[OPEN] ❖ get on this level, encyclopedia brown

[doitrockapella]

WHO: Carmen Sandiego and YOU!
WHERE: A street cafe in Tisse and later her Foundation building in Enprise!
WHEN: Sometime mid-September; time is a flexible illusion.
WHAT: Fun with Carmen's detective inclinations, Suspicious Deliveries™, and the slow-dawning realization that no rooftop is safe when you have a woman with a wrist-mounted grappling hook and a can-do attitude in the vicinity.
WARNINGS: None that I can immediately think of? I'll warn in individual threads if topics come up that would necessitate it!


I: A CAFE IN TISSE

[It's not altogether uncommon to spot Carmen here and there in various places around the city; goodness knows she has a knack for catching the eye, what with her penchant for always wearing something red. And as it happens, today she's idling at one of the outdoor tables outside one of the many cafes in Tisse, sipping at a carry-out cup of what is probably either coffee or tea, and reading a book as the afternoon slowly passes by.

Curiously, though, it seems she's afflicted with the thought-bubble issues that many Retrospec users seem to be experiencing lately, as every so often an out-of-context sentence turns from transparent to opaque in the air around her head:

The glass was on the outside of the window, not the inside.
And then:
Both pills were harmless; the poison was in the glass of water.
And later:
He wouldn't have knocked on the door if it were really his own room.
And after that:
He never asked where the scene of the crime was, but arrived there anyway.
And then:
There's really no such thing as a perfect crime, is there?

~

Of course, if you don't happen to pass by her in the middle of...whatever all that was, but happen to just be minding your own business on the street, you might just come across her while she's people-watching — and in fact, you might just catch her watching you.

Though her manner of regarding the flow of traffic on the street is casual, laid-back, and unassuming, the thoughts popping up around her head are anything but:

Black hair slight build five foot eight or five foot nine inches shoes add an inch red sweater cardigan white buttons blue jeans acid wash ripped left knee boot cut long stride.

Blonde hair side part layers and highlights five foot three inches pink pumps charcoal coat gray leggings gel manicure plastic frame glasses feather earrings —

And who knows? If you're passing through, you might just see her observation of you coming into view in the air, too.]

II: THE SANDIEGO FOUNDATION IN ENPRISE

[Alternatively, if you happen to be near the Sandiego Foundation building in Enprise, you may notice that there's a fair amount of activity taking place outside, in the form of a couple of reasonably-sized trucks moving what seems to be a lot of wood and steel pieces in through the doors. Given the cones set up around the trucks to help divert traffic away and around them, it looks as though they expect to be here for a while, too...

Carmen herself is also present on-site, casually directing the moving process and chatting with what appears to be the foreman of the crew as the hardware moves in through the doors, and after a while she reaches for the clipboard he's holding and examines it before remarking something to him.

Whatever it was she said, it seems to be the crew's cue to take their leave; about fifteen minutes of packing up later, they pick up the cones and set off in a convoy down the street, heading in the direction of Viea Village.

Carmen, meanwhile, idles on the street a little longer, surveying the handiwork of whatever it is the crew has just done. Before she leaves herself, however, she tips her head back and regards the stonework of the Foundation building's eaves and roof, and raises one arm as if sighting along it while she seems to consider...whatever it is she's considering.

Which, thanks to Retrospec's little whoopsie, the world gets a sneak peek at, besides —

The corner, then swing to the top of the streetlamp and jump, handspring off the railing and over...

Now that really would be a daring feat of acrobatics, wouldn't it.]

Comments

I

[blondferret]

[Derek is walking back from taking his cat, Blaise, to the vet. The office wasn't that far away, so Derek figured he could walk it. He is really regretting it now as Blaise is throwing a fit in his carrier. Blaise HATES his carrier. As he walks by a cafe, he notices a women with some very alarming thought bubbles above her head. Did one of those just say crime? Derek stops and stares at the women, hoping to maybe see more information appear in her thought bubbles. Derek's own thought bubble starts to form above his head.]

What is she up to?

[doitrockapella]

[Here's a fun fact: Carmen loves cats. Here's another, even more bizarre one: cats, for some reason, love her, which is probably part of the reason why she likes them so much in the first place.

There's another idle thought bubble starting to form as she turns the page in her book, but she happens to glance up before it forms, and it immediately dissipates in favor of a sudden and completely different notion:

Oh, a cat!

And since that's a neatly unusual sight, she sets her book aside just long enough to angle her body and lean forward with her elbows on her knees, delighted as she calls out to Derek.]

Taking your cat for a constitutional, are we?

[blondferret]

[Derek's eyebrows raise in surprise as the women calls out to him. He looks around to see if there was anyone else with a cat, but no, he's the only one. He laughs awkwardly. His thought bubble changes to say: Great, she noticed me. Now what? He shifts the carrier in his hand a bit before he responds.]

Uh, sort of. I'm just walking back from the vet.

[He notices the text in her thought bubble.]

You like cats?

[doitrockapella]

I love them. My own is back at home right now — he's not much of a fan of the vet, either.

[She gets up, though, wandering a little closer to bring Derek within conversational distance, mostly so that he's not stuck coming all the way over to her while she stays sitting. He's hauling a presumably precious cargo, after all.]

Well, well, and who do we have here?

I

[destiny_key]

[Sora's walking around after school when he spots Carmen in the cafe as he goes past. The thought bubbles have become the temporary norm, and not really all that interesting anymore, but the contents of her thought bubbles are what's intriguing. Descriptions of people as they go by, including himself, which is... maybe a little weird.

Normally, he might ignore it, but she looks familiar. Probably another person he's seen on Retrospec. The scholarship lady? He stops and stares back at her, trying to puzzle out who she is, and his own thoughts pop up above his head too. Who is she?]

[doitrockapella]

[It probably comes as no surprise, but Sora is no exception to the little game she's playing with herself, and so sure enough, a rapid-fire description of what he's wearing and how he's carrying himself will flurry up before long —

Up until, that is, she sees his own thought bubble appearing, and gradually another bit of commentary gets added to her list of conclusions:

Ah. A Retrospec user? ]

[destiny_key]

[Sora fumbles a bit, trying to figure out how to answer her without talking, before he does so. Talking via thought bubble is super weird.

Yeah. You?

He approaches the table a bit, but still stays an arms length away, examining the lady.]

[doitrockapella]

[Ah. Well. That's confirmation positive that he's reading her thoughts, isn't it.]

Hello. You're welcome to come and sit, if you like.

II

[megatechbody]

[ After meeting with a young woman who swears her office working husband is having an affair, she's taking the long way back to her office. It's then she sees the woman, staring at the Sandiego Foundation building. Mariko isn't one to eye up women randomly, especially not after the morning she's had, but the thought bubble immediately grabs her attention.

Interesting. Her own thought bubble pops up in response.

Well, what sort of lady are you?]

You'd have to be pretty fearless to take a path like that. The fall alone could be nasty.

[doitrockapella]

Hm?

[REALLY, IT'S AS THOUGH SOMEONE IS REMARKING ON HER VERY THOUGHTS well gosh carmen maybe that's because you're projecting them like an imax. go figure.

She looks up at once, however, with her gaze falling briskly on the young woman who'd spoken to her, and there's a certain natural confidence in the way she's off-guard, but not off-balance, by the question.]

...Oh. Is that at it again?

[She glances upward, like she's looking for the telltale thought bubbles.]

Call it an exercise in creativity. It's a whimsy pasttime, picking out natural paths in urban terrain like that, don't you think?

I

[geckoman]

Iwai was just on his way home from getting groceries and unwrapping a lollipop when he saw a description that...seemed a lot like him. He squinted a moment as he put the candy in his mouth before adjusting the hat on his head and the bag in his arm. When she was close enough, he gave a nod to her thought bubble.

"There a reason you're checking me out?"

Was a bit creepy, okay.

[doitrockapella]

On one hand, she should probably be a little more ashamed about being called out than she is, but let's be real: this is Carmen Sandiego we're talking about here, and she has probably never experienced the sensation of shame for a single instant ever at all in her life. Her eyebrows go up, though, at his nod, and she glances up quickly enough to see her thought bubble starting to fade away, and to catch a look at the contents of it before it disappears from sight.

"Shouldn't I? There's no law against people-watching — and part of being in public means assuming the risk that you might be looked at."

So she says, with a friendly wink.

[geckoman]

"Looks like a profile you're creating. It's a little different."

Not often one saw things that were rather specific. Six foot with a gecko tattoo and eating a lollipop and all that kind of stood out. Weird too because he was pretty sure this was someone he talked to on that app. Well, what he could see of her in that icon anyway. Least he hadn't run across anyone else that seemed to like red so much.

"Just stands out more when it shows up in bubbles like that."

[doitrockapella]

"It's an exercise. People often tend to look at things without really seeing them — the same way you can sometimes get into a conversation and then later realize you can't remember a single thing that was actually said," she says easily, leaning back a little in her chair.

"The game is to see as much as you can, in a glance or two, and to practice spotting things that are a bit more conducive to making someone unique than just 'a young man in a sweatshirt', and so on."

I

[imaginex]

[Sakura is already a shy turtle during normal conversations; add evasive thought bubbles to the mix and walking down the street has turned into a dangerous affair. The best solution she's found is to keep her eyes planted on the ground, no eye contact... except she swears this causes the thought bubble to pop over her head in vindictive glee.

So. A compromise. A few seconds of staring at her feet, followed by quickly jerking her gaze upward in suspicion, and then her shoulders sink in relief when she isn't treated to her stream of conscious on display. Rinse, recycle, repeat.

Which probably makes her look absolutely ridiculous walking down the street. And no matter how benign Carmen's observations might be, Sakura is quick to squint at the details when she catches sight of the other woman's thought bubble...

Y'know, before immediately wincing and bowing in apology, a finger pointed at the bubble.]

Um... your thoughts are... Sorry, I didn't mean to look.

[doitrockapella]

Hmm?

[Well, that's curious in two respects. The first, obviously, is that she's having her thoughts awkwardly pointed out to her, and when she glances up to see what's up there, her eyebrows go right up with it — stream of consciousness looks so strange when it's all laid out in text instead of just in your head where it belongs — but the second has to do with Sakura's reaction to the situation at hand, and one more minor piece of detective work that she can't help but question.

In a moment of apologetic awkwardness, she'd bowed. And that's a cultural trait Carmen is familiar with, but it's also not typically a Western one. Hmmmm.

Well, there's one way to find out, and that way would be just inquiring politely, but then there's the Carmen Sandiego way, which is wildly more unnecessary but just as likely to get results.]

Oh, it's all right. I try not to think things I'd be ashamed of other people knowing about, really.

[She pauses, and then sort of experimentally, she continues in Japanese: ]

You seem nervous; are you all right?

[imaginex]

[Sakura would pay good money to have the type of mental control Carmen casually refers to, though at least this means only one of them is standing like an awkward duck. Another quick glance upward - still no thought bubble, thankfully - and then Sakura falls back on her neutral smiling, prepared to bow once more and then be on her way.]

Mm? Oh no, I'm fine. I guess I'm not used to the things that happen in this--

[Her tongue catches uncomfortably against her front teeth when she realizes she's switched to Japanese automatically, the comfort of her native tongue. And it might be obvious Sakura's thoughts - not just the fact that she straightens an inch, eyes remaining soft with an edge of curiosity, but also because that damned thought bubble popped over her head without her realizing it:

She doesn't look Japanese...]

[doitrockapella]

[Aha. So her suspicion wasn't wrong; another fine bit of sleuthing there, detective. Or, well, making an educated guess and then playing the odds, at least, but sometimes that's all a bit of sleuthing really is, all things considered.

She'll stay speaking Japanese, though, which has only a hint of an American accent to it — she's not a native speaker, but she's clearly practiced in the language.]

— city? You're right, this is certainly one of the most unusual places I've ever lived.

[She says, opening the door wide to answer that unspoken question in Sakura's thought bubble, without outright acknowledging that she's read it.]

I

[thisloveisjustice]

Tatsuo is taking a couple days off work to let his shoulder start healing properly, but that doesn't mean he has to actually stay at home the entire time. Granted, going out means putting on a shirt, which is kind of tricky when you live alone and just dislocated your shoulder. But with a little patience, Tatsuo manages to put on a white button up shirt and get his arm back in the sling.

He just wants a bit of sun and some fresh air, and if he passes a cafe with a tasty looking menu, all the better. His meandering eventually takes his past the cafe Carmen is sitting outside. When he recognizes her, a little thought bubble containing a red shoe appears over his head.

"Hello, mind if I join you?"

[doitrockapella]

It's all she can do not to laugh in delight when she notices the pictogram thought bubble coming into view over Tatsuo's head, and she's quick to wave at him and beckon him over to her table in open invitation.

"I'd be offended if you didn't, frankly. That's quite the sling you've got there; what happened?"

[thisloveisjustice]

Tatsuo smiles at her as he takes the chair across from Carmen. He's not too surprised when she asks about the sling, because who wouldn't?

"I had a little accident Sunday night. Dislocated my shoulder at the dojo. Doc said to keep it in a sling for a few days and then be careful with it for the next three months."

[doitrockapella]

"That sounds like more than a 'little' accident."

So she remarks, which is admittedly a touch hypocritical, because it's also exactly the way she would downplay an injury of her own if it were her in Tatsuo's shoes.

"What'll you have? It's on me — my treat."

ii.

[parodeity]

[ well, dave was stopping by for a reason, but... ]

Are you takin' up parkour now? [ he's pretty sure he could manage those acrobatics, but dave just stands there following the path with his eyes behind his shades, holding a misshapen package in his hands. ]

[doitrockapella]

Hm?

[She shouldn't be surprised, at this point, that her thoughts are showing, so when Dave points it out to her, it's only natural to glance upward and check — ah, yes, there it is.]

Philosophically, at least. Afternoon, Dave.

[She smiles, wandering over to a better conversational distance.]

What have you got there?

[parodeity]

Heya. And I was droppin' by to give you this, actually.

[ he will offer it over to her? the mug inside - clearly...badly hand made - is no less misshapen than the package, and has this little factoid written on it in casual red font, better-painted than the mug was, like formed. ]

I'm taking a class...