fandomhigh | The Day After Doomsday: Getting By In a Post-Apocalyptic World, Wednesday, Period 4

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The Day After Doomsday: Getting By In a Post-Apocalyptic World, Wednesday, Period 4

When the students stepped into the Danger Shop for Reno's class today, they'd find themselves stepping into the lobby of the dormitory all over again, with a few pointed differences. There seemed to be a barricade built against the boarded-up windows, consisting of a good deal of the furniture that had clearly been dragged down from the floors above them. The power to the simulated building had been cut off completely, which meant that they were sitting in near-absolute darkness, because naturally Reno was going to be an ass and set this scenario for the dead of night.

There were cans of food lined up against one wall. There were weapons, what looked to be the entire contents of both the weapons locker and sharpened, weaponized versions of the practise fare from the Salle, laid out against the other. A sign hastily scribbled down on a piece of paper pointed deeper into the building, directing any possible injured to a first-aid station in the rec room.

Reno was sitting in the middle of the floor, grinning up at the students as they came in, legs splayed out in front of him and his elbows on his knees, Danger Shop supplied stun baton in one hand.

"Trust me," he said coolly, nodding back to the doors that closed themselves and instantly fell behind another barricade the moment the last of the students stepped in, "you don't wanna go back out there. This ain't your everyday Fandom invasion, where somethin' shows up, tapdances nasty around us all for a week, an' then gets sent packin'. This is the real friggin' deal, yo. This is your doomsday scenario, where there ain't no cure for bein' dead. Where if you get bit and infected and turn into one of them, you ain't snappin' out of it. Where the weapon that blew up the school took half of you with it, and you don't got time for so much as a head count to figure out who's left."

He leaned back, the cool metal of his baton scraping against the floor of the lobby, playing an eerie harmony to the sounds from outside, which alternated from complete silence to screams to gunfire, to the sound of something not remotely human calling out into the dark, answered by what had to be a hundred more just like it, all converging in on one point: The Dorms.

"I ain't gonna pretend there ain't heroes among you, I ain't gonna sit here and point at you one by one to tell you the likelihood of comin' back alive, either. If you're one of them who's gonna run out there, then there ain't nobody who'll be able to keep you inside. And that'll cost the island one of its first big advantages early on. Because once you guys are dead, what are the people who ain't fighters gonna do?"

And then, all at once in a flash of speed that was jarringly unnatural, Reno was on his feet, baton on his shoulder, and he was prowling back and forth in front of the students.

"What the enemy out there is don't matter in this scenario. What's out there is the predator, that thing that goes bump in the night, that sees you as prey or pest, but whatever the case is, it don't want us here, and it's lettin' us know with extreme prejudice. This is the Danger Shop, so if you go out them doors here, you'll just be steppin' out into the school again. This lesson ain't about fightin'. This is about stayin' alive. Look around. Take in what's been set up, here. Let it sink in that there isn't a single resource in this lobby that'll last even a severely reduced dorm population more'n a few weeks at best. And then, try an' figure out what the hell you're gonna do about it."

[Open! Go nuts!]

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To be fair, the whole idea of giving up on everything the way she had was completely alien to his psyche. If it weren't, his future would be a lifetime of government disability checks, and not, say, saving the entire galaxy.

"I don't think anyone else realizes how completely and utterly fucked up you are!" Joker countered. "Every. Person's. Life. Has. Value. PERIOD. No matter how fucking frustrating you are about it!!! I'm sorry that you're stuck in such a horrible situation, and I know I can't possibly comprehend what you're going through, but fuck, what is wrong with you?!?"

And lo, there came a teacher, eyebrow raised, baton resting casually on his shoulder.

"We got a problem here, kids?"

Not even rookies, right now. There was a lot of yelling going on in his classroom today, and while Reno was usually the sort to sit back and be amused by it, even he had a line drawn.

Kids it was.

Yeul tilted her head back to look up at the teacher, then looked back down, and shrugged.

She did not believe she had a problem?

"It is a... culture clash," Yeul said quietly. "At least, that is what I think it is."

"It's... definitely something, yo." Reno glanced between Yeul and Joker, sighed, and shook his head. "So, we got you sittin' on the floor, and him yelling at you for... sittin' on the floor. I'm not gonna give anyone a slap on the wrist, here, but does someone wanna explain what the yellin' was about, here?"

Because wow, Reno had not expected today's class to turn into the mighty clusterfuck that it had become, today, all around the sim lobby.

"It is nothing new," Yeul said, perhaps a bit ruefully, though when she looked back up her face showed nothing but calm serenity. "Joker does not care for the way I think or the way I chose to... exist. This is not the first semester he has chosen to elaborate upon his point of view."

At least this semester he was only yelling at her in one class?

"The continued difficulty, I suppose, comes from how my point of view does not change to align more with his."

"Funny thing about worldviews. They don't really change just because somebody wants you to." He tilted his head at Yeul thoughtfully. There was still something unsettling about her, but in a harmless sort of way. "Why were you sittin' on the floor anyway?"

She smiled.

"I wished to be out of other peoples' way," she explained sincerely. "I have nothing to contribute and so did not wish to get in the way of those with more... drive."

Reno considered that for a moment, and then he nodded a little, sighing.

"What is it that has you saying you don't have anything to contribute?"

This sounded like something he wasn't going to like. But it was going to be difficult to know what to do about situations like this in future lessons - because he couldn't picture something like this being a one-time scenario - unless he knew.

She tilted her head slightly.

"Pain," Yeul said, "and practice at it. Have you ever hurt until the only course of action to take was to change your entire way of thinking to make the pain stop?"

That was a nice, cheerful and sunshine-y way to start an explanation, right?

... Loaded questions all over the place, today. Reno's jaw clenched, almost imperceptibly.

"I've had to make changes before, yo. Sounds like you're talkin' a complete overhaul, though."

"Yes," she agreed, studying him thoughtfully. "I have died more times and in more ways than I can remember. Eventually the struggle of fighting to live longer, of railing against circumstance, grew to the point where it was either find a different way to handle it, or go utterly and absolutely insane."

Yeul shrugged slightly, not turning her gaze away from the teacher. "It took a lot of practice to learn not to care about dying. But eventually I did learn, and the pain no longer bothers me, and I no longer feel fear."

Reno frowned a little, looking down at her thoughtfully in turn.

That... sounded like a miserable existence. Fear was an emotion that came from a desire to keep what you had, whether it be stability or a loved one or one's own life. Reno had gone through a phase where he had nothing to fear, too. And that had been because he had nothing to lose.

"Doesn't matter what happens during this class, nothing's gonna make you feel inclined to make you participate in exercises like this, is it?"

It was an honest question. Almost more an observation, really. On the one hand, he couldn't make anyone participate. On the other hand, if her fatalistic attitude was going to provoke reactions like that from the other students...

No. No, fatalism was a part of the end of the world, too. Not everybody stood up and rallied against absolute destruction when Meteor was falling, either. Some were completely resigned to it. They couldn't change it, so why bother?

After today's class, Reno was going to have a lot to talk about with his students. Yep.

"It is unlikely," she said quietly. "And if I did feel the urge to participate... it would be a very bad habit for me to get into. I cannot afford to indulge that sort of feeling."

That way, quite literally, led to madness for her. And she'd already slipped up a few times since coming here.

"My role these days is not to do, but rather to observe."

Reno heaved a sigh, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He was going home to play drinking games with Rikku tonight, he'd just decided.

This group was very different from the one he'd been teaching the last time he did this class. Holy shit.

"Okay... then you don't have to participate," he settled on. "When the worst hits, there are always a few who throw in the hat early anyway. Your classmates are gonna have to get used to that, too. Might seem cruel to them, but we're not playing in scenarios where they're likely gonna have the luxury to care."

He glanced at the couple of students who had approached Yeul over the course of the class.

"I'll keep an eye open for people givin' you too much shit over this. It is literally not something anyone in this room is capable of fully comprehending, yo." Himself included. How could anyone possibly grasp this? "That said, it's probably not something many of them are likely to encounter again, either."

"I know," she softly, "and I would not wish understanding on anyone. If people have questions, I do not mind answering them."

Though the odds of them liking the answers was slim to none.

"I'm sorry. I know I am a poor fit for your class."

"I'm guessin' it was a mix-up in the office," Reno replied, considering her apology. "You don't really strike me as the sort to sign up for a class about surviving."

Why would she? She was resigned to dying, over and over, because she had died, over and over. Survival was probably the last concern on her mind.

"I'm gonna ask you somethin' I'm probably not going to ask the rest of my students, because they're here to learn, and you probably already know more about friggin' mass-extinction events than I ever will," he added. "Where do you figure is gonna be the best place for you in this class? Is there something you can get out of this? It's a summer term, it's a short semester. I can make a place for you. But I have no idea where or what that's gonna be, especially since a lot of this is gonna be hands-on."

"No," she agreed. "This class was not a choice of mine."

And was really a cruel sort of joke, all things considered.

"May I have some time to think about your question regarding the class?"

"Yeah, sure," Reno replied, nodding. "Today's class is almost over anyway, if you figure it out by next week, come talk to me. I'll probably even spend time in my office at some point before then, too, yo."

He had missed his swivel-chair. It was fancy.

"Do what you gotta do, Yeul. I ain't gonna be heartbroken if you gotta drop, or if you decide you just wanna sit back and watch or whatever."

"I will keep that in mind," she said, nodding. "Thank you. And I am sorry for the disturbance caused by my presence today."

Oh, great, now they were in trouble!

"Sorry for the outburst," Joker apologized. "Yeul doesn't really understand the point of this class, and I tried to explain, but I think our worldviews are clashing."

Reno tilted his head at Joker, thoughtfully.

"So, what's the point of this class?"

Reno was pretty sure the point did not involve yelling, 'what is wrong with you,' at the girl sitting passively on the floor, but he could be mistaken, here.

"Survival," Joker answered. "She doesn't care if she does, and doesn't care if anyone else does, either." He shrugged. "I have pretty strong views about that."

"Huh." Reno glanced over his shoulder, this time looking at Eleanor. "Funny thing. I had someone come talk to me about you giving up on that whole surviving thing, a few minutes ago."

So, tell Reno again, what was the point of the class?

Joker nodded. "I'm sorry about that, too. My skill set doesn't include 'running', and I figured that if that was what was in the cards, everyone'd be better off without me. If we were up against a normal sort of enemy, I wouldn't have suggested it -- but the premise here is that even our strongest fighters aren't likely to make it."

"Yeah, the dorms are kinda barren, and assuming that whoever's missing from here is dead, we're down a few tough ones, yo."

Including a god or two. Pretty impressive, really.

"You figure she's better equipped to survive this than you are?"

The fatalistic attitude on its own was making Reno wonder. And she had a limp, besides. She did not strike him as someone who did things like 'run.'

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The Day After Doomsday: Getting By In a Post-Apocalyptic World, Wednesday, Period 4

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