Jono Starsmore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2015-01-09 07:21 am
furnaceface) wrote in fandomhigh2015-01-09 07:21 am
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Powers, Identity, and The World; Embracing the Real You - Friday, Period One
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!]
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:
Re: Introductions
She found names to be fascinating. It seemed a legitimate question.
"What's your boyfriend's name?" she asked. "Oooh, I shouldn't say boyfriend, if you guys aren't saying boyfriend yet. Some people get jumpy about terms. You know what I mean."
Some people treated relationships like they were dipping their toes into scalding water. Others favored the Rinoa approach: dive right in, damn the torpedos.
"I'm glad you're not in a tower," she added. "After I first manifested my powers, they tried to put me into a satellite. Some people -- are so afraid of what you might do, that they want to cage you just in case. It's like they forget you're a person, underneath those abilities."
Re: Introductions
Teasing aside, he leaned back in his chair to answer her questions. "And -- actually, I always forget to mention this, but Anders is a nickname. It could mean anyone from the Anderfels, or even the language. But my real name's hard for Fereldans to pronounce and spell, and it never fit me right anyhow. At the Tower they started calling me Anders rather than try to puzzle out the other thing, and it stuck."
For the good, as far as Anders was concerned. Nothing against his parents, but his birth name was a mouthful and a half.
"The boy's name is Nathan. I don't call him my boyfriend because it's not something we say at home and it feels strange -- but that's probably what he is." He tapped his pen against his front teeth, working out if she'd said anything else he needed to answer. "Were they going to put you into the satellite all by yourself?"
He'd spent a week in solitary confinement before coming to Fandom. That had been more than enough. Being sent into space all by yourself -- it was a terrifying notion.
Re: Introductions
Maybe it would mean something, that she was at least offering to try.
"Don't bother with labels if you don't want to," she added. "Just because I said 'boyfriend' doesn't mean you should. You know how serious it is, or isn't, and putting a name on that won't change it."
The same could apply to her actually marrying Squall, but Rinoa was nothing if not a hypocrite.
"They were going to put me to sleep, first," she explained, "but -- yes. Killing a Sorceress doesn't help anything. The powers just go to the nearest Potential. So if you want to stop one and not create her successor, you get creative. Freeze her and put her into space."
Re: Introductions
He doubted she'd ask, but he figured he'd make the offer since she seemed interested.
"And that's terrible. It must never work, or you wouldn't be here." Grimacing, he added, "They try to keep mages from having babies at home, because magic's partially genetic, but they haven't thought of shooting us all into space. I hope it's not just because they don't have the technology."
Re: Introductions
"I'd love to hear it, but you don't need to share it if you'd rather not," she said. "It sounds nice, keeping a bit of yourself just for the people who know you best."
For the rest, she shuddered. "Unfortunately, it did work," she said. "Another sorceress spent almost twenty years up there. I'm only here because a few of my friends busted me out just before launch."
Squall, mostly, but Quistis and Selphie had helped, too.
"It's -- wrong for them to say you can't have kids," she said, feeling outraged on his behalf. "It's your choice. It's your life. It's one thing if you don't want them, but -- that's terrible."
Re: Introductions
"And of course it's wrong. The entire way mages are treated is wrong. Though it's not as though you can give a baby much of a life if you're both shut in a tower."
There were occasional rumors of mages fathering free children with Templars or servants, but that was all they were: Rumors, albeit ones often given some weight when the suspected fathers were abruptly transferred to other Circles. But even when the stories were true, biological parenthood hardly made a family.
"They don't sterilize us by force or lock up the men separate from the women, or anything like that, but they make sure we know how to, er, take precautions, and foster out the babies as soon as they're weaned. Hardly worth the bother for our women."
Re: Introductions
Unfortunately, her outrage wasn't going to help him.
"It sounds like you have two choices," she said. "One: you've left, so don't ever go back. That's easy to say but a lot harder to do, I know, especially if you've left behind people you love. And two: do your best to bring the system down, either politically or otherwise. Violence can be effective, but sometimes it's self-defeating: if people are afraid of you, and you act out violently, it just reinforces their prejudices."
Re: Introductions
That would take some 20 years, exposure to a crueler Circle -- and a spirit in his head. But for now:
"I have some time to decide."
Re: Introductions
Especially not real ones, as opposed to her attempts to get the Forest Owls to be something remotely resembling a threat.
"Whatever you decide, you won't be alone."
Re: Introductions
Re: Introductions
And she was eternally grateful, for that.
Re: Introductions