fandomhigh | Living on the Outskirts, Friday, Period 2

"I realize," Jono said as he stepped into the classroom, "that last week's lesson was a touch... heavy, for at least a few of you."

He wasn't going to name names, or even single anybody in the room out by looking at them. They knew who they were, and that was enough.

"This week, we're going to lighten things up a little bit. I know I'm not the party person here on the island, but I did my best. For the rest of the class, it's music, refreshments, dancing, and, you know, being social. If you aren't up dancing, I want to at least see you making small talk with somebody else in the room. There is a shadowy corner right over there," he pointed at a corner of the room behind his speaker equipment, where light was somewhat scarce, "and if I see you in there for anything besides re-grouping and taking a breather if you're feeling overwhelmed, you'll have marks docked."

... He wasn't really marking you on partying during class hours, but there was nothing stopping Jono from making that threat all the same.

"Random social situation? Go."

[Open!]

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"It's just taken a long time to be able to share that and I hoped people would be okay, and I was prepared for them not to be if I was wrong," Mercy admitted. "But it was so nice to have such a good reaction here."

Yeul nodded thoughtfully. "I am glad that your worries had no grounds in this class," she said. "I think that the professor would have been quite displeased if anyone had caused a scene, truthfully."

"Yeah," Mercy agreed. "I'd already talked to him about it. I kind of outed myself to him over that weekend when we all turned into little kids. I kind of showed up at his house as a coyote pup and then turned into a kid later, so..."

"I knew he'd be supportive. And he can be pretty scary when he wants."

Yeul’s smile brightened. "I wish I could have seen you when you were so tiny."

Because, well, adorable.

"I think that to teach this class, he must be a little imposing.” Though she did not find him as such. "Otherwise some students would not listen to him. His topics can be uncomfortable."

"It's hard to look at things you don't want to," Mercy admitted. "There are a lot of things that led up to my coming here that just - they were hard to live through and hard to understand and... I don't always like to think or talk about them."

“I think you were brave to do so in front of the whole class,” she offered. “Far braver than I have been. If you are hard on yourself about thinking on things, I do not believe you should be. You are making progress.”

"I'm trying," Mercy said quietly. "I think I'm going to get a tattoo. So I have something that's private for just me so that even if I'm somewhere I have to hide where I am, I can still acknowledge it to myself."

“I think that is a lovely idea,” she said honestly, wanting to be reassuring. “Have you thought of where you will put it and what it will be?”

Yeul looked hesitant. “Did you wish for support if you do go and get one?”

She would not take it amiss at all if Mercy did not wish company. Some things were truly meant to be private.

"I don't know yet," Mercy admitted. "I know I want it somewhere easy to keep covered and somewhere that I can see it easily since it's for me. And I want it to have something to do with coyotes, but I don't know what yet. Cade told me there's a place here in town that does tattoos, so I thought I'd go and see what they've done before for other things and see what I like."

She smiled at Yeul. "Yeah, I think I would. I talked to Cade about coming ~~thread still in progress~~, but it would be nice to have a woman's opinion and support, you know?"

"I would be happy to help, if you think I would," Yeul said, looking pleased. The very idea of her being someone's support was a strange one. Pleasing, but strange. "When you decide how you want things, or when you wish to go, let me know."

"Definitely," Mercy said with a smile. "I'd appreciate it."

Living on the Outskirts, Friday, Period 2

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