Nathan, Jono, explosion in the basement
Nov. 14th, 2004 09:06 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsSarah leaves, Jono makes wrong choices, Nathan tries to tell him to stop. It's all a vicious cycle. Which, in the end, goes boom.
It wasn't exactly an itch under his skin, or a tingle at the back of his brain, but a restlessness that made his thoughts buzz, and his mind to turn to Sarah. But of course he couldn't find her in the mansion anymore, and that made him all the more snappish. He wasn't exactly happy to bring this attitude to his lesson with Nathan and Askani, because they had helped him so much, but he couldn't seem to shake it off.
Nathan was all too aware of Jono's restless state of mind; they were linked, after all, as they'd taken to doing once the lessons had progressed. It made it easier for Askani to observe and offer suggestions, and occasionally stick her oar in.
#Jono, you have to focus,# he sent, shifting a bit in his cross-legged position. The lines of force in the room were wrong, he could feel it. #You're trying to restructure your cells. You need all your attention on what you're doing.#
#I am focusing!# Jono snapped back, his body rigid with exertion. Energy seemed to crawl up and down his spine, nerve-wrackingly dense, and he thought if he just could divert it to where he wanted it rather than just coiling around him like seaweed.
#No, you're not. Your mind - part of your mind is somewhere else. Bring it back here,# Nathan said steadily. #Focus on the pattern.# He reached down across their link, reinforcing the image of the psionic pattern Jono was trying to achieve in the young man's mind.
Jono shook his head, eyes squeezed shut, trying to push his resentment to one side while Nathan forced the pattern image on him. #No,# he said. #That's not right.# The image seemed wrong, warped somehow, and he tried to change it to what he believed was the right one.
Red-gold flames licked down the link suddenly. #Stop that!# Askani said sharply, and Nathan blinked, his eyes unfocusing as he suddenly shared her awareness of why 'that' was a bad thing. Shared it, though he didn't entirely understand it... so much of his knowledge of the Askani psionic arts was still at the instinctual level. #Focus on the exercise as you've been shown.#
Jono reeled to a stop, surprised by the edge on Askani's voice, but he could still feel the shape of what he had been doing, crackling in his brain. #This is what you showed me,# he insisted. #I can already feel something changing.# He'd assumed it would be like warm water or something similar, instead he had the distinct feeling something was trying to tear him apart.
#That's not right,# Nathan told him, showing him the pattern yet again. #See? You're altering the flow, increasing the pressure. Can't you feel it?#
He could definitely feel it, right down to his toes and fingertips, pulsing outward from his chest. Jono wrapped his arms around himself, trying to claw himself back into control. #It's- The pattern doesn't look like that!# And it didn't, in his mind, it had stuck to the wrong configuration and refused to be altered.
#Calmly,# Nathan said as soothingly as he could. #Take a step back in your mind. Look at it again.#
The soothing attempt stabilised Jono for a second, letting him take stock of what was happening to him and it terrified him. #Nathan,# he said, trying to hold it off as long as he could. #I don't think I can-#
He exploded.
It happened too fast. Even as Nathan saw the lines of force in the room twist and then fracture, the pattern disintegrated into a thousand pieces like shattering glass, the psionic explosion was already roaring into life.
Pale yellow light shading into red expanded outwards in an instant, in what an observer could only have termed a psionic fireball. Furniture and other objects exploded on contact, and before Nathan could do more than start to throw up a shield, the shockwave flung him across the room and into the wall. He hit hard and crumpled bonelessly to the ground.
Everything had gone black at first, then little points of light started to coalesce and Jono thought he must've knocked himself out, then he remembered Nathan and tried to get up. Except the world didn't move like he was used to, and there were no walls in the room anymore, and the lights looked more like the energy patterns he had been working with lately. Even Nathan had changed into knotwork of glowing strands.
He gaped. #What... the... FUCK?#
It wasn't exactly an itch under his skin, or a tingle at the back of his brain, but a restlessness that made his thoughts buzz, and his mind to turn to Sarah. But of course he couldn't find her in the mansion anymore, and that made him all the more snappish. He wasn't exactly happy to bring this attitude to his lesson with Nathan and Askani, because they had helped him so much, but he couldn't seem to shake it off.
Nathan was all too aware of Jono's restless state of mind; they were linked, after all, as they'd taken to doing once the lessons had progressed. It made it easier for Askani to observe and offer suggestions, and occasionally stick her oar in.
#Jono, you have to focus,# he sent, shifting a bit in his cross-legged position. The lines of force in the room were wrong, he could feel it. #You're trying to restructure your cells. You need all your attention on what you're doing.#
#I am focusing!# Jono snapped back, his body rigid with exertion. Energy seemed to crawl up and down his spine, nerve-wrackingly dense, and he thought if he just could divert it to where he wanted it rather than just coiling around him like seaweed.
#No, you're not. Your mind - part of your mind is somewhere else. Bring it back here,# Nathan said steadily. #Focus on the pattern.# He reached down across their link, reinforcing the image of the psionic pattern Jono was trying to achieve in the young man's mind.
Jono shook his head, eyes squeezed shut, trying to push his resentment to one side while Nathan forced the pattern image on him. #No,# he said. #That's not right.# The image seemed wrong, warped somehow, and he tried to change it to what he believed was the right one.
Red-gold flames licked down the link suddenly. #Stop that!# Askani said sharply, and Nathan blinked, his eyes unfocusing as he suddenly shared her awareness of why 'that' was a bad thing. Shared it, though he didn't entirely understand it... so much of his knowledge of the Askani psionic arts was still at the instinctual level. #Focus on the exercise as you've been shown.#
Jono reeled to a stop, surprised by the edge on Askani's voice, but he could still feel the shape of what he had been doing, crackling in his brain. #This is what you showed me,# he insisted. #I can already feel something changing.# He'd assumed it would be like warm water or something similar, instead he had the distinct feeling something was trying to tear him apart.
#That's not right,# Nathan told him, showing him the pattern yet again. #See? You're altering the flow, increasing the pressure. Can't you feel it?#
He could definitely feel it, right down to his toes and fingertips, pulsing outward from his chest. Jono wrapped his arms around himself, trying to claw himself back into control. #It's- The pattern doesn't look like that!# And it didn't, in his mind, it had stuck to the wrong configuration and refused to be altered.
#Calmly,# Nathan said as soothingly as he could. #Take a step back in your mind. Look at it again.#
The soothing attempt stabilised Jono for a second, letting him take stock of what was happening to him and it terrified him. #Nathan,# he said, trying to hold it off as long as he could. #I don't think I can-#
He exploded.
It happened too fast. Even as Nathan saw the lines of force in the room twist and then fracture, the pattern disintegrated into a thousand pieces like shattering glass, the psionic explosion was already roaring into life.
Pale yellow light shading into red expanded outwards in an instant, in what an observer could only have termed a psionic fireball. Furniture and other objects exploded on contact, and before Nathan could do more than start to throw up a shield, the shockwave flung him across the room and into the wall. He hit hard and crumpled bonelessly to the ground.
Everything had gone black at first, then little points of light started to coalesce and Jono thought he must've knocked himself out, then he remembered Nathan and tried to get up. Except the world didn't move like he was used to, and there were no walls in the room anymore, and the lights looked more like the energy patterns he had been working with lately. Even Nathan had changed into knotwork of glowing strands.
He gaped. #What... the... FUCK?#
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