[The GM's nails are pink! If that isn't freakish, I don't know what is. But that's neither here nor there, as we find our protagonists on the Reinhart Ranch, which is where Mr. Reinhart lives.] [It's after hours, they went a-vampire huntin', they're supposed to be asleep, but they're probably not. Why not? So they can mini, of course.] [Start!] * Jinx is in the stable once again, practicing with the Naginata, he grumbles some while he does it, although he may actually be getting a little better with it. * Mikoto is a shadow in the doorway! And then less shadow and more person. He's carrying a mug of something in one hand and a small bag of oats in the other. * Jinx glances over and lowers the Naginata. "'ey Mikoto. How's the headache?" * Mikoto turns, looking surprised... not a usual expression for him. He smiles wearily. "Not much better. I haven't been getting enough sleep for all the channeling I've been doing." He tracks down Nami's stall and proceeds to give her the bag of oats. ( STAB! --oh sorry Jinx. Didn't see you there.) * Jinx nods. "So, out of curiosity, that's mostly air magic you're doing there, right? I've been having trouble keeping track of late." (Now that you've seen me feed my horse, you'll have to be filled in with cement and thrown in Tokyo Bay.) * Mikoto makes a slightly pained expression for a moment, concentrating on petting his horse's nose. Who knows if Millie's been taking care of her? Likely though that may be. "All wind, with one recent exception thanks to one of the orbs from Sakura's clan home, I believe in retrospect." (...Millie grew up on a ranch. You think she doesn't know how to take care of a horse? :P) * Jinx nods. "Suppose it normally makes sense to focus on one. Issues of death magic aside." (Read the sentence again. :P) * Mikoto nods faintly. "I'm not a magic user by profession. I just appear to have a talent for it." He gives this some thought, though he's still looking at the horse rather than at Jinx. "That may be why I alone was taught how to summon and control Mira." * Jinx changes his location a bit to be about three times a safe distance from Mikoto and goes back to Naginata practice, hopefully far enough to avoid random chains of events prompted by the drilling. * Jinx nods. "So, one expert in your clan who only passed it to you? That sort of thing?" * Mikoto shakes his head, finding a bench outside the stall and having a seat; he takes a sip out of the mug and it's clear from the scent it's coffee. "Not exactly. It was... more of an experiment, I believe it was phrased. To see how feasible it would be to train others." Ah, start with the adept guy, if it doesn't kill him try others? * Mikoto smirks. "Maybe so. I'd like to hope I was more of a specially chosen few than an expendable test case." (And what he doesn't know won't hurt him.) * Jinx grins. "Whatever you have to tell yourself. I've found the meaning of the word experiment to be pretty consistent." * Mikoto laughs. "I'd rather focus on the results than worry about the methods. I have an ability nobody else has... that's a unique advantage." * Jinx nods. "Quite true." * Jinx looks vaguely thoughtful for a few moments as he drills, might have something to follow up with, but you can interrupt if you like. * Mikoto takes another sip, then puts his chin in his hands. "Why is it you're practicing so diligently with that thing? Is Eri's psychosis contagious?" * Jinx snickers. "No, but it is a force to be reckoned with. I'm keeping my end of the bargain." * Mikoto grins faintly and nods. "Fair enough." So, if you don't mind my asking, what exactly are you in it for at this point? That five thousand is really starting to look like more trouble than it's worth. (And watch. We get our pay docked for taking so long on a "routine investigation" ;P) * Mikoto raises an eyebrow, then leans back on the bench against the stable door, crossing his arms behind his bed. "Millie asked me that a while back, and wasn't satisfied with my answer. I wonder if you will be." He sits up again and catches Jinx's gaze for the first time this entire encounter. "Curiosity. A curiosity I have the means and methods to indulge." (* Jinx idly inspects his shotgun. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear what you said about our pay.") * Jinx chuckles. "I can believe it. Never know when you're going to find another unique advantage." * Mikoto mms faintly. "I could ask you the same question. The profit margins on this are a little off for a man who's all about the margins like yourself." * Jinx shrugs. "It's actually pretty borderline. Might be fun to meet Jan again, I'd like to see Will get his, and there's always the marginal chance of getting some myself. But yeah, if something better comes along, think I'll tender my resignation." * Mikoto chuckles and picks up his mug again. "A realistic answer." He pauses, sips, then puts the mug down again. "Millie didn't believe me when I told her I was simply interested in what the tablet says. Perhaps because she didn't want anyone else to have the same goal as she does." That's likely part of it. Although she has interest to use what it says I'll bet, and thus has reason to be suspicious of another curious soul. * Mikoto nods faintly. "I can accept that. Although she appears to be back in a zone where she'll speak to me again. Perhaps there's only room for civility to a certain number of Shomurans in her psyche, and anger at Fanfan tipped the scales in my favor." (What with Sakura being dead and all.) * Jinx chuckles. "I'll bet she'll keep trying to talk to Fanfan, she's not easily frustrated, but glad you're talking again. I'm going to need to have a talk with her myself, although probably one she'd prefer to avoid." * Mikoto raises an eyebrow, though the steam off the coffee obscures his features somewhat. "Oh? What about, if I may intrude?" Magic. If she keeps in the line of work she wants, she's going to need some way to deal with the undead. And if she's going to run away from that, well, she's not helping her odds of survival. * Mikoto mms faintly. "Realistically I can see your point." He glances around a bit. "I actually for a moment thought vampire infestation was a long tradition here, which would explain her phobia, but that's not entirely correct." * Jinx nods. "Might be time to find out what actually did. So is it somewhat correct then?" * Mikoto shrugs. "I don't know. I don't think the undead are common here, if that's the question." He pauses. "Although consider this: Think about your distaste for Death magic... her fear is really just that distaste magnified a thousand fold." * Jinx nods and chuckles slightly at that to. "True, I just can't really get my head around any trait of mine taken to that extreme." * Mikoto shakes his head and reaches back a hand to stroke Nami's muzzle again. "Good luck curing her of it, anyway. It's not exactly like arachnophobia where shock treatment with harmless of the species is possible." (Sure it is. Start with a zombie rat, go with the skele-hampster, then work up to vampire cat.) * Jinx switchs from hacks with the Naginata to stabbing motions. "Don't see cure happen, just hope to give her a better option when she runs into them." (The question of course is where to get these animals. Mail order?) (Keep a zombie in a shed.) (Plus the smell. Perhaps we should just hire a hypnotist.) Aha. * Mikoto takes another sip from the mug. "You're quite adept at that for a beginner." He pauses. "Then again in its own way the naginata is just a big tomahawk with a one-sided blade." (Somewhere, Eri gets a chill.) * Jinx puts noticable concentration into his work. "Yeah, but the big makes a difference. Also can't see throwing this thing." ("I think someone just badmouthed the Naginata!" "Go the fuck back to sleep.") (Pretty much!) * Mikoto nods. "It's not really a footman's weapon. It's designed to take down a horse and rider in one fell swoop." Ah, well I have no intent to keep it, I figure Eri and D can survive being sold out to Jan, hell that'll probably improve their odds of survival, if not success. * Mikoto smirks. He takes another sip. "Jan... Jan and Kojiro." After a pause, he continues. "Millie thinks our Kojiro is either a fake or hiding something. I'm actually incilned to agree." Why? He seemed to kick a good deal of ass with that stick of his. * Mikoto nods. "But where's the tablet. For that matter, does he seem like a thief to you? I'm open to the possibility of being a good actor, but I think this is stretching that possibility a bit." Ah, no. I have no idea what the hell is going on with the larger conspiracy, but he doesn't seem like a thief. But who knows maybe the tablet is someone's ancestral property. What isn't these days? Then why steal it? I somehow doubt that anybody who'd hire or retain Mary Anne is going to NOT return an artifact, or at least offer to buy at a reasonable price, if someone had a legitimate claim. Well, probably about something bigger then, Kojiro isn't in for the theft part but is in for the next bit. * Mikoto rubs his eyes. "Maybe so. Still, something doesn't seem right... but at the same time I don't think Jan lied to us." * Jinx nods. "I'll leave it to the brains of our outfit to figure out. So, you find this thing, what's next for you?" * Mikoto shrugs and finishes off his coffee with a little slurp. "I wish I knew. It depends on what's on the tablet." (And what happens in my chararc. ^_^) (<.< >.> ^_^) * Jinx nods. "You going to try to do something about that spell in your head? Your life, I make a point of not being ruled by my distates, find it extends my lifespan, but were I you I'd do something about it." * Mikoto sighs. "Somehow I knew that'd come up." He sets the cup down and looks off to the side. "I'm not necessarily happy about it. If you'd seen what I saw when the thing shattered, you wouldn't be either." What did you see? ( But I can turn you into a zombie! Watch!) * Mikoto blinks, once... almost spaced out. "Death. And everything that goes with it." * Jinx sounds interested, but almost clinically so. "Decay, rot, weeping of women and children, the usual?" * Mikoto shakes his head. "Power." He takes a deep breath, then opens his eyes. "Of a sort. The power that exists directly on the border between this world and the next. Awesome and terrible. It's the only way I can describe it." * Jinx frowns and loses the detachment. "Right, that's worse." * Mikoto looks at his hand distantly. "It is. I would agree." He glances up at Jinx. "But it's not as if knowledge can be taken OUT of my head, except with a pickaxe which is rather more terminal than I've a mind to submit to." (Millie has one handy!) (Checking with GM on something) * Jinx shrugs. "There may be a way... If you're willing to give up a hell of a unique advantage. No promises, but I'll look into it." * Mikoto raises an eyebrow. "I'm hoping you have an explanation to back that leading line up." * Jinx shrugs. "Injun's have shamans, not world shatteringly powerful mages or anything, but often not to bad at putting right what's gone seriously wrong nature wise. I can do some checking around, and can't think of any shaman worth the name that wouldn't be glad to remove a death spell from our side of reality." * Mikoto mms faintly. "It's worth examining. The truth is, I'd like to know where these spells are coming from." He knits his brow. "Even the spells I know that aren't from those strange orbs are 99% instinct and 1% knowhow." * Jinx chuckles and nods. "They certainly are curious." He then cuts off his drilling, apparently satisfied. "Well, suppose I'll ask Millie tomorrow and if she won't take it buy the damn thing myself from my share. Might prove handy." (I'm actually a mutant. The gene is recessive.) * Mikoto tilts his head. "...ah, the Darkness orb?" * Jinx nods. * Mikoto hmms and gets up, retrieving the mug. "From my experience, a little unique advantage never hurt anything. Although I'm surprised she hasn't expressed an interest. She seems like the type who would find magic fascinating." He grins. "Those orbs seem to respond to force of personality as much as anything else." * Jinx laughs. "Well, her loss if she doesn't change her mind. I've figured a thing or two out before, and I'm not nearly as stubborn as she is about convincing other people about things." * Mikoto chuckles. "A good survival skill in the gambling line of work, one might think." That and mercenary work. Lot of dead mercenaries out there who just didn't know when to walk away. * Rowyn has joined #rsp * Mikoto grins and makes to walk back in the house. "As I ought to do now and get some rest. Goodnight, Jinx." * Jinx nods and seems relieved he won't have to sing the Naginata a lullaby in front of someone else. "Night Mikoto." (HAR.) [Good night, Naginata! Mini End!]