Office Hours, Thursday

[on_her_korhal]

It had been a while since Kerrigan last spent time in her office. Not that she really cared one way or the other, but it had been a good place to acquire intel on any visiting students... and the situation back in Koprulu had calmed down enough that she didn't have to spend most of her time telepathically instructing River from afar.

So now she was back in her office, leaning back in her chair as she pretended to use her computer for something. In reality, she was contemplating yesterday's class, and the various students' reaction to both the emitter and the disruptor.

It had been food for thought on several levels, including increasing the ability of her broods to withstand either effect.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

Emma wasn't even going to knock anymore, she simply walked in and sat down.

"Is it possible to shield while sleeping without relying on outside devices?" Someone was sick of people's dreams in her brain, especially given what people around here tended to dream about, and it was really something Emma ought to be able to control before she tried going to college. "Or at least some sort of technique that will let me sleep more than three hours at a time?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"You'll always have some input," Kerrigan said. She was calm, and she didn't look even remotely surprised to find Emma walking in right at that moment. "But there are ways to make it a little more bearable."

Like carefully cultivated telepathic apathy.

[icecoldfrost]

"I can deal with input, if I can find a way to shunt it off to the side like I do when I'm awake," Emma replied. "I'm just tired of waking up because of what's going on in someone else's head."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"You're never going to be able to shunt them as you do while you're awake," she drawled. "There are methods. The easiest is if you let some other strong teep set up barriers while you're asleep. Everything else involves being aware of certain parts of your subconscious."

Look, Emma should be glad she wasn't a Koprulu teep.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma was glad EVERY DAY that she wasn't a Koprulu teep, but she still shook her head. "Relying on another person's power is not acceptable," she said simply. "If it were, I'd use Karla's trinkets every night."

"What do I need to focus on to be aware of my subconscious. Is it even possible?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I think the local Buddhist religion would have a few answers," Kerrigan said, getting up from her chair, "But that isn't what you're asking. You're very good at other people's brains, Emma. How well do you know your own?"

[icecoldfrost]

"I think I know myself well enough that I can do almost anything if I set my mind to it," Emma answered, forgoing false modesty. "I know where my talents are and where I need to improve, but I'm familiar enough with my mind that I can find my way back to my own head out of someone psyche even when in a coma."

BOBBY.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan looked thoughtful for a brief moment. She knew an opportunity when she saw one.

But you need to work on your passive defenses, she replied, You do know how to leave a suggestion, don't you?

[icecoldfrost]

<< I do, >> she replied, switching happily to telepathy. << If by 'suggestion' you mean making them hand something over, or leaving people with a compulsion to eat bugs for the rest of their life. >>

...look, Emma never claimed to use her powers in a nice way; just for Great Justice.

<< Like everything else, I need practice with it. People make faces when I use my peers as guinea pigs. >>

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Then use yourself for a guinea pig, Kerrigan said. Look, it's not like she gave anything remotely resembling a shit about morality to begin with. Or Great Justice, for that matter. Suggestions wind up in the subconscious mind - which is also what's open like a big old reciever in the night.

The chance to brush a little closer to Emma's mind with her telepathy was a good one, really. Suggestion had been on her mind lately.

[icecoldfrost]

<< I can use suggestion on myself? >> This clearly hadn't crossed Emma's mind, and now she was wondering if she could train herself to stop stealing the pillows, or to wake up without her alarm.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Your mind is as malleable as anyone else's, she said, dryly, Just a little better equipped to brick itself up.

And if Kerrigan could manage to figure out how to piggy-back something on Emma's own suggestion, that would be even better.

[icecoldfrost]

<< I've discovered empathy can influence me physiologically, even when I am aware the feelings are not my own, >> she replied, disgruntled. << How long did it take you to build up the shields you have now? >>

Someone disliked the idea of being 'malleable.'

<< Maybe I'll start with something simple; making sure I get up on time, or go for a swim before classes. >>

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

A few days, Kerrigan answered, easily, But I didn't have any at all back in the day; I had to break into a Confederate science vessel to figure out how to rewire my own brain.

Which was a nice way of talking around the circumstances.

Work your way up is a good strategy.