[Date: Friday, January 18th. Time: 2:50 P.M.] [The bell rings, indicating school is done for the day. Katie is sitting at her desk in her History class, as other students gather up their things and prepare to go home.] [Session Start] * Katie checks her notebook once more, then closes it and shoves it into her satchel. Her history book follows shortly afterwards. [A girl comes literally bounding up to Katie's desk, with a big grin on her face.] * Katie blinks. Katie! Class is done! Isn't that cool! * Katie laughs. "Yeah, Chikako. Very 'cool'." She says 'cool' in English. * Katie gets to her feet and grabs her satchel. * Chikako grins wider. "Guess what! Another one vanished yesterday!" She half-hands, half-shoves a copy of the school's newspaper at Katie. "I did the article myself. It's so cool!" * Katie blinks and takes the article, reading it as she heads for the door. "Another one? Christ." She absent-mindedly opens the door and holds it for Chikako. * Chikako leaves with Katie commenting on something. Whatever it was, it sure was cool. [The article is titled. "Another One Vanished Yesterday." It goes on to describe how a sophmore from Serizawa High vanished without a trace, just like the others.] * Katie keeps walking for her locker, somehow dodging other students as she reads. It's a nice article, Chikako. How many missing does that make it now? Four, five? * Chikako hops along. "Nobody really knew the guy. They said he spent all of his time on his computer. Cool, huh?" Five. I'm keeping accurate count. Isn't that cool? ^_^ That you're keeping count... I guess. Not that people are gone. * Katie nears her locker and looks up from the reading. Of course not. But the fact that I'm so up to date is cool! Anyhow, I gotta run. Gonna check this out some more. Isn't that cool? Sure is. Good luck. * Katie waves Chikako off. Cool! See ya! * Chikako goes off her merry way. * Katie goes about putting her books back in her locker and grabbing the ones she needs for homework. [Katie notices near the bottom, a small article on recent increases in drug abuse. Otherwise, the rest of the paper reports on boring school stuff.] * Katie blinks and picks up the article. "Don't remember about this," she murmurs to herself in English as she starts looking it over. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6) and gets 5. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Shingo (2d6) and gets 6. [Meanwhile, someone who's reading the same article is walking along and, not paying as much attention as he should, walks right into Katie.] Gah! oof! * Shingo falls over. * Katie turns to the person. "Watch wh-" She blinks. "Hey, are you all right?" * Katie offers Shingo a hand up. * Shingo is a scrawny little kid, maybe twelve or thirteen years old with a head full of short messy black hair and a nasty and badly healed scar going from his right temple across his right eye down his cheek to just under his nose. He's dressed in the standard boys' uniform. Er... hi. Sorry. * Shingo gets himself to his feet. It's fine. I'm not the one who fell over, after all. I ran into you. It's my fault, so I apologized. * Katie blinks and pulls her hand back. She's a pretty teenager, probably in her second year, with soft gray eyes and brunette hair that falls to her shoulders. She's also noticeably Caucasian, in spite of being average height for a Japanese female. * Shingo blinks twice. * Katie tilts her head. "Apology accepted, then." You're the girl from before. Huh? The beginning of the year. The beginning... oh, hey. You showed up and chewed Ken out for me, didn't you? I told him he was being an idiot, yes. * Katie taps her temple. "Because he is one. Funny I didn't think of that before. You're the only one who's done it." She also has a noticeable accent. * Katie goes back to picking out her books. "So, what's your name?" Shingo Ryuuzaki. * Katie finishes with the book and turns to Shingo. She hesitates a moment, then holds her hand out for a handshake. * Shingo blinks. I'm Katie Andrews. Nice to meet you. Er... nice to meet you. * Shingo shakes Katie's hand limply. * Katie shakes Shingo's hand back, careful not to break it. Geez. @_@ * Katie withdraws her hand. "So, what had you in a rush?" No rush. I was reading. Ah. A good pastime. * Shingo shrugs. I prefer textbooks. The school paper isn't usually all that good. * Katie chuckles. "Don't let Chikako hear that." Who? You prefer textbooks? That's different. Oh, Chikako. She's an editor. My only friend here. I see. * Katie blinks. "Er..." She pauses, trying to think of the right words. * Taki comes running down the hall and decides she needs to meet new people...by glomping the nearest figure in a boys uniform from behind. (hiya Shingo) * Katie stares at Taki. * Shingo falls forward flat on his face. Oh, I'm sorry, Was he yours? ::looks to see what she's caught:: * Katie stares at the people sprawled on the floor. * Taki falls with Shingo. "Yipe!" * Katie shakes her head and mutters to herself in English, "Japan just gets weirder and weirder." She shuts her locker door. Owie... Hey, Shingo. She a friend of yours? Er... I'm not sure. I haven't seen her face. I doubt it, though, I don't have any friends. * Taki gets to her feet, and then offers the boy a hand. "So you're Shingo? I'm Taki, pleased to meetcha." * Shingo stands up. Uh... hello. * Katie shakes her head in bemusement. I was right. She's a total stranger. What kind of stranger runs around hugging people? * Katie looks at Taki oddly. As well she should! Me! ... Right. You okay, Shingo? Yeah. It's not like my face is gonna get any uglier. Aww, I'm sure there's sombody out there for you! We just have to find her. What are you talking about? He's just stating a fact. Though I don't think he's ugly. [And, without warning, a male student dashes past. His face is pale, his eyes are wide, and he looks like he'd be screaming if he weren't out of breath.] * Shingo blinks. I wonder who that was. Was that a male student running past in breathless terror? * Katie watches the student go. "Wonder what got into him." [He runs right by, frantically glances back, and hurries out the door.] Yup. Think we should do the same? Okay. Just making sure I'm not hallucinating. * Katie nods. I mean, there aren't any jocks following him, that I see. * Shingo looks around. * Taki looks back up the hall. [Another student follows shortly. She's got long black hair, and is absolutely beautiful. She's also wearing her leather jacket over her school uniform. Only one student gets away with breaking the dress code like that.] Oh. That explains it. * Shingo blinks. * Saki stops a short distance from you. "Hey! See someone run by?" Yes. * Katie nods. Hmm, I wonder what he did. * Shingo points the way the boy ran. * Saki hurries in the direction Shingo points. It all makes sense now. Oh? What happend? ::tilts her head to the side and looks attentive:: He must have made her angry. That's not a good idea. Ahh. Haven't been here for long, but even I got that idea. Most people know it. Even the freshmen. [Voice from the front, near the doors: "Really? This school is that badly off?"] * Shingo turns to look at the voice. * Katie looks over there. * Taki walks over there. * Katie folds the article in her hand and puts it in one of the pockets of her satchel. [The speaker is a girl, dressed in Shunyo High's uniform. She's staring at you three, arms folded.] ( Everyone make perception rolls ) 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6-4) and gets 4. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Shingo (2d6) and gets 5. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6) and gets 8. Where did everybody go? * Katie looks around. "I don't know." Out of harms way. * Katie snaps her attention back to the girl. "What are you saying?" What do mean? * ShunyoGirl is suddenly holding a spear. You've got no idea where it came from. "I'm sorry about this, but something big's happening, and bro says the less of us there are, the better we'll be." So... I have to kill you. Nothing personal. I'll take my death very personaly. * Katie takes a step back. "What the fuck are you talking about?" she asks in English. d6+5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (d6+5) and gets 7. * ShunyoGirl doesn't respond. Maybe she doesn't speak English :P d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (d6+7) and gets 11. d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Shingo (d6+8) and gets 9. [Taki, Girl, Shingo, Katie] [Taki's turn] * Taki holds onto her action for a bit "Why are you trying to kill us?!" I told you, it's nothing personal. Rest assured, in the long run, it's for a good cause. [Girl's turn] * ShunyoGirl charges at Shingo and swings. But the attack is somewhat wild and she misses by a mile. [Shingo's turn] ...pathetic. * Shingo aims a quick jab at the girl's ribs as the goes past. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Shingo (2d6) and gets 8. [Shingo strikes her right in the stomach. She staggers back, clutching herself with one hand.] * Shingo falls into an easy and totally untrained stance and waits. Ugh! D-Damn. [Katie's turn] * Katie backs up, holding her satchel in front of her as some sort of defense. "What's going on? Why're you attacking Shingo?" [Taki's turn] I'm not going down without a fight. ::tries to punch the girl:: 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-2) and gets 5. ( erm, wasn't it -3? ) (er...yes actualy, but it hit anyway so...) * ShunyoGirl takes the blow and staggers back further. [Girl's turn] * ShunyoGirl raises the spear. "Dammit, this isn't how it's supposed to go!" [Male voice: "How is it supposed to go, then, Kyoko?"] * Katie looks in said voice's direction. * Taki looks for the source of the voice * Teen enters through the front door. He's wearing a Shunyo Academy uniform, same as the girl, but looks a bit older. Brother... I had a feeling you might try this. * Katie yelps and backs up some more, straight into the lockers. * Shingo relaxes out of his stance. * Kyoko stares at him almost in a daze as he casually walks up and slaps her. * Katie stares. Fool. Killing them? That won't help at all. But brother, I was just trying to help... * Taki watches the drama unfold in confusion. * Teen grabs Kyoko's arm and drags her towards the doors. "Come on. We're going." It would help if you explained why she was trying to kill us, you know. * Katie blinks, then shakes her head. Could you...what Shingo said. * Teen stops in front of the door and turns. "I suppose I do owe you an explanation." If you want to phrase it that way. * Katie studies the teen a bit more, then slowly lowers her satchel. It's entirely logical of us to want an explanation of why this woman was attempting to kill us. Simply put, my sister had assumed she could prolong our existance by eliminating others of our kind. Your kind? That is simply put, yes. Unfortunately, the simplicity has eliminated necessary details. "Our" kind. ... You mean people, then? Indeed. Our people. * Taki looks thoughtfull. * Katie looks at the teen blankly. "Not following. If you mean Japanese, I'm only half." You are placing some special emphasis on 'our' as if you are implying that our kind is your kind, and that is something other than human. * Teen blinks. "You don't even know what you are?" That should be obvious, given our questions. Uhm...yep. * Katie blinks at Shingo as she tries to follow his wording. * Teen looks at his sister. "They aren't even aware of what they are, and you..." * Kyoko looks at the floor. "I'm sorry, brother." * Katie glares at Kyoko and grumbles in English, "Sorry doesn't make up for trying to kill me." * Teen sighs and looks back at the Sakuragaoka students. "I guess it doesn't really matter. We're not going to last much longer anyhow." Already it's begun, and it won't stop until we are no more. So, the next questions are, "What are we?" and "Who are you?" Please, keep giving cryptic half-answers. I so enjoy a good puzzle. * Katie snickers despite herself. * Teen heads out the door, dragging Kyoko with him. "I suggest you make the most of your lives now; there's not much left." * Katie sighs and sort of slumps against the lockers, sliding to the floor. Is something wrong? * Shingo looks down at Katie. Somebody just tried to kill me, and wouldn't even tell me why. * Taki kneels next to Katie "are you allright?" That's more than a little wrong. Do killers usually tell you why they're trying to kill you? I don't know. Have you met a killer before? No. I've read some psychology books, though. Some murderers do, but only the really sick ones. Usually they just get it over with. * Taki shakes her head "The last person who tried to kill me was drunk driver." Murderers are sick. Well, that boy said that she believed she was prolonging her own life. That would indicate she was acting in the interests of self- preservation. Logical, if not entirely sane, or particularly intelligent. Still sick. We're not cattle. There are generally better ways of doing things. But how killing us help her? * Katie nods. "I didn't argue the logic. It's stupid, though." She considers. "Whatever they are, we are, too. I think." I don't know. Can either of you pull a spear out of the air? Because I can't. No spears, I can do this though ::fades to an outline and then reapears a few feet over:: Don't see how it could hurt her though. AS a matter of fact... * Katie stares at Taki. Hmmmm... I need something to work with... * Katie blinks. "Huh?" She shakes her head. I was thinking about grabbing you and running, but her brother showed up first. ... How could you do that? I imagine that she does it by horribly raping several laws of physics. I don't know. Remember that drunk I told you about? He hit my moms car and all of us went over the side of a bridge, but then I wasn't in the car anymore, I was back on the road. * Shingo flinches. * Katie winces. "Oh, I'm sorry." Only I was still moving as fast as the car was and got these. ::Brushes her hair out of her face to show some faint lines:: Well then, you got off easy. * Katie looks from Taki to Shingo. ::me pushes back her sleeve to reveal more of the same marks:: Better than dead, but I still spent a few weeks in the hospitol. * Taki sits and sighs. "The past is the past. She's dead and I'm not." * Katie looks down at her hands for a bit. "Okay, I can see why they might have gone after you. You can do that vanish thing. It doesn't explain why she attacked Shingo, though." * Shingo shrugs. Or why I got caught in the... I expect we're all more than meets the eye. * Katie considers. "Crossfire?" He said "our" when he was talking to you. Yeah, but... I don't have any powers. Unless you count whittling. ( Katie has the most evil power in the world! ) * Katie waves her hands. "No hocus pocus, no vanish thing, can't even punch someone right." Whittling, and any other craft, has a bit of magic about it, in a way. * Katie blinks at Shingo, then chuckles. "Yeah, but there's a lot of whittlers in the world." In any case, perhaps we should go somewhere else? Probably. Hmm, howbout food? * Katie shrugs and gets to her feet. "Okay. Let's just go." Food isn't really an option for me. I get dinner at home, lunch at school, and that's all. Don't worry about it. I'll pay for you. I don't have a way to repay you. ( Katie's special power is matchless skill in paying for things :P ) Yeah, how often do you get to go out with two cute girls, and I'm sure you'll think of something! ::jumps to her feet:: * Shingo blinks. You don't need o- * Katie blinks at Taki. (I'm just that good. ^_^_v) That works, I guess. I don't go out. Ever. With anybody. I spend my time studying, and practicing. * Katie frowns. Well, this is the perfect time to start. Well, there's a first time for everything. * Shingo blinks. * Katie switches to English, "Wallflower. Come on." She grabs Shingo lightly by the arm and tugs him to the doors. * Taki takes his other arm. Whatever that is. * Katie blinks. "You speak English? That makes things easier." * Taki listens to the people talk in the annoyingly wordy launguage, but keeps smiling. * Shingo is reluctantly tugged along. ( Hey, maybe Chikako can tutor her :P ) * Katie tries to explain in Japanese. " is used for... um... someone who spends time studying and practicing and never goes out." ( That would be so cool! ) (Bwahaha!) (hee) Okay, so I _am_ a wall flour. Not wall flour. 'Wallflower'. ...I see. Don't think you do. But that's okay. Second languages are pains. I recieve top marks in my English classes, just like in all my others. * Katie opens the door and keeps tugging Shingo along. "I got top marks in Japanese back at home. It didn't matter." * Katie wrinkles her nose. "I can't say lots of what I want. The way I want." Besides, I see nothing wrong with being a . Studying and practicing sports are reasonable activities. Gets lost in... changing, I think. You're depriving the rest of humanity of your wit! * Katie laughs. Humanity has told me that it does not want my company. Well, humanity's telling you it does now. Where did you want to go, Taki? Uhm::starts listing on her fingers:: (What is around here?) ( Anything basic. Pizza places, noodle shops, ramen stands. Maybe one or two fancy restaurants. ) ( Chinese food :P ) ( Unfortunately, Kirby's Famous Pasta won't be around for 40 years or so. :P ) There's a Pizza place near here, and that ramen stand, and...a noodle place, and...I think that Ramen stand is closest. Let's go there, then. * Katie shivers and starts walking that way. * Taki continues to pull Shingo along. [The group gets to the ramen stand; a small vendor on the street, who tends to sell after school snacks to students. There's four stools in front of the counter.] * Katie walks more quickly to the stand. Warm food = good. * Shingo is pulled along faster! @_@ (Katie's cold! He can deal. :P) * Chef smiles when the trio approaches. "Hi every-bo-dy!" * Taki hurries up as well. What can I get you to-day? * Katie smiles at the chef. "Hi. Just a bowl of ramen for me." She looks over at Shingo and Taki. I don't really need anything. I get enough food. A big bowl of hot ramen! * Katie frowns slightly. "Do you have any hot chocolate, sir?" * Chef nods and prepares two bowls of ramen. It doesn't take long at all. I sure do. You'd like? Yeah, thanks. * Chef nods and gets a cup of hot chocolate for Katie. "One marshmellow or two?" * Katie chuckles. "Two." * Chef plops 'em in and puts the mug on the counter in front of Katie. * Katie pays for the ramen and drink. (if "ExtraKirby" winds up in the cup I will hurt sombody) *** ExtraKirby is now known as Marshmellows * Marshmellows are in the cup. Yum! (Marshmallows! Whoo!) * Taki pays for(::Bangs her head into the stand and gives herself a headache::) her ramen. * Katie takes the mug and gives it to Shingo. "Here, this is yours." She takes her bowl and moves to one of the seats, where she... well, sits. Er... * Katie slurps up some noodles, then blinks at Shingo. "What? Never had hot chocolate before?" Um... no? This is a day of firsts for you. Get over here and sit down, it's warmer. * Shingo sits down? * Katie shakes her head as she says quietly in English, "Honestly. Never had hot chocolate before. You'd think you were raised in a convent or something." She has some more ramen. ( I like that idea. Shingo, from now on, you were officially raised in a convent. ^^ ) * Taki sits and slurps her ramen. (*cracks up*) (snickers) ( Well, a lot of orphanages _are_ run by nuns. ) ( It fits, I suppose. ) Actually, I was. * Katie stares at Shingo. Eh? Was what? ... I was kidding, you know. Kind of. You were? Raised in a convent. An orphanage, really, but it was run by nuns. Still is, actually. Ah. And they didn't give you any hot chocolate. Hardship builds character, you know. * Katie tsks. "Chocolate is one of God's best gifts." She nods sagely. "Now drink." * Shingo drinks deeply and burns his tongue. O_O Yeowch! Yes. No! * Katie sweatdrops. "You didn't need to take such a big drink." Can we get a glass of cold water? * Katie nods and gets off the stool, running over to the chef and asking him for just that. * Chef hurriedly complies, handing Katie a glass. He really seems to love his job. * Katie thanks the chef, then gets back to Shingo and hands him the water. "Sorry about that!" * Shingo drinks, making his tongue hurt even more. ( If Katie could read minds, his thoughts would be. "Boy, I love my job." ) * Katie winces and just gets back onto her seat. ...Slowly, you have to enjoy things, well not enjoy burning your toung, but you know what I mean right? Er... I think so. You might try phrasing things a little more carefully, though. I'm sorry. I have a hard time coming up with phrasing at all. It's okay. You just need practice. Eh, I babble. ^_^; You certainly do. * Katie chuckles. * Shingo sips delicately at the hot chocolate. This tastes quite a bit better when it's not searing my tastebuds off. I'd hope so. My tastes aren't *that* bad. * Taki nodnods and goes back to trying to eat without getting her hair in the bowl. * Katie goes back to eating her ramen. Warm ramen, cold day, yum. :9 * Katie pauses and says quietly, "So, do you have any odd powers, Shingo? Like Taki or that girl?" Odd? Not really. Unusual, certainly, but I wouldn't say 'odd'. Unusual, okay. Different word, same... thing. Kind of. Unfortunately, I lack adequate material upon which to demonstrate. Oh? What do you need? A length of wood, perhaps a large bit of metal, something of that nature. * Katie frowns thoughtfully, then pushes her bowl aside and sets her satchel on the counter. She opens it and starts rooting around. How large is large? Perhaps a kilo in mass. A half kilo might do. * Taki puts her chopsticks down and watches. * Katie wrinkles her nose as she tries to translate that into the English system. Two point two pounds, in the english system. ( 12 pixels, in the videogame system :P ) * Katie pulls out a box and sets it on the table, putting her satchel back on the floor. She opens the box, and withdraws a wrench, probably the largest she has. "Is this good? Maybe not heavy enough." Er... I don't think that's a good idea. * Katie blinks. That's probably expensive, I don't want to ruin it. What? It's just a wrench. I'm not going to hit anyone wi- oh. * Katie puts it away. "What were you going to do?" Turn it into something else. Probably a knife. * Katie blinks. Wow. I'm never entirely sure what I'm going to get when I start, but it's always a weapon. Ah. That's something, all right. * Katie puts the box away and slurps some more ramen. * Shingo blinks. Transmutation? I suppose you might call it that. I'm pretty sure I can't turn lead into gold, though. Change one thing into another. , maybe. I wouldn't know what to do with it if I could. I'm sure you'd think of something. Like a big pile of books, or maybe some sports equipment. Or something. * Katie giggles. "You're one of a few, Shingo." She nods at Taki. Well, I couldn't exactly walk into a store and pay with gold. I mean, they'd want to know where I got it, so they could tax me. Hmm, true. * Katie nods and swirls her noodles in her bowl. Hey, maybe those vanishing kids are because of that crazy girl. That could be. I hope not. Why? * Katie blinks at Taki. Now that her brother has caught her, the disappearances would likely stop. because that would mean that they're dead, she killed them, and there's no hope that'd they'd be found. Didn't say they died. But that aside, they probably died anyway, whatever the cause. * Taki sighs and slups ramen. * Katie has some more ramen, too. * Shingo continues sipping a the hot chocolate. It's almost gone now. * Katie finishes off the noodles and drinks ramen juice. * Katie sets her bowl down and sighs. "Much warmer." * Shingo finishes the hot chocolate. * Taki reaches the last noodle and brushs her hair off to oneside before lifting the bowl to drink. * Taki puts it back down, "That was good." * Katie nods. * Katie considers. "Anyway, this bothers me. I don't know what's going on, and I want to find out." I don't like the idea of people hunting me, for whatever reason. Yeah, but there's only two people to ask, and one of them...well... No, there have to be more. We just have to find them. * Katie nods. I just don't know how. Yet. * Katie frowns as she taps her finger on the table. "I don't want to wait for one of them to try to kill us again, either." We'll just have to figure out some way to find them. So we just walk up to people and ask "Do you know anything about a crazy little girl with a big pointy stick who wants to kill us?" But that's the problem. I'm not even sure what we're looking for. People with powers, okay. Except it looks like I'm one, too, and I don't have any powers. So even that might not be accurate. Mmmm. We'll see. I'll find you at school tomorrow. I have to get back to the orphanage. Okay, Shingo. It was nice meeting you. All things considered. Yeah. Nice meeting you. You too, Taki. Sure. I'll see you there. It's been fun, well except for that one bit. * Shingo shoulders his backpack, which has a bokken sticking out from it slightly, and starts walking. * Katie nods and gets off the stool, then grabs her satchel. "I should get home, too. My parents aren't used to me staying out long after school." Ok, see you in the morning then. * Katie smiles at Taki. Sure. Nice meeting you. Nice to meet you too. * Katie waves and heads home. * Taki stands up and realizes that she left her things at school and runs there. [Session End]