the preserve: monday morning

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Nathan's heart was racing when he woke up. He looked around, expecting to see a Hunter appear from behind a tree or maybe Kieran's face above him. The preserve was quiet though. Undisturbed. There was a feeling in Nathan's gut that he hadn't felt before, though. A bloodlust that had seemed stronger during his sleep but hadn't faded completely upon waking.

Nathan licked his lips and reached for his water, drinking it down in several large gulps in the hopes that would quell whatever this was. Perspiration dripped into his eyes and he chalked that up to the heat, not whatever was going on with him.

"What's wrong with me?" he muttered, staring at the dirt underneath him. "What's wrong!" Those two words were shouted and echoed in the preserve. Nathan took a few breaths and rubbed the back of his neck.

Something was happening. Deep down, he knew what it was but the specifics eluded him. It wasn't happening like it'd happened to Deborah. To Jessica. Something was wrong. It had to be because of who he was.

Nathan gritted his teeth and ignored the feeling of hunger. He had to get through this.

[Open with the caveat that he will not be receptive to just about anyone and I might be slow because work hates me.]

Luke's, Monday

[vdistinctive]

Eliot came in to find the kitchen staff all standing at the back door making little cooing noises and squealing. He very nearly decided he didn't want to know, but then he saw the bamboo mats for making sushi laid out with no actual sushi in sight.

Plus, you know, the part where they had a damn restaurant to run.

"Alright," he said, coming up behind them and pretending it didn't bother him that they were all too tall for him to look over their shoulders out the door. "The hell are you yahoos doin' this time?"

"Feeding the cats," said the busboy.

Eliot was going to regret asking this. "What cats?"

And then the busboy stepped aside, letting Eliot see out into the alley. ". . . Why is there a space heater out there?"

"To keep the cats warm."

"It's, like, ninety degrees out." Eliot rubbed his hand over his hair. "Why the hell is that one wearing a baseball uniform?!"

"That's nothing," the cook said. "Let's put the log out again so Eliot can see the samurai."

Today's specials
Shoyo ramen
Rainbow sushi
Tempura fried ice cream

Luke's was open.

Devil's Nest, Monday, 07/13

[bitten_notshy]

Jack hadn't been doing a whole lot lately, unless "bothering Emma" and "Watching the entire crime documentaries section of Netflix" counted as major activities. (He didn't think so.) Today he was back at the club again, working beside a giant blue po--, oh no, wait, somebody was still getting over not making it to San Diego this year.

Somebody named Tino.

[OOC: Open bar, open post!]

Community Center Class: Psionics for the Headblind Herd [Monday Evening]

[icecoldfrost]

"Today," Emma began, "--we are going over the touchstone disciplines of psionics.

"Telepathy is the supposed transmission of information from one person to another without using any of scientifically known sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the earlier expression thought-transference."

"According to Roger Luckhurst, the origin of the concept of telepathy in the Western civilization can be tracked to the late 19th century. As the physical sciences made significant advances, scientific concepts were applied to mental phenomena, with the hope that this would help understand paranormal phenomena. The modern concept of telepathy emerged in this historical context."

"Within the field of parapsychology, telepathy is considered to be a form of extra-sensory perception, known as ESP, or anomalous cognition in which information is transferred through Psi. It is often categorized similarly to precognition and clairvoyance. Various experiments have been used to test for telepathic abilities. Among the most well known are the use of Zener cards and the Ganzfeld experiment."

"Nearest in scope to telepathy is psychometry, occasionally called psychoscopy. It is a form of extra-sensory perception characterized by the claimed ability to make relevant associations from an object of unknown history by making physical contact with that object, and some supporters assert that an object may have an energy field that transfers knowledge regarding that object's history. The most common type of psycometry has the practitioners able to see into the past of an object from the object's point of view, although some claim to be able to see future events as well, since inanimate objects may not view time as we do."

"Many people believe that clairvoyance and precognition are the same thing, when in fact they are not. Within parapsychology, clairvoyance is used exclusively to refer to the transfer of information that is both contemporary to, and hidden from, the clairvoyant. It is very different from telepathy in that the information is said to be gained directly from an external physical source, rather than being transferred from the mind of one individual to another. While outside of parapsychology, clairvoyance is often used to refer to other forms of anomalous cognition, most commonly the perception of events that have occurred in the past, or which will occur in the future or to refer to communications with the dead. Types of clairvoyance can include precognition, clairsentience, clairaudience, clairalience, claircognizance, and clairgustance."

"Precognition, or 'second sight,' is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics or nature. History records many instances of apparent precognition, such as the Ides of March, and belief in its occurrence as a form of seeing into the future; this can be through visions, déjà vu or through dreams. It is not uncommon for a telepath to have a few precognative episodes, but not all precogs are telepaths."

"And last, but far from least, is the brute-force member of the family, telekinesis, which is the catch-all term often used for psychokinesis which, no, does not mean a super-powered psychopath. Telekinesis, however, tends to refer to movement of matter at the micro or macro levels; move, lift, agitate, vibrate, spin, bend, break, or impact, by the direct influence of mind on a physical system that cannot be entirely accounted for by the mediation of any known physical energy. Psychokinesis can cover abilities such as teleporting, magnetism, transmutation, and other mutations, but has yet to be proven on as all being part of the same type of brain function. Personally, I feel shape-shifting also falls under the psychokinetic family, but I'm years away from being able to publish a paper on the topic."

"So now I'm interested in hearing from you." No, really, she was. Ignore how she was checking her nails. "What other type of psionics are you familiar with, and what do you wish you knew more about? Afterwards, we'll test to see if any of you have any potential powers, or are a card cheat."