This prompt by Shauna Philp makes me think of a line in Pirates of the Caribbean where Captain Jack Sparrow is told her is the worst pirate the speaker has ever heard of. The prompt does not end the same way, but it has similar energy. While Jack points out that the speaker has heard of him, this person offers a thank you for something that, just like with Jack, is not meant as a compliment.
There is an element of sarcasm to it that I quite appreciate. “Oh, you think I’m the worst, well, you are absolutely wonderful at encouraging your students.”
I do find myself wondering what exactly are they being trained for. This prompt is nice in that it could be absolutely almost anything. It could be contemporary, fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, even horror. It works with just about any genre simply because training is something that can happen at any place and time.
It is possible that the trainee was simply bad at whatever he or she was training in or perhaps the trainer was bad at explaining things and only people who already understood it at a basic level were able to get it. It could be that this is just good natured ribbing and that the trainee is actually much better than stated or maybe even is better than the teacher and the teacher simply can’t train them for that reason. Another possibility is that the trainee is pretending to be bad in order to learn something about the teacher.
What do you think the situation is here and what do you think is being taught? My mind keeps running back and forth between some form of marshal arts and sword fighting.
