fandomhigh | Heroing [period 2, class #8]

"Hello, class!" Hammer boomed, striding out before the class once everyone was all assembled. "I hope you all had a nice time on vacation. I, meanwhile, stayed behind to protect the island from any evildoers who might attack in its vulnerable state."

He paused, beaming. "You're welcome."

"Today, class," he continued, "we're going to talk about the media. The paparazzi. Your future best friends, as a hero."

"As heroes," he went on, "we must embrace the media, for they will trail around after us, hanging on our every word, once we've saved them all from mortal peril even just once. They will hound us. They will take our pictures. They will want autographs. There will be merchandise with your face on it if you're lucky." Hammer plucked up and waved a shirt with his face, and a coffee mug with his hammer symbol emblazoned on the side. "But the biggest obstacle, my tiny, young, less bright friends, is the interview."

He began to pace. "Newspapers and TV news crews are always trying to corner you for an interview, and while, yes, they are adoring, they always want to know things like which is your favoritie pair of socks, and how old you were when you lost your virginity. If you have." He eyed the class, because he doubted most of these sad kids had gotten lucky yet. "The important thing is knowing how to give answers quickly on your feet. One wrong answer means you'll have to save them all at least three more times to regain favor."

"So!" He clapped his hands together. "Today, class, we're doing an exercise to prepare you. I want you to pair up and one of you gets to be a reporter, and the other gets to be the hero. The reporter asks questions -- and make sure you're adoring, kids, because reporters always are -- and they need to be as personal as you can stand! Hero, answer them as well as you can without humiliating yourself. After five questions, switch! Hop to!"

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Anemone shrugged one shoulder dismissively. "Don't ask me," she answered. "Being one of the good guys seems to have better healthcare, but only if you actually win. Or maybe that's just my universe."

"I can't say about the health care one way or another, for home," Romeo said, perking up slightly. "I like being on the side of good, I just don't know if I should like to be a hero like"-- the gestured illustratively to the instructor -- "like him."

"I know heroes," Anemone put in dryly. "I've met a lot of them over the last few years." Usually while trying to kill them, but, well, details. At least she'd grown out of that stage. "He's not one of them."

"Hardly a surprise," Romeo noted with a nod, and some relief. "How did you come to know heroes, though?"

She grinned at him crookedly. "You can't have a hero without a good villain," she pointed out, "and the line between them isn't always clear; it all depends on where you're standing."

"I was on one side of it for a very long time. Now I'm on the other." Anemone shrugged again. "Sometimes your hero is the charming captain, sometimes he's the guerrilla terrorist. It's all in the perspective."

"Although they were all more committed to their cause and the Right Thing than this poser and his picking out of code names and superhero outfits."

"It's hard to see the captain's side, when you would die for the guerrilla," Romeo ventured thoughtfully. "I know that every side has an argument, but it's not at all what I was raised to believe."

"I was raised to do as I was told and never question my orders, because that was always The Right Thing," Anemone replied wryly. "I learned better eventually."

"Maybe we have to grow into being heroes, instead of just knowing which one is right."

"That seems to be what I am learning," Romeo said sincerely. "We have to choose to be heroes, we can't think our names or our orders, or even our faith, put us into the right without challenges."

"I don't think it's even about choosing to be a hero, it's just learning how to do what needs doing. I mean, it's not always going to be glamorous, but that's still no excuse not to do it, right?" she asked.

"Not at all," Romeo had to admit, squaring his shoulders. "Perhaps the very word hero only gets in our way, and we need to throw it out and only look at doing what needs to be done. Though the question is how to choose that, if both sides have an equal claim."

Anemone popped another candy in her mouth. "Do whatever feels best," she suggested finally. "Yeah, you might be wrong, but at least you'll be able to honestly say that you thought you were doing the right thing. That's better than just sitting around waiting to decide."

"And I'm not good at all at sitting around waiting to decide, anyhow," Romeo announced. "Governing from the heart is a sounder rule."

"I have 'the impulse control of a hyperkinetic toddler,'" Anemone recited. "Which I think means I do whatever I want, but at least I don't have to apologize later for not picking a side or making a decision or whatever. Yeah, sometimes I fuck up," understatement, "but I usually make it up eventually."

Romeo tilted his head to the side. "Anemone?" he asked. "I know we've barely spoken this last year, but might I ask if you think you might be some kin to me from another world?"

Anemone tilted her head at him, bemused. "You don't want to be related to me," she promised. "I'm more than a little crazy, and it could be genetic."

No it wasn't, but Anemone still took a perverse pleasure in screwing with people's minds, even after almost two years at school.

"Although I guess you could be one of my ancestors? I mean, I'm on of the way-way-way future-people, so anything's possible."

"You're assuming I'm not a little crazy," Romeo pointed out, and it felt good to smile. "I'm not sure you would want to be one of my descendants, though. It's not such a great thing to be a Montague."

Well, it wasn't a great thing for him.

Heroing [period 2, class #8]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]

Re: Pair up and question one another! [03/04/09]