Public Service - On the Edge, Monday, Period 2

[raspberryturk]

"Okay Rookies," Reno said, hands in his pockets as he stood on the Causeway, where he'd handwavily told his students to meet. "I hope you all brought your armor with you, because today's that 'moment of truth' day, yo. We're gonna be headin' to Edge today, to check out the situation, pick a good place in the town itself for these water filtration units we're gonna be settin' up, that sort of thing. You'll all be happy to know that the radiation levels are nice an' low today, and there haven't been any monsters spotted in the area. But if I find out any of you took your armor off anyway, I'll kick your asses straight back to detention and you'll be writin' essays for me for the rest of the year that I probably ain't gonna read anyway."

This was Reno's way of telling his students that he cared.

"This is a class of ten, so I'd prefer if we decide to split up that you guys break it up half-and-half, but I don't wanna see you in groups of less than three if it really comes down to it, yo. Maybe I'll re-think that as the semester goes on and you guys prove you can handle yourselves out here, but for the time being, anyone who strays out of sight alone is joining the jackasses who took off their armor in detention."

Again, he was saying he loved you, guys.

"Now, c'mon, let's get going, or I'm going to just kill the whole class period lecturin' you on this side of the portal, yo."

And with that, he led his students through.

[Open!]

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[raspberryturk]

Like you're finally getting somewhere!

Re: Sign In

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

Four

Re: Sign In

[not_every_mage]

Anders

Lecture: Pre-Portal

[raspberryturk]

Last chance to get that nervousness out of your systems, make sure your armor and any weapons you ran by Reno are in order, double-check what blueprints you might have made up, that sort of thing.

Re: Lecture: Pre-Portal

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry wasn't exactly nervous. Just exhausted. After the weekend he only wanted to sleep for a week.

Not that he ever slept that long anyway.

Instead he went over the weapons he was bringing, checked some scanning equipment he was bringing along and double checked his armor to make sure it was in proper working order.

Re: Lecture: Pre-Portal

[wildandbrave]

Cosette took a few minutes to make sure the armor (she actually got to wear armor, no, the novelty hadn't worn off yet) was secure and then took a breath.

This was -- all right, a bit unnerving, but exciting nonetheless, because yes, she was exactly the kind of person to get excited about the prospect of trying to make things a little better for other people.

Re: Lecture: Pre-Portal

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy took her responsibility as TA very seriously--possibly more seriously than Reno did. Which was why she not only had her armor on, but she was also toting a dufflebag full to the brim with supplies: power bars, water bottles, Gatorade, dried fruit, trail mix, beef jerky, tissues, cheap sunglasses, extra hair ties, eleven thin scarves in case the air was bad, a couple of small towels, hand sanitizer, and even a few pairs of thick gardening gloves.

Hey, you never knew what you were going to run into! She wanted to be prepared.

Re: Lecture: Pre-Portal

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Karina was aware that if she got caught with a weapon that she hadn't cleared, then she was going to be in a lot of shit. Still, she figured she was within the rules since nothing had said she'd had to clear powers and while she had guns, they worked off her powers, so bringing herself meant she was bringing a weapon...

Either way! Karina hadn't told anyone. She fiddled with her armor absently, and kept sneaking glances over at Kathy's bag.

What the hell. Was she supposed to have brought one too?

Because, yeah, Karina? Totally hadn't.

Lecture: Post-Portal

[raspberryturk]

"I've got two places in mind for these water filter units you were talkin' about," Reno said, leading his students from the portal into the Meteor Square, which featured the crushed, slightly reconstructed remains of a huge memorial in the middle that, perhaps unsurprisingly, depicted a giant rock from space coming down to crush Midgar - those ruins that they were on the edge of. "Here's the first, yo. This is Meteor Square, one of the city's main meeting areas, yo. Here's where most trade comes into the city when people from Kalm make the trip in with supplies. The Square's mostly abandoned these days - that'll happen when a dragon lands in the middle of it and starts killing everybody - but it's still a central point in the city, and one that most of Edge's roads have been made to lead to."

A beat.

"We don't get dragons here often, either, yo."

If that helped put anybody's minds to rest at all.

"The second place is actually deeper into the city, closer to the ruins," he said. "Doesn't particularly matter where by the ruins, it's just that, and I'm gonna be frank, that's where most of the city's homeless, especially orphans and the sick, live, and they're the ones that need this water the most. If you wanna avoid seeing a lot of that sort of thing, here by the memorial is the place to be. If you don't mind half-starved little kids beggin' at you, you might wanna consider joinin' me closer to the ruins. I'll be headin' there next week, yo. Today, I'd like you to take a look around here, get a feel for the place, maybe pick a spot here for us to set up. If you have any better ideas where where to put these water filters, let me know, yo. Don't mind the locals too much- around here, they're not likely to bother you so much if you don't bother them. Next week, we'll start haulin' in supplies, so make the best of gettin' your head around the place today, okay?"

And with that, he leaned himself back against the half-rebuilt husk of a memorial, and waved his hands at the class to wander around if they so desired.

"Welcome to Edge. As you can see, it's real happy to have you."

Re: Lecture: Post-Portal

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Dragon."

He shook his head in disbelief.

"Is every place connected to Fandom this fucked up?"

Re: Lecture: Post-Portal

[wildandbrave]

. . . well, Cosette had to admit she was very mildly disappointed they wouldn't see a dragon. She'd always wanted to.

She could do without it killing everyone, though.

Explore, Brainstorm, Take A Minute, Whatever

[raspberryturk]

You'll be met with such wonderful joys as the sight of buildings that look as though they've been half-built and then ripped apart again a couple of times by very large things, the occasional person asking for gil (the local currency) on the outskirts of the Square, an overwhelming smell of rust and decay hanging in the air,

Feel free to mod your locals - slow-moving, tired people who are more prone to looking at you suspiciously than they are to actually coming over to talk - or just poke around the Square looking for a good place to set up a water filter. Telling Reno what kind of equipment you'll need to start setting these things up might be a good idea, too, since next week you'll be moving things in.

Re: Explore, Brainstorm, Take A Minute, Whatever

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry started by taking air samples, water samples and soil samples and going over the results in his equipment. It was a lot worse than he had anticipated.

He sat down and began to work on his tablet, making adjustments to some design elements he had in mind for the water filtration.

He was also thinking about the possiblity of a hyrdoponic garden/greenhouse as well.

And solar generators.

And portable water filters.

And Rapture.

And...

Well there were some good parts about the weekend as well.

Barry just had a lot on his mind.

Re: Explore, Brainstorm, Take A Minute, Whatever

[wildandbrave]

Cosette only meant to look for places to set up the water filters, but something about the idea made her uncomfortable, made her think about being very young and alone in . . . some cold, forsaken place at night, caught between the terror of what she couldn't see out there in the dark and only having some other, more potent terror to look forward to when she left.

She hadn't thought about it in a long time, and now that she could put things together enough to realize that the more potent terror had been Madame Thénardier, it didn't make her feel any better about it.

"Pshaw," she finally said out loud to herself, with a slightly forced but determined laugh. "Look at me, thinking about silly old things like that when there are others here who need my help!"

She went back to looking around for ideal spots for a communal water source, thoroughly determined to Not Think About It any longer, at least for the duration of class.

Re: Explore, Brainstorm, Take A Minute, Whatever

[notamascot]

Kaylin still had only the fuzziest of ideas about what water filtration thingies were and none at all of what might be needed. She wasn't overjoyed at the possibility of running into a dragon here - especially since they didn't seem like they'd be the civilized kind she'd hopefully not see back home. She did discover that this place was an awful lot like the fief she'd grown up in.

She wandered a bit, not straying too far, but really had no idea what to do beyond stare at things.

Re: Explore, Brainstorm, Take A Minute, Whatever

[spin_kick_snap]

There was something about Kathy that screamed 'soft touch.' There had to be. Because they hadn't been there for more than ten minutes before Kathy was approached by an old, weather-beaten man begging for gil.

"I'm so sorry, I don't have any," she said. "Can I offer you something else instead? I've got some food and clean water here."

She managed to send him away with a powerbar and a bottle of Poland Spring. And she had just enough time to feel proud of that, before she was approached by two middle-aged women with tales of woe and homes full of hungry children. They got a hefty number of the granola bars and trail mix before they were satisfied.

Then the orphans turned up and Kathy was lost. Hopefully no one would actually need her supplies today, because unless someone interceded, she'd end up giving away the duffel bag as well as its contents.

Re: Explore, Brainstorm, Take A Minute, Whatever

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Karina chose to explore, though she did it cautiously and mostly by looking around rather than venturing off on her own.

Firstly, because she didn't want Reno to murder her for ignoring his instructions and secondly because, geez, she'd never seen a place so broken.

It left her pale and shaken and angry.

If you were really sensitive to things, you might notice that the temperature around Karina was a teensy bit cooler than it was everywhere else.

But if you did notice such things, it was probably your imagination.

Talk to the TAs

[raspberryturk]

Discuss logistics, maybe approach the bouncy one for a hug if you need it. They're here to help, once they tag in. Put 'em to work.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was more than happy to give out hugs to anyone who needed one. And that included any locals or orphans that wanted to ask.

Honestly, she probably wouldn't mind a few herself.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Karina was definitely the non-bouncy TA, so she wouldn't be giving hugs.

Unless, like, you really needed them. And, if you did, and directing you over to Kathy didn't work, then she was going to insult you while she hugged you. Caring! With Karina!

Rather than looking shell-shocked or horrified, Karina's expression was settled firmly on grumpy-as-hell, mostly because that was how she was choosing to cope with... with... this godforsaken wreck of a place.

Jesus Christ.

Talk to Reno

[raspberryturk]

He's lounging back against the monument with his arms crossed over his chest, ignoring the dirty way the locals look at him. And they're looking at him dirty, far more than the typical 'don't trust you outsiders' look that they're giving the rest of the class.

It's a Turk thing.

Re: Talk to Reno

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ummm..." Kathy was sidling over to Reno now. "Are you sure we're welcome here? People don't look very happy to see us."

Okay, they didn't really care one way or another when they saw the students didn't have anything to trade. But Kathy saw some of the looks that Reno was getting and they weren't friendly. Or neutral. Or even generally disinterested.

He looked like he was two seconds from getting spat on, honestly though if Kathy thought anyone was going to actually spit on him, she clearly didn't know enough about his Turk reputation.

Re: Talk to Reno

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"What did you do?" Karina asked, being nosy.

Because, fuck, Barry was doing all the hard work here. She had time to irritate the teacher.

It was better than holding hands or something.

OOC

[raspberryturk]

If you want an NPC encounter (and don't mind work SP or that they'll look a lot like one of my characters because ahahaha icons) feel free to poke me down here. Or mod the hell out of everything, because you won't be running into any named characters any time this week anyway. This is a post-Advent Children, post-Geostigma Edge, for those that means anything to.

The main Square looks far more like it does in the second picture, the one with the dragon sitting on it, than it does in the first, which is mostly just there for scale and layout. It's also more or less abandoned, at the moment, with the exception of a few people wandering through, and maybe a vehicle or two.

Re: OOC

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

I know I've told you this before, but the only thing I ever think of when I think about Meteor Square is terrible escape attempts made by the people in it. RUN IN CIRCLES, THEY WON'T CATCH YOU THEN.

And then I start laughing, because I'm terrible.

Also an AU where this was during the pre-ACC/while Geostigma was around would be terrible for this class and this is what your note made me think of. WAY TO GIVE EVERYONE GEOSTIGMA, SHANNON. (Reno miscalculated TERRIBLY in this AU tangent my mind went on...)