fandomhigh | Advanced Sneakiness [Tuesday, July 27]

"Master Skywalker is indisposed," Anemone stated as the students arrived in the Danger Shop. "Which happens with alarming frequency, if you’re someone who’s paid to be sneaky. Get used to your contacts being unavailable when you want them. If they were convenient people, they wouldn’t be in this line of work."

Elena nodded. "If they were easy to find, they’d be targets. A dead contact is worthless. Live contacts, on the other hand, are useful for all kinds of things. Seeking out intel, selling you necessary equipment, playing lookout, even teaching class when you’re not going to be available."

"Sometimes, contacts even have candy!" A beat. "Of the delicious news-or-shiny-thing sort, I mean. Not that my handler ever bribed me with cakes or candy."

Anemone, for the record, was a hideously bad liar on this subject.

"So today, we’re going to talk about contacts. How to meet them, who to recruit, and how to keep them on your side, and not defect to go work for someone else."

Elena had a stab of jealousy. No one had ever bribed her with candy. But she shook it off easily enough.

"Anyone you encounter can be a contact, if cultivated properly," Elena added. "It’s not as scary or as formal as it sounds. If someone owes you a favor, that’s a great place to start. If someone’s in a position where exchanging information is mutually beneficial? Even better."

"And if you can discreetly put them in a position where they owe you a Really Big Favor? That’s best of all." Smiling like that was probably not helpful, Anemone. "You also want to recruit people in various parts of cities, from different walks of life. For instance, despite the fact that I’m not from this Earth or this time, I would be an excellent contact, because I’ve spent three years working with the Fandom library and have access to Special Collections. And it likes me. Well, as much as it likes anyone."

This reminded Elena. After class, she and Anemone should swap info. "I’m good with guns, and cities," she said, "which means I want contacts who can fill in my weak spots. An expert in knives, one who knows the countryside really well, and so forth. So today, we’re going to discuss what value each of us might have, as a contact to someone else, and what areas we might seek out contacts in."

"So start making your lists, and checking them twice," Anemone chirped. "Because today, the contact fairy wants to see if you’ve been a good child or a bad one."

[OOC: Class up early due to Fry-mergency! OCD is up up and awaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With a ~~contact~~ friiiiiend.

Leia Organa

Yamanaka Ino

Charles Gunn

James of Krondor

Kyle Reese

Jason Todd

Parker

Rebakah Cooper

Edited 2010-07-27 17:29 (UTC)

Katniss Everdeen

Dru Anderson

Kitty Pryde

Just because chatting to your neighbors could count as making contacts, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

Leia was wondering if she should be worried about just what this "indisposed" meant.

She wasn't so much concerned about the teacher--Ino assumed that Master Skywalker would be fine, he was Master Skywalker--as she was with trying to decide what to give away.

James grinned; he kept thinking of the roster of Mockers, knowing who was a basher and who had other skills for a task.

This honestly wasn't any different then what Dru had done with her dad as they traveled from place to place dealing with Real World issues.

What areas of expertise do you have, that would make you a useful contact to someone? What areas would you seek out a contact in?

"I'm good at sabotage and infiltration," she said promptly, as if she hadn't spent time debating between skills to offer up. "And forests."

"I'd need someone who is good with advanced technology."

For Ino sucked at anything more complicated than surfing the internet and knew it.

"For battle, I am good with a sword"--even when it was not sentient and eating Jello--"and would like someone with a bow, or modern equivalent. I have spent some time in the wilds, but I am most comfortable in a city. Lot easier to hide."

He thought some more. "I would be most in need of someone who could handle the people." There was a reason he was Jimmy the Hand, not Jimmy the Con or Jimmy the Politician.

"I'm good at small acts of stealthy larceny," Jason said, trying to phrase I'm good at robbing people in a positive light. "And I'm getting to be better with technology, although I know I have a long way to go. I'd probably need someone who was good at more advanced acts of espionage. Or languages, 'cause I only know English."

"If you need someone with connections to the Imperial Senate," Leia said, "then that's me. My specialty would be politics. But my galaxy is a big place, and I'd want contacts on just about every civilized world to keep myself informed on what was going on around me."

Or, you know, farmboys and smugglers.

"I'm a thief," Parker said. As far as she was concerned that pretty much summed it up.

"I'm an archer," Katniss offered. "I'm good in forests, where I can climb a tree -- and possibly set up camp in one. I'd need help with urban landscapes, I think."

"I can handle guns and knives," Dru said. "I've got a pretty good knowledge of supernatural threats and I know a bunch of ways to defend against them."

Write down the people that you know already that could count as contacts, and what situations they would be useful in.

Look! They’re not even hiding! Isn’t that kind of them?

Filling in for an absent

sith_happened, who has a power outage. We’re not entirely sure if this falls under the proper scope of the class topic but hey, look, it’s a class!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm so terribly sorry of not being around yesterday; today being Independence's Day in Peru means this week is going to be crazier than usual.

Apologies apologies apologies.

Advanced Sneakiness [Tuesday, July 27]

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During the Lecture

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