The blonde girl stared at Ben, speechless for several moments. Then she giggled. "Are you serious?"
"Dead-ass…It's my spirit animal. A psychic told me if I could commune better with it, my destiny would cover the Earth. Her suggestion was to seek a legendary artist." Beluga gave Ben a tip once. He said girls love talking about fantasy elements like destiny, horoscopes, spirit animals, and vampires. So Ben was trying to incorporate it.
Ben's motivational speaking was so good that the girl believed he was serious. "Oh…and how do you know I'm a legendary artist?"
He captured her attention.
[Target's current attraction level: curious]
Ben said, "Your spirit animal…a telltale sign."
Her eyes flashed with interest. "And what animal is that?"
He put on a face of reverence, as if speaking of a great and noble creature. "Disco frog."
The girl wasn't sure if she should laugh or curse. With a lopsided grin, she asked, "Really? A frog?"
Ben nodded. "Don't belittle the legendary might of the disco frog. It has tremendous creative power…and cute dancing."
*Pfft* Now she couldn't help but break out into laughter. 'I can't tell if he's kidding or if he's crazy…Still, he came up to me so respectfully, and no one's ever called me a legendary artist before…'
It's hard to reject someone that compliments you. Ben learned this in his studies on influencing people in motivational speaking. The caveat with girls is that you can't compliment their beauty! It has to be something else.
There are a few reasons for this. First, too many guys compliment their beauty. It's tacky. Second, every woman wants to believe there's more to her than her looks. If you compliment something unusual, it will make her feel you're appreciating her personality.
Third, and most important, Ben's looks were too sh*t!
He hit on cuties. So almost every woman he spoke to was better looking than him. If he mentioned her looks, the first thing she would think about was his looks, or his lack of looks!
That would be foolish. A basic rule of life is to emphasize your strengths and avoid your weaknesses. That kind of direct opener complimenting looks only works if you have better looks or higher overall value than the woman. It would be better to focus on something else. Legendary artist? Why not?
Seeing Ben stayed in a sincere pose, the girl went with it for now. "Ok. I'll draw your spirit animal. I've never seen a real dragon before though. I'm not sure if I could draw it properly..."
"Of course you haven't. That would be ridiculous. Everyone knows dragons are endangered."
She blinked many times. 'Endangered?'
"We'll do it this way. Show me some of your drawings and I'll point out the appropriate style." Ben sat down next to her and looked at her sketchbook, expecting her to begin the slideshow.
The girl was a little uncomfortable that Ben got so close to her, but something about his assertive nature made her follow his lead. She showed her sketches.
This was another concept Ben learned from motivational speaking. It related to influencing people in sales, a move called, "Assuming the sale." Here's how it worked. If you framed a request as a statement and not a question, declared it with confident body language, and acted like you expected the person to do it, then most of the time, they would go with the flow. This is the case even if they had slight reservations. That's what happened with this girl.
The two began looking at her sketches, talking, and laughing. Once in a while, Ben would stop her, mixing in compliments about her art, as well as teasing. "Wait, you don't have any strange nude sketches of strangers, do you? That must be why you're out here, undressing people with your eyes..." Ben nodded in understanding.
"No! I make normal sketches!" The girl laughed. A few more of these and she was slapping his arm in a playful manner. She acted upset, but was in truth charmed, shortening their emotional distance with each cute response.
[Target's current attraction level: interested]
After a while, Ben's instincts told him it was time to make a move. So he said the Feng Shui of the area wasn't right, and they should relocate to a cafe...He said this with a straight face like a pro.
Gripped by Ben's charm, the girl agreed. Insta-date secured.
The spot they were sitting in wasn't bad, but Ben preferred moving because it would assert his control. That would later help him guide the conversation and build proper comfort, which is what he needed to focus on now. The comfort level lagged behind attraction. It didn't change at all throughout that entire conversation.
[Target's current comfort level: stranger]
As they walked to Starbucks, Ben changed the subject from the dragon sketches to other things. They talked about why she was drawing there in the park and he gained more information about her. Her name was Annabelle and she was an art student.
As for the whole matter of the spirit animal, legendary artist, and the disco frog, it was ancient history. She brought it up once and Ben responded with, "Are you still on that? That's old news. Let's focus on the future."
Spirit animal? What the hell was that anyway? Ben was trying to meet beauties!
Earlier, Beluga and Antonio showed delighted smiles when they observed Ben sitting and chatting with Annabelle. The baby bird had flown his coop! The patient mentors watched on in pride.
That patience lasted about 2 minutes before it was overwhelmed by primal degeneracy!
They also wanted to get their beaks wet! The two of them were already doing their own approaches.
As Ben walked into the Starbucks, he even saw Beluga entering with a woman not far behind him. They were using the Starbucks like an office!
While chatting with Annabelle, Ben ordered his coffee, but he didn't have to say what he wanted anymore. He'd been there so many times in a brief span that the staff knew it by heart already. The only thing they didn't know, which was on all of their minds, was why did McDonald's characters keep bringing different women in there every 10 minutes?
Some employees took photos and spread them on social media. Memes emerged.
"Gigolo Grimace."
"The McDonald's crew needs love too."
"Hamburglar 2.0: from burglar to s.e.x.u.a.l predator."
The McDonald's stock dropped that day for no apparent reason.