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[oom: Student pranks.]

Out in the garden, Bonnie is busy with a block of concrete and a stack of power tools.

Some little tinker has embedded the Principal's teachers' edition math text book in concrete, and as the person responsible for teaching them how to do that, it's fallen to Bonnie to get said book out again.

Unfortunately the student who did this did a good job at the concrete, but with a bit of work with a heavy duty drill, Bonnie has just about got it split down the middle.

Botherable. Or feel free to tell her off for making too much noise.

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Ibani was going to practice lightsaber forms, but the sound of the drill attracted her over here.

"Hello, need a hand with that?"

"Hey Ibani." Bonnie looks up. "Sure, that would be great, thank you. Got any bright ideas?"

"You're trying to split this in half, I think?" she asks, peering at the concrete.

"I got to get the book out." Bonnie says, with a wry smile. "One of my students decided to play a prank on the head, and since they ain't owned up, it's my job ter get it out."

"I think I can crack it the rest of the way with that start you made," Ibani replies, reaching out with the Force.

"Just need to find the weak places around the book..." Ibani's hand is on the concrete block and she's looking at it, but she's not just looking with her eyes. She's looking for cracks, weaknesses in the concrete that she can exploit as places to apply telekinetic pressure.

"If you can get it in the right spot it should just split." Bonnie says, not quite realising what she's doing.

"You might want to stand back a bit," she warns Bonnie.

Ibani finds the right spot and presses on it with the Force, causing the concrete slab to split in half and sending some powdered concrete into the air.

"There we go," she says with a grin.

Bonnie steps back, wondering what she's about to do. She jumps when the block splits.

"Jeez, how the hell did you do that?" she asks, with an expression of admiring awe.

"We call it Force Push," Ibani replies, grinning. "I applied force inside the opening you made where it was weak, causing it to split."

"Neat!" Bonnie comments, in awe. "That some sort of martial arts thing?"

"It can be used in martial arts, but it doesn't require them," Ibani explains. "I can manipulate something called the Force, it binds the universe together, connects everything that exists. I can move things with thought and will alone, for instance, which is how Force Push works."

"Can everyone do that here? Or is it like your light stick?"

"Very much like my light stick," Ibani replies. "Although I'm sure there are people here who could accomplish similar things if not the exact same way I do."

Bonnie imagines what it must be like to be able to blow stuff apart with your bare hands.

"Must be dangerous before you learn to control it." she says.

"It can be, though the more dramatic abilities tend to require training to use or access."

"I only had one 'accident' with the Force before I received training, and that was in a moment of extreme duress and anguish. Otherwise, my raw talents were sensory in nature."

"Can all your folks do it, or did it just start?" Bonnie asks, dusting off the teachers' edition book.

"There have been people who could use the Force for thousands and thousands of years, but the ability is rare."

"Well it sure was useful in this case, thanks!" Bonnie says.

"I must admit, I'm pretty sure which kid did it, but I don't got the heart to snitch on 'em."

"You're welcome," Ibani replies.

"Why is that?"

"Because it's one of my girl students - I get so few girls, and she's got it tough enough as it is. She shouldn' have done it, but I don't want her gettin' expelled or anythin'. I'll probably just drop her a quiet hint not to do it again."

"Ah, I should have guessed compassion was your reason," Ibani replies with a small smile. Her last instructor tried to murder her, it would have been nice to have instructors like Bonnie instead.

"Hah!" Bonnie smirks. "I can be hard as nails dependin' on the scenario, but I got a soft spot fer troublemakers, and I guess she reminds me of me a little."

Small sigh. "Part of me wants to warn her that it don't get a lot better when you leave school, bein' a girl who ain't into all the stuff girls are. My neighbours still have cliques now."

Ibani shakes her head. "That's a shame. I've been excluded all my life, but my being female had nothing to do with it."

"I tried to help out with a project here, and even here I have to fight as a woman with some folks." Bonnie shakes her head. "It's ridiculous. I was born in 1910 an' my Pa knew I could be just as good an engineer as any other fellow."

"Your Pa sounds like he was a wise man," Ibani replies with a smile. "Was he the one who taught you to be an engineer?"

"Sure thing. He worked on the railroad mostly, but he learned how to fix cars and bikes, and he taught me the same. Bill too, my husband, he was his apprentice."

"Good skills to have. Was that how you met Bill, or did you run into one another elsewhere first?

"I met Bill when I ran into the biker gang." Bonnie says. "I brought him home, and my pa helped him earn a living."

"Was your father surprised when you brought him home?"

Ibani is trying to picture that meeting in her head.

"I prepared the way a little." Bonnie says. "Six foot six guy with a ponytail and a bunch of tattoos is a guy worth warnin' yer folks about."

She shrugs. "He was soft as grease, didn't take them long to see it."

Ibani chuckles at that. "I'm glad they saw him for who he was quickly."

"Well, they trusted me, I guess." Bonnie says. "I wasn't someone who would hook up with just anyone, even at that age."

Ibani nods. "Makes sense. They would know that you were sensible after all those years of raising you."

"A parent knows, you know." Bonnie says. "When one of my boys got involved, I always knew if they were bein' sensible. Except for Charley, he went a bit further than I thought he had."

"I suppose I'll have to deal with that myself, someday," Ibani replies with a chuckle. "If I'm ever in a position to have children, at least."

"Yeah, hopefully you won't have too many people comin' ter yer door with a shotgun when yer boy got their daughter pregnant..."

Ibani chuckles at that. "Hopefully. Did that happen to you?"

"Sure did. Don't know what they made such a fuss about, he married her without any trouble and the baby was cute as a button."

"Some people don't take surprise well," Ibani replies. "Especially not when their child is involved."

"Of course. If I had raised girls I sure would have been worried just the same." Bonnie says. "But I took only troubled boys, so it weren't an option takin' girls. I know of another family who takes difficult girls."

"They wouldn't let you take girls and boys?"

"Some of the boys I took were considered unsafe to be living with girls." Bonnie says. "A couple of them were in juvenile detention before they came to live with me."

"Ah," Ibani replies. "Juvenile detention is like prison?"

"Yeah, prison for kids. We got a lot of fighters even among the ones who hadn't been there."

Ibani nods. "Your boys had had hard lives before they got to you, that can make people combative."

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