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Atton Rand & miscellaneous names ([personal profile] suitably_heroic) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2015-10-01 10:10 am
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How To Get By In A Hostile World, Thursday

A sheet of paper sat on every desk today; otherwise, the classroom was normal.

"So," Atton said, "I'm what my universe likes to refer to as a 'Jedi Knight'. Beyond blah blah religious stuff ugh that's the least fun part, what Jedi are famous for is having a connection to the universe that lets us do all kinds of weird stuff. One of the things we can do is read people's emotions, and sometimes even their thoughts. Most Jedi stack shield upon shield to make sure they don't do that all over the place, because it's really not as much fun as it sounds."

He gestured at his head.

"But some stuff always slips through, even in the most well-trained Jedi." Which wasn't him. A couple of months with an actual Jedi didn't really prepare you for this stuff the way years of training did, though Mical and Anakin had helped. "Now, this island has known people with similar mental powers. Some of them have more control than that, some of them less. Back when I hadn't been trained in my powers yet, I thought of this as kind of a pain in the ass. Like, who wants a stranger poking around their head, right?"

He pulled a face. "Actually, I still think of that as a pain in the ass, which is why I try to avoid doing it from the other end. Harder than it looks, though. What the point is, is that I taught myself techniques to keep people out of my head. It's both easier and harder than you might think." He nodded at the paper on the nearest desk. "What you need to do is fool people. Take advantage of the fact they usually don't really want to be in your head. And the way you do that is with detail. Pointless detail. You want to walk into a room with a telepath with nothing in your head other than the fact you think you hear something whistling in the next room, and nothing in your heart but the thought that the telepath is looking pretty good in that skirt."

Not thinking of any telepath in particular. Really. "It's easy, because the principle is easy. It's hard, because it's easy to slip into thinking 'I have to think this or she'll know', and then hey, she knows. So I want you to practice today. Write down every inconsequential detail you can find in this class. Every emotion you could be feeling about something in this class, too. Then see where your head's at."
good_for_six: (I: pb - smirky mcsmirksalot)

Re: Make A List

[personal profile] good_for_six 2015-10-01 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Isabela already tended to use talk about sex as a distraction, so an exercise where she was encouraged to was a pretty good way to spend a morning.

Needless to say, her list was very, very dirty.
giveherahand: (Default)

Re: Make A List

[personal profile] giveherahand 2015-10-01 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Mara's list was far more detailed than strictly necessary, but she really wanted to see if she could keep Atton out of her head.

Re: Make A List

[identity profile] kenselvren.livejournal.com 2015-10-04 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Jalian was very observant, and had better eyesight than modern humans. She started at one corner of the wall, and had pretty much filled up a page with everything from "three paint chips four inches from the ceiling" to "uneven wavelengths in second light" before she got a quarter of the way around the room.

She hadn't even started on the people yet.