fandomhigh | Dealing With Stupid People [Monday, 2nd period]

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stupid people

Dealing With Stupid People [Monday, 2nd period]

Instead of telephones, the students in Josh's workshop would find laptops set up.

And coffee, naturally.

"For some reason, people think that because they're hiding behind a keyboard, they're not accountable for what they say," Josh began, taking a sip from his mug. "That's clearly stupid. There are entire websites devoted to mocking such stupidity--not that I've ever gone to them, of course--and I'm sure those of you more technically minded will help out your fellow students from less advanced civilizations."

Josh clapped his hands together. "Because today, you are starting flamewars."

He gave a brief--well, for him--explanation of flamewars, with tangents about Fox News, the Republican party and the general evil of people who put up websites about Bartlet and can't be bothered to learn how to spell his last name correctly, then let them loose on the internet.

Heaven help 'em.

Blackbird - The Beatles

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"As long as you stick to the first few pages of links," Isabel nodded, pointing the the numbers along the bottom of the screen. "You'll be fine. They're listed according to relevance. So when you get beyond the first few pages, you're liable to find people doing things with chocolate that you'd rather not know about."

Aravis stared.

"...I had never even thought you could do that, though it makes sense, considering the tales I've heard about honey back home."

"Yeah, I suppose in theory, a little chocolate syrup and the right person would be kind of fun but I have no desire to see anyone else having that kind of fun," she nodded.

Aravis wrinkled her nose. "I am Aravis, forgive me for not introducing myself earlier," she added, ducking her head slightly.

"Isabel," she said. "It not a probelm. Things are pretty casual around here. What do you think of Fandom so far?"

"It is...unlike anything I've known," she said thoughtfully. "Very, very different from my home."

"Oh? What's home like?" Isabel asked. "Do you miss it?"

"A bit," she said honestly. "Archenland, where I have lived the past year,is wildly different. It's lush and green and less warm, and I am the only lady of the entire court. It's odd, meeting other girls here."

"Only lady? That had to have been difficult," she said. "Why did you come to Fandom?"

"I was sent here as a contact," she said with a smile. "There is already a representative from our ally, and it was decided that another should come from Archenland. How did you find yourself here?"

"Oh? Who's that?" Isabel asked. "I came here thinking I was coming to a nice normal boarding school where I could pretend I was a nice, perfectly normal girl." She laughed and shook her head. "Boy was I surprised."

Aravis's smile tightened slightly. "Peter Pevensie. He is king, in my time, of the country adjacent to my own." She tilted her head. "Why would normality need to be a pretense?"

Isabel smiled, "Peter's a friend of mine. We were on StuCo together this past year. It was a lot of fun." She looked down, bringing up Fandom Wank. Reading about flame wars would count wouldn't it? "Mostly because I'm not a perfectly normal girl. And I didn't feel like dealing with it anymore."

"Why be normal, anyway," Aravis asked, peering at the screen, "when you can be extraordinary? Doing the expected is dull and usually not the most self-beneficial course of action."

"I like the way you think," she smiled. "Extraordinary. I'll have to remember that. Unfortunately being extraordinary where I'm from is a good way to wind up dead. Thus the desire to just be normal."

Isabel pointed at the screen, "This is a website devoted to mocking flame wars and other bits of internet stupidity usually related to the fandom of a particular book or movie or other entertainment related thing."

Aravis grinned. "I am glad, then, that I have seen a movie and know what these are. It was most confusing before." She paused. "And being less than ordinary was a good way to get killed in my homeland, too, before I came to Archenland, so you have my sympathies."

"Oh good, but if I say anything that gets too confusing, let me know and I'll try to explain," Isabel told her. "Sometimes I forget that not everyone is familiar with everything I am."

"What's funny is I think I can kind of relate to what you said, about not being used to other girls around. I didn't have any close female friends until I came here."

"I grew up with a brother," she explained. "And in Archenland, there are only female servants and my friend Lucy, who occasionally visits. I am the only lady. It is...odd, being around girls. Why did you not have any girls around? Presumably you were not in the same situation." She shook her head briefly. "And do not worry, I shall not hesitate to ask if I am confused. I've learned quite a lot in my time here thus far, however."

Isabel pulled up one of the Barry Plodder ship war wanks. "Here, this is a good example of a flame war. Personally I think these people take this all a little too seriously."

"Growing up my brother and our friend Michael were my closest friends. Because they were extraordinary as well. So it we sort of us against the world," she said.

"How are you extraordinary?" Aravis asked, suspecting this was a different situation from her own. "And...by the Lion's mane, is this all just from some book and the romances in it?"

"I'm an alien," Isabel said. "From another planet. Our ship crashed here and were were stranded. So we had to keep what we were a secret, otherwise there was a chance we could would be captured or killed by the government."

"It is. Pretty scary, isn't it?"

Aravis stared at her, trying to piece it together.

And then, slowly, "...you don't know the people who blew up the school, do you?"

"That's the side of the family we don't invite to parties," Isabel said with a perfectly straight face. "They always cause trouble."

Aravis stared. "...my family's not very pleasant, either," she offered, finally.

"Okay, I have to be honest. They're really not relatives. I have no clue who they are. There's all kinds of planets out there apparently. With all kind of aliens," she explained.

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