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game of chance

Game of Chance, Monday

"Next week, I'm going to put you all in a situation where the deck is obviously stacked against you," Atton said. "House odds will be high, but you won't be playing card games."

He walked around his desk - and then sank down on his chair. "Which means that this week, we're going to talk," he said. "I've said before that this class is as much about knowing how to play the odds to get out of a scrape as it is about winning a hand at pazaak or doing the math right. Now, all of you are going to wind up in situations where the odds aren't in your favor. For some of you, that might be college applications. For others, life and death situations. I'm going to throw you guys a random bunch of scenarios next week, which could be any of those."

He leaned back. "The first thing you want to do in a situation with bad odds is to change those odds," he said. "You all have weaknesses - some shared between most humanoids, some individual to each of you - that can be exploited. But you also all have strengths you can use to balance things out. Bad odds happen when the situation is tailored better towards your weaknesses than towards your strengths. Changing them means changing how you utilize your strengths."

He looked at each student. "I want each of you to identify one weakness of yours that can be used against you," he said. "If you're not comfortable giving me a big one, give me a small one, or one universal to your species that's common knowledge. I'm not here to do oppo research." ... Someone had been reading a lot of American election coverage lately. "Then, give me a strength of yours. Figure out how it can balance out your weakness. Or even better, tell me how your weakness could be turned into a strength - that's the real holy grail."

Then Atton nodded at a student. "Go."

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One weakness. One strength. How can you use one to even out the other? Or even better, how can you compensate for your weakness by using it another way?

Peridot grimaced a little. To look at her right now in her new, somewhat travel-sized situation, one might think her weakness was fairly obvious, but that wasn't a direction she was going to veer in this conversation, so help her.

"I still don't entirely understand Earth, and the people that live on it," she said, instead. "Which I'm going to need to do if I'm going to be here for some time."

The rest of her life. Which, as a Gem, could be quite some time, in fact.

"But I'm tenacious and always trying to understand things, so that won't be a issue forever if I can at all help it."

"But what if it's still an issue when you're confronted with an Earth-oriented problem you have to fix right away?" Atton asked. "Like, say, you've just accidentally offended an important Earth human who can make things difficult for you. How do you approach that?"

Peridot kind of hesitated at that. Squinted. Worked on processing what situation she might find herself in, for that.

"How could any Earth human make things difficult for me?"

... Not understanding them meant that she had some difficulty picturing it.

"By having something you want, whether it be an item or access to something," Atton said, shrugging. "Say you have a shitty class you want out of, but the office doesn't want to do what you want it to because you accidentally insulted the manager."

Oh, this was going to go interesting places.

"... But what kind of class would I actively choose to try to opt out of? Wouldn't taking a wider variety of lessons here help me understand humans better?"

Peridot was nothing if not eager to learn.

There was a long pause. Atton racked his brain for an answer that wouldn't get another curveball out of Peridot.

"...Say it's a class on eating," he said. "Not the history or the science of it. Just people sitting around every week, eating different food, and you wound up in it because you thought they were actually going to explain it."

Peridot considered that suggestion for a moment, then wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Ew."

That summed that up neatly, didn't it?

"Though I suppose I could still find a way to benefit in such a class. I've found that giving my unwanted food to other students has generally been well-received by them."

Ada had given her a bow! It was sparkly.

Atton sighed.

"You're missing the point," he said, "Which is that this could be a problem if you tried to get someone you'd just blown off to do you a favor."

See? Further proof that Peridot was just bad at humanity. Or, heck, at people in general.

"Ooooh." She blinked. "So what you're saying is that a misstep I make when dealing with some human is going to make them disinclined to help me in the future."

... That was basically exactly what he'd said, yes, Peri.

"Yes," Atton said, sounding irritated. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, thanks for helping."

Head. Desk.

Peridot was so helpful!

"... Can they be bribed with my unwanted food from the eating class?"

Important questions.

"I guess my weakness is that I'm not that strong," Faith mumbled. "You know, like, the lifting heavy things kind of strong." And the guys she used to run with never let her forget it, either, at least until she earned their respect enough for them to keep their mouths shut. "But if I need to carry a lot of stuff, I can do it in a few trips because I'm fast and I don't get tired easily."

Good thing Dante wasn't in this class to pun on that.

"Do you know how to use a winch? Hoists? Jacks?" Atton asked. "Because you're right that a lack of strength is fairly easy to prepare for, but sometimes there's no getting around it."

"There's not a lot of Togruta in this place." Or, you know, any apart from Ahsoka. "So I kind of stand out whether I want to or not. Of course, it also means I mostly don't have to deal with assumptions about my people."

Mostly. Mara.

"That's not completely true," Atton said honestly. "Earth humans have weird ideas about aliens. Any aliens. They're just different."

"Yeah, but different means no sleemos who think lekku mean we're weird Twi'leks." Especially given what that kind usually thought about Twi'leks. "I'll take people asking me where Togruta is over that."

"You'll probably get hit on less," Atton allowed. "Of course, you're also more likely to get locked up and poked and prodded with needles."

That was not a concern Ahsoka needed on top of existing ones about being captured by the Empire, so thanks for that Atton, really.

"Really? Who does that?"

"Lots of people on this planet, if the TV is to be believed," said Atton.

You were welcome, Ahsoka!

"And you believe everything you hear on the holo?" Ahsoka had gotten pretty well disabused on the veracity of that after the war ended. "Because I've got some beach-side property on Tatooine going cheap."

"I don't have an incredibly strong sense of ethics," Mara said with a shrug. "I suppose that's probably bad. But I make up for it by being extremely adaptable."

"Yeah, but can you come up with a situation where a lack of ethics would be a real weakness?" Atton said.

... Sorry, Mical. Atton was a practical guy.

"Other than having Master Kenobi look disappointed at me in ethics class?" Mara asked. "Not really."

"Then pick a real weakness," Atton suggested.

Mara pulled a face. "I can be killed."

Vader had reminded her of that rather starkly.

"Yes, you're squishy," Atton agreed. "How do you adapt for that?"

"Training," Mara said, nodding. "Lots of training."

AHAHAHA. Right. Ada wasn't going to admit to her biggest weakness, especially not in front an adult, people she didn't know well, or kinda-species-est Mara.

"I look like a strong wind c'n blow me over, an' it's true, most guys are bigger an' stronger than me," she said, spreading her hands. "They get th' jump, I gotta hope they make a mistake or 'm screwed."

"But I am a lot stronger than I look--" because, well, mermaid, plus no one who worked the carnival was less-than fit, "--an' that usually surprises people. B'cause 'm thin physically, they underestimate me in lots of ways, an' I don't got problems usin' that t' my advantage."

There was a reason why Atton'd said up front he didn't particularly care how specific or nonspecific the weakness was. He remembered his own school days here. Students were going to lie or evade one way or another for a whole host of different reasons.

"Can you give me an example or two?" Atton asked. He glanced at the rest of the class. "Because it sounds like you've got some experience that could help some of the rest of these kids."

Ada thought about it for a second, then shrugged. "'M a pretty girl, an' people think that means 'm weak an' passive. Had someone throw me over his shoulder an' try to carry me off once," she admitted. "Elbowed him in th' neck then bit his ear off so he'd have t' drop me, then I legged it outta there."

"Nice work," Atton complimented her. "Using your stature as an easy way to get in a position to do some real damage."

"I think one of my weaknesses is I like to talk," Anders answered, after deciding anything too specific about his magic wasn't what Rand was looking for. "Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about talking, but you aren't going to go unnoticed if you're the one running his mouth at the boss. But it's also a strength -- I might not be much use at keeping a low profile, but it also means people don't ever think I'm up to anything. And sometimes chatting people up lets me in on something I'm not supposed to know."

"Talk is good," Atton said easily. "You're right. Talking a lot is one of the easiest ways to get people to underestimate you. Talk the right talk, and they'll think you're a brainless idiot or a wannabe joker or, space, a pervert they just want to get away from."

Not that he knew anything about any of that.

"I'd say it's actually the best way to keep a low profile. A lot of sentients tune out chatty people."

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Game of Chance, Monday

Discuss: Strengths and Weaknesses

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