ext_31317 ([identity profile] tricksy-spy.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2007-07-25 11:41 am
Entry tags:

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!

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] sixstandingby.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Gavin Darklighter

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Eve Levine

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] saltandammo.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Dean Winchester

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Notes and Chit Chat

[identity profile] sixstandingby.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Gavin was back to doodling. The doodles were improving.

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] socksofcool.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Seely Booth

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Notes and Chit Chat

[identity profile] blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Eve was scribbling in her notebook, making a list of people she could possibly use as disguises. People in the class were on the list but not being counted for purposes of the assignment.

It was a disturbingly long list even without those names.

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] notqueenyet.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Aravis Tarkheena

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Put together a Disguise

[identity profile] socksofcool.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
The first thing Seely did was start looking for socks. Plain, boring, ugly socks.

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Put together a Disguise

[identity profile] sixstandingby.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Gavin thought nothing could be worse than the last disguise he wore.

He was wrong.

This (http://www.buycostumes.com/Category/126/4294967191/20/Product/17133/ProductDetail.aspx) wasn't embarrassing at all. He was so not going with this one.

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] walks-two-paths.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Savannah Levine

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Notes and Chit Chat

[identity profile] walks-two-paths.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Savannah was making her own list. "You know... this class could be very dangerous to some people."

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Notes and Chit Chat

[identity profile] blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, no kidding." Eve grinned. "I was you last week, for the record."

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Put together a Disguise

[identity profile] blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Eve was rummaging through a box, just seeing what was in there. She was thinking Paige or Elena as disguises, though Paige was more likely to work.

Except this was harder than she'd thought. She needed to grab Savannah. Savannah knew Paige better than she did.

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Notes and Chit Chat

[identity profile] notqueenyet.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Aravis was thoroughly unimpressed by the obvious necessity of Aly lecturing on trying not to stand out. That was one of the basic concepts of a disguise, honestly. As though she had found it particularly easy to hide in beggar's clothes last year, being as she was.

She doodled in the margins of her notes during the lecture, taking down information she hadn't surmised from experience. If those doodles occasionally looked like intertwined initials, they were so quickly doodled into something else that it might have been hard to tell they were ever anything before that.

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] thebluespirit.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Zuko

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
S.T. Anders

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Show the Disguises Off

[identity profile] thebluespirit.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Zuko managed to find clothes that looked close to the fashion currently popular in the Earth Kingdom. He wasn't going to show off however.

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Sign In

[identity profile] misshargrove.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Annette Hargrove

Re: [Spying 7/25] - Notes and Chit Chat

[identity profile] misshargrove.livejournal.com 2007-07-25 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Annette was drawing stick figures. With hair and long earrings.

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