fandomhigh | Spy Games, Class 3, Monday period 5

When the class filed in, they didn't find Sarah waiting for them, but a rather familiar looking priest.

"Hello class," he greeted them. "Your teacher couldn't be here today so she asked me to fill in for her. I'm Father Winchester.

"Our sermon today is on disguises. Yeah, sure you can get a lot of information by the breaking and entering route, but sometimes you're going to have to interact with people. Sometimes you're going to want to blend in, get them to not notice you. Other times you're going to want to get them to trust you, tell you things they might not ordinarily do so. Disguises are an important tool in both situations.

"Say you need to check some medical records -- you're going to have a lot better chance of getting to them without incident if you dress like you belong, some scrubs or a white coat and suddenly youre an orderly or a doctor and no one's looking at you twice or questioning why you're roaming the halls or going into that office.

"Or say someone's died and you think there's something hinky about it. The family's in mourning, they're not going to want to talk to just any Joe Blow about the details." Dean put on his most pious expression. "But a priest paying a courtesy call to pay his respects and offer his condolences, now that's someone they'll feel comfortable talking about the gory details to."

Dean grinned at them. "Every situation is going to be different, but with a little ingenuity you can come up with a disguise to fit. Need to get into a place and have some uninterrupted time there? How about posing as exterminators that are spraying for something that requires an empty house? All you need is to think outside the box."

He gestured to a set of racks full of all sorts of clothing and boxes of accessories. "Over there is a broad selection of things you can use to create a disguise. What I want you to do is to not only put together a disguise but come up with a senario where that particular disguise would be useful. Extra points given for originality."

[ooc: ~~wait for~~ ocd's up! Have at it]

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"You have a point there," Katchoo agreed, and half glanced at the cards again even though she wasn't really looking at what they said. "It's the attitude that'll sell you more'n anything, right? The most accurate disguise in the world won't do you &*#@-all good if you look like a lost tourist in it, anyway."

"Exactly," she said, nodding. "The rest is window dressing. You know, in books and stuff, how the real leader is always just known without any of the fuss and bother? That's kinda true for real life too. If you act like you belong, and don't look out of place, people are going to assume you belong."

She flipped a pen in one hand. "I mean, a high end party, those are going to have guest lists--you can't just walk into one, so there'd be prep time, and a history, and you'd need people to back up that history. Claiming to be Princess Serenity Moonflower from the Top of the World ain't going to do you a lick of good if people happen to know that there's no Princess Serenity living in the Top of the World, right? So that's a different thing entirely from a quick substitution of, like, well, being a cashier--no one but the other cashiers notice you, and if you can get the manager on your side, or if it's a really small place and there's only one other cashier and you get them, or hell, even just get the stupid uniform and look helpless while going 'oh, I'm new, um help?' you'll be under the radar in no time flat."

Ino was many many things, but ignorant about spying wasn't one of those.

"Seems like this class is like kindergarten for you," Katchoo noted with a slight quirk of her lips. Part of her wanted to respond in detail, back that up with everything she'd learned from Darcy and company, but that would be a bad idea, even if Sarah wasn't around this week. "I mean, you sure as hell know what you're doing."

"Infiltration and sabotage are my family's specialties," she said, with a shrug. "The technology stuff is new, but this--" Ino waved one hand "--isn't. Admittedly, we've got easier ways to change our hair colour and basic looks, but the underpinnings of how to do it are pretty much the same anywhere, right?"

Katchoo's slight smile was a touch sardonic. "Sure seems like, yeah. No matter what kind of weird-ass world you're in, people are always gonna notice the people who don't fit in. Although posing as the crazy person everybody avoids might have something going for it . . ."

Ino hummed. "Depends on what you're pretending for. Being the crazy old lady who people avoid would take work and time--if it's just an in and out thing, you don't want to have to spend weeks and even months building a character. You'd be better off, in my world, as a travelling priest, or even a run-away looking for work."

Katchoo nodded briefly. She'd been thinking DUCk, after all. "Definitely. That's more of a long-term operation kind of thing." Another moment to pretend to consult the notes. "Useful if you want to get to know every back alley hiding place and underground operation in a neighborhood, not so much if you're only there for a day or a few hours."

Her lips quirked as she studied Katina.

"Kids are better than adults for the in and out stuff," she commented, "adults rarely pay attention to kids enough to notice who is in and out--playing around. They're practically invisible. If you're an adult, and pulling undercover, travelling is the best way 'cause then you're allowed to ask silly questions about the area and skirt by. Better still if you've an agent in place beforehand to act as your 'cousin' and show you around town. That gives your travelling a more realistic taste."

Katchoo really wanted to agree, or say something about how infiltrating establishments in her modern Earth's corporate culture had the added aspect of transferring people in and out of international offices, and building up a network of agents within those corporate structures.

"How the hell I got this TA gig instead of you is beyond me, y'know," she said instead. It might be a touch too late for a deflection.

"Because I didn't volunteer," she said, shrugging idly as she scribbled a note out on a bit of paper before folding it into neat little squares. "It'd feel weird, being someone else's minion."

Ino was attached to Tyler-sensei, okay?

With a flick of her wrist the note landed over on Katina's desk. You'd do better at lying if you were actually interested in your notes. Cute though, lying in Spy Class.

Katchoo was about to reply when the note hit her desk. She skimmed it quickly and tensed, hoping like hell her face hadn't turned pale as she folded it back up again and crammed it into her pocket.

The look she shot Ino was part vehement, part bothered, and carried a strong connotation of Keep that to yourself, will ya?

Ino gave her an angelic smile. Okay, it was smug too. Ino couldn't help it; she'd been right.

She shrugged. "'Course, I think it's crazy to expect people to TA in a Spying class--what sort of spy volunteers that they're good at it?"

It was an innocent question! Really! Okay, not really, but it sounded like one.

"And that's why they get suckers like me to do it instead," Katchoo said, keeping her voice and expression tightly controlled.

Maybe a touch too controlled.

She grinned at her. "Precisely. Don't you feel loved?"

Ino hadn't had a nasty shock, and thus was a lot more cheerful.

"I'm drowning in the warm fuzzy feeling," Katchoo muttered. "Oh, yeah."

She stuck her tongue out at Katina.

"Rejoice," she ordered, "as hello, I'm not stupid either."

And class was a really dumb time to pester for questions.

Katchoo waved both hands vaguely in the air for all of a quarter second. "Woo."

There, see? Rejoicing.

Spy Games, Class 3, Monday period 5

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