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Teamwork 101 -- Period 1 [Monday]

By the time the students made their way into the classroom, Reno was already good and comfortable, leaning back against the teachers’ desk, arms crossed in front of himself. And yes, he was feeling much better this week than he had been when he’d missed the last class. No inclination to puke on anything. Kickass.

“Yo, Rookies!” He shot the group a grin. “Them fundraisin’ projects we been workin’ on ain’t due just yet. You got two more weeks to get your shit together and make ‘em run. And then, on the 11th of April, you’re all gonna come in here and give us receipts from whatever charity you chose to donate to, so that Rikku an’ I can meet your donations outta our own pockets, yo.”

All the more reason to do well, right guys? Making the teachers spend actual money was always fun!

“We can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!” Rikku bounced. “But you’re gonna have to finish them in your own time, because this week’s class isn’t about your projects. I mean, we gave you time for those before, you know? This week, instead, we’re gonna be talking about communication.”

Rikku was not good at segues.

“We’re all gonna sit down an’ have some heart-to-hearts with one another today,” Reno said, scooting back so that he was actually sitting on top of the desk, now. “Pick a partner, and talk with them about somethin’, about anything you got goin’ on now that’s eatin’ at you. You don’t gotta share your deep dark secrets or nothin’ like that. Talk about how your laundry ain’t been done in weeks, or about how you’re thinkin’ of gettin’ a job but don’t know where to start. Whatever you’re comfortable with dumpin’ onto a partner, yo.”

“And then, it’s your partner’s turn,” Rikku chirped. “And as the partner, it’s your job to figure out something that you have, or can do, or know, that would help with the first person’s problem. Maybe you know a place that gives out quarters for machines. Maybe you’ve seen a ‘NOW HIRING’ sign in a window downtown. Maybe you have a superpower that instantly washes and dries clothes! The thing is, you don’t have to go out and solve their problem. You don’t have to go wash their clothes, or send in resumes until your partner gets hired. You just have to share some information that could help with that problem. Does that make sense?”

“So, get to it, Rookies.” Reno grinned that sharp, kind of crooked grin of his before adding, “Homework for next week, on top of pullin’ together what you need for your fundraisers, is to get your hands on some kinda vegetable, and bring it in for class next week.”

No, he wasn’t going to explain why. Just bring some friggin’ veggies, Rookies.

[Open!]

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Sympathetically!

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

Chloe Saunders

Tahiri Veila

Effy Stomem

Karla

Jason Todd

Momoko Akatsutsumi

Or write notes, or pick your noses, or whatever it is that kids do during lectures these days.

And share. You don't have to tell your partner anything that you'd be uncomfortable sharing, or you can spill your heart out at them and sob on their shoulder. But Reno might look at you funny for that.

When you've shared your trouble, your partner can suggest some solution that maybe you never thought of, before. And then you trade places and its your partner's turn to get snot on your sleeve. Or whatever.

Oh. Oh, gosh. Sharing... wasn't really Wes's thing. Maybe he could get away with just listening to someone and taking a really long time with it.

"Hi!" It's okay, Wesley! Momoko was totally awesome at sharing! Especially when it didn't have to be important!

She took a seat next to him. "I want to learn how to cook but I think the stove hates me. I mean, I try and everything comes out wrong! And it totally doesn't matter what I cook. I mean I took all day to make just one dish and that was with a recipe!"

See? Sharing!

Oh! That was sharing. Check that out. Good for you, Momoko!

"Oh," he said, processing the... extreme bubbliness. "That's unfortunate. Have you tried making something more simple, maybe? An omelet? Tea?"

"Omelets aren't easy. Well, they totally are if you count how easy they are to burn." She sighed.

"I can make tea, though! And a vegetarian chili, and Valentine's Chocolate, and Tako-san wieners." Momoko counted off on her fingers, then let her hand flail. "But everything else turns out burnt or undercooked or missing ingredients!"

"Well, the missing ingredients part seems easy to remedy," Wesley offered helpfully. "Just write out the recipe step-by-step, and make sure not to proceed until all the required ingredients have been used. Er, correctly."

That was important.

Momoko frowned. "I have to rewrite the recipe?"

It was already hard enough to not be bored while cooking, but to have to rewrite the whole recipe first?

"Well, maybe not," Wes conceded. "But if you have trouble remembering all the ingredients, it might be best to take the necessary precautions to ensure that you... ah... remember them."

"Ah! That's a good idea!" she pounded her fist into her palm excitedly. "So I would write it out and that would help me make sure I have everything and when I am making it, I would know the recipe better!"

It probably wouldn't help with the over- or under-cooking, but it was a start.

"I'll try it! Now, you? What can I help you with?"

This was not one of those things that Chloe was particularly good at. She could listen to other people's problems and help them find solutions, but she wasn't that good about opening up her own issues.

Huh. A lot of what Karla would feel comfortable sharing would really depend on who she ended up paired with. She glanced around for a partner trying to decide what to talk about.

If she was going to have to share, Effy figured she might as well do it with someone she'd overshared with before. Seemed like it would be easier.

A moment of two's hesitation, and she slid into a seat opposite Karla, and twisted a small smile. "Not just got a dilemma about your laundry, have you?" That suggestion of Reno's was a little mundane.

Karla huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes a little. "I wish my issues were limited to dirty laundry," she said. "It would be a new and exciting experience for me, fretting over something mundane. You?"

"I'd rather die than be that boring."

On the other hand, she wasn't sure she wanted, or wanted to talk about the interesting ones either. Still thinking about that one.

"Also prefer not to call it 'fretting'," she added, nose wrinkling briefly in distaste. Brooding? Worrying? Neither was much better.

"If it's over something like laundry?" Karla pointed out. "Then it doesn't deserve to be called anything more than fretting. Because it's pointless."

Effy tapped her pencil idly on the desk a couple of times. Karla wasn't wrong. Any washing Effy did came out a colour it wasn't when it went in. Maybe that was why she wore a lot of black.

"So. What point-ful things do you need to share?"

"Let's see..." Karla sifted through some of what was going on with her right now. "I'm thinking of going home for a few days this week. To my real home. I...don't go back Glacia much at all. It's not a good idea."

To say the least.

"But there's some stuff I have to do there. Like prove I'm not actually dead," she added, sounding a little bitter.

"Oooooor we could talk about how I spent the last week as a cat and pouncing on my boyfriend's feathers, if you'd rather."

"Been there, done that. Minus the feathers." And technically, she wouldn't refer to Alex as her boyfriend. Except for the way that statement sort of implied it.

... "Why do you sound pissed that you're not dead?" Possibly that wasn't the way it was intended, but that was how Effy was choosing to read it for now.

"There's nothing more fun," Karla assured her wryly. "Pouncing on feathers apparently kept me entertained for hours."

That and eating teal deer in the Preserve.

"I'm more pissed that he's telling people I am," she added a moment later. "We don't really get along."

"And you can't tell him to go fuck himself?" Because that was always satisfying. Effy had no idea who he might be, but Karla's world seemed the sort where perhaps that response wasn't the wisest move.

"Shouldn't let one person put you off going home." Unless it was more complex than that?

"I have, quite creatively and often," Karla said. "But it's more complex than that."

Of course it was. It always was.

"But he's sort of ruling the country right now. Makes things a little difficult if he doesn't like you."

"Guess your 'fuck you's need to be a little more subtle these days," Effy said, shrugging easily.

"Buried under a layer of incincere ass licking." There was something fun about mocking someone, when they weren't entirely if you were, or how you were doing it.

"I was never very good at ass licking," Karla said. "So boarding school for me."

That was...leaving out a whole Hell of a lot, but there was only so much sharing she felt like indulging today.

"Mm." Effy was only good at ass kissery when it really suited her purposes. Otherwise? No, not so much.

"I have no fucking clue what I'm doing when I graduate," she shared after a moment. Considering she could count the time until that moment in weeks rather than months...

"You're not going to college?" Karla asked, ~~once her mun realized LJ had eaten her damn ping~~. "I thought that was what everyone in this world did after high school."

Effy shrugged, fidgeting with her pen. "Sort of didn't apply to any." Sort of. She meant plain old 'didn't'.

"But yeah, it's what most people do."

"Do you know what you want to do? Like, in general, ever?" Karla asked. "What makes you happy?"

That was probably rather more of a loaded question for Effy than for most. Happiness. Well. She had some difficulty with that.

"I don't." She hitched an uneven shrug, trying to pull back her air of nonchalance. "And happy doesn't really... work for me anyway." It was all very well, and it felt briefly amazing, but her ability to know what to do with it, to handle feelings in general, wasn't especially well developed.

Her carefully maintained apathy was kept carefully maintained for good reason.

She sounded like Ender right there, though Karla had a feeling that if she tried any Black Widow analyzing right there, Effy would never say another word to her.

"Is there anything that says you have to decide right now?" Karla asked. "Is it possible to take a year or so and figure something out?"

"Nothing says I can't." Parents would be pissed, though. "Year bumming around in Bristol. Awesome." That last word was dosed with heavy inflection of sarcasm, yes.

Effy shrugged and curled a hint of a smile at Karla. "Sure I'll figure something out." ~~Something that does not meet the suicidal lows of canon, omg~~.

"So why go back there?" Karla asked, not missing the sarcasm. Hell's fire. The people in the next room had probably noticed it. "Stay here. Go somewhere else. What's in Bristol that means you're stuck there?"

Who are both awesome listeners, we're certain!

Edited 2011-03-28 11:11 (UTC)

Chloe was here and is definitely a good listener.

It helped that Karla was no longer a cat. Because then her advice would have fallen somewhere closer to the 'hunt and pounce on things until you feel better. Then lay in a sunbeam and take a nap.'

Who are also awesome listeners. Uh. Each in their own special ways.

When it counts, okay?

Reno was still perched on the top of the desk while the class did their thing, trying not to eavesdrop too conspicuously.

Old habits died hard, here.

Rikku was here! And bouncing on her toes, and trying not to eavesdrop. That just seemed rude.

Break week means that I get to be the one to post class! Meeee! YAAAAAY.

Oh, I'm so excited. :D

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Teamwork 101 -- Period 1 [Monday]

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