A Lesson with Sallie

[balancingminds]

Charles arranged to meet Sallie at the counter as that way they can go someplace where she feels safe.

In preparation, he's made a quick list of his various psychic defenses and what they do and how he set them into place. They might not be helpful for her but they might provide a reference.

He truly hopes he can find a way to help as even with all these years with Raven, talking and experimenting with their mutations if he can be a teacher of something so personal. It feels like he can and he does know he's a good teacher, but this is still new.

Comments

[balancingminds]

"Yes, that's every single shield I have but I rarely use all of them. Now I'm going to lower them one by one. The most outer one I rarely put up as it cuts me off from all the minds around me,"

The process of the shield coming down is as slow as she can make it in the hope that she'll be able to feel when he emerges.

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie can tell when the outermost one falls, because the grey shifts to a deeper grey-black. For about thirty seconds though, there's no shift, and Sallie's about to ask if something is wrong when the grey-black sheds itself entirely.

"Your pen looks like the ink's goin' dry," Sallie mentions, heartrate picking up.

[balancingminds]

"Yes, it is. I need to buy more ink. I'm going to take down another layer, this one is more variable. I change the opacity of it depending on how much I'm listening and how in danger of being overwhelmed I feel,"

This shield is more like a window, a curtain is lifted to see out before the window itself is opened to let in thoughts that aren't on the surface. Those thoughts that are pushed down or always there, for Charles, this is where he constantly monitors the minds and thoughts around him.

[realmrsreynolds]

Immediately: "Toast is a piss-poor breakfast, son.

"You're...writing a book. And Raven's about somewhere, but not here."

[balancingminds]

"I don't always have time to get a larger breakfast if I have meetings to get to. That's my dissertation on genetics. Are you picking up anything else?"

It seems like she's mainly reading the top layer of memories.

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie squints, but in the end, shakes her head 'no'.

"Just sort of -- this static scene. You work too much."

[balancingminds]

"My sister would agree with you. It looks like if I can teach you to have a shield like my top layer then you could control better when you read people."

[realmrsreynolds]

"I learned something along these lines from Mike and Splinter when I became a Barman, but that's easier, since the folk on the other side of whatever I saw was...participating, I guess? They could tone things down, if they wanted.

"And I am not a ninja like Mike," Sallie chuckles softly, finally pulling back from Charles. "I didn't grow up with this."

[balancingminds]

"I don't think many people have. Though I'm not sure what being a ninja has to do with it. Yes, it's a little harder when you just pick up on what's around you but not impossible. One of the first things I taught myself when I was young was how to block out the world,"

Then he could figure out how to decide what he wanted to hear.

[realmrsreynolds]

Ninjas are always relevant, Charles. Come on now.

"So -- we're going to try and turn everything off?"

[balancingminds]

"Yes, put a shield up between your mind and those around you. Then you can decide when to put it down,"

Clearly he still has a lot to learn including the importance of ninjas.

[realmrsreynolds]

"...Okay."

Where to start?

[balancingminds]

"The best way to start with a shield is to create a routine for yourself as you imagine it in your build. First you construct it in a way that you can easily picture it closing off all those thoughts then if it helps tie it to a thought or a phrase. Then it becomes a matter of getting comfortable raising and lowering it until the shield is simply another part of your mind."

[realmrsreynolds]

"So...somethin' I'm used to, or basing it off a routine I've already got going. Okay."

But what would that be?

Sallie leans back in her chair and stares up at the ceiling for a minute.

[balancingminds]

"Yes, when I was little, my walls looked like castle walls. I imagined building them brick by brick."

[realmrsreynolds]

"That's pretty."

[balancingminds]

"Thank you, now they're rather more fluid. Do you have any ideas of what might work for you?"

[realmrsreynolds]

Building. Creating?

"Barn-raising. Cooking? Nnng, nothing quite so concrete as a castle. It's an odd thing to try and pick."

[balancingminds]

"It is but we can try different things to see which one works for you. My shields are always a work in progress as I encounter new things,"

The basic idea is there but he knows enough now to be able to adjust them.

[realmrsreynolds]

But what makes sense? Right now, what does Sallie build? What does she know?




Hesitatingly: "My, um. Room at home. On Shadow? 'S got yellow walls. East facing windows, and dark wood molding everywhere."

[balancingminds]

"That sounds like a place to start. Close your eyes and I want you to pictures yourself in that room, think about how solid the walls are and how only you decide what comes into that space."

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie keeps her head back against the recliner, and one cheek lifts unknowingly when she remembers walking through her room. She always keeps her paperwork away from her bedroom, and it helps her here - the only thing she does in her mind is fluff the pillows and sit down on the bed.

[balancingminds]

Charles isn't fully in her head but he's observing, a slight presence just outside the room,

"Now I want you to close me out of that room and with me all thoughts and impressions that aren't your own."

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie's nose wrinkles. How the -- ?

"Hmmm."

The door is easy enough to close. The window too.

She thinks so, anyway.

The curtain keeps fluttering despite a lack of breeze, and Sallie clenches her eyes shut in momentary irritation.

[balancingminds]

"Take your time. What's coming through? Do you hear or sense anything?"