fandomhigh | Destiny & Free Will, Week VII [Monday, Period 4]

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Destiny & Free Will, Week VII [Monday, Period 4]

The students should have gotten a ~~handwaved~~ notice to dress nicely and meet at the Danger Shop, where they were met by a Ghanima waiting just outside the door.

"Right." Reaching inside her coat, Ghanima retrieved a deck of the Dune Tarot and fanned the cards at them. "Step right up, and ask me what today holds for you. Through there --" she gestured at the door to the Shop with the cards, " -- is the Monte Carlo Casino of Monaco. One of the most famous casinos in the world, renowned for its elegance and architecture."

"Your mission is to take the future I forsee, and try to beat it. If I tell you that you are destined to win big, sit outside and give away chips. If I say you fail, go cheat the casino by whatever means you choose. The only rule is not to get caught doing anything illegal by security; that would be a failure of the exam." Not that Ghanima was actually grading them based on the final, she preferred to look at their overall body of work. "I want to see how many of you manage to flaunt destiny."

"After all," she grinned humorlessly, flipping up the Hanged Man with ease. "Navigating the future is a family talent. Who wants to try and beat the oracular Atreides?"

[OOC: OCD Awaits! And now, I crassssssssssssh. Feel free to tag me ooc if there's a future you want Ghani to give your student, otherwise it will be randomized.]

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"Miss Lance," Ghanima replied, waving her over. "Have you come to take our final, then?"

Dinah got an 'eep!' look on her face, then cautiously said, "Hopefully not?" How much trouble was she in? "Francine said she talked to you, although I guess I could fake it..."

"She did." Really, Ghanima, messing with your students like this was just mean. "Although perhaps next time you should do an outline of what you want to leave in a message, to make sure you hit all the relevant points before getting cut off, and possibly warn your messenger about what the other party already knows."

Check your stories, really, how long had it been since she'd had to lie to an authority figure that she forgot to do that first? "Um, yeah." Dinah winced. "That probably would've been good. Or telling Francine to just... say whatever, hunh."

To be fair, Ghanima had an unfair advantage, even if they had checked their stories. Being able to read truth in every line of the human body had its benefits.

"You all owe Miss Peters a great deal for her services," Ghanima reminded her gently. "Someone had to stay behind and care for the puppy."

Which was Ghanima-speak for 'leaving her behind and making her do the dirty work was Not On, so you're getting extra meditation exercises for a week.'

Which Dinah had figured out by the time she'd called from Vancouver, and Francine was making cookies and worrying by the phone. "Yeah. I brought her thank-you presents, but we do owe her big. Arthur and Merlin couldn't have gone if she -- um." Oh, forget it, no point lying by now. "Talked Chuck into getting them I.D.'s so fast." She sighed, looking resigned. "A real plan for the next time there's an off-island crisis. That doesn't include ditching Francine to deal with everything here."

'Cause there's always a next time.

Edited 2009-08-18 01:36 (UTC)

"Fake IDs Dinah? Really?" Ghanima sighed. "You know, I'm sure the office staff could procure semi-legal documentation for them, since we are on a nexus. Something that would allow them to travel for day trips and the like, without risking arrest."

She did not like the way Dinah was assuming there would be a 'next time', no.

"Plus, I don't think Merlin should go around telling people his name is Marvin Hugh-- Um. Yeah. Those names aren't really all that good, off-island. Chuck's got a weird sense of humor." Dinah nodded, wincing. "I'm sorry we didn't warn you better, or prepare better." But she couldn't be sorry they'd gone to help Tony. "It worked out, though. No one even got seriously hurt! And, there were adults there." See? Supervision!

This? This was Ghanima giving Dinah her best 'I am a teacher and an adult, not an idiot' look. "Oh really?"

"Tony's whole film crew. And a mountie. And his ex. And a sk-- inny demon consultant." And, oh yeah. "Okay, I got bruised, and the other guys got covered in gunk and Tony got hurt but he healed himself--" And scared the crap out of her in the process, screaming like that. "So. He's fine now?" Did that count? Probably not. Hmm. "And, well. Next time-- if there's a next time, Tony comes back soon-- we'll. Get a teacher too."

"Breathe, Dinah," Ghanima corrected automatically. "Remember your training."

"While I most definitely advocate trained adult supervision of some type, especially when dealing with the paranormal, I do not mean to imply that you must get a teacher. I want you to have the best person for the job, no matter their position with the school. If the person you require is Mr. Winchester, then you go get Mr. Winchester."

Chagrined, Dinah concentrated for a couple moments, then calmed down enough to say, "Right. Yeah, that does make sense." Another breath, and another, and calmer still. "I can't speak for Merlin, but I kinda jumped on this because I wanted out of town," she admitted. "And it helped to beat up physical things, when the inside of my head was kind of confused."

"And how is the inside of your head now?"

"Better. But not-- exactly well," Dinah said slowly, turning the bracelet Karla had given her on her wrist. "I talked to Tony about some of what happened in that other world. And Karla. It helped a lot." She turned her wrist over. "She gave me this, too. It blocks my telepathy, if I want, unless it's an emergency." She met Ghanima's eyes with some trepidation. "But I need better shields. Something thicker, stronger, I don't know. A way to keep them up no matter what. I could lose this, and I can't get dependent on anything." Was afraid to. It wasn't a solution.

"Keeping them up all the time, 'no matter what,' may not be the best solution," Ghanima cautioned. "You are who you are, Dinah, and active telepathy appears to be your default state. Trying to mess with something like that can have serious repercussions on a mental as well as a genetic level."

"If you wish to shield better, I can help with that. But you cannot wall your mind off forever."

Dinah bit her lip, disappointed, and then sighed. "Okay. I'll take what I can get." She fiddled with the bracelet again, then said, "I just--" Okay, suck it up. "I had a, um. Experience, over there, that was disturbing. It'd be nice not to have to work so hard to keep things out." She looked at Ghanima, thinking of her mental barriers between her and the tau. "But I don't want to screw up my brain, either."

"We can do that," she assured Dinah. "There are a number of mental exercises and trainings that a Bene Gesserit must master before becoming a Reverend Mother, all of which are designed to protect the core personality against the onslaught of the Other Lives within them. There is no reason that these efforts cannot work for you as well."

"Many of the meditations you are already working on are the first steps towards the more advanced lessons, actually."

Relieved, Dinah nodded. "That sounds good. Really good. Thank you. I'll work even harder at this, not just for the dream control, but everything else too." She beamed at Ghanima, dropping her wrist to her side. "And... thank you for being there when I woke up. It was a huge relief to be safe again."

"I can't think of anywhere else I would have rather been, other than not needing to be there at all," Ghanima said, meaning every word of it.

"If you ever need a safe space, or just somewhere quiet to practice, you can always use my office, even if I'm not there," she continued. "Or if it's an emergency, come straight to my suite."

Dinah restrained the urge to pounce-hug Ghanima, even though she wanted to. "Thanks. I so, so appreciate that." Sometimes it seemed like there were always people everywhere, and it was hard to kick Claire out of her own room too often. "I'll remember. I hope I won't need to, but. You know what this place is like."

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Destiny & Free Will, Week VII [Monday, Period 4]

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