soul_campaign | [ 13 | May 11th, Afternoon

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[ 13 | May 11th, Afternoon | Video ]

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['Keep calm'... that's what the video said. But he's anything -but- calm. With a fist slamming down on the counter, he finally lets it sink in. His jaw's tight and his eyes are steely.]

Some son of a bitch took Naoto!

[Then he turns his head away.]

And whoever did it must've taken Yako-san and Cupid, too. Damn it...! How did-!?

[He's at a loss. He's searched every part of Death City that he knew, but nothing turned up. He seems to have forgotten he was recording then, as his fists are balled his knuckles are turning a little white.]

Why the hell didn't I offer to walk with her to work...!?

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I've seen her a couple times, though she seemed to maintain a professional distance. I would probably recognize her hat, but something as specific as a button might be a little too much detail for me yet.

[She notices Kanji's jacket.]

Unless they look like these?

[Not an impossibility, given that they were both in the Agency and seem to know each other.]

Professional's a pretty good word to describe her.

[Blink. He looked down and inspected his own buttons.]

Hey, yeah... they do look pretty similar! Pretty simple, brass.

[Aranea always had a way with words. It made intolerable individuals slightly less intolerable.]

Well, with that as a guide, I think I have a pretty good idea of what we are looking for.

Oh, and if you were worried. [Aranea lifted up a small sword, which she was hiding behind her back.] I am not unarmed.

Now, shall we?

[Now, that... that just had him blinking at her for a moment. How the hell did he not notice that sword before?]

Good. I got my Meister Ability and the left and right. Between us, nobody's gonna start up any trouble.

[But he was all set to go. Taking a moment to crack his knuckles, he proceeded to retracing the detective's steps.]

[Aranea, for her part, was letting Kanji take point and watching his rear. Half of the time she spent looking for scraps and objects that might be important, while the other half she kept her eyes and ears out for anything that might try to jump her or Kanji. For the moment, it seemed like things were quiet. Though that was subject to change any second.

Most of what she saw wasn't important, either. Discarded trash, mostly. A few scraps of paper or shattered pieces of glass.]

Somebody really ought to clean this mess up. [She half-grinned.]

[That was something that worried him most of all. He'd been jumped on more than a few occasions, and thugs that knew him had attacked Naoto before. As his stomach tightened into a knot, he had to wonder if they decided to rank themselves up to kidnapping, and were making good on that 'returning her in pieces' threat--

No. No. Those assholes were still behind bars right now. Yet it still made his heart race uncomfortably, enough that maybe he was staring at a spot on the ground for too long. But Aranea's voice snapped him out of it, and he played it off with a snort.]

Heh... Riots ain't exactly a tidy outfit. For people who love their city so damn much, they should probably take a little better care of it!

[He scratched the back of is head, but sighed when he saw something that might look close to something that may have come off Naoto's outfit, but was in fact some blue scrap of rubbish. No... it wasn't this light of a blue. It was a deep one, like one of those clear skies at night. ...Tch. Maybe Teddie was right- he did have the heart of a poetic little girl.]

Shit... y'know how many heads I knocked together back home for catchin' people littering? I never thought to count 'em all, but it'd probably be some outrageous number.

[Aranea smiled, not at all surprised by the young man's answer. True, he was crude and perhaps a bit rough, but from seeing him work and live she could tell that he never fought to cause harm, only to protect or defend. It was a good, strong quality to have. Her only worry was that temper...]

It doesn't seem right, does it? [Aranea mused, bringing her attention to the scrap of trash that caught Kanji's attention.] To get this caught up as though we were the agitators, while also showing just as little regard for their own property.

If I didn't know better, I would say that they may not be from here at all.

[A possibility. Perhaps. One of the many considerations she saw that could possibly bring about this scenario.]

The minute you wanna make a statement's the minute a lotta people stop givin' a shit about the thing they wanna protect. They end up all wrapped up in the fight instead.

[He brushed his hand off his jeans and stood, stepping toward an alleyway and taking the steps down to have a peek.]

Wouldn't surprise me if they weren't even from here. 's all desert for miles around the city... probably came in when the island crashed and we called outside help to keep the refugees fed and get the last of that emitter shit removed, make sure those Black Clowns ain't hangin' around.

That's quite the astute observation. [Hey, credit is owed where credit is due.]

[The troll followed, turning to face her back to look down both sides of the street to make sure that nobody was tailing them.]

Black Clowns? Don't you mean the Black Witches?

[New information is always good, too.]

Never heard of Black Witches, but the black clowns're these monsters made of that black blood of madness stuff they got on hand. Like... dolls that can kill you or somethin'.

They make you crazy just by standing near 'em, and they know it, try to get in your face and cut you to pieces while you're seeing things or clawin' off your own face. It's shit like that that makes me hate this goddamn place.

I don't doubt they'll throw 'em at us again eventually.

[Despite herself, she couldn't help but be fascinated.] Living embodiments of madness manifesting as clowns. Oh, how interesting. I wonder why clowns, however? Though bards are known for their mercurial nature, I have never found them in general to be particularly terrifying.

[She thought about it some more and frowned.] Though I cannot believe that any being created in such a way would possess any kind of existence that wasn't mired in unspeakable agony. Though, perhaps when one is of madness, the order around it may seem foreign and hostile? It's an interesting phenomenon and though I do not look forward to seeing it specifically, I couldn't help but be curious were I ever were to encounter one.

[She overlooked a pile of debris piled next to a trash dumpster.] Did you see this, over here?

Lotta people just get freaked out about clowns. Dunno why... maybe it's the face paint.

[A blink.] Maybe you're onto somethin' there. I dunno if black blood can really think, though. It's just some kinda goop that Medusa witch invented. I guess she put some magic into it to give it some kinda shape.

--Holy crap, no I didn't. 's worth takin' a look. [Anything at all, a button or a chain or something...!]

Actually, yes. Unlike most of the random refuse, this seems purposefully stacked over here.

[So he stooped to investigate.]

Yeah, seems pretty weird... Shit, what a mess.

[But he had to stop and pull back. Something was smelling overwhelmingly sweet among the pile, and it was making his throat spasm. With a cough he decided to nudge things aside with his shoe instead until there, among the refuse, was the source of the smell: A rag soaked in something.]

Do you smell...

[Ah. With the coughing and gagging, it would seem that yes, yes he did. So, Aranea took a deep breath knelt down and pulled out the rag. It was rather unremarkable save for the sweet and unsavory smell.]

I think we... [oof.... okay, yeah. Going to be kept away from her nose, Mr. Rag.] ...we found out culprit.

[For the first time since it happened she was grateful for her broken nose.]

Wait... [He reached down and gathered up the rag, but held it at arm's length.]

I heard about a move like this in movies and stuff! Chloro... chloroform, right? So they must'a got her around here, knocked the victims out and hauled 'em off while they're out cold.

Tch... Saves 'em a fight they most likely wouldn't'a won without. Goddamn cowards.

But where the hell would they go from here without someone seein' 'em? Ya see someone carrying somebody out cold, y'don't exactly turn the other way.

That... [Aranea said, holding out her hands to wave away some of the invisible odor] ...is a very good question.

Edited 2013-03-23 05:32 (UTC)

Of what we know, there's no way they could dare run out to the middle of the road and go unnoticed. So, they must have kept to the roads or byways that are connected here.

Or they had a means of conveyance that obscures their crime.

[He's scratching his head now, trying to think like them. So he had a person who was unconscious. Dead weight. Where would he take them without being seen? He looked around- there were fire escapes connected to the buildings here, but his pocket watch wasn't reading anything that would say she's in the area... so then, what? How did they move around and avoid suspicion as they kidnapped in broad daylight? Even the rioters could have seen something.]

Like passin' the victims from person to person, maybe, to lose the trail of somebody who might've seen 'em?

Yes, that's right.

I would suspect a vehicle, personally.

[It was both the most obvious and the easiest means of getting a person out of their quickly, but could they possibly move it through there unnoticed?]

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[ 13 | May 11th, Afternoon | Video ]

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