Friday, Sept 17, 2021 - Power Synergy 102

[Hank McCoy]

The Power Synergy class is taught on a Mon-Wed-Fri schedule. Generally, Monday is a theory class held in McManus Hall, Wednesday is a practice session held in the Danger Room, and Friday is "lab time" with the Danger Room reserved for Power Synergy students. Unlike many first classes, Wednesday the 15th had mostly been a matter of the students introducing themselves and giving a small power demonstration so Dr. McCoy would be able to set up a more formalized class plan. Similarly, this Friday is booked as a lecture day to get some initial theory out of the way before settling into the standard schedule.

McCoy is in the lecture hall before the students arrive. The hall is semi-circular, with a flat panel behind McCoy displaying some basic information. A table in the middle of the room has a cloth draped over it, concealing a range of items as vague lumps and outlines. McCoy greets each student by name, or by codename, depending on their preferences.

(OOC: It sounded like there's some enthusiasm for this class so I'm going to kick off a thread. It's a little late in the day for me to start it in earnest, but feel free to take seats and hopefully I'll be able to start up tomorrow)

[Will Stanton]

Will strolled in, sore from the night before, but like hell he was going to miss this class.

[Zoe Walker]

Zoe's definitely looking a little rough Friday, but she decides to make it to class in spite of having a get out of jail free card from the previous mission. She's still favoring her bruised leg as she flops into a chair next to Will. "Gronk."

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy strolls into the class, holding a cup of coffee like a lifeline, and sits down in a chair, partially wrapping her wings around her.

[Will Stanton]

"Gronk."

Will paused.

"Come again?"

[Constantine McGraw]

Con was in next, running a practised eye over the new girl before taking a seat. With his tattoos being somewhat relevant to his powers, he'd dumped his coat prior to class, so they were clearly visible.

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy looks up at Con with tired eyes. "Hey."

[Zoe Walker]

"Come again?"

She clears her throat and tries again, "Morning?"

[Will Stanton]

"Yes, that's a word I understand. Still sore?"

[Zoe Walker]

"Yah. I still managed to get up to join Anita for part of her training, but I couldn't keep up so I sat in the sauna for a while instead. I feel almost human again. You?"

[Will Stanton]

"Took a long hot shower last night, and at least I've got some control back. Still aching in parts of my body I'm not entirely sure I even have, though"

[Kevin Gravis]

Kevin strolled in, humming a tune that had lodged itself in his cranium.

[Constantine McGraw]

Mercy looks up at Con with tired eyes. "Hey."

"Hey yourself" Con replied, giving her a smile. "Someone either had a bad night or a very good one."

[Mercy Wilkins]

"Mostly a good one. Finally got to fly around London a little. Hoping tonight's will be even better."

She pulls folds her wings back. "I'm Mercy, by the way."

[Constantine McGraw]

"Constantine." Con replied, offering his hand. "And yeah, night is the best time to see it from the air."

[Mercy Wilkins]

"You're a flier?" Mercy offers her hand but her shake isn't very firm.

[Constantine McGraw]

"I am." Con confirmed.

[Mercy Wilkins]

"You're a teek?"

[Constantine McGraw]

"A what?" Con, of course, knew what a telekinetic was, he just wasn't familiar with the abbreviation.

[Mercy Wilkins]

"A teek. Telekinetic."

[Constantine McGraw]

"Oh, I shoulda guessed that one. No, I'm not telekinetic. I'm.. well, it's complicated."

[Mercy Wilkins]

"It always is, isn't it?"

[Hank McCoy]

(As per usual, even if you have not been able to post an entry in-character due to time constraints, you join in any time. Of course, if you would rather your student is late, that is your perogative ^_^)

"Welcome, everyone. Today we will be starting off with some of the basic concepts behind the class, in part to ensure we have a common language when discussing the effects of various mutant powers. While I do not expect class participation to be an issue during the Danger Room sessions, please bear in mind that the more involved our discussions are, the more you will get out of the theory."

"To get us started, what does the word synergy mean to you? Feel free to just speak up for now."

[Constantine McGraw]

Con mouthed a quick 'sorry' to Mercy before hurriedly taking a seat and answering Dr McCoy's question.

"From the original Greek. meaning 'working together' it's generally taken as the whole being greater than the sum of it's parts. For example, the overall sound achieved by a band or orchestra playing together."

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy sips her coffee. "Nowadays it's a buzzword. It means better."

[Hank McCoy]

As Constantine and Mercy speak, the flat screen behind McCoy lights up and transcribes the key phrases they mention. Since there are only a few so far, they are large and prominent.

Working Together
Sum Greater than the Parts
Better

[Zoe Walker]

"Uh, creating something new?" She chews her lip and tries to elaborate, "Like, transforming a power, almost."

[Mercy Wilkins]

"In the business world you try to leverage synergies, because synergies are awesome, and even better when leveraged."

[Hank McCoy]

McCoy nods as another phrase appears on the light board, then chuckles at Mercy. "Indeed, synergy largely entered the public vocabulary thanks to the business world using it, or perhaps over-using it, as something new and exciting. Of course, the concept and application predates modern business by a very long time. Military tactics and strategy has a similar concept to synergy, would anyone care to hazard a guess as to the term?"

Behind him, the phrases on the display change to:

Working Together
Sum Greater than the Parts
Better
Transformation

[Teri Napliotis]

A bit after the class has started Teri strolls into the lecture hall out of curiosity and lack of anything better to do. Sitting down in the last row she can't help but laugh at the words displayed on the screen.

[Constantine McGraw]

"Joint action?" Con hazarded.

[Hank McCoy]

"Not a bad guess, Mr. McGraw, but not quite." Beast quirks an eyebrow at Teri's late entrance, then glances down to his class list, "I'm sorry, I don't seem to have you on my class list, Ms.."

[Teri Napliotis]

"Napliotis." Teri we'reTeri wedon'tlikethatname "And we were just curious about the class, we didn't mean to interrupt things."

[Hank McCoy]

He smiles indulgently and nods, "You may find laughter counter-productive if you are trying to avoid interrupting, but by all means, feel free to observe."

"The catch-phrase used by military theorists is Force Multiplier. Particularly in the early parts of the twenty-first century, the major industrialized nations started relying heavily on technology to increase the fighting capability of individual soldiers. Impoverished nations and insurgencies tended towards asymmetric warfare for the same purpose. Historically speaking, both technology and terrain have been used by militaries as force multipliers."

"When it comes to mutant history, what examples can you think of with mutants using technology to enhance abilities?"

[Mercy Wilkins]

"Do image inducers count? They don't usually enhance an ability directly, but they let someone get close enough to use a power."

[John Hino]

John raised his hand.

"What about Cerebro?"

[Hank McCoy]

Beast turns to the flat screen, placing a hand on the current text and moving it to the side to make room for the new comments.

"Both good and very different examples. Image inducers have been used in many applications, while the various iterations of Cerebra are more specialized. What others?"

[Zoe Walker]

"Didn't Pyro have flamethrowers or something?"

[Teri Napliotis]

Deciding that contributing propably doesn't count as interrupting Teri raises her hand. "Wolverine?"

[Constantine McGraw]

"One of the girls on the teams uses pistols, those count right?"