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The Art (s) of War and Peace / Wednesday / Period 2

It was once again Wednesday, but this time Ghanima had a weetiny baby tightly swaddled and bound to her back. The child, for its part, did not seem to mind, and Ghanima did not seem to be giving it a second thought.

Shunsui, on the other hand, seemed to be a little less invested in the fact that they were in a classroom and more invested in the baby strapped to his fellow teacher's back. The students might find themselves as amused as the weetiny baby at all the faces he was making at her, trying to get her to giggle behind Ghanima's back.

"'There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare,'" she announced once everyone was seated. "So speaks Sun Tzu in the second Pi'en. In it, he speaks of provisioning an army, and managing your resources."

"Again," Shunsui offered, between finger waggles at the tiny one, "we're still working from the file of Things My Lieutenant Does ♥."

"Your poor lieutenant deserves a raise and a very nice gift," Ghanima replied, not bothering to hide her smile. She knew perfectly well what he was doing. "Shunsui, did you want to take a turn holding her?"

Cute little baby that wasn't even remotely his. Shunsui offered out his hands. "If only to help relieve you of the burden, Ghani-chan &hearts."

Relieve her of the burden. Yep. That was totally it and it had nothing to do with it being so much easier to make faces at the baby and make her giggle. Really!

"You are going to spoil my neice for other men, and she's not even a week old," she sighed. "But today, we should look at it from non-combat viewpoints," Ghanima said, unwrapping the baby sling and handing her over to Shunsui before turning back to the class. "If you're conducting a business merger, you should approach it the same as any other battle. Prolonged negotiations are something to avoid at all costs, since you usually end up losing something the longer you are engaged. As a member of the ruling Royal Family, I cannot think of a single instance where anyone's fortunes were improved through a lengthy process, be it trade agreements, warfare, treaties, or even waiting to cook dinner."

"Romantic relationships are the same way; as much fun as the chase can be, a prolonged pursuit of your target increases the chance of them slipping away," she teased, eyes flashing with amusement. "How can you apply the suggestions made in the second Pi'en to these two situations?"

"I, however," Shunsui offered, with a grin of his own, "may have to disagree with my beautiful coteacher on this one, though perhaps she had not had the pleasure of the prolonged pursuit of a particularly challenging romantic interest ♥. Sometimes, it is not the destination that is the fun, but the journey; when one spends a great deal of time on a battlefield like that, it makes the victory all the better ♥. And should they slip away, well...there is always another battle to pursue ♥. I should also note that this maintaining the battlefield of love is yet another thing to file in Things My Lieutenant Does ♥." Because, yeah, Nanao-chan was having none of that, but that didn't seem to bother Shunsui much. It was all part of her charm, really.

"So, yes," Shunsui waved his hand a little, ready to let the class get to work so he could stop doing his job and play with the baby. "Let's discuss, as Ghani-chan said ♥. After all, bringing a quick end to war is a good way to start peace ♥."

[OOC: OCD up!]

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In a resourceful manner!

It's short, but listen, pass notes, or take notes as you like.

Looking at the text, how do you think it can be applied to the business world? Why?

What does this say about interpersonal relationships, the give-and-take between people? Do you agree with Ghanima or Shunsui?

Before and after class! With bonus baby!

To keep the OCD in place.

Cara

Cara was doing her level best not to acknowledge the presence of the newborn in the room, and for the most part was succeeding.

Unfortunately, this meant she also missed most of the lecture

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

Wesley maaay have been blushing just a bit at the thought of having to discuss personal relationships in class. Don't mind him. "I have to agree with Professor Kyōraku," he said thoughtfully. "It can be quite rewarding to get to know a person in one's pursuit of them. And unlike in war, where the goal is a victory of sorts, here there is the potential of meeting someone new and learning from them."

In other words, he was a big dork.

Susan Sto Helit

BAAAABY. Shunsui was trying pay attention to the students' discussion, but there was an adorable little baby who far too easily giggled at his ministrations and silly faces.

He really was a sucker for any female who paid attention to him, really.

Raven

Raven paid attention and took notes, but she was also a bit distracted by the cute weetiny baby as well.

Daenerys Targaryen

Dany was doing everything she could to ignore the baby, but she couldn't help herself. What she could do was tamp down on the nausea and tears that rose in her, and tried to focus on the lecture.

Still -- the presence of the baby created an ache in her that she'd done her best to stifle already.

"I think I agree with...both Lady Ghanima and Professor Kyōraku," Dany said slowly, though this topic was painful for her, too. "In my experience, romantic relationships are founded at the forefront as business negotiations. If you're lucky, though, a long pursuit might follow, in which you learn about your intended and grow to love them." She shook her head a little, and added, "Establish intent at the forefront, because it lends clarity. But allow yourself time to know another, too."

"I think I am more in agreement with Professor Kyōraku," Raven said carefully. She didn't like to think of relationships in the terms of warfare. "Though not entirely. I had feelings for my boyfriend for a very long time, but I did not see the relationship he was in in the past as any sort of obstacle to be conquered, nor did I pursue him then. He was not a battle to be won."

Ghanima was rolling her eyes at how Shunsui was fussing over the child, but she was there for the students if they needed her.

"Do you feel you get to know them better if the pursuit is prolonged, instead of being upfront with someone at the start?" Ghanima asked. "Must all connections take long periods of time?"

Gabrielle ~~omg it's water conservation, okay~~

Cassidy

Cassidy was taking notes -- and sometimes being distracted by the adorable baby.

"I believe that I agree with Professor Kyōraku," Cassidy said -- and oh did she hate not agreeing with Lady Ghanima! "I would prefer the time to get to know someone so that I can decide if they are truly meant for me."

"Do all interpersonal relationships have to end on romance?" Ghanima asked. "I know that was the example used in the lecture, but what about friendships? Do you feel you need time to get to know someone before you know if you 'click' on a basic level?"

"Oh, well no," Cassidy shook her head. "I try to make friends with everyone, but I don't know if they will end up being incredibly close until I spend a lot of time with them."

Or her Court chased them away -- which thankfully she didn't have to deal with yet since she didn't have a full Court.

"Yours is not the only culture in which partnership relationships are business negotiations," Ghanima assured her. "I will never be able to marry the man who is my intended, due to politics. Making an alliance with any Great House over another would upset the balance of power too much."

Ghanima wasn't going to mention the 'now technically married to Leto' or 'so we made Farad'n my legal concubine' bits to anyone here at Fandom. It was not something that she expected the majority of her students - or coworkers - would be able to understand.

"While our long 'courtship' has allowed my original dislike and distrust of Farad'n to temper into tentative friendship, I doubt allowing the facade of betrothal to go on longer will provide either of us much peace of mind. He will continue to attempt to woo me, and I will never be able to reciprocate. Why prolong a charade? Do prolonged negotiations always end well?"

"If you did not pursue him, how did you end up in a relationship?" Ghanima pointed out gently. "You had to make your feelings known at some point, which generally means there were hints and such dropped along the way."

Raven's cheeks turned pink. It had been more than a hint; she'd thought he was in love with her, but she'd been using her gifts to influence his (and others') emotions without realizing it. "He knew," she said, "but I treasured his friendship and was content with that."

Susan was interested in the child, and in questions like 'What is it doing in our classroom?' but she found herself annoyingly distracted today.

She kept watching the floor and listening for the pitter patter of little skeletal feet.

Mercy Thompson

"I think that relationships take time," Mercy said. "And sometimes if the person you're pursuing gets away, well, maybe it was better that way."

It was certainly best that she wasn't with Samuel and if things had moved any faster, she'd be stuck married and/or mated to someone who didn't really love her and that would have been horrible.

"I guess, sometimes if things take too long to get up and running, it would be bad for a business," Mercy suggested. "People would go elsewhere for their needs or your options on contracts and stuff could run out."

Alex Aaron

Aw, the baby was cute.

Right. Schoolwork. Alex could do that. Taking notes was totally a thing.

Aw, cute baby.

Excuse Wes, he was just stammering up a storm.

"I -- I -- I -- that is to say, I rather meant that -- I didn't mean to suggest that pursuing someone occurs exclusively in romantic contexts," he managed. "But rather, acquainting oneself with another person is always a process, and forming any sort of relationship can be just as invaluable as the relationship that is ultimately, er, established."

Jason Todd

Bobby McCallister

Karla

Dana Scully

Scully considered hers and Mulder's relationship and the second pi'en, and sighed. "There's always the chance that outside forces will doom you if you take too long as well. Earthquake. Fire. Something changing the landscape."

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The Art (s) of War and Peace / Wednesday / Period 2

Sign-In #3

During the Lesson

Discussion: Business Relationships

Discussion: Personal Relationships

Talk to the Teachers

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