Murmur Characters: Li Hua, Noriko, Mary?, open to the general Raft community Setting: The Raft, early-ish Content: Stuff. Summary: Noriko has a foot in both worlds here and might have to choose sides.
Though dark and cold and not designed for comfort but security, the Raft did not have to be a disquieting place. There was plentiful non-perishable food stored, beds enough for a small community, light to read the books in the dated but passable library and medicine to last them through a siege. But this was not a warm thought. The words that had to be cast from the dialogue first, then the mind, were 'last', 'survive', 'persevere'. They stirred in the emotions the opposite of their intent. So, in the morning, while the body was still soft from sleep and the mind rejuvenated to begin again, Li Hua welcomed anyone with the patience and the will to rise for breakfast to sit with her on prayer mats and towels in the basketball court of the warden's gym.
"Keep your eyes closed, please, and breathe," she sighed, demonstrating a long, slow inhale, and exhale, her own eyes slitted to watch the class before her. None of them quite comfortable yet with their legs crossed but backs curved, faces ticking, fingers twitching. "Today, we are going to attempt a silent meditation. It works for some, not for others. If you found the chant to be a helpful guide, please respect this process and focus on it silently. Breathe...2...3...4..." She watched again, some settling now, adapting to the rhythm and no longer adjusting to phantom spasms in their backs. Yesterday, she explained how the exercise not only brought the comfort of balance in the body, relaxation and calmness, but would make their sleep less fitful and, eventually, make it less necessary should they continue to practice. Then they might find that only a small meal in the morning would be enough sustenance if they listened close enough to their bodies. Pain, no longer a distraction. "Outside first. Focus only on my voice, disregard all of the other noises. They are no longer there. Do not let them crowd your mind. Now," Li Hua's voice became softer and the class breathed steadily, eyes still darting but jaws relaxed, concentrating. "Only your body. Your breathing. Your heartbeat. Nothing else. Now." Noriko, she saw, was never very good at this. Where others relaxed as instructed, starting at their scalp and moving toward their toes, Noriko still twitched and twisted. She needed this focus more than anyone, but like anything in this Western empire, this festering rock so far from heaven, she relied on faulty, impermanent technology rather than her own body. That was what led to such a rapid collapse as Earth's plague made it eat itself. None of them even knew why they were so lost.