Powers, Identity, and The World; Embracing the Real You - Friday, Period One

[furnaceface]

When the students filed in for class today, they would find themselves stepping into a typical classroom, desks neatly arranged, with two teachers standing at the front of the room. One of them had his arms crossed over his leather-wrapped chest and was looking over the students thoughtfully. The other was a girl in her early twenties, dressed in a simple blue sweater and dark jeans. She kept fidgeting with a necklace around her neck, specifically with the pendant, which appeared to be two rings.

It was the thoroughly leather-wrapped man who spoke first, because what better way to break the students into having a class about powers than by kicking off the first lesson with telepathy?

//So, as you lot might have gathered, today's class is about powers. And identity.// A beat. //And the world. Which is pretty much what it sounds like on the tin, if you get right down to it. Over the course of the semester, we'll be exploring the impact that having powers might have had on who you are, what the rest of the world might think of you, and how it all ties together. As you might have guessed, we'll be teaching from experience. Last I checked, there weren't exactly textbooks on this sort of thing.//

“If there were, we’d probably throw them out,” the dark-haired girl said. “We’re also going to be talking about who you are, as a person. The word ‘you’ includes your powers, because that’s who you are, but that isn’t all you are. You have interests, friends, wants, needs. You have a favorite color, pet peeves, a secret crush. You’re a complete being. Never forget that. What your powers are may be part of it, but they can only ever be part.”

//Today, we're going to… do that thing you've all got to be sick of by now,// Jono said, shrugging his shoulders. //But at the very least, once we get this out of the way, you won't have to do it for the rest of the semester unless you have other Friday classes. Introductions. I'm Jonothon Starsmore. I'll grudgingly answer to Professor Starsmore if you insist, but I much prefer Jono, or Jon. My power ought to be at least partway obvious by this point,// he tapped at the side of his head, //and I've got a good deal of experience with the world around me expecting me to be defined by what my mutant genetics allow me to do, because besides the telepathy, I'm a walking force of flaming destruction. But… besides all that? I was Prom King my graduating year, and I run the music shop in town. Wanted to be a musician growing up, actually. Still play the guitar from time to time.//

That was relevant to the introductions, yes. They would get to that part in a minute.

“My name’s Rinoa Heartilly, and you can just call me Rinoa,” the girl said, calmly. “I own the Magic Box. When I was seventeen years old, I became a Sorceress. No one here seems to know what that means, but I have nearly limitless arcane power at my fingertips. The difficulty is not getting lost in it, whenever it gets out.”

She lifted her shoulders. “But that’s not all I am. I also have a dog named Angelo, and she’s a trained rescue puppy. I own the Magic Box store downtown. I’ve been dating Squall, the grumpy guy who owns the comics shop, for years now, and he’s really taking his time proposing. I love reading. I’ve been restoring an ancient library, back home, and it’s really fascinating stuff.”

Rinoa looked around the room. “It’s your turn,” she said. “Like Jono said, we’re doing introductions. You can talk about what powers you have if you want, but you don’t have to. That’s not what we’re interested in, right now. What we want to know is, who are you? What’s something you love, and something you hate? What are your hobbies? What’s something interesting about you, the person you are outside of whatever powers you have?”

//In fact,// Jono added, //during the course of this semester, you are never, under any circumstances, going to be required to tell us about your powers. Which brings us to the rules for this class. We don't have many, and the ones we do have all boil down to your personal comfort, and to respect. Nothing anybody discusses in this room leaves this room, unless the person doing the sharing brings it up outside of the classroom themselves. It's nobody's bloody business what we can do, not until we decide it ought to be. Most of you, I'd wager, are already well aware of why.//

“If you’re ever asked a question you don’t want to answer,” Rinoa offered, “it’s simple. You say that you don’t have any powers and you must be in the wrong class. That’s it. It doesn’t matter if last week you were talking about your telekinesis abilities; this week, you don’t have powers and you’re in the wrong class. That’s the universal sign for ‘drop it, I don’t want to talk about it.’ And if you really are unpowered and did end up in the wrong class, you’re welcome to stay, so long as you have respect for everyone around you.”

//After introductions, we'd like to talk a bit about what you're hoping to get out of this class,// Jono added, nodding in agreement with what Rinoa said. //If it's a better understanding of people with powers because you're in the wrong class, excellent. Be respectful of your classmates. If it's a better idea of how to balance your identity with what the world expects you to be or fears you are, good, let us know. We'll do our best through the semester to accommodate. And with that… we're opening the floor.// He waved a hand at the class at large. //Whoever wants to kick this off, please, do.//

[OOC: Please hold for OCD! Open!]

Comments

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

"I'm Raven," Raven said, then added "Darkholme" because she knew she wasn't the only Raven who spent time on the island, now. "I like fashion a lot. I'm always online these days, looking for new looks. And I've been getting into feminism -- I'm from 1955, so that's still pretty new to me. I have a big brother back home and a bunch of sibs here and I'm not actually related to any of them, so I kinda count them all the same. I want to be an activist when I grow up, but I'm not sure yet if I want to do that in 1955 or now."

She took a deep breath and shifted into Rita Hayworth, flashing a bright grin at the class. "And I'm a shapeshifter." She changed back and shrugged. "And proud."

Re: Introductions

[angelo_wings]

"You should be proud," Rinoa beamed. "That's wonderful! It looked effortless, too. Did you have to work at it, or does your body just know how to do it, like how you don't have to think about raising your arm?"

Okay, Rinoa was supposed to be emphasizing the non-powered aspects, but that had been impressive enough to distract her. And besides, she was happy this girl was proud of her abilities.

"We're going to have classes that talk about blending in and standing out," she added, "which you're going to find to be a snap. It's interesting being able to choose like that, I think. When I'm just trying to be me, I dress normally, but when I have to be somewhere as the Sorceress, I draw inspiration from Couture."

Something outlandish and unrealistic, that set her apart as otherworldly. Raven surely had seen plenty of looks like that, when she browsed fashion websites.

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

Raven blushed a little. "Thanks. It took awhile to get there." She was really only just out about it to everyone. "And it's just something I've always been able to do. It takes a little bit of effort to maintain a shape, I guess like how after awhile it's hard to hold your hand in the air? But I have a lot of practice." She smiled. "And I love looking at couture! I don't really get a lot of chances to imitate it, but the shapes designers come up with are pretty fascinating."

Re: Introductions

[angelo_wings]

"If I hold my hand in the air for too long, it starts to droop," Rinoa said. "What happens when your appearance droops? Does your hair color change back, or do your feet start to mismatch? Or do you just have to focus harder to keep it all together?"

Sorry, Raven. This was really fascinating, okay?

"I had an elaborate feathered headpiece, once, and Jono called it wearing a duck on my head." She was rolling her eyes. "No, it doesn't look realistic, but that's entirely the point. Sometimes I don't want to look like Jane Everybody walking down the street. Nobody wants a Sorceress to wear jeans."

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

"The fashion should suit the moment," Raven agreed. "Which is super easy when you can just imagine it and look like you're wearing it." Major bonus of shapeshifting, right there. "And yeah, it's kind of a combo of all of that. Usually it might just be my eyes changing color or something. If I get really tired or distracted or upset, sometimes my whole hand will change." Or she'd change completely into her natural shape. "But I have a whole lot of practice now, so that almost never happens, these days."

Re: Introductions

[angelo_wings]

"Do you change it up a lot, or stick with just a few appearances?" she asked. "I feel like I'd be someone different every day of the week, but then I assume the novelty's long since worn off for you."

And then, because she happened to think of it, "Are most of your shapes humanoid? I mean, do you ever give yourself a tail, or horns, or wings?"

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

"I have a few basics that I stick to most of the time," Raven said. Like, say, the one she was wearing now. "But I love trying out new shapes. And I can turn into pretty much anything, I think. I can't be metal or rock or anything, but I can look like them. I even turned into an elephant for the ghost thing last month, but that made me feel all floppy and stretched out after."

Re: Introductions

[furnaceface]

//Hello, Raven. Fashion, hm? I've been informed in no uncertain terms by a good many of my friends that I'm the place where fashion goes to die. Maybe you can give me some pointers, sometime.//

Just bear in mind that he was on fire, hm?

//Is there anything stopping you from giving activism a try now? Not saying you ought to run out and pick up a protest sign right away, of course. I'm just curious what options you're weighing.//

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

"You seem like you've kinda got your own style going," Raven said diplomatically. "And mostly I just kind of don't feel like I know enough about it, yet. I'm still learning about all the strides people have made since my time, and how much further we all still have to go. So I think I'll at least finish school first. But that doesn't mean I won't help out if I see an opportunity. I've gotten pretty good at arguing on the internet."

Re: Introductions

[furnaceface]

If 'just throw up your hands in frustration and then cover everything in black leather' was a style, then Jono was all set!

//That seems like the best place to go to flex your activism muscles these days,// Jono mused, nodding a little. //I'm still no good at it, but it does seem to be safer than throwing yourself headfirst into something you might not necessarily completely understand, out here in the real world. And there are plenty of resources if you're willing to look for it, so that you can learn more about whatever your topic of choice is.//

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

Raven nodded. "It's all a little overwhelming," she admitted. "So much has changed since 1955. Sometimes I feel like I could do more good back in my own time, because there's still so much to work on, but other times it all just seems overwhelming."

She'd love to skip straight to "there are whole communities full of supportive mutants" thing, for instance.

Re: Introductions

[furnaceface]

Whereas Jono would complain that the communities of supportive mutants really only seemed to be supportive so long as you were pretty, or willing to blow things up for them.

... There were issues, there.

//I can imagine,// he replied, nodding. //I don't have much experience with 1955, admittedly, but I have been putting in a lot of time in another world entirely. Sometimes it's difficult to figure out where you're meant to start.//

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

Or only if you promise not to try to kill the humans who want to kill you?

"I hadn't even thought about trying another world entirely," Raven said. "What do you do there?"

Re: Introductions

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

That was stupendous. Hanna had slowly been getting used to the idea of magic, and people who were different like she was -- Kira and Alana had each been different in their own ways. But this was much flashier. Raven was in her Monday class as well, but nothing like this had been mentioned!

Hanna just stared for a while, as Raven talked to the teachers, then realized she was staring, and tried to stop it.

Then she gave up, and asked, "How do you even do that?"

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

Raven looked over and shrugged. "I just do. I've been able to as long as I can remember."

Re: Introductions

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"It's so fast. And so real." Like magicians or witches in books! "...that would be so useful if I ever go home." Hiding from secret organizations would be a snap if she had that ability. "Is it magic, or something else?"

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

Raven shook her head. "It's just something I can do," she said. "A mutation in my genes that lets me change shape."

Re: Introductions

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"I wish I could do that." Hanna sighed, resting her chin on her arms. A thought occurred to her. "Are you like a chameleon? Can you just... blend in?"

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

Raven winced a little internally. She didn't like being compared to lizards. "I can look like I belong in a group of people," she said. "And I guess I could change my coloring to match a background, but I've never tried it before."

Re: Introductions

[spin_kick_snap]

"If you're into feminism, I have some really great resources for you," Kathy offered. "I mean, if you're interested. But it's something I'm really passionate about, too."

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

"Definitely," Raven said. "There's so much of it I still need to catch up on. Thanks!"

Re: Introductions

[spin_kick_snap]

"No problem!" Kathy said, smiling a little now. "The feminism of the fifties and sixties was really awesome and ground-breaking for what it did, but it also left a lot to be desired. If you ever wanna talk about stuff, I'd love to. It totally beats arguing with trolls on the internet who think 'Make me a sandwich' is the height of comebacks."

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

"Yeah, what even is that? Like all women used to do was make sandwiches?"

Seriously. Had they ever actually met a woman?

Re: Introductions

[spin_kick_snap]

These guys? Probably not--at least, ones they weren't related to.

"I consider it an excellent indicator of IQ," Kathy said. "If they can't get beyong 'Hurr hurr sandwich,' I know I can ignore and block them without missing anything important."

Re: Introductions

[tigerundercover]

"Are they a step above or below the 'barefoot and pregnant' guys?" Raven asked. ". . . Or are they basically the same?"