fandomhigh | Look Like You Belong: Week 5, Period 3

"Afternoon, everyone," Aly said, smiling once all the students were present. "You all did a good job last week blending into the tavern. If anyone was wondering, that's a tavern from my world. The Dancing Dove was the Court of the King of Thieves for a long time. And Rispah was the Queen of the Ladies."

"Today we're going to look at what you can do if you have a little bit more time to prepare." She pointed towards the board where two lists had already been written.

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.

"These are the guidelines I use when I'm teaching how to go undercover in a spying situation. What I want you to do today is plan a disguise and a background for blending in in oh, say, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro to be exact. Work with a partner if you like, and make sure you consider not only what you'll wear, but also your backstory and how you're going to keep it consistent. There are ~~moddable~~ materials on Brazil throughout the room, feel free to use those as well as this handout for research."

[OOC: OCD is ~~a comin'~~ up!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"The opposite," he admitted. 'That is, I tend to stand out when I don't want to. Have you?"

"I-It was covered at the A-Academy," she admitted. "But m-my team doesn't go o-on missions l-like this often."

Edited 2008-06-10 14:30 (UTC)

"But at least you've learned of it before," Romeo said, practically. "What did they have you do first, at the academy?"

"W-We'd always start, in e-exercises like t-this was p-plan the back story b-before the disguise because if you d-did the back story r-right then the disguise should c-come naturally from it."

"And Aly said to keep that close to ourselves," he nodded. "So -- students, in Rio for a holiday? I speak Portuguese nbot at all, so that's of no help,."

"And I've n-never even heard of the l-language before today," she admitted. "So p-perhaps we s-should find a phrase b-book and p-pretend that we are e-exchange students with the i-intentions of l-learning the language?"

"And that would explan if we should ask many questions, or seem awkward," Romeo nodded. "Were just terribly interested in their culture, and not familiar with their norms."

"A-And if we s-seem overly interested in listening to a-any conversation it'll b-be easily e-explained as us s-simply trying to get a f-feel for the way the w-words are said."

He grinned. "Even if your team didn't do this, you're rather good at it. And, of course, you look innocent."

She blushed. "I-It's different in a c-class exercise," Hinata tried to explain. "B-But we're too obvious b-back home just because of w-who we are."

Look Like You Belong: Week 5, Period 3

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