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

Carter... Carter looked terribly confused today, and a little bit concerned as well. Fjord had explained the exercise that he'd wanted to do with the class, but somehow it all became a mess the more Carter thought about it.

"Hello, class," he said, smiling a bit anxiously at them. "Fjord's taking control today, so I'm afraid about all I have to offer you is cookies."

"Not a bad start," Fjord offered, glancing at the cookies with a crooked smile. "I'll get through the lecture, then you can help yourselves to cookies while putting this exercise to the test." He looked back at the class. "Today, we're polishing our public persona. That is, how we present ourselves when we're out in public."

See, that was right where Carter got confused.

"This is where he loses me," Carter admitted to the class. "I have yet to grasp why a persona is necessary at all."

Fjord gave Carter a faintly pained look.

"Some people need to work slightly harder than others to be looked upon with favor in polite company," he said, simply. "Or there's simply the fact that if everyone walked around wearing their inside thoughts on the outside, the streets would probably be running with blood within an afternoon."

Not actually an optimist, that Fjord.

There was... nothing faint about the pained look that Carter sent right back at Fjord.

Carter was actually an optimist.

"I'm sure that's just an exaggeration," Carter said mildly. At least, he sincerely hoped it was. "No one should be expected to have to lie to get by in society. Politeness alone suggests otherwise."

Fjord would have found that adorable if he didn't happen to find it outright offensive. But rather than start an argument in front of the students, he heaved a heavy sigh, ran a hand through his hair, and made a point to just keep his eye on the class.

"We'll leave it up to the discretion of the class as to just what kind of response they'd like to elicit from the general public," he said, at length. "While politeness might often garner a polite reply in turn, that isn't necessarily the case." He cast a sidelong glance at Carter. "Since arriving here, I've had people react with everything from outright fear to rude questions about why I'm green, and while I can't do much about the second sort of person, I can evaluate how I want to come off to people who react the first way."

Carter.

And... and Carter really had no response to that, except to look extremely, and genuinely, distressed on behalf of Fjord.

Fjord continued addressing the class.

"So, our assignment for today is to pair up and talk about how it is you would like the people around you to perceive you," he continued. "Pass thoughts back and forth, give one another suggestions on what it is that people expect to see when they encounter a person who gets the sort of reaction you're looking for. Incorporate those into how you present yourself to your partner." He glanced at Carter for a moment. "Or don't. Really, it's up to you."

Carter wrung his hands. "I really didn't mean to offend," he said, since he... he was pretty sure that Fjord was offended. "I simply cannot imagine people behaving that way."

He glanced at the rest of the class.

"And I do hope that all of you never have cause to endure such behaviour from others either. It's wrong and cruel of people to do such things."

It was because you were tiny and cute and human and blond, Carter. Fjord didn't say that, though. He simply cleared his throat and said, possibly a little tightly, "I believe you said something about cookies."

"Oh dear," Carter murmured, still very distressed, though he nodded. "Yes, everyone, there are cookies as well. Please, help yourselves."

And he'd go back to feeling very poorly about everything, given how upset Fjord was.