Kevin & Darcy | Field Training

[xp_darcy]

While they're in Prague, Kevin has Darcy do some impromptu training. It's successful, although not exceptional, and the reward doubles as a birthday gift.


Prague was lovely in the spring. Kevin had mentioned a need for some ground level intel, which had seen her swept up in last minute flights, hotels, and within sixteen hours, now had the cobblestones of Old Town, near the Charles Bridge under her feet. Kevin was wearing his normal face for once in the field, chatting amiably in Czech with the stand owner before collecting a pair of coffees and passing one over to her. He used his to indicate a statue in the distance.

"Jan Hus. When the Pope was the most powerful force in Europe, he told him to go fuck himself. They burned him at the stake, but he pretty much created the path to Luther. Anyone who sat at the steps of that statue was literally advertising that they were available for recruitment by the CIA during the Cold War." He gave her a crooked grin. "That statue has led to a lot of work for me."

"I suppose engraving on the door was a little too old school, even during the Cold War," Darcy joked, taking a sip of her coffee. Her Czech was nonexistent, but occasionally she'd catch a hint of a word or phrase she thought she recognized. She supposed it was the bit of Russian she knew, but it was all but worthless right now for anything except guesswork. "Remind me to work more on languages when we get back. I don't enjoy actually being a language ignorant almost-tourist."

"Half these people speak English or Russian if you need. I blame YouTube." He said. "Our contact isn't going to be available for another 8 hours, so I think a little training is in order." He motioned with his cup towards a woman standing by the bridge, typing into her phone. "I want you to come back with her name and two personal details about her."

"Ah yes, because I'm here to start a bar fight or proposition a politician for a little backroom action with my particular knowledge of Russian," Darcy murmured, giving Kevin a small grin. "I'll be back." She moved slowly towards the Charles Bridge, stopping a few times to chat with vendors or get a tourist-y selfie along the way. Eventually she came to a stop near the woman, looking out over the water for a moment before turning her head and asking a casual question. The two talked for several minutes, Darcy gesturing broadly at the area around them a few times, even briefly holding up her phone so the two could take a beaming selfie. They hovered around her phone for a minute after, both women gesturing before she slid the device deep into her bag. She gave a friendly wave as she departed, making her way back to Kevin with a smile on her lips.

Kevin sipped from his coffee, keeping an eye on her over his paper. When she finally finished her conversation, he lowered the paper and placed it on the cafe table he'd settled into. "How did it go?"

"Good pick, Evelina was pretty friendly." Darcy perched on the chair next to him, body angled towards him as she talked. "I asked about nice restaurants and got a few suggestions. Have to see about reservations, but if we can get in to one I'd like to go."

"I asked for two personal details about her." He said mildly.

She wrinkled her nose at Kevin briefly, before letting her face smooth into a neutral expression. "Thor save me from impatient-ass men," she muttered, defiantly taking a long sip of her coffee before answering. "Evelina usually works at one of the bakeries, but she's off for a bit with a wrist injury. She gave me the name, I want to stop in and try some pastry. And she saw the pic of Midnight on my lock screen, which got her talking about her own cats, Jaro and Zima."

"And what did you tell her to get her to open up about that?"

"Well, first I asked if she spoke English, which she does. Then I asked if she was a local so I could get the good food recs, not just the tourist spots. That's how I found out about the bakery, the restaurant, and her work injury. I asked about kolache first, then a nicer place to have dinner. The cats came about because I asked if we could take a selfie together to remember the nice woman who gave me suggestions, and she saw my lockscreen."

"So you established you're a tourist, English speaking, knew the cuisine and had a cat. Anything else?"

"As soon as I speak it's obvious I'm not a local, so I said I was here for work." Darcy racked her brain for anything else, but came up empty. "I don't think so, otherwise."

"OK. So, for two pieces of personal information, you created four about yourself. Four that you now need to keep consistent if you interact with her again." Kevin pointed out. "Or if you accidentally run into her during another mission, it can't contradict your current cover."

He set down his paper cup. "Sometimes you have to give up more than you get in order to get what you need, but you always want to minimize your details as much as possible. People are weird and sometimes remember details from people they've met once."

"That's why I went with things that were true but common. It's easier to keep the details right if you stick as close to the truth as possible without being overly personal. English-speaking brunettes that like pastries and have a cat are a nickel a dozen. There are at least four international conferences happening here this week that I'm aware of, and probably another handful that start soon or just ended. I wouldn't be surprised if I get associated with that and half-forgotten." Darcy shrugged lightly, rolling her now empty coffee cup in her hands.

"Yes, but there's no guarantee those will be your details if you run into her again. The more details you exchange, the more likely you are to be remembered." He replied, finishing off his own cup and standing up to give up the table to the next person. "All in all, good work. Just keep in mind that in the field, you'll be putting covers on and off more regularly than your outfits. Also best not to have to add new ones if you can avoid it."

"That makes sense." She followed behind Kevin easily, low heels clicking satisfyingly against the cobblestones as the praise curled through her mind. "Obviously next time I come to Prague I need to dye my hair or get a nice wig."

"That's likely not necessary. I mean, it is a city of one point three million. I just want you to always be thinking about potential risk factors, especially in the field. At some point, minimizing them will become a habit." Kevin angled off towards a smaller lane, getting away from the broad ancient street. "Old spies are the ones who never turn it off fully. It might not save you, but it will make mistakes less likely."

"I'd look delightful as a redhead, though," Darcy bantered with a small grin. "I am trying to think about those risks, when I say and do things. You know how much I dislike making thoughtless mistakes."

"It's not about making mistakes, Lewis. I'm asking you to learn an entirely new way of looking and interacting with the world in general. That takes time and practice... years for most people. So don't worry if you don't have it all in one go."

"Mistakes potentially making someone dead is a bit of a big worry, Boss," she replied, "so I'm trying to avoid making the same sort twice. It's... I said thoughtless, but it's also careless. I know I will, and I know I can't be great at this immediately. I just want to be good enough for now to stay alive, and that means trying to minimize the errors."

"Hey, stop." He said, abruptly pausing himself. "This is not 'I made a mistake and promise it's the last' nonsense. This is a whole way of life. And if you hammer yourself for every mistake as some personal failing, you'll never be in the right head space to really learn from them." He put his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "I said you did well because you did well. And you made mistakes. Not because you were thoughtless or careless but because I'm teaching you an entirely new way to interact with the world. Believe me, you have a lot more mistakes coming."

Darcy gave Kevin a warm smile. "I don't think I explained myself very well. I'm not going to lose sleep over making a small mistake, and I'm not going to obsess over it to the point of ignoring other things either. I am going to reflect on it later and strive to not make that same mistake next time." Her hand reached up, brushing against his briefly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I know that I'm going to constantly be learning something new, making some different mistake. I don't want to be sloppy and keep making the same mistakes because I'm not listening to you. That makes both of us look bad."

"You should know by now that nothing can make me look bad." He released his hold, seeing that she got what he was saying. "Alright, so you have passed a test. Not an A, but a solid pass. That deserves a reward."

"Well, you know how treat motivated I can be." Darcy bumped his arm lightly with her own as they started walking again, following his lead as she generally did. "Do I get to find out what this reward is now, or is it a surprise?"

"It's a surprise, but we'll be there in ten minutes, so not a good surprise, I guess."

Her eyes glittered with amusement, voice almost a purr as she replied. "Boss, I don't think you quite realize how... wound up... I can get, given ten minutes of anticipation."

"This isn't Helga's, kid." Kevin said dryly. After a few minutes he paused and waved her towards a door. "This is Bohemia Paper. A former forger who went good started it with techniques local to the region from six hundred years ago. I know you like cards and gifts. I thought you might enjoy shopping here."

"Obviously not, she'd go make me change into something less decent," Darcy quipped, taking the hint and shortly getting distracted by the small store they'd entered. "Might enjoy, he says," she muttered to herself as she took in the high quality paper on display. Her eye was drawn to the house stationery, flat notecards with a variety of designs, and particularly to a bright set with a line of cupcakes across the top. Again and again she came back to the display, and every time the cupcakes caught her eye.

Kevin took up a place by the door. He crossed his arms and relaxed. "You have an unlimited budget. Also because someone didn't want to mention that her boss poked her for a work trip on her birthday." He said. "Sorry about that. I need your legal knowledge on this one, so consider this... trying to make it up to you."

"Well, I think someone just rolled a nat 20 on their seduction check," Darcy teased with a laugh. She turned back to the clerk, setting a small bundle on the counter before the two bent over a set of custom stationery forms. A few quiet questions and she was ready to go, waving him over with a smile. They paid, and she gave his arm a squeeze as they made their way out. "I know we're here for work, but you made sure I had time to see some of the sights and eat at local places, too. A reward is just the ribbon on the gift, Kevin. Thank you."

"Well, you don't waste a nat 20 after all." He said, clearly having no clue what she meant. He knew it wasn't a craps term. He was good at craps. "Besides, when giving out an unlimited budget only cost me... eighty-three dollars American, I think I won out on this. Last time I gave Felicia that much license, she got close to five figures."

"Well it's stationery, not clothing or shoes. Little harder to get up to five figures without clear cutting a forest, probably. Where to next?"

"Hotel for a quick change and then a meeting. Time to get our real work in Prague done."