trans_9 | a beggining is a time for making sure that the utmost balances are correct [closed]

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a beggining is a time for making sure that the utmost balances are correct [closed]

[OOC: Bendy timed to two days before mission]

After a long day and night's worth of preparation (raiding the possessions lockers and office buildings for sugar, nuts and coffee, reducing the slop down to a powder that could be used as flour in engineering, trying, failing, trying again, failing again, and then finally coming up with something edible, extracting Spice from the sandtrout to make spice-tea, then finding two more grey office curtains and stitching together robes from them), Sheeana stood under the Ghariba tree, satisfied at her handiwork.

A card table stood to the side, offering plates of Baklawa...not the best example of the desert dessert, but it would have to do. A pitcher of hot spice-coffee (this 'instant' coffee lacked everything that made coffee bearable, but Spice would compensate, she thought) complimented it. The sun was as warm as it was going to get and the plant life hummed with her enthusiasm too. Sparkling dew poised at the end of each leaf and blade of grass.

The preparations were complete. Two new full time students. Acolytes and Sisters.

She remembered her own initiation. After four years of being worshipped as a holy child by Leto's priests, it was a humbling experience. Her twelve year old self had felt shaken to the very core. Like her initiates, she had taken the oath after her world was destroyed. She had left her old identity to submerge herself in this new thing.

How would Qhatara and Tess Lee experience it, she wondered as she waited for the initiates and guests to arrive.

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Tess is in her suit, as usual; the blue-green material shimmers softly under the sunlight, and she walks with the click-click of slight solid heels against the pavement until she makes her way onto the grass, ankles somehow unstressed by the not-so-even terrain. She smiles, expression bright through the transparent skin-tight film covering her face, and offers an awkward little nod-bow to Sheeana, not sure of what to say.

There has much preparation in this, and Katara had to use the plantsuit this time to compensate for the change in weather. She observes the temperate place, the card table, the pitcher of whatever that liquid was, and she gave Tess a wave and a smile. She looks toward Sheeana's direction and gave her a short bow.

She is alos at a loss for words, and instead looks solemn.

Sheeana pulled the hood of her black robe back. "Hello Qhatara, Hello Tess. You can have a cup of spice-coffee if you want, but the baklawa is for our guests." She gave them both a smile back.

"That sounds interestin'," Tess says, ambling her way over to where the pitcher is and carefully pouring herself a mug. She bites her lip—with a particular twisting motion the membrane there tears, and she takes in a soft breath of the city's air unfiltered. She licks her lips to seal the membrane there, and then raises the mug, carefully sipping at it.

Katara also takes a bit of what's in the mug. It was a little strange to her, of course: she was not exactly used to drinking something she didn't know, or doing so with a temperature she was having to adapt to. She sips it herself, and starts to cough at how strong it is.

Of course, she's never had caffeine either, so this is definitely a shock to her system.

Sheeana watched, fascinated. It clings directly to her skin and acts like a moisture seal. This is a Fremen level of adaption to environment.

"While that is certainly fascinating, you're going to have to remove that from your head before we begin the ceremony."

And then at Qhatara, she restrained an urge to laugh. "Easy. That's hot and it contains two kinds of stimulant."

Tess takes another sip. Ohh—! Wow, this stuff is good. And she looks over at Sheeana... "I can do that," she says after a moment. Her teeth click and she mumbles something, and the faceplate sections of the helmet slide forward and seal shut, leaving her face hidden away for the moment. Her gloved hands tap lightly against the side of her mug.

"Greetings to thee," Khel stated. Despite the full plate he wore, he still could move without making hardly a sound. Sometimes it worked to his advantage. Often, he simply he forgot he even could make sound. He could only hope that no one was too terribly offended by his unannounced arrival.

"I thank thee for the invitation, milady Brugh."

"Khel! I'm glad you came. We'll be starting in just a minute. Afterwards you'll have refreshments but, well..." She playfully stuck a finger through his ribs and wiggled it around.

"Yes, well, thou wilt find putting meat on my bones to be harder than thou might imagine." Plucking Sheeana's finger from his body, he willed the armor shut again, chainmail and plate closing over the gap left in the armor.

Sheeana looked incredibly serious for a second, a trick of Bene Gesserit muscular control. "I should remove you from this ceremony for that."

There was a pause.

And she burst into laughter.

"Few people have an appreciation for humor that is bone dry, milady."

Tess' helmet slides open again, here face free of that membrane and a little scrubbed-looking.

And... she's giggling, softly.

"Your puns cut me to the marrow." If Katara looked right now, there would be a good chance she'd start to regret choosing to join this order.

"Thou art merely upset that I can cut to the meat of the matter." Khel really could keep this up all day if he wanted. Five millennia of existence gave one plenty of time to study wordplay.

"I guess I will just have to socket up." She figured this would be a good preparation for the Gom Jabbar.

"Why not? I have little choice but to grin and bear it." Oh no. Rictus puns.

Allen saunters up to the tree, glancing around with unveiled curiosity. A Bene Gesserit initiation! He won't have seen everything yet, but he's getting closer.

Katara's face was red, but considering she had just taken something that was practically bugging her eyes out of her head it was to be expected. Well, so much for a foot in the right direction. She definitely looked like the inexperienced one here.

"I'll...be careful from now on," Katara choked out.

Luke, having received the invitation over the Omnis, was a little surprised to see Tess there, but he went over with a big smile on his face.

"Hello again!" he said cheerfully. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Mornin'!" Tess says brightly to Luke. "Nice t'see you again," she adds, seeming even more cheerful than usual at the moment.

"I didn't realize you studied with Sheeana," he said, bowing his head formally. "Congratulations on being initiated."

Katara looked over, hearing a familiar voice. When she saw who it was, her mood brightened considerably. "Hey Luke!" she exclaimed. "Are you a friend of Sheeana's and Tess's too?"

Arha had been quietly watching various exchanges and smiled, folding her hands behind her back with a soft smile. This was a time for joy, though she was Jed-Eye. She remembered taking the oath at five and how it had filled her with a sense of purpose.

Direction was everything. Point and cast yourself onward.

She remained silent, content in the moment.

Katara looked over at Arha's way a moment, and gave ger a warm smile. She'd had respect for Arha since coming onto the ship, but knowing now that she was a Bene Gesserit and still continuing her learning made her respect grow all the more. She understood the need to wanting to expand what you knew of yourself.

She hoped to talk to her soon.

Arha's smile in return was a small, but a warm and proud thing. This was a step forward into something new, this oath. It would open up new paths and they would walk in new places, flowing forward. Arha knew Sheeana would do well with them. Her chin tilted slightly and she nodded.

After the ceremony, there would be time for talk, perhaps, though a few words would be spared now. The glance she gave Katara said enough--that if she wished a word, she could have more than her fill.

Luke grinned. "Katara! It's good to see you again--yeah, I met Sheeana when I arrived here, and Tess not long ago. You're being initiated, too?"

Katara nodded. "I am too, yes. I met Sheeana probably later than you did, and Tess I met in the Media Library. So are you here to see us off?"

She was glad he was here. He had a very calming presence, she'd noticed that the day they met.

Tess grins brightly, looking between Luke and Katara. "It ain't really 'off', it's not like we're goin' anywhere." The protest is light and cheerful, though. "I ain't really 'studied' much with her, but I guess she sees somethin' in me..." She gives a sheepish look.

"She sees something in you both," Luke said. "As did I, when I met you two. I'm glad you're getting the opportunity to learn more."

"If the two of you are ready, come here." Sheeana told them after all the greetings and mingling had been concluded. She nodded to Arha, who was ready with the two new robes.

When she saw the robes, she knew that the initiation was about to begin. She swallowed, rubbing her hanbds briskly, but getting up, steadying herself, She held her head high and walked toward Arha, Tess not too far behind.

There were a lot of things running through her head right now, but the most important thing was making sure that she took Sheeana's words to Tess earlier to heart.

"I am a Bene Gesserit," she said softly to herself. "I exist only to serve."

But what exactly would that entail?

Tess steps forward, still smiling. Her teeth click and her lips twitch a little—and a soft grey floods across her suit, displacing all the blue-green, in a shade that almost but not quite matches the hand-stitched robes. With the membrane gone from her face, she keeps feeling imaginary chill, though the city is nearly as warm as anywhere else on the ship.

A new adventure: that's what she's seeing laid out before her.

"I am a Bene Gesserit. I exist only to serve."

Sheeana nodded, satisfied with the both of them, and placed her palms on the two girl's foreheads. She filled them, making them warm, connecting the energy of their bodies as much as she could. Something deep but invisible passed between them.

"I am charged to say this to you. I stand in the sacred human presence. As I do now, so should you stand some day. I pray to your presence that this be so. The future remains uncertain and so it should, for it is the canvas upon which we paint our desires. Thus always the human condition faces a beautifully empty canvas. We possess only this moment in which to dedicate ourselves continuously to the sacred presence which we share and create."

And she let her hands fall. "Sisters, welcome to the Bene Gesserit."

Katara would be unable to fully describe the feeling of feeling that energy pass through her. She stifled a startled gasp, but rode on the feeling, and saw that it made her feel as if she WERE back in her world somehow. It wasn't the familiarity of the backdrop: it was the spiritual sense, the feeling that everything connected, that all was a spiral flowing back into each other. Katara took a breath, and felt her mind let go of her questions and just be.

The words seemed to etch themselves into a part of Katara's brain, and she gave a smile. Now she knew, without a doubt, that this was the right thing, and she felt something click. She could feel a part of her filling, an emptiness that was starting to look as if there was something she had been needing, and she grasped it now, in this place.

Far from her sacred water, from Tui and La, and knowing somewhere Aang was still here Katara found a peace in this, and power in the words. But hers weren't necessary right now.

Unwittingly, a tear came down her face, which she slowly wiped away.

Tess takes in a deep breath as that warmth passes into her, bypassing her defenses. She's sat in on the rituals of a dozen alien species and regressed human tribes, and none of it has become quite so much a part of her as this. What has been sacred to her: the stars, the planets, the graceful dance of the cosmic symphony, the whistle of comets against the sky, the soft hum of the deeper darknesses left behind by stars... But this is something else altogether. This is far more personal.

This moment... This moment in time. She sees herself at the bottom of a great slope, with only a handful of tools passed on to her. There are handholds here, and they go far, but beyond that is blank territory. Maybe she'll reach that far, one day.

She lets the breath out again, almost as a hiss.

Sheeana could not hold herself completely aloof from that either, try as she might to maintain her distance as Mother Superior. The thing that flowed out from her hands reflected and flowed back in to her, stirring her somewhere fundamental. She took the robes and lowered them over both initiates heads.

"And since we exist only to serve, let us do exactly that for our guests. We are forbidden to eat or drink any of the refreshments until all of them have left."

Katara nodded and donned the robe. She didn't mind doing that, now taht she thought about it. She'd had to spend several years taking care of and looking after Sokka, so much so that eventually whenever he thought of his mother, he could only see Katara's face. Putting on the robes were also sacred to Katara: she had an idea, having to sew and stitch herself, that care had gone into this for the initiation.

Stilll, she waited to see of there was anything more Sheeana would say before they started to serve their guests.

Tess fiddles with the robe a little on herself. The cloth is weak, some little part of her automatically analyzes; if it comes down to it, her wings will be able to burst it without any serious tangling. It distracts a little from from the feeling of the moment, but—she tries to push it out of her mind.

She smiles at Sheeana, a little lost at the thought of suddenly becoming a waitress but not unwilling to acquiesce to the sudden change of pace.

Arha remembered her own oath-taking even as Sheeana began hers and her new Sisters accepted. When the robes left her hands, the soft tilt of a smile spread across her lips. There was power in becoming something other than what you were, power an direction. Purpose in chaos, too, and the knowledge that no matter where you went or where you were, you were not alone.

Your sisters (your Jed-Eye, your comrades, you people) would be there no matter how far apart you and they might become. For this moment, Arha would be Bene Gesserit and not Jed-Eye.

She would serve as a Sister.

Khel politely refused any such refreshments. He couldn't eat or drink any of it if he wanted to, so he saw little need in wasting food. There was always the risk that it would be perceived as an insult of some kind, but the undead warrior was willing to accept the consequences of it.

Katara nodded her head in understanding toward Khel, then walked over to Luke Skywalker and politely filled his cup with Spiced tea, being careful not to spill. She then brought him a plate of Baklawa and gave him a short bow.

"Thank you for seeing us today," Katara said, "It's an honor to be your presence."

When she was done, she stepped back so that Tess could serve Allen. Luckily for her, Toph had taught her a few things about "the help."

Sheeana too poured a cup of spicecoffee for next guest and handed him a plate of the flaky dessert. She bowed with it, as pretty as you please, and spared a glance back at Allen. Let him read something into that if he wants.

She had acquired a reputation for wild behavior and pranks on Chapterhouse. Even becoming Mother Superior suddenly, here in exile, was not enough to completely suppress that part of her nature.

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a beggining is a time for making sure that the utmost balances are correct [closed]

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The Initiation

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