fandomhigh | 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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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."

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

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