fandomhigh | Blending In

Aly didn't try any shenanigans with her class this time just waited for them to arrive at the front of the class. "Afternoon, everyone," she said with a grin. "Welcome to class two. Aka the class where we start to do stuff."

She pointed to the board which had seven rules written across it.

1. No matter where you are, act like you belong.
2. Behave purposefully. Especially if you have no purpose.
3. Blend in. Become a "gray man."
4. Develop assessment skills by practicing even in circumstances in which you are merely a bystander.
5. Learn to trust your instincts to make decisions. Right or wrong at first, they will get better.
6. Never second-guess your decisions at the time. Do analyze them later.
7. Improve your memory.

"Those of you who've took my classes on spying will hopefully recognise those. If you don't, well, pay more attention next time. For the rest of you, these are several of the main rules I use for spying, and they're just as usual for trying to blend in. The connection should be obvious," she teased, "so I won't try to explain it."

"For today then, I want you to read the rules and ask any questions you have about them. How they're applicable, when they're applicable, what they mean, anything at all."

"And then-" she flipped on a projector and two pictures were set side by side on the screen. "The goal is to fit in. Talk it over with your neighbour, use the rules we just discussed, and come up with a way to go unremarked upon at these two gatherings."

[OOC: OCD is a coming!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

About the rules or anything really.

"Isn't it better sometimes to look like you don't have a purpose?" Michael asked. "Not in those pictures, but sometimes."

She tilted her head. "Keep talking," she invited. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"Say you're watching somebody or waiting for something, you don't want to look like you are. If someone just hanging round doing nothing wouldn't stand out, like in a city, that'd be good cover, wouldn't it?"

"What is a 'gray man'?"

"Someone who doesn't stand out," she explained. "Someone who fades into the background."

"Ahh."

And he nodded to that, considering the idea of such a thing.

"H-how do you behave purposefully w-without a purpose?" Hinata asked, tilting her head.

"Pretend," Aly said immediately. "Make up a purpose if you need to."

She looked thoughtful. "T-that would involve a l-lot of improvisation," Hinata said, "a-and confidence in y-yourself to pull it off."

Romeo considered things, then raised a hand. "What can you do if you're in a place where your face is known?"

She considered him for a moment. "Makeup. Just enough to 'look like that one guy' but with completely different body language."

"Different clothes, too, I would think," Romeo supplied thoughtfully. "And so little makeup that I don't look like 'that one guy' who has gone transvestite."

He was already planning his next trip to Verona.

Aly chuckled. "Well-done makeup. Of a different type than a woman would wear. Well-done makeup will obscure your features without ever looking like you're actually wearing makeup. Different clothes will work as long as they're the type that encourage people's eyes to just keep moving."

"Thank you." Romeo nodded thoughtfully, still not sure what he would do with makeup.

At least this was all hypothetical for now.

"What if you have been trained to stand out and be memorable?" Inara asked, chewing on her lip. "How do you negate that?"

"Practice, a change of body language, less ornate clothes," Aly tossed off immediately. "It was difficult to learn how to stand out, wasn't it? It'll be difficult to negate the training as well, but you already know how to attract attention. If you start paying attention, figuring out just that one change in the way you carry your shoulders to divert attention will be simple."

"And the switch from one to the other? Isn't that jarring?"

Blending In - Week 2

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