Fandom High School

Today when everyone got to class, they'd find themselves in a hangar, in front of a small airplane. "Glad to see everyone's back to their right ages," Jaina said with a smile, because she loved those weekends. "Today, you're going to do one of my favorite things. You're going to fly. Now, some of you might recognize this sort of plane, some of you might not. I'm going to bet none of you have been in the cockpit of one, though, and that should even things out a bit for all of you. The pilot's incapacitated, and you get to try and land the plane safely. If by some chance you're unable to do so, the simulation will end, so no one has to deal with that sort of trauma. Now, if for some reason you're not comfortable with this, that's fine. It's the last class, I'm not changing your grade if you sit out.

"And because it's the last class," she went on, "I want to thank you guys for being a great class. Hopefully you've learned something in the last few months, and it's been great teaching you all."

While Jaina was more than happy to wake up as herself this morning, at her own real age, she really didn't like that she didn't remember every detail. (And when she found out that others might remember everything? Yeah, that'd be fun.) She'd woken up early, tried to start training like normal, and basically failed so spectacularly at distracting herself that she'd ended up working on class instead. So now when the kids got to class, they'd be in a simulated version of the Perk.

"Glad to see everyone's back to themselves- so to speak- today," Jaina greeted them. "I reworked class today to something that you might have more of a chance of running into in your real lives. You're going to go into a coffee shop, full of people in their for their morning coffee... and everyone in there knows exactly what you did last night. And for whatever reason, you have no idea. React as you will, and here's hoping this is a situation you don't have to come across ever again."

Today class was going to look a little different. Blame the teacher's brain having very good reason to think back to stories she'd heard growing up. There weren't any big scary monsters around at the moment, as that gate was safely closed, but that would change.

"Welcome to a rancor pit," Jaina greeted them. "For those of you who don't know what a rancor is, you're going to find out in a minute. I'll also add the disclaimer that despite what you're going to see in here, I have a friend who insists they're just fine, and people ride them on one of her homeplanets. You tend not to find those particular rancors in places like this, though. You're going to face off against it one at a time, and you're able to use whatever you can find, whatever you have on you, or any powers you think you can use safely here. You have to either defeat it or get away, and if the rancor's going to win, the simulation will end and that'll be the end of your turn. Good luck."

Today the Danger Shop was set up like a fancy restaurant, with enough empty tables for everyone in the class. "Find a seat, guys," Jaina told them. "Alone, together, doesn't matter."

Once everyone had gotten themselves settled, Jaina went on, "I told you at the beginning everything we dealt with here wouldn't be life and death, so here's an everyday sort of situation. You just had dinner here. The bill's just gotten dropped off. And you most definitely do not have the money to pay for it all. So you and whoever you sat with, if anyone, get to figure out just what you're going to do about this."

This had never been a situation Jaina had been in. So it was goging to be interesting to see how everyone else handled it.

This week, the students and any kids they brought with them would find themselves on a playground, complete with a slide, swingset, jungle gym, and all that fun stuff. This might have had something to do with the fact that beside Jaina was Chak, who for the record was kind of dying to get to playing. "Hi, everyone," she greeted them. "Happy to see some younger faces that I'm not used to. I-"

"Hey, can I do this part?" Chak asked.

While Jaina wasn't sure what he was going to say, she was sure it wasn't going to be anything bad. "The floor's yours."

Smiling a little at suddenly feeling in charge, he began, "Hi, my name's Chak, and this is my mom. This class is all about getting out of bad situations, like when someone won't share, or you get caught trying to sneak out... Not that I ever did that." Liar. "Or when you have a class planned but Fandom has bad timing. And sometimes getting out of bad situations means saying bad words and ditching the old idea and letting us play."

"You had to tell them that part, huh?" Jaina asked, looking down at him.

"Well, you did!"

"Just don't repeat it," she said. "The kid's right, though. Take the hour to go play, and if you don't have kids here to worry about... Push someone on the swings or something."

When the students got to class today, they'd find themselves in the middle of a hilly forest area. At least it wasn't too humid or too cold this week?

"Hey, guys," Jaina greeted them. "Today you're going hiking. You can pick up a few essentials to take with you, the trail is marked, and you even get a companion on your hike." As she spoke, a nondescript teenage boy appeared next to her, waving at the students. "This is Bob. Something's going to happen on your hike, and I'm not going to tell you what. But once it happens, you're going to have to figure out what tools you have available to you and what you're going to do about it. Good luck, and I hope you all wore study shoes."

Once again they were in the Danger Shop today, where they'd find themselves in what looked like a clearing in a jungle, which meant the temperature here was more humid than it was in Fandom. To the students' left was a wrecked ship, still smoking in parts and clearly unflyable.

"Hi, everyone," Jaina began. "Today I'm just going to throw you right into it. This, as you've probably figured out thanks to seeing it, is a jungle. That right there is your crashed ship. You don't know exactly where you are or whether there are any creatures or dangerous animals in the vicinity, and while help is coming for you by air, you don't know if it's going to take an hour or a day. You're going to find someone to pair up with, and decide how you're going to wait out the time you have. That's all I'm giving you, the rest is all up to you."

Today the students met in the classroom, where everyone would find a lemon on their desk. No tools, just a lemon. And it was going to take Jaina a bit to get to explaining it, too.

( click for class! )