[Thursday, September 2, 2004.] [The sun is just starting to set in Chicago's Chinatown, a colorful place not in the best repair, but arguably with the best food. That's what Veronica and Christy were just doing, after all: eating food at one of the many delicious noodle and barbeque restaurants that line the streets.] (Also, man, I love that I know Chinatown fairly well. Ahem.) (You know Chinatown like I know Japantown.) [They're just leaving the shop, and there's no more drizzle. Hooray! Outside, a good number of people walk the streets, but it's not nearly as busy as when they came in a couple of hours ago. Christy's bouncing even though she's stuffed.] [Session Start.] * Veronica walks along, her hands in her jacket. She's been fairly solemn the whole meal. As she steps out, she glances over at the place Sunny and Tabitha went to. [Christy gets out of the shop and stretches as she breathes the polluted (but better than L.A.!) city air. "Man, those were *good* noodles. What's this place called again? Seven Fortunes? Eight Gardens?" She looks for the English sign.] Wait, why does it have to be called something like that? * Veronica breaks from her staring to look at Christy. ["I dunno, they usually are, right?"] * Veronica shrugs in her coat. "You know this place more than me." She looks back at the shop. "I wonder what that was all about." ["What? Noodles don't have to be *about* anything."] * Veronica shakes her head. "I meant Sunny and Tabby. Did you see the looks she was giving that girl?" [Christy blinks, then focuses on Veronica. "Wait. Which she?"] Both of them. But Tabitha mostly. It looked like she was kind of afraid to speak, didn't it? * Veronica rubs the back of her head. "Eh, I'm probably reading too much into it. I usually do that. And the way I've been putting my foot in my mouth today...: [Christy shrugs. "Don't worry about it. They didn't seem mad. Besides, you *did* drive them here, so you should be golden."] * Veronica nods and looks slightly down at the pavement. "Yeah. Yeah, I did." * Luke's minivan drives past Veronica and Christy, circling the block looking for parking. Luke doesn't appear to see either of his students walking along. [Christy's looking up, and she watches the SUV go by. "Hey, was that Mr. Mendel?"] * Veronica looks up for a minute, looking at Christy. She doesn't know what Luke drives, so she wouldn't recognize the minivan either. "Wanna go for a little walk? 'Rents are expecting me back late, so I got a little goof-off time." ["Sure!"] * Veronica then blinks at Christy. "Eh?" She turns towards the SUV now. * Luke turns the corner at the end of the block, still searching for a spot. Didn't he get the memo? Teachers are supposed to crawl away in caves and hibernate after the school day's over. I thought everyone knew that. ["Wouldn't hibernating last all winter?"] Why do you think there's winter break? [Christy blinks, then she says, "Oooooooh."] * Veronica glances back at where the SUV went. "Anyhow, I'm not going to be caught outside of school by no teacher." She grabs Christy lightly by the wrist. "Come on." She goes quickly in the other direction. [Christy yelps and is tugged. They head towards where Veronica parked, which would be the other direction.] * Luke finally finds parking in a lot. [Go Luke! It only costs three dollars, too. Best parking ever.] * Veronica keeps walking! She's looking arond a bit but mostly trying to keep away from Luke. * Luke pays three dollars, which is a lot for someone living on a teacher's salary, then walks back around the corner to the same street as his destination and the two girls. [Veronica sees a grocery store! It smells bad, still. She also sees some teenagers walking by and chattering loudly in Chinese. She also sees Luke, who sticks out, because he's not Chinese.] (That is to say, his destination IS the two girls.) * Veronica curses mildly under her breath and shoves Christy into the store quickly, whispering harshly. "In here! In here!" She ducks in soon after. (Well, two girls, but not you two.) [Christy yelps *again*. "Geez, Rica!" she cries as she nearly bumps into a porcelain Guan Yu statue.] * Luke doesn't even seem to notice Veronica and Christy as he heads to Sun's family store. (It's ninja-fu!) (He's not here for you, Veronica! The Winters-centric universe has been disproven.) (Really? Drat.) (I love those Guan Yu statues. They're supposed to keep thieves out of stores.) * Veronica peeks out the store for a moment, watching Luke since he's not coming near. "Geez, that's *really* strange." [Christy looks out after. "Yeah, you don't see a whole lot of white people in Chinatown. 'Specially not your teachers."] (Veronica finds the idea that Luke isn't stalking her really strange. The world's not about her! Oh no.) * Luke arrives at the store, glancing in through the window at the interior. * Veronica shakes her head. "No no." She points. "Did you see where he went into?" [The store's lights are on, though nobody's in front and the closed sign is up. It looks like a pretty standard Chinese knick knack shop. There are a couple of money trees up front and a lot of wooden and porcelain figurines, bells, and so on on the shelves.] (What's the store called, again?) [There's also a glass counter, filled with jewelry and some more expensive figurines, and a register, and stairs that go up and a door which leads to the back of the shop, behind the counter.] [Shi's Chinese Imports and Pets. Seriously.] [Luke doesn't see any pets. ... But that's just up front, so maybe they're obscured.] * Luke, incidentally, is dressed as he was earlier, and is carrying his briefcase in his left hand. (Mogwai!) [Christy peers. "Isn't that where Sunny and Tabby went?"] * Luke shifts position to rap on the door with his right hand. As he does so, there's a glint of light reflecting off metal near the handle of the briefcase, and Veronica can just make out a chain descending from his left sleeve.] [The door behind the counter opens, and Sunny comes stumbling out. She's wiping her hands on her jeans as she heads over to answer the door. Tabitha peeks out from the doorway, too, pushing her glasses up.] * Luke waits for the front door to be opened. * Veronica nods, then turns to Christy. "You think we should go check it out?" (Can Luke see what she's wiping off her hands?) (Looks like dust or dirt.) (Sorry; should've specified.) [Christy looks up at Veronica. "You're the one who wanted to avoid Mr. Mendel."] [Sunny fiddles with the lock on her side of the door a little, then pushes it open. "Hi, Mr. Mendel," she says. Tabby waves from back.] Yeah, but this is suspicious. Are either of them even in Mister Mendel's class? ["No idea! They're not in *our* class."] "Hello, Sun, Tabby." Yeah. Still, what teacher does house calls like this? (Maybe he wants a Mogwai.) ["None of mine. Except for him, I guess. Wanna see? Oh! Maybe the store's open. That's a good excuse. Come on!" Now Christy's the one yanking Veronica. Only out of the store. Role reversal!] * Luke steps inside the store. * Veronica turns back to the store. "I'm--hey!" She pulls back and puts her finger over her lips, hissing. "We can't just walk up there! Can we?" [Christy blinks. "Why not?"] First of all, what are you going to say? "Hi, we saw you in the neighborhood and thought it was a little weird so we decided to stalk you?" Second of all, we'll never find out what he's REALLY up to if he knows we're there. [Meanwhile, Luke enters the store! It's bright. That's because the lights are on. He's immediately hit by an odd, musty, distinctly Chinese smell (though he's not sure what it is; likely a combination of things). Now that he's in, he sees that the aisles are very narrow, the store also features a few food items, such as candy and jerky, and there are a few fish tanks (which probably contributes to the smell, too).] [Also, a phone on the counter. In case of emergency.] ["Well... yeah! Even Mr. Mendel's gotta admit that's a little weird."] * Veronica sighs and puts her hand to the forehead. "God, I *fear* any mission where I'm the brains of the outfit." She pulls Christy along. "Come on." She tries to walk up quietly to the side of the store. [Nobody gives either of them the time of day. Convenient, because they probably didn't want to know. Veronica and Christy approach the side of the store in short order; there's a small alley. The building, itself, is two stories tall. There's a fire escape up one side.] * Veronica doesn't go for the alley. They're eavesdropping, not breaking in. She whispers, "Can you see Mister Mendel through the window? *Carefully* now." [Christy peeks around and into the window. "Yeah," she says a little more loudly. "He's talking to Sunny and Tabby."] * Veronica tries to get close enough to listen in if she can. [Tabby looks over at Christy and says something, and then both Sunny and Luke are looking in her direction. She ducks under the window. "Uh oh! We've been spotted!"] (Run away!) Uh--yeah. Great job, Christy. * Veronica stands slowly and rubs her head. "Well, I guess there's no point now. Let's just go in." ["What! After I put my neck on the line for you!" She looks all indignant.] [The door unlocks and opens to the sound of a bell dinging! Sun-Niang looks out at the pair of you. "Hi?"] * Veronica waves. "Hi." She thrusts her hands in her pockets. "I guess we should come in?" [She hesitates, then says, "If you want?" Christy jumps to her feet. "Great! I was just... y'know, checking out... I'm just going in now!"] * Veronica nods. "Thanks." She walks on in, then hesitates by Sunny. "Sorry to bother you." [Sunny just nods and holds the door open for Veronica and Christy.]