[Kaede is, meanwhile, somewhere completely different: he and a certain French transfer student are standing under a bridge, waiting for someone who might not even be coming there about something that might not have anything to do with them. It's rainy, flashy, crackly and cold.] [Session Start!] * Kaede starts wringing out his clothes and sighing. He looks out at the weather, which is probably the cause of his sigh. "Even if this person never comes, it is probably better to stay here by now anyways." [Soleil nods. She rubs her arms, shivering a bit. "Per'aps, oui."] * Kaede looks around. "I doubt there's anything to warm us here. Other than the standard method. And that might give us away to whoever's coming." [Soleil smiles. "Compared to ze winters in Parie, zis is nothing." Still, those school uniforms aren't exactly built for keeping warm. And Soleil being as tall as she is, hers is an awkward fit; probably doesn't help.] * Kaede sighs and rubs his hand, hunching over by the underside of the bridge and curling up a bit. "This probably wasn't the best idea..." [She nods. "Per'aps... But what else could we do?"] * Kaede stops rubbing for a second and tries to hide his hands behind him. "Waited to look another day. But when I have an idea, I usually focus on it." ["I see. I theenk in much ze same way. Regretfully, 'owever, I 'ave found zat some things you cannot control, no matter 'ow much you try.] Like what? [She looks at Kaede. "Like wanting to find a lost friend."] Why do you think she would have left? ["I... am not certain. 'Owever, I would guess it 'ad to do with ze news of 'er brothar's death. Zey were close."] * Kaede shakes his head and goes silent. [Soleil notices. "I do not deny zat 'ee was not good to 'er. But she felt very strongly towards 'im. Ze loss must 'ave been devastating, and you must accept zat."] So someone should stay together with another no matter how they treat them as long as there are strong feelings? "Zat is what usually 'appens, non?" I see. * Kaede looks down at his hands pensively. "So because it's what usually happens, it's what should happen. I get it." ["Let me put it another way. Would you abandon your loved ones eef zey did not treat you well?"] * Kaede shrugs. "It's happened before. "And?" And I don't like to talk about it "Oh." [Soleil pauses for a while, and looks around outside the bridge. After a bit, she says, "I was abandoned. By someone I loved."] Oh? And how did that happen? * Kaede isn't looking at Soliel yet, but his ears are attentive [She gets a distant look on her face. "I did not want to come to Japan. It was my fazzar's idea. 'Ee 'ates me. 'Ee wanted to get rid of me."] Your fazzar? (*tries to think of the Japanese translation of father with a strong french accent...ataasama?*) ( Oh Christ, I'm not even going to try to think of it. ._. ) ( Sure, we'll call it that. ) (But whatever it was, it had to be bad enough that Kaede didn't get it :P) ( K. ) [She nods. "Fazzar."] What is that? [She blinks. "Fazzar." She repeats it in French, but seeing Kaede doesn't get it, she explains: "You know, everyone 'as a muzzer and a fazzar."] * Kaede just stares blankly at Soliel [Soleil stares blankly back, then turns around and scans the river bank again. "Never mind. Forget eet."] If you're sure... * Kaede rubs his arms again. Boy it's getting cold. [There's a long pause, before Soleil speaks again. "Someone ees coming."] * Kaede looks over in that direction suddenly. ( Awareness check. ) [Kaede sees a silhouette through the rain. Soleil turns to him. "What do we do now?"] * Kaede shrugs. "Didn't plan that far ahead. I had expected someone to be near here to follow, not someone coming TO here..." * Kaede looks around for a possible place to hide and eavesdrop. "'Ee ees probably meeting someone 'ere." Right...mmm...do you have a cell? [She nods.] * Kaede holds out his hand for it. "Quick." [She blinks. "Don't you 'ave one of your own?"] * Kaede hisses out. "I need yours too. Trust me. Hurry." * Kaede keeps half an eye on the approaching figure. [She looks confused, but pulls out her phone and hands it over.] * Kaede takes out his own cell and puts it on vibrate, concentrating on it for a moment. At the same time, he dials his own number with Soliel's phone. [Once his own phone vibrates, he hits the "Call" button and then drops it into the drum, burying it a little and nodding to Soliel. "Let's go." He heads out quickly into the rain out the opposite end of the bridge that the figure's coming from, keeping an eye out for anyone else approaching. (Hope you got that on speaker, Kaede. ^^) (Of course.) [Soleil nods and hurries after.] * Kaede looks for a nearby tree or something. Something somewhat sheltered and hiding, but close enough that they can take after them if they need to. [There's no trees around here. There's a few shops, some lamp posts across the street from the river bank, and some parked cars. That's about it.] (How close are the shops?) (And what gives somewhat a view of the bridge?) ( Across the street from the river bank. You'd get a decent view, but wouldn't be that close. ) ( Or you could hide behind a car, but that'd make it pretty obvious to onlookers. ) (Standing out in the rain in general would probably look weird. :P) ( Yes :P ) * Kaede heads across the street, opening his umbrella. He tries to act natural as he gets a distance away. And he holds it as high as he can so Soleil can fit under too. He's such a gentleman. [Unfortunately for Kaede, she's already opening her own umbrella.] * Kaede just walks then. But she won't get to hear it if they start early. [Soleil follows. They don't start at all. Apparently there's still just one guy there.] * Kaede looks back at Soliel. "Perhaps they did go to meet somewhere else." "Or ze othar 'as not come yet." I should hope so ( Where you goin', exactly? ) (Other side of the street, then to a shop if it takes too long.) [And so they go!] [They get to a bookstore. Woo.] [It's 2002, so they can't buy Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Dang.] [There is someone approaching from across the street!] [He heads down to beneath the bridge.] [Soleil crowds close to listen as they start speaking. "Hey," says a male speaker. "How'd it go?"] * Kaede browses through the bookstore just for the look of things, going to a lowly populated section. He's keeping the cell fairly low but loud enough to hear it. [The bookstore only has a few people in it: two customers and the clerk, all of whom stare at Soleil as she enters. Foreign. Tall. Attractive. Woo. Then they go back to what they were doing.] (I'm imagining everyone doing it in unison.) [Kaede heads to the arithmetic section. That sure as hell is empty.] [A man with a deeper voice says, "It's done, like you wanted."] [The first one replies. "Exactly? You made her suffer?"] [Soleil's eyes shift to Kaede at that.] [The second one says, "She's dead, and I made it look like an accident. Watch the news tomorrow."] [The first one: "You were supposed to make her suffer."] * Kaede looks at Soleil as well, then listens some more. Does he recognize the voices? [Second: "Torture isn't my way. If you want them to suffer, you can go after them yourself."] [Nope! But it's hard to tell over the phone.] [After a bit of a pause, the guy says, "Well, as long as she's dead."] [The second one sounds a bit exasperated now. "Yes, your Five Pentacles or whatever is dead. We've gone over that."] [The first one says angrily "That's Five of Pentacles, Reversed. Reversed!"] ["Right, right. Whatever. What do you have against these kids, anyhow?"] [First: "They're freaks. Abominations. Unnatural. They treat us like their playthings."] [Second: "You've got to be joking... Well, as long as the pay is good."] * Kaede looks oddly at Soleil for a moment. A dark expression clouds his face for a moment. [First: "Here's the one I want you to kill next."] [Soleil has a similar expression. She glances at the window.] [Second: "Hmmmm... Hmm... High Priestess..." *pause* "... Hey, are you serious here?"] [First: "Completely."] [The second whistles. "That's one hell of a power. Why not go after the weaker ones first?"] [First: "No! If I do that they'll catch on. That's why we must get rid of this one now, before they know!>"] [Second: "Hmmmm... Hmmm... Maybe... I think I have an idea that might work. But there better be a hell of a payoff."] [First: "I'll tripple your fee for the Five... No! Quadruple it."] [Second: "Fine. I'll bring you the results in a few days."] [They stop talking!] * Kaede glances at Soleil and then steps out of the bookstore. [Soleil follows!] ( Two sight rolls, Kaede. ) [But! Kaede sees both men, moving in opposite directions.] * Kaede looks at Soleil, trying to get a better view of them. "Which should we follow?" ["I cannot tell which ees which..."] ["But... what do we do eef we follow zem? Zey sound like zey 'ave violent intent."] (Yeah, but we can be more violent! Problem solved.) * Kaede frowns and thinks for a moment. "If they're going after the High Priestess..." ["Who ees zat?"] I don't know... But from what I've experienced so far, the major arcana are nothing to be trifled with... [Soleil nods. "Ze men seemed worried. But still...." She adopts a thinking pose. "What can we do?"] ( It's a serious "What can we do?", not a hopeless-sounding one ) I still think we should follow one... It's the only lead we have. [Soleil nods. "Zen..." The man on the left gets into a car, so she points at the one on the right. "Zat one?"] * Kaede nods in agreement and watches him, only starting to follow when he feels he's far enough ahead not to notice. He tries to check out his features if he can. * Kaede shuts off the phone as he goes along. "I hope my phone is still there through all this..." [Soleil nods. "Eet ees... not in ze safest of places."] ( Gimme a stealth (concealment) roll, -4 bonus ) 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6-4) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 3. [In this weather, it's pretty easy to stay hidden. So they do!] [To be continued!]