fandomhigh | Living on the Outskirts, Friday, Period 2

Today when students entered the classroom, they might notice how the usual pastries were completely absent. The seating set-up was the same, if only because the teacher had walked in to see the seats all shoved aside and had decided, to hell with it, he wasn't going to make the attempt to rearrange them. Oh. And the room smelled like burning brimstone. A little.

//Sick bloody joke,// the leather-wrapped teen who had taken a seat on top of the teacher's desk was grumbling. Well, 'grumbling.' Talking directly into the students' heads was more like it. And he wasn't even particularly good at it yet, considering the way he had to pause every few words in order to round up his focus all over again. //'A guide to fitting in... for those not meant to?' Really?//

Today's class might be a touch counter-productive.

//If yer not meant to... yer not meant to. World's got a pecking order to it. We... can't all be superheroes or rock stars or... prom kings. And a person'll just get burned if they set their sights... too high. Whose idea was it, having th'likes of me teach this? 'Those not meant to.' Plonkers.// Was young, skinny, burning Jonothon a little grumpy? Yes. Yes he was. //Th'way to fit in... is to find somebody who... happens to be as big a freak as you are. Anyone else... is probably just trying t'make themselves... feel better.//

He cast a look around the room, chestnut-coloured eyes glowing fire-hot for a moment.

//Tell me I'm wrong. Go on. Try.//

... That was probably about as close to an assignment as the class was going to get from Jonothon today, yes. So, go on. Tell him he's wrong.

[Open!]

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Like a freak!

No food, no tea, but still a bit of time to sit and talk, if you want.

Well... it's lecturey. And delivered straight into your head by a teenager version of your usual teacher, who smells like burning and think you're all idiots who are wasting both your time and his.

Enjoy that.

It was kind of more like a challenge, granted. But if you have any argument at all for why Jono is wrong when he says that freaks are always going to be just freaks, by all means, speak up.

They might or might not actually agree with him today, at least?

He's... not terribly approachable. But he's here. Grudgingly.

Wanting to punch whoever had the bright idea to have him teach this stupid class.

So, himself. Not that he knew that.

THIS JOURNAL. THIS JOURNAL I HAVE MISSED IT.

And it still has paid time on it from all of the icon commissions I wound up doing, way back when. I was kind of stunned, yes.

Cade

Cade got a lot out of the lecture, namely the word "plonker."

Heh. Plonker.

Paddra Nsu-Yeul

Victor Mancha

So Victor knew, intellectually, that Professor Starsmore was probably Chamber.

It was quite another thing to see him being Chamber someplace otherwise than a reality that didn't exist anymore where he hadn't properly been himself anyhow.

He knew that wasn't the point of the lecture (which mostly just made him feel guilty his particular version of freakdom could be hidden from anything except metal detectors), but it was still what he was going to think about.

For her part, though it was perhaps not the point of the lecture, Yeul couldn't help but mull over the differences between Professor Starsmore as a teenager and way he usually was. Especially when it came to the topic of fitting in.

Peculiarly, it made her feel quietly pleased. If this was his teenaged self, it appeared that he was doing much better as an adult and that made Yeul happy.

In a way, things had looked up for him. He just did not know it yet.

"I cannot think of anything that would make a difference in how those who do not fit in are viewed by others without that trouble," Yeul said quietly. "There will always be those who are uncomfortable, to put it mildly, with people who are different."

Which was desperately sad.

Yeul kept her voice soft and her eyes on her desk. "But I think that, perhaps, though it may not make a difference those who are not 'freaks' and how they feel, that those who are different should know that they are more than just their differences. Reducing someone to just being a 'freak' even if, especially if, that is a belief held by another 'freak' takes away everything else that they are as well."

Toby Logan

There was something different about actual, telepathic conversation compared to just 'overhearing' the thoughts of others. In any case, Toby was glad the startled sort of twitch he gave when Jono started talking probably wasn't going to seem that surprising, considering everyone could hear their, uh, 'teacher's voice.

//So, you're saying it's dehumanizing... t'be considered a freak among freaks,// Jono paraphrased, perhaps poorly, as he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. //And we should... what, keep in mind that we're all... people, even when we're sitting on th'outside, looking in?//

Edited 2012-11-30 16:25 (UTC)

Surreal

Yeul looked up at him. “I would not use the word ‘dehumanizing’,” she said quietly. “But I think it a sorrowful thing if the only people who might even have a chance to even vaguely understand one another spend their time pointing out each other’s differences and crying ‘that person is more of a freak than I am’.” She paused to consider her words carefully. “I do not mean to say that everyone who is a… a freak, to use your word, must get along with one another. But it seems pointless and needlessly cruel to deliberately lash out with harsh words towards the people who are freaks, because of their freakishness, if you’re also a freak.”

//Never said I was going to... lash out at people who're as... as messed up as me,// Jono grumbled, apparently not thrilled with being lectured when he didn't even want to be here in the first place.

Because life was unfair, that was why.

//Not even looking to find someone... worse off. Just saying there's... no point trying to fit in among people who... can't begin to comprehend what it's like.//

That said, he was totally a freak among freaks. He just didn't know the full extent of how poorly he'd be treated even by other mutants, yet.

She lifted her shoulders in the slightest of shrugs.

“As you wish,” Yeul said agreeably. “I do not believe anything I could say would change your mind on that matter. The rest was less meant as a lecture and more as an opinion.”

But that he’d taken it as a lecture was interesting in and of itself.

//And everybody is certainly entitled to one of those.//

Didn't mean Jono had to like that opinion, but it was true enough. He gave his boot a scuff against the leg of the desk that he was sitting on, and then shrugged.

//People are people. It'd be... nice, if it were really so simple, out there in th'real world. Wouldn't it?//

“I think so,” Yeul said honestly. “But I am probably the wrong person to ask. A great deal of my time is spent far from other people. I do not have much first-hand experience at the sort of dislike we are talking about. Only supposition and thoughts.”

Honestly? Surreal thought that Starsmore was actually really not that strange-looking this way. Still not her type - male, for one, - but she didn't think he looked that odd or unattractive.

Eyrians, with the wings, that was strange. He just looked like he'd had a Craft accident.

Mercy Thompson

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Living on the Outskirts, Friday, Period 2

Sign In.

Before Class!

Lecture?

... Discuss?

Talk to the TAs.

Talk to Jono.

OOC!

Re: Sign In.

Re: Talk to the TAs.

Re: Sign In.

Re: Sign In.

Re: Lecture?

Re: Lecture?

Re: ... Discuss?

Re: Sign In.

Re: Lecture?

Re: ... Discuss?

Re: Sign In.

Re: ... Discuss?

Re: ... Discuss?

Re: ... Discuss?

Re: ... Discuss?

Re: ... Discuss?

Re: Talk to the TAs.

Re: Sign In.