fandomhigh | Mythbusting, Tuesday, 7/21, Period 2

Class met in the Danger Shop today, and there was an array of logs stripped of their bark, gunpowder, and woodworking equipment set up at one end, with blast shields lined up near the middle of the room. Tyler glanced up from his notes as the class assembled.

"Morning," he said. "This is a things-that-go-boom week. There's an old Hungarian legend that a city called Paks defended itself during a siege by chopping down a cherry tree and making a cannon overnight. The cannon worked until it blew up and took the town with it. Now, I'm not a carpenter, but I see a couple problems with that story." A beat. "Which is why we're retesting it."

"You should just have time to make and test a cannon in class if you work in small groups; the wood and woodworking tools are over there. I'm handing out a sheet of specific directions, but basically you want to drill a hole through the log, add a metal tube with gunpowder in it and a fuse, load a cannonball, light the rope, stand back behind the blast shields, and -- in theory -- boom." He spread his fingers to demonstrate the "boom."

"Please wear safety gear, please don't be stupid. This is Danger Shop so you can't get hurt, but that doesn't make it playtime."

"Questions?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Like your attitude has been so much better, she thought, but prudently kept her mouth shut on that comment.

"What do you want me to say? I've said to Fiona before that I'm not impressed with how fast and how much she learns stuff and so sorry that the one thing I've got left that's purely mine on this island that I can freely use I'm possessive of? Or that it bugs me 'cause you don't go from nothing to badass in, like, maybe a few months just because you practice a few times weekly? The body doesn't work like that? I've been training since I was four and you want me to just let her take my skills, use that half-ass sort of learning, and be okay with it? No. You've banned some of my powers, Cable-san banned more of them. I'm very sorry that I'd like to keep some of my skills mine."

She wasn't sorry at all, but at least her voice was level and mostly civil.

Edited 2009-07-21 13:34 (UTC)

Tyler's attitude was irrelevant; he was the teacher, here.

"This may surprise you," he said, "but I don't actually keep track of your personal life or the powers of every single person in the club. I had no idea you had an issue with Fiona. It sounds like the losers on the Internet would call her a Mary Sue, but that's, like, half the island."

He drew a breath before going on. "And I don't think saying you can't do something dangerous two hours a week is 'taking your powers'. You're being melodramatic."

Well yes, but when has that stopped teenagers from thinking like that?

"So what? I told you--I walked away. Why is that such a big deal? Should I maybe next time, if I get one, let her beat me up instead just so she can feel good about herself? And you let the telekinetics fight," she argued back, hands clenching. "You don't care if they use their powers to shove people around. How is what I do different than them?"

He would not swear. He would not swear. He would not swear.

"I think you should fight because it might be good for you, not for her self-esteem, but that's not really the point. But the day Ben Skywalker starts throwing mats around with his powers during his bouts, I'll have this talk with him -- if his granddad doesn't kill him first," Tyler answered. Without swearing.

"And I've never seen a Jedi make big pieces of wood appear out of nowhere. The wood's the biggest problem. The psychic dupes -- I don't like those either. I think they're distracting in a way telekinesis isn't."

Still. He sounded slightly more yielding on the second point.

"Isn't the whole point of fighting to distract your opponent so you can win?" Ino asked, crossing her arms. "Why are my 'dupes' so bad? If other people are so distracted it means their minds weren't on their fight enough. And--I don't get it. It's baby stuff back home."

"And I still really don't get why walking away is such an issue."

Tyler was going to name this migraine Ino. He was talking in a voice laden with patience that clearly took a huge effort to maintain.

"The point of fighting -- Fight Club sparring, anyhow -- is fighting. You learn something if you win, you learn something if you lose. And if other people are distracted and get hurt -- no. You can't just say 'la la la, not my problem.' Not when we're talking about some people who never threw a punch before last week. Not if you're any kind of warrior."

"What it is back home is immaterial. I don't care."

"Walking away is fine. We aren't having this talk because you walked away. We're having this talk because of your attitude. There are 40 people who show up for Fight Club some weeks -- you think every single one of them gets to fight all-out against a hand-selected opponent? Last week Cable and Blysse had a civil fight -- you think he couldn't throw her across the room if he wanted to?"

Edited 2009-07-21 14:09 (UTC)

"So what?" Ino demanded. "I don't think that I'm the only one, otherwise Cable-san would slaughter everyone in the gym. But I don't think it's a fair fight either if I can't use my powers but Fiona has powers that she can't turn off and I've got to deal with that? You put me against someone who can agree to not using their powers, and I can be fine with not using mine. You put me in a situation where one can use them and the other can't and that's my problem. I have no issues losing," okay, so she could be a sore loser, but Ino knew good and well that she was so not badass enough to go up against a good bit of the club with the expectation of winning, "but when the fight is unbalanced like that from the start, I'm not playing. It's not like someone who has never thrown a punch before fighting me--'cause then I'd actually be able to control my response to them or if I was fighting someone who while better, could control their response to me. You saw the spar Reno and I had--do you think he couldn't have killed me in a heartbeat if he'd wanted to? But he didn't so it was more of a fair fight. But Fiona said she can't turn her powers off so she can't control her response to me. So I walked away. And maybe I could've done it with a pretty please and a smile but I didn't and that doesn't mean I did anything wrong!"

Tyler just stared at her. She wasn't even trying.

"Don't come back to the club, Ino. I don't have the patience for this shit."

A beat. "Not that it matters? But she's still weaker than you even with her powers. So."

Edited 2009-07-21 14:19 (UTC)

No, now she wasn't trying.

"Fine," she said, her voice spiralling upwards, completely livid. "You're not even going to listen to me so I don't fucking care. Oh sorry pardon my language Mr. Durden but I think I'd like you to fucking get out of my way so I don't have to see you again."

"I'm so fucking sorry that apparently you can't be assed to listen to me when I say I walked away and that isn't the problem! I'm sorry, I thought that fights had to agree to use powers or not. I'm fucking sorry that I tried to do the right thing and you'd rather kiss Fiona's ass than bother to listen to me. Maybe I'm saying it wrong, but you know fucking what? I didn't do anything wrong."

"Ino, I have been fucking listening to you for fucking -- I don't even know. And if you think I have the first interest in kissing Fiona's ass ... wow. You don't know me. You have fucking speed, strength and training; I won't let you throw huge blocks of wood around a gym with a couple dozen people in it so I'm an asshole. Fine. I'm an asshole. You're still kicked out."

And then he stepped out of her way.

Edited 2009-07-21 14:30 (UTC)

"It's not about my powers!" she shouted. "It's about fucking Fiona's and her inability to fucking turn them off, you fucking idiot!"

Ino stormed for the door.

Tyler swore under his breath as he watched her go. Probably he couldn't give her detention for this -- it was, technically, not classroom business -- but he wanted to do -- something.

Something.

He thought about chasing after her to point out Fiona's powers were learning, and if she had a problem with learning it stood to reason she wouldn't deal well with any other power in the club. That was why she was kicked out, not her reaction to any one fight.

But he'd let her have the satisfaction of the last word. It was the only satisfaction she'd get for a while.

Mythbusting, Tuesday, 7/21, Period 2

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]

Re: Talk to the TAs [7/21]