fandomhigh | 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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"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."

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

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