Okuu Quest Thereafter - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, that was... quicker than I expected."
>Can we non-verbally ask Stargazer to sleep inside us for a moment? One secret at a time

>She chuckles.
>You try to do this, and succeed. She is a little disappointed by this request, as she was looking around the room. But she complies.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, snap away. It's probably resting on my head. It doesn't seem to move much."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, snap away. It's probably resting on my head. It doesn't seem to move much."

>She does so, taking a vertical shot of you. She examines the resulting photo with a frown, looking between it and you several times. "...I see," she says at length. "It is...friendly, I take it?"

>)

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I figure it is. It... doesn't really do much. I haven't seen it really move. It doesn't speak. I can't sense it in any tangible way. But it hasn't done me any harm, either."
>"But I'm certain that it is somehow responsible for this sense of mine, given what happened to my sister. I actually met that spirit while it was out and about, before it... joined with her. I... think it recognized me. I felt fragments of memories from it, or something. Something... familiar, although I couldn't how or why."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I figure it is. It... doesn't really do much. I haven't seen it really move. It doesn't speak. I can't sense it in any tangible way. But it hasn't done me any harm, either."
>"But I'm certain that it is somehow responsible for this sense of mine, given what happened to my sister. I actually met that spirit while it was out and about, before it... joined with her. I... think it recognized me. I felt fragments of memories from it, or something. Something... familiar, although I couldn't how or why."

>Byakuren nods dumbly. "Hm. Well. Memories sounds interesting. And, it seems you certainly discovered something... Hmm."
>She takes a moment to recover from her obvious flustering, then ask, "Have you taken my advice?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I've certainly been doing plenty of looking outside. I've barely stopped for a moment since all this started. I've looked at nearly every corner of the island, investigated any report of strangeness, no matter how unlikely. It's how I learned what I have, so far. But, as I said, although I know things that I didn't when we first met, I still feel like I'm missing the key to all this, somehow. Whatever central thing is actually wrong."

>"As for inside... well, when I woke up in the middle of the night, the other night, and looked at myself in the mirror, I was absolutely convinced that something was missing. Something about ME that was missing. I don't even know how that makes any sense. I tried to figure out what it was, but eventually gave up and went back to sleep. I... hadn't given it a lot of thought since then, to be honest. It's been a very, very busy few days."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I've certainly been doing plenty of looking outside. I've barely stopped for a moment since all this started. I've looked at nearly every corner of the island, investigated any report of strangeness, no matter how unlikely. It's how I learned what I have, so far. But, as I said, although I know things that I didn't when we first met, I still feel like I'm missing the key to all this, somehow. Whatever central thing is actually wrong."

>"As for inside... well, when I woke up in the middle of the night, the other night, and looked at myself in the mirror, I was absolutely convinced that something was missing. Something about ME that was missing. I don't even know how that makes any sense. I tried to figure out what it was, but eventually gave up and went back to sleep. I... hadn't given it a lot of thought since then, to be honest. It's been a very, very busy few days."

>She nods. "I think that part of yourself missing is a key. It may be worth your time to consider it."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"You may be right..."
>If we stop and focus, do we still have the same sense of something missing that we had the other night?
>Do we have even a slightly better idea now as to what it might be?

[Hello Purvis]

>"You may be right..."
>If we stop and focus, do we still have the same sense of something missing that we had the other night?
>Do we have even a slightly better idea now as to what it might be?

>You have sort of pushed the sense off to the side since then, but yes, it is still lurking there like a bad memory.
>As it stands, not really. Just a sort of silly image of wings.

>_

[Kasu]

> Try to envision the wings.

[DracoOmega]

>"I don't suppose you have any suggestions on how I can do that? I've tried thinking as deeply as I could on it, but I haven't made a lot of headway."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I don't suppose you have any suggestions on how I can do that? I've tried thinking as deeply as I could on it, but I haven't made a lot of headway."

>"Just find a quiet place," says Byakuren. "Then try to drive out as much distraction from your senses as you can. Close your eyes, try to focus on breathing steadily, and just let your mind drift until you feel detached enough to try to dive into things. Just take it a bit at a time. From what I've gathered, you've been too harried these past few days to really relax. I think that might be your problem."
>She ponders for a moment. "Another thing you might want to consider is staring into a mirror, until your eyes unfocus and the world seems removed then guide your thoughts. It's a little more difficult and less effective, I think, due to the distractions that may get involved, but it may suit your purposes.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"You're right, I've had precious few moments of relaxation since this started."
>"I've never really meditated before. I'm not sure how good I'm going to be at letting my mind go, amid all this craziness. But I'll try it."

[Hello Purvis]

>"You're right, I've had precious few moments of relaxation since this started."
>"I've never really meditated before. I'm not sure how good I'm going to be at letting my mind go, amid all this craziness. But I'll try it."

>"If you'd feel more comfortable," says Byakuren, gesturing to the left, "There are some private rooms over there that you could use."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Do we have time to take a little time to quietly reflect and still be back at Parsee's before 9?
>If so: "Thanks. I think I might give it a try."
   >Go to one of the private rooms

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we have time to take a little time to quietly reflect and still be back at Parsee's before 9?
>If so: "Thanks. I think I might give it a try."
   >Go to one of the private rooms

>It's only a little after seven, you have a good hour and a half.
>"Alright, says Byakuren, standing up, then offering you a hand. "It's this way." She leads you behind the folding screen, where there are a few doors, all but one hanging half open. She leads you to the nearest one.
>Inside is a smallish room, with a cushion in the middle. There seems to be a surprising amount of ventilation in here; you quickly decipher it is for providing heating and cooling with minimal noise. A few pictures hang on the walls;  pieces of Indian-style art depicting events you cannot recognize. Byakuren closes the door behind you.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Sit down and get comfortable
>Close our eyes
>Take calm and steady breaths, in and out
>Focus on our breathing

[Hello Purvis]

>Sit down and get comfortable
>Close our eyes
>Take calm and steady breaths, in and out
>Focus on our breathing

>You make yourself comfortable, setting the helmet aside, and close your eyes. You focus on breathing steadily.
>This is...kinda boring, really.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Let it be boring. The point is not to do. The point is simply to be. No need to rush things.
>Continue to concentrate on our breath, and let the outside world slip away

[Hello Purvis]

>Let it be boring. The point is not to do. The point is simply to be. No need to rush things.
>Continue to concentrate on our breath, and let the outside world slip away

>You power through it as best you can. Your thoughts start to wander. You wonder what Parsee is making for dinner? Hopefully there's a lot of it, you're getting pretty hungry again. Maybe there would be time for the two of you afterward? That's be real nice... It'd be a pain if that Ace person came, though. Who is Ace, anyways? Aside from clearly being into a lot of illegal stuff. There sure is a lot of illegal stuff, isn't there...?

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Continue to focus
>As each thought floats to our mind, gently set it aside. The world outside can wait

[Hello Purvis]

>Continue to focus
>As each thought floats to our mind, gently set it aside. The world outside can wait

>You try not to focus on temporal things, as pleasant as some of them may be. You start to wonder what you're really even hoping to achieve; and in particular, what you're going to do to make it happen.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>As our thoughts calm, turn our focus inward
>Focus on ourself, our sense of being
>What part is whole? What part feels missing?
>Don't force the question. Just try to envision a holistic feeling of 'self'

>Afterwards, if none of the above clarifies things, try incorporating the idea of having wings into this sense of self. Does that change how this image of ourself feels?

[Hello Purvis]

>As our thoughts calm, turn our focus inward
>Focus on ourself, our sense of being
>What part is whole? What part feels missing?
>Don't force the question. Just try to envision a holistic feeling of 'self'

>Afterwards, if none of the above clarifies things, try incorporating the idea of having wings into this sense of self. Does that change how this image of ourself feels?

>You try to look inward, and your sense of self.
>It's wrong. You know it is. You end up with a feeling that you sort of visualize as a circle with parts taken from it. Were they taken? You...don't know what is missing, and what isn't.
>You considering the feeling of wings, and...it feels fitting, really. It's kinda weird, really.

>_

[Serela]

>Try including that eye pendant into our image, and our dreams of a future in nuclear fusion.

[DracoOmega]

>Stay with this image of the circle. Can we get a clearer image of it?

[Hello Purvis]

>Try including that eye pendant into our image, and our dreams of a future in nuclear fusion.

>It feels like something you should have as well. Not this one, but it does feel right.

>Stay with this image of the circle. Can we get a clearer image of it?

>You can, sort of, but given its just an approximation, you don't know if it'd be helpful or accurate.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Do the wings feel like a missing piece of this circle, somehow?

>Try reflecting on the images that we saw when we touched the cat ghost. Does some of the feeling of familiarity that we got from these feel at all related to what is missing?

[Hello Purvis]

>Do the wings feel like a missing piece of this circle, somehow?

>Try reflecting on the images that we saw when we touched the cat ghost. Does some of the feeling of familiarity that we got from these feel at all related to what is missing?

>You...think so. Maybe. It feels like they should fit in some way.
>You consider the memories you felt after touching the cat shadow. They have a weird sort of familiarity, some of them. But, it doesn't feel like they'd fill in any gaps. More as though they overlap with what is already there.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>If we focus on a piece that is missing, and let our mind drift, can we get a sense of direction, somehow? Kind of like letting this feeling of a particular absence act like a mental dowsing rod, gently pulling our thoughts towards something. Don't force it. Just be with it for a while