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This wasn't the sort of situation I wanted to announce the school opening to. I get that things are rather unnerving and scary right now. Life is just a bit of a mess at the moment. And I respect that people are on edge.

Still, for those who are interested, an abbreviated collection of classes will be starting next Monday. I've got everything set up in the Civics Center. Right now I can't offer you everything that I intended to due to the attacks that had been taking place. But for any of our younger compatriots, you'll have a safe environment to gather together to try and pick up some learning, should you choose it.

How can I say it's safe? Simple. I'll be in the room for every session. Sword and shield in easy reach. I've also talked to the speedy kid who has agreed to deliver lunch in the afternoon to us, and will be on call for carrying anyone to the Hospital should something happen.

Classes start at ten in the morning with a history class where the focus will be on critical analysis since it's all from history books I picked up in Eorzea and not specifically relevant to any one of us. Doctor Takemi will be sparing us an hour in the afternoon every day for basics of emergency first aid, so anyone without the medical datapoint can address smaller wounds and help stabilize someone in an emergency until one of our medics can arrive.

Our language arts class is delayed because the instructor is recovering, as is our math and physics class because that instructor is watching over his injured boyfriend. Still working on trying to set something up for an electronics class, not because we don't have talented people who can teach it, but because getting supplies for hands on learning is a bit harder.

Last class of the day is fitness and self defense. Any students who want to turn self-defense into a more advanced class need to meet my standards first, but I will work with anyone wanting to learn more active defense strategies. I've been trying my best to make sure the Agrii won't interrupt those lessons, so for now we'll be working with foam weapons.

Finally, don't think this means I'm resting on my laurels about that other shit going on here. Maybe I lack the special skills certain parties have offered in terms of quick escort services, I'm still here to help. Many of us live in scattered areas about Temba, and I respect the decisions made in that direction. Lived that choice myself. But while this current trouble is ongoing I'm setting myself up in the hotel. I will be spending time before and after classes in the first room by the stairs on the second floor of the hotel. If I'm not there I'm going to be sitting in the lounge of the hotel, working on school stuff or reading.

Real easy for you to just walk on by, knock on my door, or tap my shoulder to ask for company while you do anything after dark. We need to be careful about going it alone right now. Real careful. Please don't risk heading out alone at night. The buddy system is your friend. Hell, probably better to travel in trios rather than simple pairs, for safety.

If you have any questions, want to help with the school in any way, or just need to talk, my door and communication device are always available to you.

[Private Follow Up Message to Tony Stark]

I had a question about a small project I'd like help on regarding the hotel and Civics Center and from what I know of your skills, I was really hoping for your help. Think you could spare a bit of time on what I expect would be a relatively quick project for someone of your skill?

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Really? Is this that important right now?

Providing a safe place to be for part of the day with delivered food, help feeling like you can protect yourself, and at the same time having the potential for self growth in the areas that you personally choose isn't necessarily a bad thing.

None of this is mandatory. But it can be valuable to learn some of these things. And some people here want those chances.

In addition, it could help educate the Agrii. Including on the difference between genuine danger and when people are playing or training.

And sometimes a measure of normality and routine can help support mental health in stressful times.

[That was a way longer answer than he expected.]

You’re really invested in this, huh?

Protecting people here matters to me, yes. And since I can't protect everyone, offering a place where some people who might want to feel safer matters to me.

I've also been training young people in self defense since I was a teen. I know how to do this. This is what I can give people. Because sadly I was trained as a personal body guard and a head of security, not in investigative tactics. The Royal Guard had specialists for those sorts of things. And we had it stressed that interfering with some degree of investigation can make things difficult.

Not to mention I know I look intimidating and could easily make people feel uncomfortable. I don't want to do that when I can maybe offer a sense of safety.

Eh, I’ve seen scarier.

[Even if he doesn’t sound too impressed, he’s thinking about it. Okay, so he has no actual interest in school, buuuut…]

What if I already know self-defense?

As have I. However, not everyone has. And fear is fear. Sometimes it's irrational and we cannot control it. Sometimes it is perfectly rational and we also cannot control it. And even those who have been through horrible trauma and fearful situations can still seek comfort and shelter in troubling times.

That's never a choice that should be held against them.

[He doesn't have to attend the classes he doesn't want to. Gladio doesn't have the power or desire to force people into things.]

If you already know self defense I would invite you to join us for fitness and training if you wished to do so. Even my more experienced students can always benefit from new sparring partners. And it is through additional sparring and training that we keep ourselves sharp and prepared.

[He's not holding anything against anyone, sheesh!

He doesn't really want to agree to anything, because training is so not his style. He did everything he could to get out of it back home, after all! But he also thinks that doing something to keep his skills sharp is... a good idea. He recently got a chunk taken out of his leg by a spider, after all, and that was super embarrassing.]

...Okay, well... Maybe I'll come check it out. If it's not lame and dumb.

That depends. I have a reputation, you know, I can't be giving things away.

I want to be able to see who is coming in and out of the Civics Center during class hours, and the hotel at night. Is that possible? Something like a CCTV security system but going to my communication device?

If nothing else, we have weights, punching bags, and an obstacle course. So maybe those will be fun for you outside of school hours if we're too lame for you.

Very possible. Not very secure. The CC part, pretty important, you know, TV is just TV without it. You want a local network, too?

An obstacle course, huh…?

[The rest of that isn’t really his thing, but…]

Good point. I don't really know as much about the tech side of that. Mostly I just want a way to let me watch over the safety of my students and the people in the hotel. Something that pings me when there are changes so I can see if I need to act. I don't know what is reasonable with that.

Made by some space alien warrior royal bodyguard or something from what I've heard.

…Is it hard?

Don't know how it goes for someone nimble like you. We clearly move differently. But I've enjoyed the challenge of it. Thinking about how to improve and expand it for different specializations. Maybe a parkour area, but I don't have those skills so I can't plan that out myself.

I've got you covered.

[Shortly, Gladio receives another alert that appears to be a private conversation with someone named HOTEL, then similarly from CIVICS CENTRE. Both of them contain a short looping video from what seems to be directly outside of each building's accessible doorways.

From Tony then:]
They'll alert when there's any movement. You can message them to check what's happening at the moment.

Damn, that was fast, Stark. Wish we'd had someone like you doing tech back home. Might have made things play out different. What's the command to message for Feedback? And I'm guessing the standard 'STOP' message will disable feed updates? At least that's what you do back home to get removed from automated message systems.

Well, I know parkour.

[If you consider jumping from building to building parkour, that's his main way of getting around.]

That's why I get paid the big bucks.

Don't worry, he's pretty clever, he'll figure out what you mean. You can tell him all of your dirty secrets, if you want, but I can't guarantee that terminating service will delete collected information. That belongs to the company.

Really? You do? That's interesting. Maybe you'd be willing to consult on improvements then?

[Was he laying a metaphorical trail of breadcrumbs to give Leo a reason to be around? Yep.]

Seems like you would be, with these skills.

By 'he' you mean you, right? And god, you really sound like a ToS. I don't like that.

[Is it working? ~~Yep~~ Maybe!]

Weeell... I mean, I guess if you need my help, I can come check it out.

I warned you, I've got a price. You agree to the service, you agree to the terms, that's business, sweetheart.

Perhaps you can help gauge how much help I need.

I know. Can't avoid it. Though I feel like there were legal cases about how binding ToSes are.

You can have your lawyer give me a call. If she's cute, I might even be convinced.

Alas, no lawyer to help me out. Guess I'm screwed.

Not always the worst position to be in.

Entering a legal contract without seeing the specific language and having no lawyer to review it?

Yeah, yeah, but then maybe you'll get breakfast in the morning.

Breakfast is important. I head to the diner every day to get it.

Sure. I can come by.

Guess we'll look forward to you then. If you show up early you can have lunch with us, though I've scheduled that to not come too close to training periods. But if you need to test the obstacle course without eyes watching you, it's there all day every day.

Why would I need to do that? I do my best work with eyes on me.

Guess we'll see you during gym then.

[And who knows, maybe it will help Leo make friends and want to join stuff.]

Sure, see ya.

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