fandomhigh | Relationship Skills, Friday Period 3

Entry tags:

relationships

Relationship Skills, Friday Period 3

Yennefer greeted the class with a brisk, "Today we're going to talk about peer pressure," and that was as far as she got before she had to consult her notes. "Which is...pressure from your...peers." A very helpful explanation, to be sure.

"Ah yes, the dangers of... peer pressure," Jaskier added, also a bit lost on that one. Was it because they were the popular kids or too headstrong to follow a herd? A true mystery! "Which can destroy a relationship. We think. I never met any of the other Witchers to confirm."

"Nor did I," Yennefer admitted somewhat reluctantly. Did Geralt think his family was too cool to introduce them to? Was that it? "Peer pressure is when your...peers...which apparently means your little friends, not the nobility, in this context...pressure you to do something you don't want to do because..." again she had to consult her notes. "'Everyone else is doing it,' or, 'All the cool kids are doing it.' Good grief, are those reasons? Don't fall for peer pressure. It's clearly very stupid."

"So, perhaps avoid that," Jaskier suggested. Like the idiot who went out into the world and latched onto a tragic hero who smelled like onions and brute forced his way to fame.

"Break up into pairs," Yennefer suggested, "and one of you can attempt to convince the other one to do something, and the other one can practice saying, 'No,' over and over. And perhaps the first person can meditate on taking 'no' for an answer the first time, just a thought." She waved a hand dismissively. "Go on, then."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You've met Steven and Marc, Nell. Proper segues were for other people.

Still, even Marc noticed Nell was off. "Everything okay?"

Nell was normally more on top of things, but she was a bit distracted today.

"Hmm? Yes. Fine. Just thinking about logistics."

"About what?" Marc asked. "Planning on robbing a bank?"

"Yes. I'd try to influence you to help me, but you're supposed to be practicing saying no to peer pressure," Nell said.

"Banks aren't a good bang for your buck anyway," Marc said. Was he serious? Joking? He looked innocent but that could mean anything with Marc.

"I will defer to your experience," Nell said solemnly. "But no. I'm just figuring out what to do with my things once the summer session is over."

And herself, but that wasn't as important. She could find a place to sleep for a week or two pretty easily.

"I can keep most of my plants at Covent Garden Flowers," she said. "Probably the rest of my stuff too. I don't have that much."

"This place doesn't have storage lockers?" Marc asked. Where for him 'this place' meant the entire island. "Wait, why can't you keep your own shit?"

Marc had gotten over that thing about swearing around Nell pretty quickly, obviously.

"I can," Nell said. "I'm just figuring out where to keep things between when I need to be out of my room and when I can move into an apartment."

She was quiet for a moment. "I don't think it's a good idea to not have a plan since Portalocity still can't seem to connect to my home."

Personally Marc thought it was fine that Nell couldn't connect with her home but he knew it mattered to her so he didn't say anything. "They kick you out of the dorms before you have a place to go?"

"It's not kicking out," Nell said. "But I won't be a student anymore. It's fine, it's not very much time. I just waited too long to arrange it, so the one I can afford isn't available till Septmeber 1st."

She checked the list she'd been making. "There's room to leave things at the flower shop in the storage room. I just need to start moving all the plants. I don't have very much personal stuff other than that. And I'd have had to leave most everything here if I went home anyway."

"When do you have to leave?" Marc asked. Maybe it was logical to assume she'd have to move out at the end of the class session but as the conversation proved he hadn't realized she'd been needing to move out soon in the first place.

"Over break week," she said. "Definitely before the new students arrive that Saturday."

She folded up her notes and tucked them into a pocket. "Just the logistics of moving things to the shop. Not to worry."

There was a missing piece there, though. "Where are you staying?"

Ah... Yes. The part she was avoiding.

"Oh, I'm fine. I can always get a room at the hotel for a few days if I need to."

No, no, she couldn't not if she was going to pay first and last month's rent and a security deposit. But he did not need to know that.

There was something in that which Marc couldn't quite put his finger on. Unfortunately this was one of those nuances of conversations that Steven was much better about than Marc was.

"If you're sure," Marc said, leaving it open for her to say if she wasn't.

Look, it was summer, she loved the woods. Sleeping out there for a few days was, well, just like when she sat out there for hours communing with the trees, except there was sleeping too.

"Mmmhmmm, I'll be fine."

She would, too.

"So aren't you supposed to be trying to convince me to commit a felony or something?"

Oh, distract and evade! Very nice.

"Already told you robbing banks wasn't worth it," Marc said. Which was in every definition not the assignment but still, it was sort of stating a point of view with the intention of getting the other person to agree with it. "Are you in trouble?"

"In trouble?" Nell was legitimately confused. "Only if I actually try to rob a bank, I imagine. Slightly inconvenienced? Yes, but nothing that's a problem."

That was her story and she was sticking to it.

"If you're sure," Marc said again. He was pretty sure there was a problem but if Nell wasn't going to talk about it he wasn't going to push.

"I don't want anyone to worry about me," Nell said.

Marc gave her a look. "You realize that's exactly the kind of thing to say to make people worry about you, right?"

Not that Marc cared about people, of course.

"I'm sorry," Nell said. "I'm honestly not used to having anyone worry about me to begin with or pay much attention to anything I'm doing."

She hesitated, looked at the teachers, then pulled out a piece of paper.

Worst case scenario, there's a lovely spot in the forest where I go to sort of commune with the land.

Marc frowned when he read it. Then, because he'd talked with that older version of Nell, he did have to write back and ask:

You're turning into a tree?

What? No!

It's just a nice place to be. I've spent the night there lots of times.

Well, a couple of times when she dozed off.

Edited 2022-08-13 03:40 (UTC)

Marc gave her a look as if to point out asking about her turning into a tree hadn't been an unreasonable question all things considered.

You're camping the whole time?

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time

Re: Activity Time