Post by Perilous on Apr 2, 2018 17:19:52 GMT -6
KAA ROLEPLAY
Roleplay Section >> City >> CE: a different state of mind
kainakaa.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=collage&action=display&num=1519937219
CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 1st, 2018, 1:46pm
Alex Craft’s closest friends had come over for a night of partying after passing all their midterms. These friends of his were the ones whom hadn’t gazed upon him from afar with sad apologetic looks on their faces as they noticed what he was missing.
At the young age of eleven years old, he and a group of friends had been messing around in a junkyard when a pile of garbage had come loose, and crushed his arm to just below the elbow. The doctors were unable to save the arm, so he now wore a prosthetic. It wasn’t functional, just cosmetic, so he couldn’t grab anything with his left hand. It could be a pain at times, and made life difficult for the college sophomore, but it didn’t bother him too much.
The young man stood by the entertainment center, deleting and prioritizing songs on the ‘play next list’, while his roommate was busy refilling the snacks. For a small group of five people, they sure went through junk food fast.
Once Alex was satisfied with the music lineup, he headed over to the couch and flopped down next to Miranda. She and Owen were battling it out in a competitive game of street racing online. So far, it seemed everyone else in the lobby was complete garbage, and Miranda was beating Owen by just a few feet ahead.
“Come on Owen you got this!” Alex called out, rooting on the underdog. Alex’s hazel eyes took in the spectacle before him as he watched in anticipation, waiting to see which of his friends were better at battling for rank in such a highly competitive game.
Miranda reached over and ruffled Owen’s black hair, breaking his concentration, causing him to fall behind. “Hey no fair!” Owen cried out as he lost his place in the race and fell to third place.
Alex couldn’t help but laugh as his friends duked it out on the game and turned to see Cassie over at the table, studying away. She was the most serious out of the five of them. Her grades were without question the highest in the group, and possibly the whole school. When she was studying, she had a tendency to let her dark brown hang in front of her face and curtain around her textbook, to prevent herself from being distracted from what she was studying. Currently, she was in such a position, hard at work, absorbing as much information as she could.
Jake came in from the kitchen and set a bowl of cheese puffs, and six pack of root beer on the coffee table. He flopped down to the ground with an exasperated sigh and grunted, “next time one of you are gonna host the party.” He groaned and ran his hands through his red hair.
Each of them had had a busy day of taking tests. They were all trying to become psychology majors with different focuses. Alex was studying to become a mental health specialist, someone who could help identify a problem in someone’s psyche, and prescribe a solution. His tests were rather tough, but he knew he did well on his test. Hopefully his friends did well as well.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 7th, 2018, 08:57am
"First!" Miranda shouted as she completed the race before anyone else. Victory celebrations included a fist pump and a handful of celebratory cheese puffs. Owen sank into the couch with a sigh and handed off the controller to Jake. It would be up to him to try to dethrone Miranda as top racer.
"Well alright then," Jake said as Owen stood up and allowed him to take his place in the hot seat. It was time to refresh over a bottle of rootbeer. There was a satisfying sound of pressure release as he twisted the cap off. He glanced over at Cassie.
"Still studying?" Cassie was so engrossed in her reading, she didn't even notice the first time... or the second. Even with the music playing and video game rivalry, she still managed to fit in some study time.
"Huh? Oh. I'm trying to go over the things I'm sure I missed on the exam. Her concentration broken for the moment, she lifted her head from the table. Her text book was open to a page about the subconscious mind. Her chosen field of study involved hypnotherapy. And not just stage parlor tricks, but actually how the subconscious works.
"Give it a rest. We all know that if anyone did well on their exams, it's you," Owen pointed out.
"Hmmm..." was the only response as her head moved back into position over the textbook.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 7th, 2018, 09:20am
The host of the post final party glanced curiously over at Cassie. Her full name was Cassidy, but everyone called had Cassie for short, as a sort of nickname for the girl. “Yeah Cassie. There’s no way you missed anything on the test,” Alex said, getting up from the couch, and heading over to the table where the brunette was studying hard.
“What’s this?” The young man said, reaching out and placing a finger on the top of the page, as to not totally interrupt cassie’s Concentration. Alex tilted his head slightly in order to get a better angle on the title near his finger. He knew that she was trying to major in one of the lesser known majors at the school, but never really took any interest in her courses.
Jake was a veteran at this game. He’d been practicing overnight just for this match between him and Miranda. He’d memorized the maps, shortcuts, all the tricks. He hoped this practicing could give him a fighting chance against this natural talent.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 7th, 2018, 10:01am
The next race started off in 3... 2... 1... Go! Miranda, having placed first last time was in an excellent spot and started off in first. However, Jake having had the most practice, was quick to catch up to her and overtook 1st place.
Cassidy was once again in the zone, but her eyes stopped at the place where he placed his finger.
"I couldn't be sure about one of the questions on the test. It was asking about how our concept of the subconscious has changed over time." She took a deep breath as she collected her thoughts. "You see part of the interesting thing about our minds is that we don't really know much about how they work. I mean not on a fundamental level. What is consciousness? What is the subconscious? Oh there are plenty of theories that come and go, but nothing we can actually quantify. As you know, we are studying is a social science, not an exact science. At best we get certain models that seem to hold true in certain circumstances and the fall flat in others. If you consider..."
She was cut off suddenly by shouting from the couch. "Who is this guy?" Someone online had joined the race and pushed Jake back to 5th place. This allowed Miranda to move up to 2nd and was once again top in the living room.
"I couldn't remember Sigmund Freud's favorite color." Owen commented humorously in the silence that followed. Cassie shook her head and closed her textbook.
"Did you leave me any rootbeer?" she asked snagging a bottle. "But how about you, Alex? How did your tests go?"
"Ha! I still win!" Miranda said as the online person paced first, Miranda second and Jake just barely making 3rd.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 7th, 2018, 10:11am
As the yelling came from the couch, Alec couldn’t help but glance over and watch as Jake fell further and further behind. “Come on man! Use the slip-stream!” He said, trying to offer him some advice in order to get him caught up, but it was too late. He’d already lost. At Owen’s comment, the room filled with chuckles.
“Wasn’t that question a subjective one? Like, a what does it mean to you? Type question?” He started thinking on one of his questions that was worded very similarly, and began worrying about wether or not it really was subjective. “I think I did fine on it. Nothing close to how well you obviously did.”
Alex also reached for a root beer. His studies had taught him the sugar and caffeine would stimulate his brain, releasing dopamine into his system. A great way to reward one’s self after a long day of testing.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 8th, 2018, 05:54am
She shrugged. Cassie was never one to gloat or take too much pride in being better than everyone else. While many others might have labeled her as a bore, her friends understood that she could still have fun despite having her nose stuck in a book.
"That's it! I'm done!" Jake said rising up from the couch. He held the controller high in dramatic fashion. He took his defeat loudly yet gracefully. He handed it off to Miranda, who found herself with two controllers, which didn't do her any good. She turned to watch the two of them.
"Alex. Cassie. Want a turn?" She held out the controllers to both of them. Cassie shrugged again.
"Why not? A little distraction can be a good thing. I'll probably lose, but what the heck," Cassie took the controller and sat down on the couch.
"How about you, Alex? I suppose I can step down for a moment as Queen of Racing." Miranda gloated a bit for Jake's benefit. The queen took a victory handful of cheese puffs.
"I would have had you if someone online hadn't messed me up," Jake rose to the bait. He went to get a helping of chips as well, but found the bowl empty. He growled a little in mock frustration as he crossed over to the kitchen area to refill snacks once again.
"One cannot grace the raceway too much, otherwise there would be no competition," she ignored him.
"So ummm... what are the controls again?" Cassie asked eyeing over the buttons on the controllers.
"Hold down B button and don't let go," Owen supplied helpfully.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 8th, 2018, 2:21pm
At the advice Alex couldn’t help but snicker. “Owen, you do know you’re supposed to change gears in this game, right?” Perhaps that was the reason he struggled against Miranda. She did seem to have been doing a lot more with her controller than Owen had during their math. Alex looked down at the controller, which had inputs on both sides. A two handed controller.
“No thanks,” the young man said to the self proclaimed race queen, holding up his prosthetic Fiberglas hand, “I’m good,” he knew it was an accident, and he was a good sport about it. It could get a little annoying if someone were to continuously forget, or pretend to forget just to get on his nerves, so he stayed away from those people. He didn’t mind however as long as it wasn’t too frequent.
Alex headed from the table into the kitchen to join Jake, and help him with preparing some more snacks. “What was that man? You almost had it!” He helped with setting out some more chips, holding the bowl in place with his prosthetic, and pouring out the chips with his right hand. He praised his luck of being right handed, and set the chips back in the coupboard before turning to his friend, leaning against the counter, and crossing his arms with a soft smile on his face.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 8th, 2018, 11:30pm
Miranda's expression fell a little bit. "Oops. Sorry. I didn't mean..." There wasn't a good way to recover from her flub, but there wasn't any time to dwell on it as the next race started off.
3... 2... 1... GO!
"Wait! How do I shift?" Cassie asked in an excited panic. Miranda kept her controller in and good position before leaning over to show Cassie how it works.
"There is an automatic drive mode... I think." Owen tried to save face.
Meanwhile, Jake elbowed Alex in the side. "I call hacks. That cheater came out of no where. And you know if you give the others players an inch, they will go for a mile. It's like no one wants to let you pass after that."
Cassie managed to maintain a respectable not-last place for someone who had hardly ever played before.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 12:13am
The way his roommate tried explaining why he lost was amusing to Alex, who couldn’t help but start laughing as he heard Owen trying to explain his loss as well. He put a hand to his mouth and chuckled to himself. “Well, I mean, it is a racing game. The point is to not let anyone get past you.” He chuckles to himself before picking up the bowl of chips he’d set up, “I’m gonna head back in there and see who’s winning.”
The blonde haired man headed into the living room where Miranda was teaching Cassie how to play, and he could have sworn it looked like Owen was trying to sneak in on this private lesson in controls. “Has she taught you how to use the nitro yet?” Alex asked, looking down at Cassie, before setting down the bowl in front of three of his friends.
He went and sat to Miranda’s left, putting himself between Owen and the gaming tutorial. Alex tilted his head slightly and looked down at the controller. Some days he wished he’d be able to play, but in all honesty, he took more joy in watching other people having fun.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 9th, 2018, 01:40am
"Wait... so you mean that you boost like this?" Cassie asked, engaging the nitro boost on the straightaway. Her car shot forward slamming into the car ahead of her. The boost carried both vehicles forward, shoving past a number of opponents. A decidedly hazardous tactic, if it were planned that way. Cassie started laughing with delight.
"Hey! Who was that... Cassie?" Miranda asked in disbelief as her car got shoved to one side.
"Woah woah ok. Don't wreck your car!" Owen supplied.
"I don't know! How do I...?" Cassie started to ask, but on the turn, she managed to shove the car she rear ended to one side. She wasn't in first place, but now neither was Miranda either. It was right at that moment that Jake walked in.
"Dang girl. They let you have a license?" He asked as he surveyed the damage to the other racers that Cassie was creating.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 02:06am
As the virtual carnage unfolded, Alex couldn't help but start howling with laughter. Cassie had single handedly completely shuffled the entire roster of racers, leaving herself and Miranda battling for rank, both neck and neck.
"Come on Cass, you can do this! On the next turn, push Miranda into the wall!" Alex cheered, rooting on the underdog. It seemed as the race got more and more intense, so did the cheering from the group, each person respectively rooting for the other racer to win. Alex reached forwards, and took a handful of chips.
Seeing the damage that Cassie had caused made him glad that he didn't carpool with her in the mornings. still though, it was extremely entertaining to watch her ram into other cars, a strategy that for some reason, somehow worked.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 9th, 2018, 02:29am
"What? No way. I've still got my boost," Miranda pointed out triumphantly. "Meanwhile, Cassidy is just about out." However, what she didn't count on was Cassie swerving awkwardly in the way. Just as she boosted, her car flew forward right into Cassie.
Obviously this game wasn't meant to be a demolition derby. If any of the cars had health meters, they would have both wrecked by now. The two of them spun out... just a few yards away from the finish line. It quickly became a mad dash to get control of their cars again, and push them the last few yards.
"No! Nonononono!" Miranda chanted, as she struggled to turn around.
"First place!" the game announced as Cassie just inched past the finish line. The highlight reel showed one very beatup looking wreck. Cassie sat there on the couch chortling with laughter.
"I won? I won!"
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 02:45am
In some strange form of luck, Cassie won first place in a match against both people who've played the game before, as well as Miranda. And it was Cassie's first ever race! At first Alex was stunned, but then he couldn't hold back his hysteric laughter. A chat box opened up in the bottom left of the highlight reel where other racers were displaying their anger and outrage over the results of the match. This just gave Alex more of a reason to laugh.
"Holy cow Cassie you actually pulled it off!" He laughed noticing the shock on her face. The usually timid girl was displaying excitement and joy at her win. Owen, Jake, and Miranda were completely silent, seemingly for completely different reasons.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 9th, 2018, 03:09am
Cassie's excitement faded as the angry comments kept pouring in.
"Ok! I'm sorry! Make them stop. Tell them I'm sorry!" she said as her face started to turn red. So many angry comments.
"What? No way!" Owen said, grabbing the controller from her hand before she could type out an apology to the angry masses. "I'm sorry Jake, but your online account may be forever tarnished."
"Oh please! It was anyway when I let you play," Jake replied. Owen grinned at this, and Cassie couldn't help but smile again. The online lobby emptied out of enraged people.
"I think I'm going to retire from racing for now. I don't think I could pull that off again," she was grinning, though still bright red.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 03:17am
Miranda was keeping bizarrely quiet as everyone else laughed and taunted eachother about the win that Cassie had just pulled off. "You okay Miranda?" Alex asked, looking over to the 'race queen' who was looking quite dejected.
Like any normal person, Alex didn't like it when his friends were upset. Alex took a couple chips from his hand, and started eating them quietly as he could feel the tension beginning to rise. Hopefully this loss wasn't going to be too hard on the girl.
Just then his watch beeped, alerting him to the time. eleven oclock. An hour to midnight. "Holy moley! Where did the time go?" he could imagine a few of his friends may have been getting tired at this point, but it didn't seem like any of them were showing any signs of sleepiness.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 9th, 2018, 3:43pm
"Anyone else want to race?" Owen asked showing the controller around. There was silence for a moment.
"Hey why don't you race, Owen?" Jake chimed in.
"I just found out I was doing it wrong the whole time..." It seemed racing was out for out for the evening. And perhaps it was getting late. There was silence for a time as they considered what else to do. Nothing was going to top the game they just witnessed. Plus the sugar rush from the soda was starting to die down among the group.
"Hey guys..." Cassie said tentatively. "Not to bring up school work again... And doesn't have to be this evening... But I was wondering if I could get some volunteers to help with a class project. Oh, I mean you won't have to do any work. Just be test subjects."
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 7:56pm
As the party started winding down, Alex couldn’t help but notice that everyone was starting to migrate towards the front door, he didn’t want the party to end so early, despite how late it was. Post test parties usually lasted into the early hours of a morning.
Just as he was about to say something, Cassie started asking for volunteers. The way she phrased it was quite intriguing, and Alex saw the opportunity to make a short quip.
“I don’t know. Will me or my family be entitled to financial compensation if I descide to participate?” Alex teased, reaching over and poking Cassie on the nose gently as a way to let everyone know he meant it as a joke. He laughed at his own joke for a moment, before saying, “it depends on what the project is.” It seemed like the conversation was starting to bring everyone back in. The general intrigue of what Cassie’s project could be. Her projects were always above and beyond, and could turn heads easily. Alex was all for helping her out, but he just wanted to know what the project was.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 10th, 2018, 10:39am
"Oh sure. You can get financial compensation... Right after the collection agencies get her student loans. Just give it about 20 years. I think the standard going rate for student projects is a dollar," Jake chimed in. Cassie laughed a little as Alex poked her nose.
"No no. Strictly voluntary. Well so my field of study involves hypno-therapy. Helping relieve people's mental burdens by delving into their subconscious. Helping people fix their issues by tackling the underlying cause. But we are in school, and its all a lot of theory learning. I don't even know if I would be any good at actually helping people. And it's not like I've actually gotten to work with anyone put under. I was thinking about making it a project and turning in a report about my findings. But I need participants." She studied her friends faces as she spoke, trying to get a feel for people's reactions. She half expected everyone to laugh at the idea, and it wouldn't be any big deal. "It wouldn't have to be in front of everyone, we can make it private. Or make it a group thing. And we won't do anything embarrassing. My report would leave out names, everything would be completely patient confidential."
"Oh sure. Confidential. Just me and a few thousand close friends on youtube," Owen joked, though he was quick to add. "No, but that sounds interesting Cass." He hastily threw an arm around her. He wasn't actually laughing at her project, just his own jokes. Cassie smiled and nodded. She probably would have been worried if Owen took anything seriously.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 10th, 2018, 12:16pm
Alex was definitely intrigued by her proposition. He’d never been hypnotized before, and he was sure none of his friends had either. They young man shrugged, and said, “Sure why not? Sounds like a lot of fun!” But then a thought came into his mind. “But wait... do you even know how to hypnotize someone yet? I thought that was something they only taught to seniors, because you know... great power, great responsibility, all that.”
The boy headed over to grab another soda, to try to get the party going again, taking the bottle, and twisting off the cap until it made that satisfying hissing noise.
Than alex’s Attention was turned to Owen. “Wait, you of all people have a few thousand followers on YouTube? how?” He liked giving Owen a hard time, but made sure to not take it too far.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 10th, 2018, 3:32pm
"You know that he doesn't," Jake pointed out for everyone the state of Owen's YouTube channel.
"Ok ok. I may NOT have thousands of followers on YouTube. But once you post it, anyone can find it. I'd probably have a thousand after that video came out." Owen started surmising. Jake grabbed himself a soda as well.
"Anyway, sounds cool, Cassie, but I think I'm going to sit this one out," Jake said as he took a sip. She shrugged.
"And that's fine. I don't expect a whole lot of people would be terribly interested."
"I mean, I'm game to try it," Miranda finally voiced in. "Goodness knows we certainly can't let Owen do it."
"I haven't exactly tried it out on anyone yet, but I have the basic idea and know how to do it in theory..." Cassie supplied helpfully. It might be a bit of a learning process for all involved.
"Well you wanted volunteers. That's Alex and Miranda for you," Jake counted the votes for everyone.
"Anyway! It doesn't have to be right now if people want to do other things. Sorry to derail the party. I just wanted to get that out there while we were together."
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 10th, 2018, 5:14pm
“We should see what you’ve got! I’d be glad to go first!” Alex said with a friendly smile, looking around the room, his eyes landing on Owen, “but just make sure Owen doesn’t start filming. Don’t want him uploading a video of me bawking like a chicken or anything like that.”
The young man looked over at Miranda, and said, “what do you think? I mean, We’re both here right now. This could be a fun activity. Perhaps we could do this now. It’d be like a party game!” Turning his attention back to Cassie, Alex said, “how about it? Let’s have some fun with this!” He flashed his teeth in a happy smile, glad he had such awesome friends.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 11th, 2018, 10:08am
"No cameras. And nothing will leave this room," she said as she gave everyone a look individually until they nodded.
"Alright then Alex. Come take a seat on the couch," Cassie stood up and reached around behind her neck. She undid her necklace, which turned out to be not a regular necklace at all. It held a crystal at the center, which wasn't big enough to be gaudy, but also wasn't small enough to be mistaken for precious stone. It seems Cassie had been wearing this for awhile, just in case.
"I'm going to need you to sit up, but sit comfortably. Let your spine be straight, but not forced. Each vertebrae all the way up to your neck stacked on top of each other without stretching. Your neck should not be curved, but let your head rest easy. Your arms should be resting lightly on the couch, and not held. Your feet flat on the ground, but not digging in anywhere. You can take off your shoes, if you wish. Now sitting comfortably, you should have minimal sense of touch of anything around you. Take a moment to slowly adjust yourself if anything is digging in anywhere." She paused just in case for his benefit of getting comfortable. Her words were gentle and slow. Then she looked at their friends, who were sitting somewhere on the sides or behind him.
"I'm going to need absolute silence, if this is going to have a chance of working." She when presented him with the necklace in front of his face. She held it above by the chain and put the crystal directly in front of his face.
"This crystal. Is quite ordinary. There is nothing special about it. No powers. No mental tricks. I want you to stare at it. Just direct your attention to it. Focus on it." She had only just begun the mental exercises.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 11th, 2018, 1:25pm
Alex couldn’t help but chuckle nervously, as Cassie sat herself in front of him, and began telling him the exact posture he needed to be in for this to work. His friends were all leaning in close, trying to get a good look at what was happening. The way they were all focused on him made him slightly nervous, and he couldn’t get comfortable while trying so hard to get himself in the right position.
“Hey guys? I know you’re all very interested in this, but could you please back up a little? It’s making me nervous,” he let out a short laugh, just before the necklace was dropped in front of his face. His eyes fell upon the crystal, which he could have sworn Cassie hadn’t been wearing on her necklace earlier. As everyone was being as absolutely silent as they could,Alex could feel himself starting to relax, everything started feeling looser, and less stiff.
Cassie’s sentences sounded all broken up, to their simplest forms, letting his mind relax as well, as it didn’t have to try as hard to process language. He let out a quiet sigh and simply kept staring at the crystal, waiting for Cassie to start.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 12th, 2018, 08:53am
"Just watch the crystal..."
Was Cassie about to start? Nope! Or had she already started? At what point was the induction starting? At what point did the hypnosis begin? ... Was just some of the questions going through their friends, but none of them said anything. They remained completely silent as they tried to puzzle it out for themselves.
"Focus all of your attention on it. Let your peripheral vision fade away. There is nothing outside of the crystal. Even my face. There is nothing going on in the background. There is only the sparkly." She stopped for a moment as she fought back laughing. She was just saying the first things that came to her mind. She hadn't meant to say something silly like 'sparkly'.
"Now... allow your focus to narrow down even further. Look inside the crystal. Can you see the light inside it? Can you see the patterns inside? There isn't even an outside edge. There is only infinitely complex inside. The crystal may just go on forever." She had been holding the pendant still this whole time, but now ever so slowly she began to turn it. The contours inside seemed to shift and slide upon themselves. The light refracted differently. It was like looking at a kaleidoscope.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 12th, 2018, 09:20am
As Cassie went on, Alex couldn’t help but starting to feel a bit more relaxed. He just looked up into that beautiful crystal that hung from the chain. He felt calm, but not much more than that. At the point where Cass said “sparkly,” he couldn’t help but chuckle, as she sounded like the crow from Secret of Nihm.it seemed that Alex had a bit less self restraint than Cassie did. Or was he already being worn down by her attempts to induct him?
When told to look deeper, he had to fight the urge to lean forward to get a better look. His head slightly tilted to get a better angle on the stone, and he began seeing a sort of pattern inside of the clear rock. His fingers twitched slightly, an unconscious movement he hadn’t made on his own. Was it starting to happen?
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 13th, 2018, 07:37am
"Now keep watching. Slowly... slowly." WHACK! Cassie had started moving the pendulum back and forth, but quickly lot control of it, and it ended up smacking into his forehead. It wasn't all that hard, she hadn't even hardly started, but it was probably surprising.
"No!" she cried in a panic. She reached out and placed her hand on his arm as if to keep him in place. As if she could somehow salvage the blissful moment. Their friends were quickly on either side of them, as it all went horribly wrong.
"Man Cassie! You're lethal with a necklace too!" Owen remarked.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Ok. Can I try again?"
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 13th, 2018, 08:27am
Alex stared into that crystal for a few moments, tracking it’s momentum for a few moments before being hit square in the forehead with the piece of jewelry. It broke whatever mild state he was in as he shook the disorienting feeling from his head. He wasn’t quite sure what had happened until he heard Owen’s quip about the rock.
He looked around and saw how his friends were laughing nervously, and he could have sworn he saw Owen slipping his phone back into his pocket. Hearing cassie’s Apologetic and worried voice caught his attention, to which he looked up at the girl in front of him and chuckled lightly, “Hey, don’t worry Cass. You were doing great. This is just your first try. Of course you’re going to be a little sloppy.” He teased, flashing a smile at her. “Just start over. And this time, maybe don’t swing that thing so close to my face.” He laughed, before reclining back on the couch.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 16th, 2018, 08:54am
"Alright. Well one thing I was forgetting was to tell you to keep your mind blank," Cassie tried to prepare herself to start again. She was positioned in front of Alex once more, and his friends hung back behind.
"Way to take one for the team, Alex," Owen heckled. From his position, Alex could see Cassie shoot him a glare over his shoulder. It wasn't fair that he snuck out his cell phone while Cassie was by focusing on the process.
"Owen! Be quiet. I need to concentrate if this is going to work."
"Yeah, you heard her Owen. No more talk until Alex is under," Jake teased. Cassie frowned at both of them, but once there was silence, she started again.
"As I said, try to keep your mind blank. If you're doing it right, you may start to feel a slight tingling sensation right here..." She said, tracing her fingers gently on his forehead. The gentle touch causing a calming sensation right at that moment. Then she presented him with the pendulum once more. The first bit from before was largely understood, so she only mentioned it briefly.
"Remember to sit comfortably and keep yourself isolated from touching as little as possible. Now stare into the crystal once again. Keep your mind blank. There is nothing outside the shape of the gem. Watch how the light interacts inside." She kept her wrist still, however the slightest movement traveled down the chain and into the crystal, causing it to sway just slightly.
"Keep your attention on it. You'll hardly even notice it move at all. However, let yourself release your stress. As the pendant drifts back and forth, you give up your worries and your anxieties..."
_________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 16th, 2018, 4:54pm
The young man rolled his eyes at his friends and leaned back. “Hey Jake, if Owen takes his phone out again, you know what to do.” He returned his gaze to the crystal, and stared at it. He listened intently to Cassie’s words, taking in a deep breath, and felt his gaze being drawn into the crystal.
As he stared, his joints all relaxed once more, and he started feelings numb all over. His mouth slowly opened as he looked at the swinging pendulum. He could feel all of his facial muscles relaxing as well, and his mind started to feel like putty. He was still aware and conscious, but something was happening.
_________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 19th, 2018, 10:16am
"Relax. You feel yourself relax. Your consciousness sinking in deeper. With each swing, you feel your slip in deeper into an even more relaxed state." As she spoken, the pendulum gradually gained wider and wider swings. She was careful this time not to smack him in the face with it. At first he would be able to follow it merely with his eyes. But after awhile, the swings flew past the edge of his vision. She didn't even bother to suggest to him that he gently turn his head to keep it in view.
"Relax. Give in. Surrender."
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 19th, 2018, 10:57am
With the crystal swinging back and forth in front of Alex, he kept his gaze upon that swinging crystal. His eyes felt trapped to the spot as it swung back and forth. As it began to swing out of his vision, he lulled his head sluggishly from side to side to follow the swinging rock. He began seeing those complexities once more, and felt his gaze being pulled into the crystal.
With each swing of the pendulum, Alex felt his body go more and more numb. His forehead was starting to feel more and more numb. He could no longer see his friends. The only thing he could see was the crystal, as everything was fading out and getting blurry. Even Cassie’s voice was getting muffled, but he could still make out her words.
It was harder to stay conscious, as his eye lids were starting to feel heavy. His fingers twitched once more, and his whole body went limp. He felt like he was getting so close now, but was this just the beginning? Or could it go deeper?
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 21st, 2018, 08:50am
She had forgotten about their friends watching with interest. A few of them leaned in closer, and she was reminded of their interest. For a moment, she was embarrassed at having an audience. The pendulum swung back and forth silently a few times before she realized she should be saying something. This was possibly the most crucial moment. Either he fell under her spell soon or else he was bound to lose interest. He could only remain relaxed for so long before his mind took over again.
"Feel yourself sinking in. Sleep Alex. Please go to sleep. Let your mind rest. Like sliding in to a comfortable bed." She studied his reactions for a moment and decided he might need a little push. But what? She reached out and gently pushed against his forehead, causing his whole relaxed frame to sink into the couch cushions.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 21st, 2018, 10:15am
Alex was starting to come out of it, until Cass’s muffled voice continued pleading with him. He could just barely make out the word sleep. His eyes slowly closed but opened every once in a while to continue staring at the crystal. His mind wanted to stare into that rock some more, and forced itself to keep staring.
The young man opened his eyes wide in one last ditch effort to see more when he felt Cassie press down on his already numb forehead. That’s when it started to look like the crystal was glowing a bright white light that he could not look away from. His jaw, if it was not open wide already most definitely was. Soon enough, the light consumed everything, and all that existed was that light.
The brightness almost hurt his eyes, but at the same time brought a sense of calm to the young man’s heart. It wasn’t too long before the brightness began to fade. He was expecting to see everyone back in the apartment, but they weren’t there. To be honest, the apartment wasn’t there either. There was just a blank canvas of nothingness that stretched on for miles and miles. Even the sky was a blank nothingness. Just pure white.
Without notice, Alex felt the ground form beneath his feet. A cool slippery surface with the texture of wet marble, except that this was not marble. What could this material be? It shouldn’t matter. But maybe it did. “H-hello?” He called out, sounding his presence. His voice echoed back to him several times. “W-what’s going on? Is this some kind of joke?”
Alex sat at the spot, not quite understanding what was happening to him. The act of trying to figure out where he was hurt his brain. He ran his left hand through his hair, and felt a light moisture form between his fingers as they combed through his sweat. He laid down on his back, letting out a sigh.
“Wait a minute...” Alex said, his eyes widening as he just realized something. His heart began pumping incredibly fast as he was shocked by what he’d just discovered. He lifted his left hand into the air, and flexed his fingers, each and every one curled and extended at will. He couldn’t believe it. His left arm... it wasn’t gone?! How could this be possible? He twisted and flexed his wrist this way and that, in pure joy as he stared at his hand.
That’s when he heard something coming from far off in the distance. It sort of sounded like a bit of a whimper, but echoed several times over. Looking around trying to locate the direction of the noise, Alex saw a small black dot off in the distance, hundreds of yards away. Whatever it was, it stood out against the white ground and sky. He took a few steps towards it. “H-hello?”
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 24th, 2018, 11:14am
As he called out, his words echoed around the vast expanse of whiteness. This was despite the fact that there wasn't anything for sound to echo from. The figure seemed to stir, but it was really hard to tell from the distance.
Scarlett sat on a metal stool with her head in her hands. This was bad. Bad bad bad. In fact, she didn't know how things could get any worse. She had had plenty of time to reflect on the situation she found herself in. There was the theater audition in a bad part of town, and now she was here.
With a name like Scarlett and being of vaguely Irish descent, one might expect that she would have lovely red hair and green eyes. But she didn't. She had very plain light brown hair that was slightly frizzy more often than not. And her eyes were brown as well. Sort of disappointing, just like her acting career. If she hadn't been desperate for work, she wouldn't have found herself in this situation.
She hadn't been special to find the only stool in the white planes, she merely wished for a thing to sit on and there it was. It was then that she heard a voice echoing from some distance away. She look up and spotted a small dot that interrupted the whiteness. It was the only sign of life she had seen since she had been here. She didn't react though. Maybe it was just a figment of her imagination. Maybe she had subconsciously conjured it like the stool.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 24th, 2018, 12:07pm
“Hellooooooo!” He called out once more, his voice rebounding of non-existent walls and reverberating back to him. The little spot of color didn’t seem to react, Alex started walking towards this splash of color that was standing out against the background of this strange place.
He walked towards the dot for about a minute before realizing that despite having walked for a good minute and a half, he hadn’t gotten any closer to the object on the horizon, if you could call it a horizon. What even was this place? It seemed as though the laws of physics were twisted around to the point where... no, that shouldn’t be possible. The laws of physics applied everywhere. This place could not have been different.
That’s when he heard a strange hissing and popping sound coming from behind him. Turning around, Alex could see a swirling mass of what looked like some sort of sand coming in together mid air just above his head, each individual grain moving on its own. Something weird was definitely going on here. As the sand came together, it started taking shape. The young man couldn’t take his eyes off of this swirling mass of material as it formed itself into the shape of a young woman. It took him a few moments to realize that this girl was Miranda.
His eyes went wide as the figure that seemed to resemble Miranda lowered to the ground a few grains of this strange material still flying around until each and every grain had found its place. Then she opened her eyes. “Miranda? Is that you?” Jackson asked, noticing that she was wearing a similar set of clothes to him, a white shirt and white shorts, but no shoes.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 24th, 2018, 12:30pm
Miranda opened her eyes and looked around very confused. "Alex? Is that you?" She took a moment to take in their surroundings... or lack there of. "Where are we? One minute I'm on the couch, and the next... Your not wearing the same clothes you were and... OH! Alex! Your arm! Am I dreaming?" It was all a lot to take in all at once, and yet it was all so plain. She hadn't even noticed the dot way out in the distance.
But the other dot did. Scarlett saw one pop up out of no where. Not unlike how she got her seat. Apparently now she was conjuring two people. Well no point in waiting around. If it was all a dream, then it would all be for nothing anyway. But if it wasn't... She stood up and started walking towards them, finding similar to Alex that it was even father away than it appeared.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 24th, 2018, 12:46pm
Alex couldn’t help but chuckle as he was bombarded by questions and statements from his friend. “Yup, it’s me.” And it was definitely was Miranda. As talkative as ever. “I don’t know where this is,” Alex said, “but since you’re here, and so am I, I’m gonna guess that this is where people go when they’re hypnotized,” he said, making an educated guess, given the similarities between his and miranda’s Situation. He looked around for a moment, and said, it’s pretty empty here though isn’t it.” ’just like Cassie had said. Empty your mind.’ when Miranda noticed his arm, he smiled and held it out for her to inspect. A wide smile plastered on his face as he could feel everything on his hands. “Go ahead, feel it! It’s real.”
He looked over his shoulder for a moment, and saw that the dot far off in the distance had split in two, and now there were two spots on horizon. “Hey Miranda? Are you seeing this over here or is it just me?” He pointed with his right hand towards the dots, allowing her to inspect his left arm.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 24th, 2018, 1:18pm
Miranda did not hesitate as she took his arm and felt it to make sure it wasn't a really good prothetic. Once she was satisfied that it really was an arm back, she ran her finger over his forearm and the bend in his elbow trying to get a ticklish response. "Maybe next time I'll have to bring the game system with me," she said, despite the absurdity of the statement. They hadn't even been able to bring their own clothes, much less personal items.
She shaded her eyes to look at the dots on the horizon. This was despite the fact that there was no sun shining. "Yes I see something. What do you think it is?" She looked around once again to confirm that there were no other dots anywhere, just those two.
Scarlett stopped for a moment and considered the situation. Something appeared out in the distance and it was taking forever to get there. Maybe she should imagine something better than just walking. A car would be nice. But wait, did motorized things work in a dream world? Or maybe it would just go on its own power. She considered it a bit before settling on a bicycle. She closed her eyes and imagined a bike. Just like she had for the seat. At first, nothing happened. And then, just like that, there was a bicycle for her. That should speed things up a little.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 24th, 2018, 1:37pm
When Miranda tried to tickle him on the arm, Alex yanked his arm away, “Hey! What was that for?” He was a bit embarrassed by the fact that she’d tickled him. He rolled his eyes, and turned to face the dot off in the distance. “I don’t know what it is... we should probably go and see.” He took her hand in his left hand, glad to have sensation in what used to be a ghost limb. He began walking towards the dot, pulling Miranda with him. “So, what did it feel like?” Alex asked, “when Cass was putting you under I mean.”
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 26th, 2018, 09:34am
"Well... It was very relaxing. I mean obviously. But it was like... my thoughts kind of slipped away from me. Like I was sliding into a warm bath, but I wasn't going anywhere, my mind was. I don't know if that makes any sense. What did you think of it, Alex? We all weren't sure what to expect. Like, is he really asleep or just very calm?" She tried to fit it to words.
As they walked and talked, the distant figure started to become more distinct. It started to become clear that it was a person on their bicycle. And luckily they were headed straight towards them. At some point the figure just vanished. One moment it was there, the next it wasn't.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 26th, 2018, 1:03pm
The way Miranda described the sensation to him, Alex couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “Yeah I get what you mean. It definitely felt nice to start relaxing like that after the finals. I don’t exactly remember falling asleep, but I remember everything sort of just, fading out, you know?” He looked up and noticed the dot had come closer, and he was starting to be able to make out some details about the dot. It looked like a person riding a bike, heading directly towards him and Miranda.
“Hello!” Alex called out, waving a hand over his head, positive that this person had seen them. He waved for a moment, before the person on the bike just vanished. It was as if they hadn’t even existed. Not even the bike was left.
“W-what?!” This didn’t make any sense. They were just, gone. Poof. Just like that. Without leaving a trace.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 28th, 2018, 4:56pm
"How? How can that happen?" Miranda asked shocked. She looked around a few times, but it was evident that the other person really had gone. "Well what the heck do we do now?" Miranda got to thinking about if the other person had been real, then it meant there was some way out of here. But if the person had been their imagination, then it probably meant nothing.
"Man, I really want some water right now." This place wasn't exactly a desert, but neither was it an oasis. No sooner had she thought that, then she tripped over something. "Ow! Hey!" There was a loud clatter as she knocked over a water jug that hadn't been there a moment before. She lay sprawled out on the ground staring at it. "What the heck?" Water was pouring out of the jug onto the white ground. But it was all disappearing just as soon as it spilled out.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 28th, 2018, 5:32pm
“Okay, this place is just too weird!” Alex said laughing nervously with a small smile on his face. As the water poured from the jug and immediately dispersed once it hit the ground, but for some reason, it wouldn’t run out of water.
“Whoever they were, they’re gone now. But what are the odds!” He looked down at the bottle, and just stared down at it in silent confusion. The young man helped his friend up off the ground, and continued looking down at the bottle. Maybe once we get out of this place Cass’ll have some answers.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 28th, 2018, 5:47pm
"Ok that was NOT there a moment go!" she said as she stood up with his help. "I was just thinking I'd like a drink... Is it possible I imagined it?" But there was another, more pressing question. She bent down and picked up the jug. Then she raised it to her lips.
"Yep. It does feel and taste like water. Ah that hits the spot. Alright Alex. You imagine something." She hadn't meant to create water, but she did. Or so it seemed.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 28th, 2018, 6:57pm
“Wait, you can’t be serious.” He laughed, looking at Miranda like she was crazy. “There has to be some sort of logical explanation for this. It can’t be as simple as just imagining something and willing it to appear,” he said aloud, though nothing about this place seemed to be rooted in logic. It seemed a bit ridiculous to believe that still, he closed his eyes, and tried imagining the person they’d been walking towards for the past few minutes. He hadn’t seen them up close, so the details were fuzzy. All he was able to picture clearly was the bike way off in the distance.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 29th, 2018, 12:30am
Miranda stopped sipping her water for a moment and gave him a look. "Right. Logical explanation. Because this... " she said gesturing to the white expanse around them. "...makes sense. This..." she pointed to his arm, "... makes sense." She was too busy arguing her point, she hadn't even noticed the bike was now sitting about the same distance away that the other girl had been. There was no rider, just a lone bicycle.
"I mean, I don't know... maybe I'm just dreaming. Maybe you're not really here and this is all a really weird dream. Some sort of hypnotic hallucination or something."
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 29th, 2018, 12:51am
“You know Miranda, I’ve sort of been wondering the same thing. Hm... maybe we could come up with some sort of code or phrase or something that would let us know if this was real or if one of us was hallucinating.” He looked over her shoulder and saw the bike way off in the distance, fallen over to one side.
“Look at that!” Alex said, pointing at the two wheeler where the person had disappeared.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 29th, 2018, 01:03am
"Sure we can do that. I mean, eventually we have to wake up, right? So some sort of secret phrase would prove we were both here. "Maybe something like..." she turned and looked just as she was saying this. Her talking faded into silence as she looked at the bike dumbstruck. She started to say something. But she couldn't quite get it out. For once she was at a loss to say anything. Finally, she manage dot break the silence.
"WHAT? How is that bike back? It wasn't there a moment ago. How did...? "
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 29th, 2018, 01:41am
Alex was just as awestruck as Miranda was. “I just... thought about the person riding their bike. The person doesn’t seem to be here.” He said, staring at the bike. “This place sure is insane. Water that never runs out. People that disappear. Arms that shouldn’t be here.” He said, listing out all the things that made this place go beyond the brink of abnormal.
“This place has just a modicum if logic. Gravity for one... and oxygen... if that’s what we’re even breathing right now... but that’s pretty much it.”
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 29th, 2018, 02:06am
"Unless of course that other person really was another person. Maybe we weren't just imagining them... in which case the only way they would come back is through... hypnosis." She took a deep breath. "Alex. I want to leave. I want to go back to the apartment where we were all partying. But I'm not sure how we do that..." She shook her head at this.
"Let's come up with our code phrases. I want you to say, 'Remember the red bicycle?' That's the phrase. That way I will know we didn't dream it."
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 29th, 2018, 02:21am
Alex nodded in agreement as his friend expressed her wishes to leave this place, whatever it was. "I don't know if there is a way for us to force ourselves to leave. I think it just sort of... happens." he thought about how the other person had disappeared and couldn't come up with any other explanation than they had no control over whether they stayed or went.
The young man nodded at Miranda's phrase, and repeated "Remember the red bike. Okay. Got it. Now, what I want you to do, is ask, "Can you feel this?, and poke my left arm. The prosthetic one. Okay?" He looked her straight in the eyes. He new no-one under any circumstances would ever do something like that, as it was considered disrespectful, which was the exact reason he told her to do that. It would be out of character for her, for sure, and he'd immediately be able to tell that it was true, and not just some coincidence.
Roleplay Section >> City >> CE: a different state of mind
kainakaa.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=collage&action=display&num=1519937219
CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 1st, 2018, 1:46pm
Alex Craft’s closest friends had come over for a night of partying after passing all their midterms. These friends of his were the ones whom hadn’t gazed upon him from afar with sad apologetic looks on their faces as they noticed what he was missing.
At the young age of eleven years old, he and a group of friends had been messing around in a junkyard when a pile of garbage had come loose, and crushed his arm to just below the elbow. The doctors were unable to save the arm, so he now wore a prosthetic. It wasn’t functional, just cosmetic, so he couldn’t grab anything with his left hand. It could be a pain at times, and made life difficult for the college sophomore, but it didn’t bother him too much.
The young man stood by the entertainment center, deleting and prioritizing songs on the ‘play next list’, while his roommate was busy refilling the snacks. For a small group of five people, they sure went through junk food fast.
Once Alex was satisfied with the music lineup, he headed over to the couch and flopped down next to Miranda. She and Owen were battling it out in a competitive game of street racing online. So far, it seemed everyone else in the lobby was complete garbage, and Miranda was beating Owen by just a few feet ahead.
“Come on Owen you got this!” Alex called out, rooting on the underdog. Alex’s hazel eyes took in the spectacle before him as he watched in anticipation, waiting to see which of his friends were better at battling for rank in such a highly competitive game.
Miranda reached over and ruffled Owen’s black hair, breaking his concentration, causing him to fall behind. “Hey no fair!” Owen cried out as he lost his place in the race and fell to third place.
Alex couldn’t help but laugh as his friends duked it out on the game and turned to see Cassie over at the table, studying away. She was the most serious out of the five of them. Her grades were without question the highest in the group, and possibly the whole school. When she was studying, she had a tendency to let her dark brown hang in front of her face and curtain around her textbook, to prevent herself from being distracted from what she was studying. Currently, she was in such a position, hard at work, absorbing as much information as she could.
Jake came in from the kitchen and set a bowl of cheese puffs, and six pack of root beer on the coffee table. He flopped down to the ground with an exasperated sigh and grunted, “next time one of you are gonna host the party.” He groaned and ran his hands through his red hair.
Each of them had had a busy day of taking tests. They were all trying to become psychology majors with different focuses. Alex was studying to become a mental health specialist, someone who could help identify a problem in someone’s psyche, and prescribe a solution. His tests were rather tough, but he knew he did well on his test. Hopefully his friends did well as well.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 7th, 2018, 08:57am
"First!" Miranda shouted as she completed the race before anyone else. Victory celebrations included a fist pump and a handful of celebratory cheese puffs. Owen sank into the couch with a sigh and handed off the controller to Jake. It would be up to him to try to dethrone Miranda as top racer.
"Well alright then," Jake said as Owen stood up and allowed him to take his place in the hot seat. It was time to refresh over a bottle of rootbeer. There was a satisfying sound of pressure release as he twisted the cap off. He glanced over at Cassie.
"Still studying?" Cassie was so engrossed in her reading, she didn't even notice the first time... or the second. Even with the music playing and video game rivalry, she still managed to fit in some study time.
"Huh? Oh. I'm trying to go over the things I'm sure I missed on the exam. Her concentration broken for the moment, she lifted her head from the table. Her text book was open to a page about the subconscious mind. Her chosen field of study involved hypnotherapy. And not just stage parlor tricks, but actually how the subconscious works.
"Give it a rest. We all know that if anyone did well on their exams, it's you," Owen pointed out.
"Hmmm..." was the only response as her head moved back into position over the textbook.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 7th, 2018, 09:20am
The host of the post final party glanced curiously over at Cassie. Her full name was Cassidy, but everyone called had Cassie for short, as a sort of nickname for the girl. “Yeah Cassie. There’s no way you missed anything on the test,” Alex said, getting up from the couch, and heading over to the table where the brunette was studying hard.
“What’s this?” The young man said, reaching out and placing a finger on the top of the page, as to not totally interrupt cassie’s Concentration. Alex tilted his head slightly in order to get a better angle on the title near his finger. He knew that she was trying to major in one of the lesser known majors at the school, but never really took any interest in her courses.
Jake was a veteran at this game. He’d been practicing overnight just for this match between him and Miranda. He’d memorized the maps, shortcuts, all the tricks. He hoped this practicing could give him a fighting chance against this natural talent.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 7th, 2018, 10:01am
The next race started off in 3... 2... 1... Go! Miranda, having placed first last time was in an excellent spot and started off in first. However, Jake having had the most practice, was quick to catch up to her and overtook 1st place.
Cassidy was once again in the zone, but her eyes stopped at the place where he placed his finger.
"I couldn't be sure about one of the questions on the test. It was asking about how our concept of the subconscious has changed over time." She took a deep breath as she collected her thoughts. "You see part of the interesting thing about our minds is that we don't really know much about how they work. I mean not on a fundamental level. What is consciousness? What is the subconscious? Oh there are plenty of theories that come and go, but nothing we can actually quantify. As you know, we are studying is a social science, not an exact science. At best we get certain models that seem to hold true in certain circumstances and the fall flat in others. If you consider..."
She was cut off suddenly by shouting from the couch. "Who is this guy?" Someone online had joined the race and pushed Jake back to 5th place. This allowed Miranda to move up to 2nd and was once again top in the living room.
"I couldn't remember Sigmund Freud's favorite color." Owen commented humorously in the silence that followed. Cassie shook her head and closed her textbook.
"Did you leave me any rootbeer?" she asked snagging a bottle. "But how about you, Alex? How did your tests go?"
"Ha! I still win!" Miranda said as the online person paced first, Miranda second and Jake just barely making 3rd.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 7th, 2018, 10:11am
As the yelling came from the couch, Alec couldn’t help but glance over and watch as Jake fell further and further behind. “Come on man! Use the slip-stream!” He said, trying to offer him some advice in order to get him caught up, but it was too late. He’d already lost. At Owen’s comment, the room filled with chuckles.
“Wasn’t that question a subjective one? Like, a what does it mean to you? Type question?” He started thinking on one of his questions that was worded very similarly, and began worrying about wether or not it really was subjective. “I think I did fine on it. Nothing close to how well you obviously did.”
Alex also reached for a root beer. His studies had taught him the sugar and caffeine would stimulate his brain, releasing dopamine into his system. A great way to reward one’s self after a long day of testing.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 8th, 2018, 05:54am
She shrugged. Cassie was never one to gloat or take too much pride in being better than everyone else. While many others might have labeled her as a bore, her friends understood that she could still have fun despite having her nose stuck in a book.
"That's it! I'm done!" Jake said rising up from the couch. He held the controller high in dramatic fashion. He took his defeat loudly yet gracefully. He handed it off to Miranda, who found herself with two controllers, which didn't do her any good. She turned to watch the two of them.
"Alex. Cassie. Want a turn?" She held out the controllers to both of them. Cassie shrugged again.
"Why not? A little distraction can be a good thing. I'll probably lose, but what the heck," Cassie took the controller and sat down on the couch.
"How about you, Alex? I suppose I can step down for a moment as Queen of Racing." Miranda gloated a bit for Jake's benefit. The queen took a victory handful of cheese puffs.
"I would have had you if someone online hadn't messed me up," Jake rose to the bait. He went to get a helping of chips as well, but found the bowl empty. He growled a little in mock frustration as he crossed over to the kitchen area to refill snacks once again.
"One cannot grace the raceway too much, otherwise there would be no competition," she ignored him.
"So ummm... what are the controls again?" Cassie asked eyeing over the buttons on the controllers.
"Hold down B button and don't let go," Owen supplied helpfully.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 8th, 2018, 2:21pm
At the advice Alex couldn’t help but snicker. “Owen, you do know you’re supposed to change gears in this game, right?” Perhaps that was the reason he struggled against Miranda. She did seem to have been doing a lot more with her controller than Owen had during their math. Alex looked down at the controller, which had inputs on both sides. A two handed controller.
“No thanks,” the young man said to the self proclaimed race queen, holding up his prosthetic Fiberglas hand, “I’m good,” he knew it was an accident, and he was a good sport about it. It could get a little annoying if someone were to continuously forget, or pretend to forget just to get on his nerves, so he stayed away from those people. He didn’t mind however as long as it wasn’t too frequent.
Alex headed from the table into the kitchen to join Jake, and help him with preparing some more snacks. “What was that man? You almost had it!” He helped with setting out some more chips, holding the bowl in place with his prosthetic, and pouring out the chips with his right hand. He praised his luck of being right handed, and set the chips back in the coupboard before turning to his friend, leaning against the counter, and crossing his arms with a soft smile on his face.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 8th, 2018, 11:30pm
Miranda's expression fell a little bit. "Oops. Sorry. I didn't mean..." There wasn't a good way to recover from her flub, but there wasn't any time to dwell on it as the next race started off.
3... 2... 1... GO!
"Wait! How do I shift?" Cassie asked in an excited panic. Miranda kept her controller in and good position before leaning over to show Cassie how it works.
"There is an automatic drive mode... I think." Owen tried to save face.
Meanwhile, Jake elbowed Alex in the side. "I call hacks. That cheater came out of no where. And you know if you give the others players an inch, they will go for a mile. It's like no one wants to let you pass after that."
Cassie managed to maintain a respectable not-last place for someone who had hardly ever played before.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 12:13am
The way his roommate tried explaining why he lost was amusing to Alex, who couldn’t help but start laughing as he heard Owen trying to explain his loss as well. He put a hand to his mouth and chuckled to himself. “Well, I mean, it is a racing game. The point is to not let anyone get past you.” He chuckles to himself before picking up the bowl of chips he’d set up, “I’m gonna head back in there and see who’s winning.”
The blonde haired man headed into the living room where Miranda was teaching Cassie how to play, and he could have sworn it looked like Owen was trying to sneak in on this private lesson in controls. “Has she taught you how to use the nitro yet?” Alex asked, looking down at Cassie, before setting down the bowl in front of three of his friends.
He went and sat to Miranda’s left, putting himself between Owen and the gaming tutorial. Alex tilted his head slightly and looked down at the controller. Some days he wished he’d be able to play, but in all honesty, he took more joy in watching other people having fun.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 9th, 2018, 01:40am
"Wait... so you mean that you boost like this?" Cassie asked, engaging the nitro boost on the straightaway. Her car shot forward slamming into the car ahead of her. The boost carried both vehicles forward, shoving past a number of opponents. A decidedly hazardous tactic, if it were planned that way. Cassie started laughing with delight.
"Hey! Who was that... Cassie?" Miranda asked in disbelief as her car got shoved to one side.
"Woah woah ok. Don't wreck your car!" Owen supplied.
"I don't know! How do I...?" Cassie started to ask, but on the turn, she managed to shove the car she rear ended to one side. She wasn't in first place, but now neither was Miranda either. It was right at that moment that Jake walked in.
"Dang girl. They let you have a license?" He asked as he surveyed the damage to the other racers that Cassie was creating.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 02:06am
As the virtual carnage unfolded, Alex couldn't help but start howling with laughter. Cassie had single handedly completely shuffled the entire roster of racers, leaving herself and Miranda battling for rank, both neck and neck.
"Come on Cass, you can do this! On the next turn, push Miranda into the wall!" Alex cheered, rooting on the underdog. It seemed as the race got more and more intense, so did the cheering from the group, each person respectively rooting for the other racer to win. Alex reached forwards, and took a handful of chips.
Seeing the damage that Cassie had caused made him glad that he didn't carpool with her in the mornings. still though, it was extremely entertaining to watch her ram into other cars, a strategy that for some reason, somehow worked.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 9th, 2018, 02:29am
"What? No way. I've still got my boost," Miranda pointed out triumphantly. "Meanwhile, Cassidy is just about out." However, what she didn't count on was Cassie swerving awkwardly in the way. Just as she boosted, her car flew forward right into Cassie.
Obviously this game wasn't meant to be a demolition derby. If any of the cars had health meters, they would have both wrecked by now. The two of them spun out... just a few yards away from the finish line. It quickly became a mad dash to get control of their cars again, and push them the last few yards.
"No! Nonononono!" Miranda chanted, as she struggled to turn around.
"First place!" the game announced as Cassie just inched past the finish line. The highlight reel showed one very beatup looking wreck. Cassie sat there on the couch chortling with laughter.
"I won? I won!"
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 02:45am
In some strange form of luck, Cassie won first place in a match against both people who've played the game before, as well as Miranda. And it was Cassie's first ever race! At first Alex was stunned, but then he couldn't hold back his hysteric laughter. A chat box opened up in the bottom left of the highlight reel where other racers were displaying their anger and outrage over the results of the match. This just gave Alex more of a reason to laugh.
"Holy cow Cassie you actually pulled it off!" He laughed noticing the shock on her face. The usually timid girl was displaying excitement and joy at her win. Owen, Jake, and Miranda were completely silent, seemingly for completely different reasons.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 9th, 2018, 03:09am
Cassie's excitement faded as the angry comments kept pouring in.
"Ok! I'm sorry! Make them stop. Tell them I'm sorry!" she said as her face started to turn red. So many angry comments.
"What? No way!" Owen said, grabbing the controller from her hand before she could type out an apology to the angry masses. "I'm sorry Jake, but your online account may be forever tarnished."
"Oh please! It was anyway when I let you play," Jake replied. Owen grinned at this, and Cassie couldn't help but smile again. The online lobby emptied out of enraged people.
"I think I'm going to retire from racing for now. I don't think I could pull that off again," she was grinning, though still bright red.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 03:17am
Miranda was keeping bizarrely quiet as everyone else laughed and taunted eachother about the win that Cassie had just pulled off. "You okay Miranda?" Alex asked, looking over to the 'race queen' who was looking quite dejected.
Like any normal person, Alex didn't like it when his friends were upset. Alex took a couple chips from his hand, and started eating them quietly as he could feel the tension beginning to rise. Hopefully this loss wasn't going to be too hard on the girl.
Just then his watch beeped, alerting him to the time. eleven oclock. An hour to midnight. "Holy moley! Where did the time go?" he could imagine a few of his friends may have been getting tired at this point, but it didn't seem like any of them were showing any signs of sleepiness.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 9th, 2018, 3:43pm
"Anyone else want to race?" Owen asked showing the controller around. There was silence for a moment.
"Hey why don't you race, Owen?" Jake chimed in.
"I just found out I was doing it wrong the whole time..." It seemed racing was out for out for the evening. And perhaps it was getting late. There was silence for a time as they considered what else to do. Nothing was going to top the game they just witnessed. Plus the sugar rush from the soda was starting to die down among the group.
"Hey guys..." Cassie said tentatively. "Not to bring up school work again... And doesn't have to be this evening... But I was wondering if I could get some volunteers to help with a class project. Oh, I mean you won't have to do any work. Just be test subjects."
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 9th, 2018, 7:56pm
As the party started winding down, Alex couldn’t help but notice that everyone was starting to migrate towards the front door, he didn’t want the party to end so early, despite how late it was. Post test parties usually lasted into the early hours of a morning.
Just as he was about to say something, Cassie started asking for volunteers. The way she phrased it was quite intriguing, and Alex saw the opportunity to make a short quip.
“I don’t know. Will me or my family be entitled to financial compensation if I descide to participate?” Alex teased, reaching over and poking Cassie on the nose gently as a way to let everyone know he meant it as a joke. He laughed at his own joke for a moment, before saying, “it depends on what the project is.” It seemed like the conversation was starting to bring everyone back in. The general intrigue of what Cassie’s project could be. Her projects were always above and beyond, and could turn heads easily. Alex was all for helping her out, but he just wanted to know what the project was.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 10th, 2018, 10:39am
"Oh sure. You can get financial compensation... Right after the collection agencies get her student loans. Just give it about 20 years. I think the standard going rate for student projects is a dollar," Jake chimed in. Cassie laughed a little as Alex poked her nose.
"No no. Strictly voluntary. Well so my field of study involves hypno-therapy. Helping relieve people's mental burdens by delving into their subconscious. Helping people fix their issues by tackling the underlying cause. But we are in school, and its all a lot of theory learning. I don't even know if I would be any good at actually helping people. And it's not like I've actually gotten to work with anyone put under. I was thinking about making it a project and turning in a report about my findings. But I need participants." She studied her friends faces as she spoke, trying to get a feel for people's reactions. She half expected everyone to laugh at the idea, and it wouldn't be any big deal. "It wouldn't have to be in front of everyone, we can make it private. Or make it a group thing. And we won't do anything embarrassing. My report would leave out names, everything would be completely patient confidential."
"Oh sure. Confidential. Just me and a few thousand close friends on youtube," Owen joked, though he was quick to add. "No, but that sounds interesting Cass." He hastily threw an arm around her. He wasn't actually laughing at her project, just his own jokes. Cassie smiled and nodded. She probably would have been worried if Owen took anything seriously.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 10th, 2018, 12:16pm
Alex was definitely intrigued by her proposition. He’d never been hypnotized before, and he was sure none of his friends had either. They young man shrugged, and said, “Sure why not? Sounds like a lot of fun!” But then a thought came into his mind. “But wait... do you even know how to hypnotize someone yet? I thought that was something they only taught to seniors, because you know... great power, great responsibility, all that.”
The boy headed over to grab another soda, to try to get the party going again, taking the bottle, and twisting off the cap until it made that satisfying hissing noise.
Than alex’s Attention was turned to Owen. “Wait, you of all people have a few thousand followers on YouTube? how?” He liked giving Owen a hard time, but made sure to not take it too far.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 10th, 2018, 3:32pm
"You know that he doesn't," Jake pointed out for everyone the state of Owen's YouTube channel.
"Ok ok. I may NOT have thousands of followers on YouTube. But once you post it, anyone can find it. I'd probably have a thousand after that video came out." Owen started surmising. Jake grabbed himself a soda as well.
"Anyway, sounds cool, Cassie, but I think I'm going to sit this one out," Jake said as he took a sip. She shrugged.
"And that's fine. I don't expect a whole lot of people would be terribly interested."
"I mean, I'm game to try it," Miranda finally voiced in. "Goodness knows we certainly can't let Owen do it."
"I haven't exactly tried it out on anyone yet, but I have the basic idea and know how to do it in theory..." Cassie supplied helpfully. It might be a bit of a learning process for all involved.
"Well you wanted volunteers. That's Alex and Miranda for you," Jake counted the votes for everyone.
"Anyway! It doesn't have to be right now if people want to do other things. Sorry to derail the party. I just wanted to get that out there while we were together."
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 10th, 2018, 5:14pm
“We should see what you’ve got! I’d be glad to go first!” Alex said with a friendly smile, looking around the room, his eyes landing on Owen, “but just make sure Owen doesn’t start filming. Don’t want him uploading a video of me bawking like a chicken or anything like that.”
The young man looked over at Miranda, and said, “what do you think? I mean, We’re both here right now. This could be a fun activity. Perhaps we could do this now. It’d be like a party game!” Turning his attention back to Cassie, Alex said, “how about it? Let’s have some fun with this!” He flashed his teeth in a happy smile, glad he had such awesome friends.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 11th, 2018, 10:08am
"No cameras. And nothing will leave this room," she said as she gave everyone a look individually until they nodded.
"Alright then Alex. Come take a seat on the couch," Cassie stood up and reached around behind her neck. She undid her necklace, which turned out to be not a regular necklace at all. It held a crystal at the center, which wasn't big enough to be gaudy, but also wasn't small enough to be mistaken for precious stone. It seems Cassie had been wearing this for awhile, just in case.
"I'm going to need you to sit up, but sit comfortably. Let your spine be straight, but not forced. Each vertebrae all the way up to your neck stacked on top of each other without stretching. Your neck should not be curved, but let your head rest easy. Your arms should be resting lightly on the couch, and not held. Your feet flat on the ground, but not digging in anywhere. You can take off your shoes, if you wish. Now sitting comfortably, you should have minimal sense of touch of anything around you. Take a moment to slowly adjust yourself if anything is digging in anywhere." She paused just in case for his benefit of getting comfortable. Her words were gentle and slow. Then she looked at their friends, who were sitting somewhere on the sides or behind him.
"I'm going to need absolute silence, if this is going to have a chance of working." She when presented him with the necklace in front of his face. She held it above by the chain and put the crystal directly in front of his face.
"This crystal. Is quite ordinary. There is nothing special about it. No powers. No mental tricks. I want you to stare at it. Just direct your attention to it. Focus on it." She had only just begun the mental exercises.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 11th, 2018, 1:25pm
Alex couldn’t help but chuckle nervously, as Cassie sat herself in front of him, and began telling him the exact posture he needed to be in for this to work. His friends were all leaning in close, trying to get a good look at what was happening. The way they were all focused on him made him slightly nervous, and he couldn’t get comfortable while trying so hard to get himself in the right position.
“Hey guys? I know you’re all very interested in this, but could you please back up a little? It’s making me nervous,” he let out a short laugh, just before the necklace was dropped in front of his face. His eyes fell upon the crystal, which he could have sworn Cassie hadn’t been wearing on her necklace earlier. As everyone was being as absolutely silent as they could,Alex could feel himself starting to relax, everything started feeling looser, and less stiff.
Cassie’s sentences sounded all broken up, to their simplest forms, letting his mind relax as well, as it didn’t have to try as hard to process language. He let out a quiet sigh and simply kept staring at the crystal, waiting for Cassie to start.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 12th, 2018, 08:53am
"Just watch the crystal..."
Was Cassie about to start? Nope! Or had she already started? At what point was the induction starting? At what point did the hypnosis begin? ... Was just some of the questions going through their friends, but none of them said anything. They remained completely silent as they tried to puzzle it out for themselves.
"Focus all of your attention on it. Let your peripheral vision fade away. There is nothing outside of the crystal. Even my face. There is nothing going on in the background. There is only the sparkly." She stopped for a moment as she fought back laughing. She was just saying the first things that came to her mind. She hadn't meant to say something silly like 'sparkly'.
"Now... allow your focus to narrow down even further. Look inside the crystal. Can you see the light inside it? Can you see the patterns inside? There isn't even an outside edge. There is only infinitely complex inside. The crystal may just go on forever." She had been holding the pendant still this whole time, but now ever so slowly she began to turn it. The contours inside seemed to shift and slide upon themselves. The light refracted differently. It was like looking at a kaleidoscope.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 12th, 2018, 09:20am
As Cassie went on, Alex couldn’t help but starting to feel a bit more relaxed. He just looked up into that beautiful crystal that hung from the chain. He felt calm, but not much more than that. At the point where Cass said “sparkly,” he couldn’t help but chuckle, as she sounded like the crow from Secret of Nihm.it seemed that Alex had a bit less self restraint than Cassie did. Or was he already being worn down by her attempts to induct him?
When told to look deeper, he had to fight the urge to lean forward to get a better look. His head slightly tilted to get a better angle on the stone, and he began seeing a sort of pattern inside of the clear rock. His fingers twitched slightly, an unconscious movement he hadn’t made on his own. Was it starting to happen?
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 13th, 2018, 07:37am
"Now keep watching. Slowly... slowly." WHACK! Cassie had started moving the pendulum back and forth, but quickly lot control of it, and it ended up smacking into his forehead. It wasn't all that hard, she hadn't even hardly started, but it was probably surprising.
"No!" she cried in a panic. She reached out and placed her hand on his arm as if to keep him in place. As if she could somehow salvage the blissful moment. Their friends were quickly on either side of them, as it all went horribly wrong.
"Man Cassie! You're lethal with a necklace too!" Owen remarked.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Ok. Can I try again?"
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 13th, 2018, 08:27am
Alex stared into that crystal for a few moments, tracking it’s momentum for a few moments before being hit square in the forehead with the piece of jewelry. It broke whatever mild state he was in as he shook the disorienting feeling from his head. He wasn’t quite sure what had happened until he heard Owen’s quip about the rock.
He looked around and saw how his friends were laughing nervously, and he could have sworn he saw Owen slipping his phone back into his pocket. Hearing cassie’s Apologetic and worried voice caught his attention, to which he looked up at the girl in front of him and chuckled lightly, “Hey, don’t worry Cass. You were doing great. This is just your first try. Of course you’re going to be a little sloppy.” He teased, flashing a smile at her. “Just start over. And this time, maybe don’t swing that thing so close to my face.” He laughed, before reclining back on the couch.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 16th, 2018, 08:54am
"Alright. Well one thing I was forgetting was to tell you to keep your mind blank," Cassie tried to prepare herself to start again. She was positioned in front of Alex once more, and his friends hung back behind.
"Way to take one for the team, Alex," Owen heckled. From his position, Alex could see Cassie shoot him a glare over his shoulder. It wasn't fair that he snuck out his cell phone while Cassie was by focusing on the process.
"Owen! Be quiet. I need to concentrate if this is going to work."
"Yeah, you heard her Owen. No more talk until Alex is under," Jake teased. Cassie frowned at both of them, but once there was silence, she started again.
"As I said, try to keep your mind blank. If you're doing it right, you may start to feel a slight tingling sensation right here..." She said, tracing her fingers gently on his forehead. The gentle touch causing a calming sensation right at that moment. Then she presented him with the pendulum once more. The first bit from before was largely understood, so she only mentioned it briefly.
"Remember to sit comfortably and keep yourself isolated from touching as little as possible. Now stare into the crystal once again. Keep your mind blank. There is nothing outside the shape of the gem. Watch how the light interacts inside." She kept her wrist still, however the slightest movement traveled down the chain and into the crystal, causing it to sway just slightly.
"Keep your attention on it. You'll hardly even notice it move at all. However, let yourself release your stress. As the pendant drifts back and forth, you give up your worries and your anxieties..."
_________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 16th, 2018, 4:54pm
The young man rolled his eyes at his friends and leaned back. “Hey Jake, if Owen takes his phone out again, you know what to do.” He returned his gaze to the crystal, and stared at it. He listened intently to Cassie’s words, taking in a deep breath, and felt his gaze being drawn into the crystal.
As he stared, his joints all relaxed once more, and he started feelings numb all over. His mouth slowly opened as he looked at the swinging pendulum. He could feel all of his facial muscles relaxing as well, and his mind started to feel like putty. He was still aware and conscious, but something was happening.
_________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 19th, 2018, 10:16am
"Relax. You feel yourself relax. Your consciousness sinking in deeper. With each swing, you feel your slip in deeper into an even more relaxed state." As she spoken, the pendulum gradually gained wider and wider swings. She was careful this time not to smack him in the face with it. At first he would be able to follow it merely with his eyes. But after awhile, the swings flew past the edge of his vision. She didn't even bother to suggest to him that he gently turn his head to keep it in view.
"Relax. Give in. Surrender."
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 19th, 2018, 10:57am
With the crystal swinging back and forth in front of Alex, he kept his gaze upon that swinging crystal. His eyes felt trapped to the spot as it swung back and forth. As it began to swing out of his vision, he lulled his head sluggishly from side to side to follow the swinging rock. He began seeing those complexities once more, and felt his gaze being pulled into the crystal.
With each swing of the pendulum, Alex felt his body go more and more numb. His forehead was starting to feel more and more numb. He could no longer see his friends. The only thing he could see was the crystal, as everything was fading out and getting blurry. Even Cassie’s voice was getting muffled, but he could still make out her words.
It was harder to stay conscious, as his eye lids were starting to feel heavy. His fingers twitched once more, and his whole body went limp. He felt like he was getting so close now, but was this just the beginning? Or could it go deeper?
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 21st, 2018, 08:50am
She had forgotten about their friends watching with interest. A few of them leaned in closer, and she was reminded of their interest. For a moment, she was embarrassed at having an audience. The pendulum swung back and forth silently a few times before she realized she should be saying something. This was possibly the most crucial moment. Either he fell under her spell soon or else he was bound to lose interest. He could only remain relaxed for so long before his mind took over again.
"Feel yourself sinking in. Sleep Alex. Please go to sleep. Let your mind rest. Like sliding in to a comfortable bed." She studied his reactions for a moment and decided he might need a little push. But what? She reached out and gently pushed against his forehead, causing his whole relaxed frame to sink into the couch cushions.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 21st, 2018, 10:15am
Alex was starting to come out of it, until Cass’s muffled voice continued pleading with him. He could just barely make out the word sleep. His eyes slowly closed but opened every once in a while to continue staring at the crystal. His mind wanted to stare into that rock some more, and forced itself to keep staring.
The young man opened his eyes wide in one last ditch effort to see more when he felt Cassie press down on his already numb forehead. That’s when it started to look like the crystal was glowing a bright white light that he could not look away from. His jaw, if it was not open wide already most definitely was. Soon enough, the light consumed everything, and all that existed was that light.
The brightness almost hurt his eyes, but at the same time brought a sense of calm to the young man’s heart. It wasn’t too long before the brightness began to fade. He was expecting to see everyone back in the apartment, but they weren’t there. To be honest, the apartment wasn’t there either. There was just a blank canvas of nothingness that stretched on for miles and miles. Even the sky was a blank nothingness. Just pure white.
Without notice, Alex felt the ground form beneath his feet. A cool slippery surface with the texture of wet marble, except that this was not marble. What could this material be? It shouldn’t matter. But maybe it did. “H-hello?” He called out, sounding his presence. His voice echoed back to him several times. “W-what’s going on? Is this some kind of joke?”
Alex sat at the spot, not quite understanding what was happening to him. The act of trying to figure out where he was hurt his brain. He ran his left hand through his hair, and felt a light moisture form between his fingers as they combed through his sweat. He laid down on his back, letting out a sigh.
“Wait a minute...” Alex said, his eyes widening as he just realized something. His heart began pumping incredibly fast as he was shocked by what he’d just discovered. He lifted his left hand into the air, and flexed his fingers, each and every one curled and extended at will. He couldn’t believe it. His left arm... it wasn’t gone?! How could this be possible? He twisted and flexed his wrist this way and that, in pure joy as he stared at his hand.
That’s when he heard something coming from far off in the distance. It sort of sounded like a bit of a whimper, but echoed several times over. Looking around trying to locate the direction of the noise, Alex saw a small black dot off in the distance, hundreds of yards away. Whatever it was, it stood out against the white ground and sky. He took a few steps towards it. “H-hello?”
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 24th, 2018, 11:14am
As he called out, his words echoed around the vast expanse of whiteness. This was despite the fact that there wasn't anything for sound to echo from. The figure seemed to stir, but it was really hard to tell from the distance.
Scarlett sat on a metal stool with her head in her hands. This was bad. Bad bad bad. In fact, she didn't know how things could get any worse. She had had plenty of time to reflect on the situation she found herself in. There was the theater audition in a bad part of town, and now she was here.
With a name like Scarlett and being of vaguely Irish descent, one might expect that she would have lovely red hair and green eyes. But she didn't. She had very plain light brown hair that was slightly frizzy more often than not. And her eyes were brown as well. Sort of disappointing, just like her acting career. If she hadn't been desperate for work, she wouldn't have found herself in this situation.
She hadn't been special to find the only stool in the white planes, she merely wished for a thing to sit on and there it was. It was then that she heard a voice echoing from some distance away. She look up and spotted a small dot that interrupted the whiteness. It was the only sign of life she had seen since she had been here. She didn't react though. Maybe it was just a figment of her imagination. Maybe she had subconsciously conjured it like the stool.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 24th, 2018, 12:07pm
“Hellooooooo!” He called out once more, his voice rebounding of non-existent walls and reverberating back to him. The little spot of color didn’t seem to react, Alex started walking towards this splash of color that was standing out against the background of this strange place.
He walked towards the dot for about a minute before realizing that despite having walked for a good minute and a half, he hadn’t gotten any closer to the object on the horizon, if you could call it a horizon. What even was this place? It seemed as though the laws of physics were twisted around to the point where... no, that shouldn’t be possible. The laws of physics applied everywhere. This place could not have been different.
That’s when he heard a strange hissing and popping sound coming from behind him. Turning around, Alex could see a swirling mass of what looked like some sort of sand coming in together mid air just above his head, each individual grain moving on its own. Something weird was definitely going on here. As the sand came together, it started taking shape. The young man couldn’t take his eyes off of this swirling mass of material as it formed itself into the shape of a young woman. It took him a few moments to realize that this girl was Miranda.
His eyes went wide as the figure that seemed to resemble Miranda lowered to the ground a few grains of this strange material still flying around until each and every grain had found its place. Then she opened her eyes. “Miranda? Is that you?” Jackson asked, noticing that she was wearing a similar set of clothes to him, a white shirt and white shorts, but no shoes.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 24th, 2018, 12:30pm
Miranda opened her eyes and looked around very confused. "Alex? Is that you?" She took a moment to take in their surroundings... or lack there of. "Where are we? One minute I'm on the couch, and the next... Your not wearing the same clothes you were and... OH! Alex! Your arm! Am I dreaming?" It was all a lot to take in all at once, and yet it was all so plain. She hadn't even noticed the dot way out in the distance.
But the other dot did. Scarlett saw one pop up out of no where. Not unlike how she got her seat. Apparently now she was conjuring two people. Well no point in waiting around. If it was all a dream, then it would all be for nothing anyway. But if it wasn't... She stood up and started walking towards them, finding similar to Alex that it was even father away than it appeared.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 24th, 2018, 12:46pm
Alex couldn’t help but chuckle as he was bombarded by questions and statements from his friend. “Yup, it’s me.” And it was definitely was Miranda. As talkative as ever. “I don’t know where this is,” Alex said, “but since you’re here, and so am I, I’m gonna guess that this is where people go when they’re hypnotized,” he said, making an educated guess, given the similarities between his and miranda’s Situation. He looked around for a moment, and said, it’s pretty empty here though isn’t it.” ’just like Cassie had said. Empty your mind.’ when Miranda noticed his arm, he smiled and held it out for her to inspect. A wide smile plastered on his face as he could feel everything on his hands. “Go ahead, feel it! It’s real.”
He looked over his shoulder for a moment, and saw that the dot far off in the distance had split in two, and now there were two spots on horizon. “Hey Miranda? Are you seeing this over here or is it just me?” He pointed with his right hand towards the dots, allowing her to inspect his left arm.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 24th, 2018, 1:18pm
Miranda did not hesitate as she took his arm and felt it to make sure it wasn't a really good prothetic. Once she was satisfied that it really was an arm back, she ran her finger over his forearm and the bend in his elbow trying to get a ticklish response. "Maybe next time I'll have to bring the game system with me," she said, despite the absurdity of the statement. They hadn't even been able to bring their own clothes, much less personal items.
She shaded her eyes to look at the dots on the horizon. This was despite the fact that there was no sun shining. "Yes I see something. What do you think it is?" She looked around once again to confirm that there were no other dots anywhere, just those two.
Scarlett stopped for a moment and considered the situation. Something appeared out in the distance and it was taking forever to get there. Maybe she should imagine something better than just walking. A car would be nice. But wait, did motorized things work in a dream world? Or maybe it would just go on its own power. She considered it a bit before settling on a bicycle. She closed her eyes and imagined a bike. Just like she had for the seat. At first, nothing happened. And then, just like that, there was a bicycle for her. That should speed things up a little.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 24th, 2018, 1:37pm
When Miranda tried to tickle him on the arm, Alex yanked his arm away, “Hey! What was that for?” He was a bit embarrassed by the fact that she’d tickled him. He rolled his eyes, and turned to face the dot off in the distance. “I don’t know what it is... we should probably go and see.” He took her hand in his left hand, glad to have sensation in what used to be a ghost limb. He began walking towards the dot, pulling Miranda with him. “So, what did it feel like?” Alex asked, “when Cass was putting you under I mean.”
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 26th, 2018, 09:34am
"Well... It was very relaxing. I mean obviously. But it was like... my thoughts kind of slipped away from me. Like I was sliding into a warm bath, but I wasn't going anywhere, my mind was. I don't know if that makes any sense. What did you think of it, Alex? We all weren't sure what to expect. Like, is he really asleep or just very calm?" She tried to fit it to words.
As they walked and talked, the distant figure started to become more distinct. It started to become clear that it was a person on their bicycle. And luckily they were headed straight towards them. At some point the figure just vanished. One moment it was there, the next it wasn't.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 26th, 2018, 1:03pm
The way Miranda described the sensation to him, Alex couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “Yeah I get what you mean. It definitely felt nice to start relaxing like that after the finals. I don’t exactly remember falling asleep, but I remember everything sort of just, fading out, you know?” He looked up and noticed the dot had come closer, and he was starting to be able to make out some details about the dot. It looked like a person riding a bike, heading directly towards him and Miranda.
“Hello!” Alex called out, waving a hand over his head, positive that this person had seen them. He waved for a moment, before the person on the bike just vanished. It was as if they hadn’t even existed. Not even the bike was left.
“W-what?!” This didn’t make any sense. They were just, gone. Poof. Just like that. Without leaving a trace.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 28th, 2018, 4:56pm
"How? How can that happen?" Miranda asked shocked. She looked around a few times, but it was evident that the other person really had gone. "Well what the heck do we do now?" Miranda got to thinking about if the other person had been real, then it meant there was some way out of here. But if the person had been their imagination, then it probably meant nothing.
"Man, I really want some water right now." This place wasn't exactly a desert, but neither was it an oasis. No sooner had she thought that, then she tripped over something. "Ow! Hey!" There was a loud clatter as she knocked over a water jug that hadn't been there a moment before. She lay sprawled out on the ground staring at it. "What the heck?" Water was pouring out of the jug onto the white ground. But it was all disappearing just as soon as it spilled out.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 28th, 2018, 5:32pm
“Okay, this place is just too weird!” Alex said laughing nervously with a small smile on his face. As the water poured from the jug and immediately dispersed once it hit the ground, but for some reason, it wouldn’t run out of water.
“Whoever they were, they’re gone now. But what are the odds!” He looked down at the bottle, and just stared down at it in silent confusion. The young man helped his friend up off the ground, and continued looking down at the bottle. Maybe once we get out of this place Cass’ll have some answers.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 28th, 2018, 5:47pm
"Ok that was NOT there a moment go!" she said as she stood up with his help. "I was just thinking I'd like a drink... Is it possible I imagined it?" But there was another, more pressing question. She bent down and picked up the jug. Then she raised it to her lips.
"Yep. It does feel and taste like water. Ah that hits the spot. Alright Alex. You imagine something." She hadn't meant to create water, but she did. Or so it seemed.
__________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 28th, 2018, 6:57pm
“Wait, you can’t be serious.” He laughed, looking at Miranda like she was crazy. “There has to be some sort of logical explanation for this. It can’t be as simple as just imagining something and willing it to appear,” he said aloud, though nothing about this place seemed to be rooted in logic. It seemed a bit ridiculous to believe that still, he closed his eyes, and tried imagining the person they’d been walking towards for the past few minutes. He hadn’t seen them up close, so the details were fuzzy. All he was able to picture clearly was the bike way off in the distance.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 29th, 2018, 12:30am
Miranda stopped sipping her water for a moment and gave him a look. "Right. Logical explanation. Because this... " she said gesturing to the white expanse around them. "...makes sense. This..." she pointed to his arm, "... makes sense." She was too busy arguing her point, she hadn't even noticed the bike was now sitting about the same distance away that the other girl had been. There was no rider, just a lone bicycle.
"I mean, I don't know... maybe I'm just dreaming. Maybe you're not really here and this is all a really weird dream. Some sort of hypnotic hallucination or something."
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 29th, 2018, 12:51am
“You know Miranda, I’ve sort of been wondering the same thing. Hm... maybe we could come up with some sort of code or phrase or something that would let us know if this was real or if one of us was hallucinating.” He looked over her shoulder and saw the bike way off in the distance, fallen over to one side.
“Look at that!” Alex said, pointing at the two wheeler where the person had disappeared.
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 29th, 2018, 01:03am
"Sure we can do that. I mean, eventually we have to wake up, right? So some sort of secret phrase would prove we were both here. "Maybe something like..." she turned and looked just as she was saying this. Her talking faded into silence as she looked at the bike dumbstruck. She started to say something. But she couldn't quite get it out. For once she was at a loss to say anything. Finally, she manage dot break the silence.
"WHAT? How is that bike back? It wasn't there a moment ago. How did...? "
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 29th, 2018, 01:41am
Alex was just as awestruck as Miranda was. “I just... thought about the person riding their bike. The person doesn’t seem to be here.” He said, staring at the bike. “This place sure is insane. Water that never runs out. People that disappear. Arms that shouldn’t be here.” He said, listing out all the things that made this place go beyond the brink of abnormal.
“This place has just a modicum if logic. Gravity for one... and oxygen... if that’s what we’re even breathing right now... but that’s pretty much it.”
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Perilous on Mar 29th, 2018, 02:06am
"Unless of course that other person really was another person. Maybe we weren't just imagining them... in which case the only way they would come back is through... hypnosis." She took a deep breath. "Alex. I want to leave. I want to go back to the apartment where we were all partying. But I'm not sure how we do that..." She shook her head at this.
"Let's come up with our code phrases. I want you to say, 'Remember the red bicycle?' That's the phrase. That way I will know we didn't dream it."
___________________________________________________________________________
Re: CE: a different state of mind
Post by Thebigsqueeze on Mar 29th, 2018, 02:21am
Alex nodded in agreement as his friend expressed her wishes to leave this place, whatever it was. "I don't know if there is a way for us to force ourselves to leave. I think it just sort of... happens." he thought about how the other person had disappeared and couldn't come up with any other explanation than they had no control over whether they stayed or went.
The young man nodded at Miranda's phrase, and repeated "Remember the red bike. Okay. Got it. Now, what I want you to do, is ask, "Can you feel this?, and poke my left arm. The prosthetic one. Okay?" He looked her straight in the eyes. He new no-one under any circumstances would ever do something like that, as it was considered disrespectful, which was the exact reason he told her to do that. It would be out of character for her, for sure, and he'd immediately be able to tell that it was true, and not just some coincidence.