Coping With Change, Friday, Period 3

[furnaceface]

Today, Jonothon's class would come into the room to find him leaning back against his desk, as usual, arms crossed over his chest, as usual, looking thoughtfully over the classroom with two eyes, as was hopefully going to remain usual. He had most of his head back, and he was going to consider that... more or less a win.

//Welcome back,// he began, nodding to the students in the room. //I feel as though I ought to apologize for the past several weeks, but the man standing here in my place wasn't anything I had any control over, any more than many of you had control over your own selves. So I'll simply begin with assuring you that no, I'm not going to fail anybody who showed up to class last week. Not those of you who came into the room, and not those who turned back at the door.//

What? He had no eyes and his entire perception of the world came from his psionic senses. If you were a living being with capacity for thought, he knew you had been there.

//Next week we'll get back to... what's left of the syllabus. This week, we're going to do what this class is meant to teach you to do, and we're going to cope, either with the changes you experienced before, or with having changed back, now. You are all welcome to talk, today, to share your concerns or your relief, to raise questions and to answer them, to sort through what we've all been exposed to. None of you have to speak if you're uncomfortable, of course. Or if you'd rather discuss anything personal without the entire class as an audience, I'll be staying late today.//

Yes, he did usually stay late. Still, it was worth making certain people knew, just in case anybody who needed to talk was worried about holding him up.

//I think that's about it. If anybody needs to talk...//

[Open!]

Comments

Sign In!

[furnaceface]

Talking.

Re: Sign In!

[pulseof_life]

Paddra Nsu-Yeul

Re: Sign In!

[voiceoverdue]

Cecil Gershwin Palmer

Lecture!

[furnaceface]

Come in, make yourselves comfortable, take stock of the people around you. Breathe. Live. Listen. Whatever it is you do during the lecture for this class.

It's not even especially long-winded for Jono, today.

Re: Lecture!

[pulseof_life]

Yeul smiled to see that the Professor was back to his usual self today. Not because she'd missed him, since he'd been right there the whole time, even if his form had been different, but because she thought he was probably glad to be back to what counted as normal.

Re: Lecture!

[voiceoverdue]

It was a little weird to be back on the student side again. Not bad, exactly, but odd.

Still, it was good to see Jono - Mr. Starsmore - with his head back on again. That helmet had really been tacky.

Re: Lecture!

[wildandbrave]

Ah, yes, Jono was back to normal. Cosette felt a little cheered up by this, and couldn't help thinking the drastic difference between his usual appearance and what he'd looked like for the last few weeks put some perspective on her own situation.

Some. She couldn't say she wasn't still bothered by it, much as she'd have liked that to be the case.

Discuss!

[furnaceface]

You're all back to normal. You probably have feelings, concerns, worries, hurts. Or maybe you're relieved, happy that things are back to normal and want to talk about that. Or maybe you have questions, about what happened, about yourself and what you did, about the people around you.

The floor is open. Get it off your chest. Cope.

Re: Discuss!

[pulseof_life]

"I... helped?" Yeul said, a lilt in her voice making it a question. "That is, I did not fight, but I helped look things up and some of what I found in the library was useful."

She hesitated, then shook her head, and fell silent.

Yeul didn't really know how to express how uncomfortable it was that she'd done something. She didn't regret it, but it was... different. Change.

Re: Discuss!

[furnaceface]

//You helped,// Jono echoed gently. //Helping, getting involved, is something you haven't done in a very long while, is it?//

He could understand why it would make her uneasy. Not from where she was standing, no, but as a person who knew enough about her situation to be able to at least imagine what that might mean to her.

Re: Discuss!

[wildandbrave]

"I . . ." Cosette looked down at her hands and fidgeted a bit, then swallowed and raised her head again before going on in a rush.

"I'm very glad to be back to myself again. I don't like that other life I remember, and I wish I didn't remember it at all. It --"

She was revolted by the other person she'd been, to tell the truth, enough so that she didn't want to admit to it out loud, though it might have shown in her face just a bit.

"It wasn't very pleasant," she concluded, carefully.

Re: Discuss!

[furnaceface]

//It's... usually unsettling, getting glimpses at what might have been. Especially when what we're looking at is an echo, somehow, of who we are. Even if it's far from the mark, if it's close enough that we can tell it's meant to be us...//

Jono shrugged his shoulders a little.

//Does it help you better appreciate who you are now, at least?//

Re: Discuss!

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"So, three things," Joker said. "One: I spent a week without my disease, being able to walk and run normally. Do I miss it? Yeah. Am I bitter? I've always been bitter. But I don't like what that did to me as a person. I'm better off this way. The second thing..." He looked around the room, but especially at Eleanor (assuming she's there). "I am really, really relieved that everyone's back to normal. I... Nobody do that again, 'kay? I was pretty freaked. And three?" He lifted a finger and pointed at Jono. "Called it. I am the man." Joker folded his arms and grinned smugly.

Re: Discuss!

[furnaceface]

//Malicious time traveler,// Jono allowed, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling. //Or, at least, simply a time traveler. I don't think Booker intended to do us any harm, but his own agenda took precedence over the well-being of the island. I'll give you one of those little gold star stickers on your report card for getting it correct.//

Re: Discuss!

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor caught his eyes and blushed. But dipped her head in acknowledgement, eyes dancing.

Re: Discuss!

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

"I wish I didn't know about the other-me and her life," Celia said, simply. "They say ignorance is bliss, don't they? I've never felt it truer. It was better not knowing the alternatives to this life."

She shrugged, looking down at her hands. "But I'm back to normal, and very grateful for it. I just...wish I could forget certain aspects of the other version of myself."

[always in the right spot, shh]

Re: Discuss!

[furnaceface]

Jonothon bowed his head faintly in a nod.

//Sometimes, it doesn't matter if the alternative is better or worse, it's still difficult,// he offered. //Does knowing change anything about how you approach your own day-to-day now?//

Re: Discuss!

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor cleared her throat, wondering how much she should say.

"I'm angry," she started, "about ... what I saw, and who I was, and what that meant. I'm frightened about another me, one who was ... completely without any sort of moral code. I'm worried about one of my friends, something that she learned, and wish I knew more that would help her." She dared to dart a quick glance at Celia, hoping that wasn't too much to share.

"And I ... had something entirely unexpected but very nice happen," not looking over at Joker, dammit, "and ... that's good. But that's an odd counterbalance and I keep shuffling through moods like someone's changing those music discs down at the store."

Re: Discuss!

[furnaceface]

//So, it's complicated,// Jono offered, nodding a little. //It's difficult to find a balance with so much going on, when it isn't just a matter of your own troubles and those of your friends, but also the troubles of another you, and other versions of them, and while some good might've come of it, it sits parallel to that. It doesn't undo any of it.//

Re: Discuss!

[walkswithcoyote]

"Like Cosette, I wish that I didn't remember that other life, but for me it's because..." Mercy had to pause for a moment before going on. "Because it was what I'd always wanted and dreamed of and know I can't have."

Re: Discuss!

[voiceoverdue]

"For a while, I was just...well, myself. The librarians weren't quite as vicious, and I just left town for a while instead of getting de-aged." Cecil shrugged. "It was nice. And then I was me, but with extra parts. It was pretty much all me, except the me with tentacles also played basketball in high school, which can you see me doing that?" He rolled his eyes.

"I sort of miss it," he confessed. "Not enough to break the world and make everyone else miserable to get it back, don't worry! But it was neat."

Talk to Cecil!

[furnaceface]

Who is no longer a teacher. But he makes for a pretty good TA, too!

If he's here, of course.

Re: Talk to Cecil!

[voiceoverdue]

He's here! Also, possibly sulking just a touch about the fact they're not going over sulking as a coping mechanism.

But at least talking doesn't leave him quite as hungover as alcohol.

Talk to Jono!

[furnaceface]

He'll be here late again this week, in case anybody needs to talk.

He's got a fair bit of coping of his own left to do, but he's dealing with it. Yay, compartmentalization.

OOC!

[furnaceface]

WinterSoldierWinterSoldierWinterSoldierWinterSoldieraaaaaaaaaaaaaah