[D3, EM-MM] Meditation Training Montage (expecting)

[Thaddeus]

"We will encase ourselves and I will guide the session. It'll be easier to get started and let you come to know it for what it is."

Without further words, he guides Cyprian into a tank. Once inside, they are sealed off from the outside world. There is darkness and the faint sound of breathing, then no more sound. The perception and presence of their own weight keeping them anchored to the ground drifts away.

Soon the lack of touch is replaced by something brushing against their skin. It is soft and warm and fluffy; it is both familiar and foreign. It begins with their fingertips and slowly spreads. Progress of this dispersion is meticulous, as though each nerve is allowed a moment of appreciation before it continues its conquest. Eventually, the sensation embraces their whole bodies until it is so omnipresent that there is no longer a sense of where it is, it simply is. The sensation transcends touch and encompasses all thought. It is here that time begins to fall off. Without the sense of change, there is no knowing whether a minute has passed or an hour.

[Cyprian Kircheis]

"C- Can you hear me Thaddeus?" Cyprian asks the sea of fluff. Semi forcing himself out of the miasma of, "Uhhhhh, this is weird."

[Thaddeus]

A voice came to Cyprian. It couldn't be called a whisper, because he didn't really hear it. There was more than a thought, more than just a Message. It was like knowledge of what was said without memory of the sound that brought it. "Wouldn't say hear is the right word, but we can communicate. It can be confounding at first, hard to explain without experiencing it."

The isolation began to subside. The sense of soft warmth became more present, but less intense. Instead of a concept of the feeling, it was again as though they were feeling it on their skin.

"We'll dial it back and give you a chance to process."

[Cyprian Kircheis]

"Can you choose any sensation? Any feeling at all? Or do you decide before hand what to feel like... like a concert program?" He said for lack of a better example.

He would go on to ask follow up questions depending on the answer given. Like how do you control it? Can they both feel the same feeling? Are the sensations his memories or someone else's?

[Thaddeus]

"You control... or well in this case I control the ride. 'Tis important to be able to adjust the experience and follow where it might lead. If you joined the Society, eventually you'd be able to take your own reservation with the tanks and guide it yourself. If there's something you want to explore, you tell me and I can guide us there.

The tanks respond to your desires. It's a deeper understanding than simply commanding it with a thought... For the untrained, the tank may bring on a cacophony of sensations if you let your mind wander. Why it's important to focus yourself 'fore entering.

For a joint ride like this, we both experience the same sensations. They could be yours, if you sent it to the Sensorium. Sometimes, there's an experience you want to relive or study more or clear away the distraction so you can feel it in it's purest form. Most the time though, you'll pull from one of the many recordings. Gain a new experience."

[Cyprian Kircheis]

"That's fascinating!" He exclaimed. "A buffet of sensations at one's beck and call!" He thought about it very seriously. "What would I want to experience then?"

His thoughts took surprising turns as his mind imagined a banquet hall. Each table in his mind had a different variety of food. Each food represented a different sensation. Each sensation might be cooked, or prepared much differently than the other. And this banquet hall seemed to stretch to the horizon.

Fullness alone could have many different sensations. The implications of the word could stem from pain or pleasure and anywhere between. And what he wanted to experience right now was fullness of a variety that Thaddeus might not understand. "I don't believe you could know this sensation I wish to experience. You're not a dhampir."

[Thaddeus]

Thaddeus scoffs, "You think me an amateur? Well, I won't take it personally. I know this is all very new to you and it is a common mistake. When I say the tank responds to the desire for and not the thought of, this does not mean I can not think of what I want. For one who follows the path of the Sensates... channeling your desires becomes an important skill. Plus, how would one ever enjoy the new if you had to first know it?

I am intrigued though, explain to me this experience unique to the dhampir and we will explore it together."

[Cyprian Kircheis]

He thinks for a moment about how to explain it. "I can't simply say to you imagine what blood tastes like. Nor is it sufficient to describe it as the taste of wine." He closes his eyes for a moment. "Imagine the sweetest, most delicious drink you've ever tasted. The more you drink of it, the more you want it. If you could turn on the tap and drink it forever you would."

"Blood to me is like that. Except it's thick, it's hot, it makes you feel all manner of complex feelings. Thanks in part to the bottle it came from." He smirks. "And as for the bottle. The way I like this bottle served is when It's warm, animated, clutching your body in the throes of ecstasy. If you pull to long the bottle will go limp and expire, and the tap will run dry forever. Which is something you most assuredly don't want. So you learn to drink in moderation, and thank the bottle for giving you a taste of paradise." He shrugs casually, "And if you've been especially kind - the bottle might one day come back and beg you to take another sip."

There's no arrogance in his voice. What some might consider as bragging about a conquest, to Cyprian is more like a business transaction.

"The reason has less to do with the sex, and more to do with the taste. But the sex definitely helps amplify the experience on the whole." He continues. "Now for the hard part. The taste in that moment is..." his eyes dilate and his heart races, "...unique in a very powerful way. You see every person is a new flavor! But mid reproduction the taste is not simply life. It is distilled life! Completely pure!"

A pause.

"Does that make sense?"

[Thaddeus]

Thaddeus shook his head, not that Cyprian would be able to see or otherwise perceive this movement. He continued to underestimate Thad and the sense escalation tanks.

The soft, fluffy warmth abruptly melted away. Replaced for a moment by a slight pressure against his lips accompanied by a whisper, "Shhhh."

Then came a feeling... but not of the five senses. It was familiar to Cyprian, a rush of adrenaline and endorphins, a quickening of the heart, a slowing of time. Another whisper, "A recording of a vampire... his first hunt."

Unlike before, new sensations began to combine. A tightening of muscles, tension building, poised to strike. Time stretched. Cyprian and Thaddeus were lost to the anticipation.

Without warning, the attack. Every ounce of their beings committed to their prey. Complete surrender. A meek presence in their arms.

Conquest.

Fangs approaching, aching to pierce the skin and release the sweet, vibrant nectar. Everything else begins to fade away. No more tension, no more alertness. No struggle. All that remained was fangs and the surface of the skin giving way. Teased but never breached. An instant turned into eternity.

[Cyprian Kircheis]

His fangs came out and his vision narrowed. "I'm... disappointed." He managed in the throes of something different - bloodlust. "This is also a feeling I know well. At the very least you may come to know the taste this way. That first time tasting blood is- "he grunted, "-I don't like this. Blood paralyzed with fear is cold. The bottle will become more like a-" He felt the slackening in memory. "Like drinking from a waterskin that becomes empty. It almost crumples. I almost wish it would. Without hate this taste becomes primal. I don't like it but I can't stop drinking."