[Open Broadcast: Liminal Space, Post-Ace of Spades]

[casabianca]

[It's taken him a while to work up to doing this. Years of training and self-censorship have made the very idea of admitting who and what he is to someone who doesn't already know absolutely intolerable. At best this thing he intends to do is treason. At worst it could get someone killed. Not here, back home, but as he is here... his failing to intervene could also get someone killed.]

It became obvious to me over the course of our most recent... outing that most of you have no experience with the sort of work we've been volunteered to do. I don't think it's too forward to say that we could all benefit from better coordination and a bit of training.

[In the few seconds of hesitation that follow, it isn't hard to imagine the twist of deep, painful guilt that roils in his gut. The tone of his mental voice is so carefully distant, so close to wearied that the implications are there for those willing to look.]

I have some experience with... professional travelling. If anyone would like some advice on how to blend in and communicate with one another a bit less obviously in a... in a foreign setting...

[Another silence, and if he were speaking aloud, the silence might be filled by an uncomfortable, resigned sigh.]

...don't hesitate to ask.

((ooc: Peter here is offering to coach people in the art of espionage. I'll try to have a writeup on the subject up and available as soon as possible for anyone who expresses interest.))

Comments

[homemademolotov]

I'm asking.

[And if she doesn't sound quite guilty - even if it doesn't exactly apply to her, this time around - she does sound tired.]

[Still. A weapon is a weapon. Intelligence is intelligence.]

[casabianca]

[Somewhere, Peter nods his head and squeezes the bridge of his nose, sighing. His palms are clammy; of course they are. The last line. Not even under torture. But he remembers her. Remembers her voice.]

I don't think I caught your name last time we met.

[homemademolotov]

Lydia Martin.

[Firmer, now. She knows who she is, even if not always what.]

I learn fast. Don't you dare take your offer back now.

[casabianca]

Peter Guillam. I don't intend to take it back, but I do feel we ought to know one another's names if we're to be working together.

[Which is what this is, ultimately. They haven't any choice in the matter. More or less like old times, then, where Peter is concerned.]

To be entirely honest I'm also trying to sort out where to start with the lot of you. I never was an instructor.

[homemademolotov]

I've been a tutor before. [Dry as dust.] I can give you tips on teaching while you teach me.

[casabianca]

There's a start.

[There's wry amusement in his mental voice.]

I know you're used to assessing and now I know you're used to watching people.

[Have to be able to read people at least a little to know how to teach them.]

You'll have to learn to act on what you have, but that's... a bit difficult to teach. Were you watching the others?

[homemademolotov]

I've always been an amateur people-watcher.

[She's wry, too, and sharply understated: she bases her social survival on observing the qualities of everyone around her.]

But I wasn't . . . exactly myself. So while you were pretending to star in your own noir film, no, I wasn't watching anyone. I thought I was one of them.

[wholeheaded]

I'll never turn down an offer to learn.

[and he does need to learn this. Ambrose is accustomed to being a politician, used to drawing attention to a cause in passionate and extravagant ways. lots of adjectives can be applied to him but subtle isn't among them. ]

[casabianca]

I only hope I'm an adequate instructor.

[If he sounds dubious, it's only because he's never been explicitly involved in anyone's training before. Not where the basics are concerned.]

Might I inquire as to what you did before coming here? Should give me a better idea of where to start.

[wholeheaded]

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

[ which is as much of an endorsement as he can manage. ]

For myself: I was chief adviser to the Queen in my world, a scientist and a member of court. I'm sorta used to being noticed, which I guess isn't productive.

[casabianca]

Mmm, it's not necessarily a problem; most people try too hard to be unobtrusive, there's nothing more obvious.

[It's still deeply strange, discussing all of this; the words come a bit too quickly, as though he's trying to get them all out before he can stop himself.]

We're going to stand out; I can't see a way around that, myself. Quite frankly most of the time the work is in being read as harmless.

[wholeheaded]

[ he can keep up with the rush, mostly,his own mind works at a fairly fast clip.]

True enough. And I think I can manage harmless, maybe with some bonus trustworthyness. Kinda comes with the politician territory.

[neverfeltthatway]

That's a really good idea.

[Even if he needs it less than many of the others. Intrigue was never part of his training, but he's smart, he adapts quickly. He never would have made it through that year with Eren and Mikasa, twelve years old and nobody to look after them but each other, if he hadn't learned how to blend in and go unnoticed.

Still, Armin is never one to scorn what is offered freely, and he's certain they could all benefit from learning a little more nuance and discretion.]

I'd be happy to learn, if you're willing.

[casabianca]

Quite frankly willing doesn't have much to do with it. I don't particularly care to see anyone hurt because I didn't say anything when I could've.

[Under other circumstances it might be different. It's not his business to care, not when the secrets he gathers and protects are on the line, and his life with them. That's just part of the business. Only... it seems as though this is going to be his business now.]

I'll teach you what I can.

[neverfeltthatway]

Of course. [Armin doesn't want to see anyone hurt either. It makes him curious where Peter might have learned this sort of thing, but he refrains from asking - that's not his business, unless he chooses to talk about it.]

How would you like to start?

[casabianca]

By asking you what you noticed people doing wrong last time, that seems as good a place as any.

[And the best possible way to gauge where exactly they stand, in relation to one another.]

[neverfeltthatway]

All right. There's... quite a lot of it, isn't there.

I guess first of all is the story that they were from Kansas. First of all, none of them seemed to know anything about Kansas, so they didn't convincingly fit in. And such a large group, all from the same place, asking all the wrong questions but unexpectedly dangerous... Everyone stood out even more, because it was obvious they were up to something, but, after the initial lie, nobody would trust any explanation they heard from them. So their cover story did the worst thing possible - it made them conspicuous and untrustworthy. No self-respecting mobster would give information to someone so unpredictable or indiscreet.

[He pauses there for a moment, uncertain but thoughtful.]

[thezerothlaw]

Hello, Mr. Guillam. I would be interested in learning what you have to share.

[casabianca]

Daneel.

[There's a note of faint relief. Someone familiar, as familiar as anyone is in this place. It isn't necessarily going to help him through this any, but it's still appreciated.]

I don't suppose you've any experience with this sort of thing?

[There's an edge of wry humour. He's not used to handling beginners.]

[thezerothlaw]

[He pauses to consider.]

It was always intended that I be able to pass as human where a robot would not be welcome, and to observe what I could that way. This is, however, not exactly the same, but I am accustomed to being discrete and unobtrusive in many things.

[hakodate]

Part of the problem is that it's hard to be inconspicuous when you're facing down shit you've understood to be completely impossible.

[Hijikata's from 1869. His first trip to the far future was...an experience.]

But everything helps. The further we can disseminate this kind of information, the better.

[casabianca]

Generally speaking it's less a matter of being inconspicuous and more a matter of being the right sort of conspicuous. Fitting in is clearly too much to ask, but foreign isn't necessarily suspicious.

[A pause, faintly uncomfortable.]

Not everyone is for it, I'm afraid, this kind of work. I'm not sure what good I'll be.

[hakodate]

Not everyone's for most things, but knowing even a little can be what makes the difference in the end.

[detectivewonder]

I'm a little better at it when I remember who I really am. But I'm out of practice. Count me in.

[casabianca]

Even when you don't you're recognisable, which means you're useful. One has to know who to watch.

[By which he means that there must be -- is, really, he can say with certainty -- a way of systematizing their inquiries. Spot the ones who've changed, and use them, as quickly and as efficiently as possible.]

[detectivewonder]

Thanks. I think.

Anyway. I've spent a fair amount of time undercover, and all my time keeping up facades of one kind or another, so there are certain parts of tradecraft I can probably help you teach everyone, if you need an assistant.

[protect_and_serve]

You're speaking of... covertcy.

[casabianca]

Je parle de la subtilité.

[I'm talking about subtlety. The switch in languages is natural, prompted by the accent, the phrasing. His French sounds natural, as natural as his English, bearing only the faintest foreign accent, which is for the most part well-disguised.]

Il faut être plus prudent; c'est dangereux, étant visible quand on doit recueillir des informations. Il invite la fausseté. Et des choses pires.

[We have to be more careful; it's dangerous, being conspicuous when one needs to gather information. It invites falsehood. And worse things.]

[protect_and_serve]

[Joscelin's own accent is different, burred in some places, smooth and sibilant in others, and his vocabulary is archaic - older even than medieval French, although there are some more modern turns of phrase in it that defy any convention of the language, past or present.]

Not everyone takes to it so easily. And just a little knowledge can be more dangerous than none at all. Novice spies... take risks.

[His tone speaks of wry experience.]

[otrava]

[ She recognizes the tone, if not the voice; hears the hesitance and knows the sound of swallowing those stones. This man is a spy, one way or another, and if he's offering this then things must be much, much worse than she had previous realized. ]

Mister Guillam.

I would like to meet you.

[ Because who the hell trusts a broadcast in their head? ]

[casabianca]

[There's always someone. He recognises the practicality, and the inherent mistrust. One way or another, he's not alone. That should be more reassuring than it is.]

Then we should meet.

[There's a careful evenness to even his mental voice, a coded statement she's apt to recognise: I hear you, and I match you. Trust is hard to come by in the circles men like him -- and women like her, perhaps -- travel. It's familiar. Almost comforting.]

Where?

[otrava]

We can start in the candy colored wonderland and make our way back to civilization from there.

[ The 'museum' is too small a place not to be overheard and while she doesn't entirely trust 'Brooklyn', it at least will afford them more walls for the semblance of privacy. ]

I'm the redhead.

[adjustable]

You're talkin' about one of those... Jaunt things, right?

["Jaunt" has the uncertain feel of someone unfamiliar or, in this case, a new arrival-- Souda's mental voice also does a kind of fade in and out (like someone trying to find a radio frequency) as he tries to get the hang of this kind of communication.]

What can happen if you guys-- we-- [he's still holding out that this is some kind of wacky dream] don't blend in, anyway?

[casabianca]

I am.

[He sounds vaguely grim.]

We need information. If we're too obvious about trying to get it, it raises suspicion. At the very least it makes the job harder. At worst, we might end up someplace people don't take particularly kindly to our investigations.

[adjustable]

D-don't take particularly kindly...

[Could it be something dangerous? It sounds dangerous. Yep. Dangerous. He's going with that.]

Think, uh, you could give me some tips? A couple of people I know are good at investigatin' things, but... How do you keep from doin' it too obviously?

[tealeafs]

[ See, this is exactly the kind of broadcast Chizuru had been hoping for. Interacting with the infiltrators back there in Brooklyn proved already that blending in - or even just lying in general - isn't her strongest point. ]

I'd be willing to listen to anything you have to say, sir. I think I might need a lot of help with this sort of thing.. [ She feels a little bad about asking for it, but then again, he did offer, so maybe he won't mind? ]

[casabianca]

It's... fine. You aren't the only one.

[He sounds marginally uncomfortable, as though unused to reassuring people about this sort of thing, as though he's used to directing or berating them instead. Which, of course, he is. His men come to him pre-trained and he asks the best of them. This is... new.]

You were with us last time, weren't you? What did you notice about the way people, the... natives, I suppose, looked at you?

[tealeafs]

Well.. a lot of them gave me looks that were a little strange.

[ Not that she blames them, her usual clothing doesn't really fit in with 1930s Brooklyn, after all. Even Chizuru herself could tell that from seeing how the people there were dressed. ]

But I think the bigger problem was that I sometimes just didn't know how to answer to their questions. There were a lot of things I didn't know about the time. I think I must've looked pretty strange asking someone about.. um, I think they were called hotdogs, right..?

[superieure]

[Peter speaks briefly, with carefully chosen words. It's a good precedent. Her voice is smooth.]

I'm interested, monsieur.

[She's used to masking herself with telepathy; while she's been trained the old fashioned way she never had much cause to use it. It never hurts to learn.]