Back Into Things (Open)

[JDGreat]

Right. Just ignore everyone and get back into things. You can't let one incident rule your life. You can't waste Ace actually giving a motivational speech cause I doubt she does that for just anybody. And you also can't miss meeting up with Gabrielle later today.

You can feel regret for your actions without letting it rule you with an iron fist.

Rust opened the door to the filling classroom, seeing a few heads turn his way and wordlessly made his way to a seat near the back of the room. Bandanna around his neck, but clad in just a white t-shirt and shorts today, he sighed as he unpacked his stuff on the provided desk.

Using a nearby plug to power up his laptop, the mechanic noticed the teacher hadn't yet arrived. And judging by a few of the looks he was getting...

Maybe I should have waited outside...

[Mrs. Ze]

Zeobrilla waltzed in the the class room. The click of her stiletto heals against the linoleum tile told her she was late. She could see the faces of her students as she walked in. She slammed a heavy bag down on to the desk in front of the chalk board. It held a menagerie of things inside of it and she looked over at the class. A stray lock of silver hair escaping over her face.

She gave a wicked grin and cocked her hip to the right, resting her hand on it. "Alright Kiddos, Welcome to Ethics!" she gave a quick and strong nod with the word 'ethics'. "The ideology of right and wrong. Here we will also dip in to Theology and Politics, I will had you an overload of information and you will choose which you feel is morally right and wrong." She gave a wink. "You!" She pointed to the black haired boy in the back "Your new right? get up here and introduce your self" she commanded.

[JDGreat]

Rust's head perked up at the teacher walking into the room. Well, at least no one would be approaching him about what he did to Secernia before class today. That was definitely one conversation he had wanted to avoid and that bloke three rows down looked like he had wanted to say something.

And then the teacher singled him out.

Oh...son of a bitch...

Well this was just freaking perfect. The LAST thing he wanted to do was introduce himself here! Granted this was a new class he was signing up for but god damn it!

AND IN AN ETHICS CLASS?!

Nothing else for it. It'll be quick and harmless.

Giving a quick breath to calm his nerves a little (he had come here to try and show his mistake wasn't ruling him, after all), Rust got up and walked to the front of the class. A few of Secernia's contacts glared at him on the way past, but he tried to ignore them, as always.

This is going to be mortifying.

After a cough of awkwardness, he started, feeling the expectant eyes of the teacher on him.

"Well, I'm Rusty Kekise. Call me Rust, everyone does. Been here for about a week now to get used to the place and am finding it alright for the most part."

He winced slightly as he said that, but continued regardless.

"Signed up to this to hopefully stick a lid on a bit of a temper problem I've got and if you need anything fixed up, I was a mechanic for three years, so I'll cut you a discount."

He grinned sheepishly at his half assed joke.

[Mrs. Ze]

Ze gave a nod, twisting her pointin hand in to a snap and then a thumbs up in one quick motion. "Alrighty Rust sit back down and we will have a lesson. This class is only an hour and we will be covering a lot." She said with a nod.

She sat down on top of the desk, crossing her legs "Ok Kiddos! There is a book under your seat, pick it up, and flip it to page 27, what do you see?"It was a picture of a man on fire, along with three other bodies, underneath the small description under it. It was a man and his family, the man burned him self and his family as a protest against the freedom of religion in his countries. "Now, Its time to discuss this topic, i want to hear your thoughts." She gave a nod. She was hoping this would turn in to an hour long discussion.

[JDGreat]

With a sigh of relief, Rust returned to his seat and followed the teacher's instructions.

What was the name on the booking form again? Mrs Zeobrilla, wasn't it? Well...she seems normal at least. Wonder what her powers are?

Shrugging, he reached under the seat and pulled out said book, flipping it open to the page needed. He stared at the picture for a second, before wondering whether or not to speak.

Ah shit...here's the problem. No one's confident enough to speak up, so this silence is gonna get more and more awkward. Then the teacher'll feel awkward too... God damn it, Kekise, head in the game and just GO FOR IT! It was one mistake! Earn your self esteem back!

"If he wanted to make a statement, he shouldn't have brought the family into it." Rust spoke aloud. All eyes on him. Greeeeeeeat."What I mean is...what if the family didn't want to die with him? They could have had lives themselves but based off of one decision made by this man, they were forced to die."

[Mrs. Ze]

Ze gave a grin and jumped off the desk from where she was sitting. "Great!" she exclaimed with a clap. "Conversation started." You!" she pointed to a pig nosed boy with red curly hair. "Counter!" It was like she was playing a Pokemon match. She clicked her heals at the boy.

His green eyes widened as he stammered out a response "Well, the whole family could have been protesting. Its for their freedom..." he looked down at his shoes. The room was quit for along wile before a girl with blond hair spoke up.

"But no, Rust is right, he shouldn't have brought his family in to it, that's clearly going against their rights!" the girl pointed at Rust as she stood in her seat.

[JDGreat]

What the hell is this? Have I suddenly become some kind of freaking leader? And I coulda sworn that girl was one of the ones glaring at me earlier...

Still, it was kind of nice having some random stranger standing up for his point of view. Maybe Secernia's influence WASN'T everywhere in this school? That thought made him feel so much better. He could still survive here, it seemed. The world wasn't against him, after all.

Relaxing back, he held both of his hands behind his head, grinning at the teacher's exuberance and calming down a hell of a lot. Maybe this could even be fun?

"Plus you have to consider whether or not he was doing it for freedom of his religion or because he was just fanatical." the mechanic continued. "There are better ways to grab attention than to set yourself on fire. I'm not saying re-enact 9/11 or anything like that, but surely there's gotta be a better way than burning yourself to a crisp?"

[Mrs. Ze]

Zeobrill held her finger up, along with her eyebrows. "Well there was a similar incident during in Korea where a Buddhist monk burnt him self alive for the same reason. This picture you see here happens to be from three years ago in Pakistan."She smiled at rust, she was about to bust her seams from the amount of pride she was gobbing.

"Though the incidents are similar and for, supposedly, the same cause, would they be similar to each other, and what about the camera man? the people who took the pictures, what do you think of those people. For just sitting there and snapping pictures while people were dieing. Or by publishing the photograph did the camera men show the world of what these people were willing to do for their freedom."

There was an uproar now, multiple students were talking over each other. Ze just grinned at the chaos, finding it funny how in to the conversation they were. Eventually after a half an hour she began conducting the conversation. Like it was an orchestra. She looked at the clock, fifteen minutes of class was left.

[JDGreat]

Rust kicked back again, leaning back in his seat. This teacher was GOOD at her job. The students were chomping at the bit in order to answer her questions or debate with one another. Hell, he'd gotten in as many points as he could and even found himself non-plussed a few times himself! However, having another random student back him up on some of those points felt absolutely unbelievable. Especially after The Incident. He almost felt back to his normal self.

He checked the clock.

Bloody hell, 45 minutes have passed already? I must have been having more fun than I first thought...

"But, yeah, you gotta remember peaceful protests are always the one's that are best remembered!" the mechanic argued over the uproar. "More people think of Martin Luther King than of Malcom X, right?"

You know what, screw it. Let's bring some more fun in.

He stood up to draw attention and spoke again, grin firm on his face.

"I can guarantee more people in this class would rather be Professor X than to be Magneto!"

[Mrs. Ze]

Zeobrillia busted out laughing at Rust's argument. It was definitely true, people would rather be professor X over Magneto, unless that had a horrible hankering for violence. Which some kids did possess. The bell rang after he made his entirely valid point and the kids began to pick up their book bags and shuffle out of the room.

Ze looked at rust and trusted one finger towards him and then turned it upward. Curling it in a come hither motion. "You got spunk kid, im glad your now out of the funk you were in at the beginning of class. " she said as her eyebrows pushed up. "So Rust, tell me the funk, if you don't want to then you don't have to" she smiled, a smile that looked like it would come from a mother.

[JDGreat]

Seeing the teacher beckon him with a finger after he packed his stuff up, Rust arched an eyebrow at Mrs Zeobrilla, wondering what this was about.

Did I do something wrong? She doesn't look mad...

Walking up to her after packing away his laptop, he tried not to look nervous, but even at age 18, there's always that feeling in the pit of your stomach when a teacher wants to talk to you after class.

However, it seemed she was after another problem entirely. He blanched noticibly.

"How could you tell?" he asked quizzically and taken aback. "Was I really that obvious?"

Well of course you were, dumbass. If you weren't at the beginning of the class, you sure as hell would have given the game away now.

Realising this, he slumped slightly and let out a sigh.

"Okay, you win." he muttered, before he looked up and saw her smile. For one brief instant, Mrs Zeobrilla, instead of shoulder length silver hair and violet eyes, had longer red hair and green ones. The image faded straight away, but Rust felt so at ease with just that smile that he couldn't help it.

"It's...well, a few days ago, I majorly messed up," he started, unsure as to how to explain.

[Mrs. Ze]

Zeobrillia rested her cheek on her hand. "Take your time if you need to there isn't any rush." she said in a soothing tone. Her eyebrow arched and she thought to her self that she could be a counselor...but she enjoyed what she had far too much.

She looked over and then pulled a seat over with her foot, the blue stiletto hanging off her heal slightly. "This has to do with those girls who have been causing trouble isn't it?"Zeobrillia didn't have any proof of anything because no one seemed to remember anything, or would say strange things. She let out a sight and looked at the boy. Wondering what he was going to say too.

[JDGreat]

Seating himself at a nearby desk, Rust looked up at the odd assumption.

"Causing trouble? Well, I dunno if we're on about the same people here, but it has been to do with a few girls, yeah." the mechanic nodded at her. He took another breath....and then spilt the story again, this time to an adult. The meeting with Alora and Kikime. How he'd been so enraged that men could do something like that to a 14 year old. How he'd beaten on a tree repeatedly to try and quell his anger. How Secernia had approached him and his power had struck her across the face.

He told the teacher about the fight, indicating his cut cheek and the wound on his shoulder. Finally, he told her how he'd threatened her to keep quiet.

"It just...It's not normally me at all." Rust said as sincerely as possible. "I'd prided myself on never striking a woman before but... I was just so angry at the time..."

[Mrs. Ze]

Zeobrilla watched him, her smile faded in to a studding look. Her eyes darted around him. Something about the wound on his face didn't make sense...it was cut wrong...it didn't look like a defense wound from someone...it looked like it was made from behind him. She reached out her hand, taking his chin between her thumb and forfinger. Inspecting the scrach. She took her other hand and brushed pointer finger over it. A small flash of blue light appeared and then the scratch was gone.

She let out a sigh "let me see your hands, if you did hit her, you would have wounds on your hand, and yes i understand you were hitting a tree right? but there would still be something..." she had a feeling in her gut that this was wrong. the story he told her was wrong. "I know about the Alora girl and the boys, whats strange is that the boys cant recall why they did what they did...its a strange thing" she said as she scratched her name.

Ze hoped that Alora could pull her self out of this deep dark black hole. It hurt her too much to see such a sweet loving girl in such a state. "well if anything else comes back to you and couple of days or weeks come tell me."

[JDGreat]

The mechanic was startled when his teacher gripped his face.

"Err...Miss? What are you doi-?" His question was answered as her hand rose up and emitted a blue light. And with a flash, the constant nagging feeling of the cut vanished as she released him. Quickly moving his hand up to his own face, he felt the cheek. No scab, no blood, no nothing. It was as if there had been no cut there whatsoever.

Nodding at her request, still slightly stunned into silence, he raised both fists to show her. As expected, there were the callouses from punching that tree so hard but Rust wondered what exactly she could tell from the knuckles. Then she said the next bit.

"You knew?!" he exclaimed, standing up suddenly and pushing his chair backwards. "Then book the bastards right now! Stick them in the slammer and see how they like being the weak defenceless one being advantage of! You don't rape! Simple as! They don't deserve to even BE men!"

However, as Mrs Ze continued, Rust just looked confused.

"Wait...can't remember? I didn't think rapists HAD any thoughts behind the matter." he muttered, looking away from his teacher. "Complete monsters that they are..."

It was clear violence towards woman was not something Rust thought highly of.

"Wait...why do you say next couple of days to weeks?" the mechanic asked, confused again. "Am I missing something here?"

[Mrs. Ze]

Zeobrilla gave him a smile, a warm comforting one "Yes, if you remember anything differently then come back to me." she said with a nod. "And yes, men like that do deserve to go to jail, and they have already been escorted off of the islands. We interviewed them with a mind reader. None of them could justify what they had done. " She could see his hands were calloused and swollen but it looked like he was hitting a tree, nothing really soft at all....she let out a humm.

She let out a sight, and touched the tip of his nose with a distinctive "Boop" noise forming from her mouth. "But yes, if you remember any thing differently." she gave a wink to him. "Oh and you haven't seen a girl named Julia...oh what does she call her self...Ace around? She has an appointment with me and is going to be late if she doesn't show up soon." she said looking over at the clock.

[JDGreat]

Mrs Zeobrilla's smile once again managed to calm Rust down a bit. He took his seat back and placed it under the desk but otherwise remained standing.

"...thanks." he said eventually, fairly awkwardly. "I'm really really happy to hear that." That was the truth. If those bastards had still been on the island, the mechanic probably would have brought the beatdown on them. And he wouldn't be sure he'd be able to stop.

Touching his nose made the mechanic go cross eyed for a moment trying to keep it in focus, but he did have the common decency to blush a little at the close physical contact.

"I will if I do...not sure how much there is left to tell or remember though. It only happened about 4 days ago." he informed his teacher with a small smile. "Still...thanks for talking it out with me. Means a lot."

The small smile grew in size to a full blown grin as Mrs Ze described her student.

"Holy hell, Ace knows you as well? This is aweso- Wait, her name's Julia?"

That little tidbit caught Rust well off guard.

Ace is Julia. My Mom is Julie... Oh that just has to be a coincidence, doesn't it? Has to be...right? Ace isn't a redhead. Still, what the hell?!

[Mrs. Ze]

Ze gave out a laugh that sounded like wind chimes. She liked it when this kid grinned, all toothy and like a Cheshire . "Yeah i'm giving her....um...special credit lessons...now that didn't just make me sound like a creeper..." she gave a perplexed look.

Julia was adament that no one know that she couldnt read or do math verry well. and it made her laugh.

[JDGreat]

Rust just laughed at her odd little statement. It was amazing how at ease he felt the more people who knew about this. Ace had been a great start and Mrs Ze had merely continued the process simply by being there to talk to!

"Don't worry, Miss. Your secret's safe with me." he winked at her. "Seriously though, I was talking to her earlier today, so she should be along in a few moments or so. Would you prefer me to skedaddle before she arrives or do you need to talk to me about anything else, Miss...?"

He knew her name from the booking form, but had no idea how to say it. He left the previous sentence hanging, fishing for her name.

[Mrs. Ze]

Ze gave a laugh and nodded. "Maybe she might get all defensive like she does if she finds you here, and its Zeo , like Neo and then brill-ee-ah" she patted his head. "Zeobrillia" she said as she stood up and then began rummaging through the massive brown bag.

That is when she pulled it out. a book and a jar of lolly pops. "Its a trick i used with ace...its so she doesn't try and smoke in my class room" she offered the open jar to him "Take one before you go"

[JDGreat]

Rust felt fairly sheepish, but did take an offered lollipop.

"Thanks, Mrs Zeobrillia." The mechanic nodded at her. "You've been a big help. Say hi to Ace for me, would ya?"

With that, he grinned and made his way out of the room, lollipop safely in his pocket for later.


So gotta talk to Ace later. Her teacher is freaking awesome.