly prepared to learn it."

When Chanter went on to warn Devin about touching the spines again, Devin seemed to latch onto the warning.

"Could that happen?" Devin asked Chanter, which prompted the Dubaebo to lift his head, wondering what they were talking about, which was answered on the next spoken words by Chanter.

"Yes. But only if you touch his spines. Just leave them alone, and you'll be fine!" Chanter said, in an irritated tone of voice. The avriel waited for the two to reintroduce themselves and swap comments on Devin's new acquisition. So now Chanter knew what had transpired.

The Dubaebo's tail pounded against the surface of the ground as Devin thanked him, and his whole body shuffled with the rhythm of the tail. He was acting like a dog whose master had called him a 'good boy'. "You're welcome! If there's anything else I can do, extra arms, a third eye, just let me know! There's so much we could do to improve on your original design!"

"How do you make someone meditate against their will?" Devin asked Chanter. "Do you threaten to beat them up if they don't sit still, close their eyes and clear their

"No, I won't make you meditate against your will. I will merely relate to you the reasons you ought to think about learning if you decide not to after that. then feel free to leave, and I'll teach Dubaebo here." So saying, Chanter went on to detail the many horrific mutations and eldritch mutilations that spark magic had wrought upon people he knew. Ugly corrupted and shriveled skin, premature aging. Persistent body odor that didn't go away with washing. These weren't just mutations one could earn through overstepping or advancement of the magic, but overstepping injuries accrued through overuse of magic. Devin might someday attain one or more of these injuries if he wasn't careful.

"Now, if that's not enough to convince you that you ought to learn meditation. Feel free to leave..." If Devin stayed, Chanter would go on to sigh and shake his head. "But meditation isn't all about sitting still and clearing your mind. that'sThat's only the traditional method. For people such as yourselves, I feel active meditation might be far more beneficial and appropriate to your lifestyles."

"Active meditation is where you take sensations, body sensations, and experiences and focus very hard on those." Chanter plucked a feather from his wings, wincing slightly as it came off, and then handing it to Devin. "Take this feather, for instance, it's got a nice texture to it, wouldn't you agree? Well, let the sensation of holding the feather, it's texture, the grains of its fibers. Do that until all else becomes secondary to the experience of the feather."

Having said this to Devin, he turned to Dubaebo. "Rakvald's father... I see you have something already. Carry on then." The Dubaebo was currently chewing on a meat bone that the nurses had left for him. He did much the same for the bone as Devin might for the feather if he was willing to engage in this process.

"Now while you're focusing on the feather, why not tell me what gets you up in the morning, what makes your day worth going through? Try to give me physical things and sensations that make your day worth it. And we'll try and cater to your specific tastes.

The Dubaebo was the first to lift his head, and he snarl-smiled, "Breakfast if the first thing I do when I get up. I love to eat!"

[Devin]

When Chanter insisted that he was hardly prepared for his magic, Devin glowered at him. A moment later, he opened his mouth in order to tell him that he was quite well prepared, thank you very much. Fortunately, it was just then that the Dubaebo made a most interesting comment. For a moment, Devin just stared at him, because of what he had just said and because his tail was rather fascinating to watch, and then he blurted out, “Can you actually do that? Give people extra arms and eyes? Would they work? What about blood supply and such? Do you have to graft the veins as well?”

As always when he was excited, Devin talked incredibly quickly, and he barely stopped in order to take a breath between the various sentences, and then he broke off abruptly because something had just occurred to him and remarked, “Not that I want another arm or a third eye. I think that my body’s quite nice the way it is now. I’m just interested in how exactly that magic of yours works. I’m a doctor, you know.” He mostly said the last bit to Chanter in case he didn’t know. He wasn’t only a doctor; in fact, he was an incredibly skilled doctor. He was probably one of the best doctors in town!

A bit later, Chanter started to talk about all the horrifying side effects of magic. At first, Devin who had always had a bit of a penchant for the bizarre and unusual, looked kind of fascinated. After a while, the expression on his face changed though. He became as pale as a sheet, and he looked rather sick, as if he were suppressing the urge to relieve himself of the contents of his stomach. Of course, Adeline had warned him about overstepping, but she had never talked about it in that much detail. For a moment, Devin actually wondered if he could just give his spark back once he had finally managed to grow wings.

He didn’t want to become ugly! He didn’t want his skin to become shriveled, he didn’t want to age prematurely, and he didn’t want to smell bad either! If he gave his spark back, he’d never be able to change into someone else again though. He’d just be himself, but with wings. Of course, being himself with wings would be better than being himself with no wings, but he loved shapeshifting and looking different every now and then!

For that reason, he focused his entire attention on the somewhat scary Avriel. He normally had quite a short attention span, but he would listen to Chanter attentively, and he would work really hard and become a masterful … what was the correct word for someone who meditated? Meditator? Anyway, he’d master that particular skill. He didn’t want to give up his magic, so learning to meditate properly was the only alternative – the only acceptable one, anyway. He’d be the best student that Chanter had ever had!

“I had no idea that there was another way to meditate”, he murmured as he accepted the feather and gently let a finger run across it, as if it were something quite precious. He was trying to familiarize himself with its texture, as Chanter had said, focusing on the way that it felt in his hands, on its softness, on each individual fibre. “Aidan – that’s my roommate - always sits still and closes his eyes, as if he’s sleeping.”

When Chanter told them to name physical things and sensations that made their day worth it – and the Dubaebo immediately mentioned food, Devin laughed, a bright, brilliant laughter, before he agreed, “Food is definitely something that makes my day worth it as well. There are other things as well though. There are clothes – I really like the way silk feels against my body. I quite enjoy sitting on the windowsill, watching the sun rise and drinking something in the morning. I look forward to seeing my pets again and stroking them – they have really nice and soft fur - and sex. That’s fun as well!” he added, grinning slightly, wondering if such would shock the old man.

“There are so many things that make the day worth it! There’s something new and exciting every day!” he remarked and grinned for a moment because he just loved life so much before he abruptly grew more serious again once more because he couldn’t help but think of the threat of overstepping and extremely unappealing mutations again.

“Does that help?” he asked as he wasn’t entirely sure if that was the answer that Chanter had been looking for.

[Rakvald]

"I can other people arms and limbs. Enervations tell me what to make where, but medicine know-how help too. I know much about blood in the arm, so I form good arm! Fully functional, better than functional..."

"Oh..." The Dubaebo was crestfallen that Devin wasn't interested in anymore graft alterations. At least beyond his nails. "Yes I know a doctor." The small wolf-like creature nontheless smiled its snarling teeth at him for a moment.

Chanter allowed both of the mages to get their excitement out of their system. Then once everything was settled, and he imparted the dangers of magic use to Devin, they seemed to calm down. Not the Dubaebo though, he was still enjoying the hambone someone gave him.

Devin related that he had no idea of other methods of meditation. Chanter shook his head as he told him about Aiden, looking like he was falling asleep. "That's an affective way to meditate, but for you two busy mages and doctor, I suspect you'll have less spare time for it to be of much benefit. Even now you find yourself distracted by the slightest diversion from this topic."

When Devin and the Dubaebo related their favorite things to him, Chanter nodded. "Isolated tactile sensations help. Well sex... yes that might work. But for now let's try to focus on..."

"Sex! Did someone say sex? I like sex." The Dubaebo blubbered, echoing his Rakvald voice instead of his raspy Pygmalion voice for just a moment. "Did you bring whores Doctor Chanter?"

"No... I... Listen you two, do you want to learn meditation or not? If so you need to learn mindfulness in this moment, and focus on what is happening here and now, the sensations of here and now."

The Dubaebo snarled, and returned to gnawing on his bone.

"The first step is to take those breathing techniques you learned from your ordinary meditation sessions, and pace yourself. Also, identify a mantra that resonates with you. Something that calms you down, and assures you that everything is going as it should. Whenever you find your attention drifting from the focus of your active meditation, you'll want to speak your mantra. It should be something to bring yourself back to a center. Center being a position where you can start your next move from."

Chanter stopped for a moment, to make sure that Devin and perhaps even the Dubaebo was listening. Unfortunately, the Dubaebo had reduced itself to gnawing on a bone. It wouldn't be benefiting from this lesson. But at least Devin might prove a worthwhile student yet.

[Devin]

“Sorry“, Devin replied because the Dubaebo looked so disappointed. “I really don’t want more arms. I don’t think I would look good with three arms. I’m sure that there is someone in Scalvoris Town that would like to have a third arm or even a fourth arm though”, he tried to console him. “You are really good Grafter. If you went about it the right way, you could probably turn this into quite a profitable business.” Those were not just empty words. Devin really believed that the Dubaebo had a marketable skill!

Chanter’s statement that sex might actually work distracted him from his thoughts about making money with Graft and such though, and he looked very intrigued; and when the Dubaebo asked the good doctor if he had brought whores, Devin’s gaze automatically went to the door, as if he were looking for the whores in question, and he wanted to know, “Whores? Where?”

He was just thinking about meditating at a brothel, surrounded by a couple of attractive men and women when Doctor Chanter told him to focus on what was happening here and now. While the Dubaebo snarled and gnawed on his bone some more, Devin sat up straight, as if he were the best student in all of Scalvoris Town or maybe even beyond and turned to focus his entire attention on the old Avriel once more because he really, really didn’t want to overstep, mutate and turn into a freak! If that happened … if that happened, he’d run away!

“Right, a mantra”, he murmured once he had listened to Doctor Chanter’s instructions before his gaze shot towards the Dubaebo once more. It was still gnawing on its bone. “I don’t think that he minds mutating and such”, he observed which was something that had been pretty much obvious anyway from the way that the man (who had sounded a lot like his son for a moment) had proudly displayed his tentacle arm. Having said that, he shrugged his shoulders and went back to thinking about what Chanter had told him.

“Anyway, the mantra”, he said and scrunched up his face as he tried to come up with a good one. “Can my mantra only be one word, or does it have to be a couple of words long? Does nigbawo work? It’s the Xanthea word for gold. I like gold. We could even shorten it to bawo”, he suggested. He liked gold. It made him happy, it made him focus, and it sounded way better than the nonsensical words like “omm” that Aidan hummed when he meditated.

Unless Chanter had anything to add (or the whores arrived, after all), Devin would start to do the little breathing technique that Aidan had told him about (which involved inhaling and exhaling slowly and evenly and such), still holding the feather in his hand. He did that for several bits – unless Chanter interrupted him - before he suddenly remembered something that the doctor had said.

“What’s the next move?” he wanted to know. “Aidan never told me that there is a next move. I want to do this correctly”, the Mortalborn who was still kind of scared admitted.

[Rakvald]

"No worry Devin! I sure there plenty of sailors lose arm or leg at sea, who will!" At the mention of making it a business, the Dubaebo rumbled happily, "Ohh... Ya, I a good business manager. I used to run a farm in Quacia!"

But then, the Dubaebo began following Chanter's advice. He really did enjoy the hambone they'd given him to gnaw on, and it took the edge off the urge to try and cure his overstepping injury with more magic. One didn't pour oil to put out a fire, afterall!

Little bits and bites of chipped bone came off from the Dubaebo's sharp teeth, as he scraped them along the bone. The Dubaebo enjoyed the feel of something solid beteween his jaws, cracking the bone, and grinding his teeth against it.

He didn't notice what Chanter was saying to Devin or himself, just focusing on that bone...



Chanter looked at the Dubaebo, and grinned, "Looks like our friend has found his meditative focus! I don't think he's been this intent on anything since getting here, but that bone seems to fascinate him."

For the next few breaks, Chanter took Devin through the basics of active meditation, which were emulative of actual sitting down meditation. The only real difference was that instead of focusing on thoughts, one was to focus on action.

In that time, Chanter would impart several breathing techniques. Techniques that could be employed regardless of physical activity or strain.

When at last their lessons concluded, Chanter breathed a sigh of relief. While Devin wasn't easy to get through to, he was a fine student when he put his mind to a task. One only needed to lay out something that reflected his own self-interest. In this case, avoiding ugly physical mutations.

"Well, that's all I have to tell about meditation. It isn't much, some things I learned from my psychology practice in Almund."

The Dubaebo perked up at the mention of Almund. Something famliar about it, that sang to one of it's totems. Pygmalion? "Oh! I help you find Almund! You take me there? I wanna go..."

Chanter quirked an eyebrow at the Dubaebo, "Hmm, well I could use some protection on the road. Having a spined menace like yourself would discourage hooligants from attacking us.

"Then it settled!" The Dubaebo barked, "I go to Almund with Chanter bird." He grinned, then turned his head toward Devin.

"I write you all the time if you want! I like writing letters! You got home address I can write you? You should visit me in Almund sometimes..." The Dubaebo whined, as if pleading with Devin to allow him to write.

[Devin]

“He seems to be quite fascinated with that bone“, Devin agreed with a grin as Chanter remarked that the Dubaebo hadn’t been this intent on anything since getting there and looked at it for a moment before he concentrated on the lesson again. As the old Avriel had correctly concluded, the young man wasn’t easy to get through to, but he was a fine student when he put his mind to the task. And he was very focused on the task at hand at the moment because he really, really wanted to avoid ugly physical mutations!

Devin disliked sitting still for a longer amount of time, but he didn’t utter a single complaint now because this lesson here was too important and because the consequences of not learning to meditate properly were pretty much unbearable in his opinion.

He tried his best to repeat the breathing exercises that Chanter showed him, he focused on his feather (which was not as fascinating as gold, but still pretty fascinating – he loved everything that had to do with Avriel or birds), he tried to empty his mind and find that certain state of clarity (with varying amounts of success) – and then he repeated it all over again, still not complaining.

When Chanter finally informed him that their lesson was coming to an end, he looked at him with a mixture of relief and confusion (because all that meditation and mind-clearing had kind of made him lose track of time), and then he stood, groaning slightly because his body hurt a little bit from all the sitting that he had done. “Well, thank you for your lesson, doctor!” he remarked brightly. He hadn’t been sure at first, but Chanter had managed to convince him that meditation was absolutely vital when you were a mage!

“It was most enlightening!” he added with a grin. “Maybe we’ll see each other again when I visit Almund next. I have business in Almund sometimes, you know? It seems as if our spined menace is finally done with his bone, by the way!” he remarked as he looked at the Dubaebo that was finally paying attention again.

When the Dubaebo mentioned letters, the Mortalborn looked positively delighted. “That would be great! I love receiving letters!” he exclaimed. “Chanter, do you have something I can write my address down on?” he asked and proceeded to write his home address down (because he wasn’t sure if the Dubaebo would remember if he just told him), and then he added the address of his shrine, for good measure and handed the piece of paper … well, he handed it to Chanter since the Dubaebo didn’t have hands at the moment, and no pockets that he could put the piece of paper into either.

“I really look forward to meeting you again”, he told the spined menace. “We should talk about that business idea some more – and magic. Magic is soo fascinating! Anyway, I won’t hold you up any longer”, he continued as he moved towards the door. “Good luck with your trip to Almund, Rakvald’s father! I’ll visit soon, I promise!”

With that, the Mortalborn who was a bit closer to becoming a master meditator (or whatever it was called) now waved to the old Avriel and the spined menace and walked out of the door.

[Strange]

Thread Review

Rakvald

Rakvald

Skill Points: +15 (cannot be used for magic)
Magic XP: None.

Renown: None.

Injuries/Overstepping: None.
Wealth Points: None.
Loot: None.

Skill Knowledge:

• Meditation: x 5
• Discipline: x 4

Non-Skill Knowledge:

• none requested.

Notes: n/a.
Skills Used: Meditation: Competent; Discipline: Expert
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Player Word Count: 1,948 words.

Devin

Devin

Skill Points: +15 (cannot be used for magic)
Magic XP: None.

Renown: None.

Injuries/Overstepping: None.
Wealth Points: None.
Loot: None.

Skill Knowledge:

• Discipline x1
• Meditation x7
• Writing x1

Non-Skill Knowledge:

• none requested.

Notes: n/a.
Skills Used: Expert Discipline (76x/27k), Competent Meditation (40x/15k), Competent Detection (26x/23k)
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Player Word Count: 2,605 words.

Chanter is a saint, and he kinda stole the show here! He was an excellent mentor foil for these two, because I think left on their own that Rakvald and Devin might've ended up with even more overstepping due to their magical impulses.

Other than that, this was a fairly straight-forward meditation training thread with a snippet of Rakvald's well-meaning enthusiasm and Devin's eager attentions on more beneficial things he can potentially possess for himself (such as attunement). I liked that the type of meditation focused on was active-based, and also the various things that Rakvald and Devin came up with for what they enjoy about their days.

Enjoy your rewards!

PM me if you have any questions, issues or concerns.

Total Word Count: 4,553 words.

Review Request Link: viewtopic.php?p=150231#p150231
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