[It's mid-afternoon, the location being an old Buddhist temple on a mountain just outside Shanghai. Climbing the mountain took some time, but the view is quite nice; the peak rises above the clouds, and there's a good view of the China Sea. As for the temple, it's old but well kept.] [There were signs all the way up the mountain giving directions to it, and some space has been cleared out front to form a parking lot. A booth has been attached to the temple's wall, where an attendant offers passes. It's also a gift shop, apparently. Buy your own mini Buddha!] [Start!] * Kyon stalks across the lot towards the main booth, scanning the goods there coolly and seeing the quality of the place. [The goods are fairly cheap-quality things: tiny bronze buddhas, monk beads, T-shirts, and the like.] * Kyon shrugs quickly, and checks back over his shoulder for Kyoko before stepping up to the booth. ">Two passes to the temple, please.<" [Kyoko follows behind Kyon, wordlessly. The attendant nods and gives Kyon two passes (in exchange for money, natch).] * Kyon exchanges money, and pauses before he heads off. ">This may be odd, but do you know anything about a Masayuki Honda?<" [He furrows his brow. ">Can't say I do.<" He looks to be only about college age, however, and probably just works there part time.] * Kyon nods quickly. ">Right.<" He reaches back to give Kyoko a pass without looking, then strides towards the temple proper. [Kyoko takes it and follows Kyon in. The temple looks to be made of three interconnecting buildings: One is merely a large room with a wooden floor and an alter, upon which sits a very large bronze Buddha. The building on the left seems to be for dormitories, and on the right is a mess hall and a storage area. Also behind the temple but still enclosed by the walls are crop fields, though it's been long since anything was harvested there.] * Kyon stops before the temple, and regards it for a few seconds contemplatively before scanning the area to see if there's anyone from the temple around. [Nobody seems to be around. It's doubtful there are ever many people there at all, actually.] * Kyon blows out a breath, and walks towards the large room temple. He stands and looks at the Buddha, and does the proper prayer movements. [Kyoko follows him in, giving him a Look. "What are you doing?"] Looking proper. Makes people more likely to help. ( And give me an awareness check ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (2d6) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 9. (Of course, no.) Kyoko scratches her head. "I guess..." * Kyon moves back, and smirks at her. "Get a lot just looking right." [Kyoko continues to look doubtful. Instead, she asks, "What do we do now?"] * Kyon looks back and forth between the other two areas. "Try the dorm. Might be someone who can tell us something there." He stalks off in that direction. [Kyoko follows Kyon into a building that's basically a long hallway with a number of small rooms. Nobody seems to be present in them. The rooms themselves seem to house two or three monks a piece, except for the last, which only has one bed.] [All of the rooms have beds and desks. That's about it.] * Kyon calls out, just in case. ">Is anyone here?<" [Nobody responds.] * Kyon rolls his shoulders, then looks back towards the door. "Right. Maybe the monks here are too busy eating to sleep or pray." He stalks off towards the mess hall. [Kyoko follows. "Are you sure there are any monks?"] * Kyon shrugs quickly. "No. Got to be sure, though. Can't rifle through precious texts and records with lots of monks around." He smirks back at her. [The mess hall is, similarly, just a long hall with four long tables, in pairs, along its length. There's a room in the back that presumably leads to a kitchen, and another one behind that which is likely a store room. Again, the place is empty.] * Kyon calls out again. ">Anyone here?<" [There's no response.] * Kyon scans the whole complex with a scowl. "No one." [Kyoko sighs.] * Kyon walks into the mess hall, and heads back towards the store room. [The store room is bare, save for a sign, explaining that this is where the monks would, y'know, store their food. There's another door that goes out back to the farm land, presumably for convenience sake.] * Kyon cocks his head, and scans the room quickly for anything out of place before stepping out to the back door and opening it to survey the farmlands. [The farmlands are pretty much just piles of uneven dirt after so many years of disuse. A rope boundry keeps people from stepping on them. But all in all, there's not much to look at.] * Kyon blows out his breath, and stalks over to the kitchen, just to see if there's anything more in there than in the rest of the complex. ( 'Nother awareness check! ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (2d6) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 10. [The kitchen is as basic as can be. It's almost entirely made of stone. There's a rice pot as tall as Kyon and a few clay jars, as well as a small stone fireplace.] * Kyon shrugs tersely, and gestures curtly back at Kyoko to follow him back towards the dorms. [Kyoko does so, and gimme another awareness check!] 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (2d6) and gets 12, a CRITICAL FAILURE!!! "Your logic is faulty, your intelligence is doubtful, and your sumo is insufficient." (Hah. DR that one, at least.) ( >.> ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (2d6) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 8. (And no again.) (I am just totally without luck. ^^;) [On the way back, Kyon finds that there's another person come to visit the temple: a boy around his age. He's wearing a long trenchcoat, blue jeans and a red shirt. His hair is short and brown, his eyes grey. He might be considered handsome, too, were it not for the bandages that peppered his body. He's got one across the bridge of his nose, one on each cheek, one below his left eye little ones on his fingers, bigger ones on his arms.] [He appears to be looking over the Buddha like someone who's pretending to be interested in something he's not.] * Kyon stands back and regards the boy coolly before walking towards him and the Buddha again. ["Kyon Sorata," he says in Japanese, his eyes lingering on the Buddha before turning to face Kyon more fully. "I knew you'd show eventually."] * Kyon cocks his head. "Mean you've been waiting here long? Doesn't look like you enjoy the Buddha." [He chuckles. "Can't say I'm religious."] [He shifts his gaze. "And you must be Kyoko Ozora."] [Kyoko says nothing, but shifts behind Kyon a little.] * Kyon nods quickly. "Yeah. No idea who you are, though." He jams his hands in his pants pockets. "Going to share?" [He laughs. "Sorry. I'm.... " ] ( Seriously, I need a name for him :P ) ( Go with the Japanese spelling. Name him Arieth! ) (Same caveats as usual? What letters should I be avoiding for starters?) ( Hmmm, been so long I dunno. K, I guess ) (Tomoyuki... Kojirokawa.) ( K. ) "... Tomoyuki Kojirokawa. A mutual ally sent me to help you out." * Kyon turns towards the Buddha, and regards him sidewise. "If it's a mutual ally, I'll probably know their name, won't I?" ["Yeah... Though to be fair, she didn't want me to tell you she was sending me. She thought you might take offense at the extra help."] * Kyon smirks. "Must not know me, then. I never take offense at competent help." ["Good. Then you won't mind my tagging along."] * Kyon turns to face him more fully. "If you tell me how you're planning on helping, then I won't." [He shrugs. "Figured we could put our heads together and figure out where the thing is. You didn't expect me to have answers, did you?"] * Kyon nods quickly. "Right, then. What do you know?" ["I know a Japanese soldier visited this temple frequently during the war. I know he had good relations with the monks here. I suspect this has something to do with the you-know-what."] * Kyon shrugs quickly. "Right. Get all that on your own, then?" ["With some help."] * Kyon smirks. "Interesting that you know exactly what we do, though. Any original contributions?" ["Yeah. I was available to come to China."] * Kyon barks out a laugh. "What a coincidence. So were we." [He laughs. "Yeah... So, I take it you haven't found anything here yet?"] * Kyon shrugs quickly. "At this temple? No. Need to search more." He tugs his cards out of his pocket and shuffles them a few times absentmindedly. [He nods. "And I just got here, myself."] * Kyon nods tersely, then fans out the cards. "Can get on that just after this. Take one." [He takes one, the fourth from the left.] ( And while I'm thinking of it, awareness check! ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (2d6) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 9. (You expected maybe a success? No.) ( >.> ) * Kyon nods at it. "What do you have?" [He flips it around to reveal the Two of Swords. "THere you have it."] * Kyon looks at it for a few seconds, then nods quickly. "All right." He reaches over and takes it from Tomoyuki, sticks it back in the deck, and shoves it in his pocket again. [He nods and turns back to the Buddha. "Right. So, where do you suppose the Sword is in this temple?" Absently, he scratches on his palm a bit. Then he reaches into his trenchcoat, withdraws a knife, and makes a small cut where he was scratching.] * Kyon looks around, then looks back at Kyoko before looking at the guy oddly. "Need more info. Thought maybe there's be something in the desks in the dorm." He stalks off towards the dorms again, heading for the room with only one bed (assuming it has a desk). [Kyoko seems cautious about Tomoyuki. She sticks close to Kyon while keeping her eye on the other boy. He follows Kyon. "Yeah, maybe."] [The room in question was once, as a sign helpfully explains, the abbot's. It doesn't look that much different from the other rooms save for the lack of roommate. This was because the majority of the abbots didn't consider themselves to be above their fellows. As such, the room contains a desk, a chair, a plain bed and (added by the people who turned the temple into a tourist spot), an abbot's uniform pinned to the wall.] * Kyon walks towards the desk and tries to open the drawers. [The drawers are empty.] ( Gimme an awareness check at +1 ) 2d6+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (2d6+1) and gets 13, a CRITICAL FAILURE!!! "You always hurt the ones you love. I love you very much." (Well, I don't have any way around that one.) ( Oh man >.> ) (Seriously, not a single roll since I've been back. Just a big ol' run of bad luck.) [Kyon doesn't see anything relevant about the desk.] * Kyon shrugs quickly, and turns to look at the uniform. [The uniform is a yellow robe like all the rest of the monks wear, but with a red sash that drapes over one shoulder and wraps around the waist, falling far enough to cover the knees like a toga.] [Session End!]