fandomhigh | Rage Against the Machine: Etc, Etc, Etc; Tuesday, Second Period [04/19].

If anyone was expecting for the final in this class to be anywhere else but the danger shop...

...well, Summer could make the argument for having it in actual space instead, and she was the type of person to consider taking that risk, but losing a kid in space during a potential galactic infiltration mission was not only look bad on her record, but it would probably incur a lot of paperwork. So danger shop it was!

They were gathered in some nice, generic space-ified hangar bay of sorts, all shiny chrome and blinking lights and a lot of computer screens and techno props that didn't really do much except look sci-fi, or whatever, and if the students didn't already know where this was going, then they really hadn't paid much attention in this class, had they?

"Alright," Summer said, "final exam, which means its crunch time, which means we've managed to infiltrate the evil galactic empire's totally subtle and suuuuper secretive, really, base and we're here to try and put an end to it. How, you ask? Well, obviously, that's up to you guys. Who doesn't like a nice, open-ended final like that, right? So you've got a little bit of time to try and hash out some plans amongst yourself, ask questions about pertinent and maybe helpful information, or just set out to go rogue and see what you can accomplish as a lone wolf and we will all be very impressed. And then have at it, see what you can do, and we'll try and take this mother down. Of course, weapons and other gadgets that might be helpful are available to you as well, and anything else you can think of, because, hi, it's the danger shop, we can pretty much do whatever.

"So! Any questions for me before you get going on the revolution?"

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Summer's mouth opened, very likely filled with some comment thanking Vi for her helpful contribution, but it stopped before it came out, went back in, and she closed her mouth again until something else showed up instead, the question that had pretty much been on the edge of Summer's perception since day one.

"Why did you take this class, anyway?" she ventured.

Vi slowly, deliberately breathed in and out, then shrugged again, hands clenching in her pockets to stop her fingers trembling. "I got assigned it," she said honestly, leaving off the commentary about it being some kind of sick joke.

"Mmhm," said Summer, her nod seemingly, carefully as deliberate as that breath. "And what about the part near the beginning of class where I said attendance was not mandatory?"

Amongst other reasons, Vi had nowhere near enough trust in authority figures not to believe it wasn't a trap. "This is me not attending," she said. "I know how this plays out. It's not pretty. I don't need to see it again."

"No," said Summer. "This is you being dead weight. This is you surviving," and, yes, she definitely put a little extra mustard on that word, "while letting other people get their hands dirty. But what's even the point of surviving, Vi, if nothing's going to change? If they're actually likely to just get worse? It's definitely not going to get any prettier if you just stand by and do nothing, either."

And there was that trap snicking shut.

"That speech work on the last lot of kids you got killed?" Vi squared her shoulders, automatically bracing herself. "Not that it matters, since it's not real and you've got no way to force me to go along with it."

"I never wanted you to go along with anything you dodn't want to," Summer insisted, "but if you are going to be here, I want you to at least try and not act like doing nothing is somehow the better option. If I'd have thought this way when I was your age, I'd be one of those dead kids. And that is very real."

She broke off with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. Dropped her hand.

"If you're not going to even try to help, though, you might as well go.

Edited 2022-04-20 08:33 (UTC)

"You don't know shit about what I think and why I think it," Vi said, biting off each word. "But I do know that people who think like you, like those are the only two options, are why I don't have a family any more."

She turned on her heel. "Don't worry, I was already leaving."

Summer sucked in a breath, cutting off a whole cascade of statements about how maybe she'd have a better idea of what Vi thought about it if she'd actually told her, that the whole point of the class was to explore options, that maybe you couldn't change the things you'd had to sacrifice but you could do what you could to make sure others didn't have to suffer those same loses....

But not the time. Not the fucking place. No one was convincing anyone of anyone here, so Summer let that breath out long and slow and let her go, and turned her attention back to the people who were here to actually learn.

And who obviously didn't need to have taken that whole 'attendance is not mandatory' thing a little more to heart.

Rage Against the Machine: Etc, Etc, Etc; Tuesday, Second Period [04/19].

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Re: The Brainstorming Thread! - RatM, 04/19.

Re: The Brainstorming Thread! - RatM, 04/19.