Re: School Starts Today!
Mei takes a detour to the public records section in the Palace. It's just off the biggest train station on the edge of the district, and tens of thousands of people have business there each day. She faces a new opponent now. The huge ornate building and its hundreds of labyrinthine hallways, filled with schizophrenic bureaucracy that makes acquiring information a nightmare...
(Mei has a single level of persuasion, so she succeeds with some large flaw.)
Soon enough she realizes this search will take forever, even after having gotten help from quite a few officials. She can either be satisfied with partial information, and still make it back to school before evening - or get full information from the public records hall, but spend until evening there.
Cao put the girl through some stances, giving pointers, while Silver Moon acted servile and self-depreciating towards the old man. Before long, it's almost like watching a grandfather play with his granddaughter.
Given Te's high Perception, he noticed a thing or three about the girl's fighting style. Her over-reliance on the artificial limb can be exploited, he reasons. It weighs more than her natural hand, making her stance asymmetrical, and slowing movement in certain directions.
(Te gets to reduce the Force of one of Silver Moon's moves by 10 next time they fight; you can pick highest or lowest, attack or defense)
Cao glances sidelong at Te, aware that the young man is sizing up his classmate, and planning how to defeat her. "Well, as long as you are here. Would you two like a sparring match? I have nothing else planned for today anyways. Silver Moon seems to be eager to try out some of the things I told her about. What do you say, little Sung?"
Fu Zhen was never far off; a few meters below, behind, and generally out of sight. After the faux confrontation is done, he waits on the ground. Lu pokes fun at him, but he bears it with a stoic little smile. "I'm just... doing my duty." He offers a smile. Bodyguards are a strange kind of person, Lu decides. Throwing away their own lives...
Teacher Wang was disappointed about the lack of opportunity. He was also clearly miffed that things didn't end in a fight. Oh well. Can't win all the time, right?
"Good, good. Lu Zhang gets a cookie. Now be a darling and put the pearl back on its place. " He scratches his chin, thinking about ways to provoke the two into fighting nevertheless. but comes up empty. "You're all quite skilled. I can't really teach you anything significant about wallcrawling, it seems. So, let's move on. Is there something in particular that interests you? Any special technique? History? Oh, the toilet is outside behind that big oak, by the way." He grins.