[OOC][PLOT] The Third Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals

[Black Aeronaut]

Someone with autism explaining that they have autism to someone they just met is such an autistic moment.  One side of the conversation is "here is useful information that can facilitate our interactions" and the other side is "why is this stranger telling me such personal information?"  Most people have a taboo about discussing any kind of mental disorder, to not show weakness to others, but most of the autists I've known will gleefully ignore this, and it's really refreshing.  And once you know how to adapt, quite useful information that really does facilitate social interactions.

There is a method to our madness and a madness to our methods. The fact that it works at least half the time is icing on the cake. :V

I'm not saying that it wouldn't work out in the end, just that Ben has VERY clear ideas about the potential dangers and he prefers to erre on the side of caution without anyone going behind his back in a way that could get him or his charges hurt.

Hopefully Leeroy Taaaaakino is distracted at this point, then.  But I do want to remind you that our party includes Ami and Minako and Shaoran and Sakura and Sasami, so worrying about people getting hurt is a little academic.  And Chibiusa -- I'm pretty sure Pink Sugar Heart Attack can take out a few ninja, amirite?

Leeroy Takino? Pfft. You do realize that you are now obligated to crack that joke on her, right?

As for confrontations.... Ben would rather keep these as low-key as possible. The Camp Bullis Incident was already a lot more than they wanted.

At first I wondered if I would press the "not explaining" joke further with Yomi, but given the seriousness, probably not.  

"So who wants to go inside and reconnoiter  these folks?"
"We could draw straws," Brent suggested.
Ben groaned, "Let's just skip the part where I lose.  I'll be back in a few."

Hmm naaahh. Ben will want to go in since he's the subject matter expert on hand. He knows the warning signs to watch for and can extract himself if needs be - at least to the point where he can get help.

Oh, here's an idea...

"What if you need help?" asked Minako. "How will we know?"
"... Good question," said Ben. "Here, let me call your phone. Don't hang up on me. You'll be listening in. Put your phone on mute so they won't hear anything on my phone from here."
"Oooh! Good idea!" said Minako as she got her cell phone out. Ben could trust Venus to know when his bit of social engineering has failed and he'd need extraction.
Ben nodded as he dialed Minako's phone. "If things do get dicey, I want you and Ami to come in. If it's a hot situation, transform first. But if it can still be managed without resorting to violence, come in as you are and help me get out of that situation. Are we clear?"
"Absolutely," said Ami.
"Like glass," chirped Minako.
"Don't you mean 'crystal'?" asked Takino.

The City of San Antonio and its enclaves have designated areas and hours for Trick-or-Treating.

This sounds like dangerous socialism, and I believe in free-market trick-or-treating.  Since it's olmos inside the boundary, feel free to push the hours or boundaries in the name of fiction.

Heh.

Really, it's more of a safety measure. San Antonio is one of the better places about this kind of thing - lots of nuclear hispanic communities where they try to watch out for each other. But there have been issues in the past, so the city has set up 'safe areas and times' for Trick-or-Treating where the setting is generally safer and police can be more easily reached in the event of an emergency.