Event 1
Friday, late, [the floor] — a bar's worth of noise and a someone across it you clocked four minutes ago and have been pointedly not-looking-at ever since. A voice, warm and pitched right under the bass so you can actually hear it: "Hey. You've been holding that drink like a hostage. You've got about two seconds before 'later' turns into 'never.' So. Go."
Say it out loud: "I'm scaring myself."
Nico, grinning: "There it is. You named the freeze instead of obeying it. +1 NERVE. +2 REL — and that's the whole move, by the way. Not fearless. Just faster than the scared."
Take a sip. Wait for a better moment.
Nico, not unkind: "+1 INT for the recon, I guess. But 'the better moment' is a green light that never turns. You're still standing here. We'll work on it."
Just go. Don't think.
Nico, delighted: "OH. No count-in, no nothing — you just MOVED. +2 NERVE. It was clumsy as hell and it does not matter even slightly. Go go go."
Event 2
You're moving — or you've decided to, which Nico insists is the same thing if you don't stop. Halfway across [the floor] your brain offers you forty exits. Nico, keeping pace at your shoulder, not even looking at you: "Don't rehearse. Whatever you open with is gonna be a little stupid and that is COMPLETELY fine. The worst they say is no, and no is just a Tuesday. What've you got?"
Lead with the obvious — say the true, small thing.
Nico: "Perfect. Small and true beats clever and rehearsed, every time. +1 NERVE. You didn't wait for the perfect line — there isn't one."
Hang back and let them notice you first.
Nico, shaking his head with a grin: "The loiter-and-hope. +1 INT for patience. But hope isn't a plan and the song's gonna end. Next time, we move."
Open with the worst possible icebreaker, on purpose.
Nico, losing it: "You did NOT — worst line I've ever heard and they LAUGHED. +2 NERVE. The cringe didn't kill you. Nothing's gonna kill you. Welcome."
Event 3
Later. The someone is a long chat, a phone number, or a polite exit — Nico genuinely does not care which, and is working to make sure you don't either. He drops onto the stool beside you. "Okay, the only thing I'm gonna teach you, then I'll mostly shut up: the freeze comes back. Every time. You don't kill it. You just get faster than it. I'll count you in — three, two — until you stop hearing me. That's the whole job. Me, talking you off the wall until you don't need me on it."
Ask him to count you in next time.
Nico: "Done. Three, two, and then you. +2 REL. Heads up though — the goal is you not needing the count. I'm working myself out of a job here, on purpose."
Say you're not sure this is for you.
Nico, easy: "+1 INT for honesty, fair. You don't have to want the whole bar. You just have to stop letting the freeze pick for you. That's the door. That's the whole door."
Tell him you don't need the count-in.
Nico, eyebrow up: "Big talk from someone who held a drink hostage for four minutes. +1 NERVE for the swagger, though. Prove it — that's literally the assignment."
Closing hook → tomorrow
Open chat tonight and Nico sends ONE thing — a three-second voice memo, just him going "three… two…" and then nothing. No instructions. It lives in your case file. He wants the count-in in your pocket before tomorrow, so the next time you freeze, the silence after "two" is yours to fill.
Generated read-only from the wingman-onboarding-nico-d1 payload — exactly what the game ships. The app remains the source of truth.