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Alexandras White Oak Avoiding Corruption In Your Dreams 240214
In a seemingly routine classroom setting, an intriguing discussion unfolds around the complexities of power, temptation, and morality, particularly in relation to supernatural abilities. Alexandra, the teacher, introduces a controversial topic: the possibility of feeding in dreams as a method to curb corruption and avoid harming others. This concept captivates the students, prompting a varied spectrum of reactions. Meridith expresses doubt and apprehension about relying on the strength of others, deeming it a weaker stance, while Gabriella questions the necessity and morality of such actions, highlighting the risk of corruption. Charlene shows a keen interest in exploring this unconventional approach, curious about the practicalities and implications.
As the discussion progresses, Alexandra emphasizes the importance of making moral choices to resist corruption, suggesting dream feeding as a "whiter shade of gray" compared to more direct methods of harm. She addresses practical concerns about dream control and the ethics of feeding, even in a dream state, stressing the significance of consent and the lesser evil of dream interactions. This nuanced debate touches on deeper themes of personal responsibility, the inevitable struggle with power, and the ongoing quest for a moral compass in a world filled with gray areas. The class concludes with a mixture of contemplation and curiosity among the students, each grappling with the challenging concepts introduced by Alexandra, juxtaposed against the backdrop of their supernatural journey.
(Alexandra's [White Oak] Avoiding Corruption: In Your Dreams)
[Tue Feb 13 2024]
In the Abnormal Psychology Classroom in the Spender Arts and Wellness Center
A rather mundane room as rooms on White Oak grounds go, this is definitely more of a classroom than an expansive lecture hall like those near the building's entrance. A large whiteboard covers the vast majority of the western wall save for the door that shares it, with dry erase markers in the basic colours usually resting on its tray when they haven't gone wandering. A little under two dozen desks fill the middle and back of the room, facing westward to the board and the sturdy black lectern. The lighting set within the ceiling tiles is bright and flourescent, leaving the room well-illuminated.
It is about 50F(10C) degrees.
Meridith says "No food is unhealthy, some people need french fries to gain weight, it's their best option"
Gabriella grins towards Meridith, but doesn't speak of it any longer, to avoid the noise to the class. Listening to Charlene, she then wonders, "anyway, how can we be so sure that power corrupts and that's that? Is it a question of faith, like God existing?"
"I've heard Sister Abigail say french fries are sinful" Gabriella leans forward to look at Meridith as she states such a thing.
"Maybe that's how come they're so good," Charlene tells Gabriella, grinning impishly.
Meridith shrugs helplessly. "Sister Abigail is a lot more concerned with behavior than morality some days..." She grumbles.
"Hm, like a temptation thing?" Gabriella quips back to Charlene, letting the conversation drift further from the topic of corruption. She then looks thoughtful at what Meridith says, and asks, "what's the real difference, tho?"
Alexandra lifts a hand to waffle her fingers back and forth a little after Meridith's comment and says, "Yes and no. Intent only matters for so long, so far. Eventually, even the slow, inevitable downward spiral does reach the bottom." She lifts a hand then in a stop gesture briefly and says, "However, the longer you hold onto those morals and convictions and don't give in to the siren song of such power and temptation, the better force of good you can enact in the world. And we all want to be forces of good in the world, right?" She perks up an eyebrow at that point, looking back and forth between the students expectantly, before clearing her throat and glancing toward Jack with a wink.
Meridith folds her arms and nods. "So the story goes," she says to Alexandra. It's clear she has her doubts
"I always try and do the right thing when I can work out what it is," Charlene remarks, watching Alexandra attentively from her seat. "Is there like a sweet spot where you won't end up breaking bad? Like can we balance it?"
"As Harvey Dent told us in one of the Batman movies, 'You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain'," Alexandra offers as a slightly more pop culture avenue toward the end she is trying to demonstrate. But then she points at Charlene and says, "Avoiding corruption is one of the keys. And today, I want to talk about one of the best ways you have to curb that corruption while still getting to feel a little bit of that power." She makes an opening gesture with her hands and says, "I know there was a teacher that did a dream lesson before. But it left some students with more questions than answers really. Aside from the questionable route they used to achieve the state. But did you know you can feed in your dreams? Without ever actually harming a person?" She then calmly waits to hear the responses to this little bomb drop.
"You can?" Charlene asks and makes a puzzled face.
"Well, thankfully, our short lives ensure heroic ends," Meridith muses grimly, gazing at her notes. She hasn't written much.
Meridith blinks. "Wait, what?"
Gabriella snorts, "what do you mean, without harming them?"
Viktorin listens comfortably to the class, though he doesn't deign to respond towards Alexandra, instead knitting his eyebrows together in some confusion. Asking curiously, "In the case of feeding from dreams... why or how does that work? If we can sustain ourselves through dreams, does that mean dreams are far more real than just figments of the mind or influenced figments of the mind? And if it is real, wouldn't we be harming whomever was in our dreams?"
Gabriella turns to look towards Viktorin as he speaks, then looks back towards Alexandra, expecting the reply.
"Yes," Alexandra says simply to Charlene, nodding confidently about this. She puts her hands behind her back once more then says, "It is less efficient than doing so in person, but I think this serves to also restrict the rate of power corruption to millimeters and inches as opposed to feet and yards doing it for real." She pauses here again, perhaps for dramatic effect and then goes into a little more detail.
"Let's say you do a ritual to track down say a wayward priest. It uses a good chunk of your energy, right? You need to replenish some of it to actually be useful, right?" Alexandra continues to show a path she suspects her students may find themselves on in the near future. "Now, we don't want to go out and torture people to get it back, do we?" she asks to really plant the flag in what she is trying to help them avoid. "Thus, we turn to a dream scape, where, we could potentially find another dreamer, enact the same sort of activity for feeding purposes, and though they would wake up a little more tired, they would recover quickly without any of the physical harm done. And they would probably forget the dream after a while too, unlike real torture," she suggests then, looking around to see if it makes sense.
Meridith gazes at Alexandra, she turns red faced from something she heard, but is writing down notes. "So...wait, do I need to feed then?" she hesitates, uncertain.
"Wait-" Gabriella points a finger towards Alexandra, "why wouldn't you just, you know, eat and drink and sleep and recover your energies like normal people, instead of going out and torture people or mess with their dreams, anyway? Isn't... a sign of corruption that you aren't willing to naturally wait out?"
Grinning smugly, Charlene raises her hand and asks Alexandra, "What kind of activities are best, Miss Williams?"
"Only if you're expending yourself heavily," Alexandra notes to Meridith helpfully. "Things like rituals are heavily taxing on your body and soul," she explains to Gabriella, nodding in agreement to her. "I am not saying all of you should run out and start torturing people in your dreams. I'm saying as young supernaturals, you may find yourself needing to feed. Knowing how to do so safely is important," she explains, brushing aside some of the comments. "And you may not have the luxury of a week to recover from a ritual before needing to do another," she explains to Gabriella then before looking over the class again.
"Best depends on which emotion you can feed off of, sadly, dream torture is about the best option, unless you can find a willing participant for real," she says with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Given the willing part is rather unlikely, dream feeding is far less damaging to both participants overall, I think."
Viktorin bobs his head slowly as he listens.
Meridith relaxes visible at Alexandra's response. "Oh, I don't...mess with that stuff. A sword is much cooler," she explains. "I don't wish to rely on the strength of others, seems...weak."
Meridith says "Not to mention, even in dreams a little...evil. But, better than the alternative."
Gabriella crosses her arms and rests her back on the chair, slumping a bit.
"I guess I'm gonna try that sometime. It sounds kinda weird," Charlene tells Alexandra, clicking her pen repeatedly instead of taking notes. "Is that what makes magic evil? Father Jack said it's evil. Is it because people who use magic need to do that kind of stuff more than most?"
Meridith says "The temptation of power comes the ability to change the world and the impulse to do so. We're flawed beings, so the image of the world we envision will be flawed."
Jack looks between Charlene and Alexandra at Charlene's question.
"How do you even know how to do it? I mean... you take some pills to fall asleep, and then... how do you, like, control your dreams to make some torture stuff going on it them?" Gabriella, against her own best judgement, asks. But then looks at Charlene, glances backwards towards Jack, and adds, "seems to me that feeding afterwards is more evil than doing the magic right from the start..."
Meridith says "That's why power is corrupting. It puts us in the position of creator, a pale imitation but...the natural checks of ego and stuff become less powerful the more you become powerful. I think."
"Wait it out if you can, but eventually, if you do not feed, you will get ill, you will slow down, you will feel the effects of it. Maybe not in the coming months, but I am not preparing you for the coming months. I am trying to prepare you for life," Alexandra says to her class, noticing some starting to look a little down about the prospect. "With great power comes great responsibility, right?" she asks the class, keeping her hands behind her back for the moment.
"Father Jack and I have a difference of opinion on this subject. But as colleagues, we are united in preparing you for the world," she explains to the class, shaking her head a little. "As such, knowing how to safely recover from what will become a normal part of your every day existence is paramount," she states simply with a firm nod. She gives Gabriella a nod then and says, "Feeding is a natural thing when you get into the situation where it can occur. I would rather you feel it in a dream than for real though. Because the first thing supers feed on is fear."
"OK, that's all well and good in therory, but I meant in practice: now, today. You just made a spell to know where Father Jack is, you're weak. You want to get strong again, so... what? You take a few pills to sleep, and when you wake up if you don't feel recovered yet you just take some more and sleep again?" Gabriella asks Alexandra.
Meridith rubs her chin. "When I get exhausted, I find fighting kind of invigorates me?" she poses helpfully.
"Maybe it's because of adrenaline," Charlene suggests.
"If I did not need to do anything else? Certainly. Natural recovery is best," Alexandra says to Gabriella in agreement, nodding a couple of times. "However, what about work? How about any of the many things you will need to do for the organizations you will inevitably become involved with? Or any other number of activities which will require you to be at peak performance? Where you will only have hours, not days to recover?" she continues then to move away from the best case scenario.
"In those cases, which would you rather do, torture someone, for real, leaving them with injuries and deep psychological damage, or, take a nap, do the same activities with someone in a dream, and only make them wake up tired and eventually forget about the entire incident?" Alexandra asks the class as a whole.
Meridith nods firmly, gazing at her classmates briefly before replying. "Better to lessen the harm, better further to have consent from those, even in the dreamworld. Those who share your ambitions and goals, who might choose to lend you power because they believe in you."
Gabriella opens her mouth, but then sighs and just slumps, slightly.
Meridith says "I have heard there are...less painful ways of feeding, is that true?"
Gabriella glances towards Viktorin, briefly.
Meridith gazes back at Vik. "You okay?"
"Mr. Teptic," Jack asks Viktorin. "Are you -drunk-?" he says.
Viktorin blinks, admitting weakly, "Uh... no?"
Charlene twists around in her seat to gawk at someone, grinning snidely.
Gabriella smirks, but actually doesn't try to cause any trouble to Viktorin, and instead makes a question to Alexandra ."So, what you're trying to say? That feeding while dreaming is the... least immoral way to feed?"
"In all cases, willing participants are better, outside of natural recovery," Alexandra agrees with Meridith, nodding confidently to that. "The reason I keep mentioning torture is because the first emotion supers feed off of is fear, which usually requires some measure of torment be inflicted upon them to elicit the desired response," she says to Meridith in a helpful tone, before brushing it aside. "Later, feeding off anger in combat really does not translate into dreams, because the anger is not solid enough or the fights are too brief," she continues, shaking her head regarding that emotion. She skips the last emotional feeding source and points at Gabriella and says, "Outside of a willing participant, yes."
Meridith hmms thoughtfully. "Are willing participants even...moral by itself? That's one heck of a power dynamic."
There's some low consideration, listening to Alexandra as Jack's eyes scan the room.
Meridith says "I'm a supernatural being with incredible powers, and your responsible for keeping me alive now, the consequences are the fate of the world. Woof!"
"Two consenting adults, behind closed doors," Alexandra says to Meridith with a shrug of her shoulders, immediately.
"And some Barry White, am I right?" Charlene remarks, looking around expectantly while she grins.
Gabriella rubs her forehead, as if she has an headache or something.
Viktorin gently rises, rubbing his brow before apologetically excusing himself, meekly mumbling, "Pardon me please..."
"So, how does one feed in a dream?" Alexandra asks of the class at large. She brings her hands back out to gesture in an animated fashion as she continues, "Dragging someone into a dream requires a lot more work, so we will hold that off for another lesson. Once in a dream whoever, it is fairly simple, you just need to find a willing dreamer or subdue one. The latter is probably easier to find though, so how do you subdue them?" She watches the student leave briefly for a moment before shrugging and continuing the lesson, "It does require you to be invested in the dream world that you find yourself in, as you will have to subdue them within the confines of that world. For instance, if you are in a Firefly world, you need to bring some form of combat to bear on them. If you're in a medieval setting, probably going to use swords or something. In a magical fantasy land, you could use magic. Point being, how you do it depends on the environment you find yourself in." She pauses there to make sure everyone is keeping up still.
Meridith scribbles notes down, curious about this. "How does one remain conscious within the dream to...know to feed?"
"You do not need to remain conscious. Your desire to feed will push forward your dream's persona and try to make it become manifest in line with the world you find yourself in," Alexandra explains to Meridith, waving a hand in a back rolling gesture. "You all have not learned the real basics of dreams yet, have you?" she suddenly asks as if realization of that question really points toward a lack of the fundamentals.
Meridith says "Late transfer, I'm still playing catch-up. Don't worry, I've got materials I can use to fill in the blank."
"Wait, why- how do you get into a... dream world, in the first place? It's not like... it's not always, like, in every dream, right?" Gabriella starts questioning Alexandra, but then, twisting her lips for just a moment, she adds, "actually, I mean, before that- I... I want to understand better, how come this isn't, like, a sinful path, straight into corruption?"
Meridith says "It is, the point of the lesson being, I think, corruption is inevitable, but you can slow the descent."
Alexandra folds her hands behind her back again and looks back to Gabriella, then she nods toward Meridith. "I am not talking about something you will need right now, or even in the next few months. This is something to help you out over the years and decades to come, Miss Savoy," she explains, perhaps a bit optimistic, given the shelf life of the world. "But every -choice- you make to do something that is less evil, that is more moral, and that is less damaging is resistance to corruption. If you just went right to torturing people, for real, you're going to corrupt quickly. If you focus on natural recovery, you're going to be doing much better more often. In between, there are shades of gray. Is dream torture still bad? Absolutely. Is it in a much whiter shade of gray area than real torture? Definitely," she explains then, waiting to see if this at least helps to alleviate some of Gabriella's issues with the topic.
"As you know we will fall to evil, make sure we know the lesser path," Meridith mumbles, scribbling notes.
"Well..." Gabriella sighs, then tells Alexandra "I suppose that maybe you're doing a few leaps in your train of thought, and maybe you ought to explain each of those things slower and better? Like, for instance, the whole dream thing... So you said... you just get some sleep and go into a dream world of magic and use magical powers, or go into a dream world of... I don't recall the other example. But, anyway- how do you do all that? I mean, when I fall asleep, I don't even know if I'm going to dream or not! And many times I wake up without knowing if I dreamt..."
Meridith says "We are mid semester, Gabriella"
Meridith says "Some learning has to be on us."
"That's gonna have to be for another lesson. I could spend the rest of the day on dreams, but I think we're coming to an end for this particular topic," Alexandra says to Gabriella, dipping her head apologetically. "Sadly, the soonest I will have another class will be the twenty-sixth, as I am getting married and going on my honeymoon. So I will likely not be back on campus until then," she explains to Gabriella, then she purses her lips for a moment. "But I am certain there are books on dreams, how to get into them, and how to find the dream worlds in the Library in the mean time. I will setup a calendar event for a real primer on dreaming for when I come back though," she declares in a promissory fashion.
She then gestures toward Jack and asks, "Did you have any final insights for the students before they are dismissed?"
Meridith says "Perhaps we could practice together?"
Meridith gazes at Gabriella with a smile.
"It's pretty complicated but I think it's kinda fascinating," Charlene tells Alexandra while she gets ready to leave her seat. "Have a great wedding, Miss Williams! We wanna see pictures when you get back."
Meridith says "Oh yes! Congratulations Miss Williams!"
Speaking up, Jack says, "Don't bather Miss Williams. We can schedule a course on lucid dreaming."
Gabriella looks at Meridith, and then gives her a small nod, but asks, "you're not planning on feeding on my dreams, are you?"
Gabriella turns to look at Jack.
"I doubt there will be many pictures. We are just going to the town hall," Alexandra says to Charlene, with a small shrug of her shoulders. "There may be a celebration when we get back though, at which point, dresses and pictures will be a thing," she assures Charlene with a nod. Hearing the comment from Jack causes her to raise her eyebrows, but then she nods and says, "I am certain Father Jack can lead you all through the dreaming process." She then motions toward the door and says, "Class dismissed." She begins to collect up her things then.
Meridith shrugs. "I dunno! Are you gonna feed on me?" She narrows her eyes suspiciously but then bites her tongue, amused.
Meridith says "Seven One Oh, Seven Six, Nine Three. If you wanna study or anything, I'm always trying to catch up."
"We could dream of going to a restaurant, and then have a feeding contest. I'm just not sure if it should have fries... or, if it is less sinful to eat them in your dreams" Gabriella comments to Meridith, smiling, as she moves to stand up.
Meridith rises up and giggles playfully. "Who knows what subconscious desires may surface, perhaps a burger too? Goodness. How will we ever keep ourselves in check!" she declares.
"Well, enjoy your honeymoon!" Charlene tells Alexandra and makes her way towards the door. "Gabs, I gotta take care of something for a bit but I'll text you afterwards and see what you're up to."
As the discussion progresses, Alexandra emphasizes the importance of making moral choices to resist corruption, suggesting dream feeding as a "whiter shade of gray" compared to more direct methods of harm. She addresses practical concerns about dream control and the ethics of feeding, even in a dream state, stressing the significance of consent and the lesser evil of dream interactions. This nuanced debate touches on deeper themes of personal responsibility, the inevitable struggle with power, and the ongoing quest for a moral compass in a world filled with gray areas. The class concludes with a mixture of contemplation and curiosity among the students, each grappling with the challenging concepts introduced by Alexandra, juxtaposed against the backdrop of their supernatural journey.
(Alexandra's [White Oak] Avoiding Corruption: In Your Dreams)
[Tue Feb 13 2024]
In the Abnormal Psychology Classroom in the Spender Arts and Wellness Center
A rather mundane room as rooms on White Oak grounds go, this is definitely more of a classroom than an expansive lecture hall like those near the building's entrance. A large whiteboard covers the vast majority of the western wall save for the door that shares it, with dry erase markers in the basic colours usually resting on its tray when they haven't gone wandering. A little under two dozen desks fill the middle and back of the room, facing westward to the board and the sturdy black lectern. The lighting set within the ceiling tiles is bright and flourescent, leaving the room well-illuminated.
It is about 50F(10C) degrees.
Meridith says "No food is unhealthy, some people need french fries to gain weight, it's their best option"
Gabriella grins towards Meridith, but doesn't speak of it any longer, to avoid the noise to the class. Listening to Charlene, she then wonders, "anyway, how can we be so sure that power corrupts and that's that? Is it a question of faith, like God existing?"
"I've heard Sister Abigail say french fries are sinful" Gabriella leans forward to look at Meridith as she states such a thing.
"Maybe that's how come they're so good," Charlene tells Gabriella, grinning impishly.
Meridith shrugs helplessly. "Sister Abigail is a lot more concerned with behavior than morality some days..." She grumbles.
"Hm, like a temptation thing?" Gabriella quips back to Charlene, letting the conversation drift further from the topic of corruption. She then looks thoughtful at what Meridith says, and asks, "what's the real difference, tho?"
Alexandra lifts a hand to waffle her fingers back and forth a little after Meridith's comment and says, "Yes and no. Intent only matters for so long, so far. Eventually, even the slow, inevitable downward spiral does reach the bottom." She lifts a hand then in a stop gesture briefly and says, "However, the longer you hold onto those morals and convictions and don't give in to the siren song of such power and temptation, the better force of good you can enact in the world. And we all want to be forces of good in the world, right?" She perks up an eyebrow at that point, looking back and forth between the students expectantly, before clearing her throat and glancing toward Jack with a wink.
Meridith folds her arms and nods. "So the story goes," she says to Alexandra. It's clear she has her doubts
"I always try and do the right thing when I can work out what it is," Charlene remarks, watching Alexandra attentively from her seat. "Is there like a sweet spot where you won't end up breaking bad? Like can we balance it?"
"As Harvey Dent told us in one of the Batman movies, 'You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain'," Alexandra offers as a slightly more pop culture avenue toward the end she is trying to demonstrate. But then she points at Charlene and says, "Avoiding corruption is one of the keys. And today, I want to talk about one of the best ways you have to curb that corruption while still getting to feel a little bit of that power." She makes an opening gesture with her hands and says, "I know there was a teacher that did a dream lesson before. But it left some students with more questions than answers really. Aside from the questionable route they used to achieve the state. But did you know you can feed in your dreams? Without ever actually harming a person?" She then calmly waits to hear the responses to this little bomb drop.
"You can?" Charlene asks and makes a puzzled face.
"Well, thankfully, our short lives ensure heroic ends," Meridith muses grimly, gazing at her notes. She hasn't written much.
Meridith blinks. "Wait, what?"
Gabriella snorts, "what do you mean, without harming them?"
Viktorin listens comfortably to the class, though he doesn't deign to respond towards Alexandra, instead knitting his eyebrows together in some confusion. Asking curiously, "In the case of feeding from dreams... why or how does that work? If we can sustain ourselves through dreams, does that mean dreams are far more real than just figments of the mind or influenced figments of the mind? And if it is real, wouldn't we be harming whomever was in our dreams?"
Gabriella turns to look towards Viktorin as he speaks, then looks back towards Alexandra, expecting the reply.
"Yes," Alexandra says simply to Charlene, nodding confidently about this. She puts her hands behind her back once more then says, "It is less efficient than doing so in person, but I think this serves to also restrict the rate of power corruption to millimeters and inches as opposed to feet and yards doing it for real." She pauses here again, perhaps for dramatic effect and then goes into a little more detail.
"Let's say you do a ritual to track down say a wayward priest. It uses a good chunk of your energy, right? You need to replenish some of it to actually be useful, right?" Alexandra continues to show a path she suspects her students may find themselves on in the near future. "Now, we don't want to go out and torture people to get it back, do we?" she asks to really plant the flag in what she is trying to help them avoid. "Thus, we turn to a dream scape, where, we could potentially find another dreamer, enact the same sort of activity for feeding purposes, and though they would wake up a little more tired, they would recover quickly without any of the physical harm done. And they would probably forget the dream after a while too, unlike real torture," she suggests then, looking around to see if it makes sense.
Meridith gazes at Alexandra, she turns red faced from something she heard, but is writing down notes. "So...wait, do I need to feed then?" she hesitates, uncertain.
"Wait-" Gabriella points a finger towards Alexandra, "why wouldn't you just, you know, eat and drink and sleep and recover your energies like normal people, instead of going out and torture people or mess with their dreams, anyway? Isn't... a sign of corruption that you aren't willing to naturally wait out?"
Grinning smugly, Charlene raises her hand and asks Alexandra, "What kind of activities are best, Miss Williams?"
"Only if you're expending yourself heavily," Alexandra notes to Meridith helpfully. "Things like rituals are heavily taxing on your body and soul," she explains to Gabriella, nodding in agreement to her. "I am not saying all of you should run out and start torturing people in your dreams. I'm saying as young supernaturals, you may find yourself needing to feed. Knowing how to do so safely is important," she explains, brushing aside some of the comments. "And you may not have the luxury of a week to recover from a ritual before needing to do another," she explains to Gabriella then before looking over the class again.
"Best depends on which emotion you can feed off of, sadly, dream torture is about the best option, unless you can find a willing participant for real," she says with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Given the willing part is rather unlikely, dream feeding is far less damaging to both participants overall, I think."
Viktorin bobs his head slowly as he listens.
Meridith relaxes visible at Alexandra's response. "Oh, I don't...mess with that stuff. A sword is much cooler," she explains. "I don't wish to rely on the strength of others, seems...weak."
Meridith says "Not to mention, even in dreams a little...evil. But, better than the alternative."
Gabriella crosses her arms and rests her back on the chair, slumping a bit.
"I guess I'm gonna try that sometime. It sounds kinda weird," Charlene tells Alexandra, clicking her pen repeatedly instead of taking notes. "Is that what makes magic evil? Father Jack said it's evil. Is it because people who use magic need to do that kind of stuff more than most?"
Meridith says "The temptation of power comes the ability to change the world and the impulse to do so. We're flawed beings, so the image of the world we envision will be flawed."
Jack looks between Charlene and Alexandra at Charlene's question.
"How do you even know how to do it? I mean... you take some pills to fall asleep, and then... how do you, like, control your dreams to make some torture stuff going on it them?" Gabriella, against her own best judgement, asks. But then looks at Charlene, glances backwards towards Jack, and adds, "seems to me that feeding afterwards is more evil than doing the magic right from the start..."
Meridith says "That's why power is corrupting. It puts us in the position of creator, a pale imitation but...the natural checks of ego and stuff become less powerful the more you become powerful. I think."
"Wait it out if you can, but eventually, if you do not feed, you will get ill, you will slow down, you will feel the effects of it. Maybe not in the coming months, but I am not preparing you for the coming months. I am trying to prepare you for life," Alexandra says to her class, noticing some starting to look a little down about the prospect. "With great power comes great responsibility, right?" she asks the class, keeping her hands behind her back for the moment.
"Father Jack and I have a difference of opinion on this subject. But as colleagues, we are united in preparing you for the world," she explains to the class, shaking her head a little. "As such, knowing how to safely recover from what will become a normal part of your every day existence is paramount," she states simply with a firm nod. She gives Gabriella a nod then and says, "Feeding is a natural thing when you get into the situation where it can occur. I would rather you feel it in a dream than for real though. Because the first thing supers feed on is fear."
"OK, that's all well and good in therory, but I meant in practice: now, today. You just made a spell to know where Father Jack is, you're weak. You want to get strong again, so... what? You take a few pills to sleep, and when you wake up if you don't feel recovered yet you just take some more and sleep again?" Gabriella asks Alexandra.
Meridith rubs her chin. "When I get exhausted, I find fighting kind of invigorates me?" she poses helpfully.
"Maybe it's because of adrenaline," Charlene suggests.
"If I did not need to do anything else? Certainly. Natural recovery is best," Alexandra says to Gabriella in agreement, nodding a couple of times. "However, what about work? How about any of the many things you will need to do for the organizations you will inevitably become involved with? Or any other number of activities which will require you to be at peak performance? Where you will only have hours, not days to recover?" she continues then to move away from the best case scenario.
"In those cases, which would you rather do, torture someone, for real, leaving them with injuries and deep psychological damage, or, take a nap, do the same activities with someone in a dream, and only make them wake up tired and eventually forget about the entire incident?" Alexandra asks the class as a whole.
Meridith nods firmly, gazing at her classmates briefly before replying. "Better to lessen the harm, better further to have consent from those, even in the dreamworld. Those who share your ambitions and goals, who might choose to lend you power because they believe in you."
Gabriella opens her mouth, but then sighs and just slumps, slightly.
Meridith says "I have heard there are...less painful ways of feeding, is that true?"
Gabriella glances towards Viktorin, briefly.
Meridith gazes back at Vik. "You okay?"
"Mr. Teptic," Jack asks Viktorin. "Are you -drunk-?" he says.
Viktorin blinks, admitting weakly, "Uh... no?"
Charlene twists around in her seat to gawk at someone, grinning snidely.
Gabriella smirks, but actually doesn't try to cause any trouble to Viktorin, and instead makes a question to Alexandra ."So, what you're trying to say? That feeding while dreaming is the... least immoral way to feed?"
"In all cases, willing participants are better, outside of natural recovery," Alexandra agrees with Meridith, nodding confidently to that. "The reason I keep mentioning torture is because the first emotion supers feed off of is fear, which usually requires some measure of torment be inflicted upon them to elicit the desired response," she says to Meridith in a helpful tone, before brushing it aside. "Later, feeding off anger in combat really does not translate into dreams, because the anger is not solid enough or the fights are too brief," she continues, shaking her head regarding that emotion. She skips the last emotional feeding source and points at Gabriella and says, "Outside of a willing participant, yes."
Meridith hmms thoughtfully. "Are willing participants even...moral by itself? That's one heck of a power dynamic."
There's some low consideration, listening to Alexandra as Jack's eyes scan the room.
Meridith says "I'm a supernatural being with incredible powers, and your responsible for keeping me alive now, the consequences are the fate of the world. Woof!"
"Two consenting adults, behind closed doors," Alexandra says to Meridith with a shrug of her shoulders, immediately.
"And some Barry White, am I right?" Charlene remarks, looking around expectantly while she grins.
Gabriella rubs her forehead, as if she has an headache or something.
Viktorin gently rises, rubbing his brow before apologetically excusing himself, meekly mumbling, "Pardon me please..."
"So, how does one feed in a dream?" Alexandra asks of the class at large. She brings her hands back out to gesture in an animated fashion as she continues, "Dragging someone into a dream requires a lot more work, so we will hold that off for another lesson. Once in a dream whoever, it is fairly simple, you just need to find a willing dreamer or subdue one. The latter is probably easier to find though, so how do you subdue them?" She watches the student leave briefly for a moment before shrugging and continuing the lesson, "It does require you to be invested in the dream world that you find yourself in, as you will have to subdue them within the confines of that world. For instance, if you are in a Firefly world, you need to bring some form of combat to bear on them. If you're in a medieval setting, probably going to use swords or something. In a magical fantasy land, you could use magic. Point being, how you do it depends on the environment you find yourself in." She pauses there to make sure everyone is keeping up still.
Meridith scribbles notes down, curious about this. "How does one remain conscious within the dream to...know to feed?"
"You do not need to remain conscious. Your desire to feed will push forward your dream's persona and try to make it become manifest in line with the world you find yourself in," Alexandra explains to Meridith, waving a hand in a back rolling gesture. "You all have not learned the real basics of dreams yet, have you?" she suddenly asks as if realization of that question really points toward a lack of the fundamentals.
Meridith says "Late transfer, I'm still playing catch-up. Don't worry, I've got materials I can use to fill in the blank."
"Wait, why- how do you get into a... dream world, in the first place? It's not like... it's not always, like, in every dream, right?" Gabriella starts questioning Alexandra, but then, twisting her lips for just a moment, she adds, "actually, I mean, before that- I... I want to understand better, how come this isn't, like, a sinful path, straight into corruption?"
Meridith says "It is, the point of the lesson being, I think, corruption is inevitable, but you can slow the descent."
Alexandra folds her hands behind her back again and looks back to Gabriella, then she nods toward Meridith. "I am not talking about something you will need right now, or even in the next few months. This is something to help you out over the years and decades to come, Miss Savoy," she explains, perhaps a bit optimistic, given the shelf life of the world. "But every -choice- you make to do something that is less evil, that is more moral, and that is less damaging is resistance to corruption. If you just went right to torturing people, for real, you're going to corrupt quickly. If you focus on natural recovery, you're going to be doing much better more often. In between, there are shades of gray. Is dream torture still bad? Absolutely. Is it in a much whiter shade of gray area than real torture? Definitely," she explains then, waiting to see if this at least helps to alleviate some of Gabriella's issues with the topic.
"As you know we will fall to evil, make sure we know the lesser path," Meridith mumbles, scribbling notes.
"Well..." Gabriella sighs, then tells Alexandra "I suppose that maybe you're doing a few leaps in your train of thought, and maybe you ought to explain each of those things slower and better? Like, for instance, the whole dream thing... So you said... you just get some sleep and go into a dream world of magic and use magical powers, or go into a dream world of... I don't recall the other example. But, anyway- how do you do all that? I mean, when I fall asleep, I don't even know if I'm going to dream or not! And many times I wake up without knowing if I dreamt..."
Meridith says "We are mid semester, Gabriella"
Meridith says "Some learning has to be on us."
"That's gonna have to be for another lesson. I could spend the rest of the day on dreams, but I think we're coming to an end for this particular topic," Alexandra says to Gabriella, dipping her head apologetically. "Sadly, the soonest I will have another class will be the twenty-sixth, as I am getting married and going on my honeymoon. So I will likely not be back on campus until then," she explains to Gabriella, then she purses her lips for a moment. "But I am certain there are books on dreams, how to get into them, and how to find the dream worlds in the Library in the mean time. I will setup a calendar event for a real primer on dreaming for when I come back though," she declares in a promissory fashion.
She then gestures toward Jack and asks, "Did you have any final insights for the students before they are dismissed?"
Meridith says "Perhaps we could practice together?"
Meridith gazes at Gabriella with a smile.
"It's pretty complicated but I think it's kinda fascinating," Charlene tells Alexandra while she gets ready to leave her seat. "Have a great wedding, Miss Williams! We wanna see pictures when you get back."
Meridith says "Oh yes! Congratulations Miss Williams!"
Speaking up, Jack says, "Don't bather Miss Williams. We can schedule a course on lucid dreaming."
Gabriella looks at Meridith, and then gives her a small nod, but asks, "you're not planning on feeding on my dreams, are you?"
Gabriella turns to look at Jack.
"I doubt there will be many pictures. We are just going to the town hall," Alexandra says to Charlene, with a small shrug of her shoulders. "There may be a celebration when we get back though, at which point, dresses and pictures will be a thing," she assures Charlene with a nod. Hearing the comment from Jack causes her to raise her eyebrows, but then she nods and says, "I am certain Father Jack can lead you all through the dreaming process." She then motions toward the door and says, "Class dismissed." She begins to collect up her things then.
Meridith shrugs. "I dunno! Are you gonna feed on me?" She narrows her eyes suspiciously but then bites her tongue, amused.
Meridith says "Seven One Oh, Seven Six, Nine Three. If you wanna study or anything, I'm always trying to catch up."
"We could dream of going to a restaurant, and then have a feeding contest. I'm just not sure if it should have fries... or, if it is less sinful to eat them in your dreams" Gabriella comments to Meridith, smiling, as she moves to stand up.
Meridith rises up and giggles playfully. "Who knows what subconscious desires may surface, perhaps a burger too? Goodness. How will we ever keep ourselves in check!" she declares.
"Well, enjoy your honeymoon!" Charlene tells Alexandra and makes her way towards the door. "Gabs, I gotta take care of something for a bit but I'll text you afterwards and see what you're up to."