fandomhighdorms | Puffin Campfire; Tuesday Morning.

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Puffin Campfire; Tuesday Morning.

'There's nothing a good sleep won't cure,' Alphonse had told Sakurazaki last night, but a good sleep was no where to be found. Not with the knowledge of him sleeping so close in an alcove near her, not with her mind still reeling through its strange cloudiness, trying to put pieces of one and two and three together and doing an extremely poor job of it.

She desperately needed to meditate on this.

So, in the wee hours of the morning, since she couldn't sleep anyway, Sakurazaki settled with her legs folded underneath her at the bottom of tree on the edge of the Puffin campfire, drew in a deep breath, and tried to collect herself. She focused on her breathing, knowing that she'd need to chose something simple, something important, to centre herself, otherwise she'd just get lost again. Breathe in...and out. Breathe in...and out. Cleansing breaths, revitalizing breaths. Important to life, important to clarity. She'd clear her lungs and clear her mind.

[[~open! class in a little bit, will catch dropped pings if any after that]]

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Conner shuffled out of the cabin in light workout clothes, intending to go for a bit of a run or something, when he noticed Sakurazaki.

"Morning."

[OOC: And am off to work in a few minutes myself, so SP for a bit?]

Sakurazaki cracks open an eye, which drifts toward him while the rest of her remains in her contemplative stoicity. "Ohayo, Conner. Sleep well, I hope?"

[[whee SP :D ]]

"Pretty well, yeah," Conner says, and he suspects part of that has to do with not getting kicked in the shins in his sleep for the first time in days. "I think I have about twelve new bug bites, though."

He shoves his hands into his pockets and watches her for a minute. "Meditation?" he asks, more genuinely interested than just curious.

Closing the one eye, Sakurazaki nods. "Yes. My centre has been dangerously off balance recently."

He's not sure exactly what this means, but it seems to make sense, so Conner nods back.

"Does it help a lot?" he asks. "I always wanted to learn, but I never got a chance." Stupid Mesogog, he added to himself.

"It helps incredibly," she says with a particularly long and relaxing sigh of air. "I haven't even been able to focus all too well, and have only been at it for a little while today and I already feel more relaxed and in tune with myself."

"And there really isn't much to it, either, you know." There's a small grin breaking through her stoic facade. "It's just all about shutting out everything else, and finding yourself in the chaos of one's mind and soul."

Okay, that made sense. Conner can understand that. It's a little bit like what he feels like when he's out on the field and in his "zone."

"Aw, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you," he says quickly. "Mind if I try and join you though?"

With another grin, Sakurazaki cracks open her eye again. "Not at all. I was actually just going to suggest it, but you beat me to it. I've reached a point where I can maintain my chi and still interact with the outside world, to a degree, and offering any guidance is definately in my realm of capabilities right now and I'd be happy to help."

"Cool," Conner says, easing himself down into a cross-legged position on the ground and closing his eyes. "Is the breathing part of how you focus yourself?"

Sakurazaki nods. "Breathing is an excellent way to do it, especially if you're particularly distracted or new to the whole experience. The important thing about using breathing, though, it to focus on it. It is a natural process; for the most part, our bodies will do it without needing us to think about it. But when we recognize the natural process, consider how it is working and moving and making us live and appriciate the simplicity of such a little subconscious thing, we can begin to centre around it."

"I never really thought much about breathing," admits Conner. "I just sort of do it, but okay, I'll give this a shot."

He relaxes his shoulders a little bit and inhales slowly through his nostrils, actually paying attention to the way the air flows into his lungs; after holding the breath for several seconds, he exhales again just as slowly.

Several breaths later, Conner thinks he has a good rhythm going, and he grins. "I see what you mean, yeah."

Sakurazaki matches his breathing with a particularly notable and drawn out inhale and exhale, deep and cleansing. "It just sort of...makes everything else just vanish for a while, doesn't it?" She grins as she draws in another one.

Following Sakurazaki's lead, Conner puts a little extra emphasis on his breathing. "It does," he agrees. "And breathing's just such a tiny little thing most of the time, but wow."

Sakurazaki lets her quiet grin be her confirmation, knowing that she wouldn't have to explain anything further for her newfound and rather random pupil.

"Told you there was nothing really to it," she adds after a moment.

"Yeah." Conner grins again. "And then you just practice, like with anything else, right?"

Another nod. "Precisely. And, eventually, you can get to a point where you can slip into this sort of meditation on spot. Very effective in the chaos of battle. But it's still good to go back to the basics and reinstate them, which is what I'm doing now."

"Practicing the basics is good no matter what you're training for," Conner agrees. "I never really had any formal training in fighting, so this is pretty much a fresh start for me."

She smiles, drawing in another deep breath. "It's the best place to start, then."

A few deliberate breaths later, Conner nods. "Instinct can only take you so far. Understanding what you're doing is so much better."

He closes his eyes again and falls silent, just focusing on the breathing, trying to find that zone he used to get into on the field. He wonders if it's the same sort of mental zone, in a way, that he finally tapped into the day he unlocked the full potential of his Triassic powers. But the speculation is distracting, and he can't quite get to that point.

"I need to stop thinking so much."

Sakurazaki chuckles lightly in between breaths. "Having trouble focusing, right? Mind keeps finding things as they pass by, latching onto them, following them? It's common with beginners. The key is to not let yourself think too much about thinking too much."

"Not think too much about thinking too much. Right." Conner laughs and tries to get his mind to back off the speculation until later. "Just do it, and not think about how I'm doing it?"

"That's right. But, if you do find yourself thinking about it, embrace it, accept it, and continue on to the next thought. Eventually, the random thoughts won't cloud the mind so much."

And now, Conner realizes his thoughts have been very cloudy lately. Maybe if he'd been thinking more clearly he wouldn't have done something stupid like ask Marie out on that date and hurt her feelings so badly.

"I think," he says slowly just before falling silent and going back to his breathing again, "this is going to help me out a lot."

A very content and proud grin settles onto Sakurazaki's face, feeling her chi and her karma converge. "Good," she says quietly. "Well done, grasshoppa."

A certain bouncy redhead walks by with a very unwilling puppy. Mizu is once again covered in pink bows, one on his tail, one on each ear and three on his collar. "Ohiyo! Setsuna-chan!" She grins widely.

((ooc: Home tomorrow.. CHACHACHA!))

Sakurazaki winces. A Ranma-chan interuptting an extremely successful meditation session was definately her version of someone harshing her mellow. Sakurazaki sighs and allows both eyes to slide open. At least she had found her centre, even if she couldn't particularly hold onto it for too long.

But she smiles at Ranma-chan. "Ohaya," she nods, patting her lap gently to call Mizu over to her so she can start taking off those ridiculous bows. "How are you this morning, Ranma-chan?"

[[squee!]]

"I'm doing really good Setsuna-chan! Jude liked your dress right? The one I picked out for you? Huh?"

Sakurazaki isn't sure whether to laugh or cry, but, thankfully, the blushing takes care of it. "Y..yeah," she admits a little reluctantly. "He did..."

Tim almost choked on his cereal. "Oh God, again?"

((hehe she's so HAPPY YAY))

River woke early too. She felt worried, which probably had something to do with the argument with Tyler, and the fact that she didn't know what to do about it. She also missed Berthold. The monster had stayed in the dorms, finding the cabins too scary. Monsters were strange creatures.

She noticed Sakurazaki under the tree, and could see her focussing.

River lay down on her back in the grass.

Though her eyes remain closed, Sakurazaki's eyes shift toward her cabinmate's movement.

A River cutting through the grass. How very Zen indeed. An amused grin marrs her stoic face for a moment.

River sensed Sakurazaki's thoughts and smiled too.

Tim emerged eating a bowl of cocoa krispies. "Monrin'."

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Puffin Campfire; Tuesday Morning.

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