[Day: Monday, June 20th. Time: 4:00 p.m.] [You all headed down to Kanghua Enterprises, dressed in snazzy suits, pretending to be auditors. On the way down, Chomei spilled a glass of orange juice on Rei's suit, whiched caused it to haywire. Since she doesn't wanna go in incase they kill her, she's staying behind with Peter and Chomei, leaving the task to you guys instead.] [The building looms ahead.] [Session Start] So. What's the plan again? * Makoto brushes some imaginary lint off of a lapel as he looks up at the building. "We're going in as safety auditors. Maybe it's best if we not think too much about why we're *really* there." That way we'll be less likely to confuse facts. * Chie sighs and shakes her head. "That works for me." * Chie seems vaguely annoyed at something. Or someone. We can't guess why, can we? ... and how explain why half no speak Chinese? Three-fourths, actually... I'm the only one of us who does, aren't I? We don't. That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you guys about. Chie's going to have to be our leader while we're inside. Yeah, I'm... oh, hell. Rest of us just glare and look like mean inspector people? * Makoto nods. Basically. Makoto, you're gonna have to help me out a bit here. I have *no* idea what I'm supposed to say. * Makoto nods. Well, since I wasn't driving and I couldn't sleep, I took the liberty of making notes on everybody's clipboards. * Maria fidgets in her accursed tight and revealing office uniform. How many kinds of uncomfortable can one outfit be, anyway? ( Could have spikes on the inside.. ) * Makoto opens up a briefcase he brought with him and hands out clipboards. A few remain inside--presumably the ones meant for Peter, Rei, and Chomei. "The clipboards are going to have to be the primary method of communicating once we're inside. Speaking to one another in Japanese isn't going to do much for our image, but writing notes to one another should be okay." Even so, we should keep that to a minimum. And adds to intimidating. They wonder what we say. * Chie accepts her clipboard and starts skimming it. "I... see." She looks up at Makoto. "Should I tell them that part of our delegation was delayed and might arrive later, just in case Rei gets things working again and they decide to come?" * Makoto nods. "Absolutely." * Maria looks at her clipboard and nods. "Uhm..." * Lazar stares at the notes. "... one problem. I no can write or read Japanese." ... Oh. Well, do we have a common written language between the four of us? * Chie shakes her head. "I know Japanese, Chinese, and English." Hebrew and Hungarian... is okay. Just explain to me what need do, and I can be silent security person what accompany to make sure nobody try to intimidate you. I only know Japanese. And yeah, Laz, you can be the 'strong, silent type'. * Maria looks over her list, reading it, uh, casually. "...you're no fun, Makoto." Okay. Lazar, I want you to be imposing. Security auditors are probably not going to be traveling around with bodyguards, so Chie? Lazar is our emergency officer. You shouldn't need to explain what that means, but if somebody presses you, say that his job is to examine entrances, exits, and other walkways for accessibility. * Chie nods and makes a few notes on her clipboard. "Got it. Oh. Um... are we using fake names or what?" Got that Lazar? Pay special attention to doors, windows, hallways, stuff like that. It should give you an excuse to spot an office or a lab that's... incriminating. * Lazar nods. "If big guy like me can fit through, anyone can, no?" *grin* * Maria giggles. At first I was thinking we could all go with Chinese names, but honestly you and I are the only ones who could really pass for locals. We'll need to keep calling Lazar and Maria by their real names. * Chie nods. "So what shall I call you, then?" * Makoto closes his eyes for a moment and shifts. His physical size and facial features alter so very little that he hardly seems to have changed at all. At some point he must have met a Chinese version of himself somewhere. He opens his eyes again. "Ting." * Maria nods and snaps her fingers as she remembers something. She reaches into her cute little purse and pulls out what look like a pair of trendy-looking reading glasses. She puts them on, thereby completing her disguise, as it is. * Chie nods. "And I'll be... Chen, I suppose." * Chie looks at the group. "Mister Ting, Mister Thau, Ms... hmm. Maria, what do you want to go by?" * Makoto grins at Maria. "Nice." He nods as he looks back to Chie, and waits for Maria's answer before continuing. For a last name? Hm. * Lazar blinks at Maria, and mutters an appreciative "... oy." * Makoto chuckles softly. 'Mine'. Mine Maria. Ms. Mine, then. Okay. We ready? ( I shall call her... Mine Maria. *pinky-to-lips* ) (*thwaps Laz*) * Lazar nods, and gets to looking stern'n serious. Just about. Ms. Mine is going to be checking for chemical dangers. Open containers, things sitting near the edge of counters, overstuffed cabinets, that sort of thing. Makoto, if I have a question for you while I'm in there, I'm gonna... going to, rather... write it down and show it to you. * Chie shakes her head. "Mister Ting, rather. Have to get used to this now." * Makoto nods. "Good idea. I'll jot my responses down for you." Thank you. When you contacted them earlier, did you give any sort of name for our organization? * Chie seems to be making an effort to speak a little less sloppily than usual. * Maria grins. "So I get to rifle through cabinets? Alright." Yeah, the Office of International Research and Development Safety Concerns. I looked it up. Some obscure little office that helps make sure that China doesn't get accused of human rights violations among its white collar workers. Not really a big concern, of course, but fortunately this government has an office for everything. * Maria snickers. ( Sure you don't want to be from the office that makes sure the English letter 'E' isn't overused instead? ) * Chie repeats that softly to herself, then nods. "All right. Oh, and I should give this to you now." She hands her briefcase to Makoto. "After we get in, I'll ask where the restrooms are, so we can make a quick stop." Had lots of red tape in Transylvania back in old days, apparently. Then it got eaten. * Makoto snickers at that. Yes. Good idea, Chie. * Chie laughs. "I wish that were true for Japan *and* China." * Makoto takes the briefcase. * Chie pats her pocket once more. "And I have my cell with me, so I can contact Rei or the prof - or vice-versa." Note who she's *not* trusting to answer the cell phone. ;p * Maria nods. * Makoto grins. "I've got my phone on me too, but the only call I should be getting is from Mister Chang if we're late. And we should head inside now unless we want to be. Late, I mean." * Chie nods. "Right. Shall we?" Let's. Sure. * Lazar nods. * Chie straightens up and heads for the building. She's walkin' the walk, but can she talk the talk? * Makoto follows Chie confidently. He can both walk the walk and talk the talk... but only if the talk is Japanese or German, unfortunately. He seems to trust Chie's ability to improvise, at least. * Maria follows, trying to look serious. On the upside, she can at least act like the outfit doesn't bother her. * Lazar just walks. [You enter the building. Yay! Inside is a nice lobby with off- white walls, a few office plants and comfy chairs, and, of course, a secretary's desk. Complete with secretary.] * Chie walks right up to the secretary's desk, looking all businesslike. "" ( I wonder if the secretary came with the lobby... ) The secretary looks up at Chie. "" "" She indicates the rest of the group. "" "" ( "All of them. Prepare for your doom, mortal." ) ( Heh. ) "" * Chie shoots a very brief glance down at her clipboard. [She nods and picks up a phone. "Mr. Chang? The inspectors from the Office of International Research and Safety Concerns are here to see you." After a few seconds, she hangs up. "Mr. Chang is waiting for you. Go down that hall," she points," and take the elevator to the eleventh floor."] "" * Makoto nods when the woman finishes speaking, looking for all the world as though he understands perfectly well what's being said. "" * Chie nods. "" She smiles pleasantly at the secretary, then turns to the rest of the group and nods. * Maria nods back, managing to look fairly official. * Chie slowly walks in the direction of the elevator. Once they get there, she scribbles something on her clipboard and taps Makoto on the arm. * Makoto glances discreetly at Chie's clipboard. * Makoto nods as he walks along with Chie, and looks around the elevator lobby as they draw near. * Lazar nods at the lady, then follows the others. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-2) and gets 4. [You head down the hall. The elevator is towards the end, on the left side, and the restrooms are across from it. You also pass a security office on the way in, but they don't come after you, so so far, so good.] * Makoto leans over Chie's arm and scribbles a quick notation on her clipboard, as if correcting a mark she made. * Maria glances around, making a note on her pad on the way. * Chie nods at Makoto. * Lazar examines the elevator doors a bit, then makes a show of eyeing the paths from the elevators to the front doors. [Lazar sees one.] * Makoto makes a brief gesture to indicate that he'll be in the bathrooms for a moment, and walks quickly but unhurried to the men's restroom. * Lazar hmms, nods, and mimes scribbling something on a piece of paper on his clipboard. * Maria makes a show of looking around, then decides to point something on her pad out to Chie, as if reminding her of something. * Chie examines the lobby with a neutral gaze. She then looks over at Maria's pad and nods. * Maria nods back. It's Dragnet! * Chie makes a note on her own pad. * Maria glances around the hall with apparent disinterest. ( It'd be much easier if you just put the notes in channel. ) * Makoto emerges from the bathroom in short order, and comes to stand with the rest of the group. He hits the elevator button, even if somebody else had already pressed it. [Nobody did. The elevator comes shortly, though.] * Chie gets on the elevator and, once everyone is on, pushes the button for the eleventh floor. * Maria looks around the elevator. It'd better be safe, by golly! * Makoto approves of Maria's apparently relentless attention to safety. * Lazar gets on the elevator, reaching up to the ceiling as if examining its dimensions. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-2) and gets 10, a CRITICAL FAILURE!!! "Don't blame me. Blame yourself, or God." ( ...Damn you, Dicesuke. ) * Maria notices a loose hair dangling in front of her eyes, and goes about putting it back in place with authoritative relentlessness. * Lazar considers punching the wall of the elevator to test its resistance to an earthquake, but resists the urge. * Makoto would have approved of Lazar's restraint, had he known about this. * Chie taps her pen against her chin as she eyes the doors to the elevator. Very sturdy-looking doors, those. She thinks, anyway. * Maria vanquishes the loose hair, and goes back to looking around the elevator. [The elevator reaches the eleventh floor! The doors open into... a lobby with a secretary's desk, complete with secretary. There's another man there too, though: middle-aged, balding, and otherwise without noteworthy appearance. He makes his way over to you when the doors open. "Ah, you must be the inspection team."] * Maria glances at the man with cold disinterest. * Chie nods pleasantly. "" "" "" She then turns to the others and indicates that they should follow. * Makoto gives the man a more friendly look, but then glances at Chie deferentially as she speaks. He follows wordless when she gestures for him to do so. * Lazar follows, making a show of examining the hallways, doorways, and such. (It's like a silent movie!) * Maria follows silently. Well, except for her heels. Even she can't manage stealth in those. [Mr. Chang leads the group through a door, into the R&D Lab. It's about what you could expect; Chemicals, testing areas, people in white coats, etc etc etc.] * Maria glances around. * Chie hmmms softly and takes a good long look around. * Makoto studies the people in the lab, jotting notes occasionally and nodding or shaking his head every once in a while. * Maria walks around the lab, searching for safety hazards or hidden passages to evil biolabs. [The people are very unremarkable, and look like they could've come straight out of Half-Life.] (Hah!) * Chie begins slowly walking around the lab, taking notes here and there and giving the occasional approving glance or "tsk" of disapproval. * Lazar stands in the doorway for a moment. What are the dimensions relative to him? [Lazar can fit through. They're built so that people could push carts in and out of 'em, if need be.] * Chie, at some point, manages to casually maneuver her way to where Makoto is. She points to a note on her clipboard, which says: So, do we see anything unsafe here that I should point out? Or anything particularly praiseworthy? * Lazar steps into the room, turns back to the doorway, and nods approveingly, making a random note on his clipboard. He then sets about wandering through the lab, acting like he's checking the walking paths through the main area. [A bit away, a scientist comes out of an office. He stares at you for a bit, then goes about his business.] * Makoto blinks and looks over at Chie; apparently he was studying the safety equipment worn by a few lab workers. He shakes his head and points to a not he'd already made on his own clipboard: Ask if there are other labs. This is a large facility. * Maria eyes the new guy. * Chie nods and proceeds to examine a few more of the lab workers' stations in a bit more detail. * Makoto moves casually around the lab, trying to keep that particular scientist in view without being obvious about his attention. [Most of the lab seems pretty basic: Developing new products and testing to make sure they're safe.] * Lazar looms professionally over a few researchers, eyeing what they're doing, before getting to the new guy. *LOOM* [Chang drolls out boring statistics and stuff.] [Lazar disrupts work :P] * Chie makes sure to take down some of Chang's statistics. * Lazar moves away from the guy, and toward the office he just came out of. He examines the doorway momentarily, then waves Makoto over when he's able to get the shapeshifter's attention. [The scientist in question doesn't seem to be paying much attention to you. He's talking to some other scientist about his work on a new hairspray.] * Makoto leaves the hairspray scientist and walks to Lazar's side, studying people keenly along the way. * Maria keeps checking for anything suspicious. Safety second! * Lazar leans down to Makoto and whipers *very* quietly in his ear. "Check?" *points at the office* * Chie walks over to Chang. "" [Most of the scientists are too busy with their work to pay much attention to you, but Mr. Chang is speaking enthusiastically. "No. This is the only lab Kanghua has. It's all we need."] * Chie nods and takes notes. * Makoto nods toward the office, and then pauses. ( "Also, if the government is interested, we've recently developed a new bridge in Brooklyn... ) ( Ha! ) ("Yeah, it's called the Platinum Gate Bridge. Just like the Golden Gate, only better!") "" ( ... No. Now on your right.... :P ) * Lazar tilts his head at Makoto. "" * Chie nods politely at Chang, to indicate that he should proceed. [He happily does.] * Makoto glances back at Chie and Chang, and then at the door. He stands on the tips of his toes for a moment to whisper to Lazar, "Walk past the door and toward Chang as soon as I put my hand on it. I need to use your body to block his view a bit." * Makoto then checks to see who, if anybody, is looking in the direction of the office door. * Lazar nods, then idly moves between Chang and Makoto, as if examining the dimensions of the door further. * Chie continues to listen to Chang, taking notes and nodding in an interested fashion at the appropriate times. * Maria keeps inspecting until she's in view of the bulk of the lab workers, and then does a remarkably convincing job of fumbling her pen and dropping it to the floor. [A whole bunch of lab workers stumble over each other to get Maria's pen.] * Chie would applaud if she weren't pretending to be fascinated by Chang's speech. * Lazar is examining the door. La-de-da. o/~ * Lazar extends his arms, as if crudely measuring the dimensions of said door relative to his frame. * Makoto tries to catch Chie's eye without drawing anybody else's attention, using the ancient trick of staring really intently at her and hoping very much that she'll feel his eyes on her. * Maria gives a warm, thankful, engaging smile to the lab boys. ^_^ * Chie gets the eerie feeling that she's being stared at, and glances over in Makoto's direction. 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Makoto (2d6-1) and gets 6. * Makoto makes a subtle gesture with his fingers, trying to indicate to Chie that he wants her to move away from the office. * Maria bats her eyes demurely at whoever got the pen. Let's see what happens. * Chie looks at Chang. "" [One of the scientists wins and triumphantly hands Maria the pen. The others sigh and go back to work.] [Chang nods. "Very well."] * Makoto puts his hand on the door and tries to squeeze through the opening as quickly and quietly as he can before the tiny window of opporunity passes. * Maria accepts her pen. ^_^ ( Stealth roll at -2 bonus, Makoto :P ) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Makoto (2d6-2) and gets 5. * Lazar now has his back turned, and is stretching. My, what a coincedence. ( Thank you, Dicey. Thank you for not killing me dead. ) [Makoto sneaks into the office. Makoto! Join #office] * Maria would nod in approval of Makoto's sneaking, but she's busy being distracting right now. * Chie moves away for a second and pretends to examine something closely, then turns back to Chang. "" Yay, more distractions! * Lazar stops stretching, but continues standing where he is, panning his gaze across the office as if surveying the entire place, and making notes periodically. [Chang obliges, by getting one of the scientists to talk about it.] 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Makoto (2d6) and gets 5. * Chie turns most of her attention to the scientist, while still keeping an eye on Chang, who's presumably standing right there with her. [That he is.] [Meanwhile a scientist boasts to Maria about his accomplishments.] * Maria smiles and nods and pretends 1) to be interested 2) to know what he's saying. (Heh.) ( I keep forgetting none of you speak the language @_@ ) (I do. And I'm listening. ;p) (If Rei were here, she could translate! Like it'd matter.) [Chie hears the scientist boast to Maria, then. He's doing a horrible job.] * Maria also pretends he's doing a good job! * Chie shakes her head briefly and tries to concentrate on the scientist who's talking to her and Chang. [That scientist gives demonstrations. whee!] * Lazar continues his previous actions, trying to be as inconspicuous and a 6'2 gaijin built like a truck can be. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Makoto (2d6) and gets 7. [The scientist eventually finishes his demonstration.] [Chang turns to Chie and awaits her opinion.] * Chie gives one final approving nod. "" She tries to look in the direction of the office out of the corner of her eye, hoping she's being fairly inconspicuous here. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Makoto (2d6) and gets 5. Chang: "There's not much else I could tell you, I'm afraid." * Chie nods and takes a few last notes, then looks at something written on her clipboard. "" "" * Chie attempts to catch Maria's attention. * Lazar is still standing there... o/~ * Maria looks over to Chie, gives the poor lab guy a 'one second' gesture, and goes over to see what she needs. She is glad for the distraction. Chie points to a note on her clipboard that says: I'm about done here. Makoto said we could leave him behind if necessary, and I'm pretty much out of things to ask. * Maria notices this, nods sagely, and points to one of her own; 'Please get me out of here.' * Chie nods and writes back, "Go get Lazar." * Lazar jots down a couple of other things on his clipboard... * Makoto slips out of the office and stands behind Lazar, trying to turn his body in such a way as to be hidden behind the big fellow, but only "by coincidence." * Maria nods and struts her bad self over to Lazar, who she nods to. She sketches a stick-figure walking away from a door and shares it with him like another important note. * Lazar feels Makoto slip out behind him, nods, and waits for Makoto to close the door before following Maria out. * Makoto pulls the door partly closed by giving it a tug, with the intent of putting himself as far from the office as possible before anybody deduces that he was in there. * Makoto follows Lazar at as near a distance as he can manage without scurrying. * Maria heads out, heels click-clacking. * Lazar walks calmly, nodding at a couple of the scientists he LOOMED over, as well as Mister Chang, as he walks out. [And you head back to HQ. Session End!]