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

[angelo_wings]

Today when students entered the classroom, they'd probably be hard-pressed to miss the fact that one of their teachers appeared to be… well… on fire. The other, meanwhile, had accessorized her usual casual look with a gigantic pair of white, fluffy wings, extending from the middle of her back.

Neither seemed to look particularly bothered by this state of affairs. In fact, Jono was leaning back against the desk at the front of the room with his arms crossed in front of himself, ignoring the way the flames flicked up around them, same as he always did but with bonus fire. Rinoa was slightly more keyed up than her usual, a low thrum of excitement hanging around her, but that was subtle enough that it could be easily missed.

//What do you see, looking at us right now?// Jono took a moment to look at his students through the flame, eyes a pure white, fire tousling his hair as it crackled around himself. //No doubt, you're all thinking something different, something that relates to your own biases and experiences. Some might have a knee-jerk reaction, looking at myself and Rinoa, perhaps they'd think me to be a monster, and her an angel. Others might see her as the Sorceress, something to be feared, and me as something hollowed out and burning, to be pitied. I imagine there are at least a few of you who are looking at us right now and wondering how in the world we can stand to be here, showing what sets us so blatantly apart from humanity, without any sort of concern, or even any shame. Or maybe we're role models right now, embracing what we are and showing it off without fear.// He shrugged his shoulders. //Of course, given the past two weeks of classes, you all already know that these aren't the faces we usually present. I can't hide my voice, but I can sure as hell hide the fire. And Rinoa doesn't generally go walking around with her wings in view, though she very easily could.//

“The wings are part of how my power manifests,” Rinoa explained, pleased that her voice was steady. It had taken her years to master letting the wings out without giving herself fully over; she had a touch more magic flowing through her than usual, but she could handle that easily. Old hat. “The fire is part of Jono’s. Jono’s fire is permanent, while my wings only appear when I’m channeling more of my magic than just background noise. That means it’s easier for me to blend in. He can’t skip bundling up, but I can hold the wings in and look just like anyone else.”

Rinoa waved a hand dismissively. “We’re going to talk about when and how to blend in in a later class, as well as when and how to truly stand out. Both of those have their advantages. But this week isn’t about us: it’s about you. Maybe you look exactly like everyone else, and whatever makes you different is only internal. Maybe it’s easy to cover your differences, with a coat or long sleeves. The point is, you choose every day how to display yourself to others around you -- what to let them see, or not see.”

//Bear in mind that there are those who don't have any choice in how they present to others,// Jono noted, //at least to a certain extent. I've had people spit in my face before and worse, doesn't matter if I kept my head down. I spent a decent bit of time with blue skin… also not exactly simple to hide, for most. But in spite of how I looked at a glance, it was still up to me to determine how I interacted with those around me. More importantly, it was up to me to determine how I saw myself, if I was going to let other people's reactions to my powers define me, as a person. For a while, it did. And I was bloody miserable because of it.//

Rinoa was going to reach over and put a sympathetic hand on Jono’s back. Those had not been the best of days, no.

“It’s a choice,” Rinoa said. “Life is all about choices. What you let people see, and what you hide. That isn’t even just about powers. Sometimes we don’t let people see some of our vulnerabilities, our weaknesses, our secret selves. We all have labels: daughter, brother, friend, student, teacher, artist, reader, soldier, athlete. People see us through that one lens, but that’s only one side of who we really are. The way they see us affects us, shapes who we are around them, but it can’t ever define us, not unless we let it.”

She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. “So first off: if any of you feel like showing off, airing out a little bit of what you don’t let other classes see? Feel free. Then, second, let’s talk about perception -- how people see you, and what they don’t always see underneath.”

//Remember, respect and comfort are our two biggest rules, here. Respect anything that people might show you here in class today, and no treating your classmates as 'other.' We're all equals here. Respect your own selves, too. You might perceive yourselves as lesser because of what sets you apart, but I promise you, you all deserve to be appreciated for who you are, regardless of what's hiding underneath.//

Comments

Sign In [1-23]

[angelo_wings]

Letting your freak flag fly.

Re: Sign In [1-23]

[tigerundercover]

Raven Darkholme

During the Lecture [1-23]

[angelo_wings]

Feel free to stare at the teachers, in either horror or fascination. (Or both.)

Or be bored and scribble notes. Whatevs.

Re: During the Lecture [1-23]

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Mark Elsa firmly in the 'fascination' column. There was something awe inspiring about seeing people who could do remarkable things, not hiding it away.

She certainly couldn't do what they were doing, but that didn't mean she couldn't respect it.

Re: During the Lecture [1-23]

[tigerundercover]

Raven was listening rather intently, especially when Jono said that he'd been blue for awhile.

How did that happen? More importantly: how did he fix it?

Re: During the Lecture [1-23]

[notamascot]

Kaylin's marks had started to itch like crazy before she even got into the room. She understood why when Rinoa started explaining about the magic. But most of her was just staring wide-eyed at Rinoa, mouth hanging open and thinking, Wings!

Re: During the Lecture [1-23]

[not_every_mage]

Most of Anders' attention went to Jono. He looked like he'd merged with a rage demon, or narrowly survived an attack by one, and he couldn't work out how someone could lose that much of himself to fire and survive. He gawped as much as he could without staring outright.

Re: During the Lecture [1-23]

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

Yeah. So.

That was absolutely an expression of utter horror that crossed her face for a few seconds as she took in a) the powers on display and b) the topic of today.

Then Karina shut her expression down and kept her eyes firmly--very firmly--on a notebook that she pulled out of her bag. She wasn't exactly writing notes, but she was gonna pretend. Just like she was going to pretend everything was normal and not weird and there weren't really weird crap happening in class.

Yes, she was 100% noping out of the rest of this class. She would respect her classmates by not paying any attention to them today. Definitely. That would do.

Re: During the Lecture [1-23]

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor had seen Jono's fire before, in Rapture, but it was still fascinating, watching the flames flicker and curl where his torso ought to be.

And wings. There was something beautifully freeing about the idea of wings.

Class Activity: Looky! [1-23]

[angelo_wings]

Is there anything you normally keep under wraps, either metaphorically or literally, that you feel like showing the class? Maybe your hair is usually on fire, or you’re wearing long sleeves to cover the runes covering your arms. In that case, if and only if you want to, roll those sleeves up and ditch the hat, so everyone can oooh and ahhh appreciatively.

(This can be an ability and not just appearance-based; if you want to show off how well you can make yourself levitate, or shoot laser beams out of your eyes? Pfft, it counts.)

Note: respect is a must -- Jono and Rinoa aren’t going to tolerate any “wtf, that’s gross” here -- and anything shown in this room doesn’t leave it without express permission.

Re: Class Activity: Looky! [1-23]

[notamascot]

Kaylin hesitated, then rolled up one sleeve - the one for the arm that didn't have the magical bracer on it.

"They're all over my body."

Re: Class Activity: Looky! [1-23]

[tigerundercover]

So her natural shape was swiftly becoming Raven's worst-kept secret, but she still hesitated a bit before letting her guard (mostly) drop. She kept up the facade of traditional clothing (there were some things she was rather certain the class wasn't prepared for, no matter what the teachers said) but otherwise relaxed, letting her natural scales and coloring show.

"Um," she said. "This is what I look like when I'm not, uh. Trying."

Re: Class Activity: Looky! [1-23]

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

For a bare moment, Elsa was almost tempted. It would be so easy to slip her glove off and show people what she was capable of doing. And then... then people would know, people who might be able to help her control her powers better, or at least empathize.

It would be so easy.

She already had her hand halfway out of her glove before she thought better of it, winced, and pulled it back on.

Maybe another day.

Re: Class Activity: Looky! [1-23]

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

Celia smiled a little ruefully and shrugged. "This is sort of how I came out of the box," she joked, gesturing to herself. "The thing is, I'm too lazy to do much with my appearance for the day-to-day beyond putting my hair up."

"But on the days when I'm less lazy," she added, her smile turning a little shy, "I can change everything about how I look without thinking." She glanced down and the blue of her dress brightened slowly into a deep crimson that Celia would never dress herself in, otherwise.

Re: Class Activity: Looky! [1-23]

[sarcastic-vamp.livejournal.com]

Carmilla wasn't exactly going to bust out her fangs and bite someone, so she just sat back and watched everyone else. She was going to have to revise her opinion. This place was ever weirder than Silas University.

Re: Class Activity: Looky! [1-23]

[not_every_mage]

"I look like this, I'm afraid," Anders said cautiously. "But if you want to see my magical energy, this is what it looks like."

He raised a ball of spirit energy above one palm and held it there for a long moment. "That's spirit. I'd use it to heal. And occasionally to fight, but elemental magic's better for that."

Re: Class Activity: Looky! [1-23]

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

If everyone else was showing off, she might as well. Eleanor lifted a hand up, one single finger extended as if she was pointing at the ceiling. She concentrated, and a second later, that finger caught fire.

The flame wasn't burning her finger, just licking upwards as if her index finger was suddenly a candle.

"It's called Incinerate," she said. "In my world, people could -- people with modifications could add things. Abilities. To themselves. This is one of mine."

Class Activity #2: Perception and Reality

[angelo_wings]

Maybe those long sleeves make people think you’re terribly modest and old-fashioned. Maybe you’re shy, and it gets misread as aloof. Maybe there are entire sides to you that you can’t let certain people in your life see.

How do other people perceive you, how does that shape you, and what don’t other people necessarily see? This can be about powers, if you’d like, but it’s more importantly about you.

Re: Class Activity #2: Perception and Reality

[tigerundercover]

"When I'm from, perception is everything," Raven said, having slipped back into her usual disguise. "No one cares what you're really like, so long as you look nice and pretty and act all submissive and sweet. You can try to tell them that's not who you are or who you want to be, but at best they'll just ignore you and treat you like you should and want to be that way, anyway."

Re: Class Activity #2: Perception and Reality

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

"Where I'm from, women are expected to be docile and delicate and pretty, and at the risk of sounding vain, I physically present to exactly that stereotype," Celia offered, blushing. "But the trouble is that I'm...dangerous, and I know I am. My gifts can be scary. And no one ever expects it out of me. It's a boon -- I can...use that to my advantage," and Celia would be carefully avoiding the eyeline of anyone who knew what happened in Rapture, "but it also means that no one ever believes in what I can do. It doesn't...always work out well."

Re: Class Activity #2: Perception and Reality

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"I don't think people see me at all," Hanna said, voice quiet. "I... think it's safer that way. But it's lonely, sometimes."

Re: Class Activity #2: Perception and Reality

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"I don't know how people perceive me," Eleanor admitted. "Where I grew up, I was -- watched. I was raised to be some sort of Messiah figure, to lead people to a promised land. So I'm not normal. I don't know how to be normal. I think I seem rude, at times, because I don't know how to talk to people. I was never allowed friends, so it's all been very new to me. I don't know how people here, see me. But ... whatever they're seeing ... I feel like, like they actually see me, and not whatever they're projecting onto me."

Talk to the Teachers [1-23]

[angelo_wings]

In all their fiery, feathery glory.

Re: Talk to the Teachers [1-23]

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa was here, eagerly awaiting any questions or concerns from her students. Even if it was just "can I touch your wings?"

(The answer was totally going to be "yes.")

Talk to the TA [1-23]

[angelo_wings]

Once she tags in!

Re: Talk to the TA [1-23]

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

Celia was here, of course, and actually wondering what it meant about her that she'd seen both her teachers in these forms before. It had been a riskier year than she'd realized.

OOC [1-23]

[angelo_wings]

I just realized today's date is 1-2-3. I approve.