fandomhigh | Fandom Invasions: A Survival Guide- Friday, Period One

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Fandom Invasions: A Survival Guide- Friday, Period One

"This week," Jono announced, stepping into the classroom with a coffee in hand and something like a smile on his face, "we're going to talk about one of my favourite things to observe not only in a crisis situation, but any day of the week. This week, we're going to talk about a little thing called common sense."

He was, after all, of the opinion that most of the residents of the island were decidedly lacking in it. Particularly when a failure to observe it could wind up with somebody getting hurt.

"Common sense is what smart people use to not get their bloody arses killed day by day. It's that little voice that cautions you to wait the extra two seconds for the bus to pass, instead of running out in front of it to see if it can stop on a dime. The same voice might tell you not to throw rocks at a angry bear, or to drink water when you're thirsty, because dehydration isn't particularly good for you."

"In more Fandom-specific scenarios, common sense might be to, say, stay indoors when it's raining mousetraps, or to not wander off alone when people have started to vanish in the streets. It won't always save you - I was once plucked right out of my bloody bed by a tear in reality and thrown in a nightmare town called Silent Hill, for example - but it'll give you at least a bit of an advantage in the event of the island trying to kill us all. Again."

The 'again' was important.

"This week, we're going to pair you off and have you go over a list of hypothetical situations that you could all get out of in one piece if you just exercise that 'common sense' thing I've been discussing." He really liked the sound of that phrase, yes. "Pick a few items from the list, and discuss between yourselves what the smart thing to do would be. You can do it, students. I have faith in you all."

It was a strained sort of faith. He'd been living on the island for a while, after all. But it was there.

[Open!]

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Sensibly!

Korra

Paddra Nsu-Yeul

Liara T'Soni

Marasiah Fel

Karolina Dean

Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar

Arietty Clock

Mercy Thompson

Ace McShane

It's not actually long enough to take up half the class period, today!

Because, really, common sense should be more common, dammit.

Arietty had a (tiny, tiny) skeptical look on her face for this one. She and Spiller used to argue about stuff like this all the time. He said she didn't have "common sense", and she said that what he said was "common sense" was a load of tripe.

She was pretty sure that "common sense" was just another way of saying "you should do things my way".

Ace nodded along; after all, she was a huge fan of common sense! It was just that her definition of it was perhaps not everyone's.

Like, of course she wouldn't thrown rocks at an angry bear. She'd throw a rope, and then either a tranquilizer dart or some kind of sleeping gas. That was just common sense.

Other people, of course, might go with 'leave the bear alone' but where was the ~~fun~~ sense in that?

Edited 2013-01-25 21:25 (UTC)

Pair off and go over the following list. Discuss what you think the most intelligent approach might be while dealing with any of the following situations. Common sense, folks. Common. Sense.

A simple wooden mask washes up on the shore. It doesn't look like much, but it seems to be calling out to you, a subtle pull just begging you to put it on.

Some creepy little travelling salesman wanders down the causeway. He's got a lot of interesting items for sale. Like that monkey paw, there. The one that he insists will give you five wishes for only a nickel.

It's a red button! You have no idea what it does, but it's sitting there, all tempting.

In a ditch, you trip over some canisters of what looks like a strange green ooze. A few of them have leaked, and it looks like the flora around them has grown unnaturally large.

Lights in the sky? Probably just a sattellite. Only, a few of them seem to be moving far faster than others, and the next day, you hear radio reports of strange patterns in fields where the grass or wheat or some other plant has been tamped down.

The door to Special Collections in the library swings open. It looks especially inviting, today, and you only hear screaming from inside... occasionally.

One of the members of the faculty seems to be acting differently than usual. Decidedly off-balance, possibly more reckless than ever, possibly just eerily more reclusive and snappish. It just doesn't seem to sit right, somehow, no matter how much they insist that there's nothing amiss.

There are monsters. Monsters in the bloody streets. Big ones that want to bloody well eat you.

This is that catch-all option. The one with that basic sense of 'something is about to happen' that lingers in the air just hours before something bad does happen.

Common sense? Yeul looked quietly amused as she glanced around for a partner.

Wasn't common sense in the eye of the beholder?

Sholeh offered Yeul a smile and pulled her desk a little closer. "Do you want to discuss some of these options?" she offered. "Not that I think I'll have any unique insight to offer."

“I would not mind,” Yeul said, smiling back. “I think that the Professor would rather people come up with those answers that he feels should be blatantly obvious over the unique ones.” She glanced at Jono then back at Sholeh and added, her voice wry, “Unique being dangerous, right?”

"Probably," Sholeh said, wrinkling her nose. "I'm pretty sure my middle sister is one of those people he's talking about."

=Hey!=

*Who was JUST talking about pushing the button, huh?* If Zhahar had control of the eyes, she'd be rolling them right now.

"But I'm pretty happy sitting back and letting the people who know how to do stuff be the ones to...do stuff." That was very helpful, Sholeh. "Wanna pick a few and see what we come up with?"

Arietty looked around for someone to, well, argue with.

Mercy smiled at her. "Most of these seem pretty obvious to me."

"But that's the thing, isn't it?" Arietty said. "Of course it seems obvious to you, but that doesn't mean what's obvious to you is obvious to everyone else."

"True," Mercy said easily. "Isn't that always the way."

Arietty nodded. "Common sense in the borrower community says that beans like to eat borrowers alive and should be avoided at all costs."

She really didn't think much of common sense, no.

"Too many bones, not enough meat," Mercy said as seriously as she could manage, nodding her head wisely.

Arietty blinked, then wrinkled up her nose. "Ew," she said, with a giggle. "And that's probably common sense that other people don't know, too!"

"I'm totally making that up," Mercy admitted with a grin. "But it makes sense. And humans - beans - mostly don't even know you guys exist. They're more likely to try and put you in a circus or a museum or something if they saw you."

Or do experiments on them, but she wasn't going to mention that idea.

"Or dissect us. That's what the professor back home tried to do to my mum and dad when he caught them."

"Yeah," Mercy said. "Beans aren't always the kindest of beings."

"Most of you are really nice," Arietty was quick to point out. "Just some of you are mean."

"I think that's probably the same with all... species or whatever," Mercy said. "Most of them are pretty nice and a few give the rest a bad name."

Edited 2013-01-26 00:13 (UTC)

"Makes sense to me," Arietty said, then sat up straighter with a grin. "Common sense!"

"Common sense," Mercy agreed with a laugh.

Jono has faith in her ability to exercise caution. That's probably why she's his TA this semester.

Well, except for the Special Collections one. That one, admittedly, she might leave her caution behind. But other than that, sure!

He would like to take some people in his life and beat common sense into them. Thoroughly.

For the time being, he'll settle with drinking his coffee.

I shamelessly stole most of those hypothetical scenarios from a class I had a different alumni-turned-teacher teach a few years ago, yes.

Jono and Reno have surprisingly similar notions of what makes people idiots. While going out and doing things that are reckless and dangerous and a bit idiotic, themselves.

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Fandom Invasions: A Survival Guide- Friday, Period One

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