fandomhigh | Practical Diplomacy, Friday, February 8, 2019

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practical diplomacy

Practical Diplomacy, Friday, February 8, 2019

"One of the most useful skills to hone as a diplomat is the art of getting out of an uncomfortable conversation--and this is the important part--without stabbing someone."

Take a moment, kids, to feel badly for Anakin's teachers because that had been an actual lesson he'd gotten.

"You can stab yourself, but only in absolute emergencies."

He gestured around at the Danger Shop, which had been set up as the exact same reception as the first class, complete with the same appetizers and the same people because diplomacy got repetive. "I have programmed NPCs to come around and annoy you in a variety of ways. Your job is to get out of the conversations as gracefully as possible. And...go."

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Trying not to stab someone!

Prince Sidon

Vette

Breq

Nell Ingram

Lana Beniko

Wonder about Anakin's upbringing...

Lana was not convinced of Anakin's assumptions on this one. She had seen diplomacy. There was plenty of stabbing.

Trying to avoid eye contact with other people will not save you, but Anakin appreciates the attempt.

Huh. But stabbing was one of the pirate fundamentals!

Well. Shooting was, actually, which was why Vette wielded not one, but two blasters whenever they weren't hidden away in the weapons locker.

She was going to be very interested in the appetizers for as much of this class as she possibly could be, anyway. Worst case scenario, she could suffer a spill or just try to shove canapés at people before bolting.

A guest ~~who looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DESPITE NO ICON SPACE RLY~~ stomped over to Vette. "Can you believe they invited him? After the last time?"

Clearly, you know what they were talking about. Right? Right?!

"Oh,yeah, that last time," Vette replied, shaking her head. "Tell me about it."

... No, really. Go on. Tell her about it. So she'd have some clue about how to escape.

"Not where other people could hear," the being gasped. "It might scar the little ones!"

There weren't any younglings around. At all.

Vette was absolutely squinting a little bit at that, yes.

"Which ones are the little ones, again?"

She... didn't see any.

"Oh, around," the being said, flapping its appendage and growing more agitated. "Not in school, where they should be, that's for sure!"

Welcome to the incoherent ranting portion of your date, Vette! Now the being was going on and on and on about "gratitude" and "younglings today" and "when I was a pupa we had to walk up five hills to get schooling--"

"Right," Vette replied, giving a quick glance around to gauge the distance between herself and the nearest window.

No reason.

"And it was exceptional schooling too, no doubt..."

"Oh, of course," the being said, "not like schools these days--"

And it was off again, complaining about everything that it could think of.

Run. Run away.

Yeah, see Vette? See Vette ever so slowly inching backwards while this being ranted.

Maybe they wouldn't notice?

Ha! Master Skywalker should know by now that Sidon was that sort of NPC people tried to get out of conversations with at these sorts of things, not the other way around! Either way, it was mingling, and the supposed challenging of him not wanting to engage in a conversation with someone was intriguing , and he felt he was incredibly worthy of the challenge, so bring it on!

He looked far too excited about this, really, but these mingling party scenarios, he felt, was where he really had the chance to shine.

"Hi," chirped a little old man. "Can you tell me if the sore on the back of my neck has started oozing again?"

Ew. No. Why.

"Oh, yes, but of course!" Sidon said with actual, genuine enthusiasm, because he just couldn't help wanting to be helpful, even when it involved little old men and their oozing necks, and, as he went to check, he might have then entered into a whole conversation with the gentleman about his oozing neck, but he did remember that the idea was to actually get rid of the people talking to them, so, no matter how terribly curious he was about the oozing neck, he tried to keep things in the spirit of the exercise and gasped.

"My good sir," he said, and then dropped his voice (and his head) down quietly, "I do not wish to alarm you, but it appears as though it most certainly has. Might I suggest that it would be wise to extract yourself momentarily from the festivities to seek our a washroom, so that you may see to it properly? If I may say so, it does not look like the sort of thing I myself would wish to leave unattended."

"Really?" the man replied, sounding a little more worried. "Do you think I need to find a doctor?"

Breq had had to endure quite a few receptions where she'd acted as guard for her captain and officers. Of course, people never approached the ancillary soldiers, but she had seen enough situations where stabbing would have been a reasonable reaction.

Breq kept her face blank and her body still, offering a smile while pretending to listen to people.

A Weequay approached her, a broad grin on his face. "Have you converted to worship of the great god Quay yet?"

Because religious affiliation was a great conversation starter, right?

It was a bit odd, but Breq had met religious fanatics before, so if this was one she felt she could handle it.

"No," she said, still smiling. "I have all the gods I need, thank you. How do you find this place?"

"Sadly uninformed on the greatest of Quay," he muttered, "but the appetizers are adequate."

If anyone was good at being polite in the face of idiots, it was Nell. Still, that didn't mean she enjoyed it.

"Hello there, little lady," a drunk, older man slurred, getting about a step closer than would be considered polite.

Edited 2019-02-08 21:43 (UTC)

Nell ducked her head for a moment. He looked a little too like one of the elders from her church for her liking. And Professor Skywalker had said that they couldn't stab anyone, so she figured kicking him in his privates would be considered inappropriate as well.

She sidestepped quietly, looking for a place where she could slip away.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked, leering a bit.

Lana thinned her lips and stepped between the leering old man and her roommate. "No, you may not. Thank you, elder, but we have someplace to be."

Ha. Avoiding eye contact just made them sense your fear. Lana wasn't going to show any weakness!

A bold strategy! Didn't stop the willowy brunette from approaching. "Quick, pretend we're friends," she hissed. "I don't want to talk to the ambassador."

Lana smiled, though if it looked more amused and less greeting-an-old-friend, perhaps she'd be forgiven. "Which one is the ambassador?"

Did he ever stab himself to avoid a conversation? Maaaaaybe.

Friiiiiday.

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Practical Diplomacy, Friday, February 8, 2019

Sign in 2/8

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Listen to the lecture!

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Mingle!

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Talk to Anakin

OOC