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Chai spends the next hour wandering the halls of Floor 27 like a ghost, trying to recall how to say "meeting" in Japanese, because her fervent pantomimes and drawings ended up in vain and Hiroshi came out more confused than he'd come in.

The doors are all closed, and the only one she dares to open is number 220, so an hour seems like a lot longer as she paces up and down the long, curving corridor and debates knocking on doors.

Hiroshi is silent and smiling as he bows every time Chai passes by him. She had challenged the old man to a game of janken twenty minutes after arriving, but he'd creamed her like always, and her ego was fragile enough for her not to try again.

Being beaten by old men was not her idea of passing an idle time.

So it was after an hour of fruitless wandering that Chai sighed and wondered why she even bothered to be early for a meeting she had no confirmation was even going to take place (although Hiroshi's presence did ease the gnawing, self-concious doubt at the back of her mind, she had to admit). Drawing the keycard she'd received from the clerk out of her pocket, she slid the cool plastic through a ridiculously inobtrusive slit to the side of the door, and took a small delight in hearing the tinny 'ping!' the door made when it opened.

The room itself was spacious and extravagantly furnished, colored in beige and pastel blues that made it glow with the sunlight that was streaming directly in. Chai assumed it was a deliberate effect because the sole window seemed to reach from floor to ceiling, one side of the room to the other, and the suite itself curved outwards towars the city (along the equally curving wall of the hotel), catching an extraordinary amount of light.

There was a kitchenette attached to the living room, while a door on the opposite end probably led to a bedroom as spacious and stylistic as the rest of the suite. A couch sat along the curving window, framed by loveseats on both sides. It faced a large plasma-screen television set situated in the middle of the living room.

'Okay,' Chai thought as she made her way over to the couch, grabbing the remote off the top of the television. 'This isn't so bad.'

Chai wakes to the feeling of a breeze dying on her face, and registers vaguely in the back of her sleep-hazed mind that somewhere, probably very far away, another one is springing up this very moment to take its place. There is an unfamiliar, peculiar weight in her hair and it takes her a moment to process the feeling and reach up almost involuntarily to brush at her hair.

Something dark drifts down into her vision and she goes cross-eyed trying to see what it is. It is a deep, rich shade of green, and almost vibrant in its lushness. Chai snatches the leaf out of the air before it hits the ground, accidentally creasing it. It is cool and smooth in her hand, and as she stares uncomprehendingly at it, a sound trickles into her consciousness.

Tok, tok, tok... tok, tok...

The sound she had taken for background noise sharpens suddenly into focus and she can hear, very distinctly, the rap of knuckles on the door. It hits her, as she glances at the clock, that she came here for the meeting, and the meeting started twelve minutes ago.

"Uhh!" Chai calls out to the door as she bounds up from the couch, fighting the rising panic in her stomach. "One second, one second. I'm coming!"

The leaf is still clutched in her left hand as she uses the right one to comb hasty fingers through her sleep-mussed hair. When she flings the door open, there is the annoyed face of a Suiryuugan girl staring back at her, black lip piercing glinting sharply in the light of the hall.

"Your mother," the other girl spells out in Chinese made jerky with irritation, "would like to know why you are not at the meeting. She would also like to point out that someone had come to wake you up already, and there is no excuse for your tardiness."

Chai breathes through her nose once, twice (her hand splayed on the doorframe and weight braced forward) before delicately replying in Cantonese, "Thank you for telling me." Her mouth curves awkwardly around the vowels and her words are slightly slurred, but the Chinese girl just makes an impatient noise and turns to walk down the hall. Black earrings tinkle with the movement, spilling in a cascade of reflected light across her retreating shoulders.

'Right,' Chai thinks, and absently brings the leaf in her hand forward to examine it, noting the pale, delicate veins blooming like traceries across the green expanse.

"Right," she echoes aloud to herself, quickly closing the door and rushing to the bathroom to brush her hair. The leaf is dropped quickly onto the couch as Chai staggers towards the bathroom door, wrenching it open hastily.

The mirror in the room is large, showing quite clearly the upper half of her body and the wrinkled shirt hanging crookedly off her shoulders. Grabbing the hairbrush provided by the hotel off the counter, she uses her other hand to straighten her shirt and try fruitlessly to smooth it down.

Her hair is easier to handle, and looks presentable in just a few strokes, but her shirt looks as messy as before. Chai makes a noise of frustration in the back of her throat before flinging the hairbrush back down onto the counter. 'Augh, it's not like anybody's going to look at my clothes anyway,' she thinks annoyedly as she slams the bathroom door open and rushes out of the suite, not bothering to lock the door.

"Phew...such things are getting heavy when carrying a long time." Nalini said while Jessila just nodded. "Put it down, we don't have time. We still need to visit the playground !" As soon as a letter and an orange flowerpot were put in front of the building the two girls ran off.




[ Please roleplay the planting scene to make your leaf develop ]

"Alright," Chai announced to the empty living room before plopping down on the carpet in front of the flower pot. The note had told her the leaf would "grow" if she planted it in the pot, and though she sincerely doubted the fact, it wouldn't hurt to humor whoever this "Lena" person was, right?

So... yup. How does one plant a leaf, anyway? Just stick it into the dirt? Chai got up and walked into the kitchen, grabbed a roll of paper towels, and sat back down in front of the pot. The leaf was lying innocently on the ground a few feet away, and she leaned over to grab it. Then, not exactly sure of her next course of action, put it back on the floor beside the pot.

Well, there was only one way to plant something, right? Taking a deep breath, she stuck her hand into the dirt. It was surprisingly dry and soft, though a bit cool to the touch. She scooped up a bit in her hand and lay it on the paper towels beside her. The girl dug a small hole in the middle of the pot and then stuck the leaf inside, making sure to secure it and pad the soil around it down. Then she took the paper towel and carelessly dumped it into the pot.

"What's next?" she wondered aloud to herself. Normal plants (not leaves stuck in dirt, she secretly added) needed sunlight and water, right? With that thought in mind, she walked back into the kitchen. She filled a glass of water in the sink and then went to pour it onto the leaf. The pot stood in front of the large, floor-to-ceiling windows, so she left it there, in the sunlight.

She wondered how long the leaf would take to "grow" and whether this would be worth it in the end. On a sticky, she made a note to herself to visit this "Lena" person in Barton and tell her off for stalking, and then stuck the paper on the fridge.

It had been a long day.

((Tell me if I've interrupted anything and this'll be deleted))