fandomhigh | How To Get By In A Hostile World, Wednesday

"All right," Atton said. He'd hopped up on his desk again, because who needed chairs anyway? "Today, introductions are over. Congratulations. None of you annoyed me so much that I wanted to boot you out of my class."

Though some of them came close. Evie.

"Now I'd like to think it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone that if you don't have the muscle - financial, physical, powers-wise, whatever - to push your way into a place of safety in life, well, your brain's going to have to do. The easiest way to use it is to look at the way other people see you and use that-- usually impressions are going to be your first line of defense."

He gestured at himself.

"Having taken a class from me twice and maybe heard about me on the radio, what's the impression I give you? What do you think I'm capable of? What do you think I'm not? What do you think my story is?"

He waited until everyone had taken their turn.

"Okay," he said, "So, that's what you think I am. Now pick another student. Tell them what your impression of them is, and vice-versa. Then talk about what that impression could do for you. Are there places you think you can enter more freely because you give off this vibe? Are there places that are harder to get into? People that are easier or harder to convince? Think about it."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Find a partner and discuss your impressions of them. Go back and forth, then talk about how those impressions could help or hinder you.

Yeah, Sparks was game. And looking around for a partner with a faint smirk on his face.

This was gonna be fun.

Mara smirked back. "Hit me with your best shot."

Oooh, she looked like a challenge.

"Smug," he decided. "Competent. I probably wouldn't hate to keep your company for a while if something happened that needed a cool head. You're fit, which around here could make you anything from a cheerleader to a superhero, but I bet you could kick ass if you needed to."

Around here, 'kicking ass' was usually the more likely option than 'cheerleader.'

... Unless it was 'cheerleader who also kicked ass.'

Mara smiled, giving away nothing. "You use your outfit and makeup as a defense system to divide out people who judge on appearances and people actually worth your time," she said. "You want to be noticed, but not actually interacted with unless it's on your terms. You're probably a lot more vulnerable than you want people to think, and somehow you've gotten under our teacher's own not-insignificant defenses because I think he'd put up with more from you than he'd allow from the rest of us." She grinned, resting her head in her hands. "How'd I do?"

There was a long pause at that, while Sparkle stared at her.

He blinked.

"Either you're a telepath, or you're a freaking undercover detective. Shit, no, that can't even be right. I've met cops who aren't that observant. What the fuck?"

He was impressed. A little freaked out, but impressed.

Mara's eyes went wide. Maybe she'd been a little too good at that, and it wasn't like "hi, I'm a highly trained assassin" would exactly be an icebreaker...

"Some of it was guessing?"

Mmmmhmmm, Mara. Sparkle just raised his eyebrows and leaned forward, giving her a bright grin.

"You're also a showoff, and that's gonna get you into shit someday," he offered. "And you're worried."

The wide-eyes were something of a tip-off, there.

"I don't really get worried," Mara said. Unless it was in disappointing the Emperor, then "worry" wasn't the half of it. His disappointment tended to be short-lived and fatal to those who displeased him. "That's a waste of energy."

"No? Because you just had a face on you like you just stepped in a big steaming pile of something and you hadn't quite worked yourself up to looking down to see what it was," Sparkle reported.

He was helpful like that.

"What would you say it was, then?"

"I was worried that you'd be mad that I'd seen through you," Mara said, which was close enough to the truth.

"Yep, seething." Sparkle just sat back, still wearing a smirk. "Look, I won't push it, Sherlock, just so long as you don't go telling everyone what you just said about me. Seem fair?"

"Very fair," Mara said, smiling back.

Face looked around the room with an expression he knew came across as friendly and open, but not particularly bright.

"Face, Face, Face," Joker greeted him. "You are smug, and a little pretentious, but you seem like a friendly sort of guy. To keep up that kind of chipper attitude despite the whole" -- he gestured at his own face, mirroring the area of Face's scar -- "nickname thing, that's pretty impressive. Probably got a lot of bitter seething underneath, am I right? And you're also one of Skywalker's great-grand-nephews-in-law, or whatever."

Well, it was more guilt and some unacknowledged self-loathing than bitterness. Still, Face clapped a hand over his heart as if he'd just gotten a blaster bolt there. "If I was, he's seriously behind on the Life Day presents," he said.

"My turn. Assuming your galaxy has the same attitude to visible prosthetics that certain parts of mine does," Face nodded towards Joker's crutches. "You're probably used to dealing with a certain kind of vape-brain."

"Oh, I'm used to several different kinds of vape-brain," Joker told him. "The ones who are just cruel, the ones who are condescending and pitying, the ones who have moral objections to me not hiding from their sight... Really, though, the worst by far are the ones who are completely flabbergasted by how smart I am, considering 'my condition'." He shrugged. "You probably get a lot of the same. Can't imagine that decoration goes well with the crowd. 'Course, if it's recent-ish, you had to deal with a whole other class of yahoo before that."

"Because obviously something being wrong with your legs translates to something being wrong with your mind," Face said, his voice thick with sarcasm.

"The scar's newer than the nickname," he admitted, rubbing it. "Most of the time it's okay, but you still get people staring because I didn't get it fixed."

How To Get By In A Hostile World, Wednesday

Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates

Re: Impressions: Your Classmates