Third floor common room, Wednesday Morning

[future_sandworm]

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!]

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[future_sandworm]

A knight took the rook. "And it doesn't create new ones? Then I see why one might get lost." Leto looked at Alice, giving her a sad smile.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

She moved her queen forward to challenge his knight. "Not if you run away and not towards," she said simply. "I ran toward nothing. I dove into nothing, and drowned."

[future_sandworm]

"You resurfaced," he pointed out, finding the metaphor of drowning unfamiliar. It was rare that someone drowned on Arrakis. The knight escaped.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Where Alice had once narrowly avoided drowning in a pool of her own wretched tears.

"I did," she said, re-examining the board and wondering where her plan had gone awry. "Many years, and a bloody war later."

[future_sandworm]

Leto watched Alice. "And have you found a new path, or are you content to stay where you are for the moment?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"I shall be Alice," she said firmly, glancing up at him with a determined smile on her lips. "Not child, not queen, not inmate, not anything except who I choose to be, now."

She hesitated a moment before adding, "Might I ask you something?"

[future_sandworm]

He smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in it. "I like that plan." It wasn't one he would be able to make. "And yes, you may ask."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"I do reserve the right to change it, should a better one present itself," she said easily. "It shall do, for now."

She tilted her head at him. She never had possessed any skill at tact.

"You said a moment ago that ... you don't know when to start your game. Why?"

[future_sandworm]

He thought for a moment what to reply. "It's not the time yet. The rules are unclear and the players..." He shook his head. "I think I might be lucky to get to spend some time here."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

She nodded carefully. "There's no cause to rush," she said. "Tearing off into battle hastily only leads to one stopping abruptly and realizing, mid-swing, that one is wearing mismatched socks. Or that one has left one's knife drying in the sun. The enemy doesn't allow for one calling a do-over and running back to start."

Her queen was going to shift gears, now. It swept back, diagonally, and came to a stop. No use chasing after a fallen knight.

[future_sandworm]

He nodded. "You are wise, Alice. I believe this is a good place for waiting." Another pawn stepped forward. They were, after all, the most expendable.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

They were. Which meant they sometimes escaped notice, sneaking to the eighth row to ascend to royalty. Really, more Queens should have to claw their way up; it built character.

"So you're watching for the signs," she mused, moving her queen out again.

[future_sandworm]

Leto might agree with her on that. "I guess I am," he said with a small laugh.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

She smiled at him. Feeling oddly relieved, in some manner.

"I hope you have time," she said. "To stay here, I mean. It's a fascinating place. It works on its own logic. It reminds me of somewhere I used to know."

[future_sandworm]

That last comment made him curious. "It does?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Another smile. "I was Queen there. On the other side of the looking-glass, once the knight so kindly escorted me to the eighth square. Though I think the Red Queen was having me on. I never did trust her."

[future_sandworm]

It sounded like a vision or hallucination. Leto watched her. "And Fandom is like that?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

She nodded, smiling. "Logical, but it follows its rules. You only have to learn them. If something doesn't fit those rules, you don't ignore it or call it an exception. You realize that you weren't looking at the entire picture, just yet."

Which made her re-examine the chessboard with some scrutiny.

[future_sandworm]

It sounded like a description of any place in the world. "You seem good at seeing the logic of rules," he said. Perhaps she would have made a good Mentat.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

She laughed. "That isn't to say that I always follow them," she said. "Nonsense has its place. Perhaps nonsense has its own rules. The first rule is that all rules must be disobeyed. Which of course means that obedience is now required, from time to time, so that that rule may be disobeyed, as well."

[future_sandworm]

He wondered what she would come up with should she be the advisor to an emperor. "And what rules do you most of all enjoy to disobey?" he asked with a grin.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Her eyes were dancing, now. "The ones that say I should be a very proper young lady," she grinned. "That I should wear pretty dresses and fold my hands in my lap and never speak out of turn. Never ask rude questions, be seen and not heard. Those ones."

[future_sandworm]

Leto laughed, thinking that she would drive Irulan crazy. "I can understand that. Do you ever obey those rules?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Only when the consequences seem very great, indeed," she said solemnly. "One should take care never to rebel just to rebel. That's as much following rules as obeying them to start. The perfect inverse isn't quite an opposite, not really."

[future_sandworm]

He moved a rook. It was now threatening her queen. "No, sometimes we have to obey the rules set upon us by others," he said.