bloody-tired.livejournal.comSo it came up in chat last night that sometimes characters know things that they have not necessarily gleaned from IC conversation, but have become "common knowledge" anyway. For example, I don't have a lot of time to have Jenny in bar IC, but I make the assumption that since she's dead and Bound, she has to eat and sleep and do things off-stage, and consequently, would have some knowledge of events like the Servete spell being deactivated, even if she is very sketchy on the details.
The question is though, what counts as "common knowledge" and what doesn't? My personal standard is that something has to have been a major bar event (Servete being taken off, the squid disappering in front of a large crowd, etc.), and it has to have been at least two weeks old (gossip may travel at the speed of light, but there needs to be a reasonable standard anyway). Anyone else have suggestions?
Also, how much can be said to be reasonably well known by all, since, you know, it *is* a bar, and therefore people do see and hear things not meant for them some of the time. Is it reasonable that Bruce can tell people that he has seen a Tonks (who he knows), the angel (ditto), and a man with black wings sitting together, even if he knows nothing of what they are doing together? The fact that they are all together at a table can be seen from across the bar, unless there is a concealment spell on them, so can I assume he's noticed this behavior?
I know there is a lot that happens in the bar that *isn't* public, and characters *couldn't* know IC without another character telling them, but it is also in the nature of a bar that things can be observed. I'm not expecting people to be ignorant of the Anakin-Leia fight last night, provided they were in bar, because it was in front of the door and there was yelling involved. It's reasonable that people saw it. So, where is the line?