fandomhigh | Being a Proper Sea Dog, Friday, Period 3 [Session 3]

Today's class again met in the Danger Shop, and again Hook had programmed a three masted vessel for the activity of the day.

"There we are, there we are. Everyone here and ready?" Hook said, after the class had gathered. "Jolly good job with the rope work last week. Jolly good. You all got up and went straight into things, and for that I applaud you, at least figuratively."

He paced back and forth on the deck a bit, as he spoke.

"As for today, the activity on the syllabus is an exercise in following orders. Which is simple. On the sea, there are instances where you'll have to put your own mind aside and follow orders so that you and the rest of the crew survive. Originally I had something rather harsh planned for today, but given recent events I've decided that would be bad form. Instead, I'm going to test your limits."

He opened a large chest on the deck of the ship, which contained several frilly pink dresses (including one frog-sized). He also gestured to a barrel which was full of dead, whole fish (and one sardine).

"Everyone is to pull on a dress, grab a fish, and slap another student across the face with it. Not hard, mind you, I don't want any permanent damage. A slap, not a wallop. If you find that too difficult, I can provide other orders, if you really feel you can't follow them."

He snapped his fingers. "Chop chop, get to it. This is an object lesson. Don't object to it unless you're ready to present a very good case for why you should mutiny."

And perhaps that was part of the object lesson as well.

[ooc: ~~OCD first, plz.~~ Up and ready to go!]

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Once Dolf had gathered his brain up from the floor, he made his way over to the teacher to object.

Quelle surprise.

"I'm not doing it," he said, "And neither should anyone else."

Thank you for that, Dolf.

"If all you're going to say is 'we shouldn't do it', you've not really thought this whole mutiny thing through, have you? Why shouldn't you do it, lad?" Hook prompted, intrigued to see what reasons would come tumbling forth from Dolf's mouth.

Even if Dolf managed to pull the word 'demeaning' out of his English vocabulary somewhere, he had a feeling Hook wouldn't really see that as a valuable argument. (...Okay, the fact he couldn't remember the word made up about 75% of the reason why he wasn't pushing that one forward, first. 'They wouldn't listen' had never really stopped him from yelling at anyone important.)

"Because this is a school class," he said instead, "Where we are supposed to learn things. Putting on weird clothes and slapping each other with fish might be something for carnival--" You mean 'mardi gras', Dolf. "--but it is nothing that teaches us anything important, so why should we do it? And you making us do it will just make us think less of you, and learn even less if you do have something to say. And you are a teacher, which means that making us do stupid things to amuse you is against everything you should be. So you lose everyone's respect."

...The only reason why he wasn't talking right on was because he needed a breathing pause.

"Oh, very good show, Dolf. Very good show. But perhaps there is a lesson in all this madness, and you're not quite seeing it," Hook said. He gestured over at Nico, who was obviously quite happy to participate. "The lesson here is for me to find out which students will follow ridiculous orders without question, and those who question ridiculous orders on intelligent grounds. And, perhaps, for people to know for certain what sort of person they are. Both are needed in a crew, of course, but the key is knowing what orders to question, and when to follow them despite their objections."

"So the questions I pose to you are these... while it may be humiliating for one student to stand there in a dress, what do you call it when they all do it? Is it humiliating if they are all placed as equals? Or perhaps, you think I am placing myself above it all by not participating myself?"

"When they all do it, it is still humiliating." Thanks for the word, Hook! "But mostly it can also be the start of something very bad. I have known some who ordered their people to do stupid things, and it got a lot of them killed. Because the people at the top don't care about them. You can't trust them when they give stupid or bad orders."

...Yeah, Hook, now you'd done it. ~~And see, if I were Thea Beckman, this rant would be going on for another three pages.~~ "And yes, you are placing yourself above it all. And that is pointless and unfair. But that doesn't mean you should be putting on a dress and slapping people with fish either. At best it is wasted time," he said, stubbornly. "And I'm not following your orders unless I know you will give useful ones."

Rudolf of Amstelveen would now be needing a soapbox, thank you very much.

Hook twisted the ends of his mustache in his hand as Dolf spoke, and nodded along with each point he made.

"You'll make a good captain, one day," Hook said, at the end. "You're right, the orders are ridiculous. But, and this is the important factor, they are not orders that will get you killed. And being able to put aside matters of personal pride for the sake of orders is very important, very important indeed. Since you seem so very smart, Dolf, let me propose a scenario. Theoretical, we shall not actually simulate this. Imagine we come upon a ship, slowly sinking to the depths. I order you not to go look for survivors, because it may be a trap by whomever sunk the vessel. You can hear the cries of people trapped below deck on the doomed vessel. Is that an order that you can follow, Dolf?"

Dolf looked like he wanted to say no.

But what he wound up saying was, "It depends on how sure I was you know what you are saying."

He'd learned a little in 1212, at least.

"So what you're saying is," Hook prompted a bit. "That orders are only as trustworthy as the person who gives them?"

"Yes," Dolf said, because that one was easy to answer. He'd have gone on about it more, but he'd already wasted a good chunk of his intelligible English today. He didn't want to run out.

"Good show," Hook said. "But believe me when I say that while I may not be an honest captain, you can damn well trust in my orders. And if you doubt it now, we've got several more weeks for you to learn."

"Then the next few weeks, show me," Dolf retorted.

Because he totally got to order a teacher around. Sigh, Dolf.

Hook narrowed his eyes, but kept an even tone.

"You however, seem to neglecting the fact that the good people that run this school have entrusted me into this position. I accept your questioning the activity of the day, Dolf. That was part of the point of giving such a ridiculous order. But if you question my position of power in this class vocally, there is such a thing as detention and I will not hesitate to give it."

He wished he could threaten the boo box. But sadly, that would not fly with Hook's bosses.

Somewhere, about eight centuries ago, an Italian mathematician was facepalming. And, quite possibly, wondering if he should take a trip in a time machine so he could hang around this class with a club in case Dolf got any pirates riled up, because God knew the boy had a talent.

A good chunk of Dolf bristled. But (sadly, said good chunk thought) he couldn't actually think of a good reason to keep arguing with the pirate. "Okay," he said. "I will go sit down, then."

"Good," Hook said, scratching an itch on his face with his hook. "And despite that last little question, you do get an 'A for the day' as they say."

"Thank you," he said, then turned 'round and headed back to his seat.

While wondering idly if Hook wasn't afraid he was going to take his own eye out.

Being a Proper Sea Dog, Friday, Period 3 [Session 3]

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