fandomhighdorms | Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

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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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Technically, Karla was pretty sure she was supposed to actually feed Triela, but she wasn't going to push the subject. She dropped a grape into Triela's palm and smiled. "See? You're trusting me. Exercise accomplished."

Triela rolled her eyes. "I already trust you. This is silly."

"Not enough to take the grape originally," Karla reminded her. "And besides, not everyone here is lucky enough to be us. I think trust was strained for a lot of people last week. Not to mention the act of giving and receiving food brings people closer together."

"I trust you when it matters," Triela insisted. "And... the food ritual thing... it's not mine." Then again, with Triela, not many humanizing rituals or customs were.

"I know, and I'm glad for it," Karla said with a smile. "Who else would give me boots like these?"

"Even though it isn't your ritual, it's important to many people. I know Dinah's probably happy to be eating something like fruit. It's a reminder and a communion all at once." She cocked her head. "What rituals do you have?"

"..." Huh.

"Tea. Tea and cake." That was as close to a ritual that didn't involve shooting people as Triela tended to get.

Karla called in a small wooden box. "Here," she said, offering it over. "I have something that belongs to you."

She could always get more in Dhemlan.

"More presents?" Triela asked, eyebrow lifted. "But I think it's my turn again."

That didn't stop her from taking the box, though.

"I like being ahead," Karla answered with a grin.

Inside the box was a small mountain of cloth teabags, neatly ordered and smelling wonderful ~~and oddly deja-vu-ish.~~

Triela lifted the box to her face and inhaled. "What blend is this?" she asked, distracted from her bad mood by the presence of tea.

"Several blends," Karla explained. "From home." There were five different blends in the box, with four teabags of each kind. Karla pointed to each, explaining what was in them and the intended effect. She knew Triela had to be careful of what she ingested, and wanted to make sure that each blend was okay for her. "I'll bring you some more when I get back from Dhemlan," she promised.

[Night!]

"Tea and cake were always a Claes thing," Triela said thoughtfully. "That's why I started. Even though she says she doesn't like them." Claes never tried to hide her lies. She knew she wasn't good at them, so she rarely bothered.

[Sleep sweet!]

Claes. There was that name again.

"Did something happen to Claes?" Karla asked quietly. "Something that lead her to the breaking point?"

"Huh?" Triela frowned. "Claes is incredibly stable." The Agency had been pretty thorough at suppressing any memories of Claes' collapse when she lost her handler. Or even any memories that Claes had ever had one.

Karla drew Triela aside, quietly. "The other-you told me some things. Things I wasn't supposed to mention till we got home. First of all, the minimum dose you're supposed to take is not actually the minimum at all. But you can't just cut down. Something has to happen first." Karla bit her lip, trying to explain something she didn't even fully understand.

"Triela's Hilshire died. He came to find her and was attacked. After that, the other you had some kind of break-down. Losing Hilshire broke something within her. Once she put herself back together, she was able to take less of the drugs. Like Claes." She looked earnestly at Triela. "Is this making any sense at all?"

Triela opened her mouth to object, then closed it abruptly.

That... actually made a lot of sense. "Of course she did," she said quietly. "A lot of our loyalty is linked through our handlers. If something happened, and we survived the shock..."

"How did she survive that?" Either Claes or that other Triela....

Karla shook her head. "I don't know," Karla said, a little helpless. "I think that after surviving that initial shock, it was a matter of putting herself together from the inside out. But she didn't go into details. And I didn't ask. But I think she did it in such a way that she made herself need less of the drugs, or whatever the Agency is dosing you with."

Triela nodded thoughtfully, face tight with cocentration. Even thinking about slipping the leash, even hypothetically, caused the Conditioning to roil up. So far Triela had managed to never, quite, throw up from the drugs in Fandom. She wanted to keep it that way.

"Makes sense," she said tightly. "Almost all of it depends on the handler. If you survived..." she couldn't even say it, so she swallowed instead. "If you survived you could almost start over. Maybe imprint less heavily on someone else..."

She was breathing rapidly and her face was palefrom the effort of keeping it together. She was glad she hadn't eaten much.

"Triela?" Karla asked, anxious. "Triela, you okay?" She hovered next to her trying to think what she could do. What was happening. She'd never seen Triela react this badly to anything. "Triela talk to me."

Triela swallowed dryly and nodded. "I'm fine," she insisted. She managed a wry grin. "Promise."

She forced her breathing to slow. "It's just the Conditioning. It's been a long time since I got like this over it though." Triela had a pretty good grasp of how far she could push things without adverse reactions.

"Conditioning?" Karla asked. "You've mentioned it before, but I don't understand why it would have you looking like this. You look ill, Triela."

"Conditioning is a pretty complex process," Triela frowned. "But part of it involves intense physical... discomfort if I deviate from my programmed directives." She'd one thrown up all over her boots in the middle of a particularly intense pre-mission argument with Hilshire.

Triela may have been independent for one of the Agency's girls, but that wasn't the same thing as being truly independent.

Karla certainly wasn't going to say anything, but her expression might have suggested that this breaking away might not be an entirely bad idea. "There is one more thing I was going to tell you," Karla said carefully. "It's relate to lowering your dose, but not the how's or why's of it. More of an extra effect. But I don't have to, if it will make you ill."

Triela rolled her eyes slightly in a way she hoped would be reassuring. "Karla, the worst that'll happen is that I'll throw up." Violenly and continuously for hours, but no need to mention that part. Besides that was a pretty unlikely outcome.

"If it's important.." She'd rather get it over with anyway.

"It's important, but not the way you may think," Karla said softly.

Karla wasn't sure if she should add this part, but in the end, wanted no secrets. "I think those drugs mess with your memory, too. The other Triela... She could remember your mother. Not much, just a scent, but it was hers."

Re: Feed other people

sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com - 2009-08-06 14:43 (UTC) - Expand

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