* Rei watches them go, then takes off in the opposite direction. "Wonder if Dad, Eoi, or the prof's on the map." She looks at it again. [Doesn't look like it.] * Makoto walks over to Rei and peers over her shoulder. Can you order soldiers around from here? * Rei sighs, letting out a breath of frosty air. Then she shivers. "I dunno how. Let's see." She tries selecting a unit. * Makoto takes off his overshirt and drapes it over Rei's shoulders. Can't have the commander catching a cold. * Makoto still has his short-sleeved shirt, though. It's lemon yellow. He doesn't seem too cold. * Rei smiles at Makoto, then sneezes. "Since when was I commander? I haven't been commander since I was six! I conquered my brother's army with my feet." * Makoto grins. "Sadly, there's probably not a 'summon giant six-year-old's feet' function in this game." * Rei pouts. Are you sure? ... Not completely sure, no. [After walking in poor visibility through a snowstorm, you reach Yuan Shao. You know he's Yuan Shao because "Yuan Shao" floats above his head in Western-alphebet letters. He's got a beard and mustache, and fully armored in yellow armor, complete with yellow cape. He's riding a white horse and wearing a pointy helmet that must be at least 3 feet tall.] That's him! [He also has a funky looking sword, kinda like this: ==|======< ] Wow, the tree hat's crazy. I want one! That ~sword~ is crazy... Yeah, but the tree hat's cooler! Well... granted. ... What did you want me to do to this guy again? He's the good guy. We're s'posed to protect him. If you copy what he looks like, we can probably fool the baddies into thinking he's somewhere he isn't. Ah! I understand. * Rei grins. * Rei studies the tree hat. Must get a tree hat. * Makoto studies the guy very carefully, and concentrates. His body reshapes itself into the form of the Yuan Shao fellow, though his costume is ultimately a bit lacking. Oh. Details. * Rei hrms at it, then floats up and waves her hand in Yuan Shao's face. [Yuan Shao doesn't respond to Rei at all.] Hey, you don't mind if we take your hat, do you? * Rei waits half a beat. "I guess not!" She tries removing it from his head. [No response.] [Rei finds she can't seem to touch the hat.] AAAAH! Illusionary hat! Damn! I knew it was too cool to be real! * Makoto calls out. "Try taking those English letters! Maybe the bad guys are only interested in the hovering name thing." * Rei cracks up and does that. [Rei's hand doesn't go through the hat. It's more like she can't reach it.] (Still illusionary hat. ^^ Illusionary, unreachable hat. ;_;) No dice. We'll just have to go on what we've got. * Makoto snaps his fingers. Well, lets see if they pay any special attention to me just like this. Yup. [Nobody seems to be paying attention to Makoto. Not even Yuan Shao.] * Rei checks the map. "Okay, thisaway." She starts off back towards the center. * Makoto takes a few moments to watch Yuan Shao, and practices a few of the character's movements. Then he follows Rei, feeling a bit out of place. * Rei pushes her arms into the sleeves as she walks. "Together, we will... well, be mostly useless as everyone else kicks ass, but that's pretty normal. Thanks for the shirt, Makoto." She grins. [Yuan Shao ain't moving. He's sitting on his horse. Doing nothing.] * Makoto smiles cheerfully at Rei. "My pleasure, Rei. It's kind of nice not being the only one who stays out of fights, you know?" He stops and looks back at Yuan Shao. "Hey, Rei... maybe you need to tell him to do something?" * Rei glances back. "Uh... he's sorta..." She checks. "The commanding officer." He's the laziest commanding officer I've ever seen. Maybe you only control commanding officers. * Rei gives it a try. Nope. I can't control anything! * Rei keeps walking. "But we can test out your disguise." Okay. If it works, I guess we should get ready to run. A lot. * Rei giggles. "In the other direction? I wonder if we can get them lost." * Makoto smirks. "Maybe if we run in big circles, in opposite directions, we could confuse them indefinitely." Hey, yeah! It just might work! I could pelt them with snowballs. * Makoto chuckles. I just wish you could shift a tree hat. Then I could take it, you can shift back, then shift another tree hat... we'd have infinite tree hats! * Makoto laughs. I'll work on that, cutie. * Rei cheers and claps. "I'm so honored! Oh, what do you want for your birthday?" [From out of nowhere, you hear Lazar's voice. "I defeat officer!"] * Rei sweatdrops. "Uh... yay?" She raises her voice and yells, "Good for you!" And when the hell did Lazar know English? * Makoto opens his mouth to reply, and then stops when the voice booms out. ( In English, yes ) What... what did he say? * Rei clears her throat and imitates it as best as she can in Japanese. "I defeat officer!" * Makoto sniggers. Cool! We need to defeat an officer, too! Yeah! It's like English made easy for dummies! [Chie shouts from somewhere, "Enemy officer defeated!"] [Someone else shouts, "We musn't fall behind!"] * Rei yells back, "Well, at least you already know English!" * Makoto looks around for enemies on which to test out his disguise. * Rei has been leading the way to baddies. Honest. So, yeah. Back to the other conversation which wasn't really getting anywhere! What do you want for your birthday? A tree hat? I could probably swing you a tree hat. [Rei's voice doesn't seem to carry as far as it did when she shouted "Good for you!"] * Rei blinks as she realizes that. A little odd. There's a consideration. Oh yeah. Idunno what I'd want for my birthday. A day at a spa might be nice. Day at a spa? Like a pass or something? Or am I supposed to dig a hole in the ground and fill it with water and pretend it's a spa? * Makoto taps his chin thoughtfully. That could work too, if you want. Just make sure it's a very clean hole. * Rei laughs. "'Kay. I might do that." [You reach the others.]