tushanshu_logs | Something Doesn't Add Up

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Something Doesn't Add Up - April Catch-All

Characters: Tu Yuxnu, China Sorrows, Zelgadis Greywords and OPEN
Date: April
Location: Lots of places
Situation: Sonja is still eeking out a place for herself
Warnings/Rating: N/a!

A: Had To Ask - Yuxnu's Mansion (Closed to Tu Yuxnu)

As soon as she saw Yuxnu face to face, she dropped the question.

"Was it you?"

B: Just Dropping By Real Casual Like - China's Shop/House (Closed to China Sorrows)

Sonja didn't really need a reason to want to go to China's place. She was still feeling a residual buzz from their one meeting, and the anticipation of visiting just to feel that way again was only tempered by Sonja's intense anxiety that she'd make a fool of herself once again.

Well that, and also Skulduggery's implication that she was manipulative and deceitful. Still, Sonja had been known to occasionally flirt with danger, sometimes literally. She hadn't seen China on the console network lately, so she figured a different approach was in order.

Halfway through the month, China received by courier an envelope with an elegant card asking if she would be willing to meet Sonja for tea at a Tea Room a few blocks from China's residence the next day.

C: Heojin, you know, the Farmer (Closed to Zelgadis Greywords)

Yuxnu had made it well known that he was on the look out for information about Heojin, so Sonja was quite interested in finding out more about the mysterious Wood Sector Leader. She also had a lead: she'd seen Zelgadis chatting up Heojin at the Shangpar Races discussion. It was as good a place to start as any.

As far as she was aware, Zelgadis didn't stay at the hotel, so she had to make a point of tracking him down. She wandered around, asking if anyone had seen am enigmatic, blue stoned-skinned foreigner lately. Results varied.

E: It's Stopped Bubbling, at least (Closed to Tony Stark, Raine Sage)

Eva had been a bust, but Sonja still had this jar of pus stashed inside Anton's freezer with a Radioactive symbol painted on (hopefully that warning transcended languages). Without access to Stark's lab, it seemed like her options were limited, but maybe she could make do with some other people she knew, like the guy the lab was named for, for instance. And Raine Sage was supposed to be a healer, right? If this was biological maybe she could tell Sonja something about it.

D: Staffing the Welcome Center (OTA) + Wildcard

Sonja continues to regularly staff the Welcome Center. She likes the relatively private console the center offers, and it's a good opportunity to meet new people. The board games she brought in seem to be a popular attraction, too.

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Goodness. Manners.

China did remember the girl, and her awkwardness, but this gesture said something of forethought. Forethought, and some knowledge of formality, and perhaps even a desire to make a better impression. Whatever combination of those it was, China was curious enough that she sent the courier back with an affirmative response, neatly penned.

The next day she was at the tea shop exactly at the appointed time, dressed impeccably as per usual; her outfit both displayed the gem around her neck and left her forearms bare. She paused at the door only briefly, to glance around, before heading Sonja's way.

Sonja beamed when she saw China come. She totally hadn't been nervously glancing at the door every minute for the last hour, especially because she obviously hadn't gotten there an hour early on the off chance that China would be there an hour early because obviously China wouldn't do that, but still she totally had been there for an hour, fretting and freaking out and she'd actually even said a few words back and forth with the server when she could squeeze out the confidence to push her head past her menu.

Sonja had accumulated a modest wardrobe since the start of her employ with Tu Yuxnu, from which she had meticulously and painfully put together her current outfit of floral skirt and camisole. That had only taken three hours. Her gold soul gem necklace hung from her neck.

She rose from her chair as China approached and bowed respectfully. "Thank you for coming!" She said. There was something about China- just being in her presence filled you with this warmth, like Nabemono at the height of winter.

Overall? China was pleasantly surprised. She inclined her head in return, the gesture a few shades closer to an actual bow than she would usually concede to. "I was curious," she said, the ghost of a smile turning up her mouth, and she swept into the seat left for her with her customary grace.

"Shall we exchange pleasantries, then, or will it be straight to business?" Personally China had a preference for the latter, but evidently Sonja had some kind of a plan. There would be no harm in letting her come at whatever she wanted in her own speed.

Oh, hmm.

"I think it would be a little awkward to choose the 'exchange pleasantries' option, after it's had attention drawn to it," Sonja said. "Would you like some tea first, at least?"

There was a pot of hot water, two cups, and a small sampler of mixed teas and cloth bags for dipping.

"Oh, I don't know; there's a reason people keep doing it," China said airily. "But I'll admit I am not overly fond of small talk." She was not at all going to object about getting straight to business. "As you will. Tea, then." She folded her hands in her lap, leaving it to her 'host' to pour, though she'd indicate a preferred tea when Sonja went to do so.

Pouring tea did give Sonja a chance to get her thoughts in order a little bit. She was kind of relieved that there wouldn't be small talk because she kind of hated it and was terrible at it, but at the same time was it a bad sign that they weren't doing small talk?? It was a thing people did - did it mean something that China didn't want 'chat' was this already going wrong?

"Well, first, I wanted to apologize for the other day, it was very rude of me to interrupt your work with all of those questions."

China got more than enough small talk as part of her usual methods for wheedling information out of people who didn't want to give it to her. Cutting straight to the chase was much better.

"I did anticipate working outside would not be entirely peaceful," China allowed, which was true, but it had needed to be done and she needed the light of the afternoon, rather than waiting for a time when there would be no passersby. "Nevertheless, I'll accept that apology." A tip of her head, inquisitive: a gesture that said and?

Jeez, Sonja had kind of hoped that the meeting could be a social thing, but social didn't seem to be a thing that China liked, or at least, didn't expect from Sonja. She didn't really have much in the way of business prepared. Well, actually, there were a couple things she could probably ask...

"Do you know much about the Soul Gems?"

"As much as I need to, for now." Not difficult to tell where and what hers was; her neckline neatly framed a good-sized deep blue teardrop. A simple piece. It said something about her confidence, that she displayed it openly even with the increasing danger.

She hadn't studied the gem much beyond the initial examination when she'd first gotten there, to ensure it was exactly and only what Skulduggery had said it was. Her interest was more in the kedan interest in the gems, but that facet could wait. China picked up her tea, cradling it in both hands, and took a delicate sip. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm doing a bit of investigation for the soul gem muggings, and I have one victim who says that their soul gem was 'tainted' after they got it back. I'm trying to find out if anyone might have some experience with that."

"Zatanna, wasn't it?" China had spoken with her on the topic. "I recall her. It's not my area of expertise, though given enough time I could certainly learn something." More time than was reasonable for someone to be separated from their soul gem, apparently, but she'd need time to experiment and construct a useful array. "I agree it's certainly concerning, though."

For all that, she was maintaining the same light conversational tone, like this wasn't something that might impact them all on a more than physical level.

"But otherwise no insights or suspicions about the whole thing?" She was fishing, but sometimes fishing turned up useful nuggets.

Sonja was going to have to do better than that. China took another sip of her tea, set it down, and rested her chin in her hand. "Of course I have suspicions. Who doesn't have suspicions, in this city? But nothing currently worth sharing."

She had leads, of course, thoughts and pieces waiting to be fit together, but right now it wasn't worth her while to give any of these to Sonja. Skulduggery was looking into some; China herself was following up the others, both with her own powers and her tiny network.

"Oh."

"Well, that's- I don't have any other business, I don't think."

~~Sorry I wasted your time. I'll promptly dispose of myself in the trash behind the current establishment.~~

"All this trouble, only for that?" China raised an eyebrow, but she didn't seem particularly concerned or offended. She tapped the fingers of her other hand gently against her cup, a throwaway gesture that nevertheless managed to be effortlessly graceful. "Suspicion's a dreadfully thin thing to pursue, my dear. You may be better served looking at the city itself. Finding the pieces that don't fit as they are. Which there are, of course-- everything is connected to something."

In a moment she shifted, leaned back in her chair instead. "Tell me, have you spoken to Skulduggery about this?"

"I have. I was just trying it from another angle," she said. She was a little perplexed by the rest of China's words though. The city was large - and foreign. How was she supposed to see what didn't 'fit'?

"Good." That sounded almost approving. Multiple points of view were important for something like this, and whatever else Skulduggery was, he was a good detective. And, more pointedly, he had the majority of the pieces she did.

The confusion was visible. China considered, finally expounded. "People are not so different, between worlds. Only the setting differs. If a kedan does something strange, you must ask why. Money, or love, or family, or some combination thereof. The city does not shift without the actions of the people, and the people can be predicted. The places where they diverge are the places to watch. Do you understand?"

"Sort of," Sonja said. She thought that China was oversimplifying this a bit though. If the answers were easy to find, then the Family leaders would have dredged them up easily. They had a much firmer grasp of the pulse of the city, after all. Well, unless the family leaders were colluding, or very good at hiding things from each other.

Actually... yes, that made sense. They would know exactly how to hide it from each other, wouldn't they?

"While I'm doing that though..." Sonja had a thought. "Can you use sigils to make a Tracking Device?"

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Something Doesn't Add Up - April Catch-All

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