contention

"you know, I'm glad you stuck with this...I can see you enjoy this..."

"yeah, we were pretty skeptical in the beginning, but you've convinced us. It's good you were persistent..."

(n-2) obstacles cleared. good relations established. good topic chosen - both important and interesting. most important: the topic is mine, thus independence also (endogenously) arises.

so far, therefore, so good. now to make the good better!