Poignant Taken

Dredging up memories is dangerous business.

It is recommended to do so with a guide. Someone who can return you to the present and provide some... well, guidance. Those with the means will take to doing so with a psychologist or psychiatrist if they prefer to medicate. The rest of us may find solace in friendships or companions.

The artist attempts to do so alone and with the childlike abandon of discovering their first insect. While the experience may provoke many confusing and conflicting emotions, the act itself is a whole of the experiment. It must be done for the sake of being done. Discovery.

In the case of memories, it becomes a second chance to experience it for the first time. Rediscovery.

Same can be said of the emotions involved in the event. And this is where the artist gains their 'material' for creating.

And, just as an art student can be found hauling their art supplies from one class to the next, so too do the rest of us. To the artist, they are supplies; to the rest of us, baggage.

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_Deitrich dropped his gaze down to the black sand between his feet. He attempted to close his eyes to internalise his thoughts but found that he still peered out from his left 'soul eye'. The appearance of the landscape before him changed. No longer was it a cavern of deaths crossing. It became more 'real', more vivid. Deitrich could sense that he was more in tune with his other half.

_Everything he inspected within the cavern surfaced memories. But the details were overwhelming, chaotic, and threatened to overload his psyche. Unable to close his eye to stop the transmission of information, he attempted to shield it with his hand. And there, on the back of his left soul hand, his memories focused.

_He recalled some sort of martial training from his youth. He remembered how the kids in the orphanage were taught self defense and discipline. He recalled how his instructor taught him to think of his hands as both weapons, shields, and tools. Deitrich remembered how he would fascinate at the complexity that was achieved in the human body. He remembered many hours daydreaming into the back of this hand and imagining the possibilities. He thought back to how, after learning basic kendo skills, he would imagine his own form martial training. One that would embody that basic principle of weapon/shield/tool. He recalled creating specialise wooden weapons that he would strap to his arms; one for each. He had to hide them from the other orphans and orphanage staff for fear of them being confiscated. Deitrich pondered as to their present location. Unable to centralise the sensation, he just knew that he wished to be reconnected to them.

_Karen attempted to look uninterested and bored but Deitrich's gaze into his hand had her curious. She has seen many things pass through this cavern. Witness a strong few walk back across the distant shores. And while she has witnessed several souls appear in Deitrich's same condition, never have they lingered long enough to inspect themselves. She reestablished her connection to Deitrich's mind to gather some incite to what he was experiencing. Karma, my dear, you have chosen a very special person after all, haven't you?