Many younger SPF agents seem to believe that it’s their patterned bodies that are the key to a successful mission. But putting on the skin of some animal and charging gung-ho out into the field is like strolling onto the big stage naked. You’ll turn heads AND they won’t be looking at your performance.

Mina has got too many missions under her belt to fall for that nonsense thinking. She correctly views her body as a tool—and a weapon—not a “disguise.” And she knows the same routines Inigo does. After all, he taught her many of them himself. But even the best-trained magician can fall for another magician’s tricks.

Case in point: if you want to blend in with a crowd, looking like you’re “supposed to be there” is not always the answer. There is such a thing as suspicious inconspicuousness. Illegal time travelers in particular are always keeping an eye out for folks who blend in just a little TOO much.

How can you tell when someone’s an actor? When they give a flawless performance. Real people can’t help giving themselves away.

So when Mina entered the Pronghorn Saloon and sauntered up to the bar, it wasn’t that she didn’t notice Inigo. She looked right at him in fact, even shot him one or two angry glares, because he was making just enough of a fool of himself for her to wish he wasn’t there—and thereby forget about him.

He wasn’t “just some old drunk.” That would blend in too much. She (and Victor, and maybe the other two) would scan their memories later and recall the man who could have stood out, but seemed like he was trying not to.

Instead, as he lingered there in the corner, deep enough in his drinks that his eyelids were starting to feel heavy, he muttered and chuckled to himself as if going through jokes that would’ve cracked ‘em up if only he’d remembered ‘em proper. Every now and then he’d jerk his head back and hiccup or stretch, only to slowly drift back to the hazy standup stage in his mind.

He was an irritating enough man, in other words, that you didn’t want to remember him. You could smell the alcohol on his breath without breathing it.

There were other little “touches” too. Something about his outfit and appearance scanned as “lawman”, but he wasn’t wearing a badge and he clearly wasn’t on duty. There was otherwise no clear signal. If he had been wearing a badge, then Mina (and Victor, and maybe the other two) would have kept their eyes on him. But there was really nothing to see.

Best to leave him be and get on with your business, ma’am.

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