fandomhigh | Basic Strategy, Monday, Period 4

The girl standing before the assembled group did not precisely appear prepared to talk. In fact, she looked a shade terrified of public speaking. Tyrion was certain she hadn't gotten that from him.

At her father's insistent nod, Joanna finally began to speak.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Joanna, Lord Tyrion's daughter. He's having me run class today because ..." She didn't really understand the because, and she trailed off there to look to her father.

"Because public speaking is an essential life skill," Tyrion supplied. "No one will take you seriously if the cat steals your tongue when you're nervous." That last bit was aimed at all of them, not just his daughter.

"Right," Joanna said. "That. So you're all, guests included, supposed to stand up for three minutes and say something about your child or your parent. If you have neither, spend your three minutes talking about..."

She looked to Tyrion again, and he shrugged. "How lucky you feel?" he tried. "If you feel lucky at all. Anyhow, it is a class presentation day, as the lady said. I'm sure you're all ingenuous enough to come up with something to say." He glanced back to Joanna to finish. "Do you want to wrap this up?"

Joanna nodded. "Take a few minutes to prepare, then begin with" -- she stabbed a finger into the group -- "you."

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At some point in Karla's presentation, Kayla had stopped glaring at her desk. Something in her face softened and when Karla finished and sat down, Kayla flashed her a small smile as she stood to begin her turn.

"This is my mother, Queen Karla of Glacia. I have known her as an adult and as a child--yes, because of Fandom whimsy, my brother and I have had to babysit our own parents a few times--but this is the first time I've met her as a teenager. At least, this is the first time I've met her as a teen when I was old enough to really get to know her." Trips to Fandom past when Kayla had been a little kid didn't really count.

"She looks almost exactly like my mother does in the future, but I'd expected her to be more like the little girl I'd baby-sat for in the past. My parents have both been very open about their time at Fandom, painting it as an idyllic time, even when the universe was vanishing or creatures invading. But I'm learning that there's a lot that they haven't told me, too. I thought the changes between my mother the Queen and my mother the child had come from the difficulties she'd undergone fighting to get Glacia back. Coming here and meeting my Teeny-Mom, as Aunt Dinah likes to call her, showed me that the changes I saw started a lot further back than I'd anticipated."

"Things are kind of complicated back home right now. Mother and I argue a lot, particularly about my future and what I want to do about it. Fighting with her bothers me, because there's no female I respect and admire more, but I've always thought the fights we've had came from her not trusting me enough to do the job I was born to. Seeing my Teeny-Mom now makes me wonder if there's maybe something more going on that I don't know about. So, yeah, I guess I'm lucky, too. Because even if this Mom can't give me the answers that I'm looking for, she's at least given me hope that the answers I'd been assuming might not be correct."

She looked back at Karla. "You're still not the boss of me, though. So quit trying, okay? It's kind of annoying."

Basic Strategy, Monday, Period 4

Re: Presentations [4/02]