So, between PCs, this can lead to someone being hit with the stick:

if they refuse, it’s acting under fire [the stick]

Does that mean they need to act under fire to refuse? If, say, we consider Keeler's crush on Bran - had she used the stick rather than the carrot, would Bran's player have had to roll to successfully spurn Keeler's advances? I'm not fond of this interpretation, since it can force a PC to act in ways the player doesn't want if they fluff a Cool roll.

Or does it represent a level of distraction, making other things harder? But that's tricky, because what if there's nothing going on where that can be an issue?

How do people interpret this one?