2/23/2003

12:22 AM

Logfile from Ichijin.

 

Royal Elizabeth-Penthouse 1

It is a penthouse, a swanky penthouse at that. Plenty of windows, wood flooring, elegant lines and a modern look. You've got your sunken living area, long and dark dining table close to the windows that overlook a balcony decorated with topiary and such. Off to some side is the way towards the bedroom, double-doors left open just enough to get a hint of a large bed and more expensive furniture. All in all, it looks like a place that could use a far better description.

Akurei is here.

Obvious exits:

Exit

 

Sebastian is draped over the couch, or something along those lines. One arm rests on the back as the man simply looks up towards the ceiling. Other arm extends and he aims a remote at something or another, brining on some rather light jazz music.

 

Reese enters quietly, closing the door softly behind her. Magical hangover, she has found, is a rather touchy situation, and painful to watch and feel. Hiking her backpack off of her shoulder, she quickly deposits the contents into the fridge before moving around the back of the couch and obstructing Sebastian's view of the ceiling. "Hi! I'm home!" Thank you, Captain Obvious. "How are you feeling?"

 

Sebastian blinks back at Reese as she enters, following her progress about 'til she is standing over him. "Very well, actually. Thank  you for asking." Having taken note of the noise around the fridge, he isn't quite sure whether to query further or not. Better try a different tact, "And how was your day?"

 

If anyone knows how to put someone off eating for a month, it's Reese: the ultimate weight-loss plan. "Ahh, that's good," she replies, smiling brightly and somersaulting herself onto the couch next to Sebastian. "I had a lovely day. Nice, quiet day at school, and a quieter day at work. Plus, I took a walk on the way home!" she adds, beaming. "I got mugged."

 

Sebastian draws one leg up and the other slides off the sofa to give Reese plenty of room. "Sounds splendid and far more exciting then my day. Once more firing and hiring lawyers just to hear them squeak. I even think of them must have had a heart attack, or possibly jumped from a window. He never did get back on the phone, and I hear sirens. Otherwise, dull. Mugged? You weren't too gentle on the villain, were you?"

 

Reese raises a brow at the Evil quotient in Sebastian's lifestyle - then again, they're lawyers, and probably deserve it. She herself has had some good cases screwed over by law staff, and doesn't mind a couple of them falling out windows. A little recognition, however, touches her eyes. "Hanging," she concludes, blinking. "He hung himself. The shift before me cleaned that one up - cut and dry suicide. As for the guy who attacked me... He paid a price." An arm and a leg, in fact. Cough.

 

Sebastian blinks across to Reese, and then actually has to bite back something of a grin. "Well, I suppose I won't have to spend the rest of my day imagining all of the possibly fates of him." A wry grin, "Is that what is in the refrigerator?" Next to the fois gras and shark fin soup leftovers? He seems to frown, "Did I tell you about the scroll?"

 

Reese shakes her head solemnly. "I keep my things in an ice box in the freezer now. Lexie yelled at me when I accidentally put something in a takehome box from a restaurant... Yeah." She winces, then blinks broadly, confusion heavily on her face. "No, no you didn't. What about the scroll?"

 

Sebastian actually chuckles this time, pushing up a bit to simply lounge in the corner of the couch, resting a forearm upon his drawn-up knee. "I had Ming Li over, our Suzaku-loving translator that Lexie seems to dislike immensely, and the feeling is mutual concerning Ms. Li. She has managed to decipher a couple of the lines in the scroll, but she expects it will take her quite some time."

 

"That's wonderful," Reese says, eyes sparkling. "Anything important so far?" The mention of an ill relationship between Lexie and someone else doesn't seem to surprise her too much; the girl has found little that the miko seems to have complete respect or like for. She shrugs her shoulders ambivalently as to Ming's character, "I haven't met her."

 

"Just a couple of things that I've also spent my name considering," Seb replies. You can only torture lawyers for so long before getting bored with that game. He clears his throat before speaking, "Someone who has the power to call a god under special circumstances is coming. Where the elements join." He blinks over to Reese, "She mentioned those two together."

 

 

Reese blinks again, her eyes widening at the news. "Where the elements join. That must be Lexie, right? What special circumstances?" She hates how those cryptic old guys write. Couldn't the gods have written in a more accessable language? She puts her thoughts to word and says, "They're really not making this easy for us, are they?" Thppbt. Bad god.

 

Sebastian frowns slightly, "I'm not all that sure if it means her or not. There is more though." He frowns for a moment before recalling what else Ming said, "There is apparently a great deal about shadow, or emptiness in the earth. Something that could be interpreted as a hole in the earth, and the symbol near to it meant temple." He sighs softly, peering back at Reese, "We'll have to wait until she can translate the rest."

 

"If they're cryptic all the way through, I'm gonna shoot the bastards," says Reese, wincing, then letting out a despairing and overly melodramatic sigh. She rolls her shoulders back and her face twitches; a frown overtakes her features. "I hope she can do it quickly. I'm tired of waiting on everything - more senshi, less tension, more info. It's irritating," she mutters.

 

Sebastian blinks across to her, chuckling softly. "Well, considering the dialect can actually be interpreted a variety of ways, it will be difficult to understand the exact meaning of the scroll." He sighs, sitting up, only to reach over and rest his hand on Reese's, "I know you are restless. I'd suggest going out and sending some of your cadaver minions out to bother a couple of seishi? It has been rather... dull around here lately."

 

Reese makes a face, fully expressing the extent of her disgust with her gods. "Understaffed, underpaid, underinformed. They've sure got a way with their servants," she says, rolling her eyes. Her own hand is flipped and she squeezes the man's reassuringly, but sees fit to continue complaining. She's good at that. "As Lexie said, you can't piss in this town without hitting a seishi. They're crawling all over the place, and they have an annoying tendency of calling for backup."

 

"Well, with our numbers as they are, I suppose we would have to employ new tactics. Guerilla mentality. Hit and run. While not exactly the most glorious of ways to beat a foe, it is still amazingly effective -especially for a group such as ourselves." Seb shrugs his shoulders slightly. "Although I'm not sure what exactly would the point in doing something like that, other an finding some sort of outlet for growing tensions."

 

Reese sticks out her tongue - yes, we are the epitome of mature here. "I've got enough bodies to lay waste to New York City. I've got infinite resources, given a bomb and a crowd. I can make people implode, and I have to engage in guerilla tactics." Somehow, she just lacks the subtlty. It's a little annoying. "You have a point. Maybe we should just clear out the temple. That sounds like fun, right?"

 

Sebastian smiles softly, "I'm not all that sure that the people of the city will take all that kindly to your version of The Night of the Living Dead, Reese. Can you even imagine all of the sanitary difficulties. Couldn't you just leave a couple in our neighbors apartment, we'll call the authorities about a smell, and there we are... a seishi or two tossed into a mental institute." He considers. "It could be effective if used in moderation." Any little thing to stick bur in the arses of the seishi.

 

"We opened up a dimensional rift in their museum. They've got to come to grips with metaphysics some time," Reese complains, but lets the subject drop. Hell will break loose when it will, and she doesn't /have/ to push the envelope. "Oh, you mean with Trevor and Johnston? Interesting thought," she murmurs, closing her eyes for a moment and concentrating. "You don't happen to have a key to next room? I might have to work the lock, and I'm not too great at it, unless it involves a firearm or a credit card. And these are nice doors."

 

Sebastian grins wryly. "If I can get inside, I can create a portal into there some time... although I've a feeling that they've got that place warded tighter than any other temple." He frowns for a moment, considering. "I'll have to try to get invited inside at some point to make sure there aren't any wards up. Otherwise, I could just climb over to their terrace." See! That climbing skill can come into use now and again!

 

Lexie walks into the apartment.

Miaka walks into the apartment.

 

"Oh, cool," Reese says, eyes shining. "That'll be a damper on their morale. And it doesn't even hurt me too much either. I'll just have to remember to get all the epithelials off of the body - hmm... maybe that fresh one I put on the porch with Benito." Thankfully, a little movement now and then and the rott doesn't gnaw too much. The two are sitting all civilized on the couch, having a nice, quiet conversation about sabatoge and destruction. Nothing much.

 

Sebastian chuckles wryly, "I'll try to see if I can meet up with him in the next couple of days. It shouldn't be all that difficult." He draws back against the couch once more, giving Reese's hand another pat. "And hopefully that'll give us some entertainment." Bliss.

 

Miaka is being prodded from behind, by a nose-bleeding Lexie, into the apartment. She was hoping that the room would be empty and that she would possibly be able to reason with the other miko, despite the injury Miaka had made to her person. After all, Miaka can be persuasive, right? But no such luck. Immediately upon entering, she sees that there are already two other people seated within. Sebastian she vaguely recognizes from the stint in the museum, but it's Reese who gets a look of total recognition. "Uh-oh..." she mutters softly under her breath, before deciding that some control of the situation is needed here. "Hello minna!" she cheerfully greets, giving the two oni-senshi bright and happy waves. "Lexie and I were wanting to chat, so if you'd like to leave, we wouln't mind it at all."

 

Lexie has, in fact, a /broken/ nose, and the bottom half of her face is covered in blood.  Yes, it's humilliating; The beginnings of a black eye, to boot, and from suzaku no miko. That's like being beaten in chess by mike tyson.  And she looks bloody well pissed-- Which is probably obvious enough from the fact that she has a gun to Miaka's back. "Call Balachai."  She rasps, kicking the door shut behind her. "I deed him ober here as sood ad poddible. Ad call summud to clead dee eledater."  Considering she bled all the heck over it.  "We'll dalk in brivate, dudaku do midko, whed we're id a paidtig."  It's hard to sound suitably threataning when you sound like a bad cold commercial..

 

"Actually, I kind of liked the climbing idea better. Just get me a door or window open, and we'll be open for business. Just putting something in there doesn't take that much effort at all." Reese nods her head with bright confirmation, blinking as the two mikos enter. The blood, in particular, is of interest to the girl, and she draws it smoothly away from Lexie's face. The woman's speech invokes a quick diagnosis; with a wince and a little magical kick, the woman's nose is, at least, back in place. "Oooh, in the elevator too?" she asks brightly, feeling for the cells with her mind and purring at what she finds. "Lexie, darling, please don't say you got the broken bone from this little one?" Despite her teasing, she's busy clearing up the woman's nasal passages and phoning Malachai at the same time.

 

Sebastian sees enough of one miko in his place, seeing another entering into here really is something far too scary to comprehend. He is about to gently advise Miaka that she has the wrong place, and would be happy to escort her next door... only to see Lexie next. A bloody Lexie. Okay, his 'respect' for Miaka just increased. "Well, would you look at what the cat dragged in," he drawls slowly, foreign accent playing around the words. He pushes up to stand, smirking at Lexie's gun. "Please...  Miaka, was it? Why don't you take a seat? Is there something I can get for you? A drink? Something to... eat?" He's heard about this one. Lexie gets another frowning glance.

 

Reese begins to dial her phone.

 

<Phone> Reese says, "Malachai? It's Reese. We've got a little bit of a situation. Lexie's got a gun, a miko, and what feels to be a broken nose. I set it back, but she's bleeding like nobody's business. And she doesn't look very happy," the girl adds, after a pause. "Maybe you want to come over here? She, apparantly, deeds you ober here as sood ad poddible." Heh."

 

Wow... this might end up being better than she expected! Reese is given a dirty look at the 'little woman' comment (hah! See how you would fare against the mighty Mashimaro!) but she doesn't say much to her. As Miaka approaches Sebastian, she hears the magic words and beams brightly at the oni senshi. "Oh! If it wouldn't be a bother? I would love to have something to eat. And something to drink!" Of course, she will probably eat you out of house and home, but if you live in a penthouse, Sebastian, you can probably afford it. Lexie's words were mostly incomprehensible to her, but as Reese speaks on the phone, calling this 'Malachi,' a frission of worry begins to thread up the Suzaku no Miko's spine. Major uh-oh here.

 

Lexie shoots a look at both of her seishi, then back at Miaka, even as she puts the gun back into her hip holster. "Dee whud I habe to pud up wid?" She asks, only to choke off a noise of pain as her nose decides to snap back into place. "Ow! Owdch! Ow! Dee got be wid an ugly lambp."  She spitefully grabs the sleeve of one of her oni's coats and wipes off her face with it.

 

<Phone> Reese clicks her tongue. "Now she's bleeding on my nice trench," she comments, sighing dramatically. "She got pegged in the face with an ugly lamp. You better get over here - she's got something in mind for you. And there's a present for you in the elevator. She's bleeding like nobody's business, but it's nothing I can't take care of. See you soon, hon."

 

Reese hangs up her phone.

 

Sebastian is nothing if not hospitable. He reaches over there, wincing as he does so, to take up something of a decorative covering on the back of one of the chairs and tosses it towards Lexie. She'll need to wipe up the blood with something besides someone's coat. *sigh* He offers Miaka a hand, gesturing towards a seat, "Why don't you sit for a moment, please? I'll see what we have in the kitchen. At least something to tide you over 'til... whenever." Lexie is shot another glance, wry, then he moves into the kitchen to find that shark fin soup and fois gras leftovers from before. Other hoity-toity culinary items are to follow.

 

Miaka is seated graciously by her host - darned if it wasn't the same one that was contemplating shooting her or something while in the museum - and she folds her hands into her lap cautiously. She's not entirely certain how to react at this point. It's odd, since she expected the typical threats, the promises of torture.... not that she's missing any of it! Not by a long shot! She's just surprised at how they are treating her at the moment. Eagerly she cranes her neck towards the kitchen, though, trying to catch sight of the food that he is going to offer her. When she cannot see, however, she turns back... and is immediately greeted by an opening  portal and a man walking through it. Gulp. o.o;

 

Reese clicks her phone shut, turning back to the scene and lifting the blood off of her coat. "Yo. I'll take care of your face, just hold still, will you? Damn, girl." And there goes Sebastian, feeding the other miko nice leftovers. Lexie's blood is absently pooled in the air, then roped, then made into a pretty flower. "You know, I could probably clot some of that for you," she comments idly. She balances on the edge of her couch, watching as Miaka sits down at the table and Sebastian, in the kitchen area, pulls food items out for her.

 

Lexie sighs and holds still for Reese, expression morose. When she can talk coherently again, she comments, "She tried to kidnap me first.  Welcome to oni central, Miaka.  Hey, can I get a steak for my eye, Sebastian?"  Anyways, now that the gun's away and she's not in horrible pain, she's feeling much nicer.

 

Sebastian is always nice to his guests. His current housemates (including the pooch on the porch) should not fault him in that. He returns with a tray for Miaka, setting the array of whatnot on an end table for her benefit. He hesitates though, peering back up at Lexie, "Steak? Human or heifer?" You have to be sure to ask these things around here, because you never know. He glances down at Miaka though, offering her something of a light grin, "Now, however did Lexie come across you? Bringing you all the way up here? I'm sure there must be a wonderful story attached to these events."

 

A business card lying on a table suddenly swirls black and red, the ink on it swirls off the side and sprouts legs. The card runs off the tabletop and scurries to a wall where it smacks into it, fluttering to the floor while the ink smears up the panel and thins out into lines forming a doorway. Heck, even a doorknob appears then turns slowly as it actually opens up and a portal forms. Malachai walks in a moment later. "I am not even going to begin imagining how this came about." he comments as he takes a look around. "It is nice to see you all again though, but won't someone explain just what happened?"

 

The moment the tray is set in front of her, the Suzaku no Miko is inhaling the contents! Despite having grown up and gotten married, her appetite hasn't changed one iota and the speed at which she eats her food is still staggeringly rapid. In the time it takes Sebastian to ask her a question, she has already finished. Yes, be amazed. But now, with Malachai present at last, and at least two of the oni senshi asking for details as to her presence here, Miaka nibbles on her lower lip and offers, "Ano.... it's kind of a long story..." She really doesn't want to tell them how she went and broke their miko's nose. They might take umbrage to that.

 

Except, of course, when he threatens to blow up the building for a little name-calling. That was no fun. Reese curls the blood around the air, making and animating little stick figures at her whim. She watches the card with a little interest, but moves off quickly to get the steak for her miko, obedient in spite of her little fits of fun. "Heifer," she answers for Lexie, with a tongue poked out in Sebastian's direction, tossing a decent-sized chunk to the woman. "And... she tried to kidnap you?" One of the people who knows how much weaponry the woman carries at all times, Reese giggles. "Malachai!" Beam.

 

Lexie waves a hand. "I don't care what it is, as long as it stops my eye from turning purple." She comments, flopping down onto the couch with a grunt.  "Anyways, she wants to talk, and I agree, we do need to talk.  I also figure if we can keep her as a guest in one of your paintings for a few days so her seishi can't snatch her back until they return our summoning scroll, all the better."  She feels along her tender skin, wincing. It's already turning into a shiner.  Unfortunately, this means her depth perception is off, as she only has one eye, since the other's already swelling.  And so, she misjudges the distance, reaches to catch the steak.. And gets hit in the face with it, instead.  Thankfully, the following cursewords are in Italian.

 

Sebastian peeps down at Miaka, and then blinks again. "Amazing. I had heard the tales but..." But actually witnessing Miaka's powers is something else. "I'll... uhm... See what else I can find." Reese's tongue is noted, and rewarded with a wink. Yeah, but you can't fault the fact that blowing up the Elizabeth would have be really, really great. He takes the tray and goes back into the kitchen, only to return with a bit more things upon it for Miaka's bottomless pit of a stomach. He blinks though, "Do you think we could possibly have her painted into something of a burlesque pose? It'll give us something to admire."

 

Malachai reaches back through his portal for a moment before it closes to pull out a flat portfolio case, the sort an artist would use to hold artwork. "My, my, what vocabulary you have, Lexie." he remarks calmly though with a slight smirk. He studied art in Italy for several years actually. "Well, I think I can find something 'comfortable' to slip our guest into. Though I don't think the effect is the same as what Sebastian has in mind." His paintings animate when there's something living inside of it. The eurasian man's gaze turns towards their guest now, studying her rather curiously. "Now, why was a miko trying to kidnap our Lexie? Oh and I do have a few gifts, or at least some finished commission work that was requested?"

 

Okay... so she did try to kidnap Lexie. Miaka can admit that much and she looks properly abashed for the attempt. Mostly, though, she is upset about the amount of money she paid for that horrible stoned rabbit lamp that was using as a weapon. Mashimaro was never meant to be abused like that, but gosh darn it, it should have done a better job! As the oni chat about her, Miaka starts to get nervous again. She hides it well - stuffing a chunk of brie into her mouth from Sebastian's second offering - and protests, "Iie! We are here to talk, and when we're done, I get to go with no hard feelings." Oh yeah, like that's going to go over well. She eyes the artist suspiciously, wondering precisely how this is going to work, and wondering also how she is ever going to get out of it.

 

Reese happened to be /in/ the Elizabeth it at the time. That would not have been really, really great, thank you very much Sebastian. She winces as her lobbed piece of meat smacks into Lexie's head, biting her lower lip. Whoops. "Oh, Malachai," she says, fetching a glass and carefully manipulating the blood into it, handing it to the man with a bright smile. "And it's Lexie's, too. Something tells me it should be extra potent." The girl flicks a glare in Sebastian's direction, and gives him the magical equivalent of a bitchslap. /Ahem/. Blink blink in Miaka's direction. "First, the seishi go against their word for our scroll, then you try to kidnap our miko. No hard feelings... right." Sarcasm, anyone? It's served up with a nice sidedish of scorn.

 

Lexie brightens, still holding the steak over her eye.  "Cool, you can give 'em to me once we take care of this. For the moment our concern is getting her stowed somewhere they can't grab her, but someplace comfortable."  She glances over at Miaka and adds, "We don't eat babies, we don't do virgin sacrifices, and we /are/ nice to guests, even if Sebastian's better at it than me.   Not that any of you would know, since you all judged us without knowing us very well.  There won't be any hard feelings, and you /will/ get to go, after we talk.. And after your seishi cough up /our/ summoning scroll. After all, we released hostages for that thing, only to be lied to. Such a terrible show of good faith.  Sorry for the trouble, darlin', but the ante has been upped and we don't have much of a choice if we want our scroll back, do we?  I was going to just wait, since we're a while aways from summoning, but I got pretty lucky running into you.  I guess we were thinking similar thoughts, hm?  Oh, if you'd please deposit any magical items or weaponry you have, we'll keep them for you for a little while."

 

Ah well, I suppose an animated Miaka will be just as entertaining, if not more so, than a posing Miaka. Seb will just have to make do with that. "For shame, dearest Miaka. You were actually going to try to /kidnap/ Lexie? Whatever did you think you would accomplish doing that? Well, other than blooding her nose." And how many times as Seb wanted to do that very same thing? "How disappointing." His opinion of the Suzaku plummets with every day that passes. But the man winces at Reese's response, reaching up to rub his head with a hand. And with the chi hangover he has been nursing the past couple of days, that didn't help any.  He sighs, peering down at Miaka, "It'd help if you would be kind enough to just agree to all of this."

 

Malachai eyes all the food that Miaka is eating and just shakes his head. "Well, I suppose I can find an accomodation that'll keep her quite entertained till we return her." Opening up his bag, he searches through several unmatted sheets and then grins. "This one should do." He gingerly lifts up a sheet of painted canvas and sets it down on the floor. It's a scene of some asian banquet, all laid out and ready for a party to begin, the only thing missing from it are the guests. "Ah thank you Reese, that should do wonders though I wish it wasn't blended together. It would have so much potential for... controlling our guest if it didn't have the likelyhood of also affecting Lexie." Taking the glass from the girl, he pulls out a small jar from his jacket to pour it into. Yes, he carries this sort of thing around all the time, it is his brand of sorcery after all. "Though tying her fate to Lexie's and vice versa might have interesting results." He looks at the others for their opinion on that.

 

Miaka is quick to make excuses as she points out to Reese, "Demo, Lexie was thinking the same thing about me! And she's much better than I am at fighting and kidnapping and everything, so I had to try to act first so that I could assure we would be able to talk without bringing... ah...." Miaka hesitates in her explanation, because she was about to say, 'bringing her oni senshi along,' but considering the present company, that might not be the best of arguments. So instead, she finishes lamely with, "...bringing any trouble into the meeting. And I /wasn't/ trying to break her nose," she tries to convince Sebastian. "I was trying to knock her unconscious! I would have gotten Michael to heal her, of course!" Turning to Lexie she frowns as she shakes her head. "I don't have anything. My lamp was my only weapon." And a sorry piece of furniture THAT turned out to be. -.-; Too bad Trevor never got a chance to teach her how to use a sword. And this is the second time Miaka is regretting it. But when Malachai puts the painting out, Miaka almost drools in anticipation. Wow... if you gotta be a prisoner, there are worse ways to go! Still, the cup of blood being handed to Malachai gets a definite 'eww' face from Miaka. Yeesh... it's a good thing she didn't bleed in this adventure!

 

"As if she'll do anything," Reese says scornfully, crossing her arms firmly across her chest. "We'll give her back, and they'll treat us to a couple more excuses, and another truckload of BS." She blinks curiously at the painting, an impressed eye roving across it. "I got a few new pieces on the way home today," she offers to the man. "If you want to have something that's cleaner, I'm sure the bits in the freezer haven't crystalized yet." Anything to help out a fellow senshi, right? She cringes at Mitama, then shakes her head. "We'll have more playtime, I think, when we've got our scroll back." As Miaka speaks, the girl gives her a rather shocked look, something like horrified fascination written into her expression. "You planned on kidnapping Yin no miko with a lamp?" Granted, there are some rather creative applications for household appliances, but just conking someone over the head...? Reese tenders the other miko with one of those looks that she usually reserves for valley girls and the criminally dumb. "Damn, girl."

 

Lexie rubs at her chin, looking thoughtful. "You can do that? Like, binding my well being to hers?  I mean, we wouldn't be able to hurt her, but we don't really need to.. And anything that hurt me would hurt her?"  She smiles, morosely. "Certain poetic justice in that.  Hell, should bind everyone to some innocent shmoe or non-powerhouse seishi like Chiriko.  Wouldn't have so many people attacking us so casually, that's for sure."  Hmm, she likes this idea. Although.. "...Although she's kinda accident prone. " With bad taste in lamps!  "Has some merit. But we don't give her back until we have the scroll, safely, and authenticated. "  She's humilliated, here.. The problem is, Miaka almost succeded.

 

Sebastian shrugs his shoulders elegantly. "Could very well make things a bit more interesting, as you say, Malachai." Finally though, he does look over to Lexie to see her reaction to this possibility, and is actually pleasantly surprised at the miko's ideas on this. "Reese, cut her some slack, she is the Suzaku no miko. What else do you expect?" He reaches over to take that barren tray once more, impressed at Miaka's scarfing skills once more. He gives Reese something of a wink before heading off into the kitchen, presumably to return at some point.