[Date: October 13, 2020. 3:00 AM] [Two of you have been roused from sleep/carousing/drunken stupor and called on to assist in the investigation of an apartment fire at the building of one Saki Morikawa.] [The neighborhood isn't great. There's currently both a fire, police, and a special Mi-5 investigative unit on the scene.] [The apartment has sustained serious structural damage. Several upper level floors are burned out down to structural support beams. By the look of it the building will probably have to be knocked down.] [There's a good sized perimeter estabished around the building. A good number of dispossessed anxious people are milling about beyond that.] [The investigator in charge looks to be of Indian ethnicity. He's currently looking over blueprints to the building.] [The fire seems to be largely out, but there's still some smoldering remnents that are being sprayed down. Yay for 2020 fire fighting techniques.] [Start!] * Marguerite is standing there, smoking one cigarette with another one behind her ear lit and on deck. Her hair's tied back messily, and she looks more than a little red-eyed. She did manage to get in a shower, so she doesn't reek of booze. Just bad breath mints mixed with scotch. She scans the wreckage, and with her usual aplomb, utters the words "Fuckin' shit, man." * Jason comes driving up and stops nearby! No shades on right now. He eyes the, then gets off his bike and stalks over to the investigator in charge. And Margie, probably. He doesn't look particularly mussed, so maybe he was already up, though he could use a shave. [And you guys did have to get past perimeter security to get there. They had pictures on a datapad.] * Marguerite nods at Jason silently, then goes back to perusal of the scene. * Investigator glances it up and looks you over slightly warily. "That would describe it yes. Can either of you do something subtle to finish off the fire?" * Jason lets out a breath. "Yeah, sure." He walks over towards said fire. (How much is still left?) (Essentially there's a lot of slow burning parts. And a good number of smoldering ashes. Within Jason's capacity easily.) * Jason stops, shoves his hands in his pockets, and focuses on each patch of fire, his eyes flaring when he does so. [The fire fizzles out.] * Marguerite walks over to the investigator. She sighs and tucks the other cig into her mouth. "So. We wouldn't be here if you knew this were a fuckin' electrical fire." * Jason comes walking back after the fire's out. He fishes a cigarette out of a pack as he does so and lights it with a flick of his thumb, then takes a drag. * Investigator nods. "Burn pattern is consistent with an explosion. A fire of some sort originated just down the hall from Agent Morikawa's apartment." God damn it. * Jason lets out some smoke. "I guess you don't know who did it." * Investigator shakes his head. "Now that the fire is down the fire marshall will verify we can send our investigators in. You can go in with them. Hopefully we can find something about the method that will tell us about the one responsible." Great. Glad I wore my old flak suit. * Marguerite tosses a butt over her shoulder and refreshes her cancerstick. * Jason looks at the building. "I can go in now." * Investigator frowns but nods. "Go ahead." Sure. * Jason just walks into the building, burning or not. Who bloody cares. * Marguerite yawns widely, her cig clinging to her lip, and follows Jason. She's got her satchel on. * Investigator calls over to the fire marshall that's going in. "He's going with you Bill." Marshall looks oddly at the investigator. "You're the incident commander." [You get up the stairs and too the floor in question. The marshall has some equipment in his head gear and takes a few steps out into the hallway. "It isn't stable to stand beyond here." [There's a fair number of immolated bodies furniture, and the like. The walls on the main floor have been burned through.] [Give me awarness checks both of you. SIght/smell.] * Jason peers at the bodies. (Second awareness roll Jason) (Uh, no.) [The remnents of Saki's apartment are visible, although the floor is burned through in front of it. There's a few bodies in the hallway itself as well as another three in Saki's apartment. One looks like it was a kid.] [Jason can't differentiate the bodies more than that. He's not sure if Saki is one of them.] * Jason scowls. He removes the cigarette from his mouth and just crushes it, letting it incinerate in his grip. He looks at the fire marshal. "Y (Gah!) "You know where the fire started?" * Marshall looks it over. "I'd say about in the middle of the hallway. There." He actually points a few doors down from Saki's apartment." (-") * Marguerite looks around. "Not conventional weapons, I can tell you that much. Pretty sure it wasn't an explosive either - no shrapnel." She points. Fuckin' insane at the center of it, too. Supernatural, I'd bet a carton of cigs on it. Yeah, I bet. I'm takin' a look. * Marshall frowns. "There's been more arson than usual for the past four months or so. Some of them haven't added up, that could be why." Fuckin' hell. Not what I wanted to be doing this morning. * Jason adds to the arson count, then, dissolving into pinpoints of light. They're *hot*, too, and they swirl down the hallway and to where the marshal indicated, not touching the walls. * Marshall starts for a second. "Damn... you could warn a guy." Don't sweat it. When I start runnin', then you know the shit's hit the fan. [Give me another awareness roll Jason.] (actually, give me three) * Marguerite watches Jason do his thang. * The motes hover in the area, actually spreading out to cover more space. [Jason's swarm awareness is fairly certain that Saki's body is not among the hallway or room bodies.] [The Jason swarm also notices a bullet hole in the floor.] [In addition, he notes quite easily that there's two burnt squares right outside of Saki's door. They're burned deeper in the floor than anything in the surrounding environs.] * There's a pause, then they collect a bit more, sinking towards the floor. The squares, in particular. (How big are they?) [The two squares are parallel and seperated by a meter.] [They're about a foot square each.] * Marguerite lights up a cig and eyes the marshal. "Any similarities with past cases? This endemic or a one-shot deal?" * The motes swirl over the squares for a moment before collecting and heading into Saki's apartment. * Marshall "We've got six suspicious incidents. Two seemed to be the work of more conventional fire starters, four were more like this one." He taps the side of his helmet and a display comes up. * Marguerite peers in for a look-see. [Saki's apartment has what looks to be a dead female body, a dead child body, and two dead male bodies both near the door.] [There's the remnents of a shattered gas mask by the child. The woman also had one. Neither of the men did.] [There are two shattered metal cylanders on the ground. One of them had been in the gas mask by the kid.] [There's also a the remnents of wire of some sort.] [And the corroded and burnt remains of a shotgun.] [Finally, there's a badly burnt plush racoon by the door.] [The display is actually on the fire marshall's HUD. Maggie can look at the reversed output and see that it's bringing up pictures and facts about the four unexplained fires.] Warehouse fire that actually was started at multiple points in quick succession. A bar fire that was damn near a catastrophe because somehow the front and back exist were locked, but someone managed to beat down the door... * Marguerite squints. "God fucking damn it." That was a strange one. Lots of witnesses, but they're description of those responsible were muddled. Mi-5 tells me that's not uncommon for supernatural attacks. No. Fucking swamp gas and weather balloons. * The motes are nearly all out of the hallway, now, occupying Saki's apartment. * Marguerite rubs her head. "So we got a theoretical fucking chain of pyrokinetics, fucking off with whoever they wanna fuck with. Jesus fuck." * Marshall nods. "Penthouse fire. The occupant is currently on trial for arson and insurance fraud, but he claims some crazy woman he brought back to the place did it. His story didn't make any sense though. There was no way she could have left the apartment by his account and there were no unaccounted for bodies." (swap those.) (Says the guy who just saw some guy TURN INTO FIRE.) (Yeah, but I'm not a woman!) (How do we know that?) (Nope. Jason is all man baby!) (Have you seen Saldin lately?) * Yuri suddenly appears, walking out of an apartment 5 doors or so down. She's in a bright yellow t-shirt and pink shorts, arm-in-arm with a guy incredibly casually, and laughing. It's... uh, probably fairly jarring. Question is, did they know who they were fuckin' with this time, or was she just random... oh christ. * Will walks with Yuri. For those who forgot he's a famous Hong Kong movie star. He hasn't noticed it yet. * Yuri is in the middle of saying, "... oh, that doesn't even make sense! How did he even manage to..." she trails off as she realizes she scene changed and the laugh fades. "... Can I have at least one normal date in my life? Ever?" No. * Will glances around. "Well, you do take me to interesting places." Will's eyes then settle on the immolated bodies. In the mood for some work, Yuri? * Yuri looks over at Maggie. Across the burntness. She's crinkling her nose and making a face of distaste. "Not really... ugh. Hello, Mad Dog." * Will pales considerably but keeps his cool. He says very quietly. "Shit, I'll never get used to that part of the job." * Marshall looks up. "They with you?" Yeah, close enough. * Yuri reaches over and puts her other hand on Will's arm. "This, uh, is Will Cheng. I don't know if you've met?" Nope. Got any alcohol, Will? * Will shakes his head. "Normally yes, but I'd packed it in the trunk rather than carrying it with me." * Will slowly regains his composure. He's still scanning the bodies though. "My apologies for that oversight." Fuck. Ran my flask dry on the way over here. Hair of the dog and all that. * Marguerite pinches the bridge of her nose and lights another cig absentmindedly, bringing the total in her mouth to three. * Will nods. "So many a costar has told me." * Marguerite looks at Yuri. "He with SAB?" * Will holds Yuri's hand a little tighter than usual. Not uncomfortably so though. (Actually, no I misread.) (Taking it back? ^^;) ( I don't think they're holding hands, right, just holding arms with a hand on his arm. ) (Yes.) * Yuri looks at Maggie and sighs, "Not really, no. He does action movies." She looks down at the floor and mms, saying idly, "You'll be sorry if you live long enough to care about your health, you know, Maggie." * Will gently puts a hand over Yuri's. He smart enough to keep his mouth shut? * Yuri smiles a little and says teasingly, "Usually." Great. We've got what looks like a fucking string of pyrokinetic arsons. * Yuri nods a little and says, "So, uh, where are we? London?" Anyways, last one was one of those Christian bookshops. Only thing spared was a stack of the owners personal magazine collection in the back. He seemed sure he was being sent a message some how but he wasn't sure on the specifics. * Marguerite listens to the marshal and nods, then turns back to Yuri. "You're standing in what was agent Saki's apartment building, which is why we fucking got tapped at fucking 2:30 AM Gee Em Fucking Tee to come investigate. Jason's inside. (+") * Yuri 's eyes widen and she nods, then leans over to Will and whispers, "You'll have to let go Will. The floor won't support both of us." She adds with a faint tone of amusement, "I'll try not to disappear on you." * Will lets go and smiles. "Much obliged." He then lithely takes a few steps back. Will incidentally has on casual beachware. And he wears it quite well. * Marguerite grabs one of the cigs out of her mouth and gestures with it, smoke trailing about. "Warehouse, bar, penthouse, bookshop." She suddenly eyes Will, then smirks for a moment. "Great. What a fan-fuckin-tastically obvious pattern." * Yuri smiles back at him once he's let go and then walks across the unstable ground with no real concern for it. "Sorry you got wokem up, I guess... um. Tack on 'random apartment'?" Yeah. Anyways, this is the first to involve any agents. Put it together? ::He looks intrigued:: Fuck no. 's called sarcasm. * Will snickers. "I suppose I should be relieved. As I didn't have a clue." * Marguerite frowns. "Could be multiple guys, but not for certain. Only clear ID's a woman. Assuming they're linked at all. Bookshop one sounds like a mob hit. Maybe cult. Was a christian place." * Marshall nods. "Could be. I'm going to finish my site inspection. He grabs a walky talky from his belt. Check in if you need anything." Gotta wait to see what Jason turns up. * Marshall nods. * Marguerite takes it. "Probably won't unless you've got a fire truck with a 12 year old oaken aged in it." * Yuri says quietly and idly to herself, "Pillars of the light of the world..." her golden eyes catch some random light. "I'm... not sure why I'm here." She pauses for a bit and looks thoughtful. * Marshall shakes his head. We keep that back at the fire house. (+", I'd assume.) (Right) Fuckin' lucky fire dogs, then. * Will glances around. "This Saki dead?" (This agent Saki) * Marguerite shrugs. "Dunno yet." She looks at Yuri suddenly. "She wasn't a ... you know, like Katie or the other one." She snaps her fingers. (Katie?) (Katherine. Funny name, Mags. ^_~) * Yuri nods and looks at Maggie. "Yeah, she was." (Fix it in post. She's hung over and it's bleeding into me.) * Will looks confused. Fuck. There's another angle. I'm afraid I don't follow. * Yuri glances back at Will then looks back at Maggie. "We'd meant to talk to them, but I don't think it ever happened. Saldin's been away for a few days..." Looks like it might be too late. This something I'm better off not knowing? * The motes gather into the hallway again, then come barrelling towards the rest of you! Oh no! Actually, they go right by in a rush of heat before settling, condensing, and reforming into one Jason Ashton. He blinks and shakes his head before looking to the others. * Jason focuses on Yuri and Will. "The hell are you guys?" * Yuri looks back at Will and smiles weakly. "I think so..." she looks back towards the flame and Jason quickly. Jason, this is Yuri, Wandering Monk or some shit, and her boyfriend. She's SAB. * Will gives a winning smile. "Will Cheng, celebrity demon hunter." He then checks a pocket. "Damn, don't have my cards." * Marguerite looks to Jason. Well? * Jason eyes Will, then shrugs. "Yeah, okay." Saki isn't with the dead. I figure she got out alive. * Will doesn't flinch under Jason's gaze. * Will is, for the record, hotter than Jason. In a very figurative sense. * Marguerite nods. "Slightly better. Either they cacked her offsite or she's not dead yet." * Yuri looks Jason over briefly and then rubs her hand over her bald head. "... so why am I not there instead?" Maybe she's out of your juristiction. (diction) * Jason nods. "There are a couple of bullet holes in the ground. I think she shot some of the guys in her room. They, the kid, and the lady didn't die from the fire." There was tear gas, too. Kid dead? Shit. Fucking shit. * Will nods and grimaces. "Guess she didn't go down easy. Kid hers?" * Yuri winces visibly. Not as far as I know. * Marguerite drops a spent cig onto the ground, and goes to crush it out of habit, then stops. * Jason blinks. "She's kinda young to be havin' a kid that age." What the fuck? * Marguerite drops to her knees and peers into a convenient hole. (in the floor.) * Jason looks towards the apartment and frowns. "Anyway, there was some other stuff. A couple of burnt squares into the floor outside the apartment. They were about a meter apart. And coiled, fire-resistant wire. Lots of the stuff." * Marguerite points. "Guy said the center of the explosion was down that way, right, Jason?" (He did) Yeah. Look down, floor below it. See the scorch marks? The material bubbling and the holing? That's not just burned through, that's fucking vaporized. Was fucking plasma at the center of the blast. * Yuri shakes her head. "I can't really tell you much about explosions. Call it a failing of the monestary..." * Will looks this around. "Looks like someone wanted a whole lot of attention or screwed up real bad." * Jason walks over and looks. [What Maggie says checks out.] [Oh, and it's been a bit. Jason, give me a -4 roll against memory.] Shit, shit shit. This keeps getting fucking crazier. * Yuri chews her lip but doesn't move or anything. Alright. A kid, a woman, some random guys. Saki's not here. She had fire resistant wire in her apartment. Someone was using tear gas. And the explosion was supernatural, but plasma. * Marguerite throws up her hands. "I got nothin'." The kid and the lady had gas masks by 'em. * Yuri makes an ugly face. "Sounds like they were prepared for an attack..." Great. A kid. They're using a kid... I'm gonna get into this, I need a drink. Got an emergency bottle in my hog. Barely aged, but tough times, etc. We done up here? * Yuri looks around and then shakes her head. "No... no we aren't." Somethin' on your brain wave? * Jason opens his mouth to say something, then he looks to Yuri. * Yuri smiles weakly and points at the hole, "I... I can confirm the supernatural thing. A bit here... and two-bits over there..." she points over towards the apartment, "... and everyone here was 'like Saki'." She provides special emphasis on that last part. * Marguerite FROWNS. Even her cigarettes frown. Damn, what are they? * Yuri sighs and adds, "It was... um... a power holocaust. Very..." she pauses for a second, "... busy." * Jason blinks. "Like Saki?" * Marguerite looks at Jason, then at Yuri. "Fuck. We probably gotta tell him." * Yuri smiles weakly. "Go ask SAB or something. It's your secret." * Jason looks at Marguerite, then Yuri, too. "The fuck is going on?" God, fucking hell. * Marguerite pulls out a cell phone and angrily punches numbers. * Yuri looks at Jason, says, "You'll probably know in a bit," then walks back over the unwalkable ground to Will. * Jason eyes Yuri. "Yeah." * Marguerite talks into the phone. "Fucking massacre, basically. Five or so dead just in her apartment. None of them her, we're pretty sure. Kid and a woman in the five - look like some of the fuckin' attackers. Goddamn crazy." * Yuri glances back for a second. "I'm just trying not to get Maggie in trouble." She turns to Will and says quietly, "Don't think this will be as fun as the last time." * Will nods and frowns. "Comes with the line of work." * Jason takes out another cigarette, lights it with a flick of his thumb, and sets it in his mouth. He inhales before folding his arms and watching the pair. He doesn't say anything. "Don't know. Probably not, Yuri showed up. Fire was caused by an explosion. Explosion was fuckin' plasma-based, supernatural in nature. All the attackers, though - all the dead - fuckin' same as Saki and Katherine, so Yuri says." "Wonderin' if I can bring Jason in on the secret." * Marguerite says "That extended to body count, too?" She sounds hopeful. * Yuri just sorta stands there near Will. * Will puts an arm around Yuri. * Marguerite grins. "Fuckin' excellent. We'll get to the bottom of this. Keep you posted. Out." She snaps the phone shut. Right. * Marguerite looks at Jason. "Katherine and Saki are extraplanars. Involved in an incident in Japan a while ago." * Jason blinks. "Yeah? I never met Katherine." (Because they're secretly the same person!) (Actually, I could probably pull off playing them both at the same time if I tried.) * Marguerite points to the dead bodies. "So were they. Lot of other shit involving extraplanars from that incident has been going down." Katherine's not bad. Quiet. Kinda fuckin' weird, but. * Jason laughs. "Everyone in SAB's fuckin' weird." Point. * Will nods and frowns. "Quiet, weird and in your line of work?" (your->our) So. Eckerd's given us as much carte blanche as she ever does. Capture preferable, lethal force authorized. Fuckin awesome. * Yuri 's eyes widen. "F-for Saki?" I think she means whoever did this. * Marguerite grins and lights another cig. She's blown through all the others. "Yeah, for the attackers. Shit, I didn't know Saki much, but don't have that much against her." She grins. "I'm feelin' a whole fuckload better about this now." * Will nods and pats at a different pocket then his card pocket. "Least I remembered my gun. So where next?" We gotta find a trail. Has to fuckin' be one. * Yuri frowns and nods, before peering around carefully, mumbling, "And that's my job..." * Jason grins. "Lethal's good." He looks at Yuri. * Will glances around one more time while muttering to himself. "I don't know what it is about Japanese extraplanars, but they sure love to go Battle Royale on each other." Fuck if I know. * Yuri sighs slightly and walks her way into the apartment, murmuring, "Where are you when I need you, Saldin..." [Saldin is presently exorcising a bath house. Yuri drew the short karmic straw today.] (Ha ha.) * Yuri kneels down next to the burnt patches and puts her hand above them, closing her eyes. "Who were you..." * Jason takes another drag on his cigarette and removes it, letting out a breath of smoke. He glances around. Antsy? Yup. * Marguerite ventures off to get her alkyhol. [Yuri's body is suddenly racked with a burning sensation. One that seems actively malelovent. She seems to be having great trouble standing and her eyes don't seem to focus on anything.] (err, trouble kneeling) * Yuri cries out in pain and wobbles, despite beinig in the very stable kneeling position, and ends up putting her non-sensing hand to the ground to stabilize herself. She already had her eyes closed, so no new trouble there! * Jason snaps his attention to Yuri. "Hey, you okay?" * Will's attention is completely fixed on Yuri. He takes a few steps back and leaps the bit, making a quick roll to the solid ground by where Maggie is standing. He draws his gun as he does so and tries to cover Yuri in case there's an unseen attacker. * Yuri says in a trembling pained voice, "Could be a lot worse..." (Maggie was standing) * Jason frowns, but he doesn't say anything. * Marguerite trots back up the steps, holding a bottle of cheap scotch. "Hey, whoa, what the fuck happened? * Will checks his weapon for the moment. "Yuri had a vision or something." He's looking very concerned in her direction. * Yuri lets out a slow controlled breath. Shit. * Yuri lets her other hand fall to the ground and she crouches. "O... okay. I hope you all don't mind if I don't stand up or look at you right now. I've got wonderfully bad news, though." * Marguerite takes a swig from the bottle. "I'd offer you a hit, but you're all ascetic and shit." She offers it to Jason. * Will nods. "Visions never seem to be good news." * Jason removes the cigarette and takes the bottle. "Shoot," he says to Yuri before having a gulp and handing it back to Marguerite. * Jason looks to Margie. "Thanks." No problem. Never to early to start. * Marguerite looks at Yuri. * Yuri swallows and says, still over by the burninig squares, "You ever met Yvonne, Jason?" Oh, fuck. * Jason shakes his head slowly. "Nope." Who's she? Whore of a fucking demon summoner. Sluts herself out if you look at her wrong. Or right. Shit, if you even glance at the hemisphere she's in. * Yuri nods a little and says, "And you have a bit of a dimension in common, besides. As did some of the people here." Sounds like you got a problem with her. Look, what's going on so we can kill the bastard that did this? * Yuri swallows again. "As... as far as I can tell, the person you and Yvonne have in common was involved. Fire. Blackmagic. Very painful. There was a portal here. Might have went there." * Will stands up. "So was the succubus here?" * Yuri exhales, continuing her slow breaths. "No." * Jason scowls. "So, what? She's gone like that?" Fill me in. Who's got who in common, now? * Yuri stands up slowly, wobbling. "This is a bit much for me. I just got a little taste of hell, okay? Cut me a break." Right, right. Take it slow. * Jason nods. "Maybe we should get outta here." Agreed. * Will reaches a hand out to Yuri. He'd walk closer, but then the floor would collapsea dn that would be bad for both of them. * Marguerite speaks into the walkie talkie. "We've got our leads. Heading out." * Jason does, too. Head out, I mean. * Yuri turns around slowly and walks back towards the group, smilinng slightly. "I guess we're just lucky Saldin likes to talk to me. Sometimes." "Acknowledged over." * Yuri takes Will's hand and follows the other two out. * Will treads with care and seems ready to catch Yuri if she relapses. * Marguerite walks, and takes another swig. "So. Who are we talking about, here?" * Yuri sigh slightly. "Okay... first, Yvonne and Jason." She looks back at Jason, then says, "You're both connected to the same hell dimension, Yvonne through... external forces, you... well, however you are. So was this." * Will glances over to Jason. "So how are you connected?" * Jason looks back at Will and grins a little. "Family tradition." Great. Hellmouth. * Yuri holds up her hand to Will's mouth and says quietly, "Ssh," then nods at Maggie slowly. * Will shushes. Same as the person that has been backing all the Chunnel stuff and the freezing guy, yes... * Will nods and gets a that's not good look. But he keeps quite. (quiet) (Sorry. ;_;) (You've been hanging around with Gryph too long. (Obviously) * Yuri continues quietly, "There was a portal in the room, and more people left through it than came through it." She pauses, then says, "We can feel the imbalance. Same dimension." Can't tell how many? * Jason scowls again. * Yuri shakes her head slightly. "Sorry. But... you've got the Japanese people connected to the Hexeburg people now... somehow?" She shakes her head and chuckles weakly. "Can't sense everything." * Marguerite goes over by her bike. "Great. Where the fuck do we go from here..." * Jason heads after Maguerite. "Fuck if I know, but we gotta find 'em." Anyone to shakedown or pay off for intel on extraplanars? I tend to have the most luck with that sort of thing. Easier than deduction. * Marguerite snaps her fingers. "I know just the people, if we can get the fundage." * Yuri glances over at Jason, then Maggie, then says, "Can... SAB really hide this from the Japanese people anymore?" * Jason looks at Yuri. "Huh?" * Yuri looks back at Jason and sighs. "Yeah, I don't work for SAB, so whatever." Pause. "Katherine and Tim. They're the other people like Saki. One of the people in the tournament was messing with them." She looks back at Will, then back at Jason, saying quietly, "And using SMEE to get info besides." Also messed with Maggie.... which is how SAB found out. That was the people I was thinking of. Though I'm thinkin' I'm forgetting something. They are informed. Need me to call up a contact? * Jason nods. "Yeah, might want to check with everyone we can." * Will gets out his phone and starts checking through his contacts. * Marguerite frowns. "God damn it, what the hell..." * Will glances over to Maggie. "What?" Tryin' to remember what it was I forgot. * Yuri sighs and rubs her arms. * Will hits the button and puts the phone to his ear. Hey Jim! Will Cheng. Not sleeping I hope? * Jason runs a hand through his hair. "Fuck." * Yuri looks over at Jason and asks quietly, "Do you know anything? Really?" * Marguerite looks up sharply. "HANG UP!" Fuck! Goddamn fuck! Fucking three in the morning, not on my fucking game. Jesus! Not anymore? Ha! Funny man Jim. Remember how I covered for you when that Angel had to cancel her con appearance? * Yuri looks over at Maggie, stunned. "Wha?" Make him hang up the fucking phone! * Yuri looks back up at Will and says, "Will! Lissten to the lady!" * Will looks over to Maggie. With a wha expression. Just a reminder that you owe me. Yeah, is a jackass thing to do now that I think about it. ::he hangs up:: * Marguerite looks exasperated, and runs a hand through her hair. * Jason rubs at his eyes. "The hell just went on?" Somethin' somebody said when we were huntin' Yvonne's true name. * Jason tosses the cigarette and looks at Maguerite. "Yeah? What?" Said Smee's full of her dad's people. Well, Jim will probably forgive me in a week or two. Wait, what? * Yuri looks at Maggie funny. "Her... dad? " The fuck is that supposed to mean? (Oh wait.) (Retcon... not HER dad. Lemme redo the line.) (RIght) (Okay. Rewind. @_@) (@_@;) This guy was trying to kill her, and his dad. Kinda hinted they were allies, and there was a hellmouth under his dad's mansion. He said Smee was full of his dad's people. Couldn't fucking remember that for the life of me. Well, Jim will probably forgive me in a week or two. Wait, what? Smee is evil? The damn pamphlets those protestors kept giving me were true? * Yuri says, with wide eyes as she looks at Maggie, "... The SAB has a big report on a guy with a hellmouth. I mentioned him earlier... Hexeburg?" Yeah, sounds right. Almost fuckin' got into his mansion, too. Turns out we didn't have to - his son was happy to give us Yvonne's name. So what the hell do we *do*? Do you figure Smee has some idea? * Will just looks flaberghasted. Smee's got lots of info, sure. But now we got this Hexeburg guy tied to it, there's some leads there, right? * Jason nods. "Okay. Check out the Hexeburg guy. We know where he is." Norway. Well, *I* don't, but someone has- right. Nice place, too. Cool. Uh, we have the firepower to take on a hellmouth? Shit. Almost, but not quite. Need three or four more big guns. Anyway, maybe we don't have to find Hexeburg. Maybe we can get to his son. * Jason growls. He paces a bit away, looking at the apartment building. * Yuri looks between them all. "Only three or four?" She rubs her head. * Will nods in agreement with Yuri's comment. "Yeah, finding another source might be a good place to start." Session Time: Sun Apr 17 00:00:00 2005 * Jason comes pacing right back. "Then we find his son." That's gonna be trickier. Yuri, got ideas? So, any mystic hangouts or groups aside from Smee we can talk to? * Yuri looks between Jason and Maggie and says, "Unless the order has something, or Breaker or Eris... or Yvonne or Tim? Or Saldin, if I could find him." Guessing we don't wanna contact Yvonne either. Tim, maybe. * Yuri licks her lips. "Not really a research person. Run into problem, solve problem, repeat. I'm not even supposed to DO this yet." Not sure how much Breaker actually knows at this point. Good kid, but not the most knowledgable. (-,) Saldin wanted to talk to Katherine. Maybe now's the time, if he didn't already... * Yuri mms and qualifies, "Well, as much as he wants anything, anyway." Great. Where does she live? ... why would I know? * Yuri makes walky motions with her fingers. "Remember?" * Will has nothing to contribute. Fuck, fuck, fine. No fucking clue. Call in and ask? * Marguerite whips out the cell phone. "About time for a check in anyhow. * Marguerite punches in Eckerd's number again. Innit cute. * Yuri chews her lip and looks nervous. "The whole thing is linked to Hexeburg via a portal signature, according to the monkess. Says it's the same as Yvonne and Jason, and kinda by extension that means Hexeburg." "Fucking crazy, all of it. We're looking for Hexeburg's son, and we're going to talk to Katherine. Where's she live?" "Don't fuckin' know. Guessin' this isn't an SAB hit, so thinkin' not. Just tied back to that crazy Japanese shit." "Christ, you're shitting me. Fuck, alright. We'd best go check it out anyways." "Great. We'll check in after. If you can work on finding a way to get in touch with Hexeburg's fucking crazy estranged son, that'd be peachy fucking keen." "Right. Out." * Marguerite clicks the phone shut. Good mood? * Jason looks over at Marguerite. "Well?" Fuck. Katherine told Ari she'd be gone for a few days. Got the address anyhow. Eckerd says it might be days before we track down Hexeburg Jr. Fuck. I'm in a fucking fantastic mood. * Jason scowls. "Maybe we should check it out anyway. Gives us *something* to fucking do." * Yuri rubs her head. "Maybe I should just walk around until I run into another person like Saki. It's got to happen eventually." * Marguerite gets on her cycle. "Who's riding with who?" She slips on her helmet and flips up the visor. * Jason walks to his cycle and gets on the thing, starting it up. * Yuri looks over at Will, then back at Maggie and shakes her head. "I'm walking. If I need to be there... I'll be there." Takin' him with? * Will nods. Great. * Yuri nods. "Who knows. Maybe we'll get him home instead." She smiles slightly. "If I don't see you for a while... good luck." Fine. See ya. * Marguerite tosses Jason a spare comm unit for her helmet system. "Don't get lost." * Jason catches it. "Sure." [And you guys head off. Yuri and Will walk off and disappear.] [Katherine's apartment is in a nice upper middle class neighborhood. There are basic security procedures at the door. You need to be a resident or have someone buzz you up. Her apartment is on the fifth floor.] * Marguerite motors up and eyes the door. ~God damn it...~ * Jason comes driving up. ~What?~ * Marguerite pulls off her helmet. "Door. Up to playin' a pizza guy?" * Jason parks and gets off the bike, walking up to the door and looking at it. [No sign of Yuri.] (Just a standard door, I'd assume? There a crack under it?) (Right) Don't need to. I can get in. Great. * Jason applies word to action, dissolving into those tiny motes again and scooting under the door. [Jason is successful!] * Jason reforms on the other side, opening the door for Margie. * Marguerite walks on in, pulling her DE. "Fifth floor." * Jason nods. He heads over to the elevator or the stairs. Bah, whatever's closer. * Marguerite follows. [Elevator. You get up without any trouble.] * Jason gets up and heads to Katherine's apartment. "Uh, okay. Know how to pick a lock?" Yes. * Marguerite aims her DE and tries to blow the lock off the door. * Jason steps aside and looks at her. [The knob falls off and the door swings open. There's a set of half packed boxes inside the apartment.] [And giv me hearing checks. -8 bonus.] [That was loud. Probably woke a few people up.] * Jason just walks in, looking around. * Marguerite looks around. "Either she's moving in, or out. Probably the latter." * Jason peeks in one of the boxes. "Yeah, that'd make sense." * Marguerite looks for clues! Jinkies and stuff. [And give me visual awareness checks. [The door goes into what's probably the living room. There's an entertainment system, a couch, a desk and coffee table, bookshelves with bits of art and a few books scattered on them (most of them are packed away). To one side and behind a half wall is the kitchen and eating area. Down one hallway is the bathroom and her bedroom. Up the stairs is the art room.] * Jason turns on... the lights! [The place has white walls and blue carpeting.] Fuckin' nice place, anyhow. * Jason blinks, adjusting to the light. "Beats mine." [Maggie doesn't find anything on the initial sweep, but thinks there may be something she missed. She can roll again with a slower more systematic check. * Marguerite goes about the place, a little slower. * Jason takes a look around, too, a bit more carefully. "Find anything?" Nothing. Could be missing something, though. It's so fucking early... [Maggie steps in something odd as she's walking. Yay for luck rolls.] * Marguerite stops. "What the ..." * Marguerite takes a look. Huh? * Jason walks over to Marguerite. [Maggie stepped in matted down dried crimson/brown spot.] ... oh shit. What- oh. * Jason peers at where Marguerite's looking. (medical/police science rolls.) [Maggie thinks the stain is at least a day old.] About a day old, by my guess. Fuck fuck FUCK. * Jason looks around. "Doesn't look like a ton of blood, though." No.. which means they may have captured her. [Jason is correct.] Or she cut her leg shaving and bled like a stuck pig. * Jason goes to check out the bedroom. * Marguerite follows. Oh, fuck. What? The hell is it now? * Marguerite pulls out her phone and hits redial. "Katherine and Saki are out. They've gotta secure Tim, if he's not gone already." Tim can teleport, though. He's probably cool. [There's one double bed, a dresser, another desk, and a sliding closet. It's well made. There are a few boxes stacked to one side.] [And all windows aside from the bathroom one are open.] Best to be sure. * Marguerite turns her attention to the phone. "Small signs of a struggle here - a blood spot, really. Might want to doublecheck on Tim." Yeah. Can call in on him or something. * Jason checks the bed and desk. No dead bodies, one would hope. [None!] Great. At least we've got him for questioning. Out. * Marguerite eyes the windows. "She definitely didn't plan this leaving." Yeah? * Jason opens the closet. Even I manage to secure my house. [Nothing odd in the closet.] I'll check upstairs. * Marguerite heads that way. [And since people are sleepy, you can finish searching without noticing anything else out of the ordinary.] (Oop, okay.) (So, give me an idea of your next move and we'll break here) * Jason just looks around, checking the bathroom and all of that. (Next move as in, where we're heading next? Or last pose?) [And upstairs: There's an easel, a few covered paintings, another desk, this one covered with wood shavings. There are a few unfinished carvings on the desk and shelves.] (Both) * Marguerite checks the desk, then just skims the house once more. [Pause!]