Foxpearl!
There's a TV in the room with you, too. Surprise! This is because Joshua Chan, like many people, does not have the spiritual fortitude to handle the sound of his own thoughts inside of his head. If he does not have a TV to distract him while he eats his takeout, he might start grappling with the sort of advanced questions of virtue, vice and enlightenment that you do all the time.
Concept: you should steal Joshua's TV for his own good.
Usually he watches YouTube videos on there, and he'd left a dance choreo on, but the autoplay's sent him straight to the Emergency News Broadcast with Director Li (probably a citywide push in the algorithm).
"Greetings, citizens of Sky Gate City," he says, with his stupid shaved-sides haircut and his tacticool jacket, as he stands in a plaza hastily commandeered for a broadcast. "Earlier tonight, HOUND's rapid response team stopped the rampage of the supervillain Xingtian and stopped the collapse of Providence Tower. However, in the process, we were unable to stop one of Lady Foxpearl's minions from kidnapping the Vermillion Princess, who was providing us with assistance on the scene. In order to locate one of our city's most beloved young women, I am authorizing neighborhood sweeps. I am aware that this may prove controversial, but--"
The microphone is smoothly taken from him. The woman next to him is perfect. Tasteful lipstick, tasteful single-breasted jacket over her dress, tasteful bobbed haircut. She gives a demure smile and then continues: "But locating the Vermillion Princess and delivering her to the safety of the authorities is our duty as citizens of Sky Gate City. When Empress returns, how could any of us look her in the eye if we failed to do everything we could to save her successor from the wicked grasp of Lady Foxfire? As your humble servants, we beg you to join us in our service to our city. My husband and I are worried sick about the debauched torments that our favorite heroine must be suffering in that... that awful fox's grasp. Please. Invite our teams inside, let them search for clues as to her whereabouts, and together we will make Empress proud."
She pauses to lift Li's hand and kiss one knuckle, demure and adoring and patriotic, before turning back to the cameras. "And our message to Foxfire is: there is nowhere you can hide. We will find you, and even if Empress isn't here to stop you, my husband has trained the elite forces of HOUND for just this eventuality. No tricks of your tails will be able to stop us, the citizens of Sky Gate City, working together to deliver you into custody, you and anyone who tries to hide you."
And her smile is just a little too cruel, a little too self-satisfied, before she returns the microphone to her darling husband. It's a flash of the fangs underneath, too fast for anyone else to notice. But how could you not recognize your mother, no matter what face she's wearing?
Shifu!
Izi rolls her chair forward and focuses harder on the game, which, haha, it doesn't seem like she's noticed that she's sort of pinning you between her and the desk, emphasis on the her, which you'd think she'd notice, because she's got her thighs pinning you in place and you've seen those videos of people popping watermelons between their thighs, right? Because hopefully your ribs are made of sterner stuff than watermelons.
Tap tap tapatap tap tap. "In position-- pop Aegis-- Black, rotate now-- triangle him-- Blue, rotate-- pop Sanctification--" Sharp tap. "Shifu, if you want to be under my desk, I charge." Sharp tap 2. "Zetaburst on my mark. Now."
Joshua looms from behind Izi, but when he clears his throat she shoots him a Look and shakes her head before turning back to whisperyelling her arcane formulas. Tap tap taptaptaptaptap TAP tap. So now he's hovering and giving you the Look while your cheeks mold into the shape of Izi's corset.
This, uh. Didn't go quite the way you planned.
"Virtue now."
Wait. That was definitely an invitation to bring virtue to the wicked! Probably! Certainly! You'd just need to. You know. Slither out of the way, in a way that Joshua has definitely told you that you shouldn't do. And you wouldn't be smothered and pinned by a very intense girl whose mind is extremely focused on her hermit magic while her body is extremely focused on trapping you in place.
Rain!
Bai gives you a sideglance. Weighing you up. "Why?" she finally asks. "Has someone been giving you trouble? They shouldn't. You live way too high up for that, and as long as you're thoughtful about where you go into basements, you shouldn't... unless someone's been telling you about the Flower War? Look, that's... a mess. They're fighting over who gets to fill the role of the big boss down there, who gets to have tense tea ceremonies with Empress and occasionally fight her for the honor of everybody involved with all that, and it's going to get messy, and you should try to stay out of it, okay? It'll blow over, or Empress will sort it out once she gets back."
She definitely knows more about this than she's telling you, but she's concerned about you. Like you might break a nail, or get yourself kidnapped, or something like that. She thinks you are the rich girl damsel in distress here.
[Shift: -Savior, +Mundane]