SnitchSeeker.com - Divination Lesson 1

SnitchSeeker.com (https://www.snitchseeker.com/forum.php)

- Term 38: September - December 2014 (https://www.snitchseeker.com/term-38-september-december-2014/)

- - Divination Lesson 1 (https://www.snitchseeker.com/term-38-september-december-2014/divination-lesson-1-a-98733/)

OK this was not working. Jasmine went through her relaxation steps again. This time though, she decided to do things a little differently. Clearing her mind completely had been a no go. Jasmine was usually pretty good at concentrating and focusing on one thing, but focusing on nothing was a serious challenge. How was that even possible?

Jasmine was relaxed, she was focused, her mind was open, but not completely clear. That was because there was one thing that refused to leave her mind.......one thing that she really wanted to see in that crystal ball. Soooo, instead of no thoughts, she decided to allow certain happy and positive thoughts to enter her mind. Her mind would never be clear if she didn't tackle this first. Maybe it wouldn't work, but the other way wasn't working either so..... Armed with her positive energy, Jasmine looked into the crystal ball. Was there a little fog there or was it just wishful thinking?

Soon it seemed as though she was getting there. Leah started feeling tired, just as Professor Morgan described! Or well, perhaps it was just because of her falling asleep late the previous night. Still, she looked on the bright side and tried clearing her mind.. when things popped into her mind again. Mostly cookies, because Divination just reminded her of them.

Leah gave up on focusing and opened her eyes. She stared at the crystal ball with wide eyes and stopped her mind from thinking of anything. Not even cookies.

Like, okay, it was still just mist. Or essentially. Never mind that she saw weird fleeting images here and there, none of them were fun. None of them were cute boys like the one she was currently sitting next to, nothing implied hot dates or rich boyfies or musicians falling irrevocably in love with her, so like why would she bother to take note?

Just mist, okay?

Ruby decided to start thinking up things that she could SAY she saw. Make her own destiny and everything.

With a heavy sigh, Thornton sat back up straight, blinked his eyes dramatically several times and set his mind back to the crystal ball in front of him.

Following the same steps as he had before, Thornton let his gaze go soft as he looked into the center of the crystal. First, wisps began to form and he willed himself to keep focus on them and not on the excitement that something was happening.

Soon, the ball grew smokey. First just a haze, but then swirls of white smoke. As Thornton stared deeper, the smoke began to take on color, but the edges of whatever Thornton was seeing were undefined.

He dare not blink, but his eyes were becoming heavy. Dry.

If Adi had been threatened to burst out laughing before, he didn't know what could be said for now for Angel had spoken again. Oh Merlin! That was HILARIOUS. But not for Benny. "Benny, that's got to be you in that Ball,'' he couldn't help but blurt out. Ahhh. His poor friend who looked like he wanted to disappear from the face of the Earth. He tried to look serious and apologetic but he failed.

He caught AJ's eye when she glanced at him. Adi could see she wanted to laugh too. Sure enough, he heard some giggles. He looked back at Benny. ''You need to get back to work, Dragon.'' No way was he going to sit here and watch Benny stay that red and embarrassed. Maybe if the Lion just concentrated on his work, he'd think less of Angel and her outbursts.

Hoping Benny would follow his lead, Adi shut his eyes once more. Here's to hoping there would be no more distractions.

With her breathing not changing one bit and her mind finally completely clear everything she was growing sleepy. That was either good or bad. Was she tired sleepy or just in a deep state of calm?

Slowly opening her eyes Hady let her gaze fixate on the crystal ball before her. A hazy mist was already there and Hady wanted to blink her eyes to ensure herself that it was true and not just dreaming. Forcing herself to continue to stare at the ball her eyes wandered down, down, down towards the bottom as the mist darkened and took form.

What was that? In. Out. In. Out.

Keep breathing and remain calm. Don't get excited and lose focus.

Whatever it was it was taking form slowly now. As she watched with anticipation a small spread over Hady's face.

Yes she knew what this was. It was Seether her beloved albino snake that was back at home.

Grinning happily she blinked her eyes making the vision disappear even faster then it had shown itself to her. Who cares though for it was there! She had seen something!

HAHA.... was the Head Girl.... ASLEEP? Zahra watched her for a while, but then her thoughts traveled to Mikey and whether or not Alexa missed him, too... So she had to nip those thoughts in the bud.

Back to looking around.. hmm... Oh haha she watched another Gryffindor firstie slam his head on the table. Awesome. Feel you, bro.

...then she settled on Zander. WAS HE CRYING? LOLOLOL FOREVER. "PSSSTTTT ZANDER. ARE YOU CRYING?" LOL IF HE WAS!

Anywho.

Zahra blew hot air on her crystal again and this time she wrote F O O D in all big letters. THE HOUSE ELVES WERE COMING WITH FOOD, RIGHT? Like sooner vs later.

Okay but weren't the crystal balls reflective surfaces? Then Ruby could just angle it just soooo and catch reflections of suitable boys and then THEY would be in her fuuuuuture. Like she had this divination thing on lock.

It was just a little dark in here so that sort of limited the reflective RANGE and stuff.

Getting rid of the negative energy from his body was Toby's specialty. Or at least he thought it was. Maybe he was just super super super used to ignoring negative thoughts, but it FELT like there was no negative energy in him, so he just rolled with it. Point was, he had SUCH an OPEN MIND about this sort of stuff, and that was what was important, right? Right.

So, first step done, if you could really count it as a first step. Toby was EMBRACING the positive energy, yes ma'am.

And... well... DID he feel off? Kinda, a little, but Toby spent so much time feeling out of sorts lately, so it was hard to tell. Plus, the perfume in here always made him feel a liiiiiittle dizzy, 'cause he was never used to it. Maybe he'd count that as a success.

He was thinking too much, and that wasn't what was supposed to happen, so Toby still didn't open his eyes yet, and just took the time to tune out as much as he possibly could, focusing on the swirling lights behind his eyes before finally opening them again. He was still in his position leaning right forward on the desk, with the crystal ball inches from his nose. Toby's eyes automatically fixed on a point, and he stared at it.

It was a difficult balance trying to keep his mind clear but then needing to be present enough in the moment that he would notice when he could see something.

Swiiiiiiirling mist, just swirling mist. Toby stared at it, well and truly fixated on the crystal ball (with the kind of focus he'd NEVER managed before) and watching the mist swirl into shapes and patterns like fast moving clouds on a windy day.

Nothing yet.

Amidst all of the wonderful lovelies of Hogwarts talking aloud, talking to themselves, falling asleep, and being generally...distracting, Eden was still staring VERY blankly at her crystal ball. Some smoky mist had begun to drain into it, and Eden's eyes blinked a few times, and she snapped out of it--oh dear--the mist and cloudy-grey in the crystal ball was now gone.

NOOOOoooooooooo!

Eden leaned in and growled at her crystal ball. WTH. HELLO. She had been doing it RIGHT just now--Merlin! She was SO angry. Her face was turning red, and she was squinting at that ball as if it had personally offended her parents or something--"Come ON!" she said, and had she been standing she would have stomped her foot. But nope.

How had she even done that to begin with? She supposed she had let herself think too much...she had to go back to clearing her mind, eh? So she leaned back, stared at the ball, and just...emptied her thoughts...again. She tried to let go of that anger...and frustration...she felt like her Aunt, her Mam's sister, who was always meditating and whatnot. Heh. Crazy woman, but she had a good heart--

BUT SHE HAD TO STOP THINKING.

So she wiped the smile from her face and stared at the ball again...right...nothingness, Eden..

By no means was she trying to fight it, but somehow, deep in her subconscious, something was trying to wake her up. Or maybe she didn't have to look too deep. It was the badge, it didn't condone her sleeping in lessons. The quick and easy solution was taking off the badge until the end of the class but what were the odds that would fly when they all already KNEW she was Head Girl. The proper thing to do would be to wake up but even with that conclusion, Lex let herself drift just a little more before giving herself that push start to waking up.

At first nothing made sense. Was this even the room she'd fallen asleep in? Had to be. They were all still here, still trying to get readings off these phony orbs and if she squinted through the haze she could see another person or two dozing or coming back from a well deserved nap as well.

Slowly, her eyes began adjusting to the dim light and her ears picked up the hum it had tuned out moments earlier. How long had she been out? Clearly not long enough because they were still here.

Ugh.

She didn't bother easing off her table. This class would be over soon enough.

No, there was definitely a misty foggy thing going on in the crystal ball. Jasmine tried hard to maintain her relaxed, open minded focus. Now that she had apparently made some kind of connection with her orb, she did not want to lose it. While she continued to peer into the ball, the mist continued to swirl. Jasmine did her best not to force her thoughts. She just tried to just tried to let her mind flow along with the mist.

After staring into the mist for what seemed like forever, Jasmine was about lose hope that she would ever see anything more. Her eyes were blurring, but still she did not lose her focus. Finally, she began to see some vague colors mixed in with the fog. Patience. Jasmine was definitely going to need patience and lots of it if she was going to succeed at this task.

Post 6: Question for Professor Cassie

The mist that she finally saw encouraged Sapphire to keep trying. She wanted to see an actual image. She tried clearing her mind again.

"Hmm..." It had been several minutes already, but even though Sapphire started to get dizzy again, nothing appeared in the crystal ball.

"I hope it shows me on the Gryffindor Quidditch team in the future," she thought. "I'd be content with an image of a cool racing broom, or a Quaffle, or the Snitch!"

At this, Sapphire suddenly remembered what she tried a moment ago while thinking of a maple leaf. She decided to pause from all her attempts at scrying and ask the professor about that little "experiment" she did. She raised her hand to get the professor's attention.

"Professor Cassie," Sapphire began, hoping not to sound stupid or unprepared for class. "What if instead of clearing your mind completely, you decide to keep one specific thought or image in your head. Would that work for Scrying, or is that a totally different form of Divination?" If it was still Divination. Perhaps it was a different form of Magic altogether.

Post 3 + the question

Hugo waited for the professor to be near enough and whispered “Professor, do we all have the inner eye?” ‘cause if the answer was “no” then he shouldn’t be trying anymore or maybe he should, because he wasn’t going to give up. See how contradictory is this?

Alright, third shot. This time was easy for him to clear his mind but not to see something on the crystal ball. He didn’t have to think, so what was he suppose to see? Many important questions here, little time to answer and patience running out.

Divination y u giving me a hard time?

He had no interest of seeing his future anymore. Not that he already knew it was going to be BRILLIANT.

Was there ever a clock in this classroom? She couldn't remember and the dim light wasn't doing many wonders for that. Whereas sitting her, staring at her crystal ball in a half dazed manner could sorta be passed off as her concentrating to open her inner eye, having her eyes darting all around the classroom in search of a clock wouldn't do. It wouldn't do at all.

Lex eased off her table, deciding she'd best sit straighter if she hoped to stay awake. Oh look, her full cup of tea. The Professor should have tried hot chocolate. Suspicions aside, the Gryffindor would have been more inclined to drink once it wasn't tea.

Wand drawn, she began poking at the cup as she'd done the crystal ball earlier. Just as uneventful.

It surprized her that there was those with serious questions on this topic. It was nothing more than what Professor Airey would have call Pseudoscientific hokum....so how did one even FIND serious questions to ask. Weird.

Were they done yet? She wasn't seeing anything.

Norah was getting fed up with this activity. Not only was it boring but she was also FRUSTRATED. She tried to keep her mind on her breath, not her frustration, but it wasn't working out too well. Maybe if she focused on the ball instead?

She turned her eyes to the crystal ball, which was annoyingly full of absolutely nothing. She stared at it. And stared. And stared. And stared. And stared some more for what felt like forever. Her eyes slid out of focus, and she squinted harder at the ball. Wait, was that mist? It was mist! MIST, PEOPLE. MIST, SHE SAW MIST. WOOOH! She gave an excited bounce and slit off the cushion she was sitting on. Scrambling back into a seated position, she focused on the crystal ball again, and saw nothing. NOTHING. CURSE YOU, DIVINATION.

She slumped onto the cushion and closed her eyes. Maybe she was just trying too hard.

Come on, crystal ball show me something, make me believe that Divination is worth it. ~~Coming to class in PJs and have a nap session was absolutely worth it.~~

His mind was clear, his eyes closed, his body relaxed. It was perfect. Slowly, Hugo opened his eyes and looked at the crystal ball. The professor said it was going to show you some image but he stared at it for a while and NOTHING showed up. What a fail.

He rolled his eyes. Could he have a nap instead? That would be cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz (Post 11661925)

Gasp. Distracting? Her?

Ruby peeked at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled innocently. SOMEONE had an overactive imagination, clearly. Not that she blamed him considering... everything.

Ruby leaned on her hand a little and looked into her crystal ball...

oh look, mist!

Uh huh. Distracting, Banner.

Grayson met her gaze with his own and raised an eyebrow at her. That innocent smile? Lulz, she knew exactly what she was doing. She had to. And Grayson had nooooooooo complaints whatsoever. It just made this activity that much more challenging. Smirk.

Sooooooooo he turned his attention back towards his crystal ball and tried to do the breathing exercise again. Clearing his mind of all thought and all that jazz. AND try and push away all negative energy from inside of him and pick up the positive energy from the room? Did Professor Cassie KNOW how hard that was? Jeez. It was hard enough being nice for anything longer than a couple of minutes. PEOPLE made that hard, he was sure of it.

Breaaaaaaaathe........ breaaaaaaaaathe......... in and out.......... concentrate on the swirling foggy mistiness in the crystal ball in front of him........

This was so freaking boring.

There was a decent amount of talking and moving about going on in the classroom, but Toby found no difficulties with keeping his attention firmly on the crystal ball. The mist was still swirling around in time, and it was either slowing down a whole bunch or Toby was getting better at noticing certain shapes.

Nothing of any real meaning though, not yet. But it probably wasn't the kind of thing where you just managed it straight away. All magic took practice before you really started to get it, after all.

Vaguely, Toby wondered just how clear these images were supposed to be, like if the really talented seers saw them in super high definition like on one of those big TVs. In fact, there were a bunch of other questions floating around Toby's otherwise clear mind, and he quickly pushed them back so he could focus only one what he was seeing.

Focus...

A few minutes of deep breathing with her head in her hand and Lux felt so peaceful that it was almost like falling asleep. In fact she must have, because her elbow moved from under her suddenly and she fell forward onto the table. Startled awake, she looked around in case Professor Cassie had seen it.

Wasn't her fault she had fallen asleep; deep breathing, nice tea, and calming music was enough to make anyone nod off for a few minutes.

Stretching, she wondered if it was worth another glance at the crystal ball then figured not since distractions were bad for scrying and her mind ws all over the place. What else had they been told? Maybe Professor Cassie had given them a hint while explaining the process to the class. Wasn't there something about positive energy? Time to look at her notes.

His blue eyes stayed glued to the swirly misty nonsense that was in his crystal ball. Focusing was becoming very difficult and the fifteen year old hadn't noticed just how hard it was until this very moment. Freaking difficult was more like it. He half doubted whether other people could actually do this or whether they were making up mumbo jumbo just to get some money from people. Money making schemes, man. Some people were GREEDY.

Speaking of other people, Grayson tore his eyes away from the crystal ball to look up and around the class. WERE people seeing things? If so, what exactly were they seeing? HMMMM? He squinted a little, trying to look at people's faces in particular. Because if it was something shocking or something very pleasant, their face would give it away.

Noticing nothing, the fifth year slumped in his seat again and tried to focus on the crystal ball. Hard. Every now and then, his eyes started glazing over and his mind started wandering to things like........... food. And sleep. And just what the house elves could be planning on making for their next meal. MAN, if it was roast chicken, he was going to be VERY pleased.

Ugh. Yeah. Clear his mind or whatever. Focus on the ball and the swirls.

Cassie had been walking around the room. The students were doing so good trying to get into an open mind state. She knew how hard it was and knew most of them wouldn’t be able to get it today. Maybe not even in their next try, but the fact that they were trying made all the difference. Seeing her first sign of frustration she walked closer to Sapphire “Don’t get frustrated dear. Just breath and stay calm. It will come.” She gave her an encouraging smile as she continued one.

Her eyes darted to some giggling, she wasn’t sure what that was about. Trying to just ignore it she noticed shoulders moving and gave Grayson a patient look. They needed to stay quiet and focus. She’d be watching him to make sure he was able to work alright.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zahra

How was Zahra supposed to nap with all this loud breathing and talking? Then Professor Divi was all NAP TIME OVER, just like that."Shortest nap EVER," she mumbled as she pulled her crystal ball over to her.

Hum. Now what?

She cast a glance over to Ruby and Grayson. Ugh no. No help there.

Then over to Mari, who looked like she was stressing pretty hard about looking at a ball. So no help there either.

...

.......

Well if Professor Divi wanted pictures... Zahra BLEW HOT AIR onto her ball then drew with her finger a big smiley face on the condensation that formed on the surface.

COOL. Cool. This was eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeasy.

Nothing another child she watched closely, “Oh no Zarha, we don’t want to do that.” Grabbing a purple cloth of her desk she walked over and gave the child a small smile, “We have to keep the ball clean or it will not show us what it wants us to see.” Wiping the smudges away carefully she then gave her an encouraging look. “I know it can be hard at first and believe me I don’t want anyone to get frustrated. Just try to relax and do your best.” Giving the child a pat on the shoulder she moved on to other students.

As she watched more she heard some whispering and turned her head seeing Eden she shook her head and made eye contact, placing her finger to her lips to show quiet. “Please everyone no talking through this. There has to be peace and quiet for concentration.” She knew it was hard with a bunch of students, but they had to try.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethan

Well, at least it looked…funny, and not just boring. Maybe he should name his crystal ball Zelda? After the yeti that he took as a role last term? “Hello, Zelda.” Again, without warning, Ethan opened his eyes and saw…a white mist the size of a knut, then it disappeared. The boy blinked, wondering if he was just imagining it. Not sure if his technique worked or not, Ethan looked around for Professor Cassie. She saw the woman walking around, and since everyone’s supposed to be quiet and such, he raised his hand to get her attention.
__________________

She took a few deep breaths herself, not that she was losing patients per say, but this was her passion and even the happiest professor wanted their students to work hard and try their best. Seeing a hand go up she gave Ethan a smile, leaning down so she could whisper, Is something wrong?” Looking at him with concern that he might be struggling with today’s lesson. She just wanted to help if needed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeke

His staring was resulting in nothing but smokey swirls. Was his inner eye smoke? Is that what it was? Or maybe his inner eye was BLIND? Was that possible? He'd have to ask Professor Cassie later.

It was then though, that he considered faking it again. After all, they were looking with their INNER eyes, right? Not their PHYSICAL eyes. So therefore... his imagination was seeing things from his... INNER being... or something? It counted, no?

Like a lightbulb moment, Zeke perked up, a grin lifting the corners of his lips. "I've got it!" Heheeee! Seeing wasn't believing, nope... believing was SEEING!!!!

Ahem, or so he would tell himself.

Her eyes turned again towards a first year who she heard say he got it. This was exciting if he really did. Though she would think an older student would get it first, but if he was that gifted she would be soooo thrilled. “That’s wonderful dear if you do, but let it happen. Saying things like that disconnect you from the reading state and then you miss seeing more.” She grinned encouragingly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angel and Abby

"Professor!" Angel raised her hand, she wanted to know what was going on with her crystal ball. "Every time I look into the crystal ball there's a boy staring back at me." Angel said truthfully wasn't going to give name this time though. "What does it mean?"
Abby opened her eyes again and there was that same boy waving at her and it was showing her going places in hogsmeade and then it went and said "Professor i am getting something to do with a boy but i have no idea what it means" Abby was a bit confused

Hearing more talking she sighed, this was getting a bit much even for Cassiopeia Morgan. Keeping her sweet smile she moved to the sisters. Blinking as she looked at both of them. “Well I’m not sure, but you are not supposed to be talking right now. Just let the visions finish without focusing on just one.” She almost thought they were trying to be rude about her class. Both of them seeing boys in their visions. It was just too coincidental for her liking, but she wasn’t going to accuse. No Cassie didn’t accuse or judge. So she just put a finger to her lips and moved on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeke again

Was that REALLY a fox he was SEEing? Or was he projecting? Imagining? Thinking about it and really trying to FOCUS on the image at hand, Zeke lost it. He completely lost it.

Fjijsdbsihsofjw!!!!

"But... but..."

This was confusing. He saw it, and was sure he saw it... but then he unsaw it, and wasn't even sure if he SAW it saw it, or JUST saw it. Like... in his head. This was madness. Was it IN the ball? ON the ball? Or was it... everywhere?

He couldn't recall the image to mind, and the ball just stared at him all clear as if nothing had happened. Maybe nothing happened at all.

"Miss... I mean, Professor... I'm confused," he muttered, eyes on the ball but his hand waving in the air.

Hearing the boy she had spoken to just moments ago her green eyes turned a bit more sharply. “Zeke dear.” She tried to keep at a whisper. “You are supposed to stay in the connection state for the entire reading. We can speak about what you are seeing once you are back fully in your conscious state.” Though he was surely there with his hand waving all around. Leaning down she smiled at the child, “What are you confused about, maybe I can help.” That’s what shew as here for.

Hearing more whispering about crying and people in balls she fully glanced around the room “SHHHHHHHHH, you are all trying to get into a reading state. You can not get there by worrying yourselves about what’s going on around you and speaking to your neighbors..” She didn’t like to be so harsh, but this was very important if they wish to see anything. Flicking her wrist she let the music grow a little louder to try to drown out the talking and help them all focus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexa

At first nothing made sense. Was this even the room she'd fallen asleep in? Had to be. They were all still here, still trying to get readings off these phony orbs and if she squinted through the haze she could see another person or two dozing or coming back from a well deserved nap as well.

Slowly, her eyes began adjusting to the dim light and her ears picked up the hum it had tuned out moments earlier. How long had she been out? Clearly not long enough because they were still here.

Ugh.

She didn't bother easing off her table. This class would be over soon enough.

She saw the girl with her head down and she wasn’t surprised she wasn’t even giving an effort, not after last term. Though she thought they had come to terms with each other and she couldn’t help but feel disappointed in her for not even giving it a try. Walking over towards her she tapped her shoulder. “Oh no Miss Cambridge did you have a late night being Head Girl? Maybe you should head to your dorm or the healer if you aren’t feeling well enough to keep your head up and do your class work.” Giving her a very concerned smile she turned and headed to the front of the room. She was in need of some more tea.

There was more inward sighing as she heard another child not trying to stay in focus,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sapphire

"Professor Cassie," Sapphire began, hoping not to sound stupid or unprepared for class. "What if instead of clearing your mind completely, you decide to keep one specific thought or image in your head. Would that work for Scrying, or is that a totally different form of Divination?" If it was still Divination. Perhaps it was a different form of Magic altogether.

Moving towards her trying not to interrupt the rest of the class she leaned down. “It can be the same, but scrying alone if very advance Divination and trying to focus on just one item is even more difficult. That’s why training is in order, like we are doing today. Trying to learn to focus our minds and then being able to see images.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugo

Hugo waited for the professor to be near enough and whispered “Professor, do we all have the inner eye?” ‘cause if the answer was “no” then he shouldn’t be trying anymore or maybe he should, because he wasn’t going to give up. See how contradictory is this?

Alright, third shot. This time was easy for him to clear his mind but not to see something on the crystal ball. He didn’t have to think, so what was he suppose to see? Many important questions here, little time to answer and patience running out.

She was starting to wonder if she should just end the lesson since many seemed frustrated and not wanting to try anymore. Looking at another first year she didn’t even try to whisper this time. “Oh yes, we all have an inner eye, but some of us just can’t seem to get to the stage of getting it to open and work properly. The gift is there it’s having the talent to use the gift that most struggle with.” Hence why she was trying to help them all come a bit closer to it.

Moving to the front of the room and pouring herself another cup of tea she turned to the class and spoke as calm as possible. “Now for the next ten minutes I would like you all to please not speak at all. Just let your minds clear and focus.” Silent time was a wonderful way to focus.

OOC: I am so sorry about being MIA, my internet went down and then with SS being gone it just didn't add up. Anyway because of yesterday's no SS I'm going to extend the time of this activity to 10 p.m. Sunday, September 14 EST.

Kace was really concentrating on getting his mind all cleared. He didn't want any distractions. He actually trained himself to let go of all distraction. As he was getting more relaxed he realized he was getting dizzy. He thought that was strange but he remembered the professor saying that could happen when you move into the inner eye awakening. He kept at it for a few minutes and opened his eyes. He wondered what he was going to see.

He concentrated on one spot and saw the swirling colors of the crystal ball. His eyes were gravitating more towards the center of the ball. Then his foot moved and it hit the table. It scared him and lost his concentration! GRR!! He breathed and he would try again.

There was a long dramatic inhale as Cutty gathered his focus and went back to ...scrying. He sat straight up in his seat and put both hands onto the crystal. What was this activity supposed to look like when done correctly? would he even know? His eyes remained sharply focused on the crystal ball, but not for peering deeply into it. He was trying to gauge the reactions of others in it's reflection to see if he was having the appropriate response. That Kettleburn kid was using hers artistically. Inspiring if all else failed.

Jasmine stared at the crystal ball until her eyes hurt, willing the mist to form into something she could recognize. Trying to keep a clear mind was exhausting and Jasmine didn't know how much longer she could keep this up.

When Jasmine didn't think that she could hold her focus for one more second. Then she saw it. She saw him. At least she thought she did. At this point, Jasmine wasn't sure whether she was hallucinating or not. Probably she was, but she was going to roll with it. The face wasn't clear what with all the swirling going on, but she was sure it was him. Jasmine stared. It was what she'd wanted to see, but now.......it just made her sad.

As the face got a little clearer, Jasmine realized that something had changed. His eyes. It was like the light in his eyes was gone. That made her sadder. Then the face dissolved. Jasmine's head snapped up and she realized that her vision hadn't been real. She must have dozed off and dreamed the whole thing. So much for her inner eye. Well at least she did get a misty swirl and some colors.