fandomhighdorms | Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

Leto had actually made some plans for this meeting, in case Arthur and Zack would still be asleep, although if they had been, there would certainly have been a lot fewer people showing up.

Those plans were now pointless, however. There was no way he would put people through defining the goals of defensive tactics today. Clearly those who had spend their weekend in another reality were a little too emotional to deal with that now. Leto knew that from experience; he had spent the previous day being bitched at (hello Arthur!) or hugged and cried on. It was obvious that people needed some kind of emotional outlet today.

Also, it seemed like some people had trust issues after having run into alternate vampire versions of themselves. That could prove dangerous in a fighting situation.

"Good afternoon," he greeted everyone gathered. "Today we will work on what I believe is referred to in this time as team-building. Without loyalty and trust - both of leaders and of fellow warriors - a military unit is nothing. Where that trust is strong and army may rise about their actual level of fighting skill."

"Often this loyalty has been nurtured by shared pain and suffering. A guerilla group might have faced persecution together for a long time. Many forms of military training forces the warriors to endure severe hardships together in order to achieve something similar."

Leto smiled. "Today, I decided for a more playful and gentle approach. We will start with a shared meal. Eating together is a sign of friendship in many cultures. First, you need to divide the food." He gestured at a blanket on the ground with a large fruit bowl in the middle. "It needs to be divided equally, but for every fruit you take, you need to tell the group something significant about yourself."

"When the food has been divided, you may eat, but you may not feed yourself, only other people."

He watched the people gathered. "Any questions?"

[~~Wait for OCD!~~ OCD is up!]

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"Not hungry?" Leto asked without pulling his hand away. He had to admit, that look in her eyes was kind of... well, it could be said to make him want to tease her.

"I'm just fine," she said, eyes still locked on the fruit like it might jump out and attack her.

"Thank you," she managed in a voice so tight it sounded like she almost choked on the words.

"You don't trust me?" It was wrong, he knew, but he couldn't help teasing her.

Her eyes narrowed. A number of answers flickered through her mind as possibilities. 'I trust you to confuse me, and probably on purpose', 'I trust you about as far as I can throw you' (but that was actually probably pretty far), and 'Yes. Absolutely' (which was an unsettling possibility).

Eventually she settled on. "Why should I?" It wasn't hostile. She was genuinely curious as to how he would answer.

"Do you trust your organisation?" he asked.

He still hadn't moved his hand holding the orange segment.

Triela hadn't stopped staring at the orange segment, either. Just in case.

"The Agency?" she asked, trying to clarify what he was asking.

"Yes." He moved the segment a little closer to her mouth.

Triela gave the question a moment of serious consideration which was why she missed the little movement.

"I trust them to be true to their goals. They will use me as efficiently as possible. They will provide the best intelligence and equipment that they can." But they weren't looking out for her best interests.

She was okay with that. She could look out for herself.

"And you can't trust me in the same way?" Leto asked. "That I will be true to my goals, to my nature."

"Oh, sure, I suppose I can do that."

Which only left her with two problems. She could never figure out just what Leto's goals and nature were, and whenever she was around him she had a hard time trusting herself.

"And right nor I offer you a piece of orange, hoping that you will be brave enough to eat it," he said.

Triela's eyes narrowed sharply. Was that a veiled way to say she was afraid of him? She wasn't afraid of stupid Leto Atreides! She shot him a glare and leaned forward suddenly to snap the piece of fruit out of his hand with her teeth.

Afraid, bah!

Which was exactly the reaction he had hoped for. Leto smiled at Triela.

Triela did not smile back. In fact, the frown she directed at him deepened slightly as she worked to suppress that corner of her mind which seemed to think it would be fun to return the favor. Because that was ~~confusing~~ crazy.

"And I don't get anything in return?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"I let you keep your fingers," Triela grumbled, feeling stupid for letting him goad her into taking the fruit. How did he manage to be so aggravating?

Oh, it was a talent he had. "Then I'm thankful for that, at least," Leto smirked.

"You should be," she muttered.

Triela's banter would probably be at least a little bit better if she weren't so distracted. The fact that there was no good reason for being distracted around Leto only made it all the more frustrating.

Not that Triela really wanted to banter with Leto, of course. That would be silly.

Terribly silly, really.

"I might offer you another sparring instead at some point." Leto knew he should stop teasing her, but it was too tempting.

"You're that eager to get your butt kicked again?"

Yeah. Because that was totally how it had gone down last time they sparred... which was probably why, despite her words, Triela wasn't especially eager to repeat the ordeal. Not that she'd ever admit it.

"That was what happened?" Leto looked far too amused. "Funny, I seem to recall differently."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised." Triela tried to toss that off as if the lack of surprise was a product of Leto's crazy arrogance rather than his perfectly functional memory.

Mostly she was trying to figure out how to derail the topic of conversation before they really started discussing how much better he was than her at hand to hand fighting.

"I teach Karla knife fighting on Fridays," he said. "If you want to I'll be happy to show you some hand-to-hand fighting."

He knew he was pushing it, yes.

"You'll be glad to what?" Triela exploded.

Never mind that it was actually a pretty good offer. She did need training, and she did know Leto was good.

"You are welcome to think about it," he added.

Re: Feed other people

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