Practical Etiquette, Period 3, Class #7 - Thursday, June 25th

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Miss Bennet was a generous, kind soul who would never place her students in any real danger. But she was going to amuse herself at their expense. Somehow, teaching etiquette did not preclude her from misbehaving.

Oh, this would be fun.

"Good morning," Miss Bennet said, clapping her hands in front of herself. "As I warned you last week, you do, in fact, have a final exam today. That is why I have asked all of you to assemble here, in the Danger Shop. Your exam will be a test of many of the principles we have learned over our short weeks together -- how to be social and civil even in circumstances which may be considered less than ideal.

"In this next room," she said, gesturing through the doorway, "is a gentleman by the name of the Reverend William Collins. He wishes to propose marriage to you, for varying reasons, which he will list for you at the slightest provocation. I assure you, you do not wish to accept his proposal. However.

"You cannot simply stride into the next room and call him rude names. The laws of inheritance state that Mr. Collins is next in line for your estate; should your father fall ill this very evening, and pass away, then by dawn, your house and all your possessions will belong to Mr. Collins. Making an enemy of him will have very real and very dire consequences.

"Walk that particular balance as best you can. Persuade him that you do not wish to marry. Spare his feelings. Dissuade him from wishing to offer for you. This is your final exam: refusing Mr. Collins's proposal while not causing him to throw your family out onto the street." Her smile was nearly evil. "Good luck. I do believe you shall need it."

(OCD COMING!)

Comments

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Wow, Karla, that's so selfless of you."

Then Triela burst out laughing.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

Which had Karla laughing, too. "This is not the way Miss Bennet planned for us to be preparing," Karla said in between giggles.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"With her, how can you be sure?" Triela had a hard time reading Miss Bennet, but she suspected that the woman was laughing behind her eyes more often than not.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

Karla would have whole-heartedly agreed with that assessment had Triela spoken it aloud.

"I can't, really, which is why I like her. If she took this class alf as seriously as she pretends she does, it wouldn't have been half so fun," Karla said, still smiling.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela looked at Karla like she might be a little bit crazy. "You've enjoyed this?"

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

Karla returned the look. "You didn't?"

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela shrugged. "Not especially."

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

"Protocol's pretty important in Kaeleer," Karla said, shrugging. "Which is probably why I got put in here. But it was much more fun than my old lessons, by myself, with my mother's stuffy, old Steward."

"Besides," she said, running her fingers through her hair. "The rules are more fun to break when you know what they are."

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela grinned. And then grinned more broadly. "Well, I do have to admit that Miss Bennet is less stuffy than Hilshire. She at least seems to have a sense of humor."

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

"Exactly. Etiquette's okay when the instructor knows not to take it too seriously," Karla said, grinning.

Then, her smile faltered a bit. "And you never know. Following Protocol might save your life one day."

She shook herself and her smile grew brighter again. "Still, stuffiness in an instructor is never a good thing."

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Eh," Triela waved, the need to defend Hilshire at least a little bit instinctual by now, "Hilshire's not so bad." He was her handler, so she could badmouth him all she wanted, but other people could only go so far.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

Karla's smile got a little bit bigger. "Well, I can't speak for your Hilshire, but believe me, my mother's Steward wrote the book on stuffiness. Hell's fire, he's probably what turned it into a genre."

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Lucky you managed to come here, then, huh?" Triela smirked.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

...And there went Karla's smile again. "Yeah, lucky," she said with what she hoped wasn't obviously forced cheer.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

A vain hope, apparently. Triela cocked her head slightly and lifted an eyebrow silently. "We're not that bad, are we?" she asked. Which was her way of giving Karla an out if she didn't want to talk about... whatever it was.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

Which Karla leapt for with all the grace and poise (and desperation) of a drowning woman. "Well, most of you are okay," she said, working for a smirk. "I do have a couple of people on my To Hex list."

Look over there! It's a subtle topic shift! "So, do you think you'll have time to go to the range with me on Saturday? Before the dance? Are you going to the dance?"

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela was no stranger to the subtle topic shift, so she went right along with it. Karla was welcome to whatever secrets she needed to keep.

"I don't have any other plans, so sure." Then she shrugged. "I don't know about the dance. I've never seen much point to them, really." Also, she didn't know how to dance.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

Not secrets, exactly. More like super-important and or emotional information that Karla tried to keep under wraps.

Okay, yeah, secrets.

"Well, I've seen the kind of crazy gyrating that they call dancing here, so I don't think I can 'dance,' either. I just figure it's a good chance to dress up and spend time with a lot of my friends at once."

Karla'd never actually been to a dance. But her parents threw balls frequently. Surely these two things were similar.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"It's... crowded," Triela sort of explained (but not really). "I don't deal too well with crowded spaces." Because you couldn't watch every approach, couldn't ensure that no one was a threat. A small bit at the back of her brain that was always on guard tended to flip out a little at crowds.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

Karla could sympathize with that. "I know what you mean. I usually don't keep my shields active, because I can generally call them up with a thought. But, in a crowd, I usually keep them up. Too close, too many people."

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"And they generally don't allow weapons at school functions." Triela would be so much more comfortable if her shoulder holster weren't empty.

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

"Hmmm...." Karla said, narrowing her eyes. Her lips curved in a small smile. "Hmmmm...Do they have ways to sense the presence of a weapon? Besides sight, of course?"

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Not that I know of," Triela admitted. "But I have to obey school directives as long as they do not present a direct threat to me or my mission."

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[glacial_queen]

"I see," Karla said, smile widening a bit. "A challenge. I can work with that."

Re: Waiting Area - Before [ET-7]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela lifted a half-suspicious eyebrow. "What are you thinking?"