fandomhigh | The Science of Psionics, Wednesday

Entry tags:

science of psionics

The Science of Psionics, Wednesday

"Welcome back," Kerrigan said, impassively. "I'm glad to see none of you froze over yesterday." Her unique biology meant that it hadn't even tickled. And while she was aware of the drama of the past few days, she didn't really care enough about it to comment, either, or show too much mercy to anyone who was out of it.

She was such a pleasant person.

"Today, we move on to telepathy," she said, "Which we will cover across several classes. Some of you are telepaths. Some of you aren't. In my time on Fandom, I've learned we're a varied lot, and not all techniques that work for me will work for you, and vice versa. Case in point: it's very rare for teeps from my home universe to be able to shield themselves telepathically. We are constant recievers, kept from going insane only by some conditioning, and a lot of hardware plugged into our brains. As a result, our range is generally more limited than that of most telepaths."

A brief pause. "Of course, since I've come and gone here, I've managed to master that little problem. Which brings us to the topic of today's lesson, and one that most of you will be familiar with to at least a point: shielding. Now, telepathy is all in the mind; a lot of it comes down to what we can visualise, the responses we program into ourselves because of those visuals. To shield, some people picture walls. Others keep up a stream of misinformation on the shallow end of their brain - very effective back home, since most Ghosts will be trying to keep your deeper thoughts out, not in. Some people come up with more esoteric mental constructs."

"It is a feat of discipline, of course. If you want to keep others out, you're going to have to learn to keep those walls up a great deal of the time. Which only hails from practice. Again, this is something many of you will probably already be aware of. But we have to start somewhere."

She leaned back against the desk, and observed them all. "Beyond the basics of shielding, what's important to remember is the central tenet I just mentioned. Visualisation. You have to know which switches to throw in your brain to make it do what you want it to do. To fully exercise a telepathic talent, you can't afford to just live on the outside. You have to explore what triggers work for you, and how far you can push them. It can take years. Decades. Inconvenient gene treatments." Her mouth curled up, as if that one was supposed to invite a laugh.

"Today, we're doing two things. Like last week, I'd like you all to share what experiences you have in the area of shielding and getting telepathy to work a certain way - to whatever point you're comfortable with. Secondly, we're running a basic shielding exercise. Pair up with a telepath in the room, and see how sturdy you can make yours. Don't push too hard. If you can't find another telepath, you can call on me. If you've got the basics down, then with the consent of your partner, you can experiment a little. Don't fry anyone's brains."

She shot another look into the room. Yes, 'don't fry anyone's brains' was going to be the motto of this class for a long time yet. "And Emma? I'd like to see you after class."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With your brain!

Yamanaka Ino

Helen Haras-Uquara

Emma Frost

Blackagar Boltagon

Ben Skywalker

Karla

Dana Scully

Spock

Cally

Charlene McGee

Jonothon Starsmore

As one does.

What experiences do you have with shielding? What techniques work best for you? What basic tricks do you use, or have you heard about being used, to control your telepathy?

"A lot of my shielding is passive and inborn," Ino said, with a bit of a shrug as she fiddled with her hair. It was easier to fiddle with, really, since she'd been letting it loose. "While I learnt how to build more powerful shields here on an more aggressive level, in order to use my abilities I have to actively work to take down my shields. Keeping them up is easier than letting them down, for me."

"It is... not something I have ever had to consider before," Helen admitted.

After some careful thought, Blackagar wrote down:

I am in control of my mind. If that constitutes walls, then I believe I have excellent ones.

"I was instinctively shielding from when I was too young to realize what I was doing," Ben replied. "There was a war, and I could feel all of the deaths and didn't understand what was happening so I just...withdrew. As I completed Jedi training, my shielding became better and more formalized."

Not that he was planning on going into a lot of detail about what he did--that's how people could find a way to work around it.

"All children of the Blood are taught how to shield pretty much from the time we can toddle," Karla said. "We're taught to shield in layers, to regulate the amount of mental contact we're comfortable with. So I can lower some of my shields enough to exchange psychic threads and whatnot, the inner barriers between others and my Self remain strong." She shrugged a bit. "Also, that trick is useful if you're under attack. As someone is trying to break through your first layer of shields, you can be building more layers further in."

And laying traps between the two, but Karla didn't mention that.

Scully was listening to all this with fascination and some small shudders. "The only telepath I've encountered was very young, and didn't have shields, I believe. He could read anything on the surface of your mind, and tell if you were trying to lie or conceal something, even if you weren't speaking." She paused, considering. "I've never known enough about shielding to know if my own thoughts were concealed." And now she had a whole new worry.

"Vulcans generally do not touch others without explicit permission, although this is relaxed somewhat within the bonds of family. It is only polite," Spock said. Not to mention logical. "This prevents inadvertent or unpermitted mental contact. 'Shielding' is therefore unnecessary, though I can see how it would be a useful skill to cultivate."

Edited 2011-01-19 20:39 (UTC)

"Only psychic of my world reporting", said Charlie with a little wave.

"So I guess my shields are pretty lame."

Pick a telepathic partner, and see how well your shields hold up. If you can't find a partner who's telepathic, you can call on Kerrigan. ~~Just don't expect her to be nice.~~

Helen looked around for a partner.

Not being gifted in such a way, Blackagar patiently waited for a partner. As you do.

Somewhere... his brother was head-desking.

Charlie stared at the silent dude, wondering if she was about to get into something she could very well stay away from. Namely trouble.

Because if she was, then she was also all in for it.

"So...can I read your mind? Please?"

Blackagar smiled, nodding in agreement with that. Then, after a pause, wrote down:

I believe I am supposed to keep you out.

Charlie smiled back, because dude, you were supposed to do that. "I'll try, then."

So...she tried to read his mind. There was no real procedure for her, but she tried to be as less invasive as possible. Just get a feel of his mind.

Spock waited patiently for a partner to engage in the exercise with.

Who has probably a more than average level of experience with this.

Oh, the TA was pretty darn good at this, in her not-so-humble opinion. Try it. She dares you.

If you want to give it a shot. She's here.

"Miss Kerrigan." Emma had her hands clasped behind her back, and she was utterly calm. "I must inform you that Rachel Roth - Raven - will not be returning to class."

"But you wanted to see me?" Cool. Not even a ripple of emotion beyond curiosity made it to the surface, and the curiosity was because she was always eager for the chance to pick Kerrigan's brain.

"That's a shame. I'll make a note of it."

If she was expecting much compassion from Kerrigan, she... had not paid attention the past few months. Though her voice did hold a carefully applied note of it.

"I have something for you."

She paced towards a locker at the back of the class.

Edited 2011-01-19 14:30 (UTC)

Honestly, Emma wasn't expecting compassion from anyone. She wasn't the one having a hard time with all of this ~~because Frosts were unhealthily good at repression~~.

She followed along, wondering what Kerrigan could have brought to class just for her.

Kerrigan opened up the locker and took out the Ghost hostile environment suit (http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Hostile_environment_suit). It was ruined - blackened in places, and in some places the wiring was torn - but still mostly intact.

"Don't try to put the whole thing on," she said, "It might explode on you."

"I don't generally go about sticking my fingers into light sockets," Emma promised absently, trying to probe it with her powers first to see if she got any sort of response from lingering psionic energy before she touched it. It was better to be safe than sorry.

There was a little spark left in it, but it didn't produce more than something akin to static electricity. The Ghost who had previously occupied it was well and truly dead and had been for a while. Kerrigan knew River had made sure of that.

"But it might help you get some insight into the cloaking process," she drawled, "It's a Ghost hostile environment suit. All the military telepaths have one."

"I don't suppose it comes with an owner's manual," she quipped, inspecting the burned and torn spots carefully. "Looks like I'll be moving 'Electronics for Dummies' to the top of my reading list."

She'd take it home and have Hank poke at it, too. Between the two of them, they might be able to get it working enough for Emma to experiment with more thoroughly.

"So, cloaking, and other 'hostile environment' stuff?" she asked. "Coolant...so heat regulation and such. What else?"

"It's made of a special psi-sensitive fibre that improves on your natural strength, provided the wearer is a psionic," she said, running her fingers over the suit. "The helmet contains equipment for heat-vision, among other things. Communication devices, of course. Full life-support. Shielding against the effects of nuclear and chemical warfare, among other things. They wanted us to last."

"Well, I have every intention of lasting," Emma replied, running her fingers along the underside of the psi-sensitive armor to get a feel for it. "No attempts to adapt it for civilian use? Most hospitals would kill for a full life-support option this small and flexible."

"It was actually originally developed for miners," Kerrigan said, leaning back against the wall. "But everything has a habit of falling into military hands eventually, back in Koprulu."

Gah, stomachache.

Edited 2011-01-19 11:35 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Science of Psionics, Wednesday

Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Listen to the Lecture

Circle Discussion

Re: Circle Discussion

Re: Circle Discussion

Re: Circle Discussion

Re: Circle Discussion

Re: Circle Discussion

Re: Circle Discussion

Re: Circle Discussion

Re: Circle Discussion

Activity: Shielding

Re: Activity: Shielding

Re: Activity: Shielding

Re: Activity: Shielding

Re: Activity: Shielding

Re: Activity: Shielding

Re: Activity: Shielding

Talk to the TA

Re: Talk to the TA

Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

Re: Talk to Kerrigan

OOC