The Care and Feeding Of (Human) Sidekicks, Friday, 3rd Period

[amthenight.livejournal.com]

"Themes are important for sidekicks. ideally, their theme will carry through from their name, to their abilities, and even into their wardrobe in a way that compliments you," Batman explained. "Take me for example. I'm tall, muscular, dark, and what some people might consider dour." Yes, some people.

"The sidekick most associated with me goes by the name Robin. Other regular associates include Batgirl and Nightwing. Note the theme of animals who can fly." You were going to have to trust him that 'Nightwing' was bird-themed.

"There have been multiple Robins, but they tend toward a basic type. The costume," Batman said, as a projection appeared toward the front of the Danger Shop, "is much less severe than mine. The black cape allows for stealth, which works with my operations, but the red costuming is bright, even joyful. Robin - as well as every other sidekick I've had - do this work at least in part because they enjoy it, and their personalities show it. They're much more likely to make jokes than I am. Much more likely. Being smaller, he is more agile and, to a certain extent, faster than me. But I still train him to be able to do everything I can."

"Some redundancy is useful. Sometimes you may need someone who can do the things you can. But any good partnership should end up being well-rounded. If your sidekick is just a less competent version of yourself, you're wasting everyone's time," Batman said.

He pushed a button that changed the Danger Shop into a giant closet filled with all kinds of clothes for the sidekicks who had previously appeared a couple weeks ago. "You remember your sidekicks from before. This is your chance to give them themes. Give them new identities if you'd like. Change their outfits to compliment yours in a way you'd prefer. Let them know what you'd like them to study in order to make your partnership more well-rounded."

"See me if you have any questions."

Archery 102 [Friday, 1st Period]

[so_hawkward]

Clint's smile might have looked a little forced this morning but it couldn't be helped. He was trying to project an aura of good mood though, and there was one foolproof way for him to do that. If he wasn't going to be around for a while--or at all anymore, depending on how his mission went--at least he had the chance to leave these kids with something useful to think about.

"So, I'm sure you guys have noticed by now that sometimes this place gets hit with weird stuff," he said. "I wish I could prepare you for every possible thing that might come along, but I can't. I can, however, introduce you to the idea of having a creative arsenal." For this, Clint grabbed his own quiver and a duffel bag, holding them out for everyone to see. "In my line of work--the one that's not here, I mean--I never know what I'm going to run into, so I've got to have a lot of tricks up my sleeve. That means having an arrow for just about everything, and when I say everything, I mean everything," he said, showing them the contents of the bag before pulling out some of his favorite arrows to show off. Oh boomerang arrow, he'd have a use for you someday.

When he was done talking, he left everything out for the students. "I want you to come up with a kind of trick arrow that might be useful for you, and then you can try out any of these that aren't explosive or sonic." Just because he was fleeing, that didn't mean he wanted to get fired.

Conflict Management for Dummies, Thursday, Third Period

[thefearwasreal]

Today's class was being held in the Danger Shop, which looked remarkably like a bunker. Better safe than sorrier.

"So last week we looked at some classic small scale pranks, the week before that we looked at online conflict, today we have a movie that combines the two, with technology being used to take the art of petty pranks to the level of masterpiece." Of course, the but Oz wasn't about to tell his class that the computer science in the movie bore very little resemblance to reality, it might give them ideas.

Monsters and Humans. Lecture: Werewolves. Friday, Period 4

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"Werewolves" was written in large neat letters on the white board today!

"Human information about werewolves is not very consistent." Drac started as soon as the last of the students had taken their seats. "In fact, a good deal of it is identical to what information there is about other monsters, showing a distinct lack of imagination as well as misinformation. In one case, the werewolf (or 'wolfman', I am not sure of the difference, there) even rises from a grave during a full moon. Which technically makes the werewolf a zombie!"

Drac paused. "Hmm. That's the second reference... I think I will add Zombie to our syllabus. Possibly in place of Witch." Mental note made. Hopefully all the students made an actual note?

"Werewolves are depicted as being evil and eating humans and livestock... but beyond that, there isn't much in the stories about what werewolves do or did that humans fear and hate them."

Drac threw up his hands. "Werewolves have families, fall in love, make stupid decisions, hold jobs, laugh, swim, play pranks, cry, mourn, fall asleep in the middle of conversations, sometimes have fleas, have bad fashion sense... and look funny in orange. Seriously. If you have a werewolf friend, warn him or her against orange. Something about the fur. I don't get it, but it's true."

( Moving on... )

Detecting 101, Friday, Period 2

[bitten_notshy]

"I apologize for the unusual class last week," Jack said from the front of the standard classroom detecting was meeting in this week. "I wasn't quite myself. Though of course I hope you can use the information."

"This week, we're going to discuss interrogation -- though of course, if you're acting unofficially and trying to be subtle, you can't go for the classic good cop/bad cop, and you certainly can't torture information out of anyone. But what you can do is steer the conversation toward discussing what you want to find out.

"You want to start by managing the small talk. Your main goal here is to get the other person to trust you, while slowly working the conversation around to your topic of choice. The best tactic to gain trust is showing you're similar to the other person. For example, if the other person tells you they just got back from a trip to the beach, you mention you've done the same, and possibly tie it to the thing you're hoping to find out about and see if they bite. If they don't, wait for another chance. Don't press the issue right then. You also want to reveal things about yourself quite slowly, which can keep you from talking yourself into a hole. And remember, it's not necessary to be completely truthful as long as you aren't likely to get caught."

"You also should remember to control your answers to questions. If someone asks you something you don't feel they need to know, it's totally acceptable to laugh it off; answer the question with another question; ask for clarification, with a goal of distracting them; or find a way to talk about the thing you wanted to talk about that sounds like you're answering the question."

"Your class assignment is to pair off and interrogate each other on topics I'll assign. I know it's a bit tricky when you both know what the other is doing, so just ... pretend."