Working Together: How Not to be an A-Hole - Monday - Third Period

[biotic_psychotic]

"Good morning. Welcome to Working Together: How Not To Be An A-Hole," Jack said as the class filed in. "Welcome to the Danger Shop. For any of you who might not have been here before, it's a simulation room. For our first day of class, we're going to do introductions because that's part of not being a jerk when you're in a new environment with a new group, and then you're going to figure out the confidence course."

Down the center of the room lies what might generously be called an obstacle course. It held standard things like staggered tires to run through, wires to crawl under, ropes with no knots to climb, a wall to get over, a mud pit to swing across - but also things right out of video games. Gold coins hanging in the air, a sphere of perfect darkness - the inside of which was not viewable because: perfect darkness, riveted boxes with question marks on them, banana peels randomly appearing and zipping across areas of the obstacle course before disappearing.

"Some of you might have seen or done a thing like this before. Usually it's a competition. This ain't. You don't get graded individually. Clock starts, clock don't end until every member of this class gets from one side of the room to the other. Which means class don't end until every member of this class gets from one side of the room to the other. You'll be choosing a team captain for the day but that's because most groups don't work by committee. I expect the captain to listen to the ideas of the others and make the ultimate decisions on how you cross, but participation in this is mandatory. No lurkers, got me?" Jack looked at all of the class.

"So - start with introductions. I'm Jack, I'm your teacher. I don't care what it says on your roster, I'm not 'Ms. Zero' or 'Miss Jack' - it's just Jack. Your TA is Peebee. We're here if you have questions."

[OCD is up!]

Comments

Sign in

[biotic_psychotic]

Hup hup hup!

Re: Sign in

[always_someone]

Norman Babcock

Re: Sign in

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto Argentum

Re: Sign in

[cypher_can_fly]

Owen Corley

Re: Sign in

[handystand]

Okuyasu Nijimura

Re: Sign in

[unusual_sith]

Lana Beniko

Introductions

[biotic_psychotic]

Introduce y'selves

Re: Introductions

[always_someone]

"I, uh... hi," Norman said, giving a kind of crooked smile that suggested that maybe he'd rather be anywhere but here right now, but it was on his schedule and he wasn't going to be the kid who argued with the schedule without at least giving the class a try. "I'm Norman. And I guess.. I'm here to... do... teamwork?"

Help.

Re: Introductions

[hashtag_chocobro]

Yeaaaah...'How Not to Be an A-Hole' was feeling like a pretty important spot for Prompto to be right now, that was for sure, and he kind of winced slightly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly when his time for an introduction came around.

At least he'd already spent the morning jogging and working out at the gym, so he had some pretty good adreneline going for making it through that obstacle course. Which, by the way, he was not so awkward about this whole thing to not really, really really appreciate some of the finer details of the thing.

"Yeah, uh," the hand not all but rubbing the skin off his neck waved a little. "Prompto. Prompto Argentum. Never hurts to brush up on your teamwork skills, right?"

Re: Introductions

[cypher_can_fly]

"I... am... Owen," Owen said, and for all the ellipses, there was a fair bit of cheer in his voice, too. "I am very new and this room is... very shiny?" Beat. "In a 'horror radio serial' kind of way."

Re: Introductions

[handystand]

"I'm Okuyasu Nijimura," he introduced, plenty proud. "I try not to be a hole in general, though I recently had one ripped into me so I am hoping this class will help me avoid that in the future."

Yes, that was totally what this all meant.

Re: Introductions

[unusual_sith]

"I'm Lana Beniko." Lana waved to her friends and nodded at the others. "I firmly believe in teamwork, and I'm from a culture where it isn't necessarily encouraged, so I thought I might get some pointers on it."

Choose a captain

[biotic_psychotic]

Figure out which one of you's going to take ultimate responsibility for the class!

Re: Choose a captain

[always_someone]

"... Not it."

Yeah, nope, sorry, Norman was not a 'team captain' kind of player, if he could help it. Sure, he wanted everyone to get across the finish line, but that honor probably belonged to someone who could do it without being carried partway or something.

Re: Choose a captain

[hashtag_chocobro]

Did being in this class with Norman make things better or worse? Prompto honestly couldn't tell, because he felt a huge swell of relief in his chest because this was the one person who could really understand what he was dealing with right now, but, at the same time...this was the one person who really understood what he was dealing with right now. It was sort of a catch-22, or something. But he laughed softly at Norman's dismissal of the throne and joined in with one of his own. "Yeah, no," he said, lifting his hands a little, "I'm not sure I'm exactly best for a leader position, either."

Which meant, hey, there, somewhat shameful puppy dog eyes skittering around to the other students right now with a very, very heavy dose of please don't hate me although I'd get it if you did mixed in there, too.

Re: Choose a captain

[always_someone]

"I mean, if I was captain, I'd probably just suggest we go around," Norman admitted, smiling wryly, scratching the back of his neck. "But maybe the easiest approach isn't the best one right now."

You know. For that reason that Prompto would probably understand better than anyone else.

... Even if the rules didn't say they had to run the course.

Re: Choose a captain

[unusual_sith]

"Going around is a perfectly valid option, if it's within the parameters of the class," Lana said.

"And I'm willing to be captain unless someone else feels they're more qualified."

Because somebody had to, didn't they?

Re: Choose a captain

[always_someone]

"... I vote Lana to be captain."

It let him and Prompto dodge responsibility!

And she liked his idea.

Re: Choose a captain

[unusual_sith]

"Well, that's one." Lana looked around. "Does anybody object to me being captain, or to Norman's plan? It does seem to be the easiest."

Which she wasn't necessarily trusting, but if they didn't try it, they'd never know, would they?

Confidence course!

[biotic_psychotic]

"Remember that the goal of this is to get from one side of the room to the other as a group! Clock starts.. now! Clock don't stop, class don't stop, until you're all at the other side of the room."

Discussion

[biotic_psychotic]

Cuz there's gonna be one.

Misc

[biotic_psychotic]

Cuz might need one

Talk to Jack

[biotic_psychotic]

She's here. She's watching. She's highly amused.

Talk to the TA

[biotic_psychotic]

Peebee, when she signs in.

Re: Talk to the TA

[onefootoutthedoor]

Peebee had not brought popcorn with her to class today, to eat while she watched the students run through the course.

She'd been really, really tempted to, though.

OOC

[biotic_psychotic]

Whee.

Re: OOC

[unusual_sith]

So...can they go around? :D

Re: OOC

[biotic_psychotic]

There's no physical reason they couldn't. Make sure that's what the team wants to do and try :D