fandomhigh | Rookiehood 101, Tuesday, Period 4

"Sometimes you ain't strong enough." That was Reno's opening statement for the day, yes. He was standing in the classroom well before any of the students arrived, with his arms crossed over his chest and a solemn expression on his face. Possibly the first time some of his students had seen him looking anything but smug, he supposed. They'd have to cope. "Sometimes, you're gonna have to get out there and do shit that you know is too damn big for you, and either you ain't gonna be able to get it done, or else you will, and that'll end up bein' all the worse, yo."

He cast his gaze across the students in the room.

"Every damn thing you do is the direct result of a decision you made. It don't matter if it's orders. You follow 'em, it was you who chose to. And some of them, it don't matter what you're doing for the rest of your life, are gonna stick with you, zoto. They're gonna stare at you when you close your eyes and they're gonna scream at you when you're lyin' down in your bed at night, tryin' not to sleep because when you sleep, it just gets louder."

He'd started to pace, now. Slowly, from one side of the room to the other, in front of the desks. The entire time, his eyes were carefully fixed on a point on the wall, well away from anything resembling eye-contact with anyone in the room.

"Maybe you're one of them people who ain't gonna ever have to choose between blood on your hands or peace of mind. Lucky you. The rest of you..." And now he looked away from the wall, seeking out the eyes of the people in the classroom, one by one. "When you leave this room today, just remember that the right decision ain't always the easy one to make. Sometimes, it'll be the one nobody wants you to make. Sometimes, it'll be the last thing anyone wants to do. And makin' it might cost you everything, yoto. You'll know what I'm talkin' about when you get there. And when you do... Don't let it be bigger'n you, Rookies. You can't take back most of what you do, so do it right the first time."

He grinned. Sometimes, Reno's grins were two inches shy of completely sane.

"No class discussion today. Leave if you wanna, or stay here if you don't. But either way, I want all of you to think about where it is you're gonna go from here, and what hard decisions you might have to make someday, yo. Are you gonna be the one who follows orders and lives with it, or are you gonna be the one who puts your foot down, gives 'em the finger, and decides to do what's right, instead?"

[Open!]

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"You look rough," Elena said carefully. "I'm ... sorry. Is that because of ... me?"

Not her, per se, but the mess with her sister. It felt diplomatic to leave that out.

"Not just," Reno sighed. "One of them weeks, I think."

He frowned for a moment, looking across the classroom.

"Think maybe I overdid it a little?"

"It's an important lesson," Elena shrugged. "Not something you can follow up with arts and crafts time. Maybe it'll sink it better this way."

She was not going to ask. She wasn't.

Yes, she was.

"Have you ... talked to her?"

Reno grimaced a little.

"Yesterday," he confirmed. "Still tryin' to figure out if I can really say it went alright, yo."

"I'm ... sorry," she said, shrugging awkwardly. "I should have ... I should call her. I shouldn't have left you to ... be the one sorting it out."

She scuffed at the ground with her toes. "But you're ... okay? You don't seem okay."

"There's other shit, too," Reno said dismissively, lifting a hand and giving it a wave as if that would shoo the topic away entirely. "It ain't nothin' I can't handle, zoto."

Lies.

"You should call her anyhow, Rookie. She's your sister, yo."

"You don't have to handle it," Elena pointed out. "And I will call her. I just mean ... this doesn't all land on you. I'm sorry if it did."

Reno shrugged.

"Wouldn't have landed on me if I didn't go and step under it after settin' fire to the ropes holdin' it up," he replied. "I... Uh. If you call her? Just... be careful what you say. I don't think she'd the biggest fan of me and my big mouth, lately."

At all.

That ... didn't sound good.

"Does she blame you?" she asked. "I'm the one who told her."

Wait. This was Reno they were talking about.

"... What did you say?"

"Mentioned the job," Reno sighed, frowning at the floor. Yep. Shouldn't have mentioned the job. "And she took it personally, yo."

You'd think he would have seen that one coming from a mile away. Honestly, now.

Elena ran a hand through her hair and wondered how to say this delicately.

"I'm guessing there was more to it than that?"

That was nearly tactful.

Reno grimaced.

"'You're the job,'" he recited. "Which I'm pretty sure she took... some way I didn't mean it to come off as, yo. And then... Fuck, it got messy. I dunno."

See Reno and his very helpful shrug? Oh yeah.

Elena was trying not to laugh. She shouldn't laugh, it was a clusterfuck, and yet ...

"Sometimes I think there needs to be a Reno-to-Rookie translator."

Or at least, Reno-to-her-family.

"You're tellin' me," Reno mumbled, running a hand through his hair anxiously. "You know, most Rookies get it, yo."

Clearly, this failure to speak fluent Reno-ese was genetic.

Rookiehood 101, Tuesday, Period 4

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