[center] [color=pink][h3]The Incorrigible Iceburn![/h3][/color] [/center]

	

	“Of course,” Pei said in her ‘Li’ voice. Lower, smoother, flattening out the Rhelasian accent and some of her own scratch. “If anything, you and I are behind the times. Today, I’m playing catch up.” She said. Pei decided Li was the type to respond to authenticity with authenticity of her own. At least, it seemed like Origami was genuine in that moment. Now would be a bad time to lie, and she hadn’t held her punches on some of the others.

	When the interaction ended, and Pei realized she had ‘done well’ in Origami’s eyes, she let out a pleased, girlish giggle.

 [color=pink][i]”Teehee~!”[/i][/color] 

By the time anyone looked back at her, she was completely stone faced once more, glaring in return.

“...”

 After the recovery, Pei offered a pleased raise of her eyebrows towards the enigmatic Red X. His character seemed to have the most lore, which was awesome. Hopefully not dangerous.

	On the aircraft ride over, Pei googled what ‘Fulgora’ meant. Ah, okay, that makes sense. 


	[color=pink]”Your real alias kinda sounds more evil than Fulgora, now that I’ve seen what Fulgora means. I guess ‘Fulgora’ has ‘gore’ in it though, which is pretty ominous.”[/color] Pei said. Pei remembered the first time she met Cora- on the jet ride over to the island. She offered Cora an encouraging nudge of the elbow. [color=pink]”Hey. See you on the other side, huh? Thanks for watchin’ out for me.”[/color] Pei said with a smile. Then she looked over at the newest member of the team, (Pei had already started thinking about Origami in such a way) and shared the smile with her without much thought. For some reason, perhaps the unusual circumstances, this act made Pei shy. She looked away and cleared her throat to start putting on her new Meilin Li character. 

---

By the time the aircraft landed, she was as in character as she was going to get. On the inside, she was nervous, but she was going to make sure her mask didn’t sleep. It wasn’t hard to play pretend. Especially when it came to something as important as this mission. 

Once there, Meilin looked around. She recognized everyone from the dossier, but some of these villains needed no introduction. Meilin gave Fulgore a glance. “Don’t try to enjoy yourself too much, party animal.” She replied sarcastically.

Grabbing a drink of ice cold water, Meilin took a sip and surveyed the field. She needed an ‘in’. Something light and casual. As a fraud, she had nothing real to offer these people. Shimmer, Mammoth, and that group were already spilling secrets all on their own. Meilin thought about leaving that to an eavesdropper. But she thought she had an ‘in.’ A chance to make a good first impression, perhaps. The other alternative was the mysterious Cheshire. When she considered who else might approach Cheshire, Meilin thought she herself would be one of the better options. 

It was right around then when Meilin Li and Cheshire’s eyes met, only for a moment. Meilin raised an eyebrow. Cheshire was like a perched cat overlooking everything. The choice was made for her, then. Meilin let the ghost of a smirk dance not across her lips, but her eyes, and turned away. Her eyes flitted about, and she found the stairs. Someone like her, all by her lonesome, not even trying to talk to someone. Could she be the buyer? Or here on the buyer’s behalf? Or maybe she was just bored. Meilin thought she could relate.

As Meilin walked over, she turned her head halfway towards Fulgora. With a dismissive wave of her hand, she told her bodyguard to keep her distance. “I’ll not be shackled to you.” She said. “Don’t eavesdrop.” 
Finding the stairs to the upper floor, Meilin Li weaved slowly, casually, through the disparate crowds, not trying to hide her approach from Cheshire. Indeed, she was being wry about it.

“You seem keen.” She said, as she approached. “Or bored.” She leaned against the balcony, back first with the back of her elbows against the railing. Pei supposed someone could easily push her over. Whether Meilin was ignorant of this fact, or self-assured that no one would dare touch her, Pei would let Cheshire decide. 

“May I ask which? Or are you the only one allowed to size people up?” Meilin Li asked. As she did, she looked back down at her drink and took a sip. Ice cold.