Diplomacy, Monday, September 19, 2022

[sith_happened]

"Hello," Anakin said, flashing the class a small smile before leading them into the Danger Shop, which had been set up like a very stuffy diplomatic reception. "Welcome to the part of diplomacy you see most in movies. This is where people extract information and provide distractions for espionage."

Don't think he hadn't been paying attention to last week's discussion.

"But the vast, vast majority of your time will be spent drinking substandard drinks and eating a variety of canapes while not looking bored to death by small talk," Anakin said, "so that's what you will be practicing today. Start at least two conversations with your fellow students. Topics must be confined to: the weather, whether they have anyone visiting this upcoming weekend, and any pets they may have or used to have."

He smiled. "Enjoy."

Comments

Re: Chat it up!

[napking]

"That's great!" Gray exclaimed. "I'd love to meet your friend. Does she--do they all, uh, know about this place?" Was that outside of the bounds of allowed conversation? Gray didn't know, but it was still about the visitors, right?

Re: Chat it up!

[outofthequiver]

As far as Libby was concerned, that definitely counted! It was still about the visitors!

"Oh, Zo definitely does," she said emphatically. "I've told her everything. It's a little bit more difficult with Mama and Grandma Jean, though. They'd just think I was telling tales. I've told them how different this place is, probably more than they'd have thought, but I don't think they'll even believe it until they see it with their own eyes."

And did that make Libby incredibly nervous? Of course it did. But her Grandma Jean seemed pretty used to a lot of surprising things, and so she had hope...she had faith...that it might be alright.

Re: Chat it up!

[napking]

"I'm sure everything will go fine," Gray assured her.

Until they saw one of the blue people, at least.

"I hope we'll have nice weather for their visit? That wasn't supposed to be a question." He was so bad at this.

Re: Chat it up!

[outofthequiver]

The blue people came with an extra layer of nervousness for Libby, really, but part of her was rather hoping the giant red person would sort of distract from that a bit. Mr. Sidon was one of her teachers, after all, and he was just so charming that she felt he could make just about anyone more comfortable with the idea of people who looked quite a bit different than what you expected people to look like.

But she grinned a little at Gray's question. "It could have been a question," she allowed. "I'd imagine you'd rather have nice weather for it, but who knows? Maybe bad weather would be more interesting."

Re: Chat it up!

[napking]

"I'm hoping we can go flying," Gray admitted. "We have to be careful not to get caught back home, but here no one would care...except maybe some of the other visitors. But bad weather can be fun for flying, too. You get really interesting air currents sometimes." Just winged people stuff. "But too much rain is bad."

Re: Chat it up!

[outofthequiver]

"Is it bad for the wings?" Libby asked, also wondering if this still counted as weather talk, but she felt it really should. It was still weather related. "Or is it just too difficult to see, like too much rain on a windshield when you're driving?"

Re: Chat it up!

[napking]

"A little bit of both," Gray said. "I mean, I can fly in a storm if I really have to, but...yeah. I should probably check the forecast for this weekend, but it never accounts for rain of meatballs or whatever."

Re: Chat it up!

[outofthequiver]

Libby blinked a little in surprise at that. "Do you think it actually could?" she asked, although, as she said it and considered where she was, it was almost just as surprising that it hadn't yet, not that she'd noticed. "Rain meatballs this weekend?"

Re: Chat it up!

[napking]

"I figure anything could happen," Gray said with a shrug. "I really hope it doesn't, though. Al would not enjoy that. He's very..." Gray searched for the right word for Alastair. "Put together."

Re: Chat it up!

[outofthequiver]

"That almost makes me wish it would rain meatballs," Libby admitted with a little bit of a grin. "Just to see how he might handle it. And, really, as long as it's just meatballs, that doesn't even sound too bad. I'd be more worried about it raining spaghetti...or just the sauce!"

Re: Chat it up!

[napking]

Gray pictured a meatball bouncing off Alastair's head, and Raiden catching it and popping it in his mouth, and cracked up. "I'm sorry," he said, "it's just--" and then he was giggling again.