Whee! (just consider me easily amused) -- Territory North

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Date Posted: 21:44:26 04/22/03 Tue
Author: Numi
Subject: Whee! (just consider me easily amused)
In reply to: Raydiehl 's message, "Erm...third? ;)" on 18:29:35 04/22/03 Tue

Numi catches Raydiehl's last word before Atumi returns and she lets the mind-link collapse. Avid periwinkle eyes lock onto the black and pointed ears prick to catch every word. So attuned to her trainer, the young femme picks up on the subtle aura of unease - the flash of anger, the duller voice, the less aggressive body language - it all speaks in hushed tones that something is wrong. The black flicks an ear and glances discreetly at her packmates. They don't appear to have noticed anything wrong, and in fact are listening quite attentively. Maybe it's just me, she muses, before Atumi's lessons earn her full and undivided attention. Her old rival, white Echved, had always had better senses than the keen black - another source of annoyance. Numi mentally snickers as she prepares to begin the exercise.

It takes a moment for the black to concentrate, still disturbed by the strangeness of Atumi's attitude. Deciding that she's crazy, she finally closes her eyes tightly, relaxing each muscle as though she were floating in the sea - a practice done each morning, Numi being one of the rare Korats who loved the water. Ignoring the motes of color dancing in the blackness of her eyelids and the breeze caressing her glossy pelt, the Korat listens. The easiest sound to catch is that of liquid - her own blood, and then that of Raydiehl's, and then everyone else's. With that rushing sound comes the solid bass beat of hearts, the invisible rustle of air against fur. Numi concentrates her willpower, focusing in until she believes she can hear each little hair rubbing against all its fellows. Her own whiskers tangling sounds like long crystal rods clinking together, and willingly the black dives deeper into the strange realm of sound-and-only-sound. Muscles contracting almost seem to sigh, and breathing is suddenly loud; she alters her breath to be soft and slow, much more pleasing to her sensitized ears. Grains of dirt tumbling across the ground, contacting rocks and claws - it becomes a tiny pattern of drum-like tattoos. Now willing to expand her hearing, Numi's mind, submerged in the sound, stretches. Leaves begin to sing in whispery, green choruses, creaking twigs a pleasant backdrop of percussive music to their voices. The wild beast nearby is immediately detected, identified, and dismissed as harmless. Distant waving grass fuzzes along in waves of wind, and finally... ahh... the river and its beautiful music.

Abruptly, Numi shakes her head and surfaces, heart beginning a little faster beat. She had gone so far... far in, far out, far somewhere... and for a second had forgotten that, indeed, she has other senses. Opening her eyes, she looks about the world with awe, and deliberately flattens her ears against her slightly aching skull. Better not do that again with sight, but really. One sees everyday. Numi tilts her muzzle downwards and begins by examining her own forehand. All the tiny little hairs, the curving proportion of her claws, the tiny sparkle of light along the razor-sharp undercurve culminating on the tip. She throws her head back, suddenly aware that she heard nor felt nor smelt nothing anymore. Grinning, she aims her gaze upwards, and analyzes the rosy cloud patterns moving across a soft-amethyst sky. She tries to identify each subtle hue found in both clouds and planet-roof, but fails miserably and decides that she needs to start learning some new colors. And here she'd always prided herself on her large vocabulary! Snorting her amusement and quickly stifling the sound in case anyone else was still on the last exercise, the black turns her head and watches the entire scene swirl with movement. Entranced, she does it again, then freezes and takes time to note every little wind-driven twitch of a leaf, every dust particle rolling across the ground. She looks for masses of dark and light, finding them most easily in her packmates' sleek pelts, the black hues a most tantalizing background for sunny highlights and mysterious shadows. Catching herself staring for too long, Numi grins an apology at Ray and decides to move on.

Leaving her ears tightly flattened to help block out any sound (surprised at how easily she can 'switch' that sense off, even after sensitizing it), Numi closes her pale blue eyes again and slowly inhales. The mere texture of the wind begs to be tasted, but as instructed she ignores it forcefully, concentrating instead on sorting the tiny scent molecules in the air. Ahh, that was a flower. That one, an insect. That was definably Korat, and that added tinge made it male. The black turns her muzzle to memorize one scent after another - Akar, Phoemrut, Arukit, and finally Raydiehl, who was by now rather well-known. Making an effort to learn Tasiri's strangely acrid scent as well -a tan trait or simply 'her'?- the black is vaguely surprised to pick up Atumi's leftover scent so easily. She eagerly inhales, filing this scent in the category reserved for god-like Korats. Going back through her barrage of scents, Numi takes a moment to simply enjoy each one before, muzzle twitching slightly, she smells the scent's trail through the air currents and traces it back to its origin. The black is heartily surprised at how easily and how exactly she knows where her packmates are now - not only that they're 'here', but where in 'here' they are. Quickly diving into the sense of taste (which has always been rather distinguishing for the black), Numi lets her jaws part slightly to seemingly eat the air, tasting and smelling in the same breath. The now-familiar smells around her are suddenly intensified and imbued with particular flavors. Numi mentally laughs at her own reaction to this, licking her lips once and thinking that, if flowers smell-taste so good, why don't they taste-taste good?

With some effort, the femme drags her too-eager mind out from the sense-duo and shuts them both down. Suddenly seemingly immersed in blackness, it takes longer this time to become aware of feel again. The muscles in her ears almost hurt from keeping them stiffly flattened, and she carefully ignores that sensation while keeping the rest. The wind against her pelt, the sun soaking into the darkness of her fur - all to be enjoyed. In fact, for several minutes, the black is very much guilty of simply sunbathing, until her mind snaps out of its pleased doze and reminds her of what she's supposed to be doing. Alert again, Numi wields her thoughts like pointers to indicate where the air should be twisting, and then letting herself feel it through her dense pelt. Eventually, taking as much time as she needs for this part, the black is able to simply feel without thought. The wind and the sun, the solid weight of gravity and her own buoyancy balancing along her pawpads - those are the easiest sensations. Despite trying her hardest, she can't feel where her companions are, though she remembers their location from previous senses.

Feeling vaguely let down, the femme pricks her ears, opens her eyes, and inhales deeply. She raises one forehand to paw at her face and ears, getting scrunch-marks out of her fur from concentrating to hard, and grins. What an exercise. To do that every day... why, she already notices twice as many little details in each sense! No wonder Atumi is so keen, if he's practiced this all his life! Her slightly-goofy grin still in place on her sleek muzzle, Numi takes a glance around at her fellow blacks, and then a quiet look at the small tan. Keeping quiet so not to disturb anyone, she waits for... whatever's next.

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Replies:

Hmm... -- Akar, 21:19:26 04/25/03 Fri