Be less direct

You have trouble looking away from the group of four, but can you actually snare one? A single bartender knocked you on your ass, so four friends supporting each other could be difficult or even dangerous.

You sigh and look around the room. There's a reasonably attractive woman sitting nearby and looking at her book a bit too studiously. Maybe you can practice on her until you get a better shot at Team Bikini.

You walk over and greet her. She's got slightly unusual features that give her a sort of exotic charm, as if she's mixed-race with an ethnicity you don't usually see around here. It's not your favorite look, but it's not bad. Average chest, tight but unremarkable t-shirt, simple straight dark hair, probably around 22 years old.

"Hey there, I think you might need a distraction from those kids." No pain. The woman doesn't look happy to see you, but after a short annoyed glare she does gesture for you to sit down.

You make small talk with her for several minutes. Very small talk. She doesn't seem to notice your extremely frequent use of "I think" and she doesn't comment on how often you glance toward the other table, possibly because she's a bit withdrawn.

You rapidly improve with your "Headache-Man" powers, or at least you feel like you do. You start to appreciate orders like "consider the possibility" or "think about what would happen if." It's really a bit scary how easy it is to subtly redirect a person's thought process, even compared to simple orders.

The situation changes suddenly, before the girls have finished their food:

• Sarah stands to greet a boy who appears to be her boyfriend. Can you take advantage of her unspoken relationship problems?
• Emma steps out to take a phone call, which makes her seem like an easy target.
• The two remaining girls take the chance to eat in peace, but they also steal a few glances at you. Did all that sex talk get them thinking about men?
• You tell your conversation partner, "I think you should just read your book for a minute." It seemed like a good way to distract her--isn't that all she wanted to do in the first place?--but you still get a moderate stab of pain. For the first time, you start thinking of her as more than just a distraction. What's going on with this weirdo?