[Day: Sunday, April 23rd. Time: 6:00 p.m.] [Kaede and Akemi are walking north, into a section of town Kaede hasn't been in in a long time, if ever. Not that that means much. Since it was never really established earlier, Akemi's currently wearing a low-cut tank top, a blue miniskirt, a silver and gold bracelet and knee-high red leather boots. That's important. Possibly.] (Shika charges at the color red.) ( And at low cut tank tops. ) (This is true.) [Anyhow, the type of section of the city itself is, to put it nicely, slummy. The people seem shabby. Several of them cast glances your way as you pass by. To make matters worse, the sun is going down!] [That's a good place to start, I guess. So start.] * Kaede 's sideglancing at the people when he can. If he's still got a signal, he's half concentrating on that, but he's sticking close to Akemi. If someone was looking real closely, his hands are getting fidgety. [Akemi looks less than comfortable. Normally, she appreciates it when people stare at her. But not these people, apparently.] * Kaede takes Akemi by the hand and says very quietly. "Come on. Let's hurry." He starts picking up the pace, as much as he can without dragging Akemi along. [Akemi nods and matches his pace. "Why did she come here?"] I...wish I knew. I don't know Shika as well as you do, Shiraishi-san. [Akemi frowns. "After what she's been through in the past few hours, I couldn't begin to guess what she's thinking."] [The signal leads Kaede to, of all things, an opera house! ... An old opera house. An old, dilapidated opera house, with the windows boarded up. There's a length of chain and a broken lock at the foot of the door, too.] * Kaede looks on ahead. "Probably that the world is over and her life has no meaning." * Kaede looks up for a moment and stops. "Opera?" [Akemi shrugs, looking as clueless at Kaede. "She never told me anything about liking opera."] I doubt that anything's playing. * Kaede looks for a way in that isn't noisy. [There's the front door!] * Kaede goes in the front door then! Opening it slowly. [Kaede is ambushed!] [By nothing.] * Kaede heads on in, taking a glance at what Akemi's doing before taking in the atmosphere. [The inside lobby looks just as dilapidated. A sign near the ticket booth reads, "NOW SHOWING: 'The Nibelungenleid'.... March 4th - August 10th, 1995"] * Kaede goes in quietly, listening as he goes. "Been closed a long time..." [There's a staircase that leads up, and about three or four large doubledoors, very close together, directly in front.] [Akemi nods. "Yeah."] ( Gimme hearing checks ) ( Er... ) ( Just a hearing check ) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6-2) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 8. [Kaede hears voices from the direction of the double doors. Looks like one is partially open.] * Kaede goes closer to the double doors. He doesn't nudge it open any unless he needs to to hear. [Kaede can't make out what they're saying, though. But the voices belong to a male and female, so maaaybe...] * Kaede gestures to Akemi and whispers. "Can you see if those stairs lead to a balcony or something?" [Akemi edges closer, wait, I think Shika's in there.] ( Quotes! ) * Kaede frowns. "But if we can listen from above them..." [Akemi sighs, but she goes to check.] * Kaede keeps trying to listen in from his position just in case. If it was just Shika, he wouldn't be worried but... [There's suddenly a bunch of screaming from inside.] * Kaede frowns more, but for once doesn't bust in rushing. Instead he opens the door to get a bead on the situation. ( Stealth roll! ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 6. (I should have just declared that auto-failed. ^^;) [Kaede opens the door a crack, where he sees the theatre. It's big. Very big. But not really in such great condition. More importantly, though, he sees Shika, about halfway between his position and the stage. Two guys lie at her feet, convulsing in pain.] * Grysar is now known as Grydlish [There's a third guy, up on the stage. He's very tall and lean, with waist-length blond hair, white jeans, a red jacket and white gloves. Give him a rose in his teeth and he'd be fit for TV.] * Kaede sucks in his breath a little but relaxes. At least the people screamed who were supposed to scream. But he's trying to watch as much as possible while staying inconspicuous. [In one smoth motion, Shika spins and thrusts a palm towards the door. Gimme a defense roll, Kaede!] (Ranged?) ( Sure. ) (...crap.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 7. (Hahahaa-no.) [The door explodes outwards, and Kaede flies back off his feet, striking the wall behind.] * Kaede lands against the wall, in a strikingly similar pose to what happened before and leaves a bit of a bloody streak on the wall. "Nngh!" [Pause til Sunday]