fandomhigh | Living With Difficult Women [Tuesday, Period 5]

"Welcome back," Max began without preamble. "I'm sure all of you are getting tired of these introductory classes and actually looking forward to learning what we're here to learn." He grinned and shrugged. "Unfortunately, there's one last day of the boring set up stuff, but I promise that we'll really get going next week."

He looked around, face going serious. "I would like to think that last week's activity made it clear just how important trust and confidentiality are for this course, but in case anyone's still not sure: we will be discussing personal issues in this course. Some of those issues may involve other students who are not in this class. I don't care. You will not discuss the things shared with you in class with anyone outside of it."

"Anyone who violates the trust of this class... well, let's just say that I shall be very... displeased. And there will be... consequences." It was possible that some people would be surprised that Max could manage to be fairly intimidating when he wanted. It probably helped that he was so huge.

"Anyway," he announced, grinning again, "on with today's activity. Which I'm sure you'll all be excited to know involves sharing about a difficult woman in your life." He looked around, eyes pausing on some of the more difficult women in the class. "All of us have at least a few. That's how life is: you know enough people and some of them will be difficult to deal with." And if it turned out that most of those difficult people were women? Well, that's just how the world worked.

When you were Max, at least.

"I'll begin, both so that you'll see what I'm talking about, and so that you'll have an idea of where I'm coming from. Now, like many of you, I'm sure, I know plenty of difficult women. So choosing just one isn't exactly easy. However, there is one I can think of who would be particularly illustrative." Max paused to collect his thoughts. "Back home I have a good friend who has a woman. Well, that's an oversimplification. It might be more accurate to say that the poor guy is completely besotted. Not that this is all that unreasonable. She is an extremely attractive, intelligent, and competent woman, after all. Unfortunately, she knows it. And she always thinks she's right." Somehow the irony of the fact that Max also thought that wasn't something he picked up on.

"The basic problem is that because my friend loves her and spends as much time as he can with her, I actually can't just avoid her. This means I must find ways to deal with her aggravating surety and annoying tendency to be right all the time." That was the worst part. She always got to shoot him those 'I told you so' looks. "And that's what this course is about: teaching you the techniques you need to live in the sort of world where there are impossible women and you can't just avoid them. Because it turns out that there are techniques which allow you go get along with them in one form or another, and that's what you're here to learn."

Max looked around and pointed to someone at random. "You're next."

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Like you're being difficult

Leia Organa

Hannibal King

Arthur Pendragon

Francine Peters

Mat Cauthon

Jack Burton

Aravis

Yamanaka Ino

Helen Haras-Uquara

Hurley Reyes

Does his story make you cry? With boredom?

Leia's heart bled, really. If the woman was intelligent and competent, chances were she was right.

Hannibal wondered, not for the first time, how he'd ended up in this class. Sure, Professor Max was entertaining but this would only end in tears for him.

Jack was paying attention. And the teacher's friend sounded a lot like a lot of people he knew. He was taking notes.

Helen couldn't see what his problem was with this woman. If she was generally right, perhaps Max should try listening to her.

Because all of you know at least one difficult woman

"I have three," Leia sighed. This class was ridiculous, but if she was going to be stuck in it, she'd make the most of it. "My aunts, my father's three sisters. They like to think I'm their personal dress-up doll and tell me how to dress and put my hair into ridiculous styles. I love them, but they drive me insane."

Hannibal knew a lot of difficult women but that didn't mean he wanted to share. He wanted to keep his balls where they were, thank you.

"Uh, I guess I know a girl who has difficult moments, I guess." She wasn't all that difficult overall but he was trying here. "I know a girl who can sometimes have real girly girl moments. Which means pinks and purples and flowers surround me. I feel like I'm in the underwear aisle of Victoria's Secret. Why can't things be black and brown? Anyway. It's not a big thing and I tend to ignore it but yeah, I notice it."

"I know a woman who goes out of her way to make things very difficult," Arthur started. His choice would probably not be entirely unexpected to anyone who actually knew the both of them. "She's always trying to claim that she's right as well. Likes to hurl self-righteous rubbish into people's faces when they're already working on something. And she has these deluded ideas about saving me if she as much as gets near me in a dangerous situations."

MORGANA.

"And she refuses to stay in safety when ordered to. What is it with that?"

Francine did in fact know at least one difficult woman. She wasn't however, about to admit that the bunny-shaped one sitting on her desk counted under that label.

Well. Not in front of her.

Luckily, there was always, always a fallback.

"So, um. My mother? Not that I don't love her, but if there is any possible way in any possible situation to completely embarrass me--" Or make her feel guilty, or like she screwed up somehow and is too dumb to even figure out how, and she was not about to say either of those things out loud. "--she'll find it."

Mat was going to keep his examples people from home, as he held out hope that he would continue to be allowed to kiss at least a couple of the women in this class when the course was over.

"The women in my village at home could give stones lessons in being immobile," he said, rolling his eyes. "If Nynaeve decided that it wasn't bloody raining, the entire ocean could be dropped on her head and she would still argue for a blue sky." His scowl deepened. "She also thinks I haven't aged past being ten."

"I seem to know a lot of them," Jack began. "Always arguing, telling me I'm wrong when clearly I'm not--" (he was) "--and just generally being a pain."

If one didn't know Jack, one might almost be sorry for him.

"My life is full of difficult men, not women," Aravis snapped. "And I think it's desperately unfair to teach us to deal, only, with 'difficult' women and ignore the many male fools we have to encounter. Perhaps the reason these women are difficult is because masculine idiocy drives them to it."

She paused, and added, "However, my irritation with the unbalanced nature of this course aside, I have a close friend from my childhood who is difficult inasmuch as her life revolves around things in which I have little interest -- clothes, parties, jewels -- and she forces me to participate when I am around her. However, her difficulties lie in her attitude, not her sex."

"I already told you I didn't know any difficult women," Helen said patiently. Perhaps he was a bit slow afterall.

Hurley glanced in Ino's direction.

"Uhhh, nobody. Nope. No one at all."

It's what he's there for, after all

Ugh. Posting class on spotty public wifi is really an aggravating process.

Living With Difficult Women [Tuesday, Period 5]

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Talk to Max

OOC