fandomhigh | Defying Expectations, Tuesday, Per 3

"Sometimes you fail."

Karla looked over her class, assembled in the Danger Shop, and slowly shook her head. "That was one of the hardest lessons I ever had to learn. Sometimes you fail, and sometimes when you succeed, the cost is so high that it wasn't worth paying in the first place. For a lot of you, this is going to be a tough lesson to learn--especially here at Fandom. No matter how bad things get here, somehow it always works out in the end. When I was a student, all of reality collapsed. I lost friends, respected teachers, my home. My boyfriend snatched me up and threw me so that I'd escape the great onrushing Nothingness. I survived, but he was taken. I had to say goodbye to some of my best friends as they watched reality unravel before their eyes and then I had to go and add their name to the list of the fallen outside of the school gates." Her voice quavered for a moment; even years later, remembering the last days of the Nothingness hurt. "In the end, it was just a handful of us living in Special Collections--and yet, from that, we managed to jumpstart reality and bring everyone back. Fandom has been invaded, attacked, and changed countless times. Those of you who have been here for awhile likely know what I mean. Those of you who are new will find out. But in the end, we always come out on top."

She smiled wistfully for a moment. "But that's not what happens in the real world. In its own way, Fandom is a happy fantasy where there are very few long-lasting consequences for even the most horrifying events. Things aren't permanent here. On the one hand, that's a kindness. We all deserve a few years where the worst things will fade away, leaving little more then scars and nightmares. On the other hand, it makes going out into the real world so much harder. You go back to places where actions have lasting consequences and the dead don't come back to us on Monday morning with a relieved smile. When you leave Fandom, you will find yourself in positions where you will lose and those losses will haunt you. Even if you can make up for them, there's no going back to the way things were, the way you can here."

Looking at them, Karla tried to meet the eyes of every individual student. "Some of you will be able to escape whatever destinies you've been given. Some of you won't be so lucky. And some of you will try to fight every step of the way and still end up exactly where you said you didn't want to be. But losing doesn't have to be the end of things. It's how you lose and what you do afterwards that matter."

She paused for a chance for people to share their feelings, if anyone was so inclined, and then murmured a command. The classroom image dissolved and the students found themselves in a large building, filled with some kind of indoor tent city. It was filthy in here and it stank; too many people in one space and not enough facilities. People were dirty and dispirited, their faces pinched with hunger and tight with fear. Here and there voices were raised in anger, loud disputes over a bottle of water, a claim to space, the virtue of someone's mother. The floors and walls were made of dirty concrete and the windows were boarded up. Over the echoing din of people, moans could be heard from the outside. "You'll all be alone when the simulation starts," she said. "It's individualized to each one of you. If you make it to the end of the class period without becoming a leader, you win. Ready? Let's begin." And with that, she vanished, as did every other student, leaving each student seemingly alone in a warehouse full of people.

[Incredibly ridiculous amounts of OCD up! Apologies, I didn't expect it to take as long as it did!]

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Elsa pulled in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She had to say no. That was the whole point of this assignment, wasn't it?

It was going to just end in her accepting that she had to accept her responsibility as Queen, wasn't it?

"Something? I'm not sure what anybody thinks I can do," she murmured, even as she looked around, taking in what few supplies there were in the room, mentally calculating who would need how much, taking stock of those who looked healthier, who had either been bullying others out of what they needed, or who could simply survive on less. "Why would anybody listen to me?"

Because she was going to be the Queen someday.

Because this was what she was born to do.

There had to be more to it than that.

"Because you will be fair, my lady," the woman said softly. "Because you will not overlook those who are small or lesser in favor of those who have curries favor with you already."

The baby in her arms started crying weakly; she didn't have the energy for volume.

"We trust you to look out for us to the best of your ability. No one else here will."

Elsa took a deep breath. She wasn't going to get very far in this simulation at all.

"How long has it been," she asked, gently, "since the baby last ate?"

Her first answer was a blank look, followed by an attempt to remember.

"Yesterday?" she hazarded. "There was some ramen. But then she was thirsty and she drank the water and lost most of it."

Elsa took a deep breath. So much for... winning.

"Give her my portion for the day. Share it between the two of you, if you need. I'll... I'll try to talk to people."

"Just sharing this meal won't be enough, though," the woman told her. "We'll be able to go on for another few days, but then we'll be back where we are now. How long will you continue to have rations, my lady?"

"I don't know," Elsa admitted, shaking her head. No point in making up numbers. She didn't have enough of the history of this scenario to even be able to guess. "Where is the food coming from? Where did we get this from?"

"All we have is what's here," the woman said, gesturing. "It's everything left from before."

The little girl--Maddy--squalled again, and the woman slipped a finger into her tiny mouth to give her something to suck on. It wasn't food, but it could quiet her for a bit.

"Giving away one meal isn't enough, my lady. If you are serious about saving my daughter's life, you need to do more. There are no half-measures."

"I did say I would talk to them," Elsa pointed out, gently. "If this is all there is, though, all I'm doing by redistributing the rations is delaying the inevitable."

She took a deep breath, and then looked around the room.

"So... we need to find a way to get more food."

"Maybe if we all work together, we can figure something out," the woman said, giving Elsa a smile that bordered on hopeful. "I knew we could, if you'd take charge."

And with that the warehouse and everyone faded, leaving Elsa standing in the middle of a space designed to look like their classroom.

You failed to complete the class assignment, Elsa.

Somehow, Elsa didn't feel so badly about that. She took one look around the room, sighed and smoothed down her skirts, and went to take a seat so that the next student could have a turn.

'Failure' was such a relative term, here.

Defying Expectations, Tuesday, Per 3

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