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

Find a method for fitting into the groups on the screen. Blending doesn't have to mean that you look just like the person to you left and right, but that you're trying to keep a low profile...

(TAs totally participate if you want!)

Michael eyed the pictures, trying to think.

"For the first one", he muttered to himself, "get a uniform and be in the middle of the crowd. Second one, be a kid's entertainer."

"I would think," he said carefully, "that you'd want to make sure your hair is right. The clothing is hodgepodge even if it all looks approximately the same, so you could put that together as well as you could and no one would question it. But the hair is, while not uniform, it shares a certain amount of similarity."

He shrugged, as if to point out that he could very well be wrong.

"As for the second, it's simple enough: pick up a tray of food and start helping out. Laugh and smile and make jokes and compliment the birthday girl. Pretend to be one of the girl's relations. No one questions assistance."

He looked down.

"Or so I'd think."

Jen, who felt that gray wasn't her color and was thus the slightest bit frowny, glanced down at her shiny white uniform and muttered, "Well, for starters, I'd have to ditch this outfit . . ."

Gwen studied the photos. "Being Japanese would be a good start for the first one," she said. "And male."

Romeo flashed a quick smile at the girl from his cabin. "And for the second, being a child of six would help."

Gwen smiled back. "And if you're none of those things, you'd need to find a reason to be there that wouldn't attract much notice, that'd fade into the background."

He nodded slightly. "The party would be the easier one," he said. "Follow a child in and hang out in the kitchen looking bored and put out, and everyone would assume you were a relative."

Wes frowns at the first picture and somewhat absently pats at his hair protectively.

"For the first one," he says thoughtfully. "It's not a candid shot, the people there are very aware of the camera and are posing purposefully, which means that the people involved in *taking* the picture are just as much a part of the gathering as the people in the picture. So maybe... take up a position as a cameraman's assistant?"

"For the second one, dress up as a clown or other sort of children's entertainment, like a character from a popular TV show?"

Jen? Totally not watching Wes be all surprisingly intelligent and kind of sighing.

Really.

. . . see why she's taking this class?

Wes? Totally not glancing over at Jen to see what she thought about what he'd come up with.

Except yeah, he totally is.

"Extra points if you can figure out a way to work a grass skirt into that," Jen teases to cover up the embarrassing moment of omgsquee, "but nice."

"Which scenario?" Wes asks with a grin.

"The first one," Jen replies.

"What, you don't think hula dancing would be considered popular children's entertainment?" Wes teases.

"Depends on who's doing the hula dancing," Jen retorts.

"Grabbing some photography equipment sounds like a good plan for the first one, yeah," Harry agreed.

"Dye my hair for the first one," Yurika answered, studying the image. "Kimono hasn't changed much, so I could use something I already own. I'd just have to keep my mouth shut, because my accent would totally give me away."

"With number two, ano, I could pretend to be a nanny or caterer. There's always a ton of those at a party, and no one pays them any mind."

Inara considered both pictures. "For the first one, it would be necessary to cut my hair and obtain the proper clothes, then bind myself appropriately, so I wouldn't look quite as female. For the second, perhaps acting as a child's caregiver, or as a caterer's assistant?"

Jack thought for a while. It was hard. "I don't think I'd fit in. Hair's not right, for one. Maybe as the photographer?"

He studied the second. "I'm too old to fit in!"

Blending In - Week 2

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