3337/Learning From Martians

Learning From Martians
Date of Scene:	09 December 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Martian Manhunter, Shadowcat

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Martian Manhunter has posed:
From the Watchtower's orbit around the Earth it appears as if the Sun is just now cresting the far side of the Planet. From this angle it fits so many iconic pictures of the bright flare of the corona bathing the planet below in life giving light. Not only is the view incredibly unique, but the ability to enjoy it from the confines of a relatively untouched forest with a smattering of trees from all over World makes this a treasured scene.

J'onn sits cross legged in the center of the Arboretum facing the Earth and Sun image. His eyes are closed, his chest doesn't appear to be moving up and down from breath, and with the stillness around him it could be easily mistaken as a statue of the Martian. He invited Kitty to the Watchtower today to talk about how her training has been going at Home, and to work on building her Telepathic Resistances.

All Kitty needs is in place, and finding the Martian is as easy as finding a newly baked apple pie from your mother's kitchen. HIs mental presence lightly touches her mind, but with enough of a brush so that she can instinctively follow it to his spot at the top of the Watchtower. Here he waits, absorbing all that the Solar System has to offer...

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty is not late -- she doesn't like tardiness. She arrives exactly on time and the light brush of a mind-touch leads her where she needs to go. That simple brush is enough to reveal to the Martian that his protege has much on her mind. Perhaps not the specifics, since it's against his nature to just take the information, but the surface of her mind is churned much like the sea during a storm -- busy and chaotic.

As she reaches the arboretum, the petite brunette pauses to pull in a slow breath, centering herself in this place. Between the view itself, which is a reminder that no matter what worries one person has they are infinitessimal in the grand scheme of things, and the trees, it is an easy place to ground. And although it's not the same kind of grounding a telepath does, there is a similar feel to it. As she folds gracefully to her knees near J'onn, Kitty very much is grounding her mind and body in this place and time -- call it mindfulness, call it grounding, call it what you will. Her personal energy smooths out as she sends her 'roots' deep into the soil in the here and now. And she breathes deeply to at least *try* to let her troubles disperse into the ether.

It is perhaps an interesting exercise for J'onn to see -- martial artists do have *some* things in common with telepaths, and what she's doing has not only physical but emotional and mental benefits. And the sense that it affects how she draws her power exists as well.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
Waiting patiently for Kitty to center herself, enjoy the peaceful energy of the scene as well as the environment, J'onn feels the serenity of the space seep into them both. Once minds and hearts have been settled, J'onn will eventually speak into the quiet "Hello Katherine. How has your training gone since last we spoke?" Not necessarily all business, but it is as good a spot as any to start the day's conversation.

From J'onn, Kitty will feel his peaceful and calm demeanor radiate out from him, and only after speaking will he open his eyes to visually take in the surroundings. She can tell that there is no need for an immediate answer, understanding that the question may be more complex than it seems on it's surface, and he turns his position so that he can face her without needing to stand.

Shadowcat has posed:
There is a relief to be found here, the turmoil easing in subtle ways. Just by being here, away from the sources of strain, Kitty can give herself permission to lay down the Earthbound problems and just focus on the ones she deals with here.

"Interesting," she replies quietly. "In the Chinese curse sense of the word, I guess." She opens her own eyes finally and smiles at him. "There are definitely things that surprised. Instead of even attempting to use words, I give you permission to see."

She deliberately thinks on what happened when she and Kurt tried the experiment, and because of their lessons, she is also able to give him her perceptions of what Nate was seeing, doing, and the repercussions of it, though those were not exactly her intent. He can see why she worries for the young man, and why her research focus is on a method of letting him 'ground' the energy he's channeling.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
"Turbulent and Chaotic is the way of Life for all of us in the profession of saving lives." J'onn replies to Kitty's comment on the Chinese Curse, a small smile playing across his face, "Thank you for your Trust." J'onn says to her, almost seeming a ritual in the sharing of memories, "I will only view what is necessary."

As J'onn carefully scans for the memory at her fore-front, Kitty will tell that his mental touch is meant to be obvious so that she knows where he is at, but she makes the search easy with her remembrance of the event. She can feel from him the interest in Ribbons of Energy detected by Nate, and even more so the young man's ability to see the dimensional nature of the power. After a quick review of the events, she feels him carefully extricate himself before speaking.

"You are extremely lucky to have found a friend with the abilities of Nate Grey. His dimensional sensing power has confirmed some of our theories. Even more interesting is the multiple links that we have yet to understand. You should continue working with him as you both have time." After a short pause, though, he asks "Your friend, Kurt, he is distressed by what he saw. This event is old, have you had time to address with him his concerns, and possible links that are outside what I believe his fear is linked to?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Tilting her head while she waits for J'onn to mentally walk through the memory, allowing herself to relive each moment of that event and its aftermath, Kitty seems calm enough. Kurt's reaction, it's clear, is a little out of the ordinary and she too is worried about it. So when he asks, she shakes her head.

"Honestly, I'm not entirely clear on what bothered him so very much," Kitty admits. "He's got a lot on his mind right now. I .... I worry that he's freaked out because it means we have some kind of connection. But it's not like Kurt to be unhappy to have ties to friends."

Martian Manhunter has posed:
"Hmm." J'onn nods slowly as he considers what Kitty has to say, "Perhaps there are some assumptions made on his end that is not clear to you, and if it not clear to you then I would be limited by your perception of the events." he tells her, pauses, and adds "Which is an interesting segway into our next topic. Your memories, your control of them, allows you to control the perception of the telepath that is inside your mind. Keep this in mind as we talk about the next phase of your training."

"So, for our next phase, I would like to work with you on building your resistance to telepathic intrusion. This is something that is a trained skill, even without telepathic abilities, and you can make it extremely difficult for a telepath to pull information from you mind." J'onn begins to explain, ordering his thoughts as his previous Mentors have done, "In fact, this will help identify if a telepath is attempting to manipulate your thoughts. It will take time to fully develop, but I think you will notice the effects very quickly."

Shadowcat has posed:
Looking curious, Kitty asks, "I can actually do more than Jean and the Professor have taught all of us?" She's rather surprised by that -- but she also knows that there are SO MANY things the Professor needed to teach all of them that some things by necessity really only get the parts you need, not the more expanded edition. It's what tutors are for!

"I've been told that if I'm phased, I'm harder to get a mental handle on -- assuming you're not phased. Given the dimension shift that we've been positing here, that makes sense. And then once they do grab me, it's like getting hit by a Mack truck."

Martian Manhunter has posed:
There is a grin that actually shows on J'onn's features, "I mean no disrespect to your Professor or Miss Grey. However, their understanding of the mind is limited by their own education. The Martians have been working on perfecting their telepathic abilities for thousands of years." There is no sense of pride from him, but a simple statement of fact.

"What we will work on is building your mental landscape. When we build it, you will learn to have total control of it, and when you have control of it you will be able to funnel telepaths that try to infiltrate your mental landscape." He taps his head, telling Kitty, "Remember, it is /your/ mind, and while there are talented individuals who can learn to circumvent your defenses... when you /have/ defenses in place it makes that process significantly harder for even the most skilled."

Shadowcat has posed:
OH! Well.... you know, when you put it that way, Kitty seems a bit nonplussed. After all, Xavier is truly the single most powerful telepath that she's ever even heard of -- at least among humans. She smiles slightly. "All right, then. Where do we start, Obi-Wan?" Yeah, yeah, she's being a little cheeky.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
There's a pause, followed by J'onn smiling back to her, "Yes, young padawan, first I will show you my landscape. Once you have seen one of the Landscapes I have worked on, then we will begin with yours..." He raises a hand, pausing before getting ahead of himself, "...What I will do, is provide the telepathic strength to help you generate your landscape, but I will /not/ monitor your landscape. It is vital that you maintain as much control, as well as secrecy, over your landscape. Part of the defenses is that a telepath will not know /where/ to go to get information, and so they will be slowed by traversing what you have you built. You will also build traps, false memories, and trips so that it helps you identify someone in your mind."

Kitty will feel J'onn reach out to her, always an obvious brush across her mind, and then his deep voice is in her head <When you are ready, I will show you what I have built. My landscape has several layers, I will show you a few of those layers, and then we will open up your mind.>

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty listens, intently. She understands, in the abstract, what he's describing. She's just never really thought of er own mind in those terms. And yet.... she has. ANd he's bumped up against a few of those barriers in her mind, except they were open at the time. It'll be interesting, in her own mind, to see if what she's learned is applicable to what he's teaching her.

When he brushes her mind, she lets go of her barriers and allows him to draw her with him into his example-scape.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
There is a brush of a warm breeze with what feels like loose dirt or sand on her skin. As her vision clears, Kitty will see she is standing in a City on the Red Planet of Mars, and all around her is the testimant to the technological advancement of the Green Martian Species. She can smell honey blossoms (or what smells like them to her) on the that same wind. As she looks around, Kitty will see buildings on the ground, and even those floating in the sky. Then, J'onn is materialized next to her, "The Honey Blossoms smell is our bio-engineered fuel for the floating buildings. Clean and compatible with the Mars atmosphere."

What you see here is a mid level landscape. This took me several decades to build, but it is fairly advanced in complexity. Each of these buildings houses rooms that house real and fake memories. Each building has various monitoring systems that will tip off if someone unannounced comes in. The more life-like you can build your landscape the easier it is for your mind to control it as it becomes an extension of your mind..."

She will feel a sand storm move over the horizon, sliding into the City, and right before it brushes across them a bubble appears around them. She can hear the sand smashing against the bubble, scraping like pebbles on glass, and feel the tremors of the storm on the ground.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty is.... floored at the complexity of this. It's far beyond anything she's even remotely experienced, despite the fact that her own mind -- when he has had occasion to see the way she organizes her thoughts -- is pretty ordered. "This is... amazing. Like... layers upon layers." It's not exactly how her mind works, but Kitty extrapolates a little and things of it in terms of file trees, branching out into dead ends.

I don't honestly think I'm going to be able to be this elaborate, am I?"

Martian Manhunter has posed:
When the storm passes, J'onn continues "The building you see over there..." a rather ornate affair, two times as large as the Library of Congress, with a mix of what Kitty would consider Roman and Gothic architecture holds a prominent space in the city-scape. "That is a place where I will show you smaller Landscape. It is the building where the Manhunters were trained in before we receive our official title..."

As they enter the building, Kitty will feel as if she crosses over a threshold with an invisble barrier that gives her goosebumps across her skin, "One of my defense mechanisms. For an unwelcome visitor it would have been a far more violent reaction." J'onn explains. Once inside the building, she can see that it has many rooms, hallways, weapons racks, the sounds of what could be combat training to her left, and then to her right an ornate door made out of a metal she has never seen before.

J'onn moves her towards the Ornate Door, opening it for her, "The warding on this door would not care whether you are welcome or not. It would forcibly expel you from mind, which would defeat the purpose of today's training..." and then he waves a hand to offer her entrance into the room.

Once inside, she will see a Bonfire that runs the gambit of colors for a flame. It is almost two stories tall, and there is a small cordon around it within five feet of the flames. For the first time she will feel a tremor from J'onn, fear evident in him as he faces this vision again, "This is the final test for Martian Manhunters. Flame is our nemesis. There is a psychosematic component that is triggered, and causes us to lose control of our abilities. We stand before the flame for a day, or we fail. A Manhunter must face their greatest fear, accept it, and learn to overcome it before they are accepted." And Kitty now recognizes that the Fear is permeated throughout the room, not just in J'onn's mind, "This is, indeed, my mental representation of my own Fear. You can sense how the room is built of that Fear, not necessarily only to house it."

"Now, we will shift to your mind, viewing your mental landscape, and work on building your own defenses one piece at a time. With Time and Practice, Katherine, I believe your mind is capable of developing a multi-layered landscape. Individuals like the Professor or Jean Grey will do this much quicker if they wish. But all Human Minds are capable of it."

Shadowcat has posed:
As she walks through his mindscape, Kitty has an idea of what he's looking for from her. Further explanations deepen her understanding, and although she may not be able to do it quickly, there are parts of it that she already has in place that can be built upon. The room with the flame is an important one, not because it gives her his weakness but because her own half-formed realizations begin to refine themselves.

When they 'step' from his mind to hers, there is a moment's disorientation. Because what he's shown her is that her mental landscape is a *place*... so initially, when they settle, they stand in the safest place she knows: a small one-room cabin with a simple bunk, a couch, a table and chair, and a fireplace. It is where Logan took her to help her fight her way free of Ogun's control. And it is her personal safe space.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
Once she feels the shift from his mind into her own, and they step into that Cabin that represents her personal safe space she has them today when she looks upon J'onn she will notice that his 'avatar' is missing where his eyes would be. "This image of me is how your mind perceives my inability to 'see' your personal space, a restriction I have put on myself, and so if we move through it you may need to guide me from time to time." Outside the window of the Cabin there are colors, sounds, smells, and sensations of touch that float through this landscape that identify what she is aware of on a conscious level. The grass beneath them on the Watchtower, the sounds of swords clashing in training with Illyana, smell of the garden where she spoke with Piotr, and many other smaller memories that she has yet to protect. These memories float through her mind, known, but not structured in any specific format.

"These are your conscious thoughts that you are aware of on a day to day basis. We will work on all of these thoughts and memories first, because once you are comfortable structuring /all/ of your concious thoughts we will /then/ build your Mind to work on protecting subconscious thoughts!" This seems to be an exciting concept for J'onn, and he finds this training to be the most interesting for himself and for Kitty.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty is initially a little alarmed that he seems to be missing his eyes! And once he explains, she can't help the faint smile. "I appreciate your discretion," she admits. Then she asks curiously, "Does the landscape need to be a literal landscape? Like a place? Or is that representation just because it's easier for my brain to comprehend that I'm looking at locked rooms versus... something else?"

Martian Manhunter has posed:
"Fantastic question, Katherine!" J'onn replies back to her, the smile growing as he slowly spins to face the sound of her voice, "Part of the trick to my own landscape, that you would have missed as a Human, is how I see and sense the World around me as a Martian. There were Electromagnetic Emissions in my Landscape that are part of my defenses that you probably missed, but are as every bit as effective as my locked doors." He takes a moment to focus, she can feel him enacting a small change to her current mindscape, and before her will be small 'waves' of energy coming off of J'onn that is centered around his head, "Now you can see how I am 'changing my avatar' in your Landscape. So, if your mind can comprehend a concept you can use it to further Enhance your Landscape."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty ponders for a long moment. He can hear her open the door to peek outside. Aand then she clears her throat. "Uhm.... J'onn, I think perhaps you better put your eyes in here for a while." She shifts them, almost automatically, to neutral ground even as she says that. Her safest place is a secret known only to herself and Logan. When he does get his eyes in here to 'see' -- because she feels like she needs the help with the initial road map here -- they are standing in a simple empty room with bamboo floors and Japanese screens. Reasonably generic.

What he shows her is interesting, but it's the question she wants to ask that is perhaps of more relevance. "So.... I could build a city, if that's what I'm most comfortable with. Like the Minotaur's Maze, basically. But..." She opens the door and offers him not the entire core of herself to peruse but at the very least she is giving him a sense of her own headspace, that infinite array of thoughts, feelings, ideas, the things that make her Katherine Pryde, the things that make her Shadowcat. Given that their focus is on conscious thoughts, the ones that she was hearing are the ones that are visible -- and the way they're visualized is both compelling and perhaps not what he expected.

Outside the door is almost like looking out an airlock door into the void of space itself. From the doorway in which they currently stand, which is not the Center of this inner galaxy, it resembles exactly that -- a galaxy of stars. Or, as he perhaps looks more closely, a galaxy of windows, connected by pathways of light that branch in multitudes of directions, representing the connections between the memories they're looking at.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
Once J'onn has felt the transition, then felt Kitty is comfortable with the shared space, then he will allow himself to 'see' her mental space again. "I did not show you the more complex mental space that I have, because sometimes too much information will dilute the message being sent. For an Artist, the Landscape may be an array of colors and designs that only that Mind can Understand. For the insane, the jumble of thoughts are so disorienting that it is hard to follow, and in many ways is a side-effect defense mechanism. The Key is developing something you are intimately comfortable with so that if you must make changes from an attack they happen without effort."

"Ahhh..." J'onn replies and nods as he looks out into the construct of Kitty's mind, "This is an example of a very well organized mind, but one that happens on a subconscious level instead of your design. I am not surprised by this, and it will prove that you are very capable of what we talked about earlier." She can feel a sense of Pride and Accomplishment flow from J'onn on what she has found here, "The next phase is building this so that /you/ know, without a doubt, where your thoughts are ordered, and can defend them against a telepathic scan."

He pauses for a moment, she can feel him considering something, "For Example, do you think you could find where your Entrance to the X-Men Base with one of your Teammates Codes that you may have seen, but not 'remembered' you had seen.. before I did? That is the benefit to building the construct how you are most comfortable, because the answer to that will eventually be Yes."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty looks at a complete loss. "What does someone else's code have to do with getting to a memory?" she asks, puzzled. And as she gazes along the lines that sprout from where they stand, she can see how some connect -- it makes sense to her -- and yet other connections, she's clearly unsure why they've been made that way.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
"I am willing to bet that at some point you have seen one of your teammates codes to enter a protected portion of your base. You know your own codes, you protect those I have no doubt, but a skilled telepath will look for the memories you have that appear unimportant but carry that same vital information." And then as she thinks about the question, the lines that connect those thoughts highlight, and he can see that she now understands his point.

"The Human mind is incredible, Katherine. It has an ability to store information far beyond what most Humans realize, and that is the advantage even the weakest of telepaths use to get what they desire." He points to the various connections that are now highlighted, "Do not go at the most protected thoughts, but at the least protected that provide an avenue you need..." After a moment, he asks her, "If you think of your mind as a computer network, and how you should defend it I believe you will find the construct of your Landscape an easy task. I know you understand the technology, the various methods and processes running in the background, and how a malicious attacker can use those avenues to get to their ultimate goal. You could build a mix of your computer knowledge, with your understanding of abstract theories of mutant genetics, and build a very formidble Landscape."