damned_institute | Nightshift 39: M91-M100 Hallway

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Nightshift 39: M91-M100 Hallway

"Of all the accursed...why did they have to place his quarters at such a distance from mine!"

Starscream continued to look over his map angrily; shining his artificial light upon the paper clipped into the cover of his notebook, he once again traced the two possible routes needed to get to Lockdown's room. "One is far longer...but potentially safer," he groaned, sliding his finger down the halls, across the large entry way, and back up to his destination. "The other...it takes me to the "soccer/recreational field". That's where that 'meta-bitch' 'Richard' mentioned was, the one who could made extreme cold. On the other hand, it IS shorter..." Closing the book with a sigh, he weighed his options carefully.

Laziness won out.

"As long as I am careful...I might avoid confrontation tonight," he reasoned. Clutching his book, a few pens, and the flashlight tightly, he made his way down to the M-C Block hallway.

[To ]here]

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Miku nodded, "Ah, I see." Meditation would be something she'd have to practice more often. Maybe, if her mother had been able to still her mind, she wouldn't have done that terrible thing.

She certainly wasn't discouraged. "So, what is the best way? Or is it different for some people?"

"There's many different traditions, but in practical terms they all exist to give shape and focus to power. I can only truly teach my own tradition, but of course Onmyoudo takes years of study to learn. I think the best I can offer you under the circumstances here is to teach you how to sense and better control the flow of your own power. You already know how to channel it through your own tools of choice, to a certain extent, what I hope to do is give you a better understanding of what it is you're doing." Subaru would have loved to really teach the Onmyoudo tradition, of course, but it simply wasn't possible--there was a focus on ritual and on very detailed knowledge that he just didn't have the tools or time to teach in this place.

"Mm," Miku wondered if what she had been doing could be called 'channeling'. She doubted it, a little. Without the camera, here in the institute, it was so much more instinctual, like it used to be. Miku shuddered at the thought. She pulled her feet under her and winced as pain danced up and down her legs. Perhaps there was a reason that the nurses had made her sit in a damned wheelchair. It hadn't hurt so much when she'd walked here, but...

"Then, do I just have to find my center?" she asked. "The white room in my mind, so to speak?"

Much as he wished it was otherwise, Subaru simply couldn't teach Miku the use of spells, here; there just wasn't the time for the proper grounding in the theory, and without that... well, he couldn't in good conscience set anyone loose with spells they could use but not fully understand. So this was really all he could do.

"To find your power, yes. Controlling its flow takes more discipline and practice." Subaru crossed his legs, preparing to enter a light trance state, himself--maybe his senses would be slightly less dull, even in this place, if he was not quite fully in his body. "What your power will 'look' or feel like to you, I can't tell you. Everyone's mind tends to find a different metaphor, something that makes the most sense to the individual. It could be a pool, a rope, a web or a ball, it could be something else entirely, but you'll know it when you find it."

Miku stiffened slightly and nodded, though she hoped it wasn't a rope. Ropes seemed awfully unlucky, now that she'd thought about it, "I see..." She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. It hurt, but the last thing she wanted was to get stiffer from sitting. "I'm ready, then."

It would be whatever her own subconscious was most comfortable with, so if a rope bothered her it wasn't likely to be that. Subaru settled himself a little more comfortably, keeping his bad side from taking too much weight as he leaned against the headboard. He nodded once more to Miku, then closed his eyes and started speaking softly, "It can be difficult to find that quiet place within your mind, but the distractions here should be minimal. Eventually you should be able to do it with your eyes open and in the middle of a battle, but for this first try you should close your eyes."

"Mm," Miku nodded and slid her eyes closed. She supposed she'd have to learn to walk before she learned to run, after all. To have something to hold on to, Miku pulled the Washu camera from her bag and put her hands around it. It was hard to think of nothing; she had so much to worry about now. Was Sousuke's mission with the Arts and Crafts club successful? Was Ritsuka okay? She was even worried about Aidou, despite his being a righteous jerk earlier today. Miku could forgive him that - this place made everyone's better judgment and patient thin.

Stop that. Stop thinking. Miku chastised herself as she tried to think of an object that would calm her. Her camera, or her antiques? The doll she bought before coming here came to mind first, as though to keep from reminding the photographer that the camera in her hands was hardly useful for the worst things in the Institute. It was a sweet little thing, with short, dark hair and a pretty red smile. The little name carved into the bottom had been hers, to boot. As though it had been made for some other her many years before - Miku of the Past. She relaxed further, as she remembered the soft gold flowers painted on her kimono and the tiny dark eyes of glass that stared forward forever. A warm feeling extended from her heart to her sore and aching limbs as she fell further and further towards the quiet spot in her mind.

Subaru opened his eye again after a moment, having needed only a heartbeat's time to find his own power source. Even as he looked at the room around him he could see his mind's visualisation of his power as well, a vast and still lake. It was still there.

Sighing quietly so as not to disturb Hinasaki-san, Subaru tested the edges of the wall keeping him from actually using that power, and of course found it firm even when he was trying his utmost. Still, it was reassuring somehow that though Landel could keep him from touching the majority of his power, he could not destroy it--the eyes of his mind were covered with a blindfold, not plucked out. In practice he was just as blind, but there was hope for recovery if he could only escape this place.

The doll eventually gave way to the large cherry tree in the Hinasaki traditional home. The large, sheltering branches that would protect her on a summer's day, the high place she would climb when feeling lonely, it was a safety net for her. The hot-in-cold feeling seemed brighter there when she thought about it, and after a few moments she murmured, "I see our cherry tree."

Subaru flinched, but hoped that Hinasaki-san's eyes were still closed and that she wouldn't notice. Of all the things it could possibly be, why a cherry tree? Never mind. It didn't mean anything. Cherry trees were an important symbol to many Japanese people, not just the Sakurazukamori. Subaru took another calming breath.

"Try to draw some of its strength into you, like the roots draw water from the earth. Slowly and carefully. Too much water will harm a living thing as surely as too little."

"R-Right..." Miku said softly and attempted to draw the warm feeling into her. It was frustrating, as though it were trying to ignore her and not help at all. Miku pulled herself back for a moment and tried again, and again. Finally, she felt a shift and tug inside, as though someone had turned on a tap in her brain, and then the warmth slowly started to flow down through.

It seemed to have been such a short time, but Miku was sure it had taken a while. She laughed a little, felt her control waver, and straightened up again. "It's a nice feeling..." she said after a long silence.

This was where it started to become potentially dangerous, so Subaru focused all the power he could access here on watching what Miku was doing--he was just barely able to see her power flowing and coalescing if he did nothing else with his own abilities. Not useful for going out at night, but good to know for cases like this. "It is a nice feeling. That's where some people go astray--they become so attached to the feeling that they use the power recklessly, just to feel it."

"I'll be careful," Miku replied softly. She had seen first hand what power did to corrupt a person, after all, and her stomach twisted in memory. "I like the feeling I get from..." she trailed off while her face heated up; the feeling of power drained away and the cherry tree faded. "N-nevermind."

Talking about silly things like feelings were still taboo, it seemed. "I seem to have lost the connection... shall I try again? Was it... did I do alright?"

Subaru smiled reassuringly, actually glad that the topic had been enough to cause Miku to lose hold of her power, at least for now--it was good to be a bit afraid, and good too that she was willing to try again. A very nice balance, that. "Not just yet. I'd like to talk to you a bit about how you've been able to use your abilities in the past. Even if it wasn't done consciously, it's important to know what works for you."

Miku tilted her head to the side, "Well, before, I had help from my mother's camera. But... even before that, I could push them away... I can still sort of do that here, but..." Miku trailed off and lifted her arms wrapped with bandages. "It doesn't always work exactly the way it used to."

"Beyond that, I could see events in objects, and it helped me... when I was searching for someone," she added and felt her heart twist sourly in memory of Mafuyu.

Subaru made a little "a-ha" sort of noise and nodded to himself, very carefully so as not to jar his injuries. "Psychometry. Sensing things through physical contact with objects is called psychometry. It seems as though working through physical objects is the best technique for you."

"Is it?" she asked curiously. There had never been a name for her 'sixth sense' before, but... it was kind of relieving to have a name to put on it, and Miku appreciated it. What Miku didn't understand was exactly how she was supposed to work through a physical object.

"Does that mean I need to find another camera like the one my mother had?" she asked and shifted carefully, hoping her feet weren't actually as asleep as they felt. "That will be difficult; even getting the cameras I have now came at a high cost..." One higher than another, for certain. How was she supposed to find another Camera Obscura?

Subaru shook his head, again being careful of his wounds, and clarified for Hinasaki-san, "Oh, no. Nothing like that. In fact, having ordinary cameras is probably excellent--you're familiar with cameras, and I hope comfortable with them? In time, you should be able to use your power alone to make ordinary cameras function like your mother's. Moreso away from here, but even here a little should be possible."

Well, now, that would be very helpful. The camera might not be exactly what she was used to (would it have to have those kanji around the lens again? She couldn't remember all of them so well anymore), but if it helped them even a little against the ghosts that kept cropping up, then Miku would be satisfied.

"Hmm... I think... I'd like that," she said quietly. Who knew what it would take out of her, though, that was the scary part. It was scary seeing things she couldn't share properly with Sousuke or Ritsuka. She wasn't even sure if Subaru would see the same thing. Miku ducked her head to yawn a little. "How would I accomplish that? Being a medium between the tree and the camera? Like a... a circuit?"

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