Just a bit of voicetesting

[ghani]

Leto? Leto!

Where is he? You said that he would be here!

... A trap. An unsubtle one, at that, and yet I fell for it. I suppose he will always be my weakness. The fault is mine, but do not think it will stay my hand when the opportunity arises to get my revenge.

ooc: She is currently played from the TV miniseries

Comments

[notmyown]

I am not so far as you might think.

[ghani]

[ Oh.

Oh! Oh you are here!

Time to hug you really tightly then. ]

Leto!

[notmyown]

[And a hug in return, dear sister.

With a kiss on the cheek to follow it.]

I have missed you, Ghani.

[ghani]

[ Her fingertips gently caress the smoothness of his cheek and continue down on his neck, wonder in her eyes. ]

Your skin...

[ There should be more hard worm-skin there, shouldn't it? ]

[notmyown]

[He gives her a questioning look before looking down at his own skin, following her movements with his own hand.]

My skin?

[ghani]

It's... soft.

[ How are you not following her logic here? ]

[notmyown]

[He laughs lightly and catches her hand, pressing his cheek to her palm and watching her with arched brows.]

It is my skin, nothing more.

What is on your mind?

[It is never so hard for him to tell what you are thinking, Ghani.]

[ghani]

[ Does he truly not know? It's as if... as if it hasn't happened to him yet.

He's come back to her. As he was before he had to make the decision that would separate them forever.

She shouldn't rejoice, but she can't help smiling. ]

You. You are on my mind. This place... it's strange. I have not seen you like this for some time.

[notmyown]

[Whatever it is that is on her mind, it has made her happy, and so it makes him happy as well. There is clearly a discrepancy between their timelines. No matter. She is here now, and so is he. They are together.]

I am happy to see you as well, my Ghani.

[ghani]

[ She has come to about the same conclusion, and knowing his wish to create a future not predetermined she will not speak more of what she knows. ]

'Happy' is something of an understatement. I am grateful to whoever brought you here.

[queen_regent]

You are right, the fault is yours. With a man for a weakness, it will always be, and no form of revenge could ever be enough to salvage you.

[ghani]

No, but it will be the only satisfaction that remains if I have indeed been taken from my brother.

[queen_regent]

And then?

[ghani]

If attempts to force this... mun to return me to Arakkis were to fail I would have to device some other way to make my way back home or find some method to communicate my circumstances to my brother or any other family memeber that I trust.

[queen_regent]

She will not listen. You are trapped, and should you ever see your brother or any other member of your family again, it will be through the means of luck alone.

I would know.

[ghani]

You have been brought here in a similar way?

[queen_regent]

Every last person you will meet here has been brought in the same way, albeit not by the same person - though I am certain you assumed as much.

My brother was with me, for a while, but... It did not last.

[ghani]

What do they want with us?

I am sorry about your brother.

[queen_regent]

We are pawns in their game. Entertainment only.

[While the fierce threats of vengeance against her mundane made her look rather young, in Cersei's eyes, she isn't one to deny such an obvious - if morbid - truth.

She closes her eyes when the other woman offers her condolence when it came to Jaime - little did she know that all Cersei had to do to feel reunited with her missing half was to look into the mirror.]

[ghani]

I am not unused to games.

[ Her whole life has been one, more or less.

Ghani has, however, never been truly young. She is pre-born, brought into this world with and adult consciousness even when her body was that of a child. But vengeance is... sort of part of her culture. It's not pretty, but sometimes it's all you have left when everything else has been taken from you.

She might be a big enough person to let go of such desires in most cases... but not when it comes to her brother. ]

[queen_regent]

Neither am I. They are as dangerous here as they are elsewhere, yet since you will be away from everything you have ever known, the disadvantages are fairly obvious.

[ghani]

Of course. Then again everyone plays with the same disadvantage, no?

[queen_regent]

It depends. These games may be set up after a particular world - some of us may adapt faster than others.

[ghani]

It is a rare thing indeed for this kind of game to be played with no one having the upper hand to begin with.

Ghani! <3 ... I need to make miniseries icons.

[hercrime]

You must do the human thing, not the animal thing, and remain in the trap; awaiting your chance to eliminate a threat to your kind. This was a lesson your father learned when he was very young.

I have seen Leto myself. There's less deception to this than you might think, Ghanima. Take that as a comfort and remain alert.

[She'll let her granddaughter decide what affection, if any, is appropriate.]

OMG Jessica!!! <3 super new muse, bear with my floundering

[ghani]

[ A warm smile, for now, as her palms pass over one another in a gesture of greeting.

He face is over-eager at the mention of her brother, and for a moment she appears to be just as young in mind as she is in years. ]

It's true? You've seen him?

[ Then she regains some composure. ]

What you say is wise, grandmother, but I would expect no less.

Well, you'd never guess! You're doing beautifully!

[hercrime]

Yes, within days. I have no doubt that you'll be together here - often, though perhaps not as often as you both would like.

[Her own guilt and the Bene Gesserit conditioned hatred of Abomination makes certain reunions fraught, particularly with Alia, but this - with Ghani - she can be happy with. It doesn't need to be examined too deeply. They are unlikely to be at cross purposes. She smiles in return, with genuine fondness.

The twins love each other without condition, and with a simplicity that the Atreides often lose before their time. Even if it is a weakness, it's impossible to lament or regret. Muad'Dib, for one, could not embrace his feelings with such ease.

Jessica doesn't comment. In all honesty, it's a relief that Ghani can seem, even for a second, young.]

Not wise enough to evade the trap I knew was there. [There's mild humor in her tone.]

Thank you so much ;;

[ghani]

I can wait.

[ She does wait, while her brother goes on paths where she can't follow, led by visions of sacrifices he has taken it upon himself to spare her from. ]

And sometimes the right way to deal with a trap is to walk into it.

<3

[hercrime]

I'd never doubt your patience.

[Leto was indirect about the means and aim of his solitary path, when he discussed it with her most recently. She has reservations about blinding the future-sight; which is to be expected. She saw, first hand, the inevitability of Paul's choices. The next inevitable step is less clear to her.]

This way lies growth and the other stagnation. That's my hope. It held true before.

[It isn't her first time adapting to a new and hostile-seeming environment, is it?]

We might be grateful to our "mundanes", in the fullness of time.

<333

[ghani]

[ It most certainly is not, and Ghani remembers well how she did it. ]

Perhaps here he could have the future he wanted. The one that can't be seen.

[ If so, she too could be content. She does not lack ambitions for herself, but it cannot be denied that she would set any of them aside to ensure her brother's happiness. Just as he would do for her. ]

Sorry this is late! I only have my phone right now. Dead laptop. D:

[hercrime]

[For her part, the Reverend Mother recognizes an unseeable future as the cessation and failure of many Bene Gesserit machinations and objectives. It's impossible for her to welcome that, but she can accept it. She can manage her own anxiety. The Sisterhood characterizes her by her defiance; they cannot expect obedience now.

Even if that were untrue, Leto and Ghanima are House Atreides, and - it's a very old bitterness, but a lingering one - Jessica is no Atreides at all. Leto's resolve is not a tide to be turned. Ghanima has no intention of it, it seems, and if she would not and will not, then it can't be done by reasonable means.

She resolves to voice her doubts and then settle them.]

You have no fear of mankind blinding itself to catastrophe? What if complete freedom is our undoing?

Oh no, you poor thing D: don't worry, you're never too late, just glad you want to keep threading <3

[ghani]

[ She would not take Leto's dream from him now, not when he has sacrificed so much to achieve it. It is perhaps a little bit selfish of her. To watch him suffer with nothing to make it seem worth it would be more than her heart could bear.

Jessica's concern makes her raise her eyebrows in slightly amused surprise, though there is no real mockery in her tone. Just a somewhat teasing questioning of her grandmother's reasoning. ]

Do you truly think we have been doing well so far? Sometimes the seeing man sees less than the bind one.

Of course! Expect infinite backtags then + more threads! <3

[hercrime]

[She ought to understand the sentiment. Grandmother and granddaughter have a similar giving force, a loving way that is paradoxically both selfish and supremely unselfish. If it's Jessica's influence even partly, she's not sorry.

An Orange Catholic Bible verse takes shape in her mind: Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us?

There's no insult inherent in challenging her reasoning. She wants this uncertainty defeated. If she meant to harbor these worries much longer, she wouldn't have voiced them.

No, it wasn't mockery on Ghani's part. She answers on a sigh that seems to concede, 'Good point' with the same brittle amusement.]

Not well, even mildly. Not well remotely.

We're limited by the senses we lack, and perhaps also by the senses we possess. We might better live the present if we cannot look to the future. [But she still doesn't sound completely convinced.]

that is a very exciting expectation to have! You're awesome <33

[ghani]

It is what my brother believes, and it seems to me as if it might be true enough.

[ She doesn't have visions like Leto does. The future might show itself to her if she invited it, but she does not. She dares not. Alia's futile attempts to glean clearer visions hastened her descent into abomination, and Ghanima would rather run blindly towards certain death than share her aunt's fate.

She gently reaches out to take Jessica's hand, a gesture of comfort. ]

But it is natural to want to know what lies ahead, and to fear what might happen when you can't.