fandomhigh | Surviving Life at Court, Friday, 6/01

As the students filed in today, Tyrion handed every second one a small bag of cookies, muttering not to eat any just yet as he did. Once everyone seemed to be as settled as they were likely to be, he began to speak.

"Typically, if you're at court and you don't have the misfortune of living there, it's because you want something," he began. "And if you do live there, typically everyone who talks to you wants something. It's just sorting out what the somethings are and whether they should have them that can cause headaches."

He paused there, looked over the class. "I simplified things, with the sweets. Half of you have them, and, presumably the other half want them. If you don't have cookies, your task today is to get some out of someone; if you do, your job is to decide whether the person asking you for them is worthy of the boon." His tone was just a bit dry on the last phrase.

"For those in need, one thing to consider," he added, "is who you are asking. In some cultures and with some people, a direct request is almost unthinkably rude. In other situations, being indirect can be seen as weakness or sneakiness. Knowing who you are dealing with can make the difference. If you don't know, talk to them for long enough and you'll figure it out."

"For those who already have cookies, it's perfectly acceptable to ask whoever's talking to you what they can do in return, whether it's gold or a particular favor or their youngest child's hand in marriage -- though the last thing may be a bit excessive for class."

"The give and take of all of this is called diplomacy. If you grab the cookies and run, that's called warfare and it s not what we are talking about today."

He pulled a cookie out of a bag he had held back, prepared to eat it. "And now, begin."

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Counting off 1, 2, 1, 2...

Marasiah Fel, 1

Fawn Singleton Farrell, 2

Jeremy Darling, 1

Frank Abagnale, 2

Lex Luthor, 1

Jace Wayland, 2

Surreal, 1.

Mercy Thompson, 2

Edited 2012-06-01 19:49 (UTC)

, 1

James of Krondor, 2

Darcy Lewis, 1

Listen to the lecture, plan, eat a cookie if you don't mind being glared at.

The 2's have cookies, the 1's do not. Have fun bargaining. Note: Simply grabbing the cookies and running, while acceptable, is a bit beside the point of the exercise.

This activity left Fawn a little...distressed, especially when it came down to the fact that she was going to be one of the Haves, and she was far more used to being one of the Have Nots. And her first instinct was to just shove the cookies at whoever was next to her and call that good, even if it defeated the whole purpose of the whole activity. So, in the meantime, she was just going to hold the cookies close, looking terribly upset and wondering if the class was an uneven number and it would turn out that no one would have to ask her for the cookies, or, if anyone did ask her, that she could manage to play along.

She realized, though, that she'd probably be in a similar predicament if she didn't have the cookies, too, wondering if she'd be able to bring herself to ask someone, or if she'd, in a sense, just basically starve so she wouldn't have to ask...

Like Fawn, Frank almost wished he'd been on the other end of this exercise, though in his case it was more because he liked trying to sweet-talk people than because he felt uncomfortable having things. Still, he made himself approachable in case anyone wanted to try getting some of his cookies (not dirty), smiling at people encouragingly.

Lex could all but hear his dad's blood pressure rising as he decided not to try very ruthlessly to get cookies.

You rebel your way, Lex rebelled his.

Mercy sat back with her bag of cookies and waited.

James resisted eating the cookies, and waited for diplomacy to occur.

Once we have pinged in!

Tyrion ate his cookie slowly as he watched the students bargain.

Surreal was there, and contemplating just taking cookies.

Bargaining wasn't exactly Firekeeper's strong point, so she was here and wondering if threatening would work.

C is for cookie and that is good enough for me.

Surviving Life at Court, Friday, 6/01

SIGN IN [6/01]

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GENERAL CLASS STUFF [6/01]

CLASS ACTIVITY [6/01]

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Talk to Tyrion & TA's [6/01]

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OOC [6/01]