fandomhigh | Teamwork 101 -- Period 1 [Class #3] [Monday]

Today, the class had been ~~handwavily~~ notified that they weren’t going to be meeting in the school, and that they should all throw on some crappy clothes and make their merry ways down to the Boards, where their teachers would be waiting for them.

“Yo, Rookies!” Reno didn’t care who the hell he was co-teaching with today. He was outside! The weather was friggin’ fantastic, and it was difficult to want to beat anyone in the face when the sun was shining this way. For now! “Bet you’re all happy you ain’t cooped up in the Danger Shop today, just pretendin’ that it’s sunny, huh? Thank the gods for weird-assed islands, yo.”

Genesis, for his part, was not nearly so enthusiastic as Reno. Nonetheless, it was a glorious day for some strange reason, and their class today directly benefited him.

He had Reno’s good mood to thank for the ease with which he’d accomplished that. Genesis was smug. “I’m sure they’ve noticed it’s sunny,” he said, very dryly. “Welcome to The Boards,” his domain, mwahaha, “and as you all have eyes, last I checked, I do hope you’ve all noticed the paint cans.”

And everything else they’d need to get to work. Ladders, paint pans, brushes...

“That’s your assignment today,” he said, sounding bored. “Pair up so that none of you idiots fall while working on the ladders, and paint.”

“What he said,” Reno agreed, peeling off his black jacket and rolling up the sleeves of the white dress-shirt that he wore underneath. “And if the person at the bottom of the ladder lets it shake, the person at the top totally has my permission to drop the roller on ‘em, yo.”

Reno was too kind. And also reaching for a roller for himself, as well. If Genesis let his ladder shake, he was going to paint inappropriate things on the side of his building. Really, what could possibly ruin today?

Genesis, drowning Reno in a vat of paint. He’d take much satisfaction from it.

“Let’s get to work,” he said, with a smile that was sharp-edged.

[~~Wait for the~~ OCD up!]

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It took Karla a few seconds to realize she was being addressed. Sorry, Jason, she just had a serious brood going on.

"Huh? What?" It took her brain a bit to process what her ears had heard and dutifully reported, and a little while longer for her mouth to approximate a smile. It wasn't a good one, but the attempt had been made, at least. "Hi, Jason. I--it's not that bad, really. Mostly because if they'd given us something that required thinking, I'd've failed the class."

"Yeah, thinking on a Monday is almost never a good thing," Jason said, trying to joke. "Especially if the weekend sucked. Or something."

Karla rolled her brush in the paint pan, turning her face away. "Yeah. Mine did. A lot."

In fact, 'sucked' was about seven levels more positive than her weekend had been, but she didn't really have the mental capacity to go searching for a word that better explained how awful it had really been. Better to just stick with suck for the meantime.

"How was yours?"

Karla: not a scintillating conversationalist today. But she was trying!

"It wasn't really eventful, which is always nice for this place," Jason said, watching her for a moment like that might help him figure things out. "Are, uh, things going okay with your boyfriend?"

Look, Jason didn't know much about girls, so he had to go with the obvious problems first.

Karla gave a short bark of a laugh that was at least half-tears but she'd thank Jason for not commenting on that. "Warren and I are fine." Romantically, anyway. "We're okay. We're not broken up or anything."

This was probably not reassuring.

"We...lost...someone, this weekend," she said, still looking at the roller that was steadily soaking up paint. "A friend."

Oh. That wasn't what Jason expected to hear, so it took him a moment to recover and think of what to say. "I...I'm really sorry, Karla" he said. "I can't believe you're here. I don't think I'd have come to class. You're a better student than me, that's for sure." Or in need of distraction, which he understood too. "Was it someone from home?"

"It was more that I was going stir-crazy in my room," Karla admitted. "And I thought that maybe...getting out and doing stuff would make things easier. Give me something to focus on."

She pulled up the roller, it spattered and dripped everywhere and the pan was nearly empty of paint. She wasn't sure whether she should tell Jason just who had died--would that be rude? She didn't think that he and Raven were friends, but that didn't mean he wanted to find out she was gone in the middle of class.

"It was someone I was very close to," she said, deciding that was an acceptable compromise until she could figure out whether it was something he'd want to know. "I...don't deal with loss well."

Edited 2011-01-18 00:34 (UTC)

Jason didn't know Raven very well, and definitely not as much as he knew Karla, so he wasn't going to press her for details and risk upsetting her more. That was his main concern right now.

"I think you're dealing well enough, at least right now," he said, grabbing a paper towel to clean up any dripped paint. It seemed more useful than just standing there. "You're trying not to give in to the crazy. That's healthy and all."

"You didn't see me on Sunday," Karla said, a little ruefully. "But thanks."

For the words, for the paper towels, for coming over and saying hello. Pick one, Jason, and Karla was appreciative of it.

Hopefully Genesis wouldn't care about the dribbles and splotches of paint on the wall itself. Karla wasn't exactly an accomplished painter even on days she wasn't mourning.

"It's hard. Sometimes I just...stop...and it takes a minute to remember what I was supposed to be doing."

"It is hard, and it won't get easier for a while," Jason said. Karla was smart, so he didn't think sugarcoating was entirely necessary. "At least, it never has for me in the past. But you've got a lot of people here looking out for you, right? So, you don't have to deal alone." This was clearly the 'do as I say, not as I do' portion of the conversation.

"I know," Karla said, swallowing a few times. "My parents...died...when I was nine and I remember how I felt then." Died. Were murdered. Whatever. Her parents were DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD, okay? "How...all-encompassing it felt, right in the beginning. It's just hard to deal with, even knowing what it's like."

"My parents are gone too," Jason said with a nod. "I was really close to my mom so...yeah, the sadness can pretty much eat you alive in the beginning. But you got through that once. You can do it again."

"Yours, too?" Karla asked. "I swear, there needs to be a club for all of us. It's a little depressing, actually."

A slight deflection, but it was that or explain that, while nine year old Karla had thought her parents' death was somehow her fault, sixteen year old Karla had been directly responsible for Raven's death. It made getting through it a little difficult.

"It is depressing how many people can say the same thing," Jason said. "But that means there's lots of people who know how you feel when something's wrong. It's definitely a nice thing about being at the school, that's for sure."

Karla set down her roller and extended a paint-bespeckled hand to Jason. "Thanks for being one of them," she said, giving him a kind of wobbly half-smile. "And for coming over to check on me. It's appreciated."

Jason took Karla's hand and smiled. "You're welcome," he said. He wasn't sure how much he'd been able to help, but he hoped he'd done something, at least.

Teamwork 101 -- Period 1 [Class #3] [Monday]

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