fandomhigh | How to Make Friends and Influence People [Tuesday, January 28, 2014]

The Danger Room today was set up like a diplomatic cocktail party: people were mingling through a living and dining room, glasses of wines and small plates of canapes in hand, chattering about nothing in particular while inoffensive and bland music played in the background.

Anakin, bundled up in his cloak still because when you grew up in the desert, you would always hate winter, was looking bored to tears. "Greetings, class," he began. "I trust you have regained your original body parts and haven't lost any extremities to the cold yet. If you have, well, that's what the clinic's for. There is going to be a date night in town this weekend, so if you choose to participate, I will grant you extra credit for the class under the guise of 'making friends'. Today's lesson is learning how to make small talk without wanting to kill yourself."

It's not that bad, Anakin. "I've been lectured on any number of occasions--" because this was the price you paid when your secret wife was a Senator, "--that hiding in the corner with a plate of food and a scowl is no way to spend an evening, however much I was enjoying it. This also appears to be true for school dances, so keep that in mind for Valentine's Day as well. Today your task is to talk with at least two other students during the class. You may not talk about the weather or about how you accidentally turned into a woman for the weekend." He held up a piece of paper and handed it to Korra ~~assuming she was there~~. "You must also try to pass this piece of paper between each classmate without my noticing it happening--much of what's really going on at a reception like this is below the surface, where getting caught results in far more dire consequences than merely being caught as passing notes."

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Probably not. Tough!

"Technically, it's a drink," Joker told her. "Like, whiskey or something that you have right before bed. But mostly it's an excuse to invite someone into your bedroom. Soooooo... watch out for that."

He shrugged. "But, like, actual nightcaps? With the little pom-poms on the end? Are frikking adorable! Lemme guess -- you've actually got one."

Elsa was blushing. Whether it was from his earlier statement about invitations to bedrooms, or the suggestion that she owned one of those silly caps was anybody's best guess.

"I don't," she replied, laughing a little. "Though I know the ones you're talking about. They're... really not my style."

The girl who wore thick gloves everywhere didn't wear a cap to bed. Go figure.

"I don't think they're anyone's style," Joker told her. "And yet, they exist, so at some point someone had to wear them, right?" He shrugged. "You're definitely not going to see them somewhere like this, though."

"Well, no, almost certainly not." Did she sound disappointed about that? Because, really, that would be entertaining. "I don't know if I can use your other touchstone too faithfully either, though. Most of the things I see people wearing around here would make me uncomfortable, I think."

Ladies in trousers! Anything that showed skin anywhere ever!

Of course, this was less because of prudishness and more because of terror, but she wasn't going to explain that much, no.

Joker shrugged. "Is that just because dresses and heels always look uncomfortable, or is it a whole 'you're from the past, so all the women look naked' thing? I mean, I could totally see you rocking a pantsuit."

"I'm wearing a dress and heels," Elsa pointed out, gesturing down at what she was wearing. "And I'm perfectly comfortable. Can I go with the second one?"

It was like shopping! Let Joker come up with the excuses, and all she had to do was agree with them!

"... Rocking a pantsuit?"

"There," Joker said, pointing at one of the women in trousers. "Pantsuit. Like the suits the men are wearing, but more feminine. Powerful, sexy, and won't make her trip at the first hint of stairs, like Tits McGee over there." He pointed at a woman in a long, tight dress for the comparison... and spent a little too long looking at her.

What in the world was he staring a-- Oh.

...

My.

"I'd ask how in the world she actually moves in that, but somehow, I don't think that's what's on your mind right now."

"That was exactly what was on my mind," Joker insisted, turning pink. "It looks uncomfortable and hard to walk in. Unlike yours, which makes you look like some kind of princess. Which... is how we got on the topic in the first place. You. Dress. Party. Blending."

Oh sure, bring it right back around to Elsa again, Joker.

She was demonstrating just how pink she could turn. Which was considerably so, given that she was so pale to begin with.

"I... princess? That's... well. You know, I mean..." Hooboy. It wasn't even that she minded the idea of people knowing that she actually was a princess. She just didn't want the extra attention that she was afraid might come along with it. "Blending!"

Blending was excellent! Elsa was going to have to get her hands on a pantsuit or something!

"You... don't get many compliments, do you?" Joker asked. "Or else you're terrified of your dress looking elegant?"

"... Yes?"

Excuse her, Joker. Elsa needed to bury her face in her hand and maybe attempt to just completely disappear. Feel free to append that 'yes' to whichever question you figured it made more sense with.

She was so bad at this.

Joker reached a comforting hand for her shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. In my defense, you are really adorable right now, and it's kind of funny."

And now Elsa's brain was shorting out for completely different reasons, looking up quickly at the hand on her shoulder, and then skipping backwards a half-step as though she'd been burned.

In her own defense, with as flustered as she was right then, her shoulder was more than a little cold to the touch, even through her dress.

"Adorable?"

There were way too many things going on in this exchange for her to be able to tackle them all at once.

Joker looked a little pained and took a few steps back himself. So, too much flirting, then. He couldn't read the look she was giving him, and wasn't at all sure what was going on. "I'm sorry?" he told her. "I mean, I really, really am. I... Yeah. I'm sorry."

Elsa sagged a little in relief as he stepped away, reaching up and clasping her hands in front of herself as she willed herself to calm down. Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel.

"It's not your fault," she said, once she noticed the look on his face. "You were doing fine. I just... I don't take well to being touched. I'm sorry. I should have been far more up-front about that."

"No, it's... It's okay. I get it." She wasn't rejecting him, she just had a weird neurosis. Or, given this crazy island, maybe she could suck peoples' souls out through their skin or something, like ~~meta for~~ Rogue. Either way -- assuming she wasn't lying just to be polite -- it had to suck for her. "Soooo... no football, no Twister, no tangoing. Not a problem. ... You okay?"

Rejecting him? He was unlike anyone she had ever met (not that that was a stretch, exactly), and while he often had her flustered, she enjoyed his company more than that of most.

"I... I'm fine." She gave Joker a little smile that bordered on 'shaken,' at best. "No harm done, right?"

No harm done to him? She wasn't terribly worried about any harm coming to herself. That wasn't something she'd worried about for a long, long time.

How to Make Friends and Influence People [Tuesday, January 28, 2014]

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