fandomhigh | Bailing 101, Monday

Hey, look, kids. Today, you had a teacher who wasn't lurking out in the hall to see what you'd do. Feel lucky, or something.

"Hey," Atton greeted them lightly. "So last week, I took a good look at how you people handle a bailing scenario. Only one of you managed to squeak their way out, so step it up, class."

Go on, Anders. Feel smug.

"Which is why this week, we're taking a good look at the steps involved in a decent escape," he said, wandering up to the smartboard. He drew a 1., then wrote, 'EVALUATE.' "Step one, determine whether you want to keep going on the present course, or maybe it's a good idea to get out. For instance, you've been here for twenty minutes and I still haven't shown up. The situation feels like a trap. Is getting out worth risking springing the trap? Are you going to get in trouble for breaking the rules? Are you even breaking any rules, considering I haven't been around?"

He tapped the board.

"This one's important, and we'll talk about that today. But, moving on. Step two. Tie up any loose ends. Is there anything you can do to make sure nobody will come looking for you? Can you make it harder on them to follow your tracks, if they do come for you? Sometimes you don't have the time to preplan, but if you do have it, take that time."

The next step was, of course, 3. "Pick a good destination," he said. "Sometimes there's only one, especially if you're just trying to get out of a fight. Sometimes you have the time to work on it. Pick somewhere you can get lost in the crowd. And finally..."

He wrote a big four. 'FOLLOW-THROUGH'. "You can get away with failing any of the previous steps," he said. "For a while, anyway. But if you don't have follow-through, you might as well forget it. Two of you were startled by me showing up yesterday, but one of you stuck the course and talked their way out instead of getting distracted. Follow-through makes all the difference."

He cleared his throat. "But let's get back to point one," he said. "Evaluate. I know a lot of kids at this school have a bloated sense of their own capacity to handle a crisis or win a fight. You have to shake that. I want you to sit down and make a list of where your limits are. At what point does a crisis or fight become impossible for you to handle? Be honest. When you're done, read up one and explain them to the class. Discuss if it makes any sense."

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After listening to her classmates, at least Ada had a vague idea of what the teacher was asking. "The only place I know is the carnival, I got no idea what the rules are other places, or what's 'normal' for townies," she said bluntly. "'M quick and clever and pick stuff up fast, but I still got to know, say, what a school or a class is supposed to be like before I can know when and how to wriggle my way out of it."

Atton shrugged. "Then gather your information quick," he said. "You knew it was a trick."

Ada just laughed. "I'm a carnie. Most everything in the world's a trick," she pointed out, grinning and leaning back in her chair to balance it on the back two legs. "But it didn't taste like a dangerous one, so I figured I'd wait and see how it played out."

"I don't actually know what a carnie is," Atton said, shrugging one shoulder. "I mean, besides the 'works at a carnival' part. I'm not from your galaxy."

So, y'know.

"That strategy can work. But it can also end badly if you're not entirely sure about what you're going to do if it goes south."

"Galaxy?" Ada asked, then shook her head, dismissing it as something that didn't matter. "What a carnie is depends on who you ask. Most of us tend to be con-artists and scavengers. All tricky, some light-fingers. Though if you ask a townie, all we do is seduce their children and lovers with our pretty lights and bad influences. Why they think we want their kids, I don't know. We got more than enough cousins swarming around."

"So if you got a gig that's just not right, you go quiet before stuff goes south. You fill your contract, but don't advertise more than required. Pay your fees, keep your papers in order, keep the cousins in the bone yard or on the midway, then fade into the road at the first opportunity."

Bailing 101, Monday

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