mystic 2

[09:26:24] After Quinn's meeting with Janus, she was different. Everything was different. No, she hadn't had a religious breakthrough - it was a magical breakthrough. It was as if Janus had drowned her, and it was the absence of air that made her realize that she had lungs in the first place.

And when her head bobbed up from beneath Janus' waves, her first breath was amazing.

She could feel it in everything she did. It was her lifeblood, the physical manifestation of her soul, pulsing through something not-quite-tangible. Quinn was suddenly aware of the magic in everything she did.

It was time to see what she could do. Quinn sat down in the grass, and stared at her rusted hands.
(Quinn)
[09:34:04] Quinn closed her eyes. This was the first, and one of the hardest steps, she had read - meditation. There was so much around Quinn, that even when she had her eyes shut, she was distracted.

There was the babbling of water, the talk of people, the rustling of the grass in the stale valley wind. She could feel it blow against her face, and the grass tickling her toes, and the constant burning of the rust upon her arms.

There were so many things that zoning in on a single one felt nearly impossible... so Quinn stopped.

And she stepped back.

And she breathed.

She could see herself, sitting among the grass and the trees and the wind and the itch on her arms, but all that mattered was her. She brushed it off, the grass and the trees and the itch on her arms, and then everything was dark.

It was just her.
(Quinn)
[09:38:20] Alone, in her own darkness, Quinn found herself. She focused inwards, pressing deep into that unfamiliar feeling that had struck her since her meeting with Janus.

The more she focused, the more colorful her darkness became. Bright hues of blue and green flashed before her, swirling in incomprehensible shapes and figures.

Quinn reached out to touch one. It all stopped. The colors were gone. Her focus was broken. She froze, her hand poised mid-air. Everything was dark again, and she was alone.

Her thoughts crept up on her. Blurred memories flew past Quinn, murmurs filled her mind. She couldn't stop them, she couldn't get out --
(Quinn)
[09:43:28] The greenery of trees flourished above her but the ground below was stained dark with red. She could feel the terror creeping up on her, the absolutely maddening terror. It shook every fiber of her being, filling the pit of her stomach and the hollow of her bones. It swallowed up every gulp of air she attempted and escaped from her lips in a haunting, twisted scream -

Quinn opened her eyes. She could feel her entire body trembling as her lips parted for the air. She gasped and the entire world fell down upon her, pushing her shoulders down until her crumpled frame collapsed.

Her fingers grasped at the grass around her, pulling them up from the dirt. The wind kept her down and the trees whispered to her and the marks on her arms burned and burned and burned.

And then it was over.
(Quinn)
[09:51:08] Quinn: are you wanting to join my rp?)
[09:52:51] She was alone. She was alive. There were no trees above her and as she rose from the ground, the grass wasn't stained red - everything was fine. The echo of terror still bounced around in the hollow of her bones but she was in Nostvale and everything was fine.

And when Quinn looked down at her hands, she could see a thin, blue liquid dripping from the tips of her fingers. Her hands rose, and the substance swirled, defying the will of gravity but following her own. It bubbled in the air, and then it blazed, burning with a power so raw and pure that it could only be compared to her moment of emotion.

Pure energy danced at Quinn's command, and she could feel it. Her very soul did pirouettes upon her fingertips, and when she stopped, the mana went drip-drip-dripping to the ground in blue wisps of mist.

Quinn was so overwhelmed that she could do nothing more but stare.

So there she sat, alone in a riverside park in Nostvale, staring at her empty hands.
(Quinn)