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coping with change

Coping With Change - Tuesday, Period One

"Hello, everybody!" Cecil beamed and waved at the students.

//Ah, hello class,// Jono echoed, looking a little less enthusiastic but no less comfortable at the front of the room, fire and all. He didn't wave, just sort of gave a nod of his head. //Welcome to Coping With Change. I'm Jonothon, please, just call me Jon or Jono. 'Professor' is somebody else.//

"And I'm Cecil. You can call me Cecil, I suppose," Cecil said. "We're here to teach you all sorts of things about coping with change, and hopefully it'll be really useful." He had pulled the obvious straw for this class.

Jono gave Cecil an amused side-eye before deciding to pull the other straw and kick into a proper lecture.

//If you're in our class, it's probably likely that you've been through some manner of extreme change, or you're expecting one in the future. Maybe you're taking this class as a precaution, just in case something happens down the road. Or,// he sounded a touch wry, //you're here because of an office mix-up. Those happen. You're welcome to swap out if you feel as though you're in the wrong class, though it might be worth sticking around all the same. You never know; you might learn something.//

"And really, who doesn't have some sort of weird changes in their life, right?" Cecil asked. "I mean, there's puberty, and extra limbs, and city-wide calamities, and all sorts of things every year. It couldn't hurt to learn how to deal with them."

... The hell of it was, Jono could only just nod his agreement to that one. The other school he taught at had basically all of those things on a regular basis.

//For the duration of this class, you can expect not only theory, but also candid discussion as to how that theory can be applied to your own personal situations. Cecil and I won't require you to share anything sensitive with the room at large, though of course you're welcome to contribute to the conversations with personal experience if you feel comfortable doing so. And if you don't but you'd still like somebody to talk to who might be outside of your situations, Cecil and I are both willing to make the time. I even keep rum on hand to bribe the squirrels for privacy, if you'd rather things not end up in the morning gossip.//

Whereas Cecil was likely to broadcast everything. Not that he was on radio at the moment. It was habit.

"So let's start by finding out who we all are!" Cecil said. "Well, who everybody else is. Unless you don't know who you are, either, in which case, just give us a name to call you by until you figure it out."

//If you'd like to share with us your reasons for taking this class, or any changes that you've been through or are expecting to go through that you'd like to be able to apply this to, please, feel free, but don't feel as though you have to, either. And before anybody asks, no, the telepathic speech doesn't mean I'm reading anybody's minds.//

Look, he got that question at least once or twice a year. Better to cut it off at the pass now.

"Or me," Cecil added. "That would just be rude." Also impossible. But still worth stating.

[OOC: Open!]

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Jono was here for a little while after class, in case anybody wanted to talk. He had offered, after all.

"Hi," Anders said, slightly apprehensive. Talking about the Circle wasn't his idea of a good time, but if anyone was going to understand, Starsmore would. "I figure at least one adult should get to hear the whole story, if you're up for it."

//I'm always up for it,// Jono promised, giving Anders a little nod. //I'm guessing the first half of your summer wasn't the greatest time of your life, hm?//

From what he knew of Anders and his life before Fandom, it wasn't like it was a stretch to come to that assumption at all.

"It doesn't make the top ten, no," Anders said easily. "I -- actually, I don't even know where to start. I have no idea what Cassandra told people. I don't even know if she said anything at all."

That was a terrifying idea: That he might have just been forgotten.

Jono gave his shoulders a little shrug, at that.

//If she said anything, it certainly wasn't to me,// he replied. //Cassandra decided she hated me before she'd even set foot on the island. But then, I was threatening her with consequences if she laid a hand on any of the students, at the time.//

...

//She laid a hand on you, then.//

Well, then.

"Oh yes," Anders said bitterly. "Caught me doing something stupid in a weak moment and laid a hand on me all the way back to Kinloch Hold. It was her right under our laws, but it's still not an experience I'd recommend."

There was a moment, then, when Jono's flame flickered to something redder, angrier. Not at Anders, but for him. His brow furrowed. He reigned it in. Back to the usual yellow-orange it went, and he nodded.

Right. He had suspicions about what might have caused that weak moment. After all, the spring hadn't been kind to many of the students, here.

//I see.// He was shock-still for a moment more, only the fire twisting around him. And then he tilted his head faintly. //Before I ask any other questions... how are you faring, now? You're back, and lord, I'm relieved you are, but... I'm guessing there was more than just the bruises from being manhandled away to contend with.//

Anders eyes had widened a bit at the flare, but he reined it in as Jono spoke and he was certain the flash of anger wasn't at him.

"I'm fine," he assured the man. (Which was true, mostly, give or take a new bitter undertone in his voice and a heightened fear of small spaces.) "The important thing is that I got away. And I won't give anybody any reason to think I belong back there again."

//Do you mind my asking... ah... what happened that got you taken back there in the first place? I know there were some...// He waved a hand for a moment, and then settled on, //painful circumstances, right around that time. But I haven't got many details besides the same message I'm assuming several people got.//

He hesitated, and then added, //You don't have to speak about it if you don't want to, though.//

"I don't mind," Anders said. He had wanted to tell the whole story to someone who was less, er, intimately involved than Dante; Jono seemed like as good an ear as any, and better than most.

His tone was more subdued when he spoke next, as though he was picking his words carefully. "Kathy was -- she was special to me," he said. "And after she was killed, I wanted more than anything to bring her back. There's magic at home called blood magic, where you use your own blood to try to bring out a demon who might be able to do almost anything you can imagine. It's very powerful and very forbidden."

A pause. "I was ready to try it anyhow. Cassandra found me with the knife at my palm."

He wasn't going to bring Merrill into this. The elf might have put the idea of blood magic in Anders' head, but she hadn't twisted his wrist to make him try it.

Edited 2016-07-05 21:48 (UTC)

Jono winced a little as Anders spoke, but he still listened, nodding a little when he was through speaking.

That was... well. That was messy, was what it was. In a dozen different ways.

//You probably don't need me to tell you how stupid that was,// he noted, because that part seemed like the sort of thing he was supposed to say. //If you were willing to do something like that... I want to think I know you well enough to trust that you're aware of all of the things that could've gone wrong.//

He stuck his hands in his pockets, and there was something in his posture that suggested a tired sigh, even if he couldn't quite manage one, per se.

//For what it's all worth... I understand wanting to do anything to bring back somebody who means th'world to you. There've been a few times where, if I'd had an option like that available to me, I don't know that I wouldn't have taken it myself.//

"I know," Anders said, earnest and more than a touch apprehensive. "And standing here, now, I can't believe I so much as gave it a serious thought. But I had Kathy in my dreams telling me to come save her, and I -- I didn't honestly care what happened to me. I didn't even fight Cassandra much about going back with her."

Edited 2016-07-05 22:19 (UTC)

Bloody hell, Anders. Jono was keeping the worry from his eyes as best as he was able - and the fire and the odd things it sometimes did to the shadows on his face probably helped with that at least slightly - but he was somewhere halfway between wanting to throttle the lad and wanting to wrap him in bubble wrap and bury him under kittens.

//Does she know you're back again, yet?//

There. That was neither of those things, and it gave him a moment to process. And to wonder if people had ever felt that way about him, when he was a teenager doing stupid things while grieving.

Anders blinked at the change in topic. "I don't know," he admitted. "She might, if she listens to radio. I didn't go out of my way to hunt her down."

It had seemed like an important question at the time!

//Well... if she gives you any more trouble, don't hesitate to let me know,// Jono said, gravely. //You weren't entirely in your right mind at the time, and while I don't pretend to understand your world's law, here you're my student.//

There was a sort of ferocity in that, a flash in Jonothon's eyes that wouldn't stand to see Anders dragged off again if there was anything he could do to help it.

He softened again after a moment, but there was still a firmness in his tone as he spoke again, //I'm sorry for your loss, Anders. You're a good man, and grief can make people do insane things. I've been there. I do understand. What's important now is that you're here, you're as well as can be expected, and you understand what it was you were about to do.//

"Thank you," Anders said bobbing his head a bit in recognition. "There are reasons mages aren't supposed to go to demons. We can go bad fast. But when you're on an edge -- you don't always do the very best thing."

He half-smiled. "Somehow, I feel lucky to have you looking out for me. Even if I'm not doing such a great job of it myself."

//We've been through no small amount of hell together for the sake of shared friends,// Jono noted, inclining his head faintly. //I'd say that must count for something. You're a good lad, Anders. You're just one who happened to make a bad decision. One that I hope you learned from, though I wish it hadn't come to you being taken away.//

He crossed his arms over his chest, regarding Anders thoughtfully.

//And... you're always welcome to come talk, if things feel too heavy. If you have a moment when the temptation overrides your better judgement again. This isn't the sort of thing you should have to shoulder on your own, Anders. It isn't the sort of thing that anybody should have to shoulder alone.//

Anders nodded again, but slowly. He hadn't even thought to talk to anyone in a position of authority. Maybe things would have ended better if he had.

"They tested me while I was away," he said suddenly, half as a reassurance. "It's called the Harrowing. The idea is you go up against demons to test yourself. I won, if that makes you trust me any more."

They'd kept him locked up anyhow. But that hadn't been a suprise.

//It doesn't hurt,// Jono noted, inclining his head faintly. //But like I said... we've been through enough together, I already trusted you before.//

Rescuing Alluka had been rough. Rapture, on the other hand, had been pure hell. He figured he already knew Anders' measure as a man. And now he knew how deeply his hurts could run, too.

//That said... I'm proud of you, mate. If I'd known they were going to test you, I still wouldn't have had a doubt that you could win.//

"That makes one person," Anders said, with a light laugh. "I didn't know they were going to anyhow, but I suppose I should have expected it. It is the fastest way to prove I'm not already possessed."

More sincerely, he added, "And thank you. I'll try to live up to that."

Jono gave Anders a light smile, reaching to clap him amicably on the shoulder, if Anders would let him.

//I think you can do it,// he said again, because it seemed like the sort of thing that couldn't possibly be said enough. //And if you've ever got doubts of your own, come find me. We can talk any time. Try to find perspective. Help you find your feet again.//

"Thanks," Anders said with genuine warmth, and let his hand rest against Jono's for a moment. He craved physical contact these days: It reminded him he wasn't alone.

He stepped back. "I'll see you in class next week, if I don't track you down first."

For what it was worth, Jono understood that craving all too well.

//I should be fairly easy to find if need be,// he noted. //Here, Groovy Tunes, my office, or at home. And if all else fails, I do answer my phone. But in the meantime, take care, mate. Glad to have you back.//

"Glad to be back," Anders told him. "And I'm sure I'll see you. I want to tell you what happens when I run into Cassandra."

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Coping With Change - Tuesday, Period One

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