Kiyoka, part 2

[Graybeard]

The moon was high overhead as Corporal Yugawa let herself into the women's barracks at the main homeland-security base on the outskirts of town, narrowly beating curfew.

It had been a really nice evening, she thought. The play had been fun and well-acted, even if the main characters seemed improbably ... well-endowed. The midnight munchies afterward had been a rare treat. And particularly, Brother Farley had been terrific company, fun, funny, well-mannered, respectful, the whole package of the perfect gentleman. (She'd hinted that he didn't have to be entirely the perfect gentleman, but he didn't take the hint ... but that could follow on the next date, and she was pretty sure there'd be another one, soon.) All in all, she thought, this business of bridge building by way of the cultural exchange that the Veracian mission represented was starting to look a lot more rewarding than she'd been led to believe.

Her mildly euphoric state, however, was interrupted by a scream from the men's barracks, as Private Kashiwa, the battlemage who'd been sicced on Argus Cleiviein (unknown to Kristi) with disastrous results, rematerialized, howling in pain from the moment he resumed his corporeal form.

[OOC: Feel free to fast-forward to the morning.]

[Viking-Sensei]

Kureji sat on one of Kiyoka's many and infamous docks and contemplated the moon's glow out over the blackness of the sea.

There were a lot of things in the world that Kureji didn't understand; she freely admitted that she had a lot of trouble paying attention, especially when the words coming out of other people's mouths didn't jive with the ones she believed to be right inside her head... and normally, that sort of thing didn't bother her... But her encounter with the fox-masked woman had left her questioning things, which never turned out well.

The odd energy trail she'd been chasing all over the city turned out to be the kitsune-shadow-mage-woman, not Springheel Jack as she'd been hoping... and then it had occured to her that the woman might have just been an agent of Jack, but that too had proven false.

Kureji had quietly cast a truth-seeing spell on the woman, one of her best, that caused a person's magical aura to glow a bright red when they were lying. The spell was simple but highly effective, real first year stuff, and any trained mage with an ounce of willpower could break it simply by willing it off... but the kitsune girl hadn't, and had stood there and told Kureji that she was "looking for work too". And if that was true, that meant that she didn't work for Springheel Jack either, and that all her work up to this point had been for nothing.

So now here she was, in a city that she didn't know, having lost the only thing close to a trail that she'd ever had on the mysterious monster-man, lost and alone. The cold feeling of her true lonely and broken heart came creeping in like fog off the sea. It was far easier to play off the positive-to-a-fault attitude when there were others to inflict it upon... here, in the darkness, alone, she was back to the miserable little mage girl she'd always been inside.

"I wish Rokku was here." She whispered, almost in a sob.

[LordofNightmares]

"I wish Rokku was here."

Huginn perched next to Kureji, his eyes glowed softly looking at the young mage.
"What is the matter?" Huginn asked while hoping around like birds do.
"Do you have a place to rest your head?" Squawked Huginn "If you do not I will lead you to my Mistress Shade's House."
"If you wonder why I am telling you this, it is by my Mistress' comand." Now perched in front of Kureji.

[Viking-Sensei]

Kureji stared at the bird... the talking bird... for a minute. She closed her physical eyes for a second and opened her mind's eye, looking at the magical teether streaming back towards an undisclosed point somewhere in town. Gotcha.

"Sure, why not." she agreed. "I could use a place to sleep."

The last part was a lie, Kureji noted - her family had a mansion here in town, as well as owning a couple of smaller hotels further into the business district... but there was still something about this mysterious bird-compelling shadowwalking woman that Kureji hadn't completely worked out yet. What better way to know the lion than to see it's lair?

[LordofNightmares]

"Sure, why not." she agreed. "I could use a place to sleep."
Huginn spread his wings and took off leading the way to a door in the small ally way near the docks. "Knock three times wait 2 seconds then knock twice" Huginn said "She awaits inside."

[Drannin]

(OOC: Fast-forwarding)

Argus opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't.

Hangovers were the devil. Inside your brain. With explosive magic. Sighing, he reached for a pitcher of water beside his bed, ignoring the glass, and began to sip from it directly. If he had been thinking, he would have re-hydrated himself last night to avoid a hangover. Argus hadn't been thinking while drinking for a long time. In any case, he'd had to damn much to think about (well, let weigh upon him) to even consider where his booze was taking him.

Trolls. Weave-damned trolls. Some sort of ancient golem. A gang war. All apparently tied together, but how? And where did Tsuiraku fit in? He'd have to be careful; they were quite obviously on to him, something he'd have to report to Father Egbert later. Avoiding that Mesuinu psychopath was also a priority.

Still, pulverizing the battlemage had been fun. He still had it!

He also still had a hangover. Argus muttered and decided he wasn't going anywhere until it subsided. God help anyone who gave him trouble; he'd go straight for the thunder magic this time.

[Viking-Sensei]

(ooc - where did everybody go?)

[Sareth]

[OOC]Dunno. I've been kind of waiting for exploration of the basement and all that to take place in the Port Lorral thread, but if it goes much longer with nothing, Jamie's beating feet for the Mountains...[/OOC]

[Drannin]

(OOC: I think Graybeard went on vacation for a week or so. At least that's what he told me. I just didn't want to double-post, but I'll see if I can't think up something for Argus to do. Just to move things along.)

[Graybeard]

(OOC: I think Graybeard went on vacation for a week or so. At least that's what he told me. I just didn't want to double-post, but I'll see if I can't think up something for Argus to do. Just to move things along.)

OOC: Correct, I'll be back in harness tomorrow. If you can get Argus out of bed and to the door of the mission, stuff can begin to happen...