fandomhigh | Mythbusting, Tuesday, 7/28, Period 2

There were ice baths set up at each Danger Shop lab station today, and Tyler tossed goggles and gloves at each student as they came in. He folded his arms and waited for the class to settle before beginning. If he was enjoying teaching this session a little less than he normally did, he gave little sign.

Then he reached onto his desk and held up a container of clear, thick stuff. "So this," he said, "is the extra glycerin from the soap we made the first week. And now it's time to get to the fun part and make it nitroglycerin. Not a straight myth, but hey, it seems worth exploring in class."

He pointed out two vials on his desk. "This is nitric acid. The big one is sulfuric acid. What you're going to do is add the nitric to to three times the amount of sulfuric in the ice batch, then start adding the glycerin with an eyedropper."

"This is a delicate reaction, so please, work in pairs if you can stand it. One person watches the vat, other one drops in the glycerin. You'll know you're done when it gels up."

"Once you see that happen, you can scoop it out and mix it with sawdust to get a plastic explosive. You can roll it together and light it on fire. We don't have to do that this week, but if you have time, we have a lovely shooting range for you to test it in." He gestured to the back wall of the shop and hit a button on the control panel, transforming it into a wall of assorted moddable targets.

"You can also fake a similar reaction with some supermarket stuff -- Diet Pepsi and kitty litter, or orange juice and gasoline. I'm ~~handwavily~~ passing around a handout on that stuff, if you're interested and want to do that instead of nitro. Just remember, this is Danger Shop only."

"Go to work. I'll be around. Ino, ~~if you're here~~ please wait after class."

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"I didn't have pudding." Overly literal answer aside, she hadn't had any island food all day yesterday; she'd pretty much subsisted on cookies when she wasn't busy yelling, hitting things, or sobbing all over Arthur. "My parents are getting divorced."

There was nothing like a segue, there was just half a week of waiting to say it to someone who would understand what it meant to her, and the selfish frustration of not being able to.

"(*#@ me with a *(@#)#$(*! chainsaw," Katchoo blurted out -- yep, she understood what that meant to Francine. Some part of her had believed for years that there was no way a family as to-all-appearances functional as Francine's was for real, but that didn't change the fact that she knew damn well what a bombshell this was. "Dammit, Francie . . ."

It was easier, somehow, to focus on Francine's problems rather than her own.

And it also gave ample excuse for more hugging.

Some part of that selfish frustration pushed her to be a brat about it. "You weren't here. I ended up blubbering all over Arthur." In no way was that the whole story, but the whole story was for someplace that was not class, because there would be yelling, At someone. Or maybe just the walls.

"Language, Katina," Tyler sing-songed as he gave the glomping a look that was actually fairly indulgent. He kind of figured the girls were going to do this to him every year, and it was so cute in its way he'd let them do it.

And he'd glare at anybody who made him explain that out loud.

The look Katchoo shot Tyler's way after the warning he called out was, if you squinted from precisely a 37.82 degree angle in the afternoon sun, practically apologetic.

Oh, but then.

". . . all over Arthur?!?"

Francine disengaged a little, though she really didn't want to; she just felt self-conscious after realizing Mr. Durden had noticed them.

Standing unobtrusively in the middle of the classroom hugging and carrying on like normal students do every day.

"Merlin and I had a fight. I--" Went to go break my hands on things. And her scraped-up knuckles still burned. "--ran into Arthur."

"You had a fight." No, Katchoo wasn't contemplating breaking someone's nose for that, not at all. Why would you think that? "We'll talk about this later, Francine, okay? When we --"

She glanced to one side and caught a glimpse of Francine's hands. "Jesus, Francie, what did you do?"

"Hit a wall. Why, are you going to go beat that up for me too?" There was no meanness in it, just the ghost of the frustration that she hadn't known.

"Francie . . ." Katchoo reached for her hands, a little bit of an edge in her voice; people she loved, and granted she could count them on one hand with fingers to spare, were breaking left and right on her and it wasn't her favorite feeling in the world. To understate in a way that "grossly" didn't even begin to cover. And yes, this was in the middle of class, and she didn't seem to care that she was acting in a way that belied the attitude she projected to everyone else.

"I don't think the wall would take the lesson very well."

That got her a small, ironic smile. "I don't think Chuck did either, but I love you both for doing it. I probably shouldn't, but I do."

Katchoo stared at her. "You know about that now?"

Which brought back a little of the pissy. "I'd have known about that then if you people would tell me things." She pulled her hands back and sat down, though it was at the desk right next to Katchoo.

"Dammit," Katchoo muttered under her breath so Tyler wouldn't catch her. And wow, hello there, sudden surge of guilt. "I meant to, Francie. I'm sorry."

Francine dropped her head and scrubbed her fingers through her bangs. "I'm just sick of being the one who doesn't see stuff or understand it or nobody tells me because they think they're protecting me or something."

"You felt bad enough about the whole thing," Katchoo said quietly.

And this helped how exactly, Chewie?

"I felt bad about not knowing. Not knowing more stuff doesn't exactly fix that." And...Chuck was so not a big deal now, and Francine blew her hair back out of her face and sat back. "There's... yeah. There's a bunch of stuff we need to talk about."

Good god, was there ever. Just a lot more of it than Katchoo thought Francine wanted to hear.

Did someone order a truckload of guilt? Because it's waiting for pickup down at the docks.

"Good thing we're out of the cabins then, huh? We've got time." She thought of Emma, abruptly, and her smile faltered.

"Soon, though." Even if most of the Stuff To Talk About didn't involve Katchoo except in Merlin's adorable big-eared head, it was stuff she needed to talk about. With her best friend.

"Soon," Katchoo promised.

Oh, it so involved her whether or not Francine realized it.

Mythbusting, Tuesday, 7/28, Period 2

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