Off The Grid: Laying Low for Beginners, Tuesday, Period Two

[uncertain_dume]

This week, they were back in the classroom, Kanan looking only slightly disappointed by that fact. Practical experience was all the better to learn by, in his opinion, but it only went so far if people didn't have a chance to actually do the exercise. So! Lecture class it was!

He crossed his arms over his chest as he stood at the front of the room.

"So," he said, looking at the students gathered, "this week we'll be talking about tells. Little things that give you away as you to whoever might be keeping an eye open. It could be a facial feature, could be a nervous habit you don't even realize you have. Scars, clothing, the timbre of your voice..."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Some of those things, you'll be able to hide or change. Some of them, you obviously can't. You can't turn a Togruta into a Chiss without some pretty impressive holo-technology, or whatever illusion-creating equivalent there might be where you're from. If there's not an equivalent, then you need to get creative. Ahsoka used a cloak during last week's exercise to hide her identity completely in order to slip out of the cantina unnoticed. There's one good way of doing it, just so long as the cloak is something that people aren't going to pick out as odd."

Or the Jedi robes. Great for huddling under in the cold and the rain. Little bit of a dead giveaway.

"It's worth thinking on those tells that you can't change, and seeing if there is a way you can hide them if you need to. This week, though, we'll be focusing on those tells that you can. Those little things you might not realize are there. Habits, mostly, like a quick dart of the eyes toward an exit when you're worried you might be about to be found, or reaching for an item that you carry on you that you find to be a comfort. Hell, back in my smuggling days," had he mentioned he used to have smuggling days? Oh well, "a friend of mine pointed out that I had a habit of running my hands through my hair when I was nervous. I found a way to fix that."

By pulling his hair back into a ponytail. Simple fix, but it worked. It meant his hand kind of detoured to stroke at his beard now, but the beard obscured his face a bit, distracted from some of his more prominent features, so it had been a trade-off.

"Some of you are new enough that the people here might not have picked out your habitual tells yet," he continued. "But odds are they aren't the ones you're trying to avoid, either. Take a few moments to talk among yourselves if you're comfortable doing so about any tells that you might have noticed in one another, or, if you're comfortable sharing with the class and want some advice, feel free. Otherwise... just keep this lecture in mind. Spend the next week trying to pick out little habits you do when you're nervous, or angry, or relieved. Ask yourself why you're doing something when you find yourself reacting to your surroundings, and think about whether that's something you might want to figure out how to mask. It could save your life someday."

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

Sign In!

[uncertain_dume]

With your tell!

Re: Sign In!

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante

Re: Sign In!

[giveherahand]

Mara Jade

Re: Sign In!

[snipsnspecks]

Ahsoka Tano

Lecture!

[uncertain_dume]

You might not like it. You might not even know what to do about it. But at least take it under consideration.

Or just contemplate the fact that your teacher used to be a smuggler. He was okay with you guys knowing about that part of his history.

Discuss!

[uncertain_dume]

If you feel comfortable, talk about your tells or one another's among yourselves or with the room as a whole and try to come up with solutions.

If you don't feel comfortable, just sit there and ruminate on the things that give you away as you.

Re: Discuss!

[rebelseekspizza]

There was a reason Dante's coat came with a hood - he had the hair (his choice) and the scar over his eyes (some nun's choice, once upon a time) to deal with. He wasn't terribly good at subtlety generally, though, so he didn't make much use of it. He dressed to stand out half the time.

So this time around, he didn't speak up. He kicked back in his seat, slouched, and eyed the rest of the class.

It wasn't because he wasn't comfortable, all right? ... Mostly.

Re: Discuss!

[giveherahand]

"My hair is pretty distinctive, even on a planet of billions," Mara offered.

Re: Discuss!

[uncertain_dume]

"The red does stand out," Kanan agreed, thoughtfully. "Have you ever given any thought to changing it? Would you be willing to, if you were in danger somehow?"

Re: Discuss!

[snipsnspecks]

Well, Ahsoka certainly wasn't going to discuss reaching for a lightsaber (which she hadn't been able to shake even before it'd been a danger) with the mini-Imperial in the room.

"Maybe not a Chiss, but you'd be surprised how many people can't tell the difference between my people and Twi'leks." she said instead.

RE: Re: Discuss!

[uncertain_dume]

"Not a bad start," Kanan replied, amused. "I suppose that's what happens when society decides that one set of lekku is the same as any other. Would you try to find a way to cover the montrals, or just rely on ignorance to get you by?"

For what is was worth, Ahsoka, reaching for a lightsaber that wasn't there instead of his blaster had gotten him caught, once. Kanan hadn't made that mistake again.

Re: Discuss!

[boneyard_girl]

Ada just leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest and tilting her head like she was thinking about it.

It just so happened that that position hid the scars around her wrists, and helped her hair fall to better hide the scales at the back of her neck. Between the glitter and how she styled her hair, they generally weren't visible unless you were looking for them, but she knew all the ways to make them even less noticeable.

"'M body-glitter habit, I guess," she said off-hand, like it was a fashion choice she made for fun. "'M rather sparkly."

She'd just have to switch from tank-tops to turtlenecks to hide the rest of her scales without it.

RE: Re: Discuss!

[uncertain_dume]

"Hey, any habit that makes you happy," Kanan mused. "Just so long as it doesn't get you into trouble. It's not a bad tell to be aware of, anyway. And ditching the glitter shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

... Hey, it wasn't like Kanan knew any better.

Re: Discuss!

[vrajna_kralis]

"I have a D'Angeline accent and 'tis obvious that Cruithne is not my first language," Hyacinthe said, choosing those traits that set him apart here, as opposed to back home. "I could hide those by keeping my mouth shut, I suppose, but where is the fun in that?"

Re: Discuss!

[uncertain_dume]

"True enough," Kanan chuckled. "And if you refuse to talk at all, it might become clear that you're hiding something anyway. What about working on your accent and honing your language skills? Or learning another language and pretending that that's what you're fluent in?"

Cruithne and D'Angeline meant basically nothing to Kanan, who spoke Basic and heard a Ryloth Twi'leki accent whenever Hyacinthe spoke, but he figured the same idea would probably apply.

After all, he didn't sound Coruscanti in the least.

Re: Discuss!

[cracksmostly]

She might have one more thing to worry about when she got her vallaslin, but until then, she -- well.

Merrill supposed her clothes gave her away as a Dalish elf, at least for anyone from Thedas, but that wouldn't matter here, or anywhere unfamiliar with the distinction between the city elves and the Dalish. Her ears, though -- that would be a dead giveaway. The only thing she could do was cover them, and that didn't really sit well with her. Dalish pride was stubborn.

Re: Discuss!

[omgnochecksyet]

"My accent, I suppose," Eric mused. "Not at home, obviously, but I think it does somewhat stand out here." Fandom was full of all sorts of odd accents, including those of people who certainly sounded like they came from places he recognized, but turned out to be different planets or realities altogether. Still, he'd yet to meet anyone else who sounded as if they came from the Deep South.

He could have just left it at that, he supposed. But there was definitely another trait that he had that was kind of distinctive. One that he was hoping to eliminate, or at least mitigate, by taking classes like this one. "I also, ah. Have a habit of flinching. When things come at me too fast. Or people."

Re: Discuss!

[uncertain_dume]

"Well, an accent can be changed," Kanan offered with a shrug. "If you're worried about it, it can't hurt to work on your impressions while nobody's around. And flinching?"

He smiled faintly.

"That's a natural reaction," he noted. "We're hard-wired to do it in response to something our minds perceive as a threat. Our arms go up to protect our soft vital parts, we squint and pull our heads away to protect our eyes. Flinching itself isn't a bad thing." He held up a hand as he continued, "But it sounds to me that you're less concerned about the reaction, and more concerned about what sets it off."

Talk to Kanan!

[uncertain_dume]

He's here, arms over his chest, in case anybody wants someone to bounce tells off of without calling attention to them in front of the entire class.

Talk to the TA!

[uncertain_dume]

When she tags in!

Re: Talk to the TA!

[boneyard_girl]

Ada was totally there, if anyone needed her. And she was the epitome of discretion.

OOC!

[uncertain_dume]

Finally finished watching the first season of Clone Wars.

Hooked.

Halp.

Re: OOC!

[endsthegame]

MWAHAHAHAHAHHA.

Re: OOC!

[uncertain_dume]

I AM SHAKING A FIST AT YOU. SHAKING IT HIGH AND MIGHTILY INTO THE AIR.

Re: OOC!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

ALL YOUR FAULT.

Yes, I watched, too.