fandomhigh | Laying Low for Beginners, Thursday, Period1

Kanan was looking far more at ease today in front of his class than he had the first time he had taught it. But then, the first time he'd taught it had been a complete surprise to him. This time, he'd actually chosen to. And so he grinned at the room before starting his lesson the exact same way he had once before.

Don't worry, he had to stray eventually.

"Let me tell you about my day yesterday." See? Had to stray eventually. "Yesterday, I made my way to the boat races, which I had been signed up for by... hell, I don't know, probably a moose. I've got a lot of odd skills under my belt, so I wasn't too worried about whether or not I'd do any good. Hell, I was paired off with a pretty big guy. Two of us rowing that boat really should have done pretty well, right? Well. We came in third to last, because instead of rowing the boat, I got a rainbow-soaked lesson in how to play rock-paper-scissors by a man who wants to put droid arms onto a fish."

He paused.

"Hell if I know why he wants to put droid arms on the fish. We might never find out."

At least he actually sounded fairly amused by the whole ordeal. He hadn't really wanted the fish anyway.

"This workshop, we're going to be putting a lot of work into improvisation," he continued. "Since a big part of laying low is how well you roll with the weird stuff, whether it's rainbow rain or arms on fish. I'm Kanan Jarrus. Yes, this is a class about avoiding notice and keeping out of trouble, and no, I'm not actually actively working on laying particularly low around the island these days. That isn't going to change my first lesson any; learn how to tell a good story. It's a skill that we'll be working on polishing over the next few weeks, among other things, but today we're going to give it a bit of a warm-up. Introductions."

You all got a break from it yesterday. No complaining. Kanan didn't know most of you anyhow.

"I'm going to want three things from you. I'm going to want your name, I'm going to want to know what you're taking this class for, and how about we hear you tell the class what it is you did yesterday. Don't be afraid to embellish, either. Have fun with any of the three of those things. This isn't quite going to be two truths and a lie, but if you do end up adding any blatant untruths, I want you to stick to it. Every time you come to my class for the rest of the summer, remember that lie you told. Commit to it. Make it your new truth. Because if you can't even keep your story straight for an hour a week for six weeks, you're gonna have a hard time doing it out there."

And had Kanan himself embellished any of what he'd said? Yes and no. But his real name wasn't anybody's business but his own, and he'd spent a decade perfecting his story to go with it.

"And if any of you storytellers has any interest in being my assistant for this class... sure, I could probably use one of those, too."

[OOC: Open! I've missed teaching with this nerd.]

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Handouts sounded completely uninteresting, but she peeled up at the last part. "Oh, I can definitely do that."

Kanan gave her a thoughtful once-over, nodding a little. Okay, he had to admit, he approved of just how eager she was to get involved in the hands-on stuff.

"And here I haven't even mentioned what we're going to be doing yet," he chuckled. "But I don't doubt that you can handle it. Have you had any classes in the danger shop yet, Sabine?"

"Earlier this week. It's just simulated environments, that's easy," she replied.

"Well, good," Kanan replied, nodding his approval. "Last time I taught this class, I threw everyone at an angry Rancor for their final."

It was possible that he'd still been annoyed at being stuck here in the first place.

"I don't plan on doing the same thing this time around, but that at least might give you some idea of what we're looking at here."

"Wow, you really weren't playing." Maybe she was a little impressed. Not that she personally wanted to fight a rancor or anything, but she was respected it as a test.

Kanan shrugged. He took training seriously. Even when he was stuck teaching a class he hadn't anticipated he'd be teaching.

"The danger shop has safety protocols. Nobody was going to get hurt," he explained. "And the objective was to survive. They could have run, hid, let their classmates take the fall for them, just so long as they didn't get trampled or eaten."

"I like it," she said. "If you don't know by the end of class what your best course of action is, you weren't paying attention."

"Exactly," Kanan said, grinning. "There were a few who chose to fight, which is fine. They kept it distracted while the rest ran, and they were good at what they did. A few hid. Everyone made it out in one piece, so I figure they more or less had it handled."

He paused.

"Honestly, I almost would have preferred to have nobody fight, though. Not that I'm opposed to coming at something that wants to eat you with your blasters blazing, but that isn't exactly 'laying low,' either."

"Not everyone's a natural there," said the multicolored Mandalorian who blew things up a lot.

"Presumably, that's why you're in a class about keeping a low profile," Kanan replied with a shrug. "It's not about being a natural, it's about picking up what you can from the lessons and applying it in the exercises going forward."

So, the whole point of school.

"Like you said, diverting attention from others who are laying low," Sabine said lightly.. "Okay, obviously I need this class."

So help him, Kanan couldn't help but laugh, there. An easy laugh, nothing mocking, just a laugh that was clearly enjoying this conversation, possibly maybe a little bit contrary to his expectations.

"It can't hurt," he agreed lightly. "Even if you never use it going forward, at least you might be able to better spot other people who are doing this stuff."

"Could use some help there, too," Sabine sighed. She was going to be beating herself up for the whole situation that got her here for a while.

"Sounds like you've got some experience there," Kanan noted, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"It's a tough galaxy," she said vaguely, shrugging. "So what do you think, does my needing this class disqualify me from the job?"

She bet not, but it wasn't like she was going to elaborate on the other thing.

Kanan considered the vagueness of her answer, but let it drop. It wasn't like the list of reasons a Mandalorian might want to be in a class like this was even necessarily a small one.

Frankly, he figured it was none of his business. Especially not the second time they'd ever spoken.

"Actually," he said, "I think you appreciating just how useful this might be in the future makes you the perfect candidate. I'm not looking for a pro, just somebody who's willing to take this seriously for a few weeks."

"I'm definitely taking this seriously," she promised. "And it's not like I'm going anywhere for a while."

Kanan offered her a sympathetic smile at that.

"It was about a year before Portalocity finally figured out how to get me home," he offered. "It'll happen. It just might not be soon. In the meantime, congratulations, you've got the job. Hopefully it isn't a bad way to spend your time while the island puts you through a stint of reinforced laying low."

Provided time even passed at all while she was here, anyway.

Spoiler: it more or less wouldn't!

"Great. Thanks in advance for keeping me from getting bored." Maybe she was happier about this than expected, but she liked feeling like she was doing something.

"I aim to please," Kanan replied with a little grin. "I'll try to make sure there's plenty to keep you busy for the next few weeks."

... Now he was going to have to work extra hard to make these classes challenging.

Laying Low for Beginners, Thursday, Period1

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