Mercing 101: Make it as a Mercenary and Still Stay in One Piece, Wed 7/9, Period 4

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Sitting at the desk in the front of the room, Murdock shook his head at his class. "Wow. And here I was hopin' the size of the roster list was just a typo." He shrugged, "Oh well. This means we can get more up close and personal."

He shifted away from the teacher's desk and commandeered a smaller one next to his students. "Better," he grinned. "So two of you already know me, but I'll say it again for the benefit of...our other students." The apparent robot was a throwing him a bit. "H.M. Murdock. Just call me Murdock. Or Captain, if you prefer. Just don't call me Duncan."

"Anywaaaay, since our class is so small, I figure we can keep things on a less formal level. Incidentally, it just happens to work out that there's four of us," he grinned slyly. "And I happen to be very familiar with working as part of four-man team. Or...," he glanced at his students, "a two gal, one guy and a robot team. Hm." This was going to be interesting.

"But first I wanna know why you signed up for this. What to do you aim to get out of this class and all kinda that stuff. So I got a couple of questions for ya..."

(Minor class stuff here. Today's class is all discussion and is contained in the OCD. up!wait for it plz.)

Comments

Sign In

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

That's sign not sing in like a certain somebody kept trying to type.

Unless you want to be singing that is.

Re: Sign In

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone

Re: Sign In

[the_merriest]

Rikku

Intros!

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Meet each other and your prof. That's assuming you haven't already.

Re: Intros!

[the_merriest]

"Hiya," Rikku bounced. "I'm Rikku. Uh. I met Murdock back at MercCon, woo! I'm a senior and I like weapons and I totally saved the world."

Well, she did.

Re: Intros!

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

"That's possibly the best intro I've ever heard," he grinned back at her. "Yay for world-savin!"

Re: Intros!

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"Uh, hi. I'm Jack. Jack Burton. I've been here for a while now, and this place is crazy," he said, with a winsome grin.

Re: Intros!

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

"Jack, my penguin buddy!" Murdock grinned. "And the fact that I just said that proves your theory." He couldn't help but wonder what he might find in his office this week.

Re: Intros!

[shiniernyours.livejournal.com]

"I'm Bender." Bender scanned the room. "And unless one of you lot is hiding something, I'm the robot in the class."

Re: Intros!

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

"Yah, I'm pretty sure it's you," Murdock replied. "Unless we got ourselves an invisible robot hangin' out somewhere."

It could happen. He did have an invisible dog, you know.

Re: Intros!

[the_merriest]

"Oh my gosh, that's awesome," Rikku said, staring in a possibly rude way. "Who built you? What kind of circuitry do you have going? What type of droid are you?"

Class Discussion

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Feel free to bounce into each other's answers and heckle the prof while you're at it.

Question 1: Why are you here?

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

"Alright," Murdock studied each of his students briefly, "Why did you sign up for this class? Are you planning on becoming a merc? If so; why? In it purely for the profit or do you have some other, nobler cause? Like one of those sense of justice kinda thingies that makes you stand up for the little guy when nobody else does."

"And if you ain't plannin' on going merc, what are you lookin' to get outta this? Or perhaps..." he grinned, "you just felt like taking a class run by a crazy man?"

Re: Question 1: Why are you here?

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

"Everyone at home keeps telling me I can't function in society," Anemone complained, wrinkling up her nose in distaste. "Last year was my first year of school ever, so I'm kinda lacking in job skills. Or social skills in general. I have to do something after I graduate, or I'll go nuts. I'm not exactly the 'stay in and let my boyfriend provide' type."

"They're wary about letting me go back to the military, which I get, I do, but I can't be a civilian. I'd be bored."

"Just because some of us don't mind committing property damage for a living doesn't make it wrong."

Re: Question 1: Why are you here?

[the_merriest]

Rikku considered. "I don't know if I am or not. Planning to be one. I ... want to find something where I can use what I'm good at. I like killing monsters and I'm good at it. I had some kinda future reunion thing where I was a merc, and that was kinda neat. So I guess I want to know what all of that means, you know?"

Re: Question 1: Why are you here?

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm planning on being a trucker, like my dad, but that's not really like being a mercenary, but if you're your own man, own the rig, then you pick and choose what you want to haul where. So... it's kinda the same. But with wheels." Really. TOTALLY BECAUSE OF CRAZYMAN.

Re: Question 1: Why are you here?

[shiniernyours.livejournal.com]

"Well, I like money," replied Bender. "So there's that. But mostly I'm here because back home I keep running into idiots with a sense of violence," and a inclination to hold on to their own stuff, "and it gets in the way to keep putting myself back together."

He leaned back to take a better look at the teacher, asking speculatively, "Crazy how?" Crazy in a easily Bender-exploitable way perhaps?

Question 2: Morals. Do they belong in the merc'ing world?

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

"Believe it or not, some mercs actually have these things called morals. Granted, most of 'em have their own type and style of morals, and they usually differ widely from one merc to another. Some don't have any outside of a price tag. That is their moral. Highest bidder gets the job done. Others will only work when the job doesn't conflict with their own interests. If you're a big name company exec by day, and you run as a vigilante by night, you might not be too keen on workin' a job for your rival company."

"And then," he smiled a bit, "you might have a merc who only works for those down on their luck who ain't got nobody else to turn to. The law can't help for whatever reason...that's assuming the law ain't part of the problem to begin with," he added. "And nobody else can help them because they're too scared to stand up to the town bullies. You'd be surprised how often that scenario comes up."

"So which is it?" He leaned back in the desk, "You think mercs are better off with morals or not? Does having morals make a merc better than one who doesn't? Give me your opinions and share 'em with each other."

Re: Question 2: Morals. Do they belong in the merc'ing world?

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

"I thought morals were from ethics class," Anemone said slowly, clearly confused. "Um, I don't like ethics. They're subjective, and everyone's always trying to give you conflicting ones that satisfy their own guilt issues."

Question 3: Alone or part of a team?

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

"There are two aspects to the mercenary field," he ticked off a finger each at a time, "One; you have your single merc. Always works alone, don't have to worry about lookin' out for nobody but themselves. It does have some advantages," he crossed his arms over the desktop and leaned forward a bit. "You don't have anyone to question or contradict your plans. Come up with something and you just go with it, no complications. You don't have to wait around on nobody else. Quick in and out, wham, blam, thank you ma'am, job's all done. You're responsible for only your own hide. You ain't gotta worry about somebody else gettin' shot up on your watch. All bonuses, right?"

"But," he held up a finger, "those same advantages can also be disads. If your plan sucks, you ain't got nobody to tell you so. Then, when you do get caught because your plan failed, you ain't got nobody to pull you out. That could really suck. And sometimes, it's nice to have backup. You might not ever see that dude sneakin' up on ya from the bushes, so it'd be good if someone was there to take 'im out for ya."

"On the other hand," he let out a long breath, "all those 'advantages' of bein' on a team become those disads just like if you were workin' single, only the opposite." He swirled his fingers around in the air a complicated twisty pattern. Then paused with a frown on his face. "Wait a second. Did that make sense? Eh, you know what I mean," he shrugged. "The same advantages of workin' alone turn into disads when workin' a team. And vice versa."

"The question is; which is better? The single man or the team? If you had to choose, as a merc, which way would you go? And why would you choose that way?"

Talk to the prof.

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

He'll be here after class for a bit, so feel free to pester him with anything.

OOC

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Class format will mainly focus on different scenarios primarily a few gleaned from Murdock's own canon :D, and either be discussion based or simulated runs in the Danger Shop. Any ideas or suggestions for class, feel free to drop me a line or ping me on aim. I'm online most evenings.

Re: OOC

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

Do you want to guess how many times I've accidentally typed "Sing In?"

OOC the second

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

And I always, always knew I had four students instead of three.

*whistles innocently*

Re: OOC the second

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Captain Latepants, reporting for duty!