This choice: Suggest using Dana's mask • Go Back... You give yourself a once over in the mirror in Carlos' weight room which doubles as the storage room for everything related to the masks. You wouldn't really believe her to be related to Yumi as, aside from both of them being Asian, there's not really much of a family resemblance.
While Yumi has a much more striking and youthful prettiness to her Dana's is different. She's more pan faced, flatter and rounder with a broader jawline and nose. Her eyes, and you'd hate to use a term so stereotypical, are squintier and more stereotypically Asian and her cheekbones are a bit puffier. But you don't hate it and in fact like the way everything scrunches up on her face when you smile.
Dana's hair is dark and straight reaching past your shoulders compared to Yumi's shorter hair. You catch another glimpse of yourself in bra and panties and it's all you can do to not want to rip those off. Dana's body is certainly nice: in comparison to her cousin Dana is taller. She's also bigger in other areas with wider hips and a more developed chest.
But as appealing as it is you know you'll have more time to enjoy it. For now you need to get dressed and you're thankful that Dana made it very easy for you. Nothing more complicated than a pair of short shorts, a dark short-sleeved shirt and sandals. Yeah, you definitely look good you think as you look yourself over once more; even with a minimal amount of effort. But it's not good enough to attract Shawn Gregory.
You feel a sudden longing in your heart at the mention of that name. Shawn's a member of the Eastman basketball team and a handsome guy. He's always been nice to Dana (and from what her memories tell you is an all right guy in general so already on a higher level of human being than Mansfield) as well but unfortunately he's already taken by a freshman no less who happens to be the younger sister of his coach at that!
But what else goes on at Eastman? You try to pick through Dana's mind as it's like having a thousand different video screens around you. It takes a moment but it suddenly feels as if you've become hyper aware and you're able to see who the big players are at Eastman, who the power couples are and more besides. It's not a complete picture, you'd have to take time to sift through it, but it's a start.
But even if it's only a start there's still something that catches your eye immediately about the social structure of Eastman in comparison to Westside. It's definitely something that Fairfax would find interesting as well. You need to get back and give the rest of the group an update on things anyway so this is something you'll definitely have to bring up to them.
* * * * *
"Whoa Yumi, is that you," grins Keith.
You shoot him an angry glare. "Yeah, I get it, arr rook same right," you ask indignantly.
"Wh-whoa, I didn't mean that," Keith says defensively, "I was just making a joke because --"
"No, I get it," you say apologetically. "Dana can have a bit of a fiery temper about things, especially when it seems like someone's making Asian jokes."
"That's a very authoritative statement about this girl," Fairfax says. "How do you know --"
"Because I do," you snap and again you apologize and back off. "I'm getting kind of a clear picture of her already. Are you sure this takes hours?"
"It's definitely taken us hours to get into a new mask," says Carlos. "Though once you've adjusted you don't really have the same process if you put the mask on again. So like Philip could put your mask on and he'd be good."
"But you're talking as if you're getting it immediately," asks Fairfax.
"Kind of," you tell him. "There's a lot of stuff there and I have to sift through all of it but I'm getting a picture on her and the school."
Fairfax eyes you oddly as if he doesn't quite believe you but asks you to proceed.
"Okay so let's start with her," you say as you point to yourself. "She's Dana Pak and she's an Eastman student. She's also Yumi's cousin so that's why we saw her over there."
"Eastman," Mike whistles before grinning at Fairfax. "That's a little outside what you were aiming for, huh?"
"It is but..." Fairfax's face goes into deep thought as he trails off.
"We can still use her to get Yumi," you tell him, "but I was also thinking that it might be interesting to get an idea on how Eastman works too. So I, uh, or someone else, can go over there as Dana and scope it out. You know, start sketching out a map for there as well?"
Fairfax, now up and pacing around, stops to look at you for a moment before finally speaking. "That's actually not a bad idea," he says. "I myself don't know anybody who goes to Eastman but," he looks over at Mike and Carlos, "you know a couple of guys who go there right?"
"A few guys involved in the A/V stuff," says Mike.
"Yeah," adds Carlos, "but they're mainly just keep to their own corner so they don't really talk to us much about what goes on there."
"But it shouldn't be too much different from Westside, correct," asks Fairfax.
"There's some differences," you chime in much to everyone else's surprise. "I mean I don't have everything but I've been able to sort through things enough to give a basic outline maybe."
"You have," Fairfax asks skeptically. "Well some times the mind comes in bits and pieces and it's not inconceivable that you got school related memories first. So okay, if you have something tell us. I want to make a determination as to whether Eastman would be a good option to explore."
"Okay," you say as you take a breath and sit down. "So from what I've been able to see the cheerleaders aren't necessarily at the top of the social ladder there. Some of them are up there but others... I wouldn't say they're unpopular but they're not all on the level that all of the Westside ones are."
"Interesting, so who is?" Fairfax is giving you a serious gaze as you have his full attention.
"It's a bit split. On one side you have some of the athletes. The big ones that keep coming up for me are Kyle Lakewood and Jenny Taylor who captain the boys and girls soccer teams. Ian Carpenter from the boys basketball team is up there too as are a couple of his teammates." You hesitate to mention Shawn Gregory by name.
"That doesn't seem all that different from here," says Carlos.
"Well the difference is not all of them are sociopaths," you reply. "It looks like they run relatively tight ships so they don't tolerate a lot of the stuff that you'd see someone like," you cast a sympathetic glance at Keith, "like Javits would get up to. But it's not just them. The head cheerleader's also at the top of the pyramid there too but not really because she's the head cheerleader."
"That... doesn't make a whole lot of sense," states Fairfax.
"She's also the chief gossip hound," you tell him. "She's got this, like, group of friends I guess and they pretty much control all flow of information going around the school. I guess she does it as a way to nip any potential troublemakers in the bud."
"So she's like, what, a Bizarro Chelsea," asks Mike.
"Something like that," you laugh. "The social groups look a little more fluid as well. The head cheerleader, Alyssa Randall, is also on the debate team. One of her best friends is also on the debate team and is dating one of the baseball players despite being on the nerdier end of the social spectrum. There's a lot of others too like, uh, this rocker girl? She's apparently really popular which isn't something I'd see at Westside."
"I'd say that certainly qualifies as different," says Fairfax. "Here the social hierarchy is so rigid and... traditional."
"There's another thing too," you say as another stray thought of Shawn floats through your mind. "The freshman students there, at least the girls, seem to hold a lot of power."
"Bullshit," exclaims Keith.
"There's a couple that are dating really popular senior athletes. There's one that's dating the basketball captain's best friend, one that's dating... you know the name Straussler?"
Fairfax's eyes go wide at that. "Straussler's the name of the guy who owns Proteus," he says in amazement. "It's where I was hoping to get an internship once I started college."
"Right, well, his son goes to Eastman and he's dating a freshman girl too. There's a few others too."
"Damn, that's insane. I can't think of any seniors here who'd date a freshman," says Mike.
Fairfax's eyes begin to glimmer though. "But that does make it a much different place from Westside," he says. "I thought it would be interesting to study Westside's groups but Eastman is a total unknown."
"Hey, are you thinking of going for Eastman instead," asks Shank. You can hear the trepidation in his voice and seeing as he was getting Chelsea you can't find fault with that.
"It's very intriguing," says Fairfax. He then looks at you. "Will, I'd like to go home as Dana tonight. I feel like, over the night and into tomorrow, I could sketch a decent outline of social circles. From there I can email it to all of you and we could start moving into Eastman tomorrow."
"Would I have to go home as you then," you ask and Fairfax shakes his head.
"As hypocritical as it is I'm not overly comfortable with that idea," he says. "We can call your Beta out, put my treated mask on the real Dana and you go home as normal."
"So if we do this move to Eastman..." you start.
"I was thinking of staying as Dana. She seems like a good entry point so I think I would be best positioned there. Through her we can get others for the rest of you."
Carlos and Keith seem to be doubting it and while you don't disagree with him, you proposed it after all, part of you is starting to second guess even making the move as well.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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