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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's probably wrong that I laughed at the fact that when I read the class I was all 'YES. SOMETHING YEUL CAN WIN!'

Winning is terrible here but omg. Omg Yeul has this down.