Application: Diana Vertue (aka Jenny Psycho), Simon R. Green's Deathstalker Saga

[psycho_vertue]

((With permission from Valentine-mun, seeing as we are the exact same person. Diana is in her canon one of the most powerful espers to ever have lived, though her powers will be Hogwarts-dampened. Telepathy, telekinetic manipulation and suchlike will be only by mun approval. She's usually described as putting off a very tangible aura of presence

Comments

[vislor_turlough]

"It was only a question. Everyone gets that one."

Aaaand the good mood he's in after meeting Amy is going away now.

[psycho_vertue]

"They're only a lot of questions," she said. "But if everyone gets them all, that's slightly less disconcerting."

[vislor_turlough]

"That's just a sign of the utter madness here. If you go by Jenny Psycho, you're in good company."

[psycho_vertue]

She smiled, and it showed more teeth than good humor. "Good to know. I'm not Jenny all the time any more, but she's still there, ready to make herself be known." She could feel her old persona, itching just under her skin for the chance to be let out, to do some serious property damage and turn the world upside-down. But as there was no immediate danger, Diana kept her on her mental leash. "I'm kind of used to madness."

[ringo_raver]

Ryuk hovered over Diana's head as she answered the Hufflepuff question.

"Yeah you do."

[psycho_vertue]

She raised an eyebrow, distinctly unimpressed. "Yeah, I do what?"

[ringo_raver]

"Yeah, you do have to prove yourself." Ryuk grinned. "So prove yourself."

[psycho_vertue]

"Actually, I don't. Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to do, and I think that the question is useless. Ergo, I don't."

[arrakis_savior]

Hogwarts had dampened Paul's precognitive powers in much the same way that the Dune Tarot had done: muddying the waters of Time, distorting and dilating the oracular vision. The presence of another oracle had a different effect. A Guildsman, for example, could shield an entire group of conspirators from Muad'Dib's eye.

Diana Vertue was an oasis of blankness in the field of Paul's oracular sight.

This made her interesting, and also potentially dangerous. Revision: very dangerous, he amended, assessing the person and her bearing. She did not carry herself with the care of one trained in prana-bindu discipline, but it did not take such training to pose a serious challenge, if she were crossed.

"You're not one to cross." A mild observation, neutral.

[psycho_vertue]

"No, I'm not," she said in the same conversational tone. Good. Someone who saw past the teeny blonde exterior to the berserker within. Tentatively, she let her esp out in his direction, curious as to what was there behind his exterior.

[arrakis_savior]

What was there: not an esper, not an elf. Not a telepath. To a telepath, Paul's mind would be a strange place indeed. Mentat training had made of his mind something almost like a computer, the post-Butlerian age's answer to thinking machines; Fremen mysticism had wrought an altogether different change, without compromising the underlying Mentat efficiency. And beneath all that were the Bene Gesserit precepts and arts his mother had inculcated in him from earliest childhood.

It would be difficult to read him, and someone trying to read him might be caught in the attempt: not by any psychic trap or barrier, but by Paul's observation of his interlocutor, whatever subtle signs might indicate the other's concentration or abstraction. Hogwarts-style Legilimency, requiring the practitioner's ocular focus, would be immediately perceived. Esp power like Diana's ... would not be as easy to detect at work.

"This is a room for introductions," he said.

[psycho_vertue]

Diana was fascinated. Espers where she came from, even the most well-disciplined ones, were still a tangle of chaos, bits of their minds and powers bubbling up and out like solar flares. This was... almost Shub-like. She'd felt a similar organization there, except that this was still unquestionably organic. She pulled her mind back into her own head, shutting that window firmly.

"So I see. Speaking of which, what exactly are you? And who, I supposed," she added as an afterthought.

[chinasorrows]

China had returned to the sorting room. Why? Because even during her long time in the sorting room, she knew that people could give significantly precious bribes that could be well worth something back home, should she find a way back. So that's why she was walking into the sorting room again, wearing a grey flimsy top with a silver sequined strap and black, three-quarter tights. Her long hair, black as raven's wings, was tied in a scrunchy and positioned more to the right, so it fell over her shoulder. Her fringe was loose and frequently got in the way of her pale blue eyes, that zeroed in on Diana.

When she came to her application desk, she was thinking that this woman had something of warrant. China could feel the electric charge in the air, she knew an Adept when she was in the presence of one. But to her dismay, when she came to the sixth question, all that was up for grabs were some stale cookies. Her face fell and she narrowed her eyes at Diana. 'Hello,' she said, blandly. 'I like your hair.'

[psycho_vertue]

Diana took the woman in with a critical and somewhat amused eye. She looked like she would have been right at home in the court on Golgotha, which raised a few hackles.

"Thanks," Diana said. "The arrogance is a really good fit for you. Did you get it custom made or off the rack?"

[chinasorrows]

'Custom made, honey. Designer all the way.' China smirked. 'I must say, bag lady vintage works for you. It's very... hobo chic.'

[psycho_vertue]

"Yeah, well." Diana shrugged. "Some of us are more concerned with the real self instead of clothing the rotting meat we inhabit." She smiled nastily, a toothy thing that didn't reach her eyes. "Look, aristo. I don't like you, you don't seem to like me. Quit wasting both our time."

[shifter_mordi]

"I'm sure the feather had it coming," Mordi said. He held up his hand, and tiny flames started to dance on his fingertips. It was meant as a friendly gesture, maybe some sort of solidarity in pyrokinesis.

"Anyway, people are going to pester you endlessly. The feather was really just a warm up."

[psycho_vertue]

Another esper, maybe. Nice.

Diana gave a one-shouldered shrug and rolled her eyes in good humor. "What can I say, I bite back. So, the fire. Esp or magic?"

[shifter_mordi]

His fire went out. "I'm not sure what an esp is, but it's certainly not magic. That's what they proclaim to teach you here. Anyway, my powers are congenital. Is that what you meant?"

[psycho_vertue]

"Esp, at least where I come from, is any psionic ability beyond what a baseline human can do. Pretty much anything that starts with 'tele-' and/or ends with '-kinesis.' Telepathy seems to be the most common. So under that definition, congratulations, you're an esper." She chuckled, though the damage to her throat made it sound more horrific than intended. "So, are you new here, too?"