Room 303, Sunday Afternoon

[future_sandworm]

Leto had pulled the chair up next to the window. He leaned the baliset against his shoulder, and after adjusting the tuning a little he struck a few chords. Then there was a silence while he roamed through his memories for a tune to play, and eventually he found an old Fremen song, possibly lost to the people of his day. He played it slowly at

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[future_sandworm]

Leto looked up, smiling. "Hello, Dinah," he said, finishing the tune with a chord. He let the baliset slip lower against his shoulder and watched her.

[blondecanary]

Dinah leaned against the doorway and folded her arms, thinking that as nice as it would be to learn more on the baliset, there were reasons to just let it go. "You survived being drowned in the middle of the night?" she teased, instead. "Didn't melt like sugar?"

[future_sandworm]

"No," he replied. "As you can see, I did not. That doesn't mean I find the event enjoyable, like some." He gave her a pointed look.

[blondecanary]

She grinned wider. "Why do you love the desert so much?" Dinah asked. "Is it just because it's what you're used to. Or are you just constitutionally incapable of liking anything else to the same degree?"

[future_sandworm]

He grinned. "You have never seen Arrakis, so you are excused for asking." He looked at her for a moment. "Don't you have a place where you belong?"

[blondecanary]

"I saw it in your sister's memories," she pointed out, then looked thoughtful. "And it was pretty spectacular. But I can think of a lot of downsides to it, too." Dinah bit her lip. "I love New Gotham, but not the way you love Arrakis, I think."

[future_sandworm]

"It's not a matter of good or bad, advantages and disadvantages," Leto said. "It's about belonging. All my future paths are tied to Arrakis." He hadn't seen this himself, of course, but he knew he would not chose one who wasn't and still be himself.

"Do you want to come in?"

[blondecanary]

Why not? Dinah wandered a little further in, noted the neatness and absence of Arthur's side of the room, and asked, "Where's the roomie?" She poked at Arthur's pillow, then sat down on the end of his bed, looking mischievous. "My future's people, not a place. But I guess it's the same thing, for you. Just kind of an extreme desert example of same."

[future_sandworm]

"I don't exactly keep notes on his whereabouts," Leto pointed out.

"But people are part of their environment, and the environment becomes part of them. Perhaps it's not as noticeable in some places, but that doesn't make it less true."

[blondecanary]

Dinah considered what would happen if Arthur came back and she was sitting on his bed; then decided it was worth the risk. He'd probably just shoo her off like some errant cat.

"It's not noticeable here at all any more. Since we're not as... dependent? Connected?" She looked thoughtful, kicking her heels. "All urban all the time, in New Gotham. And here the environment is just weird."

[future_sandworm]

"You are just as dependent, although in a different way." He smiled at Dinah, plucking the strings. "It's less obvious. Perhaps slightly less so here."

[blondecanary]

"Alligators and goldfish in the sewers kind of guarantee that." Dinah grinned. "There's an urban legend that that's what happens if you flush a baby 'gator, you know. And that's what happens to all the goldfish that die. Revenge of the dead or abandoned pets."

[future_sandworm]

"People keep small alligators?" Leto asked, surprised. "What for?"

[blondecanary]

"It's mostly a myth. But some people claim they buy them thinking they're lizards, and then get rid of them that way." Dinah shook her head. "Which is why the last invasion kind of had that edge of the surreal for me. Harpies and aliens and zombies are supposed to myths, but that was just a joke."

[future_sandworm]

"A possibly deadly joke." Leto smiled at her. "How have you been, Dinah?"

[blondecanary]

"Good. Headed down to the gym to lift weights with TK. Things have been developing there really well." It occurred to her that for once, she could have an advantage to Leto in touching him, physically, with the new trick she'd picked up while flirting with George... but oh, was that ever a bad idea. "I need to check in with your sister, I've learned a few new things in the last couple weeks." She got to her feet, and started to concentrate, eyes closed. "This might work. Hang on."