fandomhigh | So You Want to Be a Pirate!, Wednesday, period two

"Okay, so here's the thing." Duke kind of couldn't believe he had to say this. "And, you know, it's probably my fault for not making my expectations more clear. I'm still new to this teaching gig, but that's no excuse. . . . Anyway. How did all of you end up doing the worksheet last week?" He looked around at the class, hands spread in despair. "I mean, okay, we got some creativity with the names, so that's good, but still. I literally gave you the option out loud of tearing it up and throwing it in the sea. I even told you that'd be the more pirate-y way to go. And yet." He pressed his hands to his forehead and sighed.

"Right. So. Just to be absolutely clear: pirates don't follow rules. Like, okay, you should probably mostly do what your captain tells you, mostly under the threat of some sort of creatively awful retribution, but the whole point of being a pirate is to say 'screw you' to other people's authority and do your own thing. So let's just get this out of the way: I'm the captain, just sort of . . . by default, I guess. And I am actively telling you to disobey me. Please do stupid shit in here. If you're a grades kind of kid, I assure you: you will get a better grade if you just tell me to fuck off and do your own thing than if you do everything I tell you to perfectly. We clear?" He looked around for any questions, then nodded and clapped his hands.

"Okay! Now we've got that out of the way, it's time for today's 'assignment'!" He went really heavy on the air quotes there, yes. And then leaned into the pirate accent. "We be doin' a piratical obstacle course! Each of you will be collectin' six flags along the way. The first will be on the poop deck, where ye'll be closin' yer eyes and spinning around a mop not three, not five, but thirteen times! Once yer nice an' dizzy, grab yer flag off the mop and run down to the mizzenmast. There ye'll be climbin' the cargo net to the yardarm, where ye'll find flag number two! Grab the rigging, and swing across to the foremast for flag number three. From there ye'll drop down to the forecastle — I prefer usin' a dull knife on the sail meself — where ye'll find flag number four. Slide down the banister back to the main deck, and pop below to the gun deck to load yerself a cannon and find flag five under the cannon balls. Fire that cannon out to sea, make yer way back up to the main deck again, brandish yer weapon of choice from this barrel, and give us all yer very best piratical battle cry for the sixth and final flag. The first of ya to present six flags to me, yer captain, wins." The accent disappeared again. "And for the love of god if you actually do all the steps properly and in order I may have to fail you for the day. Seriously. Please break the rules. As long as you're not actively harming each other, you'll be golden."

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"Who'll win in a fight?" Duke mused. "Space sneakiness or Earth sneakiness? Guess we'll find out."

This was his favorite class ever.

"I've been leaning Earth sneaky for over a year now," Vette retaliated. "I have a clear advantage there."

Did you know Space sneaky yet, Duke? Did you? Huh?

"But then, there might be some tricks I haven't picked up yet." She bounced once on her toes. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you throw at me."

So she could take notes and steal that, too.

"I'll be so Earth-sneaky you'll totally think you took your own flags home," Duke said.

Because she would. Because he wasn't going to even try to take them.

But now she'd wonder.

"I mean, I'm a pirate," Vette pointed out, "maybe the goal is to take someone else's flags home after all. Taking other people's stuff is half the point."

Sure, she'd wonder! But she still figured she had a point there.

"Tell you what: if you manage to take someone else's flags home today without them noticing, I'll let you be captain for a day."

Would that day be a class day? Well. Who knew?

Look, if Vette was captain, she'd be able to declare it to be a class day. That was how captaining worked, right? She hummed a little bit at the prospect, and then gave her head a determined nod.

"Challenge accepted."

She'd certainly be welcome to try.

"Shake on it?"

Vette considered this offer for a moment. And then shuffled one of the pistols to her other lek before holding out her right hand, pistol the first still clutched firmly in her other one.

Having multiple appendages that were good for grabbing and holding was the best. And she was sort of banking on the odds that Duke here would have no idea what kind of strength or mobility a Twi'lek's lekku were capable of. Most humans from back home didn't, after all.

"Shake on it," she agreed.

Oh yeah, he hadn't even known before now that they could hold things. He was also enjoying how she was clearly considering if this was a ploy to snatch her flags.

He took her hand and gave it a firm single shake. "Have fun!"

So You Want to Be a Pirate!, Wednesday, period two

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!

Re: Obstacle course! - Turn them all in!