Kuvarakh took a cloth from his pocket and folded it a few times, placing it upon the target body's forehead. He did the same thing with the chin, aligning his mouth over that of the dead Kirby. There was still lip contact, but it would not press to where teeth might actually rupture the lips when full relaxation was achieved.
Though it was rarely discussed, even between Nuits, the vulnerability to jokes about his manhood, while "kissing" another man, was one reason the ritual was kept so private; the flow of white fluid inviting lewd comments best avoided. The fact that the extremities had to be aligned with the receiving body's counterparts made it impossible for the incumbents to prop themselves up, so a degree of sealed lip contact was regrettably necessary.
The meditative state was slow to build, and it was in two parts. The first was the external considerations of maintaining physical positioning. The meditation being a sort of sensory memory of the contact when position was first achieved, and a subconscious reaction to any change in that contact, to bring it back to the memorized alignment.
When this became second nature, the focus redirected to a sort of "awareness" of the entire body. He'd start at the feet, and when he felt his awareness encompassed every part of them, he moved into his ankles, and into his calves, and on and on until he reached the very top of his head.
This was a major portion of the time spent, as each portion brought with it the "code" of ichor assimilation needed to animate the corresponding part of the receiving body. There was a pressure that accompanied this slow transfer of bodily "cartography", that was the actual movement of ichor. This movement not only carried the "body memory" of the incumbent physicality, but the life memories as well.
Kuvarakh always had visions of a sort, as this process ran its course. Memories of times spent in the many bodies he'd inhabited since first becoming a Nuit. It was similar to the phenomenon of having one's life "flash before their eyes", but encompassed a much longer existence. There were no memories from the persons who'd had the bodies prior to Kuvarakh's entry, and it was his impression that the longer a Nuit went on, the longer this ritual took, as there was so much more memory, mentally encrypted in the ichor, to transfer over.
But that was just conjecture. He'd never sat down and timed his transfer against that of another Nuit. Not only was it far too private an affair to sully with such irrelevant concerns. There was no guarantee that "recovery time" was of uniform duration between Nuits. Also, he did not trust other Nuits enough to put himself at the risk of potential betrayal and death. A Nuit in the midst of this ritual was at the utmost of vulnerability.
These things did not really register in his mind during this transfer though. The fact that Maya was present did not bother him in that way. She had nothing to gain with his removal. There was no competition for available bodies between him and her. Nor were their any aspects of her life that she might feel threatened by the possibility of him exposing, that he was aware of.
After the two meditative goals were achieved, the pressure of the ichor, built up in the upper body, drove memories from Kuvarakh's mind, and an odd disorientation took hold. As the ichor flowed from one body to the other, so did the perspective of awareness. From the beginning there was the sense of lying face down, atop another body. There was a good bell of muddled perspective as the exchange of ichor went on, then it began to clear into a sense of lying on his back, with the weight of a body lying on top of him.
This triggered a lengthy, instinctive, body-wide attempt to assimilate the new body, resulting in numerous twitches as nerve endings were tweaked with animating energy. It took a great deal of time to fully encrypt the body memory into the receiving vessel, and to make adjustments to account for the physical differences. The better part of a full season was spent slowly incorporating a Nuit's "self" into its full capacity for movement and mental capability.
Wanda arrived at the shop in the early bells of morning to find Kuvarakh breathing steadily, but not moving beyond twitches, in the body that arrived the previous day. She also saw Maya, asleep in a chair nearby, insightful sketches having slipped from relaxed hands to join a few sticks of charcoal on the floor.
She smiled, unsure of which ritual participant to awaken first. She chose Maya...
Though it was rarely discussed, even between Nuits, the vulnerability to jokes about his manhood, while "kissing" another man, was one reason the ritual was kept so private; the flow of white fluid inviting lewd comments best avoided. The fact that the extremities had to be aligned with the receiving body's counterparts made it impossible for the incumbents to prop themselves up, so a degree of sealed lip contact was regrettably necessary.
The meditative state was slow to build, and it was in two parts. The first was the external considerations of maintaining physical positioning. The meditation being a sort of sensory memory of the contact when position was first achieved, and a subconscious reaction to any change in that contact, to bring it back to the memorized alignment.
When this became second nature, the focus redirected to a sort of "awareness" of the entire body. He'd start at the feet, and when he felt his awareness encompassed every part of them, he moved into his ankles, and into his calves, and on and on until he reached the very top of his head.
This was a major portion of the time spent, as each portion brought with it the "code" of ichor assimilation needed to animate the corresponding part of the receiving body. There was a pressure that accompanied this slow transfer of bodily "cartography", that was the actual movement of ichor. This movement not only carried the "body memory" of the incumbent physicality, but the life memories as well.
Kuvarakh always had visions of a sort, as this process ran its course. Memories of times spent in the many bodies he'd inhabited since first becoming a Nuit. It was similar to the phenomenon of having one's life "flash before their eyes", but encompassed a much longer existence. There were no memories from the persons who'd had the bodies prior to Kuvarakh's entry, and it was his impression that the longer a Nuit went on, the longer this ritual took, as there was so much more memory, mentally encrypted in the ichor, to transfer over.
But that was just conjecture. He'd never sat down and timed his transfer against that of another Nuit. Not only was it far too private an affair to sully with such irrelevant concerns. There was no guarantee that "recovery time" was of uniform duration between Nuits. Also, he did not trust other Nuits enough to put himself at the risk of potential betrayal and death. A Nuit in the midst of this ritual was at the utmost of vulnerability.
These things did not really register in his mind during this transfer though. The fact that Maya was present did not bother him in that way. She had nothing to gain with his removal. There was no competition for available bodies between him and her. Nor were their any aspects of her life that she might feel threatened by the possibility of him exposing, that he was aware of.
After the two meditative goals were achieved, the pressure of the ichor, built up in the upper body, drove memories from Kuvarakh's mind, and an odd disorientation took hold. As the ichor flowed from one body to the other, so did the perspective of awareness. From the beginning there was the sense of lying face down, atop another body. There was a good bell of muddled perspective as the exchange of ichor went on, then it began to clear into a sense of lying on his back, with the weight of a body lying on top of him.
This triggered a lengthy, instinctive, body-wide attempt to assimilate the new body, resulting in numerous twitches as nerve endings were tweaked with animating energy. It took a great deal of time to fully encrypt the body memory into the receiving vessel, and to make adjustments to account for the physical differences. The better part of a full season was spent slowly incorporating a Nuit's "self" into its full capacity for movement and mental capability.
Wanda arrived at the shop in the early bells of morning to find Kuvarakh breathing steadily, but not moving beyond twitches, in the body that arrived the previous day. She also saw Maya, asleep in a chair nearby, insightful sketches having slipped from relaxed hands to join a few sticks of charcoal on the floor.
She smiled, unsure of which ritual participant to awaken first. She chose Maya...
