fandomhigh | Coping With Change | Tuesday, Period One

"Hi, everybody!" Cecil said. "We've got all sorts of changes to talk about this week. Like, what happens if you lose all your memories? Or what happens when you get new ones? There's a whole thing about finding out you're not who you thought, and really, you don't have to get everything all dumped on you at once for that. Although I guess it helps, right?"

//That... really depends on the situation,// Jono replied, a bit more on the subdued side, today. //Dealing with memory loss can be stressful. Coming back from it isn't necessarily any easier. And the island will do more than simply take away your memories. We've had weekends where you'll have lived an entirely different life, and coming to grips with what you did as somebody else...//

He hiked his shoulders up a bit.

//Things that mess with memory and with identity can leave a person uncertain about the one person that they feel they should be able to trust more than anybody else. And if you can't trust who you are, what can you trust?//

"Well, really, who can you ever trust?" Cecil added breezily. "Apart from your scientist boyfriend."

//Mine's a psychiatrist. He lost his memory, too. Which isn't really the point,// Jono replied, his voice reflecting a sigh that he couldn't quite share, otherwise. //The fact remains, identity and things beyond our control that might cause us to question it are big, terrifying topics that we don't want to think about.//

"So we're going to talk about them instead!" Cecil said. "Talking's much better than thinking. Just ask...well, pretty much anyone!"

Jono despaired of you sometimes, Cecil. He really did.

//We're going to talk about it,// he agreed all the same, a little less exuberantly. //With a focus on your personal feelings about this weekend, and how you chose to cope both without your memories and once you got them back again. I... am not too proud to admit that I spent most of Monday in bed. And not entirely because of a second failed attempt at a wedding, either.//

"I drank," Cecil offered. "It's generally the best thing when you want to forget things you shouldn't know."

//... I don't think the school actually encourages us to say that to the students, Cecil.//

Cecil frowned. "Are you sure? Why?"

//Quite sure. Underage drinking and encouraging it as a coping mechanism and forming unhealthy habits...// He shrugged. //Not that I didn't do my fair share of drinking at around that age myself while I still could, but there are probably better ways of dealing with one's problems.//

Like staying in bed, Jonothon?

Cecil shook his head. "This place is weird."

Jono shook his head in turn.

//You won't get any argument from me there,// he agreed. //But that's what we're going to deal with today, because thinking about this isolated incident is easier than contemplating anything much more permanent or potentially disastrous. Talk about what worked. Talk about what didn't work. Don't talk at all. Don't listen at all. Hell, leave the room if you feel you have to. Do whatever you need to in order to deal with this one, and we'll get into less immediate traumas next week.//

Unless something happened this week too, but this soon after an amnesiac weekend? What were the chances?

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Jono looked a bit like he wanted to crawl out of his own skin at the topic, but apparently they were going to be talking about this today. At least Cecil seemed to be in good spirits?

Dante had dealt with getting his screwed-up memories back yesterday. Today, he was back in class - less relaxed and lounging than usual, yeah, but that was partly because he was keeping an eye out for people he knew.

Like, mermaid-shaped people.

Though he did take a moment to roll his eyes visibly at the drinking stuff. Whatever, Starsmore.

Edited 2016-07-12 05:38 (UTC)

Hyacinthe was doing his best to present an air of nonchalant unconcern, honed by years of ignoring catcalls and jeers about his parentage and people. However Hyacinthe felt, the Prince of Travellers never showed that anything got to him.

Though he might have been glancing around, looking for Ada, though he was at a loss of how he'd even approach her after the weekend.

It was through a rather elegant bit of slight-of-hand that a note appeared on his desk as Ada went past. It was folded neatly - if slightly rumpled - as though maybe someone had turned it over and over in her hands a few times to try and get up the courage to drop it off.

Shut up.

I'm so sorry. Please don't think I deliberately took advantage or something.

Yes, Ada was worried that he was feeling used or abandoned, and she didn't want that.

Hya's brow was wreathed with thunderclouds--save for the one spot the was creased with worry--but all of that vanished as he turned to stare at Ada in surprise. Cassiel's balls, he didn't even have it in him to be subtle about things. He just turned to watch her pass, trying to catch her eye. If she let him, he would give her the most emphatic headshake of his life.

If anything, he was worried about how she was feeling after the weekend. His internal angst stemmed for an entirely different source than one too-pretty mermaid.

The headshake got a tiny smile before she ducked her head and slid into her seat.

All her internal angst over the weekend stemmed from an entirely different source than one too-pretty Tsingano boy. Even if it was a little sad to know that she could have that kind of relationship with someone... if she was willing to forget everything else.

Hyacinthe was tempted to send a note back; it would be easy to use his own skills of sleight of hand to get it back to her with no one being the wiser. But trying to come up with how he'd even begin was escaping him right now.

She knew he wasn't feeling taken advantage of. She'd given him a smile. That would have to be enough until he got his own head on straight once again. Or, at leat, everything was buried down deep enough he could pretend.

So instead he gave her a smile in return--small and subdued, but genuine--before he turned back around.

Roscoe looked uncomfortable, and maybe even a little guilty as he listened to the lecture. He hadn't lost his memories. He had been ~~handwavily~~ out of town, visiting his dad. And now he was grateful for that, considering... everything.

For once, he was quiet in class, because he didn't have anything useful to say and other people deserved the air time more than he did.

Ada had seriously debated just skipping class, but she was going to need to deal with being around Hyacinthe eventually, and she was tired of running and hiding from the island's brand of bullshit.

She was just... tired. Tired of being reminded of how easy it was to lose herself. Of how her clock could run out at any time and she was going to lose everything, and how easy it would be to just let go.

Yesterday had been for crying and hiding. Today? Today was a 'fuck you' to Fandom. Barefoot, shoes abandoned back in her room, and dressed in kiss-a-carnie golds and reds, hair in a ponytail, and minimal glitter. Her scales were almost visible if you knew where to look; her version of raising a middle finger to her entire fucking life.

Coping With Change | Tuesday, Period One

Listen to the lecture

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