fandomhigh | Everything’s A Weapon, Wednesday, Period 1

Ugh. It was too goddamned early in the morning for this class, wasn't it? Not that Reno was complaining any. He had a coffee in hand and he'd set up the Danger Shop to look like an old favorite scenario of his from a class that he'd co-taught once before, with Cindy.

Yeah, it was the old toy store program, with a rack of teddy bears just inside the doors. A little farther in was a display of pogo sticks. The amount of toys within was practically staggering, really. Reno had not picked a small toy store by any means. But, before anyone could get too attached to the idea that they might be in the wrong class, Reno was raising his coffee in greeting and finally speaking up.

"If you're here looking to learn how to beat on shit with unusual improvised weapons, yes, you're all in the right place, rookies. Welcome to 'Everything's a Weapon,' yo." See? Now people could be totally confident that this wasn't some huge mistake, right? "Yeah, this is that class where you all get tossed at whatever scenario I can come up with, and then I throw an enemy at you, and then you beat it off or at least keep it from killing you using only your wits and whatever you can find in the setting provided, yo. Why? Because sometimes all hell breaks loose, and you don't conveniently already have the tools you need in order to survive. This class is less about killing shit, and more about working on your improvisation skills."

A beat.

"And your flexibility. Maybe your teamwork. And yeah, your ability to beat things senseless with whatever you can grab, yo. It's a multi-purpose class."

Happy you were taking it, yet?

"A few ground rules for this class I'm gonna lay out here and now. First one is, no bringing outside weapons into these workshops. For one, they won't have Danger Shop protocols on them the same way the stuff in here will. You hurt yourself or a classmate because you decided to cheat, I get in shit, and then I will make damn sure the rest of your life on the island is hell. You don't want to know how. Just trust me, I'm good at that sort of thing, yo." It was a good threat if you knew anything about Reno, at least. "Anyway it defeats the purpose. If you're gonna have your own weapons on you in here, why are you even in the class, right? For that matter, I'm gonna ask any of you with powers to try not to use those here, too. Once again, if you're just gonna conjure a bazooka or light these things on fire with your brain, why are you even here?"

Target practice? Tormenting your classmates? Paperwork error? Reno didn't care. His classroom, his rules.

"Today, we're gonna keep your assignments pretty simple. First, I wanna know who I'm dealing with. Name, class, previous weapon experience, and why you're here takin' this workshop, yo. And then I'm gonna set you all loose on the toy store. Find an object here you think would make a good weapon. You've got ten minutes to pick a good one. If something were to happen, remember, that's ten minutes more than you'd actually get. Make this one count, yo. Oh, and if anyone is interested in playin' Rookie for the rest of the term, I'm in the market for a TA. Come talk to me after class."

[OOC: Open Have fun!]

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"Pick one," Reno replied. "I can take a hit either way, yo. If you're worried, go for the shoulder. Right one. I'm a southpaw."

Not like he couldn't heal it up immediately after, but, hey, he'd teach her by demonstration, if nothing else. He was made to take gunfire, these days.

Kathy nodded and took in a deep breath. "I can't do it from here, obviously," she said. "Gimme a sec?"

She took off at a run, twirling the ribbon around her to build up some some momentum of its own. From an aesthetic point of view it was very pretty, fluid spirals around her body. It was not, however, terribly intimidating. Not until Kathy turned and also ran up the wall, turning back towards Reno and letting the stick fly straight towards his right shoulder.

Reno didn't so much as flinch. He simply angled his face away so that there was less a chance that he'd get a ribbon in the eye when the rest of the baton followed through. It hit his shoulder solidly, and then his hand moved up to catch it before it could clatter to the floor.

"Yeah, it's got some decent force behind it," he mused, rolling his arm and nodding his approval. "Get most people in the face with this, and you could do some damage, anyway."

"I usually go for the temple," Kathy admitted, running back down the wall. Her balance was insane. "Or the solar plexus or groin. Sometimes the back of the head, right above the neck, but that's rarer. If I'm behind someone, I usually wrap the ribbon around them instead and pull."

Again, momentum was a marvelous thing.

So Reno could see. He grinned a little as he held her baton back out to her.

"Combat gymnastics," he mused. "Shit, I'm impressed. And you got some moves that most of your classmates can't pull off, besides. You just getting into fighting, or you been at this a while?"

"Umm, well, I've been doing gymnastics since I was a little kid, but the combat aspect of it is new," Kathy said, with a small shrug. She was caught somewhere between 'dorkily pleased' and 'embarrassed to be noticed.' "The speed and the balance are, uhh, pretty new. Like, 'developed in the past year' kinda new. I'm still kinda figuring out for myself how to put them together."

Because of course the first thing you did after developing superpowers was to go off and fight crime. Of course it was.

Seemed legit to Reno.

"Oh, yeah? And you're givin' it a trial by fire, goin' out and thumpin' people with a baton, huh?"

Not judging. Faintly amused, if anything.

"Ummm..."

Head bowed and hands clasped in front of her, Kathy peeked up at him. "Maybe?"

Reno made a snorting sound at that, stuffing his hands into his pockets and shaking his head.

"Know any self-defense, Rookie?"

"Umm..." From all the shifting from foot to foot, Reno was probably able to guess how thoroughly 'no' her answer was. "Does running away really fast count?"

"Not even a little bit," Reno replied, cheerfully.

Not if she was going to be running in there and beating on people with ribbons, it didn't.

"I have one of those sharpened keychain thingies you mentioned."

Maybe that counted?

"And I'm sure that'll come in real handy if someone comes up behind you and sticks a gun in your back," Reno replied, just raising a pointed eyebrow at her. "What I'm gettin' at here is, if you're goin' out there and pickin' fights with people and you're going to actually turn down the self-defense lessons I'm about to offer you here, I'm gonna have to spend the rest of the summer just clicking my tongue and shakin' my head disapprovingly whenever you come into the Danger Shop, yo."

"Oh!" Kathy said, surprised. "I didn't know you were going to offer them. Sure!" She beamed. "That would be awesome!"

"Well, duh. What, did you think I was gonna chew you out for putting yourself in danger or something, Rookie?"

A beat.

"I mean, I still could, if you want. But then I'd be a godsdamned hypocrite."

"That doesn't stop most people," Kathy pointed out. "'Do as I say, not as I do' is practically a rule in...some households."

Like hers? Yeah, Reno was filing that one away for future reference, too. Family. Who needed it?

"It's practically a rule in some schools, too," he noted, nodding. "I'm pretty up-front about when I'm gonna use myself as the bad example, at least."

"Good to know," Kathy said with a small smile. "But you're serious? About lessons?"

"That'd be a pretty shitty thing to joke about," Reno observed, shrugging. "Yeah, I'm dead serious, yo. When's good for you?"

Because this right here was literally Reno's only job on the island, and it wasn't like Tseng or Cid were on his case to get back to Gaia or Spira, respectively.

Everything’s A Weapon, Wednesday, Period 1

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