Dealing With Other People's Trauma, Tuesday 9/2, 3rd period

[stykera]

Stark was standing at the front of the room looking serious. Serious except for the rather absurd hat that he’d woken up wearing and had been unable to rid himself of thus far.

“Welcome,” he said once everyone had arrived. “I know some of you. Not all. I’m Stark. Just Stark, though some people decided to call me James.” It was easier just to go along with that, honestly.

“I don’t usually wear this hat. It just…appeared this morning. The island does things like this, sometimes. You’ll get used to this eventually if you haven’t already done so.” Probably, anyway.

“So. We’ll do introductions in a moment. Always good to start with those especially when there are new people on the island.” He nodded to the new faces.

“But first, a small introduction to what we'll be doing here. Or what I hope we'll be doing here, in this class. The idea of it,” he said, looking around, “is to recognize that we've all had different experiences. Not all of them positive. And that can cause problems.”

Oh, the understatement of it all.

“So we're going to try to not make things worse for other people. We'll try to be kind, when we can. We'll try to learn how to be gentle with others when they need it in certain situations and at certain times.”

Stark paused then and looked around. “I don't know anyone who hasn't been hurt, hasn't been traumatized in some way. It's good to remember that. Now, having said that…i suppose the rest of you ought to introduce yourselves?”

Comments

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Oh, oh no." Arden shook her head and gave Erasmus an apologetic smile. "No, uh, this is your introductory weird. It gets way, way, way weirder."

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[stringstothesoul]

"Weirder?!" Pony, buddy. "How?" Careful, or you would turn into a shrimp.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Uh, so there's when you become a kid, and then when your kids from different potential futures show up, uhhh...the week when the whole island loses its mind cause of, ah, pollen that induces pants-feels..."

Horny, Arden. For the love of the goddess, just say horny.

"Gremlins with hallucinagenic venom, weird weather, invasions..." The list went on, Erasmus.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[stringstothesoul]

"Invasions?" Erasmus repeated, just grabbing onto that last one because he couldn't process all of it at once. "Invasions of what?"

Give it a day or so. You'll find out.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"All sorts of things," Arden said. "Last Halloween--wait, no maybe the Halloween before - there were weird guys with TV heads that turned the island to a strip mall. And there was the time we were attacked by roadside attractions like a big ball of twine and a Paul Bunyan statue...oh, the real bad one was when parts of ourselves showed up to be awful..."

She would understand if you thought this was bull...shoot, Erasmus, it sure sounded like it.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[stringstothesoul]

"You know, I really hope you're playing 'mess with the new guy' right now," Erasmus admitted, "but I'm afraid you're not."

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I promise, if I were messing with you, I would've gone with something way more plausible. Or at least cooler sounding."

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[stringstothesoul]

"I dunno, the guys with TVs for heads sound--well, scary, at least." Capitalism: the greatest horror.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

It truly had been. But not because of the TV guys exactly. "Literally every store turned into a chain restaurant. But we did - briefly - get a Waffle House, so it was kinda worth it."

#Priorities

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[stringstothesoul]

"But it went away?" Tragedy. Come back, Waffle House. Your people need you.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"It comes back in our hour of greatest need," Arden said solemnly. "Like the night after the Barton-Pryces threw a 'Never Have I Ever' party and everybody got horribly drunk. It showed up for breakfast for everyone with hangovers."

As was right and proper.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[stringstothesoul]

"So if it shows up and there hasn't been a giant rager the night before, does that mean we need to prepare for a hurricane?" Erasmus guessed.

He was from the Gulf Coast. He understood the Waffle House Index.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Something's coming anyway," Arden said. "...Is Maryland even a hurricane state?"

Honey, East Coast. Yes.

Re: Introductions [9/2]

[stringstothesoul]

"I think they're rarer once you get up north," Erasmus said, fully considering Maryland 'up north.' "The water gets colder." That meant less Waffle House opportunities. Sad.