Private Lesson; Resonance Training

Krikor slowly opened his eyes, keeping his breathing even with the tempo he'd created for himself. He slowly got to his feet, looking around for the cricket. When he saw it, he began walking over to it quietly and softly, his footfalls also falling in time with the rhythm he'd made. He tried to get as close to it as possible, and if he got within arm's reach of it, he would try to cup both hands over it so that it wouldn't escape.

"Well Done, Tear..." the Cricket Spirit chirped in time with him, for even being aware enough to capture the cricket when it had given its consent to be captured. At that moment, it would not hop away, however now that it had been captured and was under the influence of Tear's will, which he also was in agreement with, the Cricket Spirit would, when confronted from both directly in front of his eyes (by Krikor) and also from an ethereal energetic standpoint (by Tifaret), the chirp of the Cricket, which was in time with Krikor's footsteps, would resonate and echo the location of the invisible gauntlet that was within the breeze trying to snatch it up from the ground and disappear before the either of them could grasp it, most likely involving the invisible fist to collide with the creeping Krikor. It was still a Spirit, after all. The next moment, it would appear on Tear's shoulder. Having synchronized with him, it was also synchronized with Krikor and Tifaret, as well, and could sense when they were coming, especially when they made such disturbing wavelengths. Krikor had done better before he moved, in the opinion of the Cricket, which chirped again, waiting for Tear's command (like a Pokemon.)

"I didn't think that would work anyway," Krikor thought to himself as he quickly sat back down, trying not to lose the tempo he'd made for himself. He went back to envisioning his hand reaching out and staying still, reaching towards the cricket to see if it would hop into his hand of its own accord. This led to him actually outstretching his open hand towards the piano, palm up, so that the cricket could hop into his hand if it so chose.

The Cricket would not appreciate Tifaret using her excessive force in an attempt to trap him. He found it rather insulting, being a wise old cricket and no young grasshopper, like herself. Being a Spiritual Cricket, as it was made clear by Tear earlier (if she were paying attention), the Cricket could merely disappear and reappear wherever it wished. To teach a lesson to both Tifaret and Krikor, the Cricket would appear in his hand, feeling comfortable enough with Krikor's presence to be able to rest on him. However, if he would suddenly produce a wavelength that would repel the Cricket, it would disappear before it could be captured fully, which would not result in an actual capture. Here, Krikor would have to Synchronize with the Cricket in order to fully capture it.

Krikor breathed in deeply and focused on strengthening the bond between the cricket and himself.  He tried to focus on happy things, good things, that would hopefully be synchronized to the cricket.  His eyes were still closed, so he couldn't see Tifaret's Galaxy Crusher trying to take the cricket off of his hand; however, he did feel a slight pulling on his hand from it.  He tried keeping his arm steady without getting it pulled up by the Galaxy Crusher so that the cricket wouldn't be scared away by the movement.

All the while, Krikor was trying to let the cricket feel positive emotions through their synchronization -- love, caring, hope, and kindness.  He'd hoped that the cricket would stay in his hand and he would finally catch it.

The Cricket Spirit, which could feel Krikor's general emotions as they were, did not feel that Krikor felt strongly enough to maintain a frequency stable enough to secure a sort of spiritual magnetic connection to the waves it produced, which would cause the Cricket to look as though it were faded as it landed in his hand. The love, kindness, caring and hope were only the first steps, and even then, they were so vague and general that the Cricket was unable to tell whether or not Krikor were truly in sync with it and its goals.

If Krikor were truly synchronized, he would have thought to at least attempt to move the Cricket out of the way of the one who was trying to take it from him as some sort of method of protecting the Cricket that was practically in his hand. Though he was feeling the necessary feelings, he could enhance their depth and strength by acting upon them when the time came up, which it seemed that the cricket was in tune with naturally. Krikor would find this out the next time the cricket chirped and disappeared, only exactly as Tifaret's gauntlet would come trying to snatch it from him. At the second chirp of the Cricket, which was only moments after the first chirp, would have the cricket to appear on the ground, somewhere nearby the three of them. It would chirp once more, seemingly in time or in a steady rhythmic pattern as the first two, beginning to disappear once again.

Krikor opened his eyes when he heard Tear speaking to him. He listened well to what Tear had to say, then when he was finished, he replied, "Thank you, Mr. Lacrimoso. I'll do my best."

Unfortunately, speaking with Tear had made Krikor lose his tempo, and he shut his eyes to try to get it back. Before altering his heartbeat with his Sanguimancy, he telepathically reached out to Ashcroft. "Ashcroft, try to Synchronize with me and with the cricket," he said telepathically. He hoped that Ashcroft, since his consciousness was so close with his own, could help him here.

"I'll do what I can, Krikor, but this is all new to me, too," Ashcroft replied telepathically. With that, Ashcroft began to let out a long, low, "Ommmmmmmmm," providing a background to the tempo the cricket chirps were providing. The wavelengths of his omm-ing were in sync with those of the cricket chirps.

"Perfect," Krikor thought.

With that, Krikor resumed what he had been doing -- he changed his heartbeat pattern with his Sanguimancy, got his breathing in sync with the cricket's chirping, then had the song going through his head again. This time, however, he took what Tear had said into account about his physical form needing to be in sync as well, and started swaying from side to side, kind of like a metronome. He hoped that this would draw the cricket to him once again, but just to be sure, he tried reaching out to it with his mind with a simple, "Hello?"

The wise cricket remained at a steady beat, feeling now the shift in both Tifaret and Krikor and their approaches. This pleased the cricket to see them becoming more wise, thoughtful and skillful in their handling of this situation, wherein before the two of them were clumsy, aloof and boorish in both approach and wisdom about it. With a humble solace, the cricket's chirping, resonating with the 'Galaxy Crusher' hovering over it, would allow the large gauntlet to float closer, as though it were to capture the cricket in the stead of Krikor, who had almost gotten it before.

Yet, when much force was applied, even at the very end, this deterred the cricket's natural wavelength and caused it to disappear as soon as Tifaret even felt to use overwhelming force. Even with how strong her wavelengths were, they would be unable to hold the cricket (who was also synchronized with Tear's wavelengths) in check. Thus, in her palm would be nothing, yet the cricket found much joy in the song of Krikor's heart now, for the waves were pleasant and charming. The cricket would appear behind him this time, to ensure that it was far enough away from Tifa yet close enough to Krikor were it would begin to synchronize, as he had done with the chirps. After each cricket chirp, the cricket was, for some reason, attracted more to Krikor's gauntleted hand. "Hello," the cricket chirped in response, fading away, yet fading back in slightly closer to Krikor, something like an invisible hop before its body returned to visibility. "... I see you're starting to hear my voice. This means you've almost done it." Even though Krikor now had a pretty solid connection to the cricket, which was luring him close, the synchronization would not be complete until Krikor was effectively able to capture the cricket. Yet, it seemed that his approach served better than Tifaret's, at the very least, for the cricket was actually interested in he and his gentle waves, as opposed to the still rather coarse waves that Tifaret, even in her calm, was producing. The cricket continued to chirp rhythmically, in time and in tune with Krikor now, nearly completely.

"Thank you, I'm glad I'm showing some progress," Krikor replied to the cricket.  Not even Tifaret's storming off and insulting him and Tear could throw him off of his tempo -- he was in the zone, so to speak.

"You don't need to worry about her," he said to the cricket once Tifaret had left, "she's a bit rough around the edges, but she's a good person nonetheless.  She means you no harm, and neither do I," Krikor continued.  He hoped to coax the cricket closer to him by showing it he didn't intend to harm it, trying to send feelings of calmness to it through his bond with it.

(Consent)

The cricket's chirping soon began to chime in time with Krikor's heart, especially the more he began to verbalize his feelings. The beating of his heart was like a method for the wavelength of Krikor's feelings to reach the cricket, and in turn, his voice matching his heart strengthened this and nearly solidified the synchronicity with the cricket.

"You seem much more well mannered," it cried, hopping into his hand now, "... I would feel much safer with someone like you. I give you consent to capture me." Tifaret's energy was much too constricting and overbearing to the small and delicate cricket, and it seemed that Krikor not only was much more receptive to easing up and toning himself down, but also making a means of meeting the cricket halfway in terms of reception, in general. Therefore, through mutual understanding and feelings, the cricket rested gently in Krikor's hand now, letting the synchronicity match as it may.

Krikor smiled when the cricket jumped into his hand. "Thank you," he whispered to it with a smile, slowly cupping his other hand over it so that it wouldn't need to fear falling out. He slowly got to his feet and said to Tear, "I'm feeling pretty good about this so far, thank you. I do think I'd like to move on to Harmonization, if that's alright," he continued. He didn't want to stop now, especially with all the progress he'd made. He just hoped that Harmonization would come to him more naturally than Synchronization had.