[China trades in books, yes, but information too. Here she has woken up lacking both, and she's not at all pleased about it.
Her first order of business, then, is to get her bearings and build her mental map of their new (rather shoddy, in her opinion) accommodations. That venture takes her to the same doorway as Andrej, and she steps to the side to spy what she can manage around him.
Interesting.
The appropriate reaction here is horror, and China certainly isn't comfortable with this discovery. But it also pays to keep your poise, even at the risk of seeming somewhat cold. With a touch of irony that's not quite grim, but close to it:]
My. Our hosts have thought of everything with these accommodations, haven't they?
[Despite the circumstances, China hasn't dropped her sweet-as-sugar facade and smiles gently, sympathetically, at the stranger. Perhaps the innocent act will ring false when they know they're all here for something--or perhaps not, depending on how well she can hide her "sins."
And anyway, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. She'll keep her claws sheathed until she needs them and do what she can to acquire allies.]
Stand Your Ground II
Her first order of business, then, is to get her bearings and build her mental map of their new (rather shoddy, in her opinion) accommodations. That venture takes her to the same doorway as Andrej, and she steps to the side to spy what she can manage around him.
Interesting.
The appropriate reaction here is horror, and China certainly isn't comfortable with this discovery. But it also pays to keep your poise, even at the risk of seeming somewhat cold. With a touch of irony that's not quite grim, but close to it:]
My. Our hosts have thought of everything with these accommodations, haven't they?
[Despite the circumstances, China hasn't dropped her sweet-as-sugar facade and smiles gently, sympathetically, at the stranger. Perhaps the innocent act will ring false when they know they're all here for something--or perhaps not, depending on how well she can hide her "sins."
And anyway, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. She'll keep her claws sheathed until she needs them and do what she can to acquire allies.]