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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 14, 2016 23:25:17 GMT -5
Breathe.
The thought, calm and complete slowly resounded through her mind as a single image appeared. It was a tree, a single cherry tree in full bloom and perfectly at rest.
Breathe.
Suddenly, a breeze came and caressed the tree, causing it to slowly shiver and shed several blossoms, each beginning a slow dance through the air to come to rest on the ground. Then stillness once more for the tree and its blooms.
Breathe.
Again and again, Mulan focused her mind on this image and this image alone as she meditated within the confines of the main performance tent. It had been a busy day and a multitude of people had come and gone, creating an energetic and somewhat chaotic environment. However, the Naga had expressly chosen the tent for that reason. To truly strengthen ones mind and gain inner peace, you had to be able to block out even the most intrusive and distracting of things, and what was more distracting then a flood of circus performers coming to practice their acts?
Through it all, through the yells and singing, through the shouting and explosions and animal calls, she had managed to remain focused on nothing but the image of the cherry tree within her mind. She hadn't even moved a muscle from where she sat on the highest bleacher, her legs crossed and her hands loosely holding each other as the tent finally began to clear.
Now, it had completely emptied of people and still Mulan didn't rouse herself from her meditation or even notice that the tent was empty. Well, almost empty.
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Post by inakamoto on Nov 16, 2016 16:14:16 GMT -5
Haruhi had been staring at the young woman for sometime. She had been wandering the circus grounds, and found her sitting in the bleachers of the main performance tent. From her sitting position, Haruhi surmised she must've been meditating, so she was sure to keep quiet as she observed the woman. After a while, she felt herself becoming entranced. The fact that her aura appeared so calm and serene was a testament to the amount of focus this woman had managed to achieve. Haruhi couldn't help but admire-.
"Psst."
Haruhi let out a yelp as she jumped 3 feet into the air, and spun around to set here eyes on Hulk. She must've been too entranced by watching the young woman, she hadn't noticed him until just now.
"Don't do that!" Haruhi whispered after a couple seconds of heavy breathing.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" Hulk asked, his expression remaining unchanged.
Haruhi turned back towards the young woman. So far, she still hadn't moved, despite the distinctly loud 'yelp' Haruhi had let out. Either she didn't notice them, or she wasn't too bothered by them.
"Just...observing," Haruhi answered as she ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing out any loose strands.
Hulk looked in the direction Haruhi was staring, and saw the woman in the bleachers. It looked like she was meditating, he'd done it himself enough times to know what it looked like. His gaze then went back down to Haruhi. He noticed the odd look on her face, like she wanted to say something, but couldn't for some reason. After looking back and forth between the two, he figured it was time to intervene.
"Hey, lady!" Hulk called out to the woman.
The look on Haruhi's face morphed into one of utter terror as she spun back around towards Hulk and whispered in a panicked voice, "Hulk, what're you doing?!"
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 16, 2016 22:28:19 GMT -5
Breathe.
Deep in her meditation, Mulan heard the sudden yelp that reached her ears but simply chose to not acknowledge it. Instead, she let it pass across her mind as nothing more then another strong breeze, focusing once more on the cherry tree. No, it would take more then a simple background noise to rouse her from her state now.
Breat...
Suddenly, a powerful and masculine voice boomed in the tent, causing her concentration to shatter and her whole body jerk. Since her perch on the bleacher had been somewhat precarious, she began to lose her balance and started to fall forwards towards the ground. However, she quickly landed on both her hands and used the momentum to carry her into a loose roll that brought her into a standing position.
Needless to say, she was less than pleased with the interruption. Immediately her dark eyes, set in a frown, searched the tent before landing on two figures standing across the way and looking straight at her. She didn't say anything in that moment as she began to walk down the bleachers towards the performance space, but her flashing eyes said it all.
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Post by inakamoto on Nov 17, 2016 7:44:53 GMT -5
Haruhi had turned in time to see the woman tumble forward off the bleachers. Before she could act, the woman had already recovered from the fall, and righted herself. Haruhi breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt a lump in her throat as she got a look at the woman's face. She didn't need to be a psychic to realize she wasn't happy. That calm and serene aura she had seen earlier had become frazzled and rough. It was one of those moments she wished she was invisible.
"You gonna say hi, or what?" Hulk asked Haruhi in a blunt tone.
Haruhi responded by simply kicking his toe with the back of her heel. She knew he'd barely feel it, but in that moment, her thoughts were in such a flurry of panic, she could barely think straight.
"I, um, that is, we, um," Haruhi stammered after giving a quick bow, "w-we're very s-s-sorry for disturbing you."
"Didn't you wanna-."
Haruhi reached backwards, and balled a tight fist. Immediately, Hulk felt his lips pressed together tightly. He struggled momentarily to open his mouth again before realizing Haruhi was using her psychic powers on his mouth.
"You'll have to forgive my friend," Haruhi said, beads of sweat forming on her brow as she smiled nervously, "he can be impulsive sometimes, but he means well, really."
Hulk simply rolled his eyes and folded his arms at the statement.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 17, 2016 22:17:21 GMT -5
As Mulan drew closer to where the two figures stood, she began to take in their features. One was petite and slender, a woman with short brown hair and large brown eyes. The other was in opposite, consisting of a huge and powerfully muscular frame and green everything from his eyes to his skin. This alone might have alarmed most people, but Mulan merely continued to walk forward until she stood only a yard away.
"You would do well not to interrupt someone when they are in the depths of a meditative state."
Despite her anger, she managed to keep herself from snapping at them. Instead, she let her gaze go between the two. Clearly the woman was somewhat embarrassed by the fact that her green companion had disrupted her meditation.
"If you had a question to ask me, you only needed to approach and wait."
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Post by inakamoto on Nov 19, 2016 8:53:58 GMT -5
Haruhi felt her breathing become shallow as struggled to respond, "Well, you see...I didn't actually...well, I guess I did, in a sense...see, I...what I'm trying to say is..."
Hulk began rubbing his forehead; if it hadn't been for Haruhi clamping his mouth shut, he'd just ask for her, not let her beat around the bush like she was at that moment.
Haruhi felt a mixture of panic and frustration build up inside her. She knew she had to say something, but her brain and her mouth were completely out of sync with each other. The woman was irritated enough as it was, if this went on any longer, she was certain she'd tell them off for wasting her time. Finally, Haruhi took a deep breath, closed her eyes tight, and opened her mouth.
"Iwaswonderingifitwouldbeokayformetojoinyouinmeditating," Haruhi quickly blurted out, hastily adding a quick bow at the end.
About time, Hulk thought to himself.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 20, 2016 2:19:58 GMT -5
Mulan continued to stare at the man and the woman, her expression neutral but her gaze never wavering from them. The young woman was stumbling wildly over her own words yet the green man seemed perfectly calm if not utterly silent. The Naga watched all of this in utter silence, her expression remaining the same but feeling slightly bemused by the woman's shy nature.
Finally, the stranger managed to speak in a rush of words so fast that it took Mulan a moment to make sense of what she had just heard.
"You would like to join me in my mediations?"
Her eyes looked between the two once more before her posture loosened somewhat at last.
"That is quite the request seeing as how I do not even know you and your companion's names, let alone who you are."
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Post by inakamoto on Nov 20, 2016 21:26:47 GMT -5
Haruhi felt her face become suddenly hot. In all her panicking, she completely forgot to introduce herself, or Hulk. She slowly straightened herself up, her arms rigid at her side, and sweat beginning to form on her brow. The obvious next step was to say who they were, obviously. But now, her voice was failing her. Whatever courage she had mustered up that allowed her to talk with this woman was quickly fading away.
Behind her, Hulk noticed the psychic hold on his mouth had vanished, and he was finally able to talk again. About time, as it seemed like she needed him to step in again.
"Hulk, Haruhi," Hulk said plainly, pointing to himself and Haruhi respectively. He then used his hand to give as gentle a nudge as he could manage.
The nudge turned out to be less than gentle, as Haruhi found herself suddenly stumbling forward three steps, suddenly finding herself significantly closer to the young woman. As she refocused on the woman's face, she suddenly felt her ears begin to ring. This was much too close for comfort.
"H-Haruhi F-Fujioka," Haruhi stammered again after straightening up, "Dozo yoroshi-, I mean, a pleasure to meet you, miss."
Haruhi gave another bow, this time to hide her beet-red face from view; this was, she felt, the most embarrassed she may have ever been in her life.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 20, 2016 22:20:01 GMT -5
Mulan waited as the young woman seemed to loose her voice completely. Clearly her shyness was quite extreme because her face began to grow steadily redder in coloration and perspiration rapidly began to appear on her skin. The Naga could almost taste the incredible tension and embarrassment the woman was feeling.
She was just thinking of breaking the terrible silence when the large green man spoke in a deep voice, offering each of their names before pushing the woman, Haruhi, forward with enough force so that they stood directly in front of each other. Finally Haruhi managed to speak and introduce herself fully along with a hasty greeting.
For a time Mulan did nothing more then stare at the two of them and blink slowly, trying to take in this sudden situation and how it had arisen in the first place. Most people avoided her simply because her demeanor could come across as very cold and distant, but that hadn't been the case for these two perfect strangers. And it was clear the young woman had been forced to struggle deeply with her shyness just to work up the courage to talk to her.
With this in mind, Mulan finally took in another slow breath before bowing forward in formal greeting, her short black hair briefly hiding her face from their view.
"Greetings Haruhi and Hulk. I am Mulan Elapatra of the Naga Clan."
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Post by inakamoto on Nov 23, 2016 8:31:58 GMT -5
Haruhi felt the tension ease up slightly after hearing the woman, Mulan, introduce herself. After straightening herself up, she saw the woman's features had become less imposing than she was before. It seemed like the situation was finally starting to take a turn for the better. It was at this point Haruhi felt comfortable enough to start a conversation.
"Nice to meet you, Mulan," Haruhi said, finally managing a smile, "again, I'm sorry about disturbing you. See, I'm a psychic myself, I can read minds, do telekinesis, that sort of thing. Because of that, I'm always interested in learning new meditation techniques, and I was hoping, maybe, you'd be willing to share some pointers with me. I mean, only if it's okay with you."
Hulk looked over at Mulan with a thoughtful look on his face. He was familiar with meditation as well, though more for helping to control his anger. Caroline had helped him learn some breathing exercises, but nothing to complex. He had to admit, a part of him was curious about what insight the new woman had to offer.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Dec 24, 2016 0:25:40 GMT -5
Mulan's features remained perfectly calm as Haruhi spoke, giving voice to why she was there. The Naga had to admit she was a bit surprised when the young woman said she was a psychic, but quickly realized that it only made sense for such an individual to be present at the Cirque Mystique.
She listened silently to Haruhi's request but did nothing more then give a small nod of her head.
"And what of your companion?"
Mulan had kept her eyes on the young woman but now turned to face the large, green figure that stood next to her. She had never seen anything quite like him before and, although she wouldn't admit it, she was curious. She had learned of physics in her training to become a Guardian, but she had never encountered the likes of Hulk.
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Post by inakamoto on Dec 30, 2016 18:26:10 GMT -5
After seeing Mulan nod her head, Haruhi felt much more relaxed, letting out a relieved sigh. So far, things seemed to be on the upswing, a good start on a new relationship. At the mention of Hulk, Haruhi paused a moment, unsure of how to answer. She then turned towards the green giant, a bit of an inquisitive look on her face. She had seen Hulk meditating before, but that was usually on his own, it was hard to tell if he'd be willing to do so in the company of others.
Hulk looked down a moment between the two of them, then said flatly, "Yeah, sure."
Haruhi then turned back towards Mulan, "I think he'd like to join us, if that's okay with you."
She wouldn't blame her if she declined, Hulk did have that sort of impact on people.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 20, 2017 5:27:25 GMT -5
Mulan continued to stare thoughtfully at Hulk for several more moments before giving a single nod. Immediately, she walked over from her position towards Haruhi and Hulk, her intense gaze never once wavering from them. She only came to a stop when she was standing only a foot away from the pair.
"This form of meditation isn't like many other forms. It isn't about chakras or spiritual journeys or delving into your subconscious. It's an ancient practice that had been handed down by my people for centuries and requires the practitioners to give up the one thing so many people refuse to relinquish. Control."
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Post by inakamoto on Jan 23, 2017 19:35:40 GMT -5
Hulk raised an eyebrow as he listened to Mulan's explanation. This sounded a little contrary to what he thought meditation was about, that being maintaining control, rather than relinquishing it. Then again, he wasn't a total expert on these things, so he wasn't in any position to judge. He kept silent for the moment, waiting for her to continue.
Haruhi was more open to the notion. She understood that Mulan was the superior in these matters, so it made more sense that she would likely know more about these practices than herself.
"Okay," Haruhi said with a nod, "where do we begin?"
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Feb 10, 2017 6:47:00 GMT -5
Mulan could tell right away from the frown on Hulk's face that this wasn't something he was used to but Haruhi seemed more open to the concept. That would be important if they were both truly interested in learning the kind of meditation she could teach them.
"The first thing is learning what control is in the first place. Everyone has a different perception on what they think it means to be in control."
Mulan didn't say more and instead kept her intense gaze focused on the pair before her. She then made a small gesture with her hand that clearly said 'speak.' Before she could really teach them anything, this was something they had to think about. What did control mean to them?
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