fandomhigh | Cafe Fina, Monday Morning, Stealth and Deception Workshop #1

Current Location: cafe fina

Entry tags:

stealth

Cafe Fina, Monday Morning, Stealth and Deception Workshop #1

Alfred had sent out a ~~handwaved~~ e-mail that informed his students that their first class would be held in a private room at Cafe Fina.

When they arrived at the Cafe, they were led by Wadsworth to a back room where a long table with a delicious Cafe Fina breakfast spread lay. They were then informed that, due to unforeseen circumstances, Alfred would be a bit late this class.

Time goes by, and Alfred still does not show up. Fifteen minutes pass and the students, while enjoying their breakfasts, are possibly starting to wonder where the hell their teacher is.

Eventually, in one of the sudden silences that comes during meals, the students hear the scratching of a pen on paper.

Alfred stands up from his seat at the head of the table and flips closed his notebook. "For the curious, I've been here for quite some time now." He places the notebook down on the table, takes a sip of tea, and begins his lecture.

"Welcome to Stealth and Deception. Many of you already know me from coming to my restaurant, but for those that do not, my name is Alfred Pennyworth. In my younger and wilder days, I worked as an agent for British Intelligence before retiring to take up a position as family butler for the Wayne family of Gotham. Currenly, I'm on sabbatical and run a restaurant here in Fandom.

"Now, stealth and deception. As weapons, there are few in your armory more powerful than these simple tools. Sun Tzu himself could not state enough times the importance of knowing more about your enemy than he knew about you. With the proper application of stealth, you can win a thousand battles without ever having to resort to violence. Indeed, should you have to fire a shot or throw a punch or even dice someone to pieces with monofilament wires while using the techniques I intend to teach you, I'm afraid to say that you have failed."

"Unless, of course, your mission is an assassination," he added, giving Walter the slightest of nods.

"Now, many of you may be wondering how it was I escaped your notice for so long while you ate your breakfasts. The answer to this is the most basic tenants of stealth, and is the main lesson for today.

"The reason I escaped your notice today was that I had the proper mindset. Yes, mindset. By adopting a position of not wishing to be seen, by almost willing myself to become unimportant, unnoticeable; my body naturally follows suit, relaxing the muscles and becoming easier for the eye to pass over, easier for the brain to ignore." He smiled. "Generally this technique only works on people who aren't actively looking and who are in a generally relaxed state. Such as a bunch of students eating breakfast."

"Despite this, this mindset, along with one other, is essential to stealth. The other, is a state of paranoia. A belief that, at all times, someone is actively looking for you and you must take steps to insure that that person doesn't find you."

He smiled and refilled his cup of tea. "Well, that's enough of me lecturing you, which, if I remember my school days correctly, is always fairly boring. Why don't you all introduce yourselves. Tell us your names, a little about yourselves, and why you joined this class. Then, I want you to practice deception. Get up in pairs or groups of threes and play two truths and a lie. Tell your partner three statements, two of which are true, one of which is a lie. Your partner must guess which is the lie or face a penalty of your choosing."

He gave them a very serious glare. "And please, keep the penalties to the mildly uncomfortable or mildly embarrassing. I would not enjoy having to rescue you from angering one of the local monsters."

_{[[Wait for the OCD! OCD up!]]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A ha. By appearing to be unsure, he can more easily trick his opponent by "accidentally" playing badly.

Or something.

"Ladies first!"

Sakurazaki draws in a deep, slightly timid breath. Now, where had her confidence gone? Thinking up statements to try to trick Jude would much more difficult...or at the least, different, than thinking of ones to try to trick Pippi. Much more difficult with Jude because she considered him to be one of few people that actually kind of knew her.

"Okay, let's see..." She takes a moment to consider. Seeing him there and playing the game definately had her feeling a little more whimsical than usual, almost enough to make her forget that Pippi had her dance. "Okay! Got it. In addition to my wings, I've also got a tail to keep hidden but is never seen because it's far less practical than the wings. I've fought with a woman in a monkey suit before. Annnnnd..." Shoulders shrugging, smile creeping up on her face with significant blushing; she only half intends to actually say this next one "...I've got this really cute boyfriend..."

Biting her lip, she winces a little, but grins like mad. She just couldn't help it.

That made Jude straighten, even if he grinned, teasing. "Hey, bra, don't make it too easy for me," he said as solemnly as he could. "It's gotta be the last one."

"Hey, you're pretty good at this!" Sakurazaki teased back, also as solemnly as she could, which only lasted for about a second before she's reduced to a chuckle.

"Actually, no. It's the first one. No tail here, thank God."

"Oh!" Her smile turns playfully evil. "Now I get to think of a penalty."

Jude pulled a face. "Aw, man, I totally thought I was right." Besides, if she did have a tail . . . he had no idea how he had missed it in that sundress.

He leaned back a bit, pretending worry. "Uh oh."

"Now, let's see," Sakurazaki taps her chin thoughtfully. "What would be a good penalty?"

Of course, she knew exactly what sort of penalty she wanted to give, but...but they were in the middle of class! Absolutely and completely inappropriate in every way, shape, and form. Beside, they have been told to keep them mildly uncomfortable or embarrassing. While she was pretty certain Jude'd be pretty unfaltered by it, she knew for a fact that it bridge way past "mildly" for her. But, whenever she tried to think of something else, it was futile. It just kept coming back to one thing.

"How about...." She draws it out as she thinks quick, quick! come up with something good! Say the first thing that comes to your mind that isn't a kiss! "...a kiss."

Oof. Fail.

He should have been expecting it. Really. But somehow, he hadn't. He was all ready for a chicken dance or a Sesame Park impression. That was her penalty?

Okay, so they were in the middle of class . . . which was mildly embarrassing . . . but he did have to pay. So he moved over, leaned in, and gave her the required kiss.

On the one hand, Sakurazaki is a flurry of blushes and bashfulness as she leaned in to recieve the kiss, unsure which was stronger, her feeling of utter embarrasment of stealing a kiss during class or her stark disbelief that she's actually had him do it.

On the other? Grinning like an idiot and feeling some sort of reveling satisfaction in the whole thing. Because, yeah...that was pretty cool.. It gave her some sort of rush of excitement, or of accomplishment. Hey, manipulating the game to be stealthy about stealing kisses during class was only applying the idea of the class, right?

She ducks her head for a moment to hide a pulling swell of embarrasment matched with a barely-there giggle. She peeks up at Jude, chewing her lip a bit. "Your turn."

"My turn. Right." Jude was in danger of forgetting what they were playing. As it was, it took him a moment or two to remember the lines he had carefully thought up. Finally he did.

"Uh, okay. One. I tried to replace the monetary system in the mall with a barter system based on kebabs. Two. Once, I totally made my little brother climb a tree to get our Frisbee back and he fell and broke his arm. Three. I recited spoken word poetry at a coffeehouse."

Turning quickly back to seriousness and consideration, Sakurazaki's eyes narrow analyically as she studies his face for signs of suggestion as she thinks. What did she know about Jude that would help her piece this together? She knew he had an affinity for kabobs because he had made those on their first date. And reciting poetry at a coffeehouse? Seemed very much like a mellow sort of activity he might indulge in. Meanwhile, she had difficulty imagining Jude really making anyone do anything, and then the factor of him never mentioning siblings.

"I'm going to guess number two," she concludes, with a slight grin. "Do you even have a little brother?"

"Aw, man, you got it." Jude didn't look too upset by the fact that he lost, though. He chuckled. "Nah, I don't have a little brother. Don't have any siblings at all, actually."

And he had so been looking forward to making her pay another penalty.

Sakurazaki allows a grin of accomplishment slip past as she straightens her shoulders with pride. Her deductive reasoning was so on par.

"Wanna try another round?" she smiles. Hey, the game was fun and she was feeling pretty damn confident for a change. A kiss and a victory could definately be the sort of encouragement she could get used to.

"Sure!" Setsuna's evident pleasure was enough to make Jude perk up himself. Not that something like this would be enough to harsh his mellow.

Jude had a feeling he'd be good at the whole thinking yourself into invisibilty thing.

Oh, wait. The problem with going for another round was that she'd have to think of some new statements before she could get to hear more of his. That was slightly problematic. She was certainly far more used to keeping secrets than actually telling them. Just...focus on the simple, the fun. Don't try to get deep or anything, because that would just ruin everything.

"Okay. My grades back at Mahora were in just on the cusp of the top one hundred for my class, I know a few special excorcism techniques on my nodachi for 'side jobs,' and I own a pair of costume cat ears."

Jude slumped back. Harsh . . . this was hard. He was pretty sure it was the cat ears thing. Pretty sure. But not . . . entirely so. He didn't know how her grades were, but she seemed pretty smart. Must stop using 'pretty'. Mmmm, pretty Setsuna . . .

Focus, dude, focus!

"Uh . . . cat ears?" he guessed.

Sakurazaki grins, rather pleased with his answer. Not because it was wrong, of course! Because it meant he didn't think she'd be one to have catgirls. After the whole thing with Pippi and the bunnysuit, it relieved her greatly. So, of course, that was the only reason she was glad he guessed incorrectly...yup. Only reason.

"Nope," she reveals. "My grades back home are near abysmal because of all my training."

She pauses as a blush floods back over her. "You know, I don't remember any rule that the penalties have to be different..."

And swiftly scolded herself for being so bold. But still...she didn't actually feel too remorseful at all.

Jude scratched the back of his head, sheepish. "Aww, bra, I guess I totally suck at this . . . Don't really know you at all, eh?"

And then the rest of it clicked.

"Oh! Oh, penalty. Okay." He grinned. "Not a problem at all." Leaning in once more.

There's a quiet, almost unhearable cough.

"Everything alright? No trouble with the rules or anything?"

Ack! Just as she was leaning in to claim her victory, too! And as if the embarrasment of the moment weren't enough, there was the whole fact that she'd just been snuck up on during a class that was supposed to be her specialty.

There was an instant flail and immediate blushes, settling into a very nervous chuckling and a hands firmly clasped behind her back in some sort of suggestion of innate innocence. "Hehe, no, no, everything's quite alright, sensei, we were just, uhhhhh....we were just finishing up a second round...of, uhh, the excersize. Practise makes perfect, you know, and all that..."

"Um, I have been winning, though." She branishes a toothy grin in some sort of desperate attempt to redeem herself. If her ancestors weren't horrible bloody demons, she'd be deeply concerned for their respect at the moment.

Alfred nodded. "I'm glad to hear it. Extra practice is good for you. Carry on."

"Uh, thank you, sir!"

Jude's eyes were wide. The guy was scarier than Ron. And Ron had harshed many a mid-makeout mellow.

"Maaaaaan . . ."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cafe Fina, Monday Morning, Stealth and Deception Workshop #1

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies

Re: Truth and Lies