//------------------------------// // CHAPTER 10 (AKA: Intention reading) // Story: A thing or two about changelings and their habits saga // by Young discord //------------------------------// Today out of all days, was the most peaceful one yet, it’s as if the world in which Cynthia and Stan resided in decided to give them a break, they found a cave, they had their captor and they were pretty full on food as well given the last 24 hours, they were all rested, or at least their bodies were. Stan’s mind was like a bath of oil to which suddenly a few kilos of fresh fries had been thrown into out of nowhere, his thoughts were sizzling and whilst his body was ready for action, his mind was most certainly not and Cynthia had noticed. “What’s wrong with you, don’t like our new crib?” “…” You should tell her, its bothering you and with this in your way your mind is in no state to learn intention reading once the Cerberus wakes up But Stan didn’t want to tell Cynthia, he had a lot of terrible experiences with his condition, he had just managed to get others off his back with this and he didn’t want it to turn a full circle, sure he told the voice about it but that was different, to Stan the voice wasn’t as much another being as it was a extension of himself, so it only seemed normal that he’d share everything with the voice but Cynthia? Whether he liked it or not they had formed a strong albeit strange bond, with his life starting anew he didn’t have anybody else apart from her, and he didn’t want this to get in the way. “Is this about that argument we had?” “No” “Because I- oh it’s not? Then what is it?” “I’d… I’d rather not talk about it” “We’re going to be here a while so you might as well tell me, you will eve-“ “NO!” Cynthia jumped at the sudden violent reaction she got from Stan. “OK, now you owe me an explanation, I don’t need to feel your emotions to know that something’s wrong” Stan wasn’t going to have it but neither was Cynthia, he knew her well enough that she wasn’t going to take no for an answer so it was time to try a different approach because this one was the equivalent of hitting his head with a brick wall. “I… It’s something about me, it’s… it’s… it’s not simple I don’t know how to tell you it in the right way” “Then just tell me” “I can’t” “Sure you can” “No, you don’t understand-“ “Damn right I don’t understand, make me” “No, I need to word it right, otherwise…” “Otherwise?” “You’ll…” “Come on” “You’ll” “Out with it” “You’ll...” “JUST SAY IT ALREADY!” “YOU MIGHT HATE ME!” That wasn’t what Cynthia had expected to come out of that mouth. “Hate…. You?” “Yeah…” Stan sighed, she was right, he was going to have to tell her anyway, and there was no escape from this conversation now that it’s gone so far “I have this condition… it’s called Hypermagica” “Hyper…” “…Magica, yes, it’s a condition where the way my body is built, it resonates with my magical abilities and amplifies them to dangerously high levels, I didn’t want to tell you because… because Everybody who finds out about this always ends up turning away from me, my acquaintances, friends I’ve grown up with, even my family, I know they still care about me but it’s the distance that kills me, and… well, I started a whole new life just to get away from that pain, I mean, if I don’t have friends, if I don’t have a family who’s to hurt me?” “Who do you think I am?” Stan looked at Cynthia’s enraged face. “Wha- why-“ Stan didn’t know how to respond to this question, it’s as if she wasn’t even listening and heard something completely different. “Look, I don’t need to explain myself to you, in the life of every being there are some things that they never talk about, for me this is one of them and I don’t need to explain it to-“ A powerful wholesome slap echoed throughout the cave. Stan pirouetted to the floor. “Who do you think I am! You think I’d leave you over something like this? Do you really think that little of me? I know you think I’m too childish, I know you think I have no manners but this… This I will never forgive you” Cynthia stampeded out of the cave leaving a speechless Stanley, she was the first being that reacted this way, he wasn’t sad or angry, he genuinely didn’t know what to feel. She likes you “Yea- what? you think she likes me?” Do you know what’s the opposite of love? “Hate, and she hates me, you can tell by the way she bitchslapped me in the face” No, its indifference, she hates you right now because she cares about you, why do you think it bothered her so much about what you think about her, you know her she doesn’t care about what others think, if she didn’t care about you, she’d just accept the fate you’ve imposed on her but- “-She doesn’t want to” Stan’s pain on his face was beginning to transform into a nice warm feeling. It was probably the pain of the slap wearing off. A cave, the loud shouts echoing suggested that the Doctor was in a cave, the first thing one has to do when regaining consciousness was to figure out his surroundings, even before moving or opening his eyes, it was Cerberus 101 you never knew who was hiding behind the corner or whether you weren’t in a middle of a trap. From the sounds he could tell that the two black creatures were nearby. He tried moving his arm a little but was restrained by what seemed to be some sort of homemade rope. It appears that this time the roles were reversed, he was at their mercy now, but for some reason he wasn’t afraid, if the creatures wanted him dead or had ill intention he would have woken up in a very different circumstance, if at all. He’s awake, it’s time “You’re the one going to teach me, so you lead the way” Announced Stan to the voice The first thing we need to assess is our relationship with him; we need to make it clear that we’re not here to harm him “And how are we going to convince him? He’s tied up” Did you feel threatened by him when you were tied up on the bed in the camp? “No, I guess…” Exactly, that’s because of the way the two of you approached each other, the first thing you need to learn is the fact that we’re all animals, we feel these kinds of things, it’s a part of our instinct “So… other beings can also read intentions?” To a certain extent, many changelings these days think that reading one’s emotions and intentions is limited only to a changeling but in reality you rarely need the ability to sense emotions to know what the other is thinking or feeling “And how’s that?” A being is like an open book, what they feel or think directly influences their behaviour, have you ever heard of body language? Or tone of speech? “Of course” The Doctor looked at the changeling in confusion, he thought he had seen him talk to himself back at the camp but now he was sure of it, perhaps the black one was crazy. That’s just a few things you can use to read one’s intentions, of course depending on the being you’re trying to read, various actions may mean something entirely different than the same actions in another being for instance, Dragons are a proud race and consequently use loud and sharp intonation while speaking however that does not mean that they are irritated or angry, that is simply the way their kind communicates and states assertiveness “I think I see what you’re getting at with this” You do? “So intention reading is reading one’s intention by their actions, tone and everything else one can see or hear?” For the most part, intention reading goes a step further because unlike with other beings, changelings are able to directly sense another’s emotions, with the ability to read one’s actions along with one’s current emotional state the ability to predict what they are thinking and their intentions reaches practically infallible levels or to put it simply, intention reading is synonymous with reading minds, in fact it often lets you read things ahead and predict what the being you’re reading might do in the close future before they even think of it, in a way it’s a form of predicting behavioural future “Hmmm… well that sure sounds like a lot of work” Only the beginning is hard, soon enough you’ll learn to do this instinctively, a lot of it is based on common sense but enough of this chatter, the quicker you learn, the faster we’ll be back home “Well, what do I do?” The first approach is everything, remember, the Cerberus is also an animal he can read body language, you need to make sure that your intent towards him is made clear as soon as possible, so how would we get about doing that? “Perhaps… move slowly?” It’s a start… and? “Maybe… when I’ll talk I’ll talk slowly and quietly?” Whenever you’re in doubt think of what you’d expect from the other side if you’d be in his place “Well I wouldn’t want anything loud, fast, perhaps not keep eye contact?” Not keeping eye contact? Interesting, elaborate “Well… if you think about it, keeping constant eye contact on the other being might mean that you don’t trust them, that you’re afraid of them and in turn that might mean that you have some shady intentions-” -Very good! See? Told you that a lot of this is based on common sense and instinct “-But you don’t want to evade eye contact at all costs because that also could mean that you’re afraid of the other side finding out about your intentions, so I guess you’d just have to be casual with the eye contact?” I don’t know, you tell me “Hey, you’re the one teaching me, not the other way” The best form of learning is through trial, error and experience, now go to him Stan had to do the first step and so he did, he looked directly in the Cerberus’s eyes for a moment but not too long a he proceeded to approach him in a calm manner. Keep track of his body language and most importantly, look the positioning of his ears “His ears? What about his eyes?” Looking at the eyes for too long can create unnecessary tension, besides, with the eyes you can only tell what emotional state a being is in but with the ears you can always clearly tell what the being is paying attention to, do you see them, they work like radar dishes and although one may look directly at you they might not be focusing at you, and you can tell that by the ears Stan looked at the Cerberus’s gaze that was directed at him, it seemed that he had his full undivided attention however his ears were telling an entirely different story, turning here and there, left and right in all sorts of directions of sounds but his. “I… I think he’s pretending” Oh? “Well think about it, he was in some sort of army, right? Well maybe he is looking directly at me to make sure that I keep alert of him and don’t do anything rash while he scans for his surrounding with his ears, he’s not actually focusing on me right now” Test that “Excuse me?” When in doubt, test, lightly buck a rock or anything that would make a sound nearby and look at his reaction, a somewhat aggressive strategy but sometimes you need to take risks Stan did just that, a nearby pebble tumbled for about a meter making a gentle sound. The Cerberus’s ears turned towards the rock for a split second, instinctively no doubt however they quickly returned to the surrounding. “I guess I was right, I don’t think he feels threatened by me, I’ll approach him” Once Stan Came close enough to touch him he got his full attention. The Cerberus yawned. Stan loosened up instantly “Well if that’s not a sign of casualty then I don’t know what is” Stan proceeded in releasing the Cerberus from his bonds. What are you doing! “It’s ok; I know what I’m doing” No you don’t! “Either way, it’s not up to you to decide, we’ve connected before, he knows I’m not going to hurt him, I need to show him that I trust him” If you release him he’ll run away! “He won’t and even if he will, he’ll come back” Yeah, with backup “No, he is a doctor, he is far too interested in us than to just throw us into the paws of the ones who wants us dead at once, you saw it didn’t you? Back in the camp, he didn’t get along very well with the others regarding what to do with us, I don’t think he’ll go back, see?” The Cerberus was now free but he was still in his place “And now I’m just going to turn away and do something else like cleaning or something to show him that I trust him, he’s big enough to kill me in one go so turning my back on him is a clear sign of trust” It seems like a very dangerous tactic to me “If he’d have wanted to kill me or run away he would have done that as soon as his first paw was free or the second time I was brought back to the camp, I was unconscious and yet he did nothing to harm me” Stan turned his back on the Doctor who now sat down on an upright position on his bed that was a pile of sticks with hollowed out waxy thick leaves for a mattress. I really think that you should keep an eye on him “Don’t worry, I got this” So you keep saying Stan proceeded to dust the area with a broom he had made earlier; he turned to the Cerberus and pointed at another ready made broom in the corner suggesting that he help out. Giving mixed signals there… he might think you expect him to be your slave and do your work for you “That’s why I pointed at the other broom instead of giving him this one, this way I’m showing him that I want the two of us to do this together… you’re being exceptionally negative as for the one who kept telling me that experience, trial and error are the best methods of learning” True, but I didn’t expect you to jump into deep waters like this; it’s not like you to do that “It isn't but for some reason I feel confident with this, I actually trust him and I feel that we can both benefit from this, he doesn’t have any reason to throw away this opportunity” Oh and I suppose the fact that you’ve killed his friends from the camp yesterday is irrelevant? “It is irrelevant because he never witnessed it, what the eyes don’t see, the chef gets away with, besides by the time I tell him-“ Woah, woah, woah, wait a minute here, you’re planning on telling him? “Well yeah, eventually, if we’d become friends I’d rather he hear that from me than from someone else” You’re getting way ahead of yourself here, he’s not your friend, they’re our enemies! Or do I need to remind you about that time they tortured you? “The others in his camp did, not him, besides do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” You’re playing with fire here “I know, so far I’ve played with explosives, torture, mines, secrets about my family that I never knew about, and of course how could we forget about the all time favourite, time travel! At this point, this isn’t even an issue it’s part of my everyday life” …point taken The Cerberus, though still a little confused as to whom was Stanley conversing with, got up, took the broom and began sweeping alongside the changeling as if signing a silent agreement between the two. How good are you at making holograms with your magic? “No magic” Then how do you intend on learning their language? “I thought that the reason I’m learning intention reading is so that I don’t have to know their language” You’ve barely begun to learn intention reading, you’re going to have to understand what he’s saying to you before you understand what he's thinking.[/i “I don’t mind learning his language, but I’ve already told you, I’m not going to be using my magic unless it’s a life or death situation” If you don’t learn their language fast enough with the aid of holographic projections you’re going to have plenty of those “life or death” situations to many of which your magic is going to be useless anyway “No” This isn’t much of a choice, now that you’ve rested you might not be as aware of this but your lives are still in just as much danger as they were this entire time “The only reason why I’m still calm is because of the Cerberus next to me” I understand how hard this must be for you but you can’t run away from your problems, this hypermagica of yours, it’s a problem and its still there, it will always be there and- “You think I don’t know that?” Stan was growing tiresome of this pointless babble. “Every time I ever see somepony use magic, every time I see the sun and moon rise with magic I’m reminded of this, I’m reminded of all the times that I-“ -You want to put it behind you, I understand, trust me if anypony would know anything about past life of regrets it would be us but if you don’t do anything about this now, you’ll hurt the ones you love in the future, do you want to hurt them again? “So what do you expect me to do?” What does a species do when its faced with extinction? it doesn’t run away, it adapts, your hypermagica can be either your curse or a gift, it’s your choice what you decide to do with it “I don’t know, I’ve tried so many times and always failed” If you want to break down a wall but you keep failing because you keep banging your head against it you don’t quit or try to bang your head against it one more time, you bring a sledgehammer “What’s that supposed to mean?” You say you’ve tried many times to deal with this issue but how many times have you dried different approaches? “…” You see now? Heck if you want to get to the other side of the wall you don’t even need to break it down to get to the other side, you can climb over it, you can walk around it, the possibilities are endless, the only issue is looking for those alternative ways of achieving what you want, and sure, you don’t know what might work so you have to keep trying all sorts of things “And what do you suppose I do then?” Practice Stan burst in laughter, in response the Cerberus jumped as if he were on springs. “You think I haven’t tried practicing?” Well, how did you practice? “Oh, I don’t know, levitating, cans and stuff, of course it never worked, at this point I can barely levitate someone without crushing them to death” Your problem is with the strength of the magic you cast, you’ve tried levitating and various physical spells but have you tried with magic holograms? “It’s the same, they become too big and vivid, I can’t control them” But they didn’t hurt you, did they? And one cannot expect practice to bring instant results, it hard work you know “So you think I could do it with the holograms?” Well sure you could, no matter how many times you’d fail you’ll never hurt anybody, that’s your problem isn’t it? Hurting somebody? You can’t go wrong with this, you can only go up from here, and with learning his language you’re going to have plenty of practice when you’ll need to explain something to him “I don’t know…” Trust me Stan gave it a thought “...I’ll think about it, all right?” All right, it’s a step forward The rest of the day Stan and the Cerberus spent on silent chores, there was a lot to do in the cave before it could even be considered a place to live, they’ve both had a lot to take in with this new relationship forming between the both of them, the foundations had to settle before anything else could be put on top of it. The nighttime winds had come to reap across the island’s already violent attitude, it was time that Cynthia head back into the cave. Cynthia really didn’t want to go back, she was really hurt this time, it was strange this was bothering her more than she thought it ever would, she didn’t like him until recently and now that he’s become tolerable this happens. The waves were swaying across the beach as she sat there contemplating over her mix & match of emotions until she saw a figure emerge along the beach to the far right of Cynthia. For a brief moment she assumed it was one of the Cerberi and was ready to flee but on closer inspection Stan had revealed himself. Cynthia moaned in complaint, of course that’s what would happen now of all times. The least she could do now was hide behind the bushes closest behind her where the beach ended. Cynthia was about to leave and go back to the cave however her plans had been interrupted by what Stan had done. His horn flashed and sparked with magic, and an explosion of an incredibly vivid spectrum of colours and shapes had replaced the very reality they both stood on. Cynthia gasped in awe, it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen in her life, all of her issues and problems suddenly became irrelevant in comparison to this living painting she found herself in. She looked at Stan, she didn’t see somepony who had hurt her anymore but somepony who was hurt and lashed out in return, she wanted to make things right, she didn’t want them to be like this. Stan heard the oncoming hoofsteps, he knew it was Cynthia, he had a lot of time to think about the things he said and he wanted to make things right between them. Cynthia sat down next to Stan and marveled at the show. It was time for Stan to apologize. “I’m so-” “Don’t ruin this by apologizing” The two stood there in silence for what seemed for eons until Cynthia broke the silence. “It’s beautiful” Stan turned his head to her in surprise and saw her expression agape with wonderment and smile “You really think that?” “Of course! Do you know what I’d give to be able to do that?” “It’s just a hologram spell; trust me, you wouldn’t want to have Hypermagica” “You know I’ve never told you this but I’m pretty weak” “Weak? You’ve kicked my flank like a million times; you were incredible back there on the minefield!” “I just know how to fight, that doesn’t mean I’m strong” “Yes it does” Cynthia sighed, he really didn’t understand, did he? “I was born prematurely and because of that, my body… it never developed properly, you know? The doctors said that I can’t strain myself… normally I’d spend most of my life in a bed but… well you know what life is like for us… I shouldn’t even use magic because my body can’t handle the strain” “Cynthia, I’m… I didn’t know” “You know what? No, I can’t do this; we always argue over stupid stuff, I don’t want to argue with you anymore” “…” Cynthia looked at Stan who reciprocated the stare. “Let’s make a promise” “What kind of promise?” “I want to know you… promise me that you’ll tell me everything about you and in return I’ll tell you everything about me so that we don’t have to argue ever again” Right now there was nopony else in the world to whom Stan wanted to be closer to than Cynthia. “Deal” The changeling extended his hoof ready for a hoofshake to close the agreement. Stan’s magic had burst like a bubble by a kiss to the cheek. “Deal”