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deercountry2022-05-08 06:26 am
psychopepsquad) wrote in deercountry2022-05-08 06:26 am
Blessed Day [Open]
Who: Tara Maclay and OPEN
What: Dealing with her Blessed Day
When: May 7
Where: The Sanctuary Courtyard, the Gardens
Content Warnings: Talk of death, numbness and grief.
The Sanctuary
[Seated in front of the guardian sapling, Tara managed to connect her energy to the earth and everything beneath. It was risky, possibly drawing in darker forces than her magic ever allowed. The puzzle of it, was finding the pure energy and weeding out the bad. She liked the challenge, it kept her occupied and pressed her to have more active control over her abilities. This place largely had good energy, what she had been searching for.
There were flashes of memory, even as she tried to put everything else from her mind. 'Your shirt'. A "POP", a sudden sting and then nothing. Endless peace, comfort, and rest.
Tara sighed, severing the connection to the earth. She pressed her gloved hands to her eyes, well aware that meditation wasn't happening today of all days. Though she had no idea what any of it meant. Blessed day. What exactly was supposed to happen or what was she supposed to feel? At the moment, she felt numb, not really feeling "blessed" on her death day.
She noticed a figure from the corner of her eye and forced a smile to her face, getting to her feet.]
Are you here to see the grounds or are you here for help?
The Gardens
[Bausphomette. They were the most honest and empathetic of the Pthumerians, though why she had never reached out to them, she couldn't say. Maybe because it was an effort to figure it out, along with so much else in this place. She had been here for half a year, but still never spoke to her Pthumerian Patron. It occupied her as she tried to remember if someone had told her before, leaving her restless.
She likely looked like she was lost, pacing back and forth around the grounds.
Summoning was easier in Sunnydale, here, did it require blood or something?
There were others here, though she didn't pay much attention to them at first. Some came, others went, it just meant there were figures in the park. It was only when someone came directly in her path that she pulled out of her daze, fumbling to smile.]
S...sorry, am I in your way?
What: Dealing with her Blessed Day
When: May 7
Where: The Sanctuary Courtyard, the Gardens
Content Warnings: Talk of death, numbness and grief.
The Sanctuary
[Seated in front of the guardian sapling, Tara managed to connect her energy to the earth and everything beneath. It was risky, possibly drawing in darker forces than her magic ever allowed. The puzzle of it, was finding the pure energy and weeding out the bad. She liked the challenge, it kept her occupied and pressed her to have more active control over her abilities. This place largely had good energy, what she had been searching for.
There were flashes of memory, even as she tried to put everything else from her mind. 'Your shirt'. A "POP", a sudden sting and then nothing. Endless peace, comfort, and rest.
Tara sighed, severing the connection to the earth. She pressed her gloved hands to her eyes, well aware that meditation wasn't happening today of all days. Though she had no idea what any of it meant. Blessed day. What exactly was supposed to happen or what was she supposed to feel? At the moment, she felt numb, not really feeling "blessed" on her death day.
She noticed a figure from the corner of her eye and forced a smile to her face, getting to her feet.]
Are you here to see the grounds or are you here for help?
The Gardens
[Bausphomette. They were the most honest and empathetic of the Pthumerians, though why she had never reached out to them, she couldn't say. Maybe because it was an effort to figure it out, along with so much else in this place. She had been here for half a year, but still never spoke to her Pthumerian Patron. It occupied her as she tried to remember if someone had told her before, leaving her restless.
She likely looked like she was lost, pacing back and forth around the grounds.
Summoning was easier in Sunnydale, here, did it require blood or something?
There were others here, though she didn't pay much attention to them at first. Some came, others went, it just meant there were figures in the park. It was only when someone came directly in her path that she pulled out of her daze, fumbling to smile.]
S...sorry, am I in your way?
no subject
[She was rambling. Since she was young, she had the ability to sense another's aura, able to get readings if something was off or a person was a bit of a threat. So far, Maul wasn't giving vibes, and given that Willow never described him, she had no idea that this was the man she should be on guard for.
His steed draws her focus and a measure of delight. She had always loved horses as a girl, seeing one (even if slightly horrific) was a nice surprise.]
Is it okay if I stroke his nose?
no subject
[Maul's not good with explaining his own inner emotions but he definitely feels more at peace when he's near one of the guardian saplings. It makes him feel calmer and turns the volume of rage and anger down in his mind by quite a bit.
He hesitates for a moment as he gazes upon the Nightmare Steed when Tara asks to pet him. It's not like the big beast belongs to him or anything like that. In fact, it was more like the other way around, the horse-like creature had chosen him once Maul had worn him down into a state of submission.]
You may try. Just show no fear. He can smell it.
[True facts. He's tried to bite Maul's hand off before for showing fear towards him when he tried to pet him. Fortunately, Snow White had shown him the best way to react to such a creature.]
no subject
[She nodded, centering herself a bit before approaching the horse. She'd been around enough in her life to have an idea how to approach and touch horses that never encountered her before. She's not really afraid, it's not as if pain registers that much of late.
So long as it doesn't lash out, she strokes its nose gently, maintaining a level of calm eye contact, nickering under her breath.]
Where did you find him?
no subject
[Maul, for all his rage, is actually very good at meditation. He's been practicing it since he was a small kit and didn't even have a label for what he'd been doing out there in the woods, communing with nature like he was happy to do every day when he lived on Dathomir. He glances down at his claws, their length and thickness far greater than what it should have been, a sign of his corruption that simply won't abate.]
I could do with some purification.
[The Nightmare Steed looks at Tara with an appraising eye but he can discover no fear in her. So he lowers his muzzle to allow her to stroke his nose. He nips slightly once or twice as if hoping she'll feed him. When that happens, it's revealed the horse-like creature doesn't have the flat teeth of an herbivore but instead the sharp canines of a carnivore.]
I saw him wandering around the city one day. He was so big and fearless I was intrigued. He was none too fond of me at first.
[That was putting it mildly, Maul has a scar on his torso from where the Nightmare Steed had impaled him during a fight.]
But he's grown to enjoy my company more over the months I've been interacting with him. He's fond of fish and crabs, so I keep both in plentiful supply for him.
no subject
[There was enough traumatic stuff here to block up the mind as well. Those sorts of events could easily cloud the mind and make it impossible to push all thoughts from the mind.]
Do you want to meditate with me?
[She grinned at the steed, wishing she could find one as well. It probably wasn't wise, given that this horse might be a bit too wild to ride. It was just a nice reminder to the past and a good reminder of who she used to be.]
No, wild horses tend to prefer their own kind. They eventually can be coaxed by someone persistent and brave enough.
[Kind as well, but she isn't sure that's how he managed.]
Animals are a good way to learn about demeanor and energy. You can start to gauge the presence you give off and they type of aura you might have. The more you meditate and work with animals, the more like you will purify yourself more.
no subject
[He feels a connection at all times to all lifeforms around him. While at one time he would have tried to block that out while focusing only on ending them, now he's learning once again to let those connections back in.]
Yes, I learned that from someone else here. She can charm the birds from the very sky and she finds creatures like this just to be delightful friends.
[There is something to be learned from Snow White's approach to life. It certainly has given Maul something to think about regarding how to approach the trauma in his own background.
What she says about working with animals does resonate with Maul as well.]
I suppose that makes sense as to why I've ended up with the pets I own.
[All of them were ferocious creatures that had a softer side to some extent or another, much as Maul himself was once most people got to know him.]
no subject
[Not exactly a strange thing here, given how many different worlds there were.]
That sounds like she has good energy and a good heart.
[It sounds like something out of Disney, but she keeps that thought to herself. She had yet to meet Snow White or anyone like her.]
Have you been trying to strengthen that side of yourself?
no subject
[After being here this long, Maul has a pretty standard explanation he gives to people who ask him the inevitable question of just what the Force is.
Then he grins at the mention of Snow.]
She has one of the purest hearts I have ever seen here. I would protect her from anything that wishes to harm her if I could.
[As the meme goes, if anything happens to Snow, Maul will kill everyone in Trench and then himself.]
As of late, yes. I was very fond of nature when I was a young kit. It was how I initially discovered I was Force-sensitive. I would go out into the woods and could feel all this life around me, glowing white spots I could feel in my mind even when I closed my eyes. I lost much of that as I grew older but I have been trying to reconnect with that side of myself in order to become better. Hence why I came to see the tree.
no subject
[Suiting whims though...she's not sure what to think of that. It felt like it went against nature.]
That's touching you have someone like that.
I am as well. Nature is the root of magic and life. It's an important factor in healing and support. I hope that we can use that love you had when you were young. This sapling is one of the purest trees I've come across. Like you'd protect your friend, I'd do anything for this sapling.
no subject
[Vyng immediately sprang to mind.]
I never used to. I've always been alone. [More by circumstance than purely by choice, though Maul always kept people at arm's length before due to his desire not to end up in more pain when they inevitably ended up leaving him.] But I came to find people I liked when I first came to Deerington and then ended up here.
[Now he's got a small circle of friends and family he'll gladly give all of himself to protect if it comes down to it.]
I haven't really thought of how nature could heal before. Mostly I've just used it to help center myself.
[To help turn down the volume on some of the eternal rage Maul carries around with him at all times. It's not an easy thing, to let go of even a small portion of his anger after all this time.]
no subject
[It was nice to know others did something similar, given that she always felt like the only witch who practiced that way. But this place often offered what she was looking for in unexpected ways.]
Were you alone by choice or circumstance?
[Again, she could understand him, having been alone for most of her life as well.]
Here. [She offered out her gloved hand for his.] Let me show you.
no subject
[Her question, however, only gets a curt, one-word answer.]
Both.
[There's a story there but not one Maul is inclined to tell many people. Even his closest friends have to be at a Level 8 friendship in order for them to unlock that part of the tragic backstory of Darth Maul.
He hesitates for a brief moment, not usually one much for physical contact, but the barrier of the gloves helps him to make up his mind. He takes hold of Tara's hand, trying not to tense up the moment he does so.]
no subject
The energy flows between us on two points. Our linked hands act as a bridge and the energy flows between us like a river. We give, we receive in equal parts. We share.
As the energy flows between us, it courses through our body into the ground. Like it's a river between us, it flows through us and spreads into the soil, like roots. It's important to focus on that energy and that sense of warmth. Blemishes pour out and the purity of nature draws in like breath.
[She did her best to get that connection started, hoping that it was more than her words he'd sense.]
Just open your mind to me.