Session 4 Downtime: Learning Obfuscation

((This is during the second week of down time that occurred during Session 4, after Kytha has taken the Path of the Feral Heart in the shovel head ritual.))

Kytha stands off in the corner of the foyer. She just stands there. Sometimes her eyes are closed, and sometimes she gives up on her meditative pose and just watches as people come and go. If anyone tries to talk to her, she explains that Arkady suggested that she learn obfuscation. In order to do that, she needs to practice being invisible. So, for five days, she stands there, practicing not being noticed. At first, people ask her what she’s doing; then, some try to distract her. Finally, they give up and just do their work around her until they become so accustomed to ignoring her that they forget that she’s there.

On the fifth day, Kytha scratches her nose. No one so much as glances at her. She smiles a little and slowly, carefully stretches her arms up. The servants bustling about the foyer, buffing the floors, and carrying a tray of hot blood to someone’s room don’t notice. Kytha takes a step, and then another step, carefully focusing on the quiet part of her mind that she has found, the one that centers her when she does not want to be seen. The servants continue their work.

Kytha follows the one with the tray up the stairs. The servant walks past Arkady’s room and Kytha watches her continue down the hall, deliver the tray to Tati, and start to walk back towards her to go down the stairs. The servant’s eyes slip right past Kytha until she intentionally knocks on Arkady’s door. All of a sudden, the servant jumps and drops the empty tray. It clatters to the floor as Arkady opens his door.

“Excuse me mistress, I didn’t see you there,” apologizes the servant.

Kytha ignores the servant and turns to Arkady. “I think I’ve got it now,” she grins.