Open RP: Failing a diplomacy check

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg sat in the Great Hall, having consumed a large bowl of stew and some ice cream. She was scowling, which was hardly a foreign expression on her face, as she attempted to compose an owl.

There were several problems with this plan. The first was that Meg's handwriting was well nigh illegible on the best of days. And also, she was owling Wolfram in an attempt to get back into his good graces. Unfortunately, diplomacy was not her strong suit. She was nearly tempted to scrap this whole idea and consult the experts, like, she wasn't sure, maybe Professor Kusuriyuri, who seemed to have exquisite politeness down to an art form, or maybe that Yukimura man, the one who'd said she reminded him of a friend of his. However, she was pretty sure Yukimura's friend didn't have difficulty writing a simple letter.

Her attempts at correspondence were wadded up around her, and her current effort read something like:

Dear Wolfram:

I don't know if they have Christmas in Shin Makoku, but it's a tradition here where people give gifts to each other. I have a few people I want to shop for, and I wanted to actually see London. But I didn't want to go by myself. Would you like to come with me?

The rest was an even worse mess of cross-outs and illegible scrawls, but the gist of it seemed to be:

I'm sorry about those horrible things I said.. And I'm sorry I embarrassed you in front of your uncle..

That actually sounded OK, and she had just composed all of that onto a fresh sheet of parchment when the end of her quill accidentally snapped off and she further bumped the inkwell with her elbow, spilling ink all over the parchment.

She made an unladylike growl of frustration and did her best to clean up the mess, though the result was far from perfect and still less than legible.

With a heavy sigh, she folded the latest disastrous attempt at a note into a paper airplane and cocked her arm to throw it. "This is stupid," she muttered, rather louder than she meant to. "Why am I bothering?"



It should be noted, in case anyone was paying attention, that there were people between Meg and the nearest wastebasket. And that Meg's aim was pretty disastrous so far, as evidenced by the fact that some of her earlier attempts of correspondence had obviously met a similar fate.

((As always, feel free to interrupt and/or offer advice, sympathy, or tough love.))

Comments

[waltorana.livejournal.com]

It was not Wolfram but Waltorana who first chanced upon the sulky maiden.

"Greetings, young Ravenclaw." Either he didn't know she was a human, he'd forgotten she was a human, or he'd decided that Wolfram's slander about Ravenclaws having beaks actually meant they were descended from magical bird-people. The beaks were simply not a dominant trait, perhaps? "Do you know any nursery rhymes?"

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Oh, look. Wolfram's crazy uncle. This would... probably not help.

Her face softened though as she looked up at him in surprise. "Nursery rhymes?" she asked. "Sure. I know lots." After all, despite the fact that Charles Wallace was possibly the smartest little boy in the world (this was not an objective assessment), he still liked Mother Goose. "What kind do you prefer?"

[bad-date-nate.livejournal.com]

Nate smiled with sympathy as he sat down across from Meg. "Know what this place could use. Pens." He looked at the crumpled parchments and blackened table.

"Homework?"

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg nodded, her mood lightebning at Nate's presence. "Yeah, pens would be great," she said. "I think I can get some from this one guy I saw wandering around the halls. He seemed to be some kind of businessman, and he asked me if I had any interest in learning the ancient art of paper salesmanship. But I don't, so I politely declined." She made an attempt to tidy up the wadded parchments. "No, this isn't homework. I... kind of offended someone without really meaning to and I'm trying to figure out how to apologize."

[bad-date-nate.livejournal.com]

Nate gave her a quirky smile. "Selling paper's an art? An ancient one?" Nate took the five seconds it took for him to come up with a joke, and said, "I'll tell you the trick: Put stuff on the paper. Art, or words." With enough papers you can make a book, which would then befuddle dazed pretty boys to no end.

"Oh," he said in regards to her plans. He was quiet for a second, before adding, "With a note?"

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg laughed. "That's a thought," she said. "Selling books sounds like a lot more fun than just selling paper." Her smile faded as she looked over her mess of papers. "Yeah. I thought a note would be easier. It would certainly mean we wouldn't end up yelling at each other."

[bad-date-nate.livejournal.com]

"I guess," Nate said in regards to the paper. He leaned back on the bench. Somehow he made it look cool, and not like he was about to fall over on the floor. "But couldn't this person just throw the note away?"

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

"I guess they could," Meg said heavily. "And then maybe I'd know that I shouldn't have bothered, if I never heard back."

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura picked up a mug of tea from one of the house elves. Though it wasn't very good tea, it was better than the looks they gave him for drinking sake (and the poor quality sake) they'd give him if he asked for that. Apparently, drinking in the great hall was frowned upon, so rather than offend them, he would drink their tea.

He caught the pointed paper before it would have hit him in the side of the head. "You seem frustrated," he said, sitting across from the girl. "Either that, or very bad at assassination attempts," he added with a teasing smile.

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg sighed. "I am, a little," she admitted. "I offended someone, and I want to apologize, but I'm not good at actually writing apology notes, and if we met up in person and I tried we'd probably end up yelling at each other." She shrugged. "And, yeah. I would make a pretty bad assassin. First, because I don't really want to kill anybody, but also because I'm not good at being sneaky."

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura propped his chin on his hand. "So, you wish to apologize to someone you have no desire to get along with? Or who has no wish to get along with you?" He examined the paper in his hand, turning it between his fingers. "Seems an exercise in futility." He focused on her and with a wink, "Only the former prevents you from being an assassin."

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg shook her head. "No... It's not like that. It's just... We both have tempers. And neither of us seems to have quite mastered self-restraint." She gave a wry chuckle. "I know I haven't. It's why I'm always getting into trouble in school."

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura laughed. "I can't say I've mastered it and I'm a touch older than you are. I just have gotten better at hiding it and throwing people off so they don't notice my lack of restraint. Or I will practice. I find that the discipline of kendo often helps me focus my mind again." He shrugged. "Of what value is there in apologizing?" he asked.

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg was thoughtful. "Hmmm. What's kendo?" she asked.

"And I guess the value in apologizing is that I do like this person and I did hurt his feelings without meaning to and I just don't want to leave it like that."

[gourmetchairman.livejournal.com]

The Chairman was thinking about certain ingredients to suggest to his nephew for upcoming battles when a ball of paper nearly hit him in the head. A couple more inches forward and it would have.

Taking in the scene (a frustrated letter writer, similar balls of paper knocking on the floor), he smiled, picked up the wastebasket, and placed it next to Meg.

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Meg said ruefully, using the opportunity to dump the rest of the mess into the wastebasket. "I guess I could have done that myself."

[gourmetchairman.livejournal.com]

Kaga shrugged. "I understand it's a bit cathartic to throw paper. Others aren't as understanding."

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg laughed. "Yeah. It did make me feel better. But, yeah, I'll stop throwing things."

[gourmetchairman.livejournal.com]

Kaga looked at the pile of wasted paper. "Having trouble writing something?"

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg nodded. "Just a note to a friend," she admitted. "Or someone who isn't really a friend anymore because I accidentally hurt his feelings."

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Wishbone (in a Santa hat) was chasing the balls Meg had thrown. They always hit the ground before he could catch them, though.

Still, he wasn't giving up, and when another ball came flying, Wishbone jumped up.

Got it! Course, he immediately set the ball down. Blech!

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg didn't notice the dog at first, but on his last attempt at catching her wadded parchment and spitting it out, she laughed. Picking up another discarded letter attempt, she took out her wand and actually managed to transfigure the wadded-up piece of paper into a rubber ball. This she threw at Wishbone, hoping he'd like that better.

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Wishbone did, and gave chase as it bounced around the hall. Got it! he said again as he caught it in his mouth, taking it back to Meg.

[wrinklesintime.livejournal.com]

Meg hadn't realized that Wishbone could talk. She grinned in delight. "No problem," she said. "Do you, um, want me to throw the ball again?"

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Yes! I like catching things!