fandomhigh | Tricks, Cons and Bamboozles | Tuesday

This time when the Tricks, Cons and Bamboozles students arrived to class, the room was set up without any desks at all. Instead, there was an area set up at the front of the room to be a sort of stage, with the rest of the chairs all facing that direction.

“Today,” Neal said, “we’re going to talk about motivation and incentive. Often, when you’re working on a heist or a project, you’ll need to work with people to get what you want. In a lot of situations, the best way to get someone on your side is to give them what they want. Incentive.”

It also happened ot be one of the things he was best at. It so happened that providing incentive was easier when it was coming from someone with, well, Neal’s face, but he was hardly going to point that out.

“Feeling out the things that motivate people takes skill,” he conceded. “It won’t always be crazy cat ladies who’ll melt for a glimpse of your PETA membership card. So today, we’re going to do a little improv exercise.”

He held up a clipboard he’d been using to write notes, waving it in the class’ direction. “When I call you up in pairs of two, I’ll give you your scenario. One of you will have an assignment – like convincing a bouncer to let you into a bar when you’re too young. It’s your job to motivate the person you’re talking to so that he or she is inclined to help. You’ll have five minutes to get what you want.”

NOT DIRTY.

Then he surveyed the clipboard and began calling out the names of pairs.

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Neal stifled a grin as he faked a wince. "Mmm, I don't know," he said, keeping an eye on his desk chair. "I have a lot of things to get done..."

SORRY, MARSHALL. This kind of behavior had been routinely infuriating a certain FBI agent for the past year, if it helped.

"... What kind of things?" Marshall asked. "Paperwork of some kind? I might have something that could help both of us, then."

Ooh. That was impressive. If he'd been watching this like he'd watched the other partners go, this would be the part where he actually wrote a useful note on his clipboard rather than doodling keys all over the place.

"Oh?" he inquired, tilting his head just slightly. "Do tell."

Marshall flushed -- mostly from stress and nerves, but, hey, it worked for embarrassment, right? "I, uh. So it's my anniversary today, with my girlfriend Corrine? Six months? And I had chocolates for her, but my roommate ate them. So I was hoping you could distract her for a little while so I can go out and get her something else.

"She's really good at paperwork! Really organised. And I know she'd help if you asked her, because she's really looking for more extra credit and stuff, with university applications coming up."

"Hmm." Neal pretended to consider it. "Well, I'm pretty good at that sort of thing myself. And I dunno, man, do you really want to tell your girlfriend to go work for the guy who helped you get her a gift? Kind of sends a bad message."

"It would still go faster with help," Marshall pointed out, "even if it took you a little time to explain to her what you needed her to do at first. You'd more than make up any time lost teaching her. And I don't think there's anything bad about the message that gets sent if you tell her that you heard she was looking for a little something extra to do to help out a teacher."

"Interesting approach," he said thoughtfully. "Now, how's her handwriting?" He kept his face neutral, careful not to indicate whether he was close to being persuaded or not.

Marshall tried to think of a good word to describe Corrine's handwriting. "... Precise? I think that's the best word for it. Really clear, easy to read. She prides herself on her note-taking."

Neal nodded approvingly. "Hmm. Well..." He left a nice long pause for effect. "I guess she couldn't hurt."
Ba-da-bing!

"How long will you need my help?"

"Hmm. An hour? I just need time to run into town and pick up a replacement gift without her knowing about it."

Neal pretended to glance around conspiratorily, then nodded. "You've got yourself a deal."

Congratulations, Marshall. Although if you were about five years older, he would totally be doing this to get a chance to hang out with a pretty girl.

"Great! Thanks, Mr. Caffrey!" Marshall grinned, and only barely managed to keep from throwing his arms up in celebration.

Tricks, Cons and Bamboozles | Tuesday | Period 4

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