Intermittent Meditations

[Asli Tilki]

Asli sighed, taking the air around her in slowly. She had to set her mental house in order, something that had to happen with regularity in order for her not to snap and start suffering extreme mental stress. normally she would take off to the lake or some other equally tranquil place to attempt such a meditation. Normally she wasn't cramming in a session in the small amount of time she had between several sessions that had all been scheduled for one day against her better judgement.

But she had the time now; she'd all but forced the time into existence. So she intended to use it to the best of her abilities. Her hands drew up, forming specific hand signs to help further her inner being. some of them she'd derived from various prayer postures she'd learned; others were simply those that had been used by mutants since before they'd been called such. Asli knew most of them, and she used them to draw and center herself.

Just as she'd started to fully empty herself, Asli could feel something, or someone. It sounded as if they were... fiddling with something... on a table. Asli opened an eye. "Are those... baked goods?" The eye swiveled. "And you are interrupting my meditation..." though it was being done with baked goods, which Asli wasn't sure added to or subtracted from her irritation.

[Bell Connelly]

Bell Connelly was a rare breed in the land of cynical teens and adults, Yes, Bell was certainly an early riser. All things considered, true that her schedule was usually utterly jammed most of the week (So many volunteer organisations so little time) but seeing as this was her day off maybe she could maybe for taking it easy for one day of the week…

Unfortunately, that wasn’t how Bell was made, any attempts to indulge in herself for even the smallest of moments was met with a great amount of internal guilt. After all, if she had some free time she might as well at least attempted to avail of it in some way right?

Which was why Bell had spent the morning making brownies with the intention of dropping them down to the staff room. Sure it might have been a bit excessive but you never know who’d be in need of some kind of a pickup

For example; That nice exotic looking woman sitting alone.

So clad in the typical full length homemade knitted sweater and beaming smile not to mention a tray full of brownies she bounded over with typical grace “Why yes , It was my grandmother's receipt! She loved baking this kind of things...probably the reason why she doesn't have a lot of teeth left.. would you like som-

"And you are interrupting my meditation…

Bell blinked for several moments not used to such bluntness “Oh, I’m sorry...I’ve always wanted to take it up but...you know...lack of focus. She shrugged and smiled sheepishly shifting her feet at the awkward silence before motioning to the side “Do you mind if I join you?

[Asli Tilki]

This woman looked as if she'd just wandered out of some dated sitcom. Her persistence along with that strange appearance all but forced Asli to open both eyes and look at the woman, her own expression blank. Apparently the redhead had... baked the treats herself. Judging by American standards, that probably meant they were too sweet to consume much of, if at all. The followup statement only further confirmed this, though thankfully Asli cut it off before it became so much prattle and white noise.

And she just kept talking. Asli sighed, weighing her options. Moving would likely be her best option, in all honesty. It wouldn't require her to fall back on her power and she could simply find somewhere else to continue her meditations. Except that if she had that option, she likely would have taken it from the beginning. Of course, Asli could simply tweak Bell's emotions. The woman's overwhelming good mood buoyed right on the surface, and it would be... troublesome to try and tweak it. Troublesome, but not entirely possible.

Or she could actually take her up on the offer.

"It's not something that can be easily mastered," Asli said, speaking slowly and carefully eying the other woman, "and it does take a good deal of focus,' a slight pause, "and patience," which it seemed that so many around here lacked entirely. Then again, she was a teacher, or at least in the teacher/staff lounge, so perhaps she had more than most?

[Bell Connelly]

Yes, it was fair to say that Miss. Connelly’s dress sense of on the….unique side, often looking like a drawing by a bored child on a raining day (Let’s use all the colours for her clothes….Oh, I ran out of red, let's use a LOT orange for her hair”) She was hardly a woman that was ever going to be considered a stable of fashion. But in perfect honestly, Bell didn’t really think about the clothes she wore all that often. You see, in high school as some might find it particularly hard to believe but Bell was never that popular. With unsightly braces, bottlenose glasses and a general frumple appearance, she had no chance against the typical alpha bitches that roamed every school. Browbeat her, stuffed her in lockers and humiliated her and ultimately destroyed all of her self-confidence. Even now, when the braces were long gone, the glasses were a thing of the past and she turned into a somewhat attractive woman subconsciously she still considered that girl shoved into the locker and as such, she took no pride in her appearance….Well, that wasn’t fair to say...She did take pride in her clothing...and used it as an excuse ti give off her creativity but never in a way that’ll make her look attractive.




But, beyond that, Bell was perfectly willing to agree with all of the girl’s points, she was nothing if not overly hospitalable, she knew how daughting it was for her duringing her first year year and if she could make this girl be as welcome as she can be. So sit sat back and engaged the woman with rapt attention nodding eargely a few times in agreement “It must be nice” Bell thought alloud to herself more than anything else “To just take a few minutes every day and let things just slow down….I can never do that. I keep myself so busy. There’s like a million things to do all at once...you know how that goes of course” Bell suddenly groaned inwardly to herself, a light bulb going off in her head“Oh I’m sorry, where are my manners, by all means, take a brownie, help yourself. Oh, I’m Bell, by the way. I teach English here, among other things  She proclaimed idly waving a hand in the air  "I love your accent by the way, where are you from?"

[Asli Tilki]

"Almost required, given my abilities," Asli replied, taking another breath. She didn't see a way of avoiding this conversation, though she was sorely tempted to make it clear that she didn't care to be interrupted right now. The woman just... kept... going. Usually it was best to give these people a little, be politely curt with them, and hope that they eventually caught the drift and wandered away.

"Asli," the trainer replied, "and I do not really enjoy most sweets. They're too, sweet," she paused for a moment, eyes flicking to the brownies. Yes, those very much looked like most of the sweets she'd seen since coming here: loaded with sugar and chocolate. How did these American survive eating food like that?

"Turkey, originally," Asli offered, "more recently the Ishvaras Institute in India," which generally got strange and frequently puzzled looks from the people around here, who apparently didn't stop to think that there may be schools outside of the United States. Asli took another breath, still working at putting her mental house in order, even with Bell nearby. The almost overwhelming positivity wasn't helping either; no emotion that strong would, truly.

[Bell Connelly]

Yes, Bell was just a tad bit overbearing wasn’t she? Not that she meant to be of course. That was just who she was, she just couldn’t help herself when she saw a person sitting on her own in the staff room, she couldn’t help but to try and sit with that person as much as she could help stopping her car on her way to work when she sees a stray cat. She just had to say hello. Check her tags and make sure the local animal rights services knew of it.

That’s just how she was she supposed

Just like she didn’t want to press the girl on what might the extension of her powers might be. In her experience, that was something of a personal question, given how some manifestations were traumatic by their very nature so far be it for Bell to ask such a personal question.

“Awww” Bell cooed just a little “That’s such a pretty name. How exotic!” She smiled shifting in a little place moving closer to the girl because clearly if she wanted her to leave by now she would have told her to right? A frown came to Bell’s face once she denied herself of her grandmother’s trademark brownies but she nodded and slid the tray from Asli “More for everyone else then! If no one else takes it...I’ll just give it to the rest of my class….If they don’t want it..” Bell shrugged softly to herself “Well I suppose my cats would appreciate it…”

“Turkey” as Asli said that word, Bell perked up all the more noticeably “T-Turkey? Really? Oh wait...give me a moment...It’s been awhile” Bell momentarily cleared her throat ever so daintily pressing her hand against her collarbone and frowned trying to force her memory into gear “Aaa-fed-ersiniz, tu....val...et ner-ede?” she asked in a slow robotic voice as if she was recalling the words as she was speaking, her dialect was woeful and accent more so, but she choked the phrase out nonetheless “I spent a few weeks in Turkey a few summers ago, beautiful country, such a interesting culture. Even though…...My skin and the turkish sun...really don’t go well together” She admitted gesturing to her impossibly pale skin “I think I got to enjoy...two hours in the sun….Before I turned bright red and I spent my entire vacation in the shade”

[Asli Tilki]

It took all Asli had not to start muttering curses under her breath as Bell kept right on prattling. Yes, there were brownies, and Asli put on a tight smile as the woman concluded that either her class or her cats (no surprise there) would appreciate it. The last thing Asli really wanted was to further encourage the woman, so she was trying to just accept that bit of conversation and move along.

Naturally Bell didn't stop there. Instead, Asli got to hear a severely butchered version of her own language tentative stammered out to her in a way that would make Google translate look adept. Before she could reply to that, Bell right on talking about the weather and the sun. Yes, Asli did suppose that a pale redhead would have issues.

"it is quite a change compared to here," Asli offered, figuring she should try at least that much. She didn't quite want to be rude... at least, not until there didn't appear to be any other choice (which she was strongly starting to suspect, with the way this "conversation" was going).

[Bell Connelly]

What Asli was experiencing was a prime example of why Bell Connelly never truly hit it off with the Quote-unquote “Cool girls” when she herself was in the academy; (Well, that and her short stubby features, bottlenose glasses and appalling braces) Just a generally overbearing kindness and an inability to know when she wasn’t wanting totally being blind to the mere idea that people didn’t want her near her. Bell’s greatest and most fatal flaw; She was overbearing as hell, if you were to ask a psychologist, they might tell you that this kind of behaviour was as a direct result of a subconscious strong design to be liked and a fear of being ostracised like she was in her youth……




But then again, Bell might just be enjoyed being nice to others….




“I can imagine, Bell noted “The culture in the east and west is so vastly different...I know I had a bad case of culture shock when I went to Turkey. It must have been so terribly hard to adjust when you first came over here. How long did it take you to abjust? Do you like it here? Do you miss your family? You speak great english by the way…”

[Asli Tilki]

Asli's eye did pry open slightly to look back at Bell as she just kept going. any doubts Asli might have had as to whether or nor she would have been able to avoid this conversation, short of getting up and leaving, had by now finally left. There was at least something in hearing that someone else had been to Turkey and was at least trying to see them.

"I am still adjusting," Asli offered, taking another deep breath, letting it out slowly, pushing some of her stress when she did. After all, Asli could still use breathing techniques. "I had already left my family."

Asli paused for another breath, before adding. "And thank you: I went to an Indian school, after all, so I did learn it from a close source," and again, Asli didn't expand upon the statement any further. She did still hold onto some thin strand of hope that Bell would lose interest and wander away.

[Bell Connelly]

Well, Bell didn’t know about Miss Tilki. But Bell thought this conversation was really cooking right about now. She was starting to think that she was beginning to hit it off with Asli, she was worried that she might have been losing her but her vague,Turkish memory of a few Turkish phrases really saved this conversation and started bonding with her. Bell couldn't help but to feel proud of herself for being able to turn the discussion around rather effectively,

Again, she might have been a late bloomer in the socializing game but she felt like she was quickly being sharpened from the blunt stick it was originally in her teens into a mighty blade that it clearly was now.

Bell tilted her head nothing short of a sympathetic expression spread on her face pouting her lips just a little bit her eyes shining brightly towards her new “Friend” “It’s hard having to leave behind family isn’t it?” She nodded in agreement with herself “Me and my family are very close….well...were we were close..until recenty...We just kind of drifted apart recently” Bell’s voice begain to trail offas her voice got slightly more quiet a frowncoming to her face as her thoughts were briftly over taken by her fracturing relationship with mom and dad...they really weren’t the sameafter Sarah died...They even turned down Bell’s offer for Christmas dinner, that would have been unheard of 2 years ago.


But as quickly as it came, Bell shook her head and waved off her daydreams quickly “But you don’t want to hear about all of that, it must seem so dreadfully boring” She insisted eager tomove on.

“Gosh,” Bell cooed scooting in closer clearly looking impressed “You ARE well traveled! Aren’t you? I’ve ALWAYS wanted to go to India it just seems like the most DARLING place, Oh you HAVE to tell me all about it!

No Bell really wasn’t leaving

[Asli Tilki]

Hard to leave family? Asli considered, and while she considered, she kept track of the other woman's emotions. Now that she had been somewhat stirred from her full meditation, her power just kicked in. It happened, locking into Bell's feelings. The poor woman clearly missed her family, and Asli was tempted to capitalize upon it. Particularly as the woman kept right on going, talking about how her own life was boring. Nothing seemed to slow Bell's drive to communicate, so there was at least that.

"It's warm," Asli offered. She allowed herself a slight smile and a long enough pause for Bell to think that might be all she was sharing. "There are quite a few people there, many more than there are here. Interestingly enough, everyone is closer to my coloration. It's almost strange seeing all the paler people here. It smells of spice, cow, and unwashed body, a unique odor that is difficult to adjust to but somewhat comforting once you do. As for what you hear: it's a mixture of several different languages. There's at least three commonly spoken."

Asli paused then, considering. Did she miss it? She said all this as if it were very analytical, but now that it was coming up, she found she did to some degree. The warmth, people not mistaking her name for something inane, looking like everyone else. Yes, she did miss it, and she allowed herself to simply revel in that feeling for a few moments.