fandomhigh | Interdisciplinary Studies or whatever, Friday, Period 3

In front of the campfire was a large green blackboard. And in front of the chalkboard was Squall.

But he ignored the chalkboard this session.

"Welcome to class," he said, once everyone was there. "If you're not here for Interdisciplinary Studies, then leave." He gave them all a weak grin. "We've got a small group this time, so -- I dunno. That's good, right? I can spend more time teaching you stuff you want to learn and whatever. I'm your teacher, Squall Leonhart."

Squall shrugged and looked around.

"All right, we might as well get the next part over with. Let's all do the whole touchy-feely thing of going around and telling everyone your name and something you like. And -- what did I do last time? Your favorite kind of animal, I think. That's good enough, right?. Go on." He pointed at someone randomly. "You. Start."

Squall paced back and forth while everyone rattled off crap about themselves, and then stood back up at the chackboard.

"So. I know stuff; you don't. In this class, I'm going to teach you stuff. Important stuff. Or whatever. Stuff you should probably know by now, but a lot of you don't. I've got stuff planned, a whole syllabus and things, but we've only got a few weeks together. And I just did it all with the last group of kids, so it's kind of old. And, like I said, small group. So."

He looked around.

"What do YOU want to learn? Go on, don't be shy. Anything. Tell me. So long as it doesn't suck."

After that mess was over with, he held up his hands. "Okay, kids. So. Now it's time for your first lesson. This is a quick one, but it's the most important one you'll ever learn."

He folded his arms and looked each of them in the eye before going on.

"Trust. All of you will end up in situations where you need to trust people. Trust them to do something, say whatever, be your friend, get your back in a fight, you know. And you can trust most people with the little things, and you can trust most people to follow orders. But what I want you to tell me is, with the BIG things, the important things, the REAL things..."

He looked around at the students.

"Who can you trust?"

[Yes, I know, it's mostly a C+P. And it's late. Urk. ~~Wait for OCD~~, and then I'll stop sucking, I promise. OCD is up and ready.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Simple question. Gimme an answer.

"Nita, Kit, Filif, Sker'ret, Dairine, and Carmela." And Roshaun, he added, silently, out of respect for those gone onwards. "For anything important? They'll be there."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "A, you're wrong, and B, your friends have stupid names."

That raised Ronan's hackles, and while he wouldn't normally argue with a teacher, he felt this situation called for it. "A) I don't see how you're qualified to judge who I can and cannot trust without know the circumstances that built that trust, and B) half of them are aliens, so it's not like they're going to have names that conform to any kind of human linguistic systems. Nor is it relevant."

"That's a nice speech," Squall grunted, "but you're still wrong."

Ronan raised his eyebrow. Something about this guy really brought out his snarky side. "Gee, I can't trust the people who brought me two-thirds of the way across the universe to get me to a healer who could save my life, just after we saved said universe from certain destruction? 'Cause, y'know, dying tends to be one of those really, really important things. One of those 'real things', as you said. I trust them to save me from it because they already have. If that's not good enough for you, I'd kindly ask you to take your own issues and leave them outside of the class so that those of us who are here to learn from you actually can."

Squall facepalmed. "If you'd just saved the universe together, healing teammates isn't some big special thing. It's just what you do. I'm sure as heck not going to trust every SeeD who ever tossed me a Phoenix Down."

"What, so it's only 'important' or 'real' if it's some big grand gesture? Those aren't 'real things', those are posing. That's what you do when you're trying to get someone to trust you.

"I trust my friends to help me save the universe. They trust me for the same thing. I trust them to get me out of danger and to somewhere I can recover. They trust me for the same thing. If healing people in your world is something simple, like you're making it sound? Congrats. You've got it easy. People did die during that war. I lost the best thing that ever happened to me. People die, and they don't come back. And y'know what? My friends saved me from that. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to. Because they're my friends, and they know that I'd do the exact same thing for them for no other reason."

Ronan was maybe just a little angry. "I bet you think that you can't trust anyone else, right? Well, sod off, because not all of us are lonely idiots who can't make a friend to save his life."

(Stupid kid. Who does he think he is? He doesn't know me!)

"Detention," Squall spat. He wasn't going to bother arguing with Mr. Goody Two-Shoes.

"Fine," Ronan said, shrugging. "Give me detention for believing that I've found someone in the universe I can trust. I feel it only fair to advise you that I will be lodging a formal complaint with the principal and the dean with regards to this incident and your placement as a teacher at this school."

Squall shrugged and smirked at him. "Yeah, sure. 'Formal complaint.' You have fun with that."

Ronan shrugged again. "I don't imagine there are a great number of other venues for students in a case like this. I'll take what I can get."

"Can't trust anyone, unless you know they've got a damned good reason not to screw you over," Jenny said. "Like they'll die if they do, or you've got somethin' on 'em." Then she thought of the Authority. "Or they're kind of scared of you. That works, too."

"Almost right. Isn't there anyone you can trust?"

"Yourself," Jenny said. "Generally speaking."

Squall nodded, and looked over the other students. "Everybody? Listen to this one. She's smart."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "What are the 'real' things, exactly?"

Squall shrugged. "Who can you trust to not screw you over? Who can you trust to know what's best? Who can you trust with your deepest secrets? With your feelings? Who can you trust to always be there when you need them to be?"

"No one," Alec said, shrugging. "Sometimes you take it on faith, but all you've got is yourself at the end of the day."

Squall nodded. "Got it right on the first try. At least you're not completely annoying."

"I can try harder?"

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