"Hold X", how does exactly the mechanic work?

Hi. I have a question. Some moves say "hold x", and then tells you how to spend what you're holding. My question is whether the held numbers must be spent at the very moment in which the move is done or can be stored and used later.

The Brainer deep brain scan says "Roll+weird. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7–9, hold 1. While you’re reading them, spend your hold to ask their player questions, 1 for 1".

"While you're reading them" makes me think "ok, I do the move, and since I'm reading them right now, I must spend what I'm holding right here and now" but I'd like to be sure. Same goes with all moves which say "hold x".
Thanks!

I interpret that just like the Read a Person move; you use them ver the course of that conversation or brain scan, and once that individual interaction is over anything you haven't used are Los if you don't ask the questions at the end.

Regards,

Shane

So basically I should first make a deep brain scan move and subsequently during the same interaction make the read person move in order to use the number I'm holding, otherwise it's lost, right?

No, no, it means "while you are reading their mind" and you do that with the Deep Brain Scan move.

You spend your hold while you are role-playing using the move!

So you could say "I deep scan his brain" and it's just something that happens. You roll, spend your hold asking questions, and that's all that happens.

OR, you could have to enter into the subjects mental dream-space and go adventuring there like in The Cell or Inception, and you could spend your hold during that adventure.

Just like when you read a person, you hold 1 or 3, and use them to ask questions while you are role-playing the scene, whether it's a conversation or you are watching them do something or whatever.

I see... still, held points have to be spent within the scene, right? It's not a long term resource (for lack of a better term)...?

Yeah, totally.  Just use them up during the immediate interaction and then they're gone.  Some hold can last a longer time -- you have to decide based on the move.

Different kinds of holds generally have different durations and individual moves make it clear when you have to spent that hold.  Several "read"-style moves (and, by my reading, the Hocus move Frenzy) require you to spend your hold by the end of the scene or the interaction between specific characters, effectively.  But the Skinner's hold from Hypnotic, for example, lasts indefinitely, until one side or the other spends it.  That's also true of the Brainer's In-Brain Puppet Strings.

Generally, though, I'd say go with whatever makes sense.  However, gaining information or positioning on another character that can be used as leverage in future conflicts is not always best represented as maintaining Hold over them (though sometimes it is).  Sometimes it's just leverage, for instance, the leverage that you need to have on someone in order to seduce or manipulate them (p197).

Holds last as long as they last. Use the fiction to determine how long that is.

If the Skinner hypnotizes you, she has a hold over you, because you have become obsessed with her. But what happens when the Savvyhead removes your memory of her and isolates it inside the psychic maelstrom? I would say her hold over you goes with your memory of her.

If you read a person in a conversation, your hold over her should be spent during that conversation. I mean, just because you scoped her out and figured out what's up with her that one time, doesn't mean the next time you talk to her you automatically know what's up now. Things change, you need to take another look.

But what if you are scrounging around the Savvyhead's lab, where she keeps all her notes and personal items, and you decide to read her through her stuff? Maybe you spend your hold while you are searching, while you are reading her notes. Like, you know she is going to check out the burn flats because the last entry in her notes is all about them.

Or, maybe you go and meet up with her afterward searching through her stuff, and you get to keep your hold, because when she lies about taking your memory away, you know because what she says isn't what she wrote in her notes. By scrounging through her stuff, you get to take your hold over her into a face-to-face conversation. But only if everybody agrees. Maybe the MC says no, you can only read a situation when you search through her stuff.

Those are just two examples that defy the usual guidelines: one where you might lose hold that usually sticks around, and one where you might get to keep hold that usually goes away. It just depends on the fiction. As long as your fellow players think you are reasonable, you shouldn't have too many problems.

Thanks everyone! Precious good examples, and I think I grokked the idea :)