Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

An interesting role reversal we're having here with this lesson. It's interesting to play the teacher this time.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Waiting patiently, Janius watched as Kaleeth tensed and struggled with the creature in her mind. He was a little surprised that she was having trouble coaxing it out with so much time since her last transformation. When she finally spoke up, Janius understood the problem immediately. "You are still holding it back. When you resist for too long, it forces you to transform and it overwhelms your efforts to hold back. At that point, you are too weak to control it." Janius spoke slowly so his deep growing voice was understood. "You have to stop your resistance. Let it past you. Then you will retain the strength of mind to influence it." Janius squat down and widened his eyes to Kaleeth encouragingly. "Release it, Kaleeth. Release it because you allow it to be released, and you will still retain some control."

The Depths of Deception

Shiva gave a chuckle at Rareth's analogy, but didn't really want to talk politics. That was a subject of which she was particularly disenfranchised.

There was another hour that went by where Shiva decided to use the suite's facilities to read the news, occasionally responding to Rareth and her other roommates where called upon. She was mostly flicking through with curiosity at the different kinds of news that were reported on Pax, but also an angle that wasn't so deliberately skewed by Capitulum propaganda. It was refreshing to not have to take that grain of salt while reading through. As it turned out, there wasn't much that interested Shiva apart from issues already ongoing. It appeared that the channel she was reading through was mostly domestic news.

Soon enough, it was time for Shiva to stand up and head off. "Yes, of course," Shiva responded almost automatically. Once she processed what Rareth had said, she wanted to hit herself, but figured she wouldn't really be able to avoid her if she tried while in this team. She would just have to ignore the fact that Rareth was scary and hard to read. "Heh, well, I would be partial to drinks, but if I was any indication, Ashley is probably still purging the toxins from her body as we speak. We may have to wake her up ourselves if she hasn't handled herself already." Shiva craned her head down and spoke as if Rareth didn't know, even though with her years she probably did, "Human metabolism doesn't quite hold enough hydration to get over alcohol as Masulus do."

Shiva followed Rareth out of the door to the common area. She wasn't sure if they had to head up as a group or just head to the room on their own, but she didn't really feel like waiting.

The Depths of Deception

EliteCommander said
Revealing the meaning of her mark might be a way for Shiva to make some friends outside the sovereignty. It is no secret that there is a lot of resentment for the sovereignty in the galaxy. Their philosophy involves waging war against other species, so admitting that one betrayed that philosophy is not likely to garner a negative reaction outside the sovereignty.Of course, it really wouldn't be hard to figure out the meaning of the mark.A simple online search would do it. It is public knowledge.

Yeah...as it stands, it's been a symbol of shame for her entire life. She's probably not going to bring it up unless you ask her and she's in the mood to tell you.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, you won't know if it will work unless you try, but it is better than what we do know." Janius angled his head forward seriously, "You are certain to lose control if you are forced to transform." He brought his head back up, "And as for Ahnasha, like I said, I'll keep you away from the camp. Even if your beast form gets determined, it isn't fearless to a fault, it's just an animal. I can still drive it away and find you later. I might have to hurt you, and I don't want to, but this is still better than having the beast control you all the time. Trust me." Janius gave a small smile, "And trust yourself, if only this once." Janius took one last look around to check their surroundings, then looked at Kaleeth again, "Ready?"

Janius transformed as he was used to. His fur quickly became soaked with the rain, but he kept his focus on Kaleeth. His beast spirit saw her as an active threat, so he was able to keep his mind off merely feeding, but at the same time he had to play off his beast spirit's caution of the werecrocodile and his affection for Kaleeth to keep from attacking. They could do this, they just had to be quick.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius had hoped to elicit a different outcome by calming Kaleeth down, but he supposed he should have expected that her beast spirit would still be apparent. Then again, this was an opportunity to help her learn as well. Detecting Kaleeth's fear rising again, Janius put up a hand, "Ah, ah, don't worry. I had you meditate so you could clear your mind for a moment. Now, the feeling you have inside you is what you can now recognise as your beast spirit clamouring to come out, without influence from your other emotions. Recognising exactly what that is will allow you to act accordingly." He began to stand up, "Come with me."

With Kaleeth in tow, Janius walked a distance away from the camp. Kaleeth's emotions would return eventually, but if Janius could take advantage of this moment of clarity, it would definitely help her. After a while, they stopped under another tree. "Now, you'll find that sometimes the greatest advantage to keeping control when in your beast form is transforming on your own terms." Janius took on a more focussed lecturing tone as he spoke over the rain. Hopefully some structure would help Kaleeth to focus. "We're going to go on a quick hunt now, to feed our beast spirits. Normally werewolves act like in team-like pack, but yours will probably be more independent, so you will have to direct yourself some more. Just keep calm and remember your objective; find something to hunt and eat. That is all your beast spirit wants. It's not a dominator by heart, only an animal. If your mind flows with your beast spirit, it is far more suggestible and you will retain control, even when in beast form. And don't worry, the control will come with practice, but I will keep you away from the camp. Do you have any questions before we start?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Right, right," Janius said, nodding. He could tell that she was becoming less comfortable, which was to be expected. "It's overwhelming, isn't it? Well, let me show you something. This is something Meesei taught me, it's a kind of simple meditation. Firstly, listen to your heartbeat, take note of it. It's probably quite fast, yes?" Janius shifted so he was sitting cross-legged with a straight back. "Now, I need you to sit comfortably, like this. Keep your back straight, hold your shoulders back and push out your chest so you can breathe. Close your eyes."

Over the course of another few minutes, Janius instructed Kaleeth to take long and slow breaths, and focus on nothing else as far as she could. They took fifteen breaths, in through the nose, filling the belly, the chest, then the throat full of air, then slowly releasing the air through the mouth. Each time, Janius instructed Kaleeth on the timing of the breaths in an effort to take her mind off the swirling fears and homesickness in her mind.

"With your final breath, I want you to take note of your heartbeat again. Has it slowed?" Janius had hoped that the technique would serve to not only calm Kaleeth, but also to give her some feeling of control and a clearer mind. Then he could move onto talking about the future.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I see," Janius said patiently, thinning his lips in a sympathetic smile and continuing to look at Kaleeth.

It took another third of a minute before Janius could think of something else to say. "You know, we all know what you are going through. Even though some of us had different circumstances, leaving home and...knowing that we would never see it again, it was difficult. Even now, sometimes it's painful to look back and see what we left behind. It's easy to get caught up in, especially when you might not know the way forward. You've nothing else to focus on."

Janius looked forward. It was probably not enough just to say that. He needed to engage her some more. After another few moments, he licked his teeth nervously, then looked at Kaleeth again. "Let's try something. I know it might hurt, but, put it in words. What do you miss the most about home?" Janius' tone wasn't questioning Kaleeth's lifestyle or opinions, he just wanted to help her think and hopefully to grieve properly. We wasn't sure if it would work, but hopefully he could help Kaleeth out of this pit by leading her down the path of thinking he took personally, or at least a similar path.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius nodded and put aside his current task. He thought it might be useful for Kaleeth to grieve on her own for a few days, but Meesei was right. At this point she wasn't showing any signs of recovery. Her transforming was also an issue, but Janius had to motivate her first. He stood up. "I'll see what I can do."

Putting his mind off the softing mud beneath him, Janius walked up to Kaleeth and sat down beside her, looking at her and bringing his knees up as well, except then opening his legs a little such that his ankles were crossing and his knees were secured by the bottom of his elbows. Janius looked at her for a few seconds, then tried to start a dialogue. "What are you thinking?" Janius asked, loud enough for her to hear, but not in a demanding way.