fandomhigh | Carpe Diem: Making Your Lives Extraordinary, Period 4, Class 3

Drake had commandeered the Danger Shop for class today and had had a fun time programming it that morning, if by "programming" you meant "poking at buttons and hoping for the best." It currently looked like an amusement park from hell, including a roller coaster, a drop tower, and...a pit of wriggling snakes (all non-poisonous) and a large glass box full of tarantulas.

There was also a blackboard upon which was written:

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

"Ella there knew her stuff," Drake said. "Sometimes people let their fear get in the way of living their lives to the fullest. Fear of failure, fear of rejection -- those are the big ones. And I could just stand up here and lecture to you about facing your fears and conquering them, blah blah blah, but instead I'm going to give you a challenge. Pick something here that scares you...and just do it. If you're afraid of heights, try the Tower of Terror. If you're afraid of snakes, jump into the snake pit. It's all a hologram, right? So you're not really going to get hurt. But it's a step in the right direction to conquering your fear, and if you can get over arachnophobia or acrophobia, you can get over any fear.

"Now, if you're not afraid of anything, then just have a good time. More power to ya."

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Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

Actually, the snakes were all kind of cute, if you asked Zack. And harmless, to boot!

Which was why Zack settled on the snake pit for today, crouching down and making silly faces at the serpents within. They were so much more friendly than Kusanagi, Ino's snake. And wriggly, too!

"This wasn't about enjoying ourselves."

Obviously, Cloud was there. And despite of his words, he was in a light mood. Well, for him anyway. Snakes weren't scary at all.

"Well, there's nothing around here that I wouldn't enjoy," Zack replied, giving Cloud a sideways glance and a grin as he picked up a corn snake and proceeded to bump noses with it. Awwww. "The Professor is going to have to try a lot harder if he wants to scare me, I think. So I might as well have fun, right?"

Aww, snake tongues tickled!

"There is no poison there, but they bite none the less." Yet Cloud wasn't worried. He, worrying over Zack's safety? The boy was SOLDIER, and if he was...the way he was, it was only because that's how Zack rolled, and pretty much how he would have rolled himself.

"I don't think he is trying. They could hurt us if that's what they wanted." The course was probably meant for more regular people, too. Looking down at a snake, Cloud extended a finger.

It certainly tickled a little.

Zack just grinned at Cloud, and then back at the snake, who he was going to name Mr. Tickles, for the duration of class.

"These ones couldn't," he pointed out. "Danger Shop has safety protocols set in place. This isn't like the Training Room back on ShinRa's SOLDIER floor, after all. So they're completely harmless."

Awwww, Mr. Tickles was squirming again!

"That's...quite convenient." That said, he picked the one that had been being pointed at from the tail, giving it an aprehensive look as it wriggled head down. Cloud wasn't that good with little animals.

"I wonder if I can get used to this."

Zack rubbed the back of his head, wrinkling his nose a little.

"I don't think you'll get used to it like that," he offered. "You'd have better luck being gentle with it, Cloud. It's jut a harmless little snake, you know."

Cloud, of course, wasn't talking about the snake. Did he ever stop thinking about serious, dark stuff?

Did anyone want to answer that?

Placing a hand below the one holding the snake, Clould let it rest on his palm, where the snake just wrapped on his fingers. "Being gentle is the key, then?" Quite a new philosophy to follow, that one.

Zack gave Cloud a wry smile.

"Well, where's the honor in being cruel to things when you don't have to be, right?" Zack wrinkled his nose a little, and then shrugged. "Even things that aren't real, I guess."

"There is no point on not acting according to a belief if some beings are to be spared." Real or not, he guessed, and decided to rethink some things that had happened to him on the island. Slowly.

"You still owe me a sparring match", commented with a grin. A more to come, if he could manage.

And to that, Zack laughed, setting the little snake back down and putting his hands on his hips.

"I do, don't I? Well, we can't really do that here in the middle of class, can we? But if you catch me around town sometime, or even take me aside after a Reserves meeting, I'd be happy to see what you're made of, Cloud."

Cloud let the snake find its way down his hands and stood. "Those Reserve meetings...I wasn't sure if I could go again; and I think I can take my sword out as well?" Because it would be way more interesting to use the Fusion Swords and give Zack a surprise. "I'll be sure to stop by the next one then."

"Well, why wouldn't you be able to go? You've got a sword and you're willing to help the island if anything happens, right? That's all that really matters," Zack decided. And then he was grinning some more. "So, I'll see you there!"

Carpe Diem: Making Your Lives Extraordinary, Period 4, Class 3

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Re: Climb into the snake pit [Carpe Diem, Class 3]

Re: Climb into the snake pit [Carpe Diem, Class 3]

Re: Climb into the snake pit [Carpe Diem, Class 3]

Re: Climb into the snake pit [Carpe Diem, Class 3]

Re: Climb into the snake pit [Carpe Diem, Class 3]