How to Make Friends & Influence People | 4th Period | Monday

[merciful_parable]

Carter bustled around the room, doing a fair impression of someone trying not to wring their hands (he was totally trying not to wring his hands) as he straightened the cushions that he and Fjord had settled on for the first class, rather than the usual desks and chairs, and tripled checked that his cookies were all neatly set out and that there was paper plates and napkins enough for everyone.

At least the sugar cookies with edible glitter on them, as per Summer’s suggestion, had turned out quite nicely. He was indebted to Summer, really....

He paused as he realized that, somewhere in all his quiet fussing, the class had filled up. And… And Fjord wasn’t here.

Oh. Well. That meant…

Carter straightened, looking a bit flustered as he did so. “Hello, everyone,” he said, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the very idea of teaching. “I am Pastor Carter, one of your teachers for, er, ‘How to Make Friends and Influence People’.”

Goddess, but that sounded terrible. It really did.

"I’ve baked everyone cookies today, so please, help yourselves. There’s also sheet of paper on the table, so if you have any food allergies, I would ask that you note them there." He smiled a bit anxiously. "I shouldn’t want to make something one or more of you couldn’t enjoy!"

That was right about the moment a short, wiry red-haired elf man bustled into the room, hair mussed, glasses perched akimbo on his nose. In his arms he was clutching a stack of books and papers, dropping them every which way as he went, only to fumble the whole lot of it onto the teacher's desk, muttering apologies under his breath in a thick German Zemnian accent the entire way.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to be late, I hope I didn't miss anything, excuse me, pardon me..." He looked up all of a sudden, noticed the students on the cushions, then looked at Carter and seemed to startle for a moment. "Oh, oh dear. Am I in the correct room? This is the lesson about first impressions, is it not?"

Carter was… absolutely, and completely, out of his depth here. And totally flabbergasted by the appearance of someone who seemed to be lost. “I’m afraid not,” he ventured, after a moment. “This is about making friends, and today is introductions.”

"Ah, well..." The elf man straightened up a little, reached to straighten his glasses on his nose, and then said in a deep, strong, confident drawl that was totally counterpoint to the voice he'd been using just a moment before, "I do believe the two are rather thoroughly intertwined, Pastor. The right first impression and a strong introduction can both make a great deal of difference down the road."

Carter paused. Then kept on pausing.

"... Fjord?" he asked, rather doubtfully.

"It's the hair, isn't it? The messy hair is probably a bit too much." The elf raised a hand, and then everything around him seemed to shift for just a moment, leaving in his place a much larger, much greener individual, wearing leather armor and a comparatively easy smile. "Apologies, Pastor. I thought I might do a little something to make a point about first impressions for the students, is all."

Disguise Self was a perfectly valid teaching tool.

The apology helped to mollify him, though Carter was not particularly comfortable with either the lack of forewarning nor the fact that his co-teacher had thought to lie to the students on the first day.

"You did make a point," Carter agreed, rather mildly.

Fjord cast him a bit of a curious look at that, but turned to look at the students before speaking again. If he'd overstepped a boundary, he'd make a point to ask the man after class, rather than in the middle of the lecture.

"With any luck, I made the right one," he noted, crouching down to pick a few sheets of paper from the floor. "As the good Pastor has already said, I'm Fjord, your other instructor for this class. Today we'll be covering introductions, and keeping mindful about how we approach those introductions as we do them." He glanced at Carter, smiling wryly. "I imagine we both made very different first impressions. Taking a moment to compare what did and didn't work about either would make for a good exercise, after you've given us your names and a little something about you, perhaps."

Carter glanced at Fjord for a moment, then smiled at the class, as he said, "and, please, feel free to converse with your fellow students as the introductions go on. After all, you should all get to know one another during the course of this class."

Comments

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

"Yo! I'm Yang," Yang said, giving everyone a wave. "I'm from Patch, which is an island that's technically part of the Kingdom of Vale, but we kinda ignore them, and they ignore us, and it's fine. My world's called Remnant, and I'm not sure if we're another planet or universe or what the relation is to Earth."

"Oh, and don't worry." Yang flipped some of her hair over her shoulder, and all of it became cascading light and flames for a moment before returning to its normal state. "I know I'm hot, but I only burn if I want to."

Yes, she did that just for the pun. Wouldn't you?

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[built_fjord_tough]

"Well, that's good to know, Yang," Fjord replied... utterly uncertain about what to do when a student called herself 'hot.' Even if she was on fire. Which was one hell of a trick, really.

Just smile and nod and roll with it, and pretend maybe the double-entendre hadn't happened?

"I think they tend to frown upon people being lit on fire, here."

... Maybe just play it literal? Playing it literal was safe.

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

"I totally haven't set anyone on fire by accident since, like, I was eight," Yang promised. "We're good."

'By accident' were the important words, there.

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[built_fjord_tough]

And don't think Fjord hadn't missed those words. He was grinning a little at them, actually. Helped him recover from the innuendo thing nicely.

"Well, just so long as you know what you're doing."

He was so not one to throw stones for lighting people on fire on purpose, after all.

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[unusual_sith]

"That's fascinating," Lana said, eyeing her hair. "How do you do that?"

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

"I absorb and store kinentic energy, and can release it at will," Yang said cheerfully. "Usually in the 'you punch me, I punch you back twice as hard' way, but I can do fire, too, to an extent."

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[unusual_sith]

"Are you constantly absorbing it, or do you need to make a conscious decision? Lana asked.

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

"It's automatic," Yang said. "I probably got the extra energy for the hair-trick by bumping my elbow against a door or something."

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[unusual_sith]

"And you can expel more than you take in? You said you hit twice as hard." Which was good to know; she'd avoid hitting her.

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

"Yup! Whatever I get hit with? When I absorb it, I get double the force," Yang laughed. "I've had a few of the magic-users here hit me with blasts on purpose when something really needed punching."

"Was sore for a week afterward, but totally worth it."

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[unusual_sith]

"So you absorb the energy, but it still hurts you?" Lana made a face. "That seems less useful."

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

"Not near as much as other people, but yeah," she replied. "But that's, like, after I've probably been thrown into a wall or twelve. First one is maybe an 'ugh' on the annoyance scale, and I start to get progressively pissed off after that."

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[unusual_sith]

"How much did they have to hit you voluntarily, then?" Lana wondered.

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

"Eh, just two or three times, because I had to tell him to stop tickling and actually hit me," Yang said, waving a hand. "Gave me enough juice to hit everything that needed to be hit until it stopped moving."

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[unusual_sith]

"Is it only kinetic energy?" Lana asked. "What about, say, lightning?"

No reason.

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

You were getting a funny look for that one, Lana.

"I can really do any kind, but kinetic is my preferred method," she said. "Electricity makes my hair frizzy."

"You get hit by lighting a lot or something on, ah, Korriban? Did I say that right?"

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[unusual_sith]

"You did," Lana acknowledged. And yes, she really did, but that was another story. "That wasn't why I asked." And since Yang was being up-front about her powers, Lana raised a hand and concentrated the Force around it, crackling with purple lightning.

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[misshapen_spark]

"Huh. Harnessing some sort of magic--" which was still weird to think about, even after a year, "--or all you?" Yang asked, looking at it with interest. "Never met someone who could lightning on their own before; most people at home would have to use Dust to generate something like that."

Re: Introduce Yourselves!

[unusual_sith]

"Me, and the Force," Lana said. "What's Dust?"