The Garden, Sunday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Karla was feeling moody. Maybe it was knowing that shes was moving out of that cabins and back to the dorms with a roommate she didn't know. Maybe it was homesickness, stirred by her booth at the Multi-Cultural Fair. Maybe it was knowing this next week was going to be filled with a lot of anxiety that few people could actually know about. Whatever it was, she was a mess of different emotions, most of them unpleasant.

And so, she did what any Kaeleeran Queen would do: she found a garden and started working on it. Queens needed a connection with the land; it soothed them, help them think, and, in return, they made the land healthier and stronger. It was a nice trade-off.

Today, however, Karla wasn't concerned about making the land better. She just wanted somewhere peaceful to work while she sorted through her odd jumble of emotions. So she spent the afternoon weeding, thinning, watering, and just basically getting good and mucky.


[Establishy but open]

Comments

[future_sandworm]

Before fight club Leto had roamed the island. He hadn't visited the garden before, but took some time to wander through it aimlessly.

Then he noticed Karla, clearly at work, and he stopped at a distance, not sure if he should approach and address her. Their last meeting hadn't gone to well, after all, but that had been his fault and if she wanted an explanation he owed her one.

[glacial_queen]

Karla finished a row, glancing up to see what she should work on next. And then she spotted Leto. She stood, awkwardly, trying to figure out what to say, to find out what happened. In the end, she settled for a nod. "Leto," she said quietly, half in greeting, half a question.

[future_sandworm]

"Hello, Karla." He took a few steps forward. "I didn't mean to interrupt your work."

[glacial_queen]

She shrugged. "I'm mostly working just to be working, so it's not a problem." She paused. Small talk was difficult with near-strangers, especially when she really had questions she wanted to ask. "How are you today?"

[future_sandworm]

"I am fine," he said, adding quietly: "Better than last time we met. And yourself?"

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin was singing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m0yCM5uhQU) as he returned from a sojourn into the swamp in the Preserves. He too was feeling just slightly out of sorts, and for no particular reason that he could pinpoint.

[glacial_queen]

"A little more relaxed," she said. "The booth took a lot of work."

She was being less than truthful, but Karla had little desire to talk about emotions she didn't really understand with someone she barely knew. And presenting a strong front to strange males was more of a safety measure than anything else. "I'm glad to hear you're feeling better."

If Leto wanted to expand on that, he could. That'd be fine. Just sayin'

[future_sandworm]

Leto hesitated for a moment, then said: "I owe you an apology. You were not aware of how... some of my memories might interfere with yours. It was not your fault, and I didn't mean to frighten you."

[glacial_queen]

Karla looked up, just a wee bit skeptical. "You're going to have to explain that a bit more," she said. "How could your memories interact with mine like that? Look, if you're just trying to make me feel better, I appreciate the sentiment, but..."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

A small tabby cat ran through the gardens.

A few minutes later, Diana came running after him. "Seen a cat?"

[glacial_queen]

It was the singing that drew her attention. "Robin?" she called, seeing the little green Muppet.

[glacial_queen]

"Uhh, yeah, I did," Karla said, pointing to a...was that a pillow-tree? This place kept getting weirder and weirder. "I think it ran under there."

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin peeked up over the tops of the plants. "Oh, hi Karla." he waved. "I'm not disturbing you am I?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana plopped down on the ground. "Samuel, get out of there!"

"He is such a cat." Diana informed Karla.

NFB, please

[future_sandworm]

"It's... rather private," he began, considering what to say. It shouldn't have to be a secret here, and Ghanima was quite open about her Pre-Born nature. There was no Bene Gesserit to fear; and really, most of the danger came from within himself.

"I was born with all the memories of my ancestors within me. Should I let down the barriers, one of them could possess me. The illusion you created... it was like a vision. I lowered my guards. I couldn't keep them out."

That was as honest as he could be.

Re: NFB, please

[glacial_queen]

Karla pondered that for a few moments, trying to make sense of it all. "Tell me to back off and I will," she started. She understood the value of privacy more than many. "But I'm just trying to make sure I understand. When you say 'memories,' you don't mean the occasional picnic or Windsol with the family, right? You mean something more akin to whole personalities, with their memories intact? Strong enough memories to take you over? And to experience my memories, you made yourself vulnerable to them?"

Karla could kind of grasp what Leto was saying, mostly because of some of the conversations she'd had with Jon. Still, this was a whole new level. Hellfires, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be merciful. Karla couldn't even imagine what that might have done to her web. But she couldn't deny a sense of relief knowing that it hadn't been her Craft that failed.

"I appreciate you telling me. Is...there a reason you must carry such a burden? And no ways to make that burden less...burdensome?"

Not that Karla was going to volunteer to take care of that or anything. She was asking out of pure nosiness. She most certainly did not help random males out of the goodness of her heart, or anything nice like that. However, that didn't mean she couldn't think about ways to do so. In a kind of thought-experiment kind of way.

[glacial_queen]

"I would have greeted you differently if you were," she informed him.

Profanity would have been involved. And maybe objects flung at his head.

"Besides, it's a perfectly free garden." And if he got annoying, she could just put up an aural shield or something.

[glacial_queen]

"So he appears," she responded wryly. Still, it was hard to stay bitchy when cats were around. They were awfully cute. Especially when they were disdainful.

Karla identified with cats. She held out her hand towards the bush for Samuel to sniff.

"I'm Karla," she said in an effort to be polite. "I don't think we've met. If we have..." she shrugged, unable to bring herself to apologize in her current mood, "...there have just been a lot of people recently. I'm new."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"We haven't met." Diana said flatly. A small black nose poked out of the bush and sniffed at Karla's fingers. "I'm Diana. That's Samuel."

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin was a big fan of not having things thrown at him. He got enough of that from Claudia thank you very much.

"Oh good. I just find singing sometimes helps when I'm feeling down." Of course he sang when he was in a good mood too.

Re: NFB, please

[future_sandworm]

"They are distinct personalities within me," he confirmed. "We call it Pre-Born. My mother consumed so much Melange that my twin sister an I were born like this. I have never known anything else." And it set him apart from most people while at the same time he knew so many lives intimately that he knew humanity closer than most. "And the burden is mine to carry."

He smiled at her. It was still comforting to be met with concern rather than suspicions of Abomination.

Re: NFB, please

[glacial_queen]

"Stop me if you've heard this one," she said dryly, "but I got a little lost there. Melange? Pre-Born? Something your mother ate made you inherit personalities?" She frowned, thinking. "Are you related to Ghanima Atreides? Dinah mentioned her getting mad one time, right before she walked off the roof."

Oh, Karla. Context.

"And when you say that your burden is yours, does that mean you aren't interested in finding ways to keep those personalities at bay? Is this a punishment, then?"

THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS!

[glacial_queen]

Karla looked a little intrigued. "Really? Me too. Sometimes." Like, when no one was around to hear her. Witchsongs tended to be very specific, and Karla had a rule about giving people more information about her emotional state than was absolutely necessary.

[glacial_queen]

Dammit, Karla knew that tone of voice. It meant, 'Karla, you're being a bitch to someone who doesn't deserve it, which will probably end with you apologizing.' Which Karla did her best to avoid, at all costs. Which meant time to reign in the attitude, at least for people who didn't deserve getting it.

Though Karla did wish that someone who deserved a little bitchface would wander through. It would do wonders for her mood.

"Samuel is very cute," she said, starting with the true and easy. "Can anyone have pets here, or just students who have been here a while?" Karla had decent conversational skills. She just had to find them occasionally.

Re: NFB, please

[future_sandworm]

"Ghanima is my twin sister," he replied, then frowned a little. "What do you mean, getting mad and walking off the roof?"

"Melange, or Spice, is a drug. Among many things it opens the connection to genetic memories in some. And I do keep my ancestors at bay, constantly, or I would not be here." That didn't mean he worried about the day when he might fail.