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

"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!]

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"Big puzzle piece," Reno agreed after a lengthy pause. "Kid's gotta get back on his feet, zoto. Even if things do go different somehow, you know what he's capable of now, Ino."

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.

She nodded.

"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.

"Even back on my Gaia, he had it rough for a bit after Angeal," Reno noted, thinking back a few years and then some. "Company tried to send him on vacation a few times to pull him outta his funk."

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."

Edited 2010-08-02 21:13 (UTC)

Ino could, possibly, be forgiven for just blinking stupidly at him for that comment.

"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...

"He's got you, don't he?"

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?

She flushed.

"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."

"Better than nothin', ain't it?" Reno took a deep breath, frowning up at the ceiling. This was going pear-shaped all over. "Think it'd help if he knew that there are Turks on his side? Not... not just his?"

He was going to kick himself for this later.

Or thank himself for it.

Ino bit her lip.

"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?

"What choice do I have?"

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."

Ino looked down.

"I'm sorry," she said, in a tiny voice. "I didn't..."

Well, it wasn't her fault.

"You didn't do nothin'," Reno replied, looking sharply at her, trying to catch her eye. "The day you can take control of the bullshit that Fandom Island pulls, that's the day you can apologize for me for that."

Slow, deep breath. Relax. Okay. "You want our help or not, Ino?"

She definitely wasn't going to look at him.

It was hard, having to admit that she needed help. It was harder still when in some way it felt like her fault.

"Please," she said, "I can't--I don't think I can do this without your help."

She couldn't. Zack couldn't. They needed the Turks.

"Okay."

Okay. Good. Great.

"You got it. Whatever we can give you, zoto. You tell your Hero that Midgar ain't comin' down if there's anything we can do about it, yo."

What the Hell had he just thrown himself into?

Well, shit.

Ino had had a very stressful time in the last little while and had had to keep herself together for Zack.

So it wasn't really surprising, on her end, when she flung her arms around him and buried her face against him.

There were tears, yes, but she wasn't sobbing, wouldn't let herself do more than shake. She was so tired of keeping it locked away.

Reno sighed, and lifted a hand to give Ino a little pat on the back.

This wasn't a disaster.

It was only the end of the world.

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

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