fandomhigh | Seven Easy Steps to Being Able to Convince People You're a Spy : Week 3, Period 1

As the class gathered around the main campfire today, they may have noticed a large amount of boxes and racks of clothes and different props.

Aly was waiting for them to find seats around the campfire before starting. "Today, if the massive amounts of costumes and props didn't give it away, we're going to be talking about disguises. The whole point of a disguise is to be unnoticeable in the company that you're keeping. To blend in so that you don't occasion comments like 'I've never seen that person before' and 'I wonder who invited her.' It's not a matter of satisfying your ego by 'standing out' so everyone notices you. It's a matter of getting your job done without undue risk to yourself, any of your contacts or your employer."

"When you go undercover, you succeed only if you convince everyone around you that you're a different person. And you can only do that if every detail is consistent. Every single bit of information from the trash in your pockets to your glasses to your story has to match. If you're masquerading as a dissident student, you probably shouldn't be driving a fancy car or wearing expensive shoes. Be consistent. And blend in. The key isn't to be quirky and distinctive. The key is to be nondescript."

Aly handed everyone a sheet of paper with the following points on it to keep in mind when establishing a cover.

Develop your legend - your backstory. Keeping details close to your actual life - at least at first - can help you remember and sound truthful.
Decide on a current cover: name, job, purpose
Choose an appropriate look or disguise.
Gather pocket litter or other props to support the disguise. Each item needs to be appropriate to the persona.
Learn local customs, accents, slang.
Match your vocabulary/language to your character's education.

Five Tips for Maintaining Consistency

Use correct jargon for your assumed profession/role
Know how much travel and life experience your character has.
Avoid personal discussions about your pretend family.
Close questioning sessions quickly. Avoid the questions by giving the information before it's asked for and by giving enough information to shut down further questions.
If you think you're about to be exposed, get out of the one on one conversation. Invite someone to join the conversational group or suggest a coffee or trip. Anything to give you a chance to lower the pressure and get back into character.

Aly grinned. "I love disguises. They're one of my favourite things about spying. What you all need to do today is create one using the costumes, wigs, makeup, and props we have here. You can create it to go with the persona you made up last week or something completely different. Help each other put together a disguise, a cover, and the reason for the disguise then come show me. And I'd like to see these all be a step beyond a 'someone else in the class' this time. Disguise is one thing, successfully mimicking someone that people know well? Is a step far beyond that."

"So go ahead, work together to create a disguise and a cover story and then let me see what you come up with."

[OOC: OCD shall be coming up!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You are old, father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head--
Do you think, at your age, it is right?

"In my youth," father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And you have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door--
Pray what is the reason for that?"

Seven Easy Steps to Being Able to Convince People You're a Spy : Week 3, Period 1

OOC!

Re: OOC!

Re: OOC!