10/18/2003
02:14
AM
Logfile
from Chase.
The
Hard Rock Cafe
It's
much darker inside, where the steady beat of some rock music is constantly
being piped into the room via artfully hidden speakers. The walls are filled
with records, pictures and music sheets of famous songs and singers. Here and
there is the additional musical instrument, protected behind glass cases. The
guitars of Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen and 'The Artist formerly called
Prince' are among the prized possessions here.
The
main area is a set of two platforms, one inside the other, where tables are set
up following a square shape. They are all wooden with various stickers affixed
to their surface. The bar is off to the side, a few leather stools serving as
seats for the people in that section.
Amefuri
and Urumiya are here.
Obvious
exits:
Exit
It's
not a date. A date would suggest
something more than 'friends with privileges'.
But Darren is buying Mina dinner, which is a sneaky way of making her
eat. Not a cheap way to make her eat,
but whatever works. Besides, the Hard
Rock is a great place to get out, relax, enjoy the mood of the place. For his part, Darren is dressed like a pop
star in his own right. Sleek leather
pants, lovely silk shirt, perfectly groomed hair, and even some utterly
functionless style-shades. "..with
bacon, but without onions. And..oh, an
order of nachos to start? Thanks..." There.
The order has been placed. Now,
they just have to sit and amuse themselves for an hour or so. Woo?
When
Mina got home, the last thing she was expecting was to go out on the town, but
Darren's right. She needs to get out
more. So she spiffed herself up some to
match the other seishi's smart attire.
She'd chosen a soft black cashmere sweater with a scooped neckline that
just hints at cleavage over a red and black plaid knee-length skirt, cut on the
bias. Knee-high black pleather boots
complete the ensemble, her nod to fall fashion. She can't help but sing ~o/I wear my sunglasses at night, so I
can, so I can.../o~ Really, it had to
be done what with the Genbu wearing his.
Sobering, she looks abashed as she shares, "...Anou... I saw Rathan
again today."
It
isn't coincidence that Chase is popping into the Hard Rock at this moment.
Nope, not when you have that nifty ability to find certain people in a crowd,
including Darren and Mina... apparently together. Pushing through the door, he
neatly sidesteps a few people near the entrance 'til locating where they
are, only to nearly break to a halt at
the sight of the pair of them. He takes a moment to let that sink in before
bouncing up, "Not interrupting anything, am I?"
They
aren't sunglasses, though! They're cool
faintly-blue-tinted specs! Very...umm..
nevermind. Darren quirks a grin at his
companion, even when she kinda apologizes.
"Is that right? He's still
behaving himself, isn't he?" See,
as long as Rathan doesn't get all 'psychotic ex-boyfriend', Darren actually
isn't too concerned. Then Chase pops
in. To catch Mina and Darren in a
datelike setting despite the non-dateness of the..um...date-thing... "Heya, Chase! Nah, nah. Care to join
us?" he offers. See? If it was a date, he wouldn't have
invited. So it's not a date! Jeez!
Thankful
for the interruption, Mina shakes her head and smiles at Chase. "Iie, not at all Chase-kun. 'Miya was just treating me to dinner. And if you bat your lashes at him, I'm sure
he'd treat you as well," she adds with a giggle, hiding her smile behind
her hand. She's been making progress,
day by day, and finally feels like she's getting back to normal. Of course today could just be one of the
good days, with a setback just around the corner. But right now she's living from moment to moment, she has to or
else it just becomes all too overwhelming.
Grinning again, she just shakes her head, "Well, obviously one of
us doesn't have to bat their lashes to get a free meal around here." Patting the seat next to her, she scoots
over before nodding her head.
"Hai. We're going to go
punish some frat boys together," she announces happily.
Chase
chuckles faintly, and then shrugs his shoulders, "Bat my eyelashes at him?
He'd probably fall into a swoon, and there where would we be? Although, that
just means I could get at his wallet easier. Or I could try one of those Vulcan
sleeper holds he is so good at." Smirk, and then smarmy grin follows
before the teen drops down onto the seat, only to slump back. "Punish
some... eh?" Okay, that one just went right over his head, which really
isn't all that difficult.
Darren
snorts and waggles a finger at Chase.
"Unless you can forge my signature, you need me
conscious." Plastic is fun. He
does give Mina an odd look, and wonders, "Punish frat boys? Who and why are you punishing them? I mean, I'm sure they deserve it,
but..." But if he's going to be
called to the police station to pick up his friend, he'd like to be prepared,
that's all. When the waitress swings
past to refill glasses, she takes the arrival of a third customer in stride,
and offers to get Chase a menu and/or a drink.
Darren purses his lips and waits until she's gone again before asking,
"How've you been, Chase? I've been
kinda out of touch for a few weeks."
Hardly anything new for 'Miya, but this time he's got a valid excuse!
"Vulcan
sleeper hold?" Mina blinks from
one Genbu to the other confusedly.
"Do I... do I even want to know?" Probably not. So she
focuses on the second statement, waiting until the waitress is gone to
explain. "Hai, hai, Chase-kun,
Rath and I are going to punish some frat boys.
It seems that they've been targeting some young women, ganging up on
them and... raping them," she finishes with a abhorred whisper. "Rath didn't know if he wanted to get
involved or not, demo we can't just let them get away with it, ne? So I told him that I... that I'd pose as
bait and we could teach them a lesson."
She looks awful proud of herself at this solution. And at the fact that she and Rathan are
working together. And that she had a
conversation with the oni that didn't involve her dissolving into a tearful
puddle. All in all, a very good
day. Top it off with a free dinner with
her two favorite Genbu and she's doing quite well for herself. Thus the cheerful mood.
Chase
nods to the waitress, ordering something or another that more than likely involves
no animal matter whatsoever. Gotta be good with the Byakko present.
"I'm... fine," he eases. He peers at Darren for a moment, wondering
if Anana has been telling him anything about some fairly recent events.
"I..." Wait. What did Mina just say. He blinks, peering back over at
her, "Rath? As in that rat oni bastard that..." Watch your language,
boy. "Why are you talking to him?"
The
hairs on the back of your neck prickle and a shiver runs down your spine as
every sensitive person in New York City experiences a brief moment of
vertigo. Those with a bit more
sensitivity (Chi Sense of 2 or more) can tell that there was some sort of
disturbance originating from somewhere in the Village, but the feeling passes
too quickly to determine an exact location or the nature of the
disturbance. Anyone with a Chi Sense of
3 or more can actually trace the momentary disturbance to the vicinity of
Washington Square and its side streets; these extremely sensitive individuals can
also describe the sensation in more detail.
It wasn't a surge of chi, such as the one that occurred about a week
ago. Rather, it was more of a chi...
vacuum. As if a metaphysical sinkhole
developed and part of the mystical fabric of New York caved in.
Darren
gives Mina a less amused look, concern pretty much visible all over his
face. "You're going to be bait for
a bunch of idiot rapists?" he repeats quietly, trying to make sure he's
got it right. He isn't at all sure he
likes the idea. For a variety of
reasons. But Mina is capable of
handling herself, and /needs/ to regain her self-confidence. He makes a little face and sighs
softly. "Just be careful,
Mina-chan. If anything happens to you,
I'm holding Rathan responsible, alright?
I don't want you getting hurt."
Again.
"Because
he's my friend, Chase-kun," Mina blinks over at the Genbu curiously. "He... he said he still wanted to be
friends and he's never lied to me. I...
he's my friend," she repeats again, softly, stubbornly. She doesn't mind if others eat meat, Chase
should remember that, it's only that she chooses not to. She's not a militaristic vegetarian, she
would never consider converting her friends or family. Heck, if she tried, her father would throw
her out on her rump so fast she'd be walking silly for days. After all, he's a cattle rancher. Made for an interesting childhood for the
girl who could talk to the animals.
"Hai 'Miya," she smiles beatifically for the other seishi. Finally, someone who remembers that she's a
shichiseishi as well. That she can take
care of herself. So what if she's been
doing a miserable job of it lately?
"Demo, you don't need to worry, nothing'll happen." Famous last words.
Chase
gapes at Darren for a moment, and then turns his head to give Mina that very
same expression. "Rathan... he... he wants you too..." Somehow, the
boy simply cannot wrap his mind around that, about a million protests rising to
his lips. "How can you even think about-" Of course, that would be at
about the moment when that chi wave suddenly hits him. His eyes flash open,
only to wince shut as one of the worst feelings of vertigo yet overtakes him.
And lets just say that this seishi has plenty of experience with that sort of
thing. He lets out a breath very slowly, almost sounding as though he is going
to be sick, fighting hard for consciousness.
Darren
knows better than to argue against something Mina /wants/ to do. She and Anana are alike in their
stubbornness. And the way they have him
wrapped around their little fingers. Le
sigh. "Tell me that when you come
home safely, Mina-chan." There's
that endearment again. He's
slipping. But he's also distracted by
Tomite trying not to wretch all over the table. Ew. "Dude..." A
word Urumiya never uttered. "You
alright? Chase?" Even as he asks, he's half-rising, and
scanning the restaurant with quick eyes.
It is not beyond the realm of possibility for some disgruntled oni to
strike in such a crowded place, and it would be foolish for them all to let
their guards down.
Mina
flushes slightly at the endearment, dropping her eyes to the table before being
distracted by Chase's reaction, one that she knows wells because she'd seen in
once before not too long ago. Wrapping
her arms around Chase to steady him, she winces in sympathetic pain for the
Genbu. "Chase-kun," she asks
with a soft whisper, not wanting to exacerbate his headache, because it looks
darn painful. "It's... it's his
chi sense," she explains in the same quiet voice to Darren. "I think... I think we should try to
get him back to his place. Maybe stop
by a Duane Reade store on the way for some Excedrin..." She runs concerned fingers through the
seishi's dark hair as she nibbles on her lower lip. She'd never seen him hit so hard. "Chase-kun, are you... are you okay?"
Mina's
phone begins to ring.
Mina
picks up her phone.
<Phone>
"Moshi moshi," Mina answers her phone distractedly, shuffling her
position slightly so that she's supporting Chase with one hand while the other
fumbles for the phone. "Rath?! Rath, is that you? What... are you okay?"
Oh damn, bad timing, bad bad timing.
Chase
lifts a hand up, pressing it to his forehead, feeling the sweat that suddenly
broke out, but a little to concerned with trying to keep his head together
right now. He takes a few more breaths, trying to steady himself, even as his
eyes remain slammed shut. "I... no. I need to go there. Now." He
missed whatever it was last time, this time he has every intention of getting
there as soon as possible. "It's different... the fucking Yin." A
shiver takes his form as he tries to push up from the booth, but still looking
none too steady.
Darren
sighs softly and slides up to his feet for real. Bad timing indeed. The
food hasn't even come yet. But the two
bills he leaves on the table will more than make up for the inconvenience. "C'mon, then," He offers his arm
to help his friend up.
"Mina-chan..." Even if
she's on the phone, it's time to go.
Time to get moving. He can
support Chase with one side and help Mina up with the other hand. He's talented, no? "Where are they?"
<Phone>
"Toshie's number?" Mina looks
over towards Chase worriedly before turning her attention back to the
conversation. "Iie, she never gave
it to me Rath... I..." Damn, she's
torn. "Where are you?" She covers the phone's receiver, watching
both Genbu worriedly. "Go
there? Go where, Chase-kun?" Oh, really, really bad timing. Looking over at Darren, she licks her lips,
uncertainty swimming in her gaze before it strengthens and she nods her
head. "Hai, we'll both go." Duty comes first. It always has. Removing
her hand, she sighs softly, "I think another oni would have it though,
Rath. I... I have to go. I'll call you later, okay? To make sure that you got a hold of
her." Mina doesn't want to do
that, hates putting duty before friends, but she must. Trembling slightly because she's got a bad
feeling about the timing of it all, she tries to steady herself on Darren,
relying on his strength once again.
Chase
mutters something under his breath, waving off the pair of them with a shrug to
try to slip from their hands. "It's not the park again.... V... Village. I
think." He can still feel it. "Genbu, I'm gonna be sick." Be he
gives himself another moment to gather his senses together, and then starts for
the door, one hand still pressed to his head. "It was... it was like it
just fucking sucked all the chi right out of... everything. Uhhhh." If
there ever was something to make him feel sick and at such a rate, that'd be
it. "I'm leaving."
Washington
Square
The buildings
are of average height in this part of the city and the streets are narrow and
filled to overflowing. But this particular area boasts of one open space.
Washington Square Park covers approximately four city blocks with greenery and
benches, and a place in the village to sit and contemplate nature. Several
points of interest can be found here. In the northwest corner of the park is an
elm tree that legend proports was once a hanging tree, which gives it its
current nickname, "Hangman's Elm." The tall marble archway that
heralds this part of town stands tall and proud, made in commemoration of the
centenntial Washington's Inauguration, its design based on the Arc de Triomphe
in Paris.
Surrounding
the park are a variety of residential buildings, as well as dorms and classroom
buildings of the sprawling New York University. More often than not, the
relatively residential area is filled with students, ranging from the cleancut
law school kids, to the magenta-haired liberal arts rebels.
Toroki
and Amefuri are here.
Obvious
exits:
E.
Houston St. (EA) W. 4th St. (WE) NY University
Minai
pauses in front of the window, sniffing with a wrinkle of her nose. It pays to
stay in feline form for now, as it makes going inside much easier than
squeezing even her own lanky human form through. The place looks dangerous and
brings back far too many bad memories for the child-seishi, but curiosity was
always a cat's downfall as she finally decides to leap through the broken
window and take a look in the condemned building that bad blood and waste
smell.
<Phone>
"Rathan?! Rathan?!" Mina practically screams into the phone as
it goes silent, but not because the line's been disconnected. "Damn it, where are you? Rath... Chuei-chan," she sobs worriedly
into the receiver. She holds the phone
close as she follows Chase out of the restaurant. The Village. As the Genbu
explains the feeling, she breaths a little sigh of relief. Not Rath then. Rath can't do that. But
it doesn't change the fact that the oni didn't sound too good on the
phone. Damn, why did he call her? Her hands are tied. She doesn't even know any of the other oni's
numbers... crap, Sebastian was a Homasubi, too, ne? And then they're disconnected because of the subway, leaving Mina
to panic slightly and grab for Chase's hand.
And then she's redialing the number as soon as they resurface again.
Thank
goodness for feline agility, because Minai's landing would be very unpleasant
otherwise. The floor of this
mostly-empty bedroom is littered with splinters of wood, presumably from the
door that likely used to hang on the now-shattered doorframe leading further
into the basement apartment. The smell
of death has grown /much/ stronger now that she is inside.
Chase
isn't paying a whit of attention to Mina and her dialing, which is probably
both a good and a bad thing. He continues through the streets, also not
checking to see if she is even following along with him. They move ever closer
to the area of the disturbance, at least by Chase's way of tracking such a
thing. "Mina? You still here?"
Tomite's
exceedingly acute sensitivity to the metaphysical flows of energy enable him to
easily 'taste' the residual aftereffects of a massive drainage of chi from this
area of New York. The flows of energy have
been considerably depleted, with almost all energy drained from the area just
northwest of the park, covering an entire city block, but the locus of the
effect seems to be an abandoned tenement building standing about ten stories
high, with a 'Condemned' placard clearly displayed. As they arrive, it's possible that Tomite or Amefuri might even
catch the briefest glimpse of a small fuzzy creature crawling into the building
by squeezing through the bars on a basement-level window and jumping through a
broken windowpane.
Minai's
ears have flattened against her head, sensing death here. The young cat pads
very gingerly around as she investigates, looking for whoever it is that is
dead, and as importantly, whoever or whatever it is that caused this. No normal
animal would hang around such a place filled with such miasma, but she can't
help herself as she creeps about, tense and agitated. Being nearly right on top
of the disturbance makes her just a little hairtrigger and bristly.
Mina
keeps getting sent to Rathan's voicemail, which isn't helping things much. "H-hai," she whispers, following
closely behind Chase, giving up and slipping her phone back into her jacket
pocket. Her outfit, which was nice for
going out, certainly wasn't made for dashing across town suddenly. Timing.
Byakko's really peeved at her, it seems. Really, really peeved.
She blinks as they draw up in front of the condemned building, blinking
slightly. "In there...? It... it doesn't look too safe,
Chase-kun." Nibbling on her lip
again, she debates summoning a small shikigami but one glance at Chase stops
that idea. The last thing the boy needs
to do is suffer from another small chi surge.
"Think we can get in, then?"
Chase
doesn't at all like that feeling of an absence of chi, far too used to feeling
it all around him as it is. It gives him the shivers, to go with the headache
to beat all headaches. He finally pays more attention to where exactly they
are, squinting as he looks to the building. "Here? Nice place to put a drain."
Wry. "We'll get it." It is times like these that he really does bless
Sayu's foresight at giving him a lock picking kit for a present. Such a nice
girlfriend.
The
source of the smell is obvious to the cat as soon as Toroki picks her way over
the splintered remains of the door and enters what used to be the living room
of the apartment. All this room
contains are the shattered remains of a loveseat; the mangled remnants of an
old but very sturdy steel-frame bed and ratty mattress -- with a pair of handcuffs
latched to each of the four corners of the destroyed bed frame; a video camera
and tripod, knocked unceremoniously to the ground and shattered; and gore. Blood and less pleasant fluids are on the
floor, the walls, even the ceiling, and two of the four walls have had numerous
basketball-sized holes punched through them.
Judging by the number of identifiable limbs, there likely had been three
or four living people in this room recently.
All of them are quite dead now, though.
For
those yet on the outside... The old apartment building itself has been closed
for some time now, the posted signs advising that trespassing is illegal, the
building has been closed for multiple code violations, and renovations will
begin in 2002 -- obviously, no such work has begun yet. The front door is locked, but the lock is
new and well-oiled, unlike the rest of the rundown building. The first-floor windows are all barred, and
the bars, although rusty, are still quite strong.
The one
thing her senses aren't telling her, is whether or not there's anything alive
in the chamber of horrors that she just entered. Toroki's fur stands on end
again as she eyes the body parts, gore, and all. A loud unhappy yowl escapes
her as she freezes in her tracks for a moment. Ah, the video camera. Perhaps
there will be information in that thing. For this, she changes back to human
form, looking somewhat shell shocked, but her expression is blank as she tries
to avoid stepping in anything too nasty while reaching for the camera.
"A
drain?" Mina has no idea what
Chase is talking about, and it shows on her face. Yay for chi sense 0.
Still, the place is enough to give her the creeps, the small hairs on
the back of her neck and arms standing on end.
Unfortunately she doesn't have a lock-picking kit, and even if she did,
she wouldn't know what to do with it.
So she relies on Chase to get them into the building, watching his back
as he does so, making sure that all sorts of nasties don't sneak up on
them. And making sure that she can give
him ample warning if anyone starts down the street. The last thing they'd need is to be caught breaking into a
condemned building. The yowl has Mina
jumping and looking over her shoulder.
Creepy. She reaches out with her
mind to try to sense the animal that made the noise, but comes up empty. A few curious alley cats rummaging in trash
cans, but neither of them was the originator of that noise.
The
young seishi in the basement can avoid the worst of the mess, but almost every
square inch of the floor has at least some bodily fluid spattered across
it. The camera itself is beyond repair,
and the VHS cassette has been cracked almost in half, but... Yes, there's a but. But the actual tape inside the cassette
looks relatively undamaged, at least to the untrained eye.
Chase
slips over to the building, approaching the front door with a frown. Naturally,
he first tries the knob, but when that doesn't work, the lock picking kit is
brought out. He works on the lock, once more praising Sayuri... let alone the
fact that he actually has the little cloth bundle with him. "You okay,
Mina? You can go home if you are having problems with this."
The
lock may be new, but it's not very complicated. Even an amateur could pick it, given a bit of time. Once the door is open, the dusty, disused
entry hall will be revealed. Dusty
except for the path from entrance to downward staircase, where the scuffed
floor has been wiped clean of most debris by the frequent passage of feet in
the recent past.
Minai
shudders as she bends down to work the tape out of the camera, trying to touch
as little of it as possible. Carefully, she tucks it into her jacket before
trying to take a look for what else might have caused this horror. This is no
place for a kid, even one as jaded and dangerous as Toroki. Hearing a sound
from above as the door is opened, she tenses, but her senses tell her that
those are familiar presences arriving. "M-Mina?" It is testimony to
just how bad this scene is to her from the way the chibi's voice warbles.
"Iie,
I'm a seishi, Chase-kun. I've got your
back." Which Mina means to be
comforting. Whether it is or not, now
that's another matter. "I'm not
going to leave you." Though her
mind is clamoring with questions and worry.
Worry for Darren. Worry for
Rathan. Especially worry for
Rathan. As the Genbu unlocks the door,
she congratulates him quietly, just an impressed smile and a pat on the
back. Chase, it seems, is in his
element. The Byakko follows his lead
down the well-worn path, stands to reason that it's the way that they should
head first, ne? But then she's hearing
a familiar voice, one that has her racing down the stairs without regard for
her own safety. "Ai-chan,"
she calls, racing into the basement room and skidding to a halt, aghast at the
scene that greets her. Covering her
mouth with a hand, she closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths before
focusing on the chibi, opening her arms.
"Ai-chan..."
The
stairway leading down is old, but sturdy, and empties out in front of two
doors. One closed, the other slightly
ajar. From the partially open doorway
comes the fragrant stench of blood and death.
Beyond the door lies the nightmare that Minai currently stands amidst --
the slaughterhouse living room, with three other doorways exiting from it. One leads to the empty bedroom through which
Minai entered, the second leads to a full bathroom remarkably devoid of
anything except a couple rolls of toilet paper and an old hand towel, while the
third provides access to the kitchenette... where the cabinets are empty and
the appliances have long since been removed.
Obviously, whatever this apartment was used for did not include meal
preparation.
Chase
does get that door unlocked, much to his appreciation. He tucks the kit back
away, and then moves to quickly step up near to Mina. He frowns, looking
around, his gaze sweeping the area to look at this and that. "Another
Byakko?" he frowns, glancing askance to Mina for a moment.
Minai
rushes to Mina instinctively, shaken enough to run to her even despite their
more recent animosity. "Mina!" The chibi clings to her sister seishi
with a muffled sob, thin frame trembling slightly. This is not the reaction of
the rough and tough little streetbrat, but the girl who thought that she'd be
able to put this sort of ugliness behind her. Peering at Chase too with vague
recollection of the other seishi, she starts babbling. "I just go here.
Found all this in here. I've no idea what happened here!" Even in tiger
mode, this sort of terrible slaughter isn't something Toroki would cause.
"Hai,
Chase-kun, this is Minai... Toroki.
Ai-chan, this is Chase, Tomite."
Terrible place to make introductions, but Mina falls into the habit
easily, trying to distract them all from what surrounds them. If she focuses too much on what little
remains, she would double over and lose what little she'd eaten today. The urge is still strong, but she keeps
telling the others that she's a seishi.
Now she'll prove it. "We
need to call Lee and Brice and get them here, pronto. Ai-chan, you didn't tamper with the scene did you?" Ye gods, this is a bloody mess. "Damn it, our footprints and
fingerprints are probably all over the place." Which means their prime suspects now. She can't worry about that now.
Lowering herself to look at the chibi, she asks softly, "Ai-chan,
shhh... shhhh... no one thinks that you did this. The important thing is whether or not you're okay. Are you okay?"
Chase
continues to look over the area, frowning with concentration. "Careful
what you touch," he murmurs. He eyes Minai for a moment, pursing his lips
slightly, and then going back to examining the site. "Yeah, we need to get
one of them. Brice'll want to see this too." He winces slightly, not at
bringing aniki into this, but more the raging headache in his head. "I
need to go sit down," he murmurs, slipping back to the hall for a moment.
"Found
a tape in the camera. It looks broken though. Maybe they can find something on
it still?" Minai offers tentatively. "Should I not have taken
it?" The kid isn't exactly experienced with stumbling across crime scenes.
She's more used to fleeing from crime scenes. >.> "This isn't
exactly a normal sort of... murder. Something really really bad happened
here." She eyes the bed with a shudder. "More than once
probably."
"You
try Brice, I'll try Lee," Mina suggests, watching the Genbu
worriedly. "Are you all right,
Chase-kun? You rest, I'll try to
contact the boys." She's going to
have to start carrying aspirin around with her to force-feed the other
seishi. One would think that he'd carry
around his own, but nooo... he has to be a stubborn man about it all.
Snuggling
Minai close, she shakes her head.
"Iie, it's okay. I'll call
Lee and Brice and they'll help us, okay?"
She follows the chibi's gaze towards the bed and shudders again. "Let's go and join Chase-kun in the
hallway, okay?" Because she
doesn't want the little girl to have to look at the carnage more than she
already has. Fishing out her phone, she
quickdials Lee and gets his voicemail.
Growling, she tries Brice next.
Mina
begins to dial her phone.
Chase
waves a hand vaguely at the two girls, moving to lean up against the wall of
the hallway, and then simply sliding down it 'til he is sitting upon the floor.
Yeah, he'll just rest here now, try to keep his head together.
Minai
has seen carnage before, but 'Ai-chan' has not. She lets Mina take her out of
that room, the smell was really plaguing her imagination as it was, something
much harder to escape. But eyeing Chases's pain, she frowns and tries to pull
herself together. "Your head hurts?" the littlest healer asks,
disengaging from Mina just enough to reach out with a hand to try and soothe
the ache of chi-burned senses.
<Phone>
"Brice?! Hi, it's Mina... can
you... can you come to where we are?"
She quickly rattles off the address before pausing, taking a shuddering
breath, she adds, "It's... it's not good here, Brice. Grab Lee if you can find him, though I tried
his mobile and he's not picking up. I...
I think we're in tr-" She pauses,
looking down at Minai. "We need
some help. We stumbled across a crime
scene." She sits down against the
wall, watching Minai soothe Chase's poor battered head.
Chase
mmmmmms softly as he feels the ache in his head ease somewhat. He smiles rather
thankfully to Minai, cracking open his eyes to look at the young girl for the
moment. "I remember you now. Down at the docks."
Hikitsu
comes into the area from elsewhere.
Mina
hangs up her phone.
Minai
lets her hand drop after a moment, though she does pat Tomite on the head
before nestling back against Mina. That's scary, using Amefuri of all people as
some sort of secure safety point. "Yeah, remember you too. Now. You felt
that... bad thing too? It was gone by the time I got here from uptown. I
followed the smell here though." The kid shudders again, purposefully not
looking back into the room of horrors.
Hanging
up her phone with a sigh, Mina leans back against the wall.
There's
nothing to be done but wait for Brice, she doesn't want to go into that
gruesome room again if she doesn't have to.
The need to hold herself together wears off and she starts to tremble,
shock finally settling in. Wrapping her
arms around the chibi, she tries to distract herself with the conversation
around her, quirking up a wavering grin.
"Down at the docks? Do I
even want to ask why you were in need of healing down there, Chase-kun?" You know so she can use it against him for
all eternity.
Chase
smirks faintly from where he sits in the hallway just outside of the room, on
the ground and leaned up against the wall. "Felt it? I almost got sick all
over Mina's lap," he mutters, flickering a glance askance at Minai.
"Lucky for her, I hadn't ate yet, otherwise she'd probably be real pissed
at me." His eyes drift shut though, wincing just the slightest. "I
don't like that feeling of... everything being sucked away." He cracks
open his eyes though to peer at Mina, "I... why do you always think it is
me? I wasn't doing anything."
Minai
isn't quite the sensitive that Chase is, which is quite a relief to her. The
heightened senses as a feline made the smell of death and blood bad enough, she
didn't need the mystical mess on top of that either. "Nah, just ran across
each other once, that's all." she murmurs to Mina, pointedly not trying to
think of what's lying all over the other room.
Cops
can get anywhere they need to practically, and Brice definitely wasn't going to
loiter around after hearing Mina's tone of voice. So he makes it as quickly as
he can down to Washington Square, looking for the address given and finally
recognizing it as the derelict building and pushing open the door - gun drawn.
He's not taking chances. "Mina? You there?" He listens for a second,
then steps in and makes his way down the hall, noting the tinge of blood in the
air. Once his eye has adjusted to the gloom he makes out the three shapes and
no one else, so he stuffs his gun away for the moment and goes to the group.
"Are you all all right?" Check the sanity of the living first, the
dead aren't going anywhere right now.
"You
keep asking me that," Mina teases, poking him lightly in the
shoulder. See, she's good. No tickling the poor abused aching seishi
this evening. "And I keep telling
you the same thing. Because it usually
involves you, ne?" Of course, the
same could be said for Mina as well, but she's willing to overlook that little
hypocrisy. "Ai-chan, you came in
here in cat form, ne?" That's
going to confuse the mortal officers to no end. "I bet that you can get out the same way... we'll just have
Brice cover up whatever tracks you've made so far." It's awkwardly stated, but this is Mina's
attempt to protect the chibi.
"Brice," she calls up towards the first floor, relieved. "We're down here." At his question, she nods her head
tiredly. "Hai, hai, I think we
are. Chase has a bit of a chi hangover,
but other than that, we're fine."
She unwillingly lets her gaze go towards the partially open door. "It's... it's in there," she adds
hoarsely, tightening her hold on Minai slightly.
Chase
looks up as Brice enters, but doesn't remove himself from the floor. "I...
don't know what happened. But... it was another... don't know how to describe
it. All the chi simply got sucked out of here, felt gawd-fucking-awful."
But he didn't get sick! That's a good thing. "I didn't look too close in
there." A gesture to the room.
Minai
has an easy solution like Mina says. All she has to do is 'go kitty' and hide
in Mina's hair or something to be taken home. Wordlessly, she pulls the tape
out from her jacket and hands it over to Brice as he comes down towards them.
Then as quietly, her slight form shrinks down into a small fluffy white half
grown cat that clings to Mina's leg.
Brice
heads down the stairs, careful not trip over anything, and has to skae his head
from the even stronger smell of blood at the bottom. Poor Minai's nose must be
trying to shut down right now. He kneels in front of the small group, trying to
judge their state as best he can in the dim light. "All right... what
happened? Was it something like what happened in the part last night?" He
reaches out and puts a hand on Mina's shoulder, glancing at Chase. "Are
you all right to get upstairs? I want you three to go up there and stay up
there, in case something's in there and in case something we don't want tries
to come in the front door." He glances down at what Toroki hands him, then
decides he'll ask later and stashes it in a pocket before standing again and
drawing the gun once more. "Go upstairs and wait for me. I couldn't get
Lee. If I yell, Chase, you come down and Mina, you watch the entrance. Minai,
be ready to run for help just in case." Here goes nothing... He pushes
open the door and goes inside.
Mina
moves the chibi-neko closer, cradling her on her lap and she gazes wearily at
Brice. "None of us got a really
good look, but it was like that when we got here." She's hoping that they don't have to go in
right away and give their statements, but it's a slim hope. And geez, what are they going to say, 'We
were in the area, got this need to break into an old derelict building and
found this whole scene?' Somehow that
sounds rather flimsy, even to her. Stroking
gentle fingers over the kitten's head and spine, she leans back and closes her
eyes. "Can we at least drop Minai
off at the Penthouse before we go in for questioning, Brice? She's been through enough, I think. 'Suna and Dylan would be the best thing for
her right now, ne?" Nodding, she
gathers up the kitten and starts to head upstairs, towards the entrance. To keep watch.
Does
that mean that he has to get up off the floor now? But he just got here, dang
it. Chase squints after Brice, looking none too pleased. While he'd like
nothing more than to go to sleep and try to get rid of this queasy feeling, the
boy does climb to his feet after a moment, and with no intention of going
upstairs. He instead follows after Brice.
[FTIMsg]
Homasubi paged you with: Homasubi says, "Same thing I mentioned to
Brice... Nothing will attack you, no one's hiding, and there are no other
obvious signs of anything unusual.
Except some fragments of rock mixed in with the bone shards and
splintered loveseat."
Aww,
shit, Chase - but really he expected it. Still not taking chances, Brice does
the classic cop-edging-around-the-door thing, gun going first so he can shoot
if necessary, followed by his head and finally his body. And then when he sees
it... He's glad Chase is there, very, very glad, because that gives him
something to hold onto. That's just... too much for words. One of Brice's hands
goes instinctively to Chase's shoulder and grips hard, the one holding the gun
falling uselessly to his side as all he can do is stare. "Oh...
Christ..." No, this is not good... at all. And, amazingly, Brice
instinctively crosses himself before letting go of the otouto and heading into
the room, steeling his nerves against the sights.
Chase
reaches up to rub at his eyes before following after Brice. He doesn't quite
enter the room, but remains at the entrance way. He remains there as he is
gripped, only to flick a glance over his shoulder to where Mina and kitty Minai
are. He leans against the side of the doorway, looking at Brice more that the
sight of the room. "I don't know, but this is where it all happened. The
chi thing. I'm fairly sure of it."
[FTIMsg]
Homasubi paged you with: Homasubi says, "Almost imperceptibly, chi is
seeping back into the area, gradually replacing the ambient energy that almost
every location possesses. But it still
feels like an uncomfortably empty void, metaphysically speaking."
A quick
glance around the room, quick plea to something that Chase'll know if
anything's coming after them, and Brice puts his gun away and kneels in one of
the very few places of clean floor, pulling plastic gloves out of a pocket.
Never go to a crime scene without them. "Whoever did this is an absolutely
sick, deranged bastard." He glances around, wishing for some light, then
pulls off his patch and sets the symbol a-glowin' so he can better see what
he's doing. "Hmm... Can you feel any chi now? Is it coming back into the
area?" The blood hasn't solidified yet, so a dark spot catches his eye
among the strangely green blood and bone, and he reaches for it. "What
the... rocks?" Oh no...
Chase
doesn't quite cross into the room yet, nor is he really intending to at the
moment. He knows the need to keep a scene pristine rather well. Can't get any
clues if people start messing around in it. "There is more here now then
when we first got here. More energy. Before, there wasn't hardly anything...
now it is coming back."
Brice
shakes his head, rising to his feet and carefully peeling off the gloves. Not
another one... Oh, Lee's going to be pissed he missed this... But wait,
wouldn't he have felt it if it was a chi disappearance like last time? Or is it
exactly like last time? "Chase, how similar is this to what happened in
the park? The exact same sensations chi-wise, or different?" He's gotten
control of himself again, and he carefully steps out of the room, not looking
closely at anything and making sure not to touch anything else. "This is
too big for just me to handle. I'll call the station and have them send a team
out here, they can contain everything until our department can get back."
And maybe some of the profilers - could they have a serial killer on their
hands?
[FTIMsg]
Homasubi paged you with: Homasubi says, "The park was more like in influx
of chi gathering chaotically, perhaps gathering /into/ something, before
settling back down rather suddenly.
This was more like the chi in the area being siphoned away, or
eaten."
[
FTIMsg]
Homasubi paged you with: Homasubi says, "And with the lack of chi here,
you can't tell if there's a yin or yang taint."
"It
is... different," Chase murmurs after a moment of thought. "Before,
it was like everything just suddenly came together. Like a surge. Here... it
all disappeared, was sucked away." He doesn't much like either though. One
nearly have him a pounding headache, and this one had him feeling sick as
anything to go with that headache as well. "I'll make sure Mina and Minai
get out of here then... before the troops arrive. Alright?"
Folding
the gloves into a small ball, bloody sides inside, Brice sticks them in a
pocket and extracts a cell phone, flipping it open. "Exactly the opposite,
huh?" He's still not sure he likes that explanation. He shakes his head to
get his thoughts back together, then starts to punch in a phone number.
"Take the girls home, but you three better stay where I can find you
tomorrow. Lee or I will come by to get your statements - we can find some way
to fudge most of your involvement out of existence, at least as far as
paperwork goes." Putting the phone to his ear, Brice nods at the otouto,
putting a hand on his shoulder again. "You keep an eye open on the way
home, and call me if anything else happens. I'll wait until they get here, then
come back to your place." To check up on him, but that's going unsaid.
"You better get out of here and get far away. Make sure no one sees you
coming out."