Training, in various ways...

[morganknight]

After a few days -- weeks -- however long he'd been here, Morgan had finally settled into what he considered to be an adequate training regimen, for those times when he wasn't needed in Medical.

As a general rule, he began his day in the Sensorium, shaping it in the image of the mountaintop dojo he favored. One lone building atop a peak in the midst of a mountain range, lacking walls so the cool, thin air could drift through as he ran through forms and katas. A path wound its way around the peaks, and the frigid springs that formed small lakes and streams that poured off the edges in grand waterfalls. Next to this path ran a series of poles on which he ran, or jumped, when his regimen called for that sort of exercise.

Training in a simulated environment like this was old hat.

After he finished there, it was off to the river, where he (with some effort) persuaded his plantsuit to retract till it resembled closer to a bathing suit than anything. For what felt, at least, like an hour or two, the Akashic stood motionless in the river, submerged up to his neck. Legs spread, arms out, and hair streaming behind him in the current, he meditated. Harmony and moving in tune with the universe were key to his philosophy, after all. The currents, the flow of water around his fingers and limbs, and the silence were magnificent for that sort of understanding.

Then, off to the W.I.T.C.H. bus! Since Kaya had so kindly allowed him use of its training facilities, he made good use of that offer. This section of his training he devoted to melee weapons -- primarily his sword, of course, but he allotted time for other swords, staffs, daggers and knives, and tonfa as well.

And last, perhaps the oddest of all training exercises if one didn't know that to the mind of an Akashic, all things are martial arts: Morgan returned to the sensorium, not to fight or exercise or run, but to play. Electric guitar in hand, voice lifted in defiance of his one-held belief that he simply sounded terrible, and whatever backing was necessary conjured by environment, he rocked out, mixing up from simple guitar covers to lead guitar and vocals in full songs.

That lasted until he was exhausted, satisfied, or -- admittedly -- hit hard enough by nostalgia that continuing became prohibitive. Then it was time to clean up, relax, and see what else he had to do.

Comments

[morganknight]

"More attempts? That's reassuring."

He wiped his face off last, then snapped the cloth so hard the water ran out of it in a stream. Morgan offered it back, merely damp now.

"So long as you take that attitude, of course it's hard. Your will is guided by your belief, after all!"

[morphitudinous]

"I fell to it once and nearly murdered my best friend. It can't happen again."

All that water had been mopped up, huh. Billy accepted the cloth, carefully wrapping it in a small bag. He had some things to think about.

"So that friend and I are starting meditation lessons soon. I'm trying to take a realistic approach, but goal-setting can help..."

It could. He scribbled down a few notes, as if this was a subject to be studied.

[morganknight]

"That seems to happen practically as a requirement of mind control," Morgan said, just a little bitter.

Not all of it! His hair was still soaked, but with that much of it, drying would take a long time and a lot of effort any way.

"Then here's a suggestion; if you must think, then focus it all outward. Nothing internal. Focus on the evidence of your senses; take each sound, or smell, or feeling in turn. Contemplate it, consider it, then release it and adopt the next one. Never hold one for too long."

[morphitudinous]

Billy knew it was painfully common. He looked up for a moment, feeling the weight of what had happened back then. He had to work harder to stop it.

"Do you think it would be best to start in a busy environment or a simple one?"

[morganknight]

"Simple. A busy one has too many distractions. When you get experience in it, it's easy to master the state of mind anywhere, but for now, it's a skill you're trying to learn."

Morgan hesitated. He hated putting things like meditation into scientific terms, but... some people just thought that way. "One way to look at it that might help you is as a literal state of mind, or brain. Meditating actually leads to the deactivation of the parts of the brain responsible for a sense of self and body."

[morphitudinous]

That did seem to help somewhat. Altered consciousness was tricky but doable. "The goal's to lose the sense of being a separate self from...well, everything?"

[morganknight]

"Exactly." Morgan nodded -- then hesitated again. Scientific sorts generally didn't like the idea that self was an illusion, along with all of reality... "If it's a mental defense you want, well, it's not possible to affect someone's mind if it isn't a discrete entity."

[morphitudinous]

It made sense to him, though. He could start there. "I can follow that. I'm sure it'll become more clear once I've practiced."

Billy stretched his arms over his head, considering getting started when he had a quiet moment. "Should I leave you to it, then? I'm sure you've been busy, same as the rest of us."

[morganknight]

"Most of my busy, I impose on myself," he said, grinning. "I signed up in Medical, so it's a good thing if I'm not in constant demand there. Beyond that... well, you're not the only workaholic around here. I just happen to be lucky enough that fun things are considered training too."

[morphitudinous]

"I'm the same way. I'm always creating new projects---construction, programming, inventions, and training."

Morgan's choice of department is interesting, though. "Oh, what are you specializing in in Medical?"

[morganknight]

"Acupressure and acupuncture. More generally, manipulating the energy flows inside people's bodies, either directly or indirectly." And he was, frankly, glad he wasn't the only one who could do that.

[morphitudinous]

"Oh! I've read a little about it," Billy nodded, not sure what to think of the claims. The needle's stimulation could have an effect, he supposed, but there was nothing he'd read that supported the idea of energy flow---at least, not outside the context of the superhuman Power.

"It might malfunction if it was ever tried on me, though. My body's energy is...somewhat artificially enhanced."

[morganknight]

"I believe it'll work," Morgan said with a lazy grin. "Whether or not it actually does just matters if I can believe in that strongly enough so it does work."

[morphitudinous]

"Is belief's influence on the outcome uniquely important to your abilities?" Billy wondered, just as an aside. He'd heard things about willpower, and believed it himself after all he'd done, but not to that extent.

[morganknight]

"Are you at all familiar with any theories of consensual reality?" Even if Billy hadn't heard it independently, Stephen might have brought it up at some point.

[morphitudinous]

"I don't think so, but I might be able to see where this is going. How does it apply?"

Had Stephen said it? There was something in there about reality that he'd found fascinating, at least, and it might be the same concept.

[morganknight]

"Long story short, every aspect of reality exists only because we believe it to. Such as people not being able to walk on water." He took a few pointed steps back out onto the surface of the river. "But I believe I can, and I can believe hard enough and with enough will behind it that my reality shoves aside and takes the place of what everyone else believe."

[morphitudinous]

"That's...fascinating," Billy nodded along. "It completely violates everything I've been taught and observed about the nature of reality, but your abilities present a compelling argument."

He tapped a finger against his knee in thought. "I'm guessing there are limitations, or you'd be what most call a god?"

[morganknight]

"Reality hates it when you elbow it aside," he said wryly. "Out here, on this ship, it's easy to get away with almost anything. We're on a ship made of meat trying to save reality, the standards of belief are ridiculously low. On Earth, though, with billions of people who centuries of science have programmed to believe in specific laws and notions of possibility, it's much harder to violate what all those people believe, and it generally tends to backlash hard.

"Then again, you can only do what you know you can. I'm a martial artist; I can't turn lead into gold through chemistry like Stephen can. Conversely, he can't convert his life force into fire or lightning to attack a foe -- though he could do it with chemicals or some apparatus."

[morphitudinous]

That began to make some more sense, but only just. He smiled lightly, still bemused by the whole concept.

"Then is it easier to work your ability on someone who trusts you?"

[morganknight]

"Trust has nothing to do with it. It's easier to work weal or woe on someone who believes you can do it."

He smiled a bit impishly. "Think of it this way. Ordinarily, you wouldn't believe that I could stop your heart with a simple palm thrust to your chest. Biology doesn't work that way. That belief in the science would make it harder for me to actually perform the trick.

"Now, up here, things like life force and chi and magic all become a lot more plausible. We're not even 'space' as Earth science would understand it. You can't disbelieve up here, so it all becomes easier.

"Now, taking a third step... suppose I mention that it's entirely possible that a blow to the chest timed to the millisecond can stop a heart, if it's delivered at one specific moment in the heartbeat. Sure, you'll doubt that I can time it perfectly, but... it is possible, by incredible luck or coincidence, that I could hit you right at that moment. That possibility, however unlikely... that slight belief that it might happen, is enough to make it a lot easier for it to happen."

[morphitudinous]

Billy tried to be casual about it, but he couldn't quite help crossing his arms over his chest. He knew that, he'd heard of deaths happening that way. It was extremely unsettling.

"Right. So I imagine you know many other ways to kill me?"

[morganknight]

"It all works out the same, though," he said with a shrug. "The point of using that as an example was just to indicate how it didn't matter if someone trusted me, so long as they believed me. It'd be just as hard to help someone who didn't believe I could... But then, that's not unusual. Belief has a very powerful affect on the mundane as well as the supernatural."

[morphitudinous]

"I think I get it now---to the extent that someone without the ability can, anyway," he finished, slowly straightening himself out.

"You can get back to it now, I didn't mean to interrupt for so long. Or at all, actually. I think it's a sure bet that you didn't come here for tricks and mundane questions."

Billy was grateful for the tips, and the information was intriguing. He'd do what he could to research and verify if he ever had enough of a break to do so.

[morganknight]

"It's no bother at all. I find that explaining these things is as good for me as it is for whoever's listening." Then he grinned. "Besides, I LIKE showing off, just a little. But I don't mean to keep you from what you're doing, in turn."