Editing Make polite conversation with (a railway passenger)

{{Action
| Icon = confidentsmile.png
| From Storylet title = The Prussian Salon
| ID = 243805
| Unlocked with = {{Unlock|Time Remaining at Helicon House|2}}
| Description = Evidently the Railway Charter is bringing in the Right Sort of Person after all.
| BroadQuality = {{IL|Persuasive}}
| BroadDiff = 275
| ModifiedQuality = Renown: Bohemians
| ModifiedAmount = 3
| Wiki Note = The title of this option changes depending on the {{IL|Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway}}.
{{Variant table |Condition = Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway |Effect = Railway Passenger |Condition alias = Charter
|Value 1 = 1 (Wealth) |Effect 1 = a lady in midnight blue velvet
|Value 2 = 2 (Charity) |Effect 2 = a somewhat ragged-looking labourer
|Value 3 = 3 (Scientific Knowledge) |Effect 3 = a scholar in Benthic robes
|Value 4 = 4 (Worker Ownership) |Effect 4 = a burly woman with square fingernails
|Value 5 = 5 (Expansion of the Church) |Effect 5 = a newly-minted vicar
|Value 10 = 10 (Infernal Alliance) |Effect 10 =  a Devil in luxuriant sideburns}}
| Success title = A coalition of the like-minded
| Success summary = The success description has one paragraph that varies by Charter, and another that varies with your choice of {{IL|Helicon House Companion}}.
{{Variant table|Condition = Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway|Condition alias = Charter|Effect = Description
|Value 1 = 1 |Effect 1 = The lady has just purchased a townhouse in the neighbourhood [...] not so that she can live here! [...] But still, you know, the houses around here are becoming more and more dear, and more and more respectable, and she is certain of being able to rent, soon. [...]
|Value 2 = 2 |Effect 2 = The labourer [...] has developed views on the topic of how art portrays the working classes. He even gets out a paintbrush and starts painting over part of a Rubbery Man portrait [...] the Clay Doorman turns up to discourage further defacement exercises.
|Value 3 = 3 |Effect 3 = [...] "It is my belief that the entire building was not built, but is organic. The grand staircase will have taken the longest to grow, and it must've been done well out at Zee, [...] provided with more nutrients, the house would grow and eventually moult..."
|Value 4 = 4 |Effect 4 = The woman is a Tracklayer [...] "Wouldn't think it to look at me now, but I was kidnapped by the Clay Highwayman when I was young, and he nearly left off his ways in order to marry me. But I said to him, you can't compete with the Union in my affections[...]
|Value 5 = 5 |Effect 5 = The vicar, it proves, is trying to convert a few Rubberies to the Church. "Nothing very muscular, [...] wouldn't be able to test them on their creed anyhow [...] But it will make them more comfortable if they know they are welcome to join us in services..."
|Value 10 = 10 |Effect 10 = "I consider myself a sort of artist," says the Devil. The two of you are [...] viewing a portrait series. "But you won't see me trying to show souls in this neighbourhood. Bit unfriendly here still, for all they talk about welcoming everyone."}}
{{Variant table |Condition = Helicon House Companion |Condition alias = Companion |Effect = Additional description
|Value 1 = {{IL|Starry-Eyed Scoundrel}}<br/>{{IL|Stormy-Eyed Scoundrel}}
|Effect 1 = The Scoundrel, you are nearly sure, uses the distraction provided to pick the pockets of your conversation partner. Good chance he won't even share the take with you afterwards.
|Value 3 = {{IL|Master Jewel Thief}}<br />{{IL|Celebrated Artist's Model}}<br />{{IL|Joyful Charter Clerk}}<br />{{IL|Joyful Illuminator}}<br />{{IL|Soothing Palaeontologist}}<br />{{IL|Espoused to|Appearance = Player Spouse}}<br />{{IL|The Roguish Semiotician}}<br />{{IL|The Infamous Mathematician}}
|Effect 3 = With experience born of long practice, your spouse picks up every beat of conversation that you don't want – any moments when you are bored or distracted by something on the far side of the room.
|Value 5 = {{IL|The Admiralty Lackey}}
|Effect 5 = You have to cover most of your companion's part in the conversation as well. He nods afterwards, in apology or thanks.
|Value 41 = {{IL|Flexible Intelligencer}}<br />{{IL|Blooming Wallflower}}
|Effect 41 = Your spouse allows you to do all the talking in conversation, while he avidly watches the room. Later, he will be able to tell you exactly what your interlocutors were thinking.
|Value 90 = {{IL|A Bewildering Procession of Companions, Lovers, Suitors, and Paramours}}
|Effect 90 = Your companions are expert in keeping the conversation flowing whether or not you contribute – though space is always made, if you do wish to speak.
|Value 91 = {{IL|Philosophically Perfect Partnership}}
|Effect 91 = Your spouses cheerfully complicate every statement and equivocate every argument, injecting much-needed chaos and ambiguity into the conversation.
|Value 100 = {{IL|Your Spouse, Returned}}<br />{{IL|Your Lover, Returned}}
|Effect 100 = You have to cover most of your companion's part in the conversation as well. They squeeze your hand afterwards, in apology or thanks.
|Value 120 = {{IL|Your Brother, Returned}}
|Effect 120 = You have to cover most of your brother's part in the conversation as well. He gives you a sad grin, afterwards.
|Value 130 = {{IL|Your Daughter, Returned}}
|Effect 130 = You have to cover most of your daughter's part in the conversation as well, but this goes unremarked. Perhaps the company here assumes she is too shy or too proper for the company.
|Value 210 = {{IL|Esoteric Accomplice}}<br />{{IL|Fabulous Accomplice}}<br />{{IL|Platonic Partner in Crime}}
|Effect 210 = Your Accomplice does not steal all the attention, but that is by choice. She can always compel her conversationalist when she wants to.
|Value 260 = {{IL|Genre Painter}}
|Effect 260 = The Genre Painter prefers to listen and observe, sometimes interjecting a ''bon mot'' when one hits him. But every so often he has a good story to tell, all the more enthralling for its rarity.
|Value 300 = {{IL|Noman}}
|Effect 300 = Your Noman does not speak.}}
}}
*{{Success Increase|Persuasive}}
*{{Loss|Time Remaining at Helicon House|1 x}}
*{{Gain|Fitting in at Helicon House|1 x}}
{{Failure
|Failure title = A less than ideal situation
|Failure summary = The description varies by Charter.
{{Variant table|Condition = Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway |Condition alias = Charter |Effect = Description
|Value 1 = 1 |Effect 1 = The lady has recently been crossed in love, and lacks the personality for discretion. You are pressed into service as her confidante. You come away with your ears ringing and […] too much information on how an assignation on a Zee steamer can go wrong.
|Value 2 = 2 |Effect 2 = The labourer bends your ear for half an hour about the size, shape, direction, and paint thickness needed in a portrait of a working individual. "And no underpainting," he insists. "Underpainting is for folk that have ancestors."
|Value 3 = 3 |Effect 3 = [...] "I wish I were Rubbery myself," he tells you sadly, [...] "And imagine: if you were that squishy, you could never get trapped in a crowded building. You could always ooze out, couldn't you?" [...]
At this point, your companion's rudeness is noticed [...]
|Value 4 = 4 |Effect 4 = The woman has been a Tracklayer for a long time. Her interest in art is of a more recent vintage, and she keeps coming back to the same theme. "Think we could commission a painting of Furnace? It would look very well in the Tracklayers' Offices."
|Value 5 = 5 |Effect 5 = The vicar is trying to translate the Book of Common Prayer into Rubbery Speech, [...] he means to keep trying. Which means, apparently, that you must hear every detail of the scheme.
|Value 10 = 10 |Effect 10 = [...] There may not be very many other Devils around, but there are plenty of Bohemians who still have their souls about them, usually in only a slightly rumpled condition. The Devil can't be expected to pay attention to you for very long while these [...]}}
}}
*{{Failure Increase|Persuasive}}
*{{Loss|Time Remaining at Helicon House|1 x}}
*{{Failure Increase|Scandal|+2 CP}}