Welcome to Gaia! ::

Did he really manage to pull a false one on Osumilite? Amethyst smiled to himself when it dawned upon him that that was indeed the case. "That was the truth. I am the Chief Resident in the hospital General." The Captain revealed though he chose to refrain from mentioning which of the things he brought up was a lie lest he accidentally embarrassed himself in front of all the other officers who were present.

Opening the box that the General had handed to him, he looked with interest at the pinecone that was practically dripping with sap in it. Looks like he was in luck. He could certainly put a sales pitch in for this using his medical background after all. "Did you know that many scientific studies have demonstrated the medicinal benefits of pine essential oil?" He began by looking at everyone present to ensure that he had their full attention.

"It can relieve aches and pain, remove fatigue, improve your mood and grant you mental clarity. All with just one little drop of this pristine liquid." He held up the pinecone now, pausing to let them digest all that before resuming. "Think about it, have you ever found yourself so sick to the point that you were unable to even drag yourself to the doctor and had to suffer a few days in bed? What if I tell you that this can prevent that and even provide immeasurable relief from your symptoms?"

Replacing the pinecone in the box, he closed it before concluding his little speech. "What do you have to lose from giving this organic remedy a shot? Isn't a clean bill of health more valuable than any commodity that money can buy you in this world?" And with that, he sat himself down, hoping that that all actually sounded half as convincing as he tried to make it out to be.

"Well, she did go on to being a screamo chick. So," he winked at the other before putting a finger to one of his snake bites. Rutile slowly reached up and scratched his eye as he explained before the next lesson went on.

Rutile grabbed a box at random and felt the weight of it. Interesting. Opening the box he stared down at the bag of white powder and then blinked and paused. "Can uh, we keep what's in the box?" He asked half joking. He kind of wanted to keep it. Old habits died hard and what not. But he got screeched at.

It took a minute for Rutile to decipher what the heck was asked of him and then he gave the other a completely flat look. "Are you kidding? Why are you asking me?" Rutile did look down at the other's prize and then snorted. "Game based on that alien movie that's probably older than you, E.T.." More importantly, back to his box. There was cocaine in this box. Interesting.

Green eyes glanced up at Osumilite and snorted. God, he was probably really rusty at this.

"Hey. You know how being a General or simply in the Negaverse is stressful as s**t and you get way exhausted or depressed from losin' ta little girls sometimes? Well, let me tell you about this s**t." He picked up the bag. "This s**t here'll make you feel like ********' Superman. You'll feel better about yourself, about people around you. You turn into a really great guy ta be around. See.. Just a lil' bit of this and you'll be drownin' in sleepin' partners."

Yeah, he was rusty, but God if he didn't want some.

They were all older than he was, it seemed. Probably all much more experienced as well, but that didn’t change the fact that he was there at General Cinnabar’s behest. ”You should go and tell me what this Osu guy is like and if his class is stupid or actually helpful,” she’d said to him prior to signing up. ”I keep picturing Buddingtonite, only in blue. And any class by him would be ******** hilarious.”

Hilarious or not was still yet to be seen. As it were, there was some overly eager Lieutenant named ******** who seemed to enjoy using profanity, a corrupted senshi who seemed determined but not too confident, another Captain like himself, this one a doctor, another corrupted Senshi who seemed to be more interested in drinking than being there, and another Lieutenant… who was apparently Buddingtonite and Azurite's replacement for him. Finally, another Lieutenant, a photographer, and then one more corrupted senshi who seemed more interested in flirting than… whatever it was they were doing there.

Once it was his turn, Jet stood as instructed and turned towards the General. “My name is Jet. I don’t have many accomplishments and I don’t expect to reach your level of greatness. I’m young and inexperienced, but I want to learn. It was my own decision to join the Negaverse, and I will do whatever is necessary.” He knew his weaknesses already, but he was there on Cinnabar’s suggestion, and he would do his best not to disappoint her.

As for two truths and a lie… that was more tricky. Finally he settled with something: “I was recently emancipated from the State, my older brother was Captain Lignite, and I’m considered a piano prodigy.” He knew he was taking a risk, but it was worth the gamble. Not many people knew him, and he definitely didn’t know the people there. If anyone could guess his lie, it would be Aquamarine or Seraphinite, but neither of them were there, thankfully.

Finally, the box was given to him, and he looked up at Osumilite with a curious look. Sell it to him? He looked down inside his box. Some crappy coloring book… and some kid already drew on it. Others were already trying hard to sell their item. Making up lies about how important those items were. He watched them all curiously for a few moments.

Carefully, Jet closed up the box and held it in his lap when he sat down, his arms crossed over the box so the others couldn’t see inside. “Sorry, this isn’t for sale.”

(re-rolling due to having already been rolled)

((Two truth and a lie rolls for the newcomers!))

General Osumilite watched with amusement as his class opened their boxes. When one questioned what his gift was - clearly an Atari 2600 to the thirty-four year old's eyes - he simply shrugged unhelpfully. It wasn't his role to explain it, and as far as he was concerned, knowing exactly what it is was irrelevant to making it be desirable.

The first student to speak, Super Sailor Warhol seemed to understand that idea well, selling an expired container of pudding as skin cream instead. "Your creativity is strong, Warhol, and I enjoy your approach. You took something unmarketable, and changed the game instead. But why do I want to smell like chocolate? But overall, well done."

Next was Lieutenant Witherite, starting off with a confident introduction that pleased the General. The two truths and a lie, however, seemed apparent to him. The first statement was too absurd, the second statement seemed believable, and the third statement seemed too bland in comparison. Surely, the first two seemed the most fake, but in this war, they seemed no less probable than the last. "You grew up in Destiny City, didn't you?"

The Lieutenant had a strong approach to his sales pitch of a Betamax player. "A nice attempt at some reverse psychology," he started. "You've certainly convinced me of it having some value, but some subtlety surrounding your approach may have worked even more in your favor."

Captain Amethyst was third, selling a sappy pinecone. "Are you suggesting that I, what, lick the sappy pinecone for health benefits?" he questioned. "Your sales pitch is good, but it requires a closure. You've sold me on the benefits of pine sap, but not on the pinecone. If you're going to go on the health approach, remember that people preferred their medicine cleanly packaged and sterile. Nonetheless, more good work."

Super Sailor Amphirite started with her introduction - and a strong introduction at that. Although he found it uncomfortably sexually charged coming from a girl who seemed she may be half his age, it was something he'd expect to work with far more success on someone more age appropriate. And, beyond her introduction, she paid kudos to his own work. "A nice introduction and networking right off the bat," he started. "I approve."

As for her truths and a lie, he took a guess, "Are really you eighteen? Not seventeen, not nineteen?" Age was always an easy thing to lie about by fibbing a year or two, but he had a feeling that she wasn't really Warhol's sister, either. But he had little doubt about her making out in an alleyway story.

Then her sales pitch: a pair of sunglasses with one lens missing. "As for your sale pitch, while you've promoted the value of your sunglasses, a strong closure is required. Are the sunglasses for sale, or of too much value to yourself already?"

Lieutenant Rutile rose next with a bag of cocaine. "It's a bag of cocaine," he started. "It practically sells itself, but good work on promoting it anyways. Now, please, bring it over to me for safe keeping." He couldn't just let his students hold onto a bag of cocaine; that wold be irresponsible. Besides, it's expensive.

Lieutenant Pyrophanite returned to his pitch for the Atari 2600. "Don't cop out at the end with saying that's all you've got. The closure is an important part of the sell. In order to convince me to buy it, you need to convince me of your confidence in the product. You don't need to know what it is. You just need to be confident in interpretation and in your sale."

Captain Jet started with an introduction that lacked confidence. "You don't need to be so honest when introducing yourself; not if it means selling yourself short. If you don't have many accomplishments, identify one and promote that."

"Was your brother really Captain Lignite?" he questioned. It was the odd fact out of the three, the only one slightly more connected to the Negaverse than his personal life.

He cocked a brow at the sales pitch: simply not for sale. "Well, okay then," General Osumilite shrugged. "You've hooked my interest in knowing what the object is, but you won't be able to reel me into a sale with just that. People want what they can't have, but only if they're made to believe what they can't have is worth having in the first place. But what is in the box?"

Super Sailor Typhon was last. The General was far too annoyed with the Corrupt Senshi at this point to give him much mind to the sale of the fuzzy handcuffs. "You made an attempt to appeal to the needs of your customers," he started. "The emotional gain of submissiveness and dominance, but in your close, you're supposed to be selling handcuffs. Not yourself."

He leaned back in his seat once more.

"For the fourth lesson," he started. "First state your greatest weakness, and be honest - but don't oversell it; just state it. Next, I want you to spin your weakness into a positive trait. Are you cocky, or are you just confident? Are you rude, or are you just honest? Beyond that, I want you to be confident and convincing. Take all the notes I have given thus far. I want to be convinced that you really believe that your supposed greatest weakness is really a strength."

"Begin."

Jet nodded to show that he was listening, but he didn’t mind selling himself short. Others may be working to show how confident and important they were, but if they were to underestimate him… well, he would just use that to his advantage.

He nodded again when asked about his brother. “Killed by Sailor Penthesilea a little over a year ago. It was that night that I decided to join the Negaverse,” he explained and then hesitated for a moment before confessing, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t follow the rules.” Would this look bad on him? Probably. And while he did care, he was also trying to learn more about the General in order to report back to General Cinnabar.

“I lied by telling you three truths, knowing that you would expect one to be a lie. I wanted to know what was the most difficult to believe so I can use that to my advantage in the future,” he tried to explain, although ready to face any punishment that may be in store for him. It intrigued him that his brother being in the Negaverse was less believable than him being a prodigy or emancipated.

As for the box in his lap, he nodded once more, making a note to himself that these lessons were short and he would only have once chance to respond. If given some more time to sell the object, he was sure he could use their curiosity to make the sale.

“My greatest weakness is my youth,” he stated almost timidly, knowing that he definitely looked like a young teenager, and possibly acted like it, too. But like the senshi and knights he visited that week they were kept in captivity saw, his eyes darkened and his lips curled into a small sneer. “People look at me and see a sixteen-year-old kid who can’t possibly know what he’s doing. But that also means I’m more versatile, more resilient... and more dangerous.”

He snorted softly at Lieutenant Rutile’s response, shaking his head at him. “You kiss senshi? Gross… Are you sure you’re not a sympathizer, trying to get them to join instead of just killing them? Have you had any success? In getting them to join our side, I mean.”

Warhol smiled nervously at Osumilite's praise; she didn't have anything to say about smelling like chocolate, seeing as it'd been a spur-of-the-moment improvisation. She wasn't sure she'd want to smell like chocolate, either, but it'd been the only satisfactory option her mind had provided.

"I'm actually really shy," she admitted timidly, taking a deep breath and looking down. "I, um...I don't really like people focusing on me...but, um...I suppose I'm good at not being noticed, after all these years. If I don't want people to notice me, they usually don't, although that works a lot better if I'm powered down." Her feet kicked uselessly against the stool's legs, knocking in rhythm. But Pyrophanite's cursing drew her attention, and she frowned. "We're not tools. Don't call us that. And it's not like you two are the youngest people here...I'm fifteen."