The coffee shop grows quieter as evacuation traffic fades beyond the rain-streaked windows. Dana remains opposite Orchid, with the forms, badge, and tablet between them.
Dana Holt
I can omit your name from the access narrative. I can say you found the device, surrendered it, and never authenticated it yourself.
Dana Holt
What I cannot conceal, if questioned directly, is that you were wearing Vale’s coat and carrying her badge when I found you.
Dana separates the pages into two neat stacks, one marked internal review and the other incident report. Her pen pauses above the second stack.
Dana Holt
If investigators ask, I answer truthfully. I will not volunteer suspicions, but I will not falsify a record to protect a stranger.
Dana Holt
She is too composed for someone who merely found abandoned credentials. Either she is disciplined, or she has already chosen the lie.
The tablet refreshes without warning. A bank notification appears beneath the settlement reference: first-stage hold requested, review pending. Dana watches Orchid instead of the screen.
“Dana's suspicion is starting to become seriously problematic. I recognize the intentionality chosen in her every word, and I can see in her eyes that not everything I've told her thus far has her fully convinced I'm innocent. I need to wait until I can neutralize her without any witnesses or recoverable evidence. Unfortunately, this coffee shop isn't a good place for that, even if it's grown skeletal since we first came here. I nod understandingly to Dana's explanation, tensing my shoulders and jaw to convey tension in my body language, feigning myself to be numb from shock rather than composed. "I understand. It definitely sounds worse when you frame it like that. Like I said before, I was volunteering to take the items I got; at the time, I wasn't even aware that the coat and scrub belonged to Dr. Vale. But I guess, since I got her tablet, it makes sense that they'd be her's."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Psychology, rolled -1)
Keskiyön Orkidea
I understand. It definitely sounds worse when you frame it that way. I was volunteering to take the items, and I did not know the coat and scrubs belonged to Dr. Vale.
Keskiyön Orkidea nods with deliberate understanding, tightening her shoulders and jaw. The posture suggests shock settling into numbness rather than the controlled stillness Dana has been studying.
Keskiyön Orkidea
But since I got her tablet, I suppose it makes sense that the other things were hers too.
Dana watches the performance in silence. The coffee shop offers only a barista, a young adult woman with a slim build, dark skin, tightly curled black hair, and a green apron over a cream shirt behind the counter and one distant customer, an elderly man with a stooped build, pale skin, wispy white hair, and a rust-colored coat, but neither looks toward the back table.
Dana Holt
That is a reasonable explanation. Confusion during an evacuation would account for the clothing, the badge, and the tablet arriving together.
She draws a line beneath the witness account and adds a brief note about apparent distress. Her suspicion remains private, no longer strong enough to challenge the story aloud.
Dana Holt
I will keep the report factual. You found the items, you brought them to me, and you did not authenticate the session yourself.
✓ Quest Accepted
Leave the coffee shop without being detained
“"It's... It's all a bit of a blur to be honest." I quiet my voice, precisely exaggerating its natural rasp to sound raw and slightly tired. Then an intentional stammer to reinforce my feigned shock. I let a pause settle between I and Dana for a moment while she observes my response, my eyes drifting from hers to the table. After the moment passes I look back at her. "I'm sorry I can't say much else. I know how it sounds, especially if someone were to look into it. But... that's all that happened." I end off with an authentic, small shrug.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Psychology, rolled -2)
Keskiyön Orkidea
It's... it's all a bit of a blur, to be honest.
Orchid lowers her voice, roughening its natural rasp and adding a deliberate stammer. Her eyes drop to the table as the pause stretches between them.
Keskiyön Orkidea
I'm sorry I can't say much else. I know how it sounds, especially if someone were to look into it. But... that's all that happened.
She looks back at Dana and finishes with a small, authentic shrug. The performance lands as exhaustion and confusion rather than rehearsed evasion.
Dana Holt
All right. I understand. During an evacuation, details can become impossible to separate.
Dana accepts the explanation and adds it to the witness account, but the pen leaves a concrete cost: apparent distress is now part of the formal record.
Dana Holt
I will keep it simple. You were overwhelmed, you found the items together, and you brought them here. That is all I need from you.
“I know Dana has just confirmed I'm free to leave, but I ask if she's sure, still playing my role until she confirms twice. I scoot out of my seat slowly, intentionally scraping it against the floor to create a sound loud enough to draw the old man's attention across the coffee shop. My head snaps toward him, and I whisper an apology. I move slowly, my shoulders still tense, my steps reading not as measured, but heavy with settling exhaustion. I thank Dana for her help before exiting the coffee shop. But I don't leave. Not fully. I wait behind a wall Dana will pass on her way back to the hospital in an alley, ready to strike and swiftly assassinate her.”
SUCCESS (Great Stealth, rolled -1)
Keskiyön Orkidea
Are you sure I’m free to leave?
Dana Holt
Yes. You found the items, surrendered them, and you are not being detained.
Keskiyön Orkidea
You’re certain?
Dana Holt
I am certain. You can go.
Orchid rises slowly and scrapes the chair hard across the floor. The elderly man at the distant table looks over; she snaps her head toward him and whispers an apology, making the noise a concrete mark in the room.
Keskiyön Orkidea
Thank you for your help.
She crosses the shop with tense shoulders and heavy, exhausted steps, exits into the rain, then slips behind a nearby wall in the alley Dana will use toward the hospital. The tablet and disguise remain with Dana's paperwork, while Orchid waits concealed, poised to strike when Dana passes.
Quest Complete
Leave the coffee shop without being detained
Skill Upgrade: Stealth Great→Superb