The Disappearing Hobos

Chi is able to tell about the scientist quite easily. His body language is that of someone making a speech. He's...rehearsed. He rushes through the 'science' of it, and then slows down to his normal speech, like he's trying to make sure someone doesn't question. He's not a good liar, either. Otherwise, he wouldn't' be sanding there waiting for Millie to put her hand on his head and read his mind.

Which she does, quite easily. When she puts her hand on her head, Mille's eyes suddenly turn pure red, and she cansee...she's standing in a hospital room, a man tied up to a bed. The scientist quietly takes a fruit, and puts it in the hobo's mouth. The hobo takes a bite...and starts convulsing. The scientist watches, his eyes hidden by the light...and then he sighs. As the patient stops moving, he simply reaches down...and removes the nametag on the bed, before throwing it in the trash.

Seina can easily read the contract...and her first guess? So things look legitimate. I mean, there's a line about the undersigned officially renouncing all rights to lawsuits whatsoever. Not even 'arbitration'. Straight out agreement not to sue, no matter what. The undersigned assumes all liability for harm. Physical, emotional, or otherwise. Another line saying that they agree not to contact family, friends, etc. Another line stating that they agree to stay until the end of the experiment, and AuLong reserves the right to extend that length. They weren't lying about the food and board thing, though. Huh. There's even a specific line about the QUALITY of food. Nice budget. Enough to get a good take-out meal two days a week. Reading further...it's basically saying "Everything that happens is your own fault, and you agree to do whatever we want." "Yeah...this could not BE more suspicious if they asked to sign it in blood, and introduced themselves as Louis Cypher. Not to mention, the look on the psychic's face.


Celia, meanwhile...cannot remember the movie's plot. At all. All she can remember is the climatic scene, where Charles Fenris defeats the Steel Tiger, slaying him in battle, and taking the title upon himself, to use the organization for good, not evil. Then he makes sweet love to the Steel Tiger's daughter.

She takes 1 mental stress as she now has the mental image of Charles Fenris, who is old enough to be her father, naked. Heck, he was old enough to be the father of the actor who played the "Heir to the Tiger".

Did she even GET a name? Maybe rewatch it for research?

(Celia takes 1 mental stress)

Millie's eyes go wide. The magus grabs Chii and snaps to get Celia's attention. "Guys, guys. Guys." She looks back at the scientist, then to her team mates. "I think they... um... Huddle up?"

She bends down, speaking softly as she can. "I think they... fruit. Killer fruit--maybe like the Nikki fruit? But it's doing the other thing it does to people."

Chii snorts. The scientist was obviously lying. She was about to tell the scientist as much, and explain how well she fully knew the dangers of both leonine contracts and questionable medical experimentation, when Millie grabbed her and brought her into a huddle with Celia and started explaining what she saw.

Killer fruit....Nikki fruit? Did Millie mean....

"Dryad fruit? They are feeding them dryad fruit?" Chii looked...disturbed.

After a second, she added, "Most people who eat it, especially men, die horribly, yes? And more importantly, we already know what happens when people eat dryad fruit. They die, or they become a dryad or rarely an oread, no?....so why commit such a gross violation of medical ethics?" She shook her head. "They are obviously trying something new with it. Perhaps we should call....or perhaps we should investigate further, or ask this scientist here because he is a terrible liar. Whichever we do, this definitely must be shut down, yes?"

"Okay, um. Okay. You call Greta, we'll... we'll distract... them?" Millie looks blankly at Celia, not sure how to proceed.

Celia reached into her tiny purse, and pulled out an phone larger than she was, and dialed Greta.

Millie blinks at Chii for a moment, but quickly composes herself. There is another man to worry about, after all, and he's the one behind the wheel! "Oh! You know rugby? Are you from Great England?" Millie almost slides over to the driver-side window of the van, gripping both hands on the frame. "You know, I knew a guy once who spent all his time talking about rugby! A bunch of guys beating each other up without any padding or supervision. A real man's game, he called it! He never let me play, of course--but I did watch!" Millie leans further into the vehicle, offering her brightest, most disarming smile. "He was actually a bit touched, though. So I'm not sure he played the game right? See, he'd split everyone into two teams of 7 and 11, which doesn't seem very fair. And both teams would have a pigskin at the same time--I've never seen any other team do that! And I never really understood how his scoring system worked--oh, it's so nice to meet someone who knows the game and, well, isn't an old homeless man I used to provide food for, I mean? Someone who could tell me about the rules, if I'm not being too forward?"

After her prompting, Millie continues to pester the driver with plenty of questions, talking fast, with excitement, and loud. Anything to keep the scientist from interrupting.

[[Millie attempts a Deception check to "block" the driver from hearing or seeing anything the scientist might tell him to do, in case the scientist gets cold feet. I can't invoke anything on this, but Millie's base Deception is 3.]]


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