DT1 - Gideon's Office

by **Gideon Rede** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 1:28 am

Gideon straightened the framed degree on his wall before putting out the final photos on his desk. There were several different x-men teams represented most all with a rather surly looking Gideon in them. The final one appeared after quite a time gap with Gideon among what must have been his lab group at Stanford. The rest of the office looked pretty standard with framed degrees and awards hanging on the wall, but aside from the pictures there were few personal touches other than a rather battle damaged helmet in a glass box.

After putting the finishing touches on his office he went out into the hallway to put up a notice on the front of his door with his office hours and email address for appointments.

by **Samantha McManus** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 4:34 am

Sometime after he'd finished moving in, there's a half-hearted knock at his door.

by **Gideon Rede** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 4:57 am

"Please come in," Gideon said looking up at the door.

by **Samantha McManus** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 4:59 am

"Professor Rede?" She asks, ducking her head in.

"They ah... said that I probably ought to meet with you."

by **Gideon Rede** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:09 am

Gideon looked at McManus and thought back on the files he'd been given about the telepaths who were enrolled at XU.

"Gideon is fine if you'd prefer," Gideon said, "Is there something I can help you with, Ms. McManus?"

by **Samantha McManus** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:14 am

"Well there's been... talk that I ought to continue my telepathy tutoring," she says, finally stepping in.

From what Gideon can sense, most of her tutoring up to this point was likely focused on defenses. Containment. Oddly, there seems to be an avatar exactly laid over her physical form. Identical, save for the clothing not matching.

by **Gideon Rede** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:21 am

Gideon gestured for Sam to take one of the free chairs across from him. He noted the focus on the avatar and stored that piece of information for later in the conversation.

"Is that what you want to do?" Gideon asked while examining Sam's defenses more closely trying to determine a baseline for her defenses, so he knew where to start on that front at the very least.

by **Samantha McManus** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:30 am

"Well I guess it could be... useful, in my work on the teams," she says as she takes a seat.

"I'll admit, I wasn't quite prepared when I was pressed into service to help Rob. I think I got lucky, mostly."

The avatar seems to mostly be composed of her self-image. There's no exotic elements, no armor, just ego in the Freudian sense. A barrier for differentiating her thoughts and desires from those around her. It's been reinforced, certainly. It almost seems practiced, particularly how perfectly it follows her physical movements.

by **Gideon Rede** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:49 am

"Being on the teams does require the ability to blend both offensive and defensive uses of telepathy," Gideon said, "You've learned how to filter out the thoughts of others and defend yourself competently."

Gideon watches the avatar following Sam's movements for a moment then decides to ask a question.

"Your avatar follows your physical movements. What happens if you tell it to stop?"

by **Samantha McManus** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:54 am

"I... don't really know, honestly."

"I mean I know what you're saying when you call it an avatar, but that's not how or why I learned to use it. It's what they taught me how to build to help keep my form in place."

by **Gideon Rede** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:16 am

"You're referring to your shapeshifting ability I assume," Gideon said writing something down on a pad of paper next to him, "Avatar manipulation is useful for when you're exploring the astral or more specifically delving or attempting to delve into the mindscapes of others. It's something that could potentially help you on missions especially when you're dealing with other telepaths as you'd likely be the only one equipped to fight them, eh?"

"We can also explore the connection between your two abilities if you're comfortable with that idea. My psychic abilities lie mostly in channeling psychic energy into my body and into simple energy constructs and of course telepathy, so my actual body manipulation experience is somewhat limited beyond tutoring shifters about how their mindscapes often connect to their physical forms."

by **Samantha McManus** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:20 am

She nods quietly.

"I'm not expecting you to be my shapeshifting tutor or anything."

"It's just... it took me awhile to be me again, aye?"

by **Gideon Rede** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:32 am

"I help where I can," Gideon said, "That's something all telepaths, including myself, deal with though perhaps not so obviously as you do. It isn't always easy not to take pieces of those around you or those you are fighting against into yourself. Learning how to purge those... stowaways from your mind and having a clean state to return to is one of the few ways to keep yourself intact, mentally."

"That's where understanding your avatar as a representation of your state of mind, or aspects of your mind, and how to manipulate it becomes important. As you learn yourself you can do amazing things with it, change shape rapidly in response to mental defenses or attack or to keep your mind hidden. You seem to have a firm grasp of your shape, but there's an ocean around that lighthouse."

by **Samantha McManus** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:35 pm

"And I wasn't... as useful as I could be, on that last mission."

"I mean I get that being undercover helps, but when the fight broke out I wasn't much help."

by **Gideon Rede** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:24 am

"What happened?" Gideon asked.

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:30 am

"Well it was supposed to be a stakeout, but after I cleared out the rest of the team moved in, and there was some sort of high tech facility beneath the place."

"I can sneak about pretty well, but I'm no good in a fight yet."

by **Gideon Rede** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:49 am

"My specialty, for better or worse, is using telepathy as a weapon," Gideon said, "I also strongly recommend beginning or I imagine in your case continuing self-defense classes as the body feeds the mind and it helps you from getting crushed the first time you have to fight in close quarters."

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:09 am

"I've been working on that. I'm not quite sure what Miss Kinney wants out of me, but I'm trying."

by **Gideon Rede** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:23 am

"You'd have to ask her what she's intending," Gideon said, "I'd imagine that she wants you to succeed rather than just try. What success entails might be a fusion of the physical capabilities of a shapeshifter and the more... niche abilities of a telepath telepath."

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 5:38 pm

"She seems to think I'm holding myself back."

by **Gideon Rede** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:48 pm

"And what do you think?" Gideon asked.

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:49 pm

"I'm not really sure what she's seeing. I mean obviously she thinks she saw something. She even tried to test me a bit the first day of tryouts."

by **Gideon Rede** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:52 pm

Gideon leaned back in his chair and tried to use his powers to see if Samantha was somehow afraid of something in particular related to her powers.

"And what happened when she tried to challenge you?" Gideon asked.

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:42 pm

"Well, first she just had me try a few more hits on the dummy."

Sam seems to fight this a bit. It's hard to tell if it's consciously, or just a well-constructed shield. Still, Gideon has experience on his side here. There's an impression of when her powers first came out. Her sister had a nightmare. She walked down the hallway to check on Kat, but when she opened the door her mind pulled out the lingering nightmare. Her body followed suit. When her sister saw her, she was shifted into the monster.

"Then I guess I wasn't doing it right, so she... decided to hit me."

"So I hit her back."

"I mean, I wasn't aiming to hit a teacher or anything, but what do you do when someone does that?"

by **Gideon Rede** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:03 am

Gideon was satisfied with the information he'd gotten and impressed that Sam's defenses had put up a struggle. Having the information he needed Gideon pulled back from Sam's mind carefully.

"You defend yourself," Gideon said, "Maybe she wanted you to defend yourself using a different tactic. Are there shapes you can take that help you when you're fighting like mythical creatures or monsters?"

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:24 am

"I don't... I don't do shapes like that. Mimicking people is what I'm good at."

by **Gideon Rede** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:28 am

"You could become the peak of human ability," Gideon said, "Or pick something from your opponents mind to make them off balance like a loved one or somebody who terrifies them. Your opponent's mind is a weapon you can wield against them."

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:44 am

"It just feels... backwards, after getting to the point where I finally wasn't scaring anyone."

by **Gideon Rede** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:52 am

"True mastery of your abilities often lies in controlling how and when you scare people," Gideon said.

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:19 am

"I guess I didn't... join the teams to make friends and hug people, aye?"

by **Gideon Rede** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:24 am

"Typically you don't become friends with the groups of people the teams tend to fight," Gideon said, "You can become friends and hug your teammates if you are so inclined. The X-team program does in my experience build some very strong timeless bonds."

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:26 am

"Yeah, but... I guess the point is that there are people that deserve... this."

by **Gideon Rede** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:43 am

Gideon looked at Sam and the color of his eyes seemed to change with amounts of red and blue in the varying wildly as he considered his next statement carefully.

"There's nothing that can be done about that," Gideon said, "But just because we must be monstrous does not mean that we must become the monsters we fight. We have rules and control for that reason."

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:48 am

"But it sounds like you've... tried that on, a bit."

by **Gideon Rede** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:00 am

"And what makes you say that?" Gideon asked.

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:02 am

"You've said that your specialty has been using telepathy as a weapon, and you've been giving examples, aye?"

by **Gideon Rede** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:16 am

"Fair enough," Gideon said, "My powers were and still are to a degree focused on causing fear and pain through telepathy. Xavier often went to great lengths to try and instill in me that I didn't need to be the monster I believed I was."

It certainly wasn't the entire truth, but it Gideon had a fairly good poker face.

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:17 am

"I'm not... accusing you, or anything. I'm just trying to figure this out, aye?"

by **Gideon Rede** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:23 am

"There was a time where I would have taken that accusation quite seriously, but that was many years ago," Gideon said, "I'll tell you though that in my experience we aren't our powers instead we are how we use our powers and why we use our powers. If you use them to cause mayhem you could be a villain and if you use them to defend the defenseless then you can be a hero."

"Though I suppose in many ways it is rarely actually that simple, eh?"

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:50 am

"And I've had to think about 'me' more than I'd have really wanted."

"Like trying to put something back together after a hammer's been taken to it. And I've... well, I'm a shapeshifter. I've had people doubt that this is really me and not something that I picked."

"Sometimes I'm not quite sure on that bit either," she mumbles, after that.

"And I know... I know some of the things I could do. I'm just not sure they're things I should do."

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