fandomhighdorms | Third floor common room, Wednesday Morning

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Third floor common room, Wednesday Morning

In this weather Leto was thankful for the hooded cloak, made for cold desert nights, that he had brought with him. Apart from that, he didn't mind the weather - he remembered snow of course, but he hadn't actually experienced it, and now he had made himself comfortable on the common room couch, looking out the window and letting the fireplace and a large cup of spice coffee warm him.

In front of him was a chess board and he moved the pieces quickly, playing both sides. He missed Ghani, but when she wasn't here he could at least try to emulate one of her games.

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"I'm not sure exactly what you mean with a gym work-out, but I do physical training, and often enjoy it." He smiled. "I should probably keep up the habit here."

"Punching a bag and sparring, or doing weight lifting, instead of just playing a sport." She brightened at his mention of physical training and sat up straighter. "What kind training do you do?"

"Hand-to-hand fighting, knife, staff." He shrugged. "It's necessary, but I make it enjoyable." Reaching out for his cup again, Leto added after a moment's thought: "So will you spar with me?" He had no intention of causing Dinah to get hurt, or to show off, but it might be fun.

Dinah completely lit up at the invitation, bouncing on the couch and nearly out of her seat. "Sure! That would be great!" She took a breath, still smiling, and said, "I've been studying hand-to-hand for about a year now. And eskrima stick fighting. I haven't found anyone to fight here yet."

He grinned, enjoying her enthusiasm. "So we have a plan, and hopefully it will make us warm enough without blankets and cloaks." He reached out to pull Dinah's blanket a little closer around her.

"Exactly!" She froze for a second as he pulled the blanket up, then relaxed again. Normal for him, right? A Fremen thing. Yup. Do not get unnerved or flustered. She was fairly proud of herself for managing a small smile at him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." He returned the smile, then his eyes moved towards the table. "I would offer you some coffee, but I make it the Fremen way, and would not want to be caught introducing people to drugs." There was a grin as his gaze moved to the chess board. "Do you play? I'm trying to guess what moves my sister would have made but it's not the same thing.

"Only a little bit. My older sister keeps trying to teach me to play, and I know how the pieces move," Dinah said, studying the board with interest. "But she's way better than I am. She sees the whole game from about the first or second move." She sniffed at his cup, thinking that cocoa would be good, but too comfortable now to get up again. "So that's what it smells like. How strong is that... spice? In your drink?"

"Not strong at all for me, but probably quite noticeable for you," Leto told her. The cinnamon-like scent wasn't too heavy, but definitely there. "So, would you play with me?"

"If it wouldn't bore you," Dinah said, a little shy on this point. She curled up across from him on the other side of the board, where the white pieces were. "Black goes first."

His gaze turned to the board and he smiled. He made a simple opening move using one of the pawns. Of course, he had ancestors in his mind who were probably more talented at this than Dinah, but human company was different, served a different purpose.

"You don't bore me," Leto said.

Dinah moved the pawn across from his, and kept her eyes on the board as her face heated up again. "Good. I wouldn't want to do that."

He made another easy, expected move. "How could you when you're blushing like that." Leto's voice was gentle when he said it though, as he had no wish to hurt her.

Which flustered Dinah into laughter, mostly at herself, then getting her breath back as she tried to focus on the game. Was he mentioning that to throw her off? Or did he just pay that close attention to everyone? She kind of got the impression that Leto's sense of humor was as dry as his homeworld was supposed to be.

"You're not supposed to mention that," she teased back, moving a knight. "Even if it's really really obvious. I'll get over it eventually, I swear."

He looked at her with an amused smile. "I'm not? Then you will have to hit me for it when we spar." He moved his bishop. "How do you plan to get over it?"

"I get more confident when I get used to things." Another pawn moved forward to form a diagonal barrier line. She did remember some of Barbara's lessons. "So I guess I'll... have to hang out with you enough to get used to you."

Stupid fair skin.

He immediately made his next move, with no need to think about it, then reached out and ran a fingertip against her cheek. It would probably make her blush, but the gesture was meant to be one of kindness. "It doesn't matter to me. People are easy to read even without their faces being open books."

Which it did, it totally, totally did, and Dinah just barely managed to look him in the face.

"Are they?" She took a breath. "Why's that?" Unless maybe he was a telepath of some kind, like her... no, he would have said by now. Right?

"Bene Gesserit training," he said, knowing it wouldn't mean much to Dinah. "It teaches you to notice what others don't, among other things." He smiled at her again, moving a pawn. "But perhaps that blushing is just a perfect way to hide other things that are less obvious." He didn't know of anything like that, of course, but most people had secrets and things they found it difficult to talk about. That was a very human thing.

Which had Dinah on the verge of flailing for so many, many reasons, not least because of all her secrets. But at least a few of them didn't have to be secrets here. Right?

Very very carefully, she took his pawn with hers using telekinesis. His fell over with a wobble, and then floated upward to hover over the board; then she reached out and took it out of the air with her fingers.

She met his eyes over the board, and swallowed. "So. What's a Bene Gesserit?"

He watched the pawn float into the air, at first surprised and then just curious. He returned her gaze, smiling. "The Bene Gesserit sisterhood teach training of body and mind to achieve abilities that some people would think are magic. They are not, of course. The purpose for all this is... power. It's complicated." He paused. "And your ability?" It had made him curious.

Yay, Leto hadn't freaked. She hadn't thought he would, but who knew? Dinah smiled in relief, and tossed the pawn in the air, then caught it. "Weird genetics. No one knows why; there's lots of theories back home. Short answer is my brain works harder than most peoples'. I need to practice," she added, carefully putting the black pawn off to the side. "I'm not very good at it yet. But it's not really acceptable, in New Gotham, aside from my family and some friends. It'd freak people out." She sighed. "Some metas have done stuff there, using their abilities, for... well, I guess power. But mostly it just ended up in chaos or terror." She perched her chin on her hand. "I wish I could find someone like your Bene Gesserit to teach me. I don't know anyone in New Gotham who's a TK too."

Oh, The Bene Gesserits would love to lay their hands on someone like Dinah. "It might not be what you want," Leto said carefully. "But... is there no one who can teach you? I assume you control it with your mind, in which case learning to focus might be of help." He took one of her pawns in return.

Okay, now she was blocked in on the board in one corner, and was going to lose a couple pawns unless she broke out the rook. Which looked like a bad idea, but hey, what else could she do?

"No one I know of right now. Although I've heard some of the other students have abilities too. I'm hoping one of them can point me to a good teacher," Dinah admitted, pushing the rook halfway across the board with the tip of her finger. "Barbara used to make me meditate and focus. Sometimes it helped." When Dinah didn't get distracted or impatient.

He had all the knowledge of the Bene Gesserit available to him. On the other hand, so did Ghanima. "Perhaps you could talk to my sister," he suggested, taking another one of her pawns.

Third floor common room, Wednesday Morning

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