[Katherine and Ben get out to the woods. They're actually fairly expansive and dark. If neither of you brought a flashlight, you can have already snagged one from the car. They have a slightly primeval feel, but that may just be a spell.] * Ben looks around alertly, as if he can see in the dark without any trouble. [Ari is at the site you're looking for, so you won't get there until the end of the mini/session.] * Katherine walks along, too. She's looking considerably less alert, but hey. She hasn't tripped over any roots yet. (This continues for a while. The end.) (That. Is entirely possible.) 'Well. What now? I think it's fair to say that this mystery is not even close to solved, and our tour is at an end.' * Katherine sighs. "I could go back in, but I'm worried that it won't do any good." * Ben nods. He takes his cigarette out of his mouth and shakes it, pouring ash onto the ground. * Katherine looks into the distance. "We could have pressed harder, I suppose, but..." She frowns. "It's so risky, in that environment. Do you have any ideas?" 'Well, first we should check out the rocks in the woods.' 'That much is obvious.' * Katherine nods. And Ben can see in the dark, so he sees that! * Ben sees it. 'After that, I suppose we can't figure out anything without going back in.' Ben does not seem pleased by the idea. * Katherine doesn't look pleased, either. "Likely, no." I just wish we had some evidence. Actual evidence. * Ben nods grimly. 'All we have are elegant houses of cards. Nothing that would hold up for one ****ing second in a court.' 'Now, I grant that hasn't always been the standard that's guided my actions,' Ben says, taking a deep drag on his cigarette, 'but we're not even close to proving anything.' * Katherine stretches her arms behind her back. "No, we're not. It's not proving it to court so much as proving it to ourselves, so we can make a case and get this over with." Not, mind, that I don't like nearly being gored by a unicorn. 'Well, it's roaming around these woods even now, so try not to be overcome with lust for me or you'll attract its attention.' * Ben gives a slight smile. * Katherine looks in his direction, and she can't help but smirk herself. "I don't think that will happen. Benji was much sexier." 'Kitty wasn't.' Ben blows a stream of smoke off into the night. 'I assume you heard my conversations in there, but I lack your prodigious abilities. Did you learn anything when we split up? * Katherine lets out a breath herself and loses the smirk. "You said Rica covered for Dustin's lies. When I spoke with Crystal, she indicated that Rica would be the most likely of the faculty to deal in illegal goods." At least, she used to be. 'Professional monster hunters aren't always the most ethical sorts, or so I've been told.' One wouldn't think so, no. If she is involved, I don't think it's purely from the goodness of her heart. * Ben shakes his head. 'I agree.' 'But unless the kids are buying her off, what could her angle be?' * Katherine frowns. "I'm not certain." She sounds very displeased at that. 'If you're just not certain, you're ahead of me, Andrews. I don't have a clue.' Ben sounds annoyed as well. It was an understatement. Oh yes. I asked Maris about Dustin, and she came dangerously close to blushing. She ducked further questioning. 'Well, that fits in with what I heard. Either that, or I just convinced a delusional girl to write fan fiction about Spike and Hermione.' [There do appear to be the less mystical sort of animals in these woods, given the occasional ambient chirp or hoot. Every so often, there's an odd warble that's not as easily identified.] (I say, there's something a mite odd about that warble. It's not your everyday warble.) That's what we'll put on our report. 'Convinced Jessica to write about Spike and Hermione. Please check the Internet within two days' time to see the results of this mission.' 'Let's just hope she knows how to spell and punctuate. Otherwise, I'll have to come back and kill her.' * Katherine shakes her head. "I'll help. We can call it a field trip." 'Looking back, we should have sent Yvonne here and stayed home ourselves.' * Katherine keeps walking along, listening for the sound of that stream. "I hate hindsight sometimes." 'Knowledge is one of the burdens of being us. Sometimes, that includes the knowledge that we ****ed up.' Ben sucks on his cigarette. 'You know, every few years or so.' * Katherine looks faintly amused. "It's every few years for you? I'm jealous." 'Well, I suppose this makes my second mistake this year, actually.' Really. What would your first be? 'Same as yours. Joining up with this outfit.' * Katherine laughs. "I saw that coming." * Ben smiles slightly. * Ben looks around the woods. He doesn't see anyone (presumably), but his eyes follow a few animals as they skitter about. [There is in fact no one to be seen. The trees are a bit larger in this part of the woods. There are no other landmarks to speak of, though.] * Katherine falls into her faint smile again. "Think of it this way, if you like: You're saving mistakes for the future." Or you could assume bad things come in threes, and the worst is still around the corner. 'Bad things come in infinities.' 'I haven't seen the end of them yet.' * Katherine raises an eyebrow. "After death, do you think?" She idly brushes a hand against a passing trunk. 'I've seen ghosts, zombies, and vampires. I don't know if there's a God, but that death isn't the end, I'm quite certain by now. I doubt I'll find whatever comes after pleasant.' * Katherine clucks her tongue. "I expect more of the same." (Reshuffle! Enter the new Page of Swords.) (Yup!) (And she'll live in some girl/boy's memory. Man, I feel sorry for that kid.) (Haruko's successor will probably end up having a relationship to her like Squall's to his predecessor in FF8) 'The thing that has me most concerned,' Ben says, 'Is this business about Mallory and Emma. I can't see it fitting in with what we've theorized about the thefts. Is it unconnected, or is there a connection we don't yet understand?' 'I know Red believes that Mallory is near the centre of this, but I hadn't thought that was right.' * Katherine frowns a little. "I still don't think it's right. Don't quote me on this," she says, though the bugs that are on them obviously will, "but I do think they're separate." 'Yes, me too. Possibly somehow related, but not in the sense of one conspiracy. I think Red just fixated on Mallory from having read too many Harry Potter books, like Jessica. She really didn't have any other reason for pinning it on him that I could see at the time.' Ben chuckles, then glances over at Katherine. 'Though perhaps you have a more charitable view of Red, seeing as how you two are friends.' * Katherine grins, her teeth flashing in what little light there is - and there isn't much. "No. I agree with you. Friendship has nothing to do with that." * Ben frowns slightly for a second, as if wondering about something, then the expression passes. Is something wrong? 'Hm? No, sorry. Just had an odd thought. It's not important.' * Katherine blinks. "All right." She ducks under a branch. [You pass a small glen on your right with a circle of mushrooms in the grass. Currently, there no fairies; they may be sleeping.] 'This whole place bothers me.' * Katherine glances over the mushroom ring. "You're not the only one. But there isn't much we can do about it." 'What I mean is... I've been involved with weird stuff for a long time. So have you, I think. And in my experience, it's usually fairly secret. You don't just open a school teaching real magic and stocked with so-called mythical beasts and then send out brochures to high schools nationwide.' * Katherine lets out a breath. "Yes." This is inviting trouble. 'And trouble's already R.S.V.P.ed.' But, like I said, there isn't much we can do about it. Fill the report and send it in, then let the school take care of itself. 'It won't take care of itself. Something will take care of it. Mark my words.' * Katherine allows herself half a smile. "Consider them marked." 'I hope that whatever we do here ends up removing the wands from the equation. Without that, the school falls. The kids without talent can't use magic after that, and it all gets explained away somehow.' * Katherine shakes her head. "I'd like to see how. But no, those wands aren't any good." [The trees are back to normal size. Here and there, you can see large reptilian footprints and scorch marks on the trees. (And yes, this is flavor text; the animals have been called in for the night.)] 'They're kids, Andrews. Easily fooled by light shows and wishful thinking. Maybe there were drugs in the food. All to line the pockets of a con man named Alvar. Or at least, that's what people will say.' * Katherine eyes those footprints, and she glances once around, listening for anything. "You're right, but that's not what they'll believe. Not those kids." 'Not now, no. In ten years, or twenty? They'll be convinced, or they'll convince themselves.' * Katherine smiles faintly. There isn't much humor in it. "Maybe, if they're lucky." 'If they're lucky, this place won't attract the attention of seriously dark forces before it does. I'm not talking Voldemort, either.' No, you're talking about something real. Probably more than one. 'Yes.' * Katherine pauses a moment, then she says, "If anything, perhaps we can get them on misinformation. The school gives the impression that it teaches magic - permanent magic - to all students at about the same level when it clearly does not." * Ben takes out a new cigarette, lights it off the old one, and throws the old one on the ground. As this is not pavement but potentially flammable dead plant matter, he stomps on it to put it out. 'It more than gives the impression. We got the grand tour, literally, and they outright said so again and again.' * Katherine nods. "And it's recorded." * Ben laughs softly and without humour. 'Solid evidence.' [The scorch marks are few and far between at this point. You also see a small stream in the distance. However, no signs of rocks.] * Katherine snorts. She doesn't even respond to that one, instead saying, "About time." 'Now, if only we had proof as to who was doing those thefts, how, and why, we'd be able to go home.' We're going to be here forever. 'If these rocks don't pan out, want to kidnap and interrogate Isaac?' * Ben's voice is utterly casual as he asks that. * Katherine blinks. "Hm." You can wipe his memory? 'I can't guarantee that. There's a good chance I can, but some people can fight it off.' * Katherine nods. "I hope it won't come to that." 'So do I. But then, I hoped we'd be done by now.' * Ben takes a long drag on his cigarette. I'm still not saying a word of this to Yvonne. 'Probably best not to tell the kid, either.' * Katherine tilts her head. "You mean Tim?" 'Yes. I think that he'd be only too happy to gloat about either of us having difficulties.' I don't doubt Yvonne's told him all about us leaving her behind by now. 'Probably.' Ben shrugs. 'They suit each other.' * Katherine actually sounds cross. "I wish they didn't." She keeps walking along the stream. * Ben walks right up to the stream and looks into it. He dips his hand into the water tentatively, then scoops up a handful of water and sips at it a little bit, holding it in his mouth without swallowing. * Katherine stops and looks over by Ben. * Ben swallows. 'The water seems clean enough.' That's good to hear. I don't think the students regularly drink from it, anyway. 'Probably not.' * Katherine goes back to walking. "Not that I don't enjoy your company, Ben, but I really do want this over with." 'You're preaching to the ****ing choir, Andrews.' I have nobody else to preach to. 'Though,' Ben says with a slight smile, 'you're probably one of maybe three people in the S.A.B. who would admit to enjoying my company.' * Katherine smiles faintly. "Well, I could always be lying." 'Even better.' * Katherine raises an eyebrow. "Better? Don't you need a good, honest woman in your life, Bennett Carmichael?" 'A good honest woman wouldn't survive in my life.' That is a pity. Who are the other two? [The stream expands slightly as you walk along it. At one of the widest points, there's a log with a few notches cut in it to give traction while crossing.] 'Crosse.' (He said, setting up a pun.) And? 'Well, Miles and I are like brothers,' Ben says drily. * Katherine nods and says, seriously, "I never would have guessed." 'We cover it well.' You do. I never would have known if you hadn't told me. 'Well, no one ever said you were observant.' * Katherine sighs. "Yes, well." I've always had a problem with tunnel vision. I never notice anything until I'm on top of it, you know? (That is so a line setting up showing up at the rocks. :P But, you can go as long as you desire.) 'We all have flaws. I'm too trusting. Gets me into all sorts of trouble.' I'm sorry to hear that. It's always a horrible thing - bad things happening to good people. 'And the good die young.' * Katherine comments, casually, "Well, we're not all immortal." 'Your friend is.' Which one? 'Which friend or which immortal friend?' Ben smiles slightly. 'Saki.' * Katherine smiles faintly. "Ah." She glances up as she hears a rustle. "She may very well be." * Ben follows her gaze. It's nothing. Nothing dangerous, anyway. 'Immortality? It can be. It has a tendency to make people think they can't die. Or did you mean the squirrel?' I meant the squirrel, but you're right about the immortality. Then again, after a point, I wonder if they even care. 'Maybe they don't.' 'But I'd hate to have a team leader like that, either way.' * Katherine glances over at Ben. "Could you be a team leader, then? I'd think invincibility would put things in another light." 'The thing about being nearly invulnerable is that you realize that you aren't.' Really. How so? 'When I get into combat- and I've already ****ed up if I'm in combat and the result isn't a guaranteed win- what do I base my strategy on? You've seen it, Andrews. I base it on knowing exactly what won't hurt me... and what will.' * Katherine nods slowly. But you don't have the same limitations as everyone else. 'I don't. But the point is, Andrews, most people don't have to calculate if a truck is large and fast moving enough to kill them or not. They don't have to dwell on exactly how many stories they can afford to fall before they'd be in danger. They don't have to gauge the size and heat of an oncoming fireball.' 'I know exactly what can kill me. I have to.' Hm. That's an interesting way of looking at it. 'That, and I'm a paranoid lunatic who sees danger everywhere, of course,' Ben adds drily. * Katherine snickers. "No. You're far, far too trusting to be paranoid." 'And you're unobservant enough to believe that.' Yes. I am. 'That must be why we're sucking at this mission. We're too trusting and unobservant.' * Katherine smiles faintly. "Not nearly subtle enough, either. That's why we needed Yvonne, after all. Silly me for not realizing that." * Ben takes his cigarette out and throws it into the stream without lighting another. 'Indeed.' * Katherine blinks at that. She looks over to Ben. * Ben takes out another cigarette and a match, lights the match, and lights the cigarette. * Katherine watches Ben for a moment, actually glancing into his eyes, then folds her arms around herself and goes back to walking. * Ben falls into step alongside her. His cigarette is still in his hand, not his mouth. 'Of course, if I were really a paranoid lunatic, I'd hardly consent to having my private conversations recorded,' Ben says as he brushes some lint off his shirt near the collar. * Katherine glances over, and she tilts her head, bringing her own hand up to her throat and coughing. "Fortunately, you're not." [End!]