Ximen blinked open his eyes and grimaced. The sunlight burned his eyes; he held a paw out to block the glare, face scrunched and exposing his fangs. He must’ve napped for at least an hour; when he’d settled down to mediate, the willow tree shaded his spot.

Yawning, he moved his paws to cover his mouth, but the removal of his paw caused the sun to burn the sleep right out of his eyelids.

“Why can’t it be permanently twilight?” he grumbled, loud enough to startle an egret in the swamp. “Daylight’s too bright and burns away all the shade. Night is entirely dependent on the moon’s phase. But twilight? Consistently the best time to inhabit the world.”

He blinked, stifling another yawn. “What the fuck am I even talking about.” He rolled onto his right side and huffed.

This was enough to put his head back in the willow tree’s shade. And the creek beside him provided a nice, comforting background noise. The water in this part of the swamp was too shallow for the crocodiles, and he was far enough away from Tanglewoods’ town that he never had to worry about screaming children bothering his concentration. Or his naps.

He pawed at his itchy forehead and grumbled. “Whatever, a quick meditation and if I sleep, then I sleep.”

[member=16769]Ares[/member]

— Reggan

The cheetah heard Ares’s approach. His tail-tip flicked, but only when she spoke his name did his eyes crack open. Ximen raised a wing over his head, shielding his face against the light glinting through the leaves, and yawned himself awake.

“Meditating. Would be nice to nap, too, but I tend to sleep when I don’t want and not when I want.” He rubbed his face with the back of a paw. Had his words made sense? Ugh, he hoped so; he might be able to relate to her own self-control problems with this angle. “The sleep deprivation and insomnia shit can really stress me out if I don’t meditate, you know? Because the frustration makes me even more exhausted and not likely to nap.”

Ximen rolled slightly to get a better look at his niece, but made no move to stand—or even sit—up. “If you’re not busy, why not try meditating with me? Might be useful to you, if you ever find yourself too frustrated to think.”

— Reggan

“Hmmm, the concept? Simply put, it’s the art of doing nothing.” The cheetah closed one eye, though the other remained on Ares. “Sitting still and watching your thoughts, feelings, everything? Most people can’t take that. It’s why they run after stupid shit all the time. They’re afraid of what’s really in their heads.”

Ximen scratched at his chin. “Beyond that, I don’t know how to explain the art of doing nothing. It’s easier to say what it’s not. Thinking. Ruminating. Planning. Imagining killing your least favorite person in Tanglewoods and hiding their body. All of those things are just noise the mind conjures while you’re trying to lie still, you know? Just noise. Nothing to be concerned about; every thought will pass, just like every breath will pass.”