fandomhighdorms | Third floor common room, Wednesday Morning

Entry tags:

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.

[open!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

"Did she study with the Bene Gesserit too?" Dinah asked, then frowned at the board. Just for that, she took another one of his pawns with her knight... leaving a rather large opening behind her.

"You probably shouldn't mention this to Arthur," she said, her tone a little more subdued. "Merlin didn't think he'd take it very well right now."

"None of us trained with them," he said quickly. "But their knowledge has been available to us." And he took her knight. "And I stay away from any subject that Arthur can think of as magic." He grinned at Dinah. "It seems the wise course of action."

"Hey!" Dinah protested, looking for somewhere else to hit back, and not finding anything. She gave him a mock-glare, then moved her other rook forward, ready to attack again. "Good. I mean, it isn't magic. I'm not even very good at it. But I don't need him yelling at me." She tilted her head. "Do you think your sister would mind? If I asked?"

It might be weird, since she was Leto's sister... but no. Hopefully she wouldn't think Dinah was a complete twink for asking.

"My sister would give you a straight answer," he replied, taking the rook as well. "Did you tell Merlin?"

"Yes. I showed him the telekinesis, and he took it okay. He's way more flexible than Arthur. But I guess he'd have to be and hey." She gave the board a look of dismay, and took another pawn just to do something. "Tony knows too. I don't want to have to lie about it. Everyone I've told here has been great." She flashed him another smile. "But since Arthur's, you know. Arthur? I'm not going to push it." Thoughtfully, she said, "Maybe I'll stop by her office hours. She's been here a while too, so. Maybe she knows who could help, if can't."

"She might," he said, taking another pawn. "Is there anything else you can do?"

Dinah counted how many pawns she had left, and took one of his bishops, even though it left her knight open. "Um. Well, sort of. I have these dreams, sometimes. If someone I care about is in trouble. Not very often, and it's not ... they don't come before something happens. And, um." She fiddled with one of the captured pawns, not looking at him. "Sometimes, when I touch someone, I get a flash of what they're thinking." She looked up at him and added very quickly, "Not you though. That hasn't happened, I swear."

That she couldn't hear anything from him didn't surprise Leto. "That's a heavy burden to carry by yourself," he said quietly, taking her knight. "Checkmate." He looked up and smiled at Dinah. "Thank you."

"What?" Dinah stared at the board, only seeing the trap now, and the way his knight had a full shot at her King as well as from his other bishop. She could block one of them, but no way both. "Shoot! I didn't see that at all...." She moved her remaining knight back and forth, pulled out another pawn, then her bishop, turned the board sideways, then finally gave up and plinked over her King with her finger. "And I've had my sisters to help, but they don't have the same abilities, so. It only goes so far." She sighed. "It's nice feeling like no one here would call me a freak for it, though. Mostly."

"Arthur wouldn't call you a freak, he might call you a sorceress," Leto noted, leaning back and stretching his arms. Then he leaned forward again, and nudged her fingers. "I certainly wouldn't."

[bedtime!]

Dinah looked at him from the corner of her eye, then nudged his hand in return. Smiling. "Thanks."

[Niiight!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Third floor common room, Wednesday Morning

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject