Evo Academy IC

[Rhyvurg]

Faith simply glares at Malcolm muttering in German in response to his comments about noobs.

Malcolm winks back. "Laaaaadies."

[Tegu8788]

All - Subterrain Meeting Room

"Giv'n tha we have a vested in'tress in these companies, we'd ratha ya not go abou' breakin' tha prototypes."

"The other important factor, is time. If we are not able to catch this thief and recover the stolen tech, then the thief may either go underground and we will never be able to recover the lost tech, or worse, they will be used for a battlesuit, or possibly sold on the black market. It has taken us some time while Akemi has been recovering to identify the pattern, but we believe that there is only one more likely target for this thief. So time is of the essence. With the new additions to our Active Team, we trust that you'll be able to accomplish this."

[Ridai]

Malcolm's comment is met with an utter lack of a reaction.

Akemi says "When do we leave?" And she turns to the group. "Hikari is going to be very outgoing, so we can say she sort of formed a group of fellow travellers around her she happened to run into and who are going into the same direction. Allows us to group up, but also makes sense if we move about on our own. Whether you'll just be yourself but with a different name or impersonate a character, if any of you would like some help with preparing, feel free to ask."

[protheuz]

"I'm not that good at hiding stuff, so i'll try to be me, but witha different name and story." says Leon

[Tegu8788]

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - All

Clothing packed up, false ID's handed out, the team is shuttled off to the Jasper train station. It had been a long day drive, but it had given the team time to rehearse their stories. Malcom finds his ticket entitles him to a Touring class ticket, with the rest of the team having seats in the same car of the Economy class. By the time they arrive, the train has already begun to board. It will take two days for the train to reach the end of the line. That is the Team's timetable.

[Rhyvurg]

Malcolm tries to avoid touching people as he takes his seat, nervous but enjoying the special treatment. Investigations weren't something he had experience with, but he assumed he would excel as he always did. He wanted to try and use his telekinesis more this time, he got few chances to test it out in a fight. But you never knew, maybe this time the bad guys would be smart enough to not try and fight. On the other hand, he really really wanted to throw someone off the train. For the first part of the ride, he stared out the window trying to think of a good one liner.

[Ridai]

Once the meeting is over, Akemi goes to her room, packing her things. All normal-humanly-readable data backed up and removed from her phone and laptop, her usual environments hidden on both, fresh new cheery profiles with fake contacts, a collection of music, pictures, videos, even a bit of a browser history. The gun stays at the Academy, too many potential issues with carrying one on a train as a civilian (and minor). After picking her outfits, doing her hair, and adding accessories and make-up, Akemi gives herself a once-over in the mirror. Decent, given the little time to prepare. Just grounded enough in reality while also playing a bit with the way locals imagine Japanese girls to be like in behavior and appearance. A traveling, pleasant curiosity, designed to easily drift into and out of the lives of the people on the train. Boots, leggings, and the hooded jacket there to deal with the weather, with her sweatshirt and skirt pointing towards someone very much liking to look cute and pretty, with a form that dovetails nicely with that. Adorable figurine attachment hanging off her phone to round things off.

The one thing that doesn't fit is that unsmiling face. None of her closer friends and none of the other founding members are on the active team anymore. Akemi was hoping Lucy would stay on, that they'd get through these challenges together, but it seems the island ruined all that. A sad girl looks out of the mirror, not fitting the bright happiness of her clothes. She plays an important part on the team as the most experienced member. There are good people on the team. Akemi recognizes that it is a case of the grass always looking greener on the other side, safe and happy in the Academy. She is doing good work out there, dwelling on what ifs will only impact her morale. But it would be nice if she could pursue her own happiness on a mission, just a little bit, as she was told to do...

Deep breaths. No time to resolve these feelings, so down they go as she creates her mask. Looking into the mirror again, she sees a giddy, brilliant, gorgeous smile, even doing a little pose and wave. Hikari will be dealing with the mission for now.

----------

Hikari is avidly documenting her trip, like she promised to do, taking photos of the train and the train station, throwing in a selfie and a quick video for her friends at home (managing to make the whole thing look good-natured on the outside, which is a fine line to walk and can easily slide into the obnoxious). She's heard much about the Canadian landscape, so getting where she needs to go while getting a great view of the country kills two birds with one stone. Taking her seat, she is looking at how different the trains look in Canada compared to Japan where train infrastructure is much more important and part of daily life for many people. That curiosity and excitement are good ways for Akemi to collect information and observe her surroundings, especially the other passengers, counting and cataloging them, memorizing their appearance and completing their patterns with all information she can glean from how they look, what they wear, how they speak, what and who they are taking with them, where they are sitting, how they are sitting etc. And where all those little flaws in their patterns are to facilitate her investigations. There is plenty of work to do.

Once the train gets going, Hikari stays seated for a bit, looking out of the window (and making a little video with a bit of narration in Japanese, chronicling the adventures of Hikari the explorer), before getting up and deciding to go explore the train a bit. With her most important belongings kept in safe (and hidden) parts of her bag, she sets off. Hikari smiles instinctively towards the twins as she passes them and their eyes meet (even adding a friendly little "Hi!" when she makes room for someone going the opposite way and stands very close to the two for a moment). Leon notices the Japanese girl trying to hide a curious double-take as she goes, with the telltale sign of seemingly thinking he looks cute. And once she comes through the better parts of the train, Hikari looks quite astonished (and maybe a little intimidated, through she tries to stay optimistic) when she sees Malcolm.

Time for taking stock and doing her initial sweep. She'll publicly create connections to her teammates during the mission so it makes sense that they are together from time to time. The game is afoot.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

As part of her investigations, Akemi will make use of her Well-Informed feat where applicable and glean whatever information she can with her Recognition of Flaws. Not sure if any rolls are required right now.

If anyone wants to go along with the sweep or involve Akemi/Hikari in a scene or begin creating connections between their characters, feel free to start something.

[Logan1996]

Hope drags faith around the train exclaiming things in French recieving muttered replies in German. Playing up the excited tourist, Hope makes a habit of making small talk with as many people as are willing,while Faith shrugs her off, mutters rudely and keeps an eye out for,those who aren't willing.

[Tegu8788]

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Touring Class - Malcom

Malcom is able to find his seat in the last row, and to his luck, the seat beside him appears to be empty. His large leather jacket does what it can to hide his massive metallic wings, and his permanent electrical field doesn't seem to interact with the very soft cushioned seats. His wide brim hat hides his face well, but he can see across the aisle from him some fancy looking high heel pumps, and slight nervous laughter that may or may not be directed in his direction.

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Economy Class - Akemi, Leon, Faith, Hope

The ladies and Leon find themselves placed throughout the Economy Class car, surrounded by several families with young children, a couple grandparents, and a smattering of young adults in tight pants and tats alternating between being smug and smushing themselves together to take pictures. A conductor comes through, checking tickets, before the train let's out a loud whistle, and begins to pull away from the station.

[Ridai]

Hikari happily greets the conductor and shows her ticket, then remains seated for a few minutes, watching the landscape moving by. This also serves the purpose of observing the other passengers for a short while, mostly aurally. Here's a fun consideration: the team doesn't know who they are looking for. Given the existence of Evos, they could very well be looking for a child, too. Still, no reason to jump to conclusions, Akemi is still in the data collection phase, after all.

[protheuz]

Leon tries to relax, and by relax be slow and steady, and as the train moves goes from car to car (going to bathroom or just for something to eat) looking at possible candidates (in his formated idea) of thiefs. Single isolated person or middle aged groups. Families with kids he disregards as suspects, but instinctively plays with the kids - he's allways been good with children - making faces and putting his tongue out.

[Rhyvurg]

Malcolm's instincts war with each other, expensive shoes means this woman is more likely to have the disposable income to take extra time with her appearance, yet looking her right in the face would expose him in a second, this could be their target, he has no way of knowing, and even if she's not she'll probably draw too much attention to him.

...but...

...hot older woman...

Being a good guy was truly suffering.

[Tegu8788]

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Touring Class - Malcolm

With everyone keeping to themselves in the Touring Class, Malcolm is free to enjoy the view out his window uninterrupted. As the sun begins to set, a fresh dinner is served. Fancy, with trimmings and garnish, a moist towelette is provided to clean with afterwards. All told, it is a relaxing way to spend the afternoon. Being just in front of the restrooms, Malcolm has the opportunity to observe as nearly everyone passes by him once or twice.

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Economy Class - Akemi, Leon, Faith, Hope

In a car with several families, being teens that aren't annoyed by children make them very popular. Some are entertained by books or games, while others prefer to talk to strangers as a way to pass the time. Dinner is served, and while it's hot, it certainly isn't anything to write home about. While most try to find ways to spend the time, but between the stiffness of the seats and the closeness of strangers, no one is able to get into a proper position to rest. No one, but the children. Most of them anyway. The few that stay up, well, they are far from happy, but fortunately their parents seem to be doing a good job keeping them calm.

[Ridai]

(Did hours just pass? What time is it now?)

After her few minutes of observation revealing nothing out of the ordinary, Akemi begins to explore the train.

[Rhyvurg]

As he eats, Malcolm keeps glancing around at everyone in the car, being about as subtle as a giant metal person can be. In his head he starts making up backstories for the people around him, but always tries to make note of anyone watching him back.

[protheuz]

Leon after dinner goes to the staff and starts asking questions "Sir(madam) my name is Wallace, but you can call me Wally. I've got to do a report for school about jobs, and I wanted to hear about yours. Can you spare a few minutes?" if they say yes, he will question them about their jobs "How long have you been working here? What's your job about? Are you happy in your job? Would you recomend it for a young man like me? What's the strangest thing that happened to you while at work? "

Spoiler: ooc

Show

A sense motive on the answers for outright lies - taking 10 for 19
A gather information roll to learn about gossip and strange tidings in the train (1d20+10)[22]

[Rhyvurg]

Malcolm starts to get into this whole secretive thing a little harder than he probably should... "Dun, dun, dun dun dun, dun, dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun, dun dun beow neo neowww, bew neo neowwww, bew neo neowwww...beow neow..."

[Tegu8788]

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Economy Class - Akemi, Leon, Faith, Hope

One of the crewmembers stops pushing her cart for a moment, and listens to Leon's questions. "Well, I've been on this train line for the last 2 years, but I've been with the company for 5. It's a fun job, but it's not for everyone. I enjoy the travel, but I've seen lots of coworkers drop out to spend more time with friends and family. If you're a people person, this is fun, and we get lots of down time, but we do also have long shifts while we are on the train. Craziest thing I've ever seen, well, let's think. Well, there was the time that we had a mess up with booking, a pair of twins had booked a ride with their families. Thing was, the wives had almost identical names. So, someone up the chain had misunderstood, thought they were the same woman, and only got them a single seat. So the families arrive, and the kids, while cute, are hyper. Their dads are doing their best, but the moms are getting exhausted. Finally, we end up moving one of the families into Touring, and the whole thing get's sorted, but boy, that was a crazy day. Well, that, and the woman that tried to smuggle a dozen parakeets onto the train in her jacket."

Akemi can move between the Economy Class cars with relative ease, and in the forward Economy car, she notices that a particular gentleman dressed a little too nicely holding a large bag to his chest as he sleeps, but with some sleuthing and some clever internet research, Akemi is able to identify this tired look man is simply a board game developer, and the items in the duffle bag is likely a prototype of a new train based game. She is able to watch as the crew of the train move back and forth between the cars, and without too much difficulty, she is able to use the opening provided by Leon to move into the Touring Class car to further her investigation.

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Touring Class - Malcolm

Several people pass by Malcolm, with varying stories presenting themselves to him. With the sun setting, the lights dim to make sleeping easier. It doesn't take long for the metallic man to become very familiar with the sound of the restroom opening and closing. From his position, he sees the set of pumps get up, and wander backwards. However, what he hears next is not the familiar sound of the restroom, but something windier. As he starts humming to himself, Akemi steps into view in the Touring Class car.

Spoiler

Show

Yes, we have moved to night of the first day, because night is always the best time to wander and investigate without lots of prying eyes. Leon can determine from his checks that, while very friendly and professional, the people working this train aren't the keenest group, nor are they going to be of much use for anything beyond serving drinks and taking away trash until they reach their destination.

[Ridai]

Akemi moves through the Touring class car with a friendly ease of belonging there, as well as a quietness befitting the polite, attentive Japanese people as these folks know them (ignoring that there are more than plenty very, very loud people over in Japan, but a bit of magical mysticism helps in Akemi's case). Thus, she continues her sweep.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Does Akemi see Pumps Woman?

[Rhyvurg]

Wind... Wind on a train? That's weir-WINDOW SHE OPENED THE WINDOW IT'S GO TIME. He starts to get up, then stops, seeing Akemi. Grabbing his phone, he texts like he has never texted before.

suspect in rest room might be going outside train

Hitting send, he stares at her as hard as he can.

[protheuz]

"Wow. That seems like it was a troubled day for the crew. Thanks you very much. You helped me a lot." Says Leon a bit disappointed by the lack of clues in the midst of all information.

He goes into his seat for a few minutes trying to think what to do next. Maybe later he would try the exterior. A full day inside would make him feel closed.

[Logan1996]

Benningfields

The twins, once the train calms down and people begin to move around more decide to set out for the luggage car. That would be a good place they felt to hide or carry high profile luggage. They keep an eye out for anyone watching them as they do so.

[protheuz]

Leon a bit bored of being bored - yes, seeing time slip slowly made waiting really long.
He goes to the space between cars lowers himself and starts running, matching the speed of the train and quickly speeding up, so he isn't easily spot by people on the train.

While he takes a few laps, around the train he tries to spot anything out of the ordinary.

[Tegu8788]

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Running Beside the Train - Leon

As Leon makes laps around he sees the women in his team move from the Economy car to the Touring car, and on his next lap, he sees from the other end a woman moving from the Touring car into the Luggage Car. She has a long trench coat on, a stylish scarf, a wide brim straw hat, and unusually high heeled shoes.

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Touring Class - Malcolm, Akemi, Faith, Hope

As the ladies, in their own speeds, meet up at the far edge of the Touring car, Malcolm quickly txts Akemi, alerting her to someone of at his end doing something suspicious. The girls are just able to see the edges of a scarf flapping through a window at the far end of the train.

[Ridai]

(Passenger trains in North America are still open between the cars?)

Feeling her phone vibrate, Hikari retrieves it with the routine fluidity of an avid texter, a colorful addition dangling off one corner, including an adorable anime-style mascot the others aren't familiar with. The text answer sent to her team takes barely two seconds to be sent (hopefully making the timing of the messages seem more incidental on the outside).

Keep an eye on scarf woman, but don't fixate.

As Hikari is texting, she only then seems to notice the two other girls following her. Glancing about, unsure for a moment, she decides to handle the situation in her usual sunny way, starting off with a big smile to break the ice. "Hello," she greets them, keeping her voice low to not disturb the people around them. "Are you exploring too?" The Japanese accent and cadence is clear to Faith and Dawn, as is the curiosity Akemi lets Hikari display (along with glancing back and forth between the girls, clearly starting to pick up on them looking quite similar, further feeding her curiosity). "Do you want to explore together?" (Should they ask about what she means with exploring, she happily answers "The train.")

Should they decline, Hikari apologizes and leaves them be, trying to hide the embarassment that is starting to show in her cheeks. Should they agree, she introduces herself ask Kujikawa Hikari, stops for a moment, and corrects herself to Hikari Kujikawa, since the given name is said first in the west, also asking their names and if they are related. Either way, Akemi keeps going towards the Luggage Car.

[protheuz]

Leon takes up his cell phone and takes a few pics of the lady. Then, movining his hand quickly he makes a gust of air that tries to remove the hat and scarf.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Using move air to make a gust of wind through any open window (if there is one). If he can remove the hat and scarf he'll take a few more shots and then hide.

[Logan1996]

The sisters smile at the upcoming stranger. The German one scowls and begins "No, we are..." but the French Hope nudges her and smiles gently. "Thank you, that would be very nice. My sister is just embarrassed because she thinks she left something in the luggage compartment."

[Ridai]

"Oh, sisters?" Hikari asks, her interest piqued and visibly relieved to have gotten a nice response. "You speak, ah..." waggling fingers trying to jog the vocabulary parts of her mind until the word falls into place. "differently, it sounds very nice! Do you travel a lot?"

[Tegu8788]

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Running Beside the Train - Leon

When Leon sends a gust of air, in addition to the wind between the train cars, is enough to blow off the woman's hat, and all but unwrap her scarf. Leon can see she has an oversized bluetooth earpiece, but her long red hair swirls around, obscuring any further view of her face.

[Tegu8788]

Jasper-Prince Rupert Train - Luggage Car - Malcolm, Akemi, Faith, Hope

As Akemi, Faith, and Hope move through the fancier car, they get a view suspicious looks from the few still conscious riders. When they reach the end by Malcom, they find the door to the bathroom open and empty, but there is another door slightly farther back, the door out of the cabin and out to the luggage car. It's also locked. Unlike the ones between the cabins meant for passengers, this one is not covered. At most, a few chains would keep you from falling off the train. Hence the locked keypad on the door.

Unfortunately for the locked door, Akemi is smart. Very smart. A brief glance, and not only can Akemi determine the length of the door code, she can also determine which of the numbers have been pressed more frequently. Inside of 10 seconds, she has tried several combinations, and unlocked the door.

The wind howls outside the train, blowing hair and clothing around. The train rocks, and it takes some effort to stay on the slight walkway. Another keypad meets Akemi, but once again, it is no match for her Evo mind. Inside the Luggage Car it is nearly pitch dark, just simple running lights spread throughout the car. The bouncing of the train casts moving shadowing on the poorly lit luggage. If there was another inside, it would be near impossible for them to be seen right now.