[Center][color=bc8dbf][h2]Grima[/h2]
Level 5 (holding 1 level up)
43/50 EXP

Location: Esaka - Opera House
Wordcount: 888 (+2 EXP)[/color][/Center]

It only took a few minutes after Kim left the trailer for Grima to step out of the shadows, watching Kim leave the trailer with a deadpanned expression. She didn’t waste anymore time, instead slipping into the trailer on her own to look over the evidence that Kim had looked over. The note regarding G-Corp, shady individuals, and their penchant for a place that sold “infinite tea”. It was a crowded, messy trailer, one that filled Grima with disgust, but it served its purpose: Giving her a direct lead to where they might be, based off of the teacups that littered the floor. With what she had gathered, Grima could already tell that Chloe was likely hiding out at this tea shop for alone time… And to hide from both her fans [i]and[/i] her own security.

Through her disgust at their living condition, Grima couldn’t help but slowly smile, turning on her heel to exit the trailer to make her way out of the Opera House. While sneaking in was a difficult task, once she got a good enough distance from the back stage and the trailer, it would be a simple endeavor to walk out of the building. The rest of these Seekers would have to reconvene to chase after Chloe, but Grima?

She could simply go directly for the target. And do that, she would.

From the outside, Infinite-tea looked like a pretty average tea shop. The letters in its logo were gold, the first half surrounded in red outlines and the latter half in blue, plastered on top of a cup with lemniscates at the bottom instead of boba. Once Grima stepped inside, the interior wasn't much more remarkable, with a number of comfortable-looking seats, a counter full of stainless steel ingredient bins for bubble tea, and an overhead menu displaying dozens of options. Whether fruity or herbal, creamy or nutty, all kinds of sweet flavors were available for purchase. The shop happened to be pretty crowded; rush hour must be prime time for bubble tea, with plenty of Esaka citizens headed home from work. Of course, Grima didn't need to wait in any lines. She wasn't here for tea, after all.

Unfortunately, a quick scan of the room revealed a bit of a conundrum. Right now, there was not one, nor two, nor three, but five pale blonde women distributed around the store. None of them were wearing the attire shown in the adverts by the opera house, so any one of them could possibly be Lucky Chloe.

Nearest to the door sat a woman with two very long blonde braids, white, possibly British, with a red beret and a dark green leotard. She was about halfway through a dark tea with minimal sugar, and a stray cat who'd made it into the shop somehow sat beside her, getting pet. At the next table sat a more petite woman with long blonde pigtails in black ribbons, wearing a sleeveless black dress with white ruffles. Her beverage appeared to have maximum cream and syrup, so much sugar that the average person might have an overdose trying it. She was listening to music. Farther away sat an even smaller blonde with shorter, more voluminous pigtails, clad in a strangely minimal blue two-piece outfit. Next to her lay two large metal gauntlets, and she sipped at a cinnamon-laden, brown sugar bubble tea while playing games on her phone. On the opposite side, toward the back near the counter, a young woman with long blonde pigtails in sunglasses and a black hoodie was working on what looked like her second strawberry milk tea, an equally pink fidget spinner in her hand as she tapped her leg restlessly. Finally, a rich lady with blonde ringlets, a red outfit, and black tights was neglecting her herbal drink as she worked on her laptop. 

Grima only spent a few moments scanning the store before she smiles slightly to herself, folding her arms behind her back before slowly walking through, avoiding most of the tables and their occupants as she made her way directly to the blonde woman in a black hoodie, the cheerful facade completely gone as she walked to the other side of the woman’s table,

[color=bc8dbf]“Excuse me, may I sit here?”[/color] Grima asks, already pulling out a seat and taking her place without waiting for their response, leaning back like she fully belonged here, [color=bc8dbf]“This place is rather quaint. A nice escape from the troubles of Esaka. Utterly fantastic if one wanted to get away from all the attention, wouldn’t you agree? Miss Chloe?”[/color]  Grima asked, giving the latter a few moments to react, [color=bc8dbf]“Don’t make a scene. I’m a friend… Or at least, I would like to be.” [/color]

A lie. Grima couldn’t care less what happened to this woman, but it would suit her to pretend that she did.

[color=bc8dbf]“I’m an interested third party looking out for the future of Esaka”[/color] Grima continued, resting her arms on the table, [color=bc8dbf]“And specifically, dealing with the infestation that is G-Corp. I’ve heard quite a bit from my own sources on your relationship with them. You work so hard with them being your sponsor, and yet they demand so much from you. Especially those other [i]acquaintances[/i] of yours, yes? It’s a travesty how low G-Corp has fallen.”[/color]