fandomhigh | Revolutions: Week 10 Period 5

Aly waited for the students to all come in before going to close the door and sit on her desk. "To those of you I had in my class last semester, I want to apologise. This is a bit of a redux of a few topics that we covered that are just as important to a revolutionary as to a spy. The currency of both is information. And to get information, you have to be able to get people to trust you and possibly even mislead them to convince them to spill the beans." She grinned. "We're going to go through these pretty quickly in this class session, but I don't want anyone to think that makes them less important. If you still have questions after class, come find me in my office or save them and ask next class session."

She flipped the whiteboard around to reveal a list written on it.

11 Ways to Start Off on the Right Foot, or a Guide to Flirting.
1. Remain Still and Composed
2. Smile genuinely
3. Maintain as much eye contact as you can tolerate
4. Employ the same body language you would use with an old friend
5. Your opening statement is crucial
6. Assess then focus on the other person's interests
7. Mirror body language and echo speech patterns
8. Plan in advance what you're going to say about yourself
9. Be prepared for likely topics
10. Maintain unshakable confidence no matter what
11. Work the silences

Returning her attention and gaze to the class, she gestured to the board. "Everyone likes an easy tip sheet, right? Here you are then, eleven ways you can start to build trust and establish rapport with a new contact." She winked. "Or a new interest. In all honesty, you can look at this type of conversation as flirting without sexual intent. What is flirting other than initiating contact and expressing interest in another person? You want to appear interesting, sincere, confident enough for the other person to think you're worth continuing the conversation with."

She looked back at the board. "Some of these are rather obvious. 'Smile genuinely.' I'm sure you've all met someone who just pulled his teeth back from his lips and called that a smile. It's not and it won't inspire warm feelings or even a smile in return. 'Your opening statement is crucial.' It's all the other person has to reply to, and when you're making contacts or flirting, you don't want to force the burden of the conversation on the other person. So don't box yourself in. Don't say 'wow, sure is hot in here.' What if the other person likes the heat? Ask them what they think and move on from there. Everyone likes talking about him or herself so find out their interests and focus your attention there."

Aly paused then rolled her eyes slightly. "But not to the exclusion of talking about yourself. Don't dodge questions. It's obvious and anyone smart enough to be your agent is smart enough to notice. I realise that sort of thing looks really good in the spy films or novels, but it just doesn't generally work. Give the person a reason to keep talking to you, give them a reason to share information about themselves. That's why you're planning in advance what you want to say."

"So, any questions about this, how you use it, why you use it, anything?" She asked, gazing around the room, meeting each student's eyes.

"For our second topic, we're going to talk about how to detect lies," Aly paused. "There are a lot of fancy tricks that you hear about with this idea. What we're going to do is simply talk about how to read what another person's body language is telling you. And, possibly, how to mimic the type of body language that convinces others you're telling the truth." She handed out a series of handouts and spent about five minutes running through the information on them.

"Okay then, today? I want you to use both these topics together," Aly smirked. "Flirt with someone else in the class, try to establish a rapport. But do it all through lying."

[OOC: ~~Please wait for the~~ OCD threads are up.]

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"It does not!" Bel said indignantly.

"Uh huh," Anders said, and licked his lips again. "Right."

"Stop that," Bel growled.

"Why should I stop it if it's not affecting you at all?" Anders asked in a mock-sweet tone.

"Don't make me kick your ass," Bel threatened.

Anders tsked and shook his head. "Aw. Someone's all defensive."

Bel crossed his arms and glared. "Someone's trying to piss me off."

"Someone makes it so easy," Anders replied, still in that mock-sweet tone.

"I don't have time for your crap," Bel said irritably, standing up.

"That's a shame," Anders said, shaking his head with exaggerated sadness. "Really."

"Fuck you," Bel snapped and stalked off.

"Been there, done that," Anders couldn't resist calling after him.

Bel paused, and deliberate punched himself hard in the shoulder.

"OW!!!"

Yeah, so he'd been asking for that. Anders kicked himself in the shin, telling himself it'd be worth it.

Bel resisted the urge to turn Anders into a watercooler again. Barely.

Instead he deliberately bashed his head into the wall.

Anders staggered back, glared, and bit himself in the wrist.

Hard.

Maybe with a little pseudo-fang action.

"Ow!" Okay, maybe there was a silent "Mmm" there, too.

Bel glared at Anders. "Do that again, and I'm jumping off the roof to see what happens to you."