Session Start: Sat Aug 21 15:28:57 2004 [Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 1600 local time] [inside the Blossom Agency - just bumming around] [session start] * Maya isn't exactly bumming around; she's doing finance paperwork, and apparently isn't enjoying it. "You would think this would be easier..." Maya, you should let me help you with some of that. I know the main reason Sakura... hired me was to have a face out front, but I like to carry my weight, too. * Maya lets loose a mild sigh and starts chewing on the end of a pencil in frustration. "At this point, I really think I'm going to have to take you up on that." * Secretary takes a break from fluttering around Lord Darkmoon and comes over to look over Maya's shoulder. * Lord_Darkmoon pokes his head out of the kitchen, where he's been busy for the better part of an hour. Various appetizing smells indicate that he's been productively busy, too. "Good, Maya. You've been overworking yourself. Oh, and dinner in 15 minutes." ...see, you don't need to itemize the office expenses as long as they don't get more than ten percent over baseline. Field expenses... that's a different matter. ... oh, really? Alright, that helps a bit... thanks. And Rin, I'm okay... I just want to put forth a good effort for the highers-up. The fewer problems we have, the better. Maya's cell phone buzzes, and the secretary uses the distraction to shoulder Maya out of the way. * Lord_Darkmoon chuckles as he ducks back into the kitchen. "I know, I know." * Norcliff nibbles a cracker near Darkmoon Gyeh! Okay, okay... * Maya backs off with a smile, then flips open her phone. "Hello!" ...Maya-sama? This is Junko... you gave me your card last week? ... oh! Hello, Junko! I did, I did... I imagine you're calling for what you mentioned about? * Maya finds a few blank sheets of paper and a pen, prepping to write down all the needful things. * Lord_Darkmoon gives Norcliff a friendly scratch behind the ears with his right pinky before going back to expertly spicing a sauce. Yes... um... you do handle these things, right? If I'm bothering the wrong person, I'll just hang up... Just tell me what you know, okay? I'll see what I can do. Um, all right... * Junko sounds very tentative. It's... well, it's hard to explain. My team... we hang out at this mall, and the last couple of weeks I've been getting these weird feeling when we're there. Ningyo feelings, or something else? At... at first I thought that was it, but then no fish showed up! It feels a little bit like that, sometimes... Okay, did you notice anything odd or out of place? Or groups of people milling around? But it's never so intense, and... yes, Maya-sama! About the same time, there were these two new guys who started showing up at the arcade. And they're older guys - they dress all in black and whenever I see them, they seem to be watching us, and they give me the CREEPS. I see. Junko, do you think you could be able to convince your team to not go to the mall one day in the near future? ...but... it's our favorite hangout! And the others aren't as freaked out as I am. I tried to get... uh... our leader, Lady Reaper to do something, but she just laughed it off. Maybe I'm just being silly. * Secretary tears up the report Maya had just been working on, deciding to start from scratch instead. Well, Junko... hm. Don't worry about that, then. The most I can say is to keep an eye out, and if you feel anything else, or if it gets worse, call me as quickly as you can when you're alone. *sniff* Well, I wasn't going to call you, but I got that feeling a while ago, and those two guys are at the arcade with us right now... I dunno, Maya-sama... they're leering at us, and I'm just freaked out... * Maya is about to say something... stops herself, then clears her throat. "Well... okay, when are you going to be going to the mall next?" Snowball was saying we're coming back here tomorrow... Then just go about your normal business. We'll be there to investigate. *small voice* ...really? Oh, thank you, thank you! * Taki finally shows up to the agency. She casually walks in, yawns, stretches and flops onto the couch proceeding to close her eyes with saying anything to anyone. Just on one condition, Junko. If you do see me, or any of the others on my team that you met, don't draw any attention to us. ...oh. Right. I shouldn't tell the others, then? Please don't. That's critical. Yes'm! ... and just Maya, okay? At least on the phone, anyway. Yes ma'am! Thank you! * Junko hangs up. ... heh. * Maya finishes scribbling down notes, then closes her cell and tucks it away. "It seems that I might have a lead on something. But I don't know for sure..." Huh? *leans up a bit* * Lord_Darkmoon pokes his head out again. "Oh, hi Taki. Everyone, dinner's ready. Hope you like koi with a side of curry and rice. It's on the table." Miss Secretary, can you go about contacting the others and letting them know we have a bit of scouting to do tomorrow? Of course, Maya. * Norcliff sets in on a piece of rice that managed its way to the floor. * Taki pulls herself up off the couch and lurches toward the dining area. * Maya skips off to eat as well. "I hope that poor girl's just paranoid..." * Taki tiredly rubs her eyes and looks down and notices Norcliff. * Lord_Darkmoon pulls out chairs for each of the ladies as they come in, seeing them seated before he claims one for himself. There is a seat for each girl here, including the Secretary...and one extra. He eyes that one askance, a quirk of his mouth indicating mild annoyance. "Leave it to Leena to suggest getting together, then not show." * Taki screams. * Lord_Darkmoon jumps, sword out, at the scream. "What!?" It's the rat--thing! Hey! I'm not a rat! * Taki edges along the wall farthest away from Norcliff toward the table. * Taki doesn't respond. Norcliff? *puts away his sword* Heh. Norcliff's a Pet, Taki. He'll not hurt you. Com'ere, Norcliff. *holds out his hand for the little sugar glider to climb into* Wait, he's REAL? ... Taki. It's... how can you be afraid of Norcliff? * Norcliff jumps for the hand! * Maya giggles into her hand. "He's adorable." ^^ He creeps me the hell out. * Norcliff V's in return * Lord_Darkmoon chuckles as he picks up Norcliff. "Of course he's real. What else would he be?" He pets the sugar glider gently. * Maya seems to have remained rather unfazed the entire time. "Well, then, I can't help that. It would be best to get used to him, though." I'm as real as they come! I'm not purple or anything! What, you can sneak around invisible, watch me talk to animals that CAN'T talk to anyone else, and hunt assassins, and this little guy creeps you out? I thought that Haruko uh... manifested, you know... stuff. He's all small and has those _beady_ eyes. He's cute! Admit it! *sigh* Best not to try to think about it too much, Taki. Magic is as magic does. He'll not bother you, just be polite. Right, Norcliff? *winks* Okay, just don't let it near me... And it's not cute, it's creepy. I'll *try*... * Norcliff mumbles "Mrph, beady eyes. I'll show her beady eyes." Now, now. You two at least coexist. Heh. Okay. Here, kiddo *puts out a small saucer with samplings of the dishes, next to his own place*. This is for you. * Norcliff acrobats to the food. "Yay!" * Taki serves herself a bowl of rice to distract her from the critter. Anyway, what's this about work tomorrow, Maya? * Lord_Darkmoon waits for everyone else to be served before starting eating. * Taki looks up at Maya. Well... let's just say I wish I didn't have the hunch I did. ...and so the sugar glider eats. Maya explains the gist of her phone call, and the team makes plans to check things out the next afternoon. [Thursday, January 29, 2004 - after school, at the train station] * Taki is there on time this time. * Maya is also on time, mainly because leaders are supposed to be on time. * Lord_Darkmoon is a touch late, and a bit out of breath. "Sorry I'm late. Had to duck out of a club meeting." * Norcliff hangs from his shoulder. "What a rush!" Maya sorts through the directions, and realizes that their destination today seems very familiar. ...so it's on the train northbound to Warabi. * Maya makes a face. "... back here again. This should be fun." * Lord_Darkmoon also makes a face. "I hope she's not around today." Are we seeing someone today? Well, she'll only show if Ningyo show. And we're here mostly to observe Junko's team to see if anyone's tailing them. * Lord_Darkmoon nods. Ooooh, spy stuff. Heh. Yes. I'll have to remember not to go talk to Madam Secretary and get tagged out this time. *chuckles privately* A few riders on the train look askance at the little critter on DM's shoulder, but nobody complains, or even notices that it's talking. * Lord_Darkmoon plays with Norcliff a bit, letting him run around on his Tessen both folded and unfolded. ...and it's not too long before the small group ends up at the front door of the Warabi shopping mall and entertainment center. * Taki avoids the group and the critter as best she can, sitting opposite them on the train. Once again... this place is just too immense. The square building is nearly featureless from the outside, though there is medium construction equipment parked on the north side of the structure. Do we know where to find this Lady Snowball's group? *a bit quietly, so only those with radios can hear easily* The arcade, where Junko promised they'd be, is on the third and top floor. The north wing of the second floor is roped off, and seemingly still being rebuilt from the last Ningyo attack. Okay, the plan's pretty simple. We hang around near the arcade and keep an eye on Junko's team and anyone suspicious and in black nearby. * Lord_Darkmoon glances at his own black school uniform, and, as he passes behind a convenient pole, it becomes a white button-down shirt, unbuttoned for the top three buttons. "Right." As the team enters the building, everyone is immediately struck by a faint sense of Sea magic. *blink* ... nngh. I see what she was talking about. * Maya stops for a moment, in mid-step, then relaxes. * Norcliff sniffs the air. "That's a new one." It's not quite directional, and it's not strong enough to be a Ningyo. It almost seems to be slowly shifting, too. It is a bit long for residual scent to remain...this is creepy. * Taki wanders into the mall ahead of the group, looking for suspicious people on her own. No kidding. What in the world could cause this? Okay, Norcliff. You want to scamper off on your own a bit? You can call to me if you try. Just think and concentrate on me. Other Pets do it all the time. I'll do my best, but it's so unnatural around here. I keep waiting for dragons but it just doesn't *feel* right. More like water dragons. Do they turn people into kittens? Not usually. Definitely new. ... why would they turn people into kittens? I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I think the Dragon King is missing a few screws. Ah... ha. Right. Well, keep an eye out. * Lord_Darkmoon suppresses a smirk. "Okay, so we split up a bit? I'll start wandering around upstairs." As Taki makes her way around the building, she can sense the magic field around her moving... it's almost as though there are multiple faint point- sources that distort and mask each others' position, slowly touring around the building. Just like she is. * Taki tries to isolate a source as best she can. * Maya heads towards the arcade, looking around occasionally. Darkmoon and Maya make their way up to the third floor - the only one that shows no signs of water damage, and take up positions browsing the kiosks that surround the corner arcade. * Maya does her best to look like she's browsing... all while watching. Maya finds herself watching an Abdominizer demonstration. * Lord_Darkmoon does similarly, but includes generic people-watching in his browsing. * Norcliff runs up the nearest wall to the ceiling and starts sniffing around from there. * Maya ponders whether or not she actually might need one; while she may be a super-powered fighting machine, even advertising can affect her. They can see into the arcade, and Junko and her group are easily spotted - she's still wearing her Takeuchi Memorial uniform. The other three are a year or two older than her, and wearing a different school uni, one with dark green accents and very short, pleated skirts. * Norcliff spots the arcade and makes for it. It's dark, perfect for wallcrawlers. *under his breath, for radio benefit* Well, I can see why some guys would leer at those uniforms. Who designs such shameless things? Darkmoon, stop perving on the girls. We're working. The little sugar glider is the first to see the two men that have Junko so spooked. People worse than Oldman, I figure. Yes, Taki-neechan. * Taki makes her way into the arcade, careful to stay out of view of the girls, looking for the guys they mentioned. The two men, both in their young twenties, unshaved, unwashed, are wearing ratty black coats, and only playing the driving game they're at with passing interest. Most of the time they spend looking around, mostly at the young girls, and most of all at Junko's group. As Taki moves into the arcade, the Sea magic sources seem to come together in a tight group somewhere below, then move away together, out of the mall. * Norcliff thinks to himself "Alright, dirty guys, now to get Head Chef in on the deal..." See anything, Rin? * Taki looks back out of the arcade, pondering giving chase. Not yet... *looking out the corner of his eyes* Whatever smells of sea magic, I think it just left the mall. Hm... The magic sources are passing out of detection range, then suddenly seem to speed up northward - perhaps they all got on the train? Too late to chase them now... In any case, the mall now feels like... a mall. No magic. None at all. ... yeah. Weird... * Taki goes back to looking around the arcade. * Norcliff continues trying to get Darkmoon's attention with his mind. * Lord_Darkmoon blinks. Then his eyes glow purple, as Norcliff feels his mind pushed aside and his body taken control of and his beady eyes likewise glow purple. Excellent, Norcliff.~ Norcliff's eyes scan the area. Darkmoon speaks into his radio, "Norcliff's...found...the creeps...leering at...girls." Where at? Junko squeals from inside the F-Zero GX enclosure. "YES! Take THAT, evil Green Plant Spiral!" * Lord_Darkmoon finds Taki with Norcliff's eyes, then speaks hesitatingly, describing the creeps' location relative to the pink ninja. Even as Taki asks, she literally bumps into the pair. * Maya closes in a bit as well, still trying to stay out of the way. Oh uh... excuse me... * Taki moves away embarrassed. That's...them...Taki. ... Great. The taller of the two leans into the body contact, but doesn't force anything. The other's hands twitch, as though there's something here he wants to grab, but he, too, has some common sense. Taki felt no weapons, and they don't seem to be very strong. * Taki feels very very dirty. Taki, everything okay? * Taki ducks behind the next row of machines. "I don't think they're much to worry about. They're unarmed and not that strong." Just everyday perverts. * Lord_Darkmoon releases Norcliff, with a parting ~Sorry for the intrusion, and thank you.~ Both sets of eyes cease holding the purple full moons. Huh. Well, at least we felt that sea feeling for ourselves. That has to mean something... We should probably hang out here again the next time these girls are here. Have Taki and someone else work on pinpointing the magic-sources, while the rest look like we're still looking for those perverted fools. I doubt it's these two in any case. Probably not. They seemed to just have a primary interest in our young friends; were looking at anything in a skirt, truth-be-told. * Junko finishes another game, and looks around. She easily spots Maya by the print-your-own t-shirt kiosk, and whispers something to the tallest of her friends before ducking out of the arcade. * Lord_Darkmoon shakes his head. "It's somewhat the schools' fault; if they'd have their uniforms be more decent..." * Junko heads towards the escalator down to the food court, but turns around and sneaks (badly) over to Maya. * Norcliff exits the arcade and makes a flying leap from the ceiling to Darkmoon's shoulder. If only, yes. Still, I guess it's best to just keep an eye out like you said. We need to figure out just what those feelings are coming from. o/~ Maaaaaya-saaaaama! Honestly, they should change after school, too, but that's neither here nor -- looks like you've got a friend incoming, Maya. ... oh. Okay. * Maya blinks a few times, not expecting Junko to actually home in on her. * Junko bows emphatically. You came! * Taki ...'s at Darkmoon being such a prude. * Lord_Darkmoon shakes his head. "Subtlety, Jun-chan... subtlety..." he whispers to himself, though the radios probably pick it up. * Norcliff sits quietly, still half-deaf from arcade noises. J-Junko. Hi... please, keep it down about that. * Maya wavewaves her hand in a suitably suggestive manner. Of course, of course. * Junko looks excited. Did you see them? Can you do something about them? As far as we can tell, they're just dirty old men. That's not a nice way to be, but it's not what we cover. *However*... you did tip us off on something, and I thank you for that. What's that? * Lord_Darkmoon moves on to a different Kiosk, keeping an idle eye on the arcade, just in case. That feeling you got... we're going to investigate it further. It might lead to something important. A vendor hawks diet pills at the cute, slender Lord. * Norcliff jumps to Maya; the diet pills smell awful. ...but, it's not those guys? Can't you beat them up or - aw, CUUUUUUTE! * Lord_Darkmoon smiles, and makes a show of being mildly interested in the "build muscle mass" ones. * Norcliff smiles at the noisy female. * Taki keeps a casual eye on the two men in case they do do anything suspicious. She's mostly not concerned though. What is it? What does it eat? * Maya reaches over and blindly petpets Norcliff. "... well, we really can't. They haven't done anything except for ogle people, and that's no crime." ^^; Taki notices that they're concentrating more on the game they're playing - then again it's a fighting game and the two eye-candy fighters they're using have quite impressive panty sprites. But... but there is something weird going on here? Cool, I knew I was right. That'll show those know-it-alls... Maybe I should call the Princess in? No. Nonononono, don't. * Maya shakes her head firmly with each 'no'. "We'll look into this. A Princess tromping around might scare whatever it is off." * Norcliff grabs at the shaking hair. * Lord_Darkmoon mutters. "Especially THAT Princess." Venom practically drips from his voice, and his sudden dark expression puts off the cheerful salesperson. Please don't tell her anything else, Maya. I honestly doubt she's any good at keeping anything a secret. ...if you say so, but I don't want to get Miss Tiara mad at me... * Maya mutters an affirmative under her breath. "Junko... just go about as if nothing's wrong, okay?" But... isn't there something wrong? Tell her we don't know yet. * Lord_Darkmoon moves off from the kiosk. "Oh, 'Miss Tiara' is mad at everybody who doesn't fawn over her anyway. You're probably too late there, kid," he mutters bitterly. *_* Are you with... *waves a hand at Maya* ...them? We'll handle it, Junko... * Maya facepalms. Hm? *blinks, not having noticed he'd gotten within hearing range* Um, yeah. Just another fly on the wall. ^_~ *glances apologetically at Maya* To her credit, Junko doesn't blank out for too long. Um. Well, if that's the way you want to play it, Maya-sama... * Lord_Darkmoon slips off, wondering how he made the same mistake AGAIN. Must be something about this mall. I'll... just leave you to it then. * Junko ducks back toward the escalators. She returns a minute later with a large Slurpee. * Maya reaches out and places a hand on Junko's shoulder once she returns. "Trust us. We'll do what needs to be dine." ^^ The girls hang around the arcade for another hour or so - and nothing happens. Eventually they leave - and the two perverts don't follow them. The mall buzzes with early-evening activity, and the moderate crowd roils around the still knot of the team. I guess.. that's that. We learned something, at least. Shall we go home? Yeah, I suppose. * Norcliff hops back to Darkmoon. "You cooking again?" We're going to come back tomorrow to investigate the sea magic? That's the idea. We need to know what this is, as soon as we can. * Lord_Darkmoon laughs. "I can. Though I'm not sure that you would want me to; I'm only competent." Yes, we should come back. ..and I need to pay more attention to my immediate surroundings. >_< I was trying to locate it, but it seemed to move around too much. Hard to pinpoint. We need more than one on it. Preferably three; triangulation is a good method of pinpointing things. Or so I've heard. Well, that means more of the team... hopefully it'll be as simple as that. ... hopefully. Like it ever is... Let's just hope Junko doesn't get the prissy Princess involved. [Amen, and session end]