Signal Fade [China]

For a moment- just a moment- Matthew thought that maybe he'd just barely managed to not horribly jinx himself in his thoughts. It wasn't as though he was a terribly superstitious man or anything, but he was well aware that there was such a thing as tempting fate too much, and actively thinking about the fact that there were few people in China who could notice him at the moment was basically standing on his hands, doing a backflip, and shouting at fate all at once. Still, for just a moment, it seemed like he might squeak by this particular offense against dramatic irony and be okay.

He'd already walked a good distance from the government building he'd been camped out in front of earlier, having started walking not too quickly after looking at his map, but relatively quickly all the same- he wanted to put distance between himself and the place he'd been planting bugs, partially because he'd been hovering there for long enough at that point and would likely be caught if he hovered too long. He paused. Just because he had a map didn't mean he entirely knew where he was, but getting lost wouldn't be too much of an issue- it wasn't like he was hiding that he was from out of town. He idly pushed at Kuma's paw as the bear pawed at the dog collar he was wearing.

His next target was not technically a government building at all- no, it was an internet cafe. China might have his own walls over his internet services, but that did not prevent such places from being very good information gathering sites as people with access to direct news from the internet, televisions, and conversation moved throughout it. The information would likely contain a lot less in the realm of foreign intelligence and a lot more in the realm of how the tide of public opinion in China was moving, but that could be equally important. If there was a gap, a place to create unrest, then it could be worthwhile to exploit it.

He didn't quite make it to the cafe, though, before approximately three things happened in quick succession: Matthew felt the presence of another Nation, saw oddly-dressed people who looked horribly, horribly out-of-place begin to move into positions that made him uncomfortable, and thought that he'd really probably had it coming at this point- it was what he got for trying to go out on a limb, move the war effort along, and perhaps surprise some of his family with something they could maybe be happy about.

At least he wasn't an idiot- he'd recorded a voicemail with a combination of code and Inuit explaining exactly what he was doing. His brother would be the only person able to figure it out- the combination of a language no other Nations had reason to know and a code long ago worked out between brothers was a staple means of communication when things were supposed to stay secret. It wasn't quite as secure as using a language without a written form- they'd done that before, too- but it was faster to understand, and it had been left there more as an emergency stopgap than anything. Things were likely about to go horribly wrong, so he was very briefly glad that at least one failsafe was up.

The next moment, Yao himself, with a somewhat adorable noise, ran right up to Kuma and started petting the bear. Normally, Kuma would be either preening under the attention or trying to get Matthew to get him out of it. However, instead, the bear- who was busy looking somewhat more like a bear, somewhat like that dog collar fit a lot worse all of a sudden and Matthew ought to unlatch it, somewhat more intimidating- was staring point-blank at the people who were beginning to surround Matthew, only idly brushing up against Yao's hand out of a sense of that it would be expected. He wasn't certain what to make of that- were they on his side or Yao's? The only reason he wasn't certain was that he couldn't tell if they were directly surrounding Yao or himself- and if they were surrounding him, how? Normally only Canadian nationals among the regular humans could immediately spot him out.

The low growl that began emanating from the guardian beside him, however, told him all he needed to know. Kuma wasn't even watching Yao, not yet- the growl had nothing to do with the cuddles that he was now allowing. The growl meant that Matthew was indeed surrounded and would not get out without a fight. He lowered himself for a moment, unlatching the collar around the guardian's neck that no longer seemed like it should have ever fitted in the first place and placing his hand on the scruff of the bear's neck. "Down," he whispered into the guardian's ear. The bear stopped growling, but did not take his eyes off of the interlopers. He did go ahead and allow himself to accept Yao patting him more fully, though he remained wary.

Knowing that the guardian was watching the men surrounding him, Matthew could afford all of his attention to the Nation in front of him. For once, Matthew was immediately glad that even his Nation status could occasionally find itself hidden from others, if not an already known fact. Yao was done up like a porcelain doll today- it was almost disconcerting, the fine, pretty, delicate appearance that the man seemed to have today. Those pretty, highlighted eyes showed only the faintest recognition. For once, Matthew was not going to try to make that spark bigger. He was going to try to close it.

"Oh, hello," he said cheerfully. "I see you like Maskwa," he said, quickly finding a word for 'bear', this time in the Cree language- he didn't doubt it was a name the guardian had gone by at some point, though, and he'd answer to it. "Sorry he's acting so standoffish- it's the crowd, you know." That was a half-truth as well- the crowd itself wasn't the problem, rather, it was the people crowding around him like they needed to create some kind of perimeter and the increasing sense of danger that was setting the bear off.