Through a Glass Darkly: Spies and Spying; 3rd Period

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Aly was thumbing through what quite possibly looked like last year's yearbook when the class started to file in.  She looked up at them with a grin and watched as they all found a seat.  At each desk was a copy of the syllabus.

Rising to her feet, she nodded in welcome.  "Good morning, all.  Hopefully your weekend treated you well?  You should each find a syllabus at your desk.  Please go ahead and review it now then let me know if you have any questions."   She hopped up on her desk to sit, facing the class, while they looked it over and  answered any questions that arose.

"Now that that's out of the way, and we all know what we'll be doing  in here for the next 11 weeks," she said with a mischievious grin. "Let's get started."

She went to the whiteboard and quickly wrote down ten points.

1. No matter where you are, act like you belong.
2. Behave purposefully.  Especially if you have no purpose.
3. Blend in.  Become a "gray man."
4. Develop assessment skills by practicing even in circumstances in which you are merely a bystander.
5. Learn to trust your instincts to make decisions.  Right or wrong at first, they will get better.
6. Never second-guess your decisions at the time.  Do analyze them later.
7. Be aware that you may be overlooking things in your surroundings, especially if they are familiar to you.
8. Accept the fact that some level of deception is a necessary part of the job.
9. Don't be embarrassed to be suspicious of other people's intentions.
10.  Improve your memory.

She looked from the points to the students for a minute to try to gauge their reactions.  Still stroking her black beads, she sat back on her desk.  "Those are the ten basic rules (they're more like guidelines to steal someone's schtick) to thinking like a spy.  The eleventh should really be 'do whatever works then run with it and remember that there are no such things as rules,' but ten is such a nice, round number to start off with."

"What do these 'rules' really mean?  How should they be applied?  That, my friends, is the topic of the classroom discussion for today.  Ask questions, hash out what they mean, either with each other or ask me."

"The tenth point, however, is one I brought up last week and something we'll keep hitting - hopefully not literally - over the semester.  Spies don't generally get to carry around little notepads and make notes whenever they need to remember something.  And keeping written codes or directions on your person is a very good way to get caught.  So.  Your memory is the most important tool."  She grinned.  "It can do something so small as remember that Molly over there was wearing a light green shirt last week.  Or that Bridge wears a uniform every day."  She glanced over at Bridge with a chuckle.  "Which might not particularly help blending in, you know."

She stood up, stretching slightly.  "One of the main ways to train your memory is to just using it more.  So this week, I want you to work on remembering this list of words - in order, mind you.  I find that silly associations work best for me using a technique called 'chaining.'  You link each item to the next through images that incorporate both.  So if I'm trying to remember banana, violin, coffee, I'll remember a banana playing a violin, then a violin drinking coffee.  It's silly, but odd associations tend to stick in your mind longer."

On the board, she wrote

notebook
peas
pirate ship
computer
panda bear
lantern
frame
queen
flour
ring
cell phone
coffee beans
rug
llama
tree
piano
dress
glasses
acorn
sword
cat
castle

"Very well then, try to practice the guidelines I set out and come back next week prepared to tell what you did and how they worked.  Also memorise that list and let me know if it was too easy, too hard, whichever.  Oh!  And the TA's for the class are Eric Weiss and Bridge Carson so they should  be able to help you out if I'm not around for some reason."

[OOC: *blinks at omglong" If you haven't seen my OOC post here, please go take a look at it.  Also, the ten rules were taken with gratitude from the Handbook of Practical Spying by Jack Barth.  I'll be around all day and please wait for the OCD threads. OCD is Up!]

Comments

SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Ask Aly questions or discuss them amongst yourselves. How do you think they should be applied? Do they seem effective? What exactly does each mean?

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge raises his hand.

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Bridge?" Aly nodded to him to ask his question.

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I think at this point, at least to people in Fandom, I might look more conspicuous if I *wasn't* wearing my uniform." Bridge says. "They're used to seeing me dress one way, and were that to suddenly change, it would probably stick out as unusual."

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[can_be_more]

Looking at the rules, Aeryn's pretty sure she has most of these down. However.

"About not second-guessing your decisions at the time," she says. "What do you do if something goes wrong and you have to change the plan?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Not dilly-dally in deciding how to change it," Aly said. "It's part of the 'trusting your instincts.' If they tell you something needs to be changed? Do it. But don't take a long time about it. Then later you can decide if it was the right or wrong thing to do." She looked at Aeryn. "Does that seem right to you?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[can_be_more]

"Completely," she says, and she's a little relieved at that answer. "Thank you."

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[socksofcool.livejournal.com]

Seely frowned in thought as he looked over the points. "So rules one and two mean act like you have a right and reason to be there and people will think you do?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," she replied with a nod. "The last thing you want to do is attract attention." She grinned. "Think of the most smug person you know and act like him."

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[socksofcool.livejournal.com]

"Right," Seely nodded. "Act like the werepony, and I'll be set."

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders raised his hand. "So does number seven mean that we should keep on our toes even more in situations we're used to than we should in unfamiliar ones? Just because we're taking it for granted that we think we know our way around, or what's going on?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Aly nodded. "Dead on. People tend to let their guard down when they feel comfortable. It's a natural habit, so you need to be even more aware to compensate. Does that sound sensible?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders scrawled down "There is no such thing as home court advantage" in his notes. "Yeah, that makes sense. But there's ways to take advantage of being familiar with situations too, right?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[http://users.livejournal.com/weissguy_/]

Weiss raised his hand.

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Weiss?" Aly asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[http://users.livejournal.com/weissguy_/]

"Seems like rule #1 is a little strict, which, given not-rule #11, makes sense. Sometimes doesn't it work to act like you don't belong or you don't know what you're doing? Like if you need to get information from a friendly local or something -- better to act like a clueless tourist."

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[greenmagebriar.livejournal.com]

Briar raised his hand.

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Briar?" Aly nodded.

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[greenmagebriar.livejournal.com]

"What do you mean by a 'gray man'?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[cat-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Schrodinger raised his hand, but didn't even bother to wait to be called on.

"What if we have certain physical features that make it difficult to blend in? And here I'm talking about my ears."

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Aly looked them over carefully. "Depends on the situation really. Have you tried to disguise them in the past?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

Sakurazaki listened to the others' questions quietly while she debated in her head whether or not to raise her hand.

At one point, she even slowly started to creep up, making it only about as high as her ponytail before, with a sigh, she dropped it down, folding it with the other on her desk, and turning her head to look out a window instead.

She already knew the answer to her question, after all. She's always known the answer. However many, Setsuna. How ever many it takes to bury, cover up, erradicate the one you really are.

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Aly came over to her as class was ending. "Did you have a question? Or a comment to add?"

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

The twins raise a hand in unison.

Re: SAS: Discussion of the "Rules" 9/12

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Yes?" Aly asked them, looking from one to the other.