Community Center Class: Psionics for the Headblind Herd [Monday Evening]

[icecoldfrost]

"I mentioned before you can't keep a trained and determined telepath - or magic - out of your brain, you can make them work at it," Emma said, once everyone had arrived. "So today you're going to learn how to shore-up your own automatic mental shields, and hopefully a few other tricks

Comments

Sign-In

[icecoldfrost]

Focused!

Re: Sign-In

[suitablyheroic]

Atton Rand

Re: Sign-In

[vdistinctive]

Eliot Spencer

Re: Sign-In

[never_dull]

Hannibal Lecter

During the Lecture

[icecoldfrost]

Take notes, pass notes, be afraid that Emma owns a sword...

Re: During the Lecture

[suitablyheroic]

Atton was in a slightly less terrible mood this week, courtesy of Toronto of all places. But he let his attention wane through the lecturing half of this class, because this was what he did best; he didn't need to practice it.

His attention came back once the activities started.

You could learn a lot about people through this one.

Re: During the Lecture

[vdistinctive]

Eliot was relieved to note that the technique for resisting psionic intrusion was not terribly different from the one to resist breaking under torture. He already had plenty of practice with that.

He was also enjoying the mental image of Emma fencing. That was a gorgeous sword. It suited her perfectly.

Activity: Your Mind

[icecoldfrost]

"So I want you all to come up with a 'safe spot' in your brain. A happy memory, an imaginary place, something you can visualize easily and will never forget. If you can't think of something, pair up with someone else and brainstorm an idea."

[Describe your mindscape/safe place/idea, or pair up with a partner to find one that works for you. ]

Re: Activity: Your Mind

[suitablyheroic]

Yeah, Atton wasn't going to say anything - not that he figured that was the point of this. He already had a safe spot, though it had been nothing like a happy memory for a very long time.

His maze and his safe spot had been the same thing for a long time: an endless spiral of pointless detail, some imagined, some real, confusing both for their multitude and the fact they hardly seemed important.

(But then one of his greatest feats was convincing people he noticed little when he noticed almost everything.)

These days, though, there was something else at the heart of it: the pazaak game that served as his mind's centerpiece was not one he played alone, old eyes peering at him across the board, framed by brown hair. Because you'll be right here with me, playing pazaak, where they can't reach you, he'd said to her. Funny how that worked both ways.

He was quiet, though, as he ignored the little twinge in his gut.

Re: Activity: Your Mind

[vdistinctive]

Robber's Cave State Park in Oklahoma had had a soft spot in Eliot's heart well before he'd ever had an inkling he'd become an outlaw, himself. He hadn't been back in years -- decades, even -- but he still had a firm image of the cave in his head, and it had made for a good focus when he got in trouble, over the years. He hadn't needed it a lot, lately, not since he joined up with Nate and started working with a team again. Funny how much less he tended to get captured and tortured when he wasn't throwing himself into warzones all the time.

So it was a little rusty in his head, needed some upkeep. Sweeping out of the dead leaves, shoring up the stone stairs that led up to the cave itself.

"Is it true the cave was used as a hideout by thieves?" the Parker in his head asked. She and Hardison had shown up the last time he'd retreated here, when he went undercover into that corrupt college experiment.

"That's the legend. Jesse James and Belle Star, to name a few." Parker squealed excitedly and bounded up the rock face like a

Re: Activity: Your Mind

[never_dull]

Hannibal had a wealth of safe spots; the difficulty was in choosing one. He sifted through the various rooms in his mind palace, then eventually settled on the study of his current home. It was the most currently relevant, so easiest to update. And it held his memories of Jono, which were both innocuous if discovered and potentially fierce.

Discussion: Meditation

[icecoldfrost]

"How do you meditate? What is your focus, or your way of relaxing?" Emma asked. "How do you think you can incorporate that into building your safe space?"

Re: Discussion: Meditation

[suitablyheroic]

"The thing about being a Jedi is that you can pour your mind into the life around you, so to speak," Atton said lightly, rubbing at his shoulder. "The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the lowlives in the cantina next door. That usually works."

Detail.

Re: Discussion: Meditation

[icecoldfrost]

"That must be nice," Emma mused. "I can only connect with sentient creatures, fish and trees and such are beyond my scope."

Re: Discussion: Meditation

[suitablyheroic]

"It is nice," Atton said, "And I feel ridiculous admitting that much, don't get me wrong. At first you think it's terrifying losing yourself in how huge the galaxy is-- like you'll permanently lose part of yourself just thinking about it. But you don't. It just makes your problems microscopic."

And then, realizing that was probably as open as he'd been since this series of classes started, he shrugged, sat back, and put his feet up on the nearest surface.

Activity: Shielding

[icecoldfrost]

"Now, the second step to this is to find a way that's easy for you to visualize as a means of keeping other people out. Walls, layered like an onion. A maze. Nonsense lyrics to a song to act as a smoke screen. Regular meditation to enhance your mental discipline."

"Work in pairs to come up with ideas, try visualizing on your own, or wave me down. But remember - the end result only includes two factors: Raw power and will power. But as long as you practice mental discipline seriously, you may at least give yourself a chance to get away."

Re: Activity: Shielding

[suitablyheroic]

Atton didn't move to find a partner or anything - he didn't need one.

But he kept an eye on everyone else, just in case he actually felt motivated to dart in and play teacher, himself.

Re: Activity: Shielding

[vdistinctive]

Now this part, this was new to Eliot. He'd spent plenty of time making his mental refuge comfortable for himself, and easy to get to, but he'd never had to keep anyone else out of it.

He should probably try to pick something other than bear traps.

Re: Activity: Shielding

[never_dull]

"What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a conception of someone else as your defense?" Hannibal asked. "If I were to use, say, an image you or Jono in my mind to attack any interlopers?" He gave her a mischievous smile. "Assuming that the one attacking is not the image being used."