fandomhigh | The Day After Doomsday: Getting By In a Post-Apocalyptic World

When students arrived for class today, they’d step into a Danger Shop scene that looked something like a freeze-frame from a bad end of the world movie. They were standing in the middle of what looked to be endless wasteland, a dark greenish haze marring the sky somewhere beyond, on the horizon. And above them in the sky, there was a giant rock, burning and casting a red tinge on the few clouds above that weren’t a sick smog green. Hanging in the sky beside that meteor, less than a quarter of the size? Was the moon.

“Yo!” Yes, this was the traditional greeting of the being known as Reno, who sauntered into the Danger Shop a full five minutes late for his own first class of the term with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face that suggested that he didn’t much give a damn what anybody thought about that fact, either. Maybe he was feeling lazy today. Maybe he just wanted to give his students a few minutes to stare up at the flaming ball of death that was looming above them.

“Welcome to the end of the world. An inescapable calamity that’ll fall down from above, wiping out all life on The Planet as we know it. And there ain’t nothin’ you can do but sit back and stare at the sky, counting down the days until it gets here. Technology won’t save you. The space program on your world is a joke, and the most powerful explosive that your world superpower could muster, that bad boy up there shrugged off like a mosquito, yo. There ain’t no hope. So!” Reno looked around at the students gathered around him, and then crossed his arms over his chest. “Introductions time, boys and girls. This is our first lesson together, an’ that’s as heavy as I’m gonna get on our first day. Name, age, what the hell you’re doin’ in a messed-up class like this one, and what you’d do with your last few weeks before rocks fall an’ everyone dies.”

Such a happy bunch of introduction questions!

“And Ino, after class, I wanna talk to you, yo. And your Rookie, too.”

[OCD is up! Syllabus and roster are here.]

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It was truly a shame, she thought, that most of her cutting comebacks to that would reveal information that Ino wasn't inclined to let on that she knew.

"It's Meteorfall," she said, shrugging. "Doubt anyone who made it through has got the best memories of it. Pretendin' it never happened and not wanting to talk 'bout it, though, just mean it stays lingering worse in the back of your mind."

Since it was a choice between sighing or getting more pissed, Cloud sighed.

"I know that." He did, indeed. "There isn't much to talk about though; it hit us, we hit back." A beat. "We hit harder, fortunately. The rest are...details." Or so he wanted to think.

"Survival ain't a detail," she said, glancing at him. "You do everyone stuck in Edge a disservice callin' it that."

Ino? Wasn't doing too well with this whole 'lack of explaining things' on his part.

"Either way, if you're all that important 'bout savin' the world--why ain't you still there?" Curiously. Nosily.

Look, she was one of Reno's Rookies, with all that implied.

If he hadn't been already trying to calm himself down, Cloud would have only turned to a worst mood. Still, now Ino was talking. "That is not what I meant." It was said slowly, every word very, very defined, a hint of 'really, you might know some things, but that's just it' going on as well.

"And I'm not the important one." That was Aerith. "How much do you know about this? If we are going to talk, then I'd prefer not to make a fool of myself."

She very deliberately sat on her temper. Sat on it hard.

"I know a fair bit," she said artlessly, smiling deliberately and wondering what on earth Madison was thinking of this. Way to make a good first impression.

Also, she was skating around the fact that, yes, she knew a whole lot but a whole lot of it didn't add up. "Reno's my mentor, after all. He talk to you yet 'bout Zack?"

Because if he hadn't...

See? They had more in common than they thought.

"That...doesn't mean anything." But of course, Cloud wasn't expecting her to blurt everything she knew. She was, after all, Reno's Rookie...whatever that meant.

He did give Madison an apologetic look. Because really, she had freaked her out already when they first met.

"He has." And you are talking about it in a pretty casual way, considering everything which means he hasn't really talked to you, or so he thought. And neither was Cloud, anyway. "I haven't ran into him yet." Well, Cloud was probably wishing he could avoid such meeting for a while.

"What do you know about him?" It was like asking while already knowing he would not get something concrete, but still...it was something.

Yeah. Ino knew Zack wasn't supposed to know the future.

Ino didn't know a very rather significant detail of why.

She blinked at him. "Would you like a full list of what I know? I can tell you how often he does his laundry, even." Mostly because she did it. The perks of living with someone.

And definitely not what Cloud had been asking about, but middle of class--Ino wasn't going to even begin to think of spouting off more than mentions of Edge, here.

Ino wasn't going to know more anytime soon. Because the future sucked.

To say an eyebrow went up was an understatement. Really, it was a miracle he didn't hurt his face with such sudden movement. It didn't last much though. Even the relationships-weirdo of Cloud could tell there was something that didn't quite fit there. "No." It was a pretty vague answer.

"And not here. Somewhere else...maybe." So far getting his head on other matters was going horribly.

That would not stop her from trying to pry. It was something Reno put up with on a regular basis, even.

Her lips twitched. "Only a maybe?" That was interesting. "I'm in room 504, if you want to try there. Or if you'd rather get it over with, I'm at the clinic today. The squirrels are good ‘bout privacy issues there."

Flower shop tomorrow, weapons store on Wednesday... Ino lived a busy life.

"...Privacy works." He did listen the radio the other night, and was slightly terrified of all the information that was gathered. So yeah, clinic was it. "Can I go even if I don't need medical assistance?

Cloud was in five classes, and he still felt like he had way too much free time. Maybe he needed a job...

At that, she really did look amused.

Ino laughed. "People can come by for a visit, yeah. There's all sorts of reasons to stop by places."

Laugh was good. It meant he could at least avoid getting into touchy subjects. So Cloud allowed himself a smile.

"Then I'll see you there." Now...back at staring at Meteor.

The Day After Doomsday: Getting By In a Post-Apocalyptic World - Period 2

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