fandomhigh | Stabbing People for Fun and Profit: Mercenary Work for Beginners, Monday, Period 4

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mercenary work

Stabbing People for Fun and Profit: Mercenary Work for Beginners, Monday, Period 4

No bouncing today as he waited for students to arrive. Nope, not in the mood for that.

"Now, if you'll recall in the first class I asked when you'd draw the line for a job. Today I want a more detailed answer," Deadpool said with a manic grin. "I know it's easy to say now that 'Oh, I'd never do that!' or 'No amount of money is worth that!', but come on now. If you want to be a mercenary, why the hell would you set limits?"

He twirled a small stiletto dagger in his hand, tossing it up into the air on occasion to catch it and continue the twirling.

"I want you to get into groups of two or three and figure out a good limit for a professional mercenary. Who will they kill, rob or protect? Megalomaniacal super villains bent on destroying the world? Friends? Family? The occasional old couple who want some really annoying kid to stop stealing from their shop and are willing to pay way too much? Gimme answers folks!"

[[ooc: ~~Please wait for the~~ OCD is up!]]

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Charlie was feeling confused enough on this subject to hope that someone else had good ideas. Because while she'd like to say she wouldn't kill *anyone* ever, well....

It wasn't exactly a topic Setsuna ever liked discussing. Charlie looked a little lost on the topic, so Setsuna decided to sidle up and join her, and hopefully get this done quickly. "The correct answer," she to her simply, "is money. Protect, kill, steal, based on the highest bidder. If we're strictly talking the barest mercenary ideal..."

"Whether or not you actually believe that is a personal thing."

Charlie relaxed a little, and grinned at Setsuna. "Gotcha. Okay, so we have the answer for the professor, I guess. Hi, I'm Charlie." She shook her head. "I'm very much in the wrong class. I was hoping today would be fighting, something I actually tried to learn this week."

"One he'll accept anyway, and, if he tries to argue, I can argue him down on it," she grinned back, kindly. "I'm Setsuna. I'll admit, you did sort of have that look on her face that kind of said as much. Who were you learning fighting with, if I may ask? Or, tried learning fighting with, as you put it?"

"Adam Park? He's new too, he's been studying martial arts since he was a kid." Charlie sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. "Mostly it was falls and how to throw a punch. Nothing complicated, but at least I'll be better the next time we do have to fight in here. I'm usually less mentally prepared in this class than I expect to be. Did you know it was going to be like this?"

"It's good to start out slow, especially if you're new to fighting," Setsuna nodded, wondering if she'd met an Adam Park, but the name didn't ring a bell and she wasn't getting any faces, but now she figured she should try to meet him. "And, actually, I expected a little...more? Deadpool's my faculty mentor, so I've worked with him a lot already and know a lot of what to expect from him in that respect."

Except the whole making her TA thing. That was pretty freakin' unexpected...but she couldn't exactly argue that it didn't make sense.

"Completely new," Charlie admitted. "It's not bad, I just feel behind everyone else." She blinked. "You mean he gets more um..." When she couldn't come up with a better word, she settled on, "Mercenary? Because I don't think I'm ever going to meet the standard here, to be honest." Between lying about what she'd done, and what she'd be willing to do, and how uncomfortable thinking about taking money for any of it made her, Charlie never knew what the heck to say in this class.

"I would probably use fanatical rather than mercenary," Setsuna offered witha light smile. "But, yes, based on my old sensei, he's been pretty tame so far." Definitely, definitely tame... Her head tilted. "What made you decide to take this class, Charlie? Or is this one of those paperwork things that often seems to happen around here, where you end up in a class and wonder, 'How the hell...?'"

"Paperwork thing," Charlie said, shaking her head. "I signed up for Talking to Stupid People. And it's not like I'm not enjoying it," she said hastily. "I'm just very aware how much I suck at this. I don't know exactly what I want to do when I get a job, but mercenary wasn't even on the list of possibilities. It never would have occurred to me." She studied Setsuna curiously. "You've done fighting like this a lot? Are you planning on becoming a mercenary?"

Setsuna nodded as she listened to Charlie, and then drew in a slight breath at her question. "Already am one, actually," she admitted. "Have been for a while, actually, and Deadpool, knowing this, has actually assigned me his TA for the course. One of them, anyway. So, if you have any questions, I definitely wouldn't mind helping. Won't even charge you," she added with a grin, "although the spirit of the class dictates I could."

"Oh! Sorry if anything I said sounded uncomplimentary, then," Charlie said. "And, wow. Already? I mean, you're my age. I didn't think that was possible." Then again, Alec had evidently been doing something similar for a while, and he was only year older than she was.

Setsuna shook her head. "Don't worry about it, you didn't say anything offensive," she assured Charlie. "It isn't exactly a profession where someone expects people to regard them with all sunshine and smiles when they go into it. Technically speaking, I've been doing this since I was five. My first hired job came in then, although, at the time, I was too young to really realize that's what it was..."

"Wow." Charlie wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for Setsuna, or intimidated, but curiosity won over either. "What did you do? I mean, five." When she was five, she'd set fire to her mom's hands.... "The shortness had to be a factor, if nothing else."

"The...short...ness?" Setsuna blinked. "Oh, um, it was...is just a protection job. A long term one, as I'm still doing it. This way, my charge and I grew up together; she's my best friend, so, of course I don't mind, but it was a rather clever trick on the part of the people who set the job up. Because of my connection to my charge, no amount of money in the world would ever convince me to stray from that job. I'd never go against Ojou-sama; they set it up when we were young so that I would have a line I would draw, and that line would be her...That's the thing with the mercenary business. One the surface, it can seem like it's as simple as the highest bidder, but there are so many underground workings and plots that span a heck of a lot longer than a basic hit-job, too..."

"That's really kind of cool," Charlie said, thinking about it. "I wouldn't mind a job like that, really. So even though you're earning money being her bodyguard, that's not the important part. Is she here at the school?"

Setsuna shook her head. "No, Konoka-Ojou-sama's still in Japan. It's much safer for her there. It was her idea to send me here for a little bit; being raised as a mercenary like I have, she get frustrated with me a lot for not knowing how to really be a normal girl. Everything was about protecting her and she said she just wanted a friend, not a bodyguard, so Fandom's supposed to sort of be my 'real life' training."

"Which is how I get stuck taking classes like home ec and arts and crafts every semester," she added with a smirk.

Charlie laughed. "I don't know how many 'normal' students there are here, but yeah, it has to be different, just taking classes instead of protecting someone. I kind of love our Arts & Crafts workshop, since I'm not getting graded on it, and Mr. Rogers lets us do very individual stuff. I can't see you in Home Ec at all, though."

"I got an A+ and everything," Setsuna said, giving Charlie a worried look. "Have no idea how I managed that. I can't even cook."

"Hey, if you learned everything, that has to count!" Charlie said, wincing a little. "Who teaches that course? And what did you do besides cook?"

"Ms. Frost?" Setsuna asked, wondering if Charlie knew the teacher. "We, uh, did some knitting and interior decorating, too...And that's kind of all I remember."

"I haven't met her yet. But an A+ for effort is cool. Did you like it?" Charlie asked. "I mean, I wouldn't say it's the biggest part of being normal... well, I've never taken Home Ec, but then, my grandma taught me half that stuff."

"Ms. Frost was a little...unreserved about things," Setsuna said a little warily, "so her approaches were a little...um, flail-worthy. But, yeah, most of what I've been picking up about being 'normal' comes less from my classes and more from just interacting with people without having to think, 'Oh, wait, what is Konoka-Ojou-sama doing right now? What should I be doing to protect her?' Granted, not all of that has been erradicated. I tend to choose my classes, like this one, thinking, 'How can I use this for my job when I return to Japan?' Taking classes like home ec and arts and crafts are sort of my way of showing that it's not all ninjaing and spy stuff."

Charlie nodded, thinking about that. "And you can always use it for being undercover and sneaky, I guess." She cocked her head. "Ms. Frost was flail-worthy? More than Professor Deadpool?"

"So much more than Deadpool," Setsuna said, a little wide-eyed. Then again, she didn't find Deadpool flailworthy at all. Just incorrigible. "Deadpool at least keeps himself in a state of relative dress at all times and doesn't have do things like knitting..." She made a slight grunt, unable to restrain her blushing, "dildo cozies."

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Stabbing People for Fun and Profit: Mercenary Work for Beginners, Monday, Period 4

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