Kiyoka

[LordofNightmares]

As the ship Docks in the Harbor Tsubasa scans over the Dock side. Letting out a soft sigh as she leaves her quarters "Finally on dry land, I hate those long distance jobs." Taking her bag as she walked down the pier, heading to her safe house in Kiyoka's Wharf district (On of her mentors Safe houses). As she walks along she stops by some of the shops.

(OOC: only way I can think to Put her in to the story line any way.)

[Drannin]

Argus' eyes slowly flickered open. It was barely dawn; he'd never quite managed the trick of sleeping in, which made his hangovers rather unbearable. Speaking of hangovers, he didn't have one this morning. This was so rare as to damn well be a good portent of thing to come. Hey waking up and not feeling nauseous was as good a sign as any, right?

Argus sighed and got out of his ratty bed. This crummy flophouse room was about all he could afford. Until depleted his resources, which now made it beyond his means. Sad, really. Absolutely depressing if one actually gave a damn.

Ah, well. Enough bitterness. He had an apointment to keep. After cleaning himself up as best as he could, Argus headed for the door.

Last night had ended surprisingly quietly. The wine was excellent. The crackers and dip hit the spot. Associating with Sister Marilyn had apparently put him on a "Do Not Fuck With" list, which was always an excellent list to be on. Argus had gone to bed lucid, which was damn near a miracle. He also went to bed little more enlightened than the previous day.

As he walked towards the remains of the mission, Argus pondered what little he had learned in the bar last night. People had been talking, and their stories had been consistent, if somewhat wild. A gang war, probably between the Gewehr and and some other group. Interlopers on their territory? The blue troll, he didn't know. Sounded like a magical construct to him. Then that idiot blasting himself like that. Wasn't it part of basic training that you didn't summon lightning during a thunder storm??? Plus that psychopath going on her own little rampage...

And all happening at the same time, more or less. Huh. It sounded like a lot of magic was involved too. Adding in Sister Marilyn's suspicions, and it sounded like the Tsuirakushitheads were definitely up to something.

Ah, well, he thought, standing before the side door to the Veracian mission. Best to hear what this Egbert has to say before coming to conclusions. Argus glanced at the sky. Looked Nine-ish. Squaring his shoulders, he knocked on the door.

[Graybeard]

A familiar-looking young nun opened the door and said, "Good morning, Mr. ... Cleveland, was it? I am Sister Eva. As Sister Marilyn told you last night, we are identical twins ... which does not necessarily mean that I approve of everything she does in the service of Our Lord Luminosita," she added with a wince, "but her heart is surely in the right place. You're expected; let me fetch Father Egbert for you." She turned and went through an interior door, revealing a small foyer with various religious-looking artifacts on tables.

Moments later, a short, squat man in priest's robes came out. "Good morning. I am Father Egbert, and Sister Marilyn tells me that you are willing to be of some service to our mission. Please come in and we'll ... one moment, please ... Good morning, Mrs. Samuels!"

Argus became aware that the man was beaming ear to ear, and that his attention was focused, not on him, but on a very attractive young woman behind him, carrying an infant in a back carrier and a small suitcase in her left hand. The young woman smiled and replied, "Good morning, Father. I'm in town preparing for a trip and thought I'd stop by and ask whether you needed any more of our wine for your sacraments. Are you well supplied, and are you happy with our product?"

"Oh, yes, Mrs. Samuels!" the man practically gushed. "Rising Moon Vineyards is our favorite supplier of sacramental wine, it's such a marvelous beverage that I must caution the novices against drinking it outside the services." (Which was true enough, although there was much more to the story.) "I think we're in good shape for now, but we'll want to talk to you again in about two or three weeks."

"Good enough, Father," the young mother replied. "My ... husband and I are going to be out of town for a few weeks, but you can always talk to our agent to take care of your needs. And now I must be going to catch up with him; it looks like you're busy anyway. Thanks for your kind words." She bowed her head slightly and took her leave.

The priest was still smiling as his attention returned to Argus. "Delightful young woman. Her name is Andrea Samuels. She and her husband run a small vineyard just outside town, you may have had some of their more ... secular ... wines in the better dining establishments, truly wonderful stuff. We've not yet been able to recruit her to come to our services, but there's time for that.

"And now, why don't you tell me a little more about yourself, and then I'll describe the challenge looming before you." He motioned the man into the foyer, where a novice appeared with a teapot and two cups.

-------------------------

Whew, Layla breathed to herself. She'd been worried that her smile looked too forced, but it connected with the spherical priest, which was the important thing. If that busybody hadn't heard anything about Arty's death, then word really hadn't got out -- and he was poor enough at hiding his thoughts that there was no way that he could have been withholding bad news from her. It looked like Sergeant Ohta was up to the job.

That was good; she might not have to kill him after all, she thought as she turned back toward the docks.

[Drannin]

Argus sat down across from the small rotund priest and had a sip of tea. How much do I want to tell this guy? he wondered. How much does he already know? Sister Marilyn had heard of me, at least... well, might as well share the basic details.

Argus wasn't sure what to make of the priest. He seemed like a marshmallowy sheep-like follower of that artificial god the Veracians had thrown together and decided to worship. On the other hand, Argus had once come across a rather harmless stoner who was utterly convinced that his hallucinogen-bearing plant was a deity. "It shows me the meaning of life, man," the harmless brain-baked fellow had said. At least, Argus had considered him such until he had rather understandably started laughing at this rather amusing search for answers in the "higher realm," so to speak. The man had rather understandably become upset. The man had rather surprisingly demonstrated considerable skill at making people very dead. A combination of magic and fighting ability. Few things were worse than a magical killing machine that was high as a kite and in the grip of religous zealotry.

Except mimes. God, Argus hated mimes. Still, he had learned from that experience not to mock others' religions (openly) and not underestimate anyone (usually). May as well be up front, to a degree.

"You might have heard some of the details," said Argus, looking into the distance. "I joined the battlemages right out of the university. Good way to see the world and sharpen your skills. I specialize in inorganic manipulation. From there, I got involved in Tsuiraku's architecture/construction industry, which was a natural fit for my talents. Finally got a position at the university performing high-level research. Forgive me for saying so, but I was... somebody important. Life was good."

Argus scowled, an old rage slowly leaking into his eyes. "And then it all went to hell. Those bastards..."

[Graybeard]

"And then it all went to hell. Those bastards..."

Argus' voice trailed off as he noticed that Sister Marilyn -- or was it Sister Eva? -- had joined Father Egbert. He blushed red as a beet, but the nun smiled, patted his hand, and said, "Not to worry, Mr. Cleivien -- I think I got that right this time? I've heard far worse in what I think of as my 'parish.' Strong men use strong language, particularly if they're feeling strong pain." She raised an eyebrow, then said, "I think I've made you uncomfortable. By your leave, Father, I'll get back to Lauds." And she turned and went through the door, with that same cat-like grace that she'd shown at the bar the night before.

"Thank you, Sister Marilyn," Father Egbert said. As soon as she'd closed the door, he turned back to Argus with a faint, wistful smile on his face, and said, "You know, she and her sister are two truly extraordinary young women." He meant every word of that. "Let me tell you a little of their life stories...

"Eva and Marilyn are identical twins, of course. Their father died when they were infants, and their mother raised them in a most curious little commune in Veracia. I'm not sure I believe all the stories I've heard about that place, but by reputation, they dabbled in some very disquieting magic, as well as martial skills -- I suspect you've noticed how gracefully she and her sister move, it's a leftover from that upbringing, no doubt. Fortunately, their mother saw the error of their sinful ways and left the commune when they were about ten years old, and eventually remarried, to a considerably more, shall we say, spiritual man. And her departure was not a moment too soon; shortly afterward, the remaining commune was wiped out to the last man, woman and child, in a terrible slaughter." (He did not say a slaughter by our so-called allies, the Ensigerum, but he thought it.) "By that point the girls' exceptional physical gifts were obvious, as was the unusual strength of their personalities, so they were adopted into the Church as novitiates -- and ten or so years later, here they are. Marilyn is the more energetic and forceful, Eva the more ... devout. But both are formidable, and both are admirable, wouldn't you say?

"But I talk too much. Please continue with your own story." He sipped his tea and waited for Argus to continue.

[Drannin]

Argus pondered Marilyn's departure for a moment. "Formidable, indeed," he murmured, "Even in my prime as a battlemage, I don't think I would have wanted to take her on." But it would be an interesting match, a young, adventurous part of him said. He quickly pushed the voice down. He was getting to old to consider such things.

Argus shook himself, before considering his words. And considering them some more. "It's... complex," he said at last. "There are many rumors about why I left. I've heard a few of them; apparently some of the more sordid ones have turned me into a small urban legend in some quarters." Argus smiled with genuine amusement. Then his smile faded. "The more accurate ones use the word 'exile.'"

"As to the real reason," Argus continued after a sip of tea, "I'd... rather not get to deep into it. It is... uncomfortable." Argus shifted, as dark memories assailed him. God, he wished he had a strong drink to drown out the memories. No, focus on the present. There's a job at hand. Focus on work. Rub those bastard's noses in it.

"To summarize, I lost... people very close to me. Secondly, a vital experiment that could have changed the world... er, for the better, I assure you... went wrong. Quite wrong. Thirdly," and here Argus' face went dark. "Those I thought I could call friend turned on me for their own benefit. Smug weave-cursed bastards..." The aging magus growled this last with genuine rage. "It all happened at once. Everything went wrong at once. And then THEY!..." Argus started to yell this last, but quickly got a hold of himself. He quickly down his whole cup of tea to calm his nerves. Closing his eyes, Argus counted to ten, slowly, while father Egbert looked on with concern. Once he had control of himself again, Argus opened his eys.

"My apologies. It.. still burns me, I fear." A sigh. Hesitation. "To summarize, I became... angry. Words were exchanged. Well, fired off really. From myself. And," he shifted uncomfortably, "Perhaps I acted inadvisably." A pause. "But it felt so GOOD," he whispered.

"Anyway," Argus shrugged, "I was kicked out of the floating city with nothing but the clothes on my back. And good riddance." This last was very fervent, and very solemn.

[Graybeard]

Father Egbert watched his visitor through steepled hands. His complexion had gone red again, but this time, Egbert didn't think it was from embarrassment.

"Dr. Cleivien," he said, carefully using the academic title this time, "I appreciate your candor. We'd heard some of those rumors you mentioned, including, I suspect, some of the more sordid ones. It speaks well for you that you are willing to be so open with us. And I must say that there are certain parallels between your history and my own, prior to discovering Our Lord Luminosita -- but that's a story for another place and time.

"Let me now reciprocate. As Sister Marilyn told you, we would like you to perform two services for us, one a matter of magical engineering, the other of ... fact finding. They match well with your talents, and with your ... feelings. You will have a great deal of support from the Church, and when you complete them --" he carefully said when, not if -- "you will be very well compensated. In fact, we're willing to front you a bit of our payment, so that you can undertake whatever preliminary studies you deem necessary, within reason of course." He produced a small money pouch from his robes and handed it to Argus.

"What Sister Marilyn did not say, however, is that there is a third service that we may ask of you. Our asking is not a given at this time; it is contingent upon your completion of the first two services, as well as some other things that I am not yet at liberty to discuss. I will say, however, that if you are offered that third opportunity, you not only will be extremely well paid for it, but you will find it personally ... very ... interesting.

"But enough of that. Let me show you the damage to our fellowship hall; the engineering task will make much more sense when you see it, and if there's sense to be made of what happened that night (and I'm not sure there is), seeing the scene as I tell the story will help with that as well. Please follow me." He rose, opened the door, and said, "Sister Margaret, would you accompany us, please?" as a short, middle-aged nun came down the hall to where they were standing.

[BloodHenge]

"A... murder, you say?" Vernon said to Kureji. Ordinarily, he would have made some excuse to be on his way, even if he didn't really have anywhere to go. However, in his clerical training, he'd had occasion to work with the mentally unstable. Logic, politeness, illusions, and compulsions-- his usual tools for dealing with undesirables-- tended not to work very reliably, especially if the person in question had magical talent. In this case, he felt the best course of action would be to indulge her until she found something else to distract herself. If nothing else, it would be best-- if not necessarily profitable-- for someone to be on hand for damage control should she happen to inflict more collateral damage on the unsuspecting populace.

((OOC: Sorry for disappearing like that... But I'm back now!))

[Drannin]

Argus followed the priest, feeling a little better. It had been good to get all of that off of his chest, and he appreciated how respectful Father Egbert was being. And being called "Doctor" again was also nice. After due consideration, Argus still didn't have much use for the state religion of Veracia. But he was being forced to admit that it had some fine people, and did some good works when you got past all the preachiness.

Maybe it was the advance money. Getting money had always well-disposed him to people. Argus immediately decided to check himself so that he didn't wind up blowing it all on booze and women of negotiable affection. He had a far better use for the money.

Making life very miserable for certain high-ups on a certain floating island.

All this was blown from his mind when he saw the state of the fellowship hall. Only one word seemed to sum up his feelings on the extent of the damage, and it was delivered with a raised eyebrow.

"Youch."

[LordofNightmares]

Walking around the town she picked up some tid-bits of the current events form the gossip of shoppers and decided to look in to the incident at the Mission and the exploding rats. "Looks like I might get some work in here" she thought to her self as she headed to the mission to see if any one has a clue what is going on or at least could be a new contractor. As she reached the mission she heard some one speak.

"Youch."

She looked around to see two men talking around the damaged part of the mission. She softly chanted and melded with the shadows and followed the two men. "noting wrong with a little eavesdropping" she thought with a smile.