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The Beach, Sunday Morning

Ghanima normally did her morning training down at the beach during this time of year, blurring her way long the line of sand and water as she went through the bindu forms.

If she tended to stay a few feet away from the ocean, however, it was usually barely noticeable, and most likely completely understandable.

Today, however, she wasn't just here for herself. She had an appointment to keep, and as Ghani relaxed on the sand, she had to admit that she was rather curious to Max at work.

Even if it did include Maker-cursed ocean.

[Ghani's just there for Max, but open beach is open.]

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Max had to hustle from his apartment in order to get to the beach only slightly after the appointed time. The run had him a bit out of breath and sweating (yeah, the run).

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," he tossed off with a grin when he finally arrived.

"Not long," Ghanima assured him as she flipped her hair away from her face. "I'm usually on the beach in the mornings anyway, unless I'm up at the school, so it wasn't any great hardship to wait."

Her eyes flickered over him for a moment, and she grinned. "I hope you're not too out of shape for this," she teased. "Do you need a moment to catch your breath?"

Edited 2009-06-07 16:51 (UTC)

Max laughed. "You wound me, lady." The short sword he had belted on was a bit incongruous with the jeans and t-shirt, but it seemed sort of natural on him. He reached down and gripped the hilt absently and his breathing steadied.

"I am a professional soldier, and that means a professional run around everywhere carrying heavy things sort of man."

"If my words wound, perhaps a solider ought to tend to his armor," she laughed. Ghani had forgone her usual Imperium gowns, and was only wearing her Fremen short-tunic and loose slacks, making the belt with her crysknife was clearly visible today.

Someday, perhaps, Ghani would care to indulge in contemporary fashion, but today would not be that day.

"Where shall we start, then?" she asked, looking up at him. "I do believe you offered to teach me about water?"

"And you know how to twist the knife," Max laughed. It was a compliment, really.

"I believe I did." Max looked out at the ocean. "There's a lot of water here, so it's a bit harder to work with, but I'm pretty good with this sort of thing." He cocked his head. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to learn, or should I just start talking and hope something interesting happens?"

"Either. Both," Ghanima answered with a shrug. "For today, I am the student, so it's at the teacher's discretion."

And if that wasn't a tempting offer, Max didn't know what was...

He grinned rather unsubtly. "Well, let's start with a question. How uncomfortable with this much water are you? I'd rather not push you into something you too repugnant."

"I have memories of vast planet-spanning oceans from another life," Ghanima replied as she looked out over the waves. Let him think she was speaking metaphorically, for now. "But I am a desert-creature down to my bones. Anything larger than an oasis still feels wrong to me."

"Which is why I come down here to train, when the weather allows," she continued. "I don't fear the ocean, I simply don't understand it."

"In that case, let's begin with that." Max walked toward the water until he was standing on the sand where the waves ran up over his feet and then retreated again.

"Water is an element of rhythm. The ocean especially so. To understand the water you must understand it's rhythm." He grinned over at Ghani. "It's like a person that way."

"Element of rhythm?" she asked, following him to the shoreline. However, she stayed just a few inches back from the tideline, not yet willing to trust the water. "I'm used to finding patterns in wind, but not thinking of rhythm as its own element."

"If it helps to think of water as wind-like, it's not entirely inaccurate. But there is a major difference. Water is also more sensitive." He kicked his foot forward into an oncoming wave, disrupting it. "It's easier to disrupt water."

He grinned. "Which also means it's easier to control and anticipate."

"How do you control something that has no form?" Ghani replied, kneeling to reach out and trail her fingers through the shallow water. "Doesn't it just go around you?"

"I have furies, but I don't suppose that helps you." He snorted and shook his head. "But many of the principles are the same. You control water by joining with it. You shape its path rather than force it."

"Shape the path," she echoed, an amused smile fleeting across her features for a moment before nodding. "That, I am familiar with when dealing with sand. You can't stop a Coriolis storm, you can only work with it."

"And your furies help you do that?"

"Among other things, yeah." Max gestured at the water and the water began to churn, building upward until it stood in the form of a massive lion. It was the size of a large horse and massively scarred (which was silly since it was made of water and couldn't really get cut). It shook out its mane (again, and odd gesture for something made of water).

Max glanced over at Ghani to see how she reacted.

Ghanima's eyes widened slightly, but she didn't back away from the water.

Although she was sorely, sorely tempted.

"Can it think for itself, or do you control it?" she asked, letting the analytical Bene Gesserit habits take over and provide her with the cocoon of logic. "Why a lion? Wouldn't water rather be a, erm, seal?"

"Furies are... complicate," Max snorted. "I'm not really abreast of modern theory, but the form is dependent upon the summoner. Androcles here looks like he does because I saw a picture of him in a book when I was young. Ironically my brother's water fury looks much the same."

He reached out to pat the thing. "And in some sense furies are under the control of those who call them, but they're also driven by their elements. Androcles wants to do what water does."

"Androcles?" Ghanima laughed, looking over at him. "'This is the lion, a man's friend; this is the man, a lion's doctor?'"

She reached out a hand to mimic Max, holding it forth in case the creature sniffed like a regular cat. "Hello then, Androcles."

Lions held no terror for an aryeh.

Androcles leaned into her hand like a giant cat which drew a chuckle from Max. "A water fury like Androcles isn't really the sort you tend to use in combat. Most people don't fight in the water, after all."

"In addition to manifesting like this Androcles can help me even when he's just there. He's strong, and that means that with his help I can do some rather impressive things." Hold back waves, heal people, and for limited periods of time hold a bubble of air under water.

Ghani crooked her fingers to scratch Androcles like a normal cat. Given a firm shape like this, she could tolerate the water much better.

"That depends on your battlefield," she replied, "My father's homeworld of Caladan is more than 3/4ths ocean, with only three continents. There's nowhere else to battle, unless you go to space."

"Manifesting... so he's always 'there', just not holding a shape? Or do you call him from somewhere?" Not really questions about water, per se, but Ghani was curious.

"Always there. He's just dormant until I call. Either for this or for some other task."

"For instance, I could use him to push back the water in a given area. Or form an air pocket underwater. Not for long, I'm not that strong, but for a few minutes."

"An underwater air pocket? I suppose that would be useful for when people fall overboard," she laughed. "Or re-routing a flash flood."

"A flash flood's a bit beyond my abilities, at least not without getting a feel for the local furies." Then he laughed at himself. "Even then I don't think I'd be of much help. It's way too much water moving way too fast."

"But, yeah, it's quite useful. And that's just physical manipulation of water. There are five other elements and a lot more subtle things you can do with each."

He flashed a grin. "With me and Androcles to watch you, you want to get out into the water?" Because he was glad to watch her.

Ghanima had already ditched her boots before Max got there, and she gave him a wary glance.

"It's wet," she pointed out slowly, even as she inched towards the water slightly. "I'll get soaked."

Yes, she knew she was being silly, but wasting it for no purpose by playing around still seemed sacrilegious on some level.

"You're right."

Max's sudden grin was wicked. He gestures minutely and Androcles collapsed into formless water again, which rushed in at Ghani's ankles with incredible force.

Ghanima yelped as she felt the sand being pulled out from under her feet as the water rushed in, physics conspiring against her. "No! Bad Androcles!" she scolded, windmilling her arms to try and keep her balance. "Bad Max!"

...it worked with the wildcats they kept in seitch to keep the rodent population down. It wasn't like her two companions (companion and a half?) were much different.

Max reached out and wrapped his arm around Ghani's upper arm to steady her. "There, there, I won't let you fall."

The look that flashed through his eyes suggested that he was rather contemplating pushing her into the water.

Ghani had Leto. She knew that look.

"Try it, and I take you with me," she warned.

Max laughed. "That's an invitation," he told her as he shoved forward.

Ghani twisted as she fell, grabbing the arm he'd been using to steady her to try and throw him forward over her hip, throwing all her enhanced reflexes into it even as she went down.

The splash was fantastic.

Max laughed as he went down. He had just enough time to brace himself for the impact and to furycraft a small air pocket around Ghani's head just in case she wasn't ready to go under.

She did go under, briefly, and resurfaced in record time to try and give him an extra dunking. "Was that really necessary?" she asked, trying to flip her dripping hair out of her eyes.

He went under again and came up laughing.

"Necessary? No. But you have to admit, it was fun." Well she might not think so, but he certainly did. "And now that you're wet you don't have any reason to be scared." Yeah. He picked that adjective because he was pretty sure there wasn't much that really scared her.

That earned him a glare.

"I was not, and am not, scared," Ghanima informed him mock-haughtily. "I merely have respect for the element."

"I stand corrected," Max bowed his head.

"But now that you're wet, care to go a bit deeper? I promise not to let anything happen to you." That she didn't want, anyway.

"Since I am supposed to teach them about scuba diving this week," Ghanima sighed, finding her feet to wade in a little deeper. "I could just consult some references I have, but this is probably more educational for me."

And she wouldn't have to deal with the headache of sorting through her Other Memory to see if anyone felt like being useful.

"How deep do you want to go?" Max asked as he waded in at her side. "I can keep us in air for at least five minutes if you want to stay under for a bit."

"You move differently under water, which is the main thing you have to figure out."

I will not fear. Fear is the mindkiller, Ghani recited silently to herself as she nodded.

"Very well," she answered, still giving the ocean a wary glance. "How do I...?"

With as much of his attention on water as he was devoting, Max's awareness of her emotions went from non-existent to very hazy. He'd never been good with that sort of thing, so he ignored it.

"Just walk forward. You won't really be able to get a feel for it until you can't stand anymore even if you want to." Max grinned. "People tend to fall back on the familiar, and until it gets deep enough it's just like walking slowly."

"If I drown, I'm haunting you forever," Ghanima answered cheerfully, striding into the water carefully. One foot in front of the other, not afraid, but still cautious.

The memories of her father's line intruded for a moment, and she peered down into the waves curiously. "I always thought there'd be more fish," she mused. "Although I suppose our splashing scared away anything in the area."

"I much prefer you alive," Max reassured her.

"That and we're still in the shallows. It's just as turbulent under water as it is above, and there aren't many fish that live in that sort of area." Or... that was Max' guess. He wasn't really an ocean guy.

After breaking her fast with Leto Irulan decided to head down to the beach. It has been so long since she had seen so much water. There had been times she wished she'd taken up Lady Jessica's offer to return with her to Caladan but she did not wish to leave the twins and for all the trouble it had first given her Arrakis was home.

But still she had missed the ocean.

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The Beach, Sunday Morning

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