The roof, Wednesday afternoon

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia carried her bag of tricks and such up to the roof to meet up with Tyler for his lesson in field-craft.

Her bag of tricks didn't consist of that much, really. When it came down to it, disguise and such was all about attitude.

[ooc: primarily for Tyler, but open]

Comments

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler climbed up to the roof dressed in a plan white shirt and jeans. Disguise could be about hiding in plain sight, hr reasoned. "Nadia. Hi."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia approved of the outfit. It made a good base to work with, if nothing else. "Hey, Tyler. Ready to get started?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Absolutely," Tyler said, a smile creeping across his face. "What's first?"

[nadiathesaint]

"Well, first I think I should ask you what you already know about disguise. Have you ever had to use one before?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler tilted his head. "Does dressing up as a waiter count?"

[nadiathesaint]

"Depends. Were you a waiter at the time?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Kind of," Tyler said, not wanting to get too deep into it. "I used to work banquets, nights. Sometimes the monkey suit came in handy for extracurricular purposes."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia nodded. "So it was a role you knew really well. You knew how a waiter was supposed to behave and where a waiter could go without making people suspicious."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Right," Tyler said. "And also, if you're in uniform, you're sort of invisible. People don't want to make eye contact."

[nadiathesaint]

"Exactly. That makes it a very good cover. Walter's position as a butler offers him that same advantage. But what about a place where a waiter would seem unusual? What do you think you'd do in that situation if you wanted to stay unrecognized or unnoticed?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Am I stuck in the waiter suit, or do I have regular clothes?," Tyler wanted to know.

[nadiathesaint]

"You have whatever clothes or supplies you think you need. We'll assume that you're planning in advance."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Then it depends what I'm trying to do," Tyler said. "If I'm trying to get into a Boy Scout convention, I'm going to try to look young and kind of innocent. If I need to get into a bar that's going to ask for ID, I want to be invisible. Maybe a suit, blazer, tie yanked lose, try to pass for someone with a real job."

[nadiathesaint]

"Do you think you would ever want to draw attention to yourself for a disguise?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Isn't the whole point of disguise sneakiness?" Tyler asked, scratching his jaw. "I'm not sure I get it."

[nadiathesaint]

"Disguise is about deflecting suspicion. Sometimes, the best way to get people to not suspect you of something is to make yourself as loud and noticeable as possible. Give them enough outlandish things to focus on, and they won't notice when you pass off a microdisk or that you're close enough to snag their ID card from their wallet."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"So in the example with the bar," Tyler said. "If I acted real drunk, real loud and overfriendly going in, maybe went to a biker bar dressed the way I am now -- it might be easier for me to snag whatever I needed, because everyone would think I was an idiot."

He nodded. "Pretty cool."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia grinned. "Exactly. You distract them with your ridiculous behavior, and you can pretty much do what you want, as long as that is subtle or hidden. When it comes down to it, it's your behavior more than your appearance that are going to work for you."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Okay," Tyler said, filing this away. "So I guess the question is, how do you decide which technique is right?"

[nadiathesaint]

"Well, before you go into any situation, you want to know as much as you can about what it is you're going into."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Okay," Tyler said. "And how do you get that information without being obvious?"

[nadiathesaint]

"Contacts, usually. Going in or sending someone in without any plans other than just checking the place out. Take your biker bar example. Odds are good that it might have a website you could check out for the real basics, then maybe you know someone who goes there. Or you or someone you know could go in like a regular patron, just to have a beer and while you're there, get a sense of the culture and where the exits are."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"It's always important to know the way out," Tyler agreed. "So -- what about costumes? I know I'll be devastated if I doon't get to dress up like a French maid at some point."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia giggled. "Well, if you have to wear a costume, the key is to wear a wig and glasses." She grinned. "Okay, not really. The key to a costume is to make sure you can carry it. You have to make it not look like a costume."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"So, no French maiid outfits, unless I wanna shave my legs," Tyler said in mock-dsappointment. "But that fits in with what you've been saying. It's about either not making people suspicious, or making them suspicious for the wrong reason."

[nadiathesaint]

"Exactly. The rest is really just details. But there are techniques and stuff I could show you, like different ways to change the way you walk, that sort of thing."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Show me," Tyler said. "I can do a limp."

He demonstrated a fake limp, which really wasn't that good.

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia nodded. "That's a good start. And just about anything can change the way you walk." Nadia demonstrated, walking across the roof the way she normally did, with a very confident step and a slight twitch of her hips. Then she walked back, dropping her hip and adding in a little slouch, making her look a lot more self-concious and a good inch shorter.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"You look like you should work in the library when you do that," Tyler said.

He tried for the same effect, switching between his normal, quick and slouchy walk and a stride that he almost-unconsciously thought of as his Tyler walk -- one that made him look like he owned half the world and had plans for the other half. "Good?"

[nadiathesaint]

"Very. See, those two walks convey very different meanings. And if you do ever have to be a French maid, you should learn to walk like a girl, too."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler cracked up. "Would anyone ever buy me as a girl?"

[nadiathesaint]

"If you do it right, sure."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Okaaay," Tyler said. "If they buy Charlie as Charlene..."

And attempted a female walk.

It was very burlesque.

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia watched with a half-smile. "Have you ever actually watched a woman walk? How she moves her hips carries herself?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"I have," Tyler said quietly.

Of course, since he was thinking of Marla and River, his next attempt at a female walk had a bit of little-girl to it, a bit of dance. "Better?"

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia nodded. "Not bad. Not quite french maid, but you've got the basic idea,"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"All I need is a wig, right?," Tyler said, but he felt pretty proud.

"So what else is important? And I know I'm asking you to put a whole year into one afternoon."

[nadiathesaint]

"The rest is mostly reflexes. Being aware of every part of your body and what it's doing, and keeping your cover in mind at all times. It's kind of like being a magician, I think. Misdirection is key. Keep them watching your right hand while your left hand is doing the really interesting stuff."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Or like acting," Tyler said. "I took a class, back in my old school, and the teacher was really big on that you had to believe what you were doing."

[nadiathesaint]

"Well, you don't have to. But they do. You just have to know every detail. Like you know all the details of your own life."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Actually, there were big chunks of his own life Tyler was kind of fuzzy on, but ... "So what's your personal favorite cover?"

[nadiathesaint]

"I did pretty well with the drunken party girl."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Huh," Tyler said. Yeah, he guessed he could see Nadia in that role. "So ... I don't know, do you want to give me a final assignment as a test or anything as practice?"

[nadiathesaint]

"I hadn't really thought about that. Is there anything in particular you want to do?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

I just thought of that 30 seconds ago, so"No. I'll let you know if I do want to do anything?," Tyler said. "And thanks for the help, Nadia."

[nadiathesaint]

"No problem. It's nice to get to sort of show off what I know."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"And I can tell you know what you're doing," Tyler said. "Next time I sneak in somewhere, I'll give you a full report."

[nadiathesaint]

"I'd like that. Thanks."