Persuasion

"So you're taking the path of the silver tongue? Influentially powerful women have practiced this skill since time immemorial. Persuasion is not quite the same as seduction, although the two of them work very well in tandem. Persuasion is the skill of convincing someone to change their opinion, while seduction is getting someone to do what they secretly already want to do.

"Persuasion is a rare gift, but it comes with a risk. Persuasive people generally walk a lonely road, either as a manipulator where you sacrifice friends with 'associates'; or you are respected for your ability to convince people of your views, but they in turn think of you as arrogant. While both might be true both might also be wrong.

"Ethically speaking talking someone out of jumping off a bridge makes you a hero, talking someone into jumping off the bridge makes you a villain. Both are acts of persuasion and could be thought of as equally difficult achievements. The success of persuasion always relies on the other person in the end since they are the ones making the final decision, the persuader is only encouraging a chosen line of thinking or believing.

"Persuasion is about influence, not control, but subtlety can be the greater power if used with cunning and wisdom. I do wish you the best on your journey."

My name is John Smith, and I would tell you all bout myself if you were interested, but I think that might be a little too boring. So I'll just tell you about the parts I think you should know.

I was born a Taurus, my favorite mythical creature is the Siren, and I love ancient legends. Probably thanks to my father who was a Professor of Religious History who specialized in Greek and Roman Myth, but also taught Egyption, Symarian and Christian Myth as well.

My mother was a homebody with a packed social calender and I learned from her how to behave as the proper hostess or guest the moment I was old enough to curtsey. Mom loved planning events for all her friends and she was quite good at it, always having the right suggestion to take an idea of someone else to the next level.

I think I was six when my mother helped me to hostess my first tea party, from the planning all the way through the cleanup. It wasn't supposed to be a very big event, maybe 10 other girls I knew, but the lessons learned and repeated stayed with me forever.

Mother's advice were the following:

"Remember you can invite everyone you know, but you might not be able to serve them all. So invite only as many as you can serve."

"Think about who gets along with who when making your invite list. Also try to think about who might become new friends if they meet."

"There are no dishes that everyone likes, so come up with a few options to let people find what they like best."

"And lastly, think of the girls you didn't invite. Make sure you have something nice for them later so they don't feel that you don't like them. That way they'll still be your friends after the party."