fandomhigh | Teamwork for Jerks, Friday

Class met in the Danger Shop, which had been programmed to resemble a rural part of Tuchanka. Ash and rubble were scattered on the reddish ground, and yellow smog hazed the uncomfortably hot air. Decaying buildings rose in the distance. Only a few thick-stemmed plants grew, and even they looked sick.

The only shelter in the immediate area was offered by an open-sided canopy, under which the class gathered. A rickety-looking Kodiak Drop Shuttle was parked on the ground a few meters to their left.

"Welcome to old-school Tuchanka, kids," Jack said jauntily once everyone was assembled. "Where you shouldn't drink the water and even the damn plants want to kill you. Your team project for today is to make a plan and then work together to get us out of this place. That's your ride off the planet" -- she nodded to the shuttle -- "but the hitch is, it's busted. Mass effect field controls went haywire. You can either rig together a fix from what you find here or sweet-talk the Krogans into helping you out. Good luck with that second one."

She hit a button on her omnitool, pulling up a hologram of a Krogan soldier in full combat gear. "This is a Krogan. We're pretty far from the population center, but there are still a couple military patrols that should swing by. Be careful with those. Krogans get mad easy, and they aren't real big on thinking before they shoot. But they do have the tech to get our combat cockroach off the ground."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You do, but I've heard worse," Jack told her coolly. "What was that, though? Usually I have a pretty good read on students and that just came out of nowhere."

Kathy was literally wringing her hands. Maybe she should have gone with an apology fruit basket.

"Those weird rocks!" she said. "Maybe you heard about them on the radio? I guess they were manipulating people's emotions and that day I was so angry at everything. But that's no excuse! I mean, I know that it wasn't. I was way out of line and I'm really, really sorry about that."

"Magic rocks made you do it," Jack drawled in return. "Man, every time I think I've figured stuff out, the island finds more weird shit to throw at me."

She shrugged. "I was pissed but it's not a big deal. Legos are a pretty lame class. Didn't kill me to put something together this week that took more than three minutes of effort."

Now Kathy was covering her face with her hands. Because 'magic rocks made me do it' was pretty much the worst excuse ever. Which was a point towards honesty, at least. If Professor Nought had doubted her, Kathy could have rightfully insisted that any excuse she'd tried to make up would have been slightly less ridiculous.

"No, no, you had every right to be upset," Kathy assured her. "The...utility?...of the class aside, I had no place to talk to you that way. I'm just a student--I mean, not that it would be polite to talk to anyone that way..."

No, seriously, next time she was going to go with a fruit basket. Easier.

"It wouldn't have mattered what the class was about. I still would have been a snotty brat and I'm really, really sorry."

Jack tilted her head at Kathy. "You should be a snotty brat to authority figures more often," she said. "Sometimes we're wrong. Sometimes arguing just feels kind of good. You were rude, but so what? I've hard way worse. I've said way worse. Think I said way worse to the mailman last week when he lost my package."

It was funny for her to remember most kids were taught manners somewhere along the line. She'd missed that lesson.

Edited 2014-06-01 21:00 (UTC)

Kathy's expression suggested that Jack had actually suggested she go around and kick babies in the ribs. "O-oh, oh no," Kathy said, shaking her head. "I couldn't. You don't even know...if my parents knew a teacher had suggested something like that, they'd probably drag me home."

Forget the invasions. This would be the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Respect towards my elders and authority is a really big cultural thing. Even if they're wrong, they're still to be respected. My dad is...really big on that."

"Fair enough, but I'm not your dad," Jack pointed out. "Look, I'm not going to say I need more kids to backtalk me, but I promise I didn't go home and cry in my pillow because you were mean. Okay?"

Ahahaha. Jack and Kathy's father were so opposite one another, they were pretty much on different planes of existence.

"If it helps, I never, ever thought you'd go home and cry, especially not over anything I could have said." Kathy's smile was a little rueful. Jack was far too badass for pillow-crying or Kathy actually bothering her. "I just want you to know that my behavior had nothing to do with a lack of respect for you or your class and everything to do with magic rocks."

Teamwork for Jerks, Friday

Re: Talk to Jack + Korra [5/30]

Re: Talk to Jack + Korra [5/30]

Re: Talk to Jack + Korra [5/30]

Re: Talk to Jack + Korra [5/30]

Re: Talk to Jack + Korra [5/30]

Re: Talk to Jack + Korra [5/30]

Re: Talk to Jack + Korra [5/30]

Re: Talk to Jack + Korra [5/30]