Reno of the Turks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raspberryturk) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2010-08-02 07:47 am
raspberryturk) wrote in fandomhigh2010-08-02 07:47 am
Entry tags:
The Day After Doomsday: Getting By In a Post-Apocalyptic World - Period 2
"You ain't gonna see it comin'," Reno announced, the moment the butt of the last student to enter the classroom hit the chair. "I don't care if you been watchin' it fallin' down on your heads for weeks, I don't care if you were warned on the news, I don't care if you're the reason it happened or if you put your life on the line to keep it from happenin' or if some kinda magic vision popped into your head an' showed you exactly what tomorrow was gonna look like, yo. I don't friggin' care."
Apparently, Reno's caring reserves were running on empty, today?
"When you're standin' there in the aftermath, lookin' over whatever's left and realizin' that everyone is dead or gonna be that way real damn soon? When you find yourself face-to-face with the actuality that everything you know ain't never gonna be the same again, you will not be ready."
He took a moment, giving the students in the classroom a significant look.
"I don't know how each of you is gonna take it, and a lot of that might depend on what it is you're faced with, yo. But lookin' at the examples I know? People when they're desperate ain't friendly creatures. I seen kids wanderin' the streets with sick little siblings to watch out for, no family to their name an' nobody in the world wantin' to help. Nobody can. They're all in the same friggin' situation. I seen people resort to looting, I seen the kinda shit that a panicked mob can do. I seen people just completely give up and wait for it, or get themselves killed in a panic."
There was a pause, then, while Reno grit his teeth and tried his damnedest to not feel so godsdamed human. Of all the subject matter that they tackled so far, this was the one that was hitting him closest to home.
Go figure.
"I saw people who had a whole lotta nothin' but their pride all their lives, let their brains turn off and cling damn hard to what they had, because that was all there was left for 'em in the world. But it was too damn big for 'em all at once. They couldn't just walk out there and face that they could never go home again, couldn't just step in and start pickin' up what they could. It took 'em a lot of time before they got to that, yo. Time an' work. Even the people who looked like they were doin' what had to get done, bit by bit? They weren't ready for it, either. Don't think for a moment that they were."
Deep breath.
"Another discussion class today. How do you think you'll react when you're standin' in the aftermath, and what do you think it'd take to snap you outta it? Talk about it if you feel comfortable with it, clam up if you don't, I ain't gonna judge. Practical crap like pissin' on rags to get drinkin' water, anyone can do. Talkin' about yourself can be damn near friggin' impossible. Just be damn respectful no matter what you think of what other people are sayin', because if I hear shit-talk about the person who admits they're gonna hide, I'll personally drag you outta the friggin' room and leave you there. Bein' afraid? That's the most sane damn response there is."
[Open!]
Apparently, Reno's caring reserves were running on empty, today?
"When you're standin' there in the aftermath, lookin' over whatever's left and realizin' that everyone is dead or gonna be that way real damn soon? When you find yourself face-to-face with the actuality that everything you know ain't never gonna be the same again, you will not be ready."
He took a moment, giving the students in the classroom a significant look.
"I don't know how each of you is gonna take it, and a lot of that might depend on what it is you're faced with, yo. But lookin' at the examples I know? People when they're desperate ain't friendly creatures. I seen kids wanderin' the streets with sick little siblings to watch out for, no family to their name an' nobody in the world wantin' to help. Nobody can. They're all in the same friggin' situation. I seen people resort to looting, I seen the kinda shit that a panicked mob can do. I seen people just completely give up and wait for it, or get themselves killed in a panic."
There was a pause, then, while Reno grit his teeth and tried his damnedest to not feel so godsdamed human. Of all the subject matter that they tackled so far, this was the one that was hitting him closest to home.
Go figure.
"I saw people who had a whole lotta nothin' but their pride all their lives, let their brains turn off and cling damn hard to what they had, because that was all there was left for 'em in the world. But it was too damn big for 'em all at once. They couldn't just walk out there and face that they could never go home again, couldn't just step in and start pickin' up what they could. It took 'em a lot of time before they got to that, yo. Time an' work. Even the people who looked like they were doin' what had to get done, bit by bit? They weren't ready for it, either. Don't think for a moment that they were."
Deep breath.
"Another discussion class today. How do you think you'll react when you're standin' in the aftermath, and what do you think it'd take to snap you outta it? Talk about it if you feel comfortable with it, clam up if you don't, I ain't gonna judge. Practical crap like pissin' on rags to get drinkin' water, anyone can do. Talkin' about yourself can be damn near friggin' impossible. Just be damn respectful no matter what you think of what other people are sayin', because if I hear shit-talk about the person who admits they're gonna hide, I'll personally drag you outta the friggin' room and leave you there. Bein' afraid? That's the most sane damn response there is."
[Open!]
Re: Reno
"Yeah, ain't like everybody whose seen shit come tumblin' down is perfectly innocent," he agreed. "Even a couple of Gaia's so-called heroes after Meteor were terrorists with a pretty decent tally of innocent lives on their hands."
He didn't so much as glance toward Cloud
if he was there.There had been a lot of players in what had happened in the events leading up to Meteor, after all. There was no sense in finger-pointing when he had plenty on his own head to deal with."Can be a big friggin' shock to the system, seein' what's left and knowin' that some of it's on your head. Even harder to actually get to a point where you can accept that, yoto."
Re: Reno
She looked sheepishly at him.
Re: Reno
"Don't let me stop you," he decided. "It's a good damn point to make, but... all things considered, I ain't the one who should be makin' it. Glad you stepped up to, Rookie."
Too hypocritical, lecturing students who were liable to be innocent for assuming that they would be innocent, coming from him.
Re: Reno
"Just don't expect me to teach your class all the time," she teased, tugging at her hair. "I need to talk to you though. 'Bout--notebook stuff. Didn't just come up for the apology there."
Re: Reno
"You got some new notes to run by me for accuracy, or what?" Reno's eyebrow twitched upward slightly, and he idly reached up to straighten his goggles. "I'm all ears, yo."
Re: Reno
"I need help with this," she said earnestly, and held it out for him to read.
Ino had written, at the top of the page she'd opened the notebook to:
Zack's put together almost as much as I have about what happens to Gaia.
She didn't think she needed to elaborate why she needed help here.
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
He held up one finger, looking around to be certain that no other students were about, and then he made a point to loudly announce that he'd leave rum out for the squirrels tonight if they backed right the hell off of this one.
He'd worked with them for a while. He figured he knew how they worked.
"... How much," he said, turning back to Ino once that was over with, "is that much?"
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
"It weren't me who told him," she said, almost babbling in her haste to let him know that. That she was still trustworthy. "He don't know how he fits in," and neither did Ino, which bugged her, "but he knows 'bout Midgar and he knows 'bout Edge and 'bout Jenova bein' Calamity and thinks that Calamity is what happened to Midgar--he don't know 'bout Meteorfall--and that ShinRa ain't likely to survive that 'cause Midgar is it's center of power though there's Junon and stuff. Thinks that Angeal was broken mentally by Jenova for what happened to him. Knows that SOLDIER can count as monster. And that Jenova can use monsters, makes them, to do her bidding."
Breathe Ino.
"And that people--I think it's Cloud, I do, but he didn't say--stop bein' on ShinRa's side and go against them and that none of it's enough to make sense and it's breaking him up, Reno."
And she was near tears by the end of it, because Ino could deal with the secrets, however badly herself, but the idea of breaking Zack hurt her in ways she hadn't known she could be hurt.
"I don't know what to do."
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
"... He knows that much," he echoed, flatly. "He tell you all that himself?"
There went the neighborhood. That wasn't going to stop him from reaching a hand to rest on her back.
"You say anything to him about it?"
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
She glanced down at her notebook, just for something to do.
"I... I told him that I didn't know how he fit in, that I wanted to know," because she did and Reno knew that already, "and that I thought he were a hero anyway even if he don't believe it and that fate don't got to stay the same and we can fix it. And 'bout fear and 'bout change and breaking and everything and it's all wrong."
But she wouldn't tell him that Zack had cried. That was hers to know only.
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
"That'd be... too friggin' much for anyone," Reno allowed, frowning deeply while his mind raced overtime. "You told him you can fix it, huh?"
Focus on something. Something to hone in on. Cut the losses. Anything.
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Everything could very well already be broken.
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Chairs were for people who weren't tall, lanky, and about to give out at the knees.
"I... might be able to tell you things to look out for, zoto."
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
"I just... I don't know what to do. Zack can't stabilize himself and that's... I can guess that's important, right?"
It was a fair guess, with how no one said anything about Zack.
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Okay. He could make this call. Make this call and tell Elena what the hell was up and maybe... The world wouldn't end.
And if it did, it wouldn't be for lack of him trying, this time around.
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
"I know what he's capable of." There were advantages to going on missions with him. Even if the missions he took her on were ones that--wouldn't get her killed. Hopefully.
"I don't... I don't know how to put him back together," Ino said, fingers curling up and nails biting into her hands. "I got him to promise he... he wouldn't lie to me. So I'll know how he's feelin'. But..."
And he'd gotten a similar promise from her, but shhh.
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
He smirked faintly, remembering that much.
"Del Sol, yo. They sent a handful of the Turks along. And we still couldn't get Tseng into a friggin' swimsuit." Which... was a tangent. "He's got a lotta shit on his shoulders that ours never did, but he's got somethin' else that ours didn't, too."
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
"He ain't the sort that a beach'll cheer him up," she muttered, because that was easier than--something. "He's got a lot more issues. Ain't nothing that can off-set that." Vampires, monsters, the future...
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Okay, granted, their Zack hadn't been a Fandom-educated vegetarian reserves leader with a pet gerbil, either. Maybe the timeline had been screwed a long time ago. Maybe it wasn't, yet.
"There's a lot of shit there to sort through, yeah. But our Zack didn't have nobody who really knew it."
No, their Zack had the flower girl. Who was... a special snowflake, but who never did understand the job he was doing, did she?
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
"I can't do much," Ino said, with a sigh. "But listen and try my best. It feels like that ain't enough at all."
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
He was going to kick himself for this later.
Or thank himself for it.
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
"I think so?" she said, glancing at him. "But you..."
That was everything he'd said he wouldn't, couldn't, do in a way, wasn't it?
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Rock, meet hard place. And then gang up on Reno for funsies.
"He knows too damn much. There ain't no way things'll go the same, so... Better make sure they go right, at least."
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!
Re: Reno - NFB From Here, Please!