fandomhigh | Living on the Outskirts, Friday, Period 2

When the students made their way to the classroom for Jonothon's first ever class on the island (and really, what the hell had he been thinking when he had decided he could do this?!) they'd see that the setup for the room was a little on the informal side. Jono had given up on desks, having decided that they were anathema in a class that was supposed to be about making antisocial teens just get over themselves and socialize, already. In their place, sofas. Loveseats. A few bean-bag chairs if people so desired.

And a requisite shadowy corner. Big enough for one. Because he was a brat and wanted to see if any of his students would give one another dirty looks over it. He liked to think he knew their type, for some reason or other.

"Congratulations. If you're here, you've either decided that you're sick of standing in the shadowy corners, or else whoever it is that wrote your schedule for you has decided that you need to get the hell out of them. If it's the former, I hope I don't disappoint. If it's the latter, then I hope you don't disappoint. If you haven't noticed by now just by looking at me, yes, I do have some passing experience with not quite fitting in among my peers." Understatement was fun and educational! "My name is Jonothon Starsmore. You may call me Professor Starsmore if you wish, though I'll likely give you a strange look for it. Jono is just fine, informal though it might be. Everyone else calls me that, you might as well too."

Why mess with something if it worked, right?

"An entire week of classes is nearly out of the way, and I'm certain you're all sick and bloody tired of introductions, but there are half a million of you in here, and I'm going to need to know what to call you if you want to get an attendance mark and pass this course." This course on playing nice with others, yes. "So. Names. Year, if you feel so inclined. And a little something about what it is I'm to be working with, here. Tell me what it is that you feel puts you on the outskirts. Why you feel as though you'll never quite fit in, or what makes your life harder than everyone else's. You're most likely all teenagers. There's a good start. I haven't met a teenager yet who doesn't feel at least slightly as though their life is a ball of misery and darkness so bleak that the sun might never shine through the despair that simply waking from day to day brings them. I know how it works. I used to be a teen, myself. And what you share with the class doesn't have to be anything utterly horrible. If your biggest complaint is that you have to sit here and listen to a large grey British man lecture you about what it's like to be a teen, then that will do just fine."

His grin took on a slightly playful twist to it, perhaps a little in spite of himself.

"And then I want you to talk with your classmates, the people who have just introduced themselves to you, and give them one bright side. Even if that bright side is just that they woke up this morning with all of their body parts still attached.

"Oh, and..." Jono glanced at his class roster. "Surreal and Cade. Congratulations. You have been selected at random for the right to complain that you've just been drafted into a semester of extra responsibility as my TAs. If it's any consolation, that means you get to sit in the recliners near the back of the room, today."

Lucky them.

[Open!]

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Jonothon blinked a little at that.

"No complaints whatsoever?" That was definitely a new one, to him. "You don't miss home, or have a roommate who leaves their things on your side of the floor, or anything of the sort?"

He was gobsmacked, Yeul. Gobsmacked.

She tilted her head at him, frowning a little.

"Darcy is very nice," Yeul replied slowly, "and if she had things enough that they spilled to my side of the floor I wouldn't mind. I am not using all of the room given to me."

Mostly because Yeul had her school things, what she was wearing and very, very deep pockets. As you do.

"I miss home but I have been here not quite a week yet." She looked mildly perplexed. "It will pass so why would I complain about it?"

Jono was going to look somewhat perplexed right on back. She had an outlook that seemed to be... different, generally, from the sort that he'd expect to see in a class like this. It wasn't unwelcome, not by a long shot, but it was mildly baffling.

"That seems fair enough," he allowed. "I suppose your biggest problem right now appears to be that your instructor is asking something of you that you don't have in you to provide."

Yeul opened her mouth to point out that he couldn't possibly have known that she had no complaints beforehand and that it was rather unfair of him to say something like that when the rest of the class was able to answer this question quite readily and then realized that, maybe, that wasn't what he wanted.

"I suppose so?" she tried instead, sounding uncertain.

It didn't sound like that much of a problem to her?

Edited 2012-09-01 14:32 (UTC)

Jono considered that answer for a moment, too. And then decided to try a slightly different tactic.

"Do you have any problems, luv? Not necessarily complaints, of course. Just... troubles?"

Oh. Oh, well that was entirely different.

Yeul's face lost all uncertainty and slid back to something that could almost be called serene. "Yes," she said simply, then added truthfully, "but talking about those will not change them either."

"Do they bother you at all?"

It seemed worth asking, whether it changed anything or not.

"A lot of things in life are things that we have no control over, Yeul. But sometimes, just talking about it and knowing somebody else is aware of it can help make it less of a burden."

... This was Jonothon, partaking in the 'do as I say, not as I do' school of teaching.

She hesitated, casting a glance at her classmates, before looking back at Professor Starsmore.

"They bother me," Yeul admitted, "though less than they once did."

Sheer repetition did that to her.

"There is... someone back home who knows all of my problems." Her lips tightened slightly. "I do not think it helps." Not when it was Caius who could never die and who felt each of her deaths more keenly than she did. Even though she looked young, was young in this body, her eyes looked very old as she spoke. "In some ways, I think their knowing makes it worse."

Because then she grieved for his pain as well.

"I suppose... it depends on the situation," Jono offered, frowning thoughtfully. "If it's something that terrible, luv, I won't get you to share it in front of the class. You aren't under any obligation to. But if you do decide that you need somebody to talk to, you're welcome to stop into my office hours, or to speak with me after the period ends."

Her smile was faint. "I appreciate the offer," Yeul said, because she did, "but I will have to think about it before deciding either way about it."

Wouldn't it just be adding to his burdens to hear about hers?

"Of course, Sunshine. I won't demand that you do anything you're not certain of."

Jono's burdens generally benefited from having someone else's to worry about, instead.

Living on the Outskirts, Friday, Period 2

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