Pale Lights (IC), in the evening Options

[tarbrush]

"I would suggest that that wait for a while. There is a timed incendiary device underneath one of the bodies."

Isoro ignores the question about what's he's doing here and stands calmy with his hands clasped behind his back, not really looking at anything. He really would like to investigate this valuable thing that has been sold, and the prospect of the police clomping all over the crime scene really would be a hindrance.

"In any event, one would suspect that they are either already on their way?"

He communicates the question with a crooked eyebrow, delicately fishing to see if anyone has already called them.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Isako
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:38:25 hours

31b

"Me neither. I saw the armed perps leave, heard a distress call, and was ticked that they'd be out killing shut-in geeks on a national holiday. I wanted to find out who they were, maybe sell the intel to their enemies and get them proper payback... Okay, yeah, it sounds like a longshot, but I'm still ticked. And you said something about a bomb?" Her eyes seem to jump tracks, though, and she says, "Hey, what kind of astral stuff? Are there spirits in there or something?"

[cndblank]

Kit
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:38:31 hours

31b


Kit activated the Camera Neutralizer along with his white noise generator and voice mask.

That's enough.

He turned around and walked slowly over to the group with his hands out and executed a formal "bow-to-a-stranger-that-I-have-bumped-into-on-the-street" to the others.

"Pardon my interruption, I noticed the... disturbance" Kit says with a grimace. "And thought it best to check out. I've some data that might help. First, I've taken the liberty of neutralizing any cameras in the area like the apartment door peepcams. Second, we are the only non locals currently in the area and I'll be aware of it if that changes. Third, the local security provider advertises 10 minute response time for this neighborhood. Actual response time is likely slightly longer but we have about 2 and half minutes before we reach the 10 minute mark provided the alert went out at 18:31.

Now what was that about a bomb?"

[deek]

Aldan
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:38:31 hours

31b

A bomb? Certainly the wrong place at the wrong time...but maybe the rest of these are the right people, so I'm just going to go with the flow...

Aldan looks at the girl, "No problems, really, in the astral. I just noticed something that usually alerts Awakened folks...usually something bad. I was curious, so headed this way our of sheer curiosity."

He scratches his head then points to the bodies, "That's obviously the reason for what I saw. Not a pretty or fortunate sight..."

Aldan bows back to latest person [Kit] on the scene, "Two minutes isn't much time. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I want to be here when the local authorities arrive. I landed here less than an hour ago and was heading to my new apartment...I don't want to be spending my first night in a holding cell."

Damn it, there I go again...too much information given.

He looks back at the man [Isoro], "Yeah, what did you say again? A bomb?" Aldan brings his attention back to what seems to be the biggest threat at hand.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Isako
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:38:40 hours

31b

"Okay, fine fine. I understand everybody wants to beat tracks rather than try to solve the mystery. I think I can wrap up my part here in mere moments after I hear the answers to two questions. One, how much time is left on the timer, and two, were any of these guys jacked into DNI when they died?"

[deek]

Aldan
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:38:45 hours

31b

Hmmm...a mystery. I never did think of it that way. My stuff is being delivered to my new apartment, I can unpack later. I think I may just stick around and see how this pans out.

Pointing to the guy behind us [Kit], "I think he said two and a half minutes."

Aldan, still perceiving in the astral does a quick check in his field of vision, then says, "Well, I'll let you know if something changes in the astral."

[cndblank]

Kit
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:38:48 hours

31b

I hope some one here can defuse it otherwise we need to pull the fire alarms and try to get everyone out.

OOC If no one immediately replies he will....

Kit shook his head once, "That's how long till we reach the local security provider's self reported response time, not the time remaining on the bomb."

So that they could concentrate on the bomb, he added I'll know when they arrive outside the building."

Otherwise he will add it to the end of the Bomb conversation as an explaination (possibly as he runs away).

[tarbrush]

Isoro
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:38:50 hours
31B

Isoro returns Kit's bow.

There is a bomb of some sort, concealed under that man," who Isoro delicately indicating the relevant man with a point of his foot. "It's not scheduled to go off for a while yet. I believe at 9 o'clock tonight. I would hope that local security deals with it."

Figuring that he's probably not going to get away with hogging the commlink, and that magical backup who's never heard of him before could be extremely useful at the moment, Isoro pulls the 'link he scavenged earlier out of his pocket and shows it to the group.

"The man seemed very, ahem, attached to this device. There are also many other electrical devices here that I can show you, but I had assumed that they were simply part of the general clutter that these... Otaku seem to generate."

[ Spoiler ]

Someone Judge Intentioned Isoro? He's currently quite curious about what's going on, and there's an undercurrent of tension running through him that doesn't seem to be related to the current incident at all. He also seems utterly at ease around recently dead bodies. Hopefully that's about 4 hits of info?

[deek]

Aldan
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:39:45 hours

31b

Aldan rubs the bridge of his nose. Believing that the man [Isoro] is not hiding anything, he figures he can attempt to be more useful, especially if there is more to be found in this apartment.

[ Spoiler ]

Aldan casts a Force 2 Catalog (6 4 3 6 6 6 2 5 = capped at 2 hits), Drain is F/2 +2, 3S (4 3 1 5 6 2 3 2 3 1 = 2 hits). I take 1S damage.

Aldan winces a bit, showing a little discomfort in his face.

[ Spoiler ]

I should now have a mental list of every object within a 2m radius of me. Things that I would not recognize would be listed as unknown. I'll make note of anything of interest.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Isako
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:40:00 hours

31b

A wide grin creeps onto Isako's face as she steps over the threshold. "Ah, yeah yeah! Now we're getting somewhere. That answers even more questions. Now we're getting a basis to work with. Like question zero." She nods towards Isoro. "To get the commlink and check out the incendiary, you've already given up your ritual purity for the week, so if we need them moved or searched again, you can do that. For another, setting it for 9 o'clock seems pretty leisurely. I expect they want to burn up all the evidence and then blame it on stray fireworks. They also don't figure anybody called the police on them, so unless somebody called the police on one of you guys, we've got a little time. More than enough to check a little hunch of mine."

Her grin starts to die away. "You don't figure they ARE the... Hey, who's got the law enforcement contract for this area?"

[cndblank]

Kit
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:39:45 hours

31b

Kit walked up to the door and stood behind her. He took a good look around then moved off to the side entering as far as he could with out stepping in any blood forcing his knotted stomach to behave. It wasn't very far.

OK quick in and out and review later. What was here that was worth killing for? What type of Otaku were these and where is the renter? TF record every thing

On his image link the tiny little tooth fairy unencumbered with an excess of clothing fan danced using her semi transparent wings. With only her eyes visible above her fluttered her wings she coyly winked and then shot him a digital finger and flew off. The sensor data started to scroll by at the bottom of his vision. His lips quirked glad for the distraction.

I still need to get even with Chan for her. I never asked for a comlink with a personality. Reminds me too much of his last girlfriend. You must be the Tooth Fairy's best customer my furry little tail. If she wasn't so good I'd have installed a new OS over her so fast... Which earned him another finger.

He scanned his eyes over the bodies and took a deep breath to get a good sensor read on the inhale.

[ Spoiler ]

Otaku Subgenres I 6 - 2 spells (6616) 3 successes!

Perception 6 (-2 spells hearing and smell plus 3 gear and Sight plus 5 Gear plus specialization) (444613122) only 1 success.

Which may have been a mistake as the smell of the blood and drek seem to double.

He gritted his teeth and forced his bile down calming himself and tried again.

[ Spoiler ]

once more
Perception 6 (-2 spells hearing and smell plus 3 gear and Sight plus 5 Gear plus specialization and -1 for trying again) 63615445 4 successes for Sight if no other mods.

Hmmm

[tarbrush]

Isoro
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:00 hours

31b

Isoro makes a small face at the mention of ritual sorcery.

"You may also wish to know that the man whose commlink this is was mentioned something about an object that he had sold over the matrix, just before he was shot. It seems that whoever shot him was looking for it."

[TakayamaYuuko]

Isako
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:20 hours

31b

Isako ponders over it a bit. "Hmm, who knows if they found it or not. Also no telling how deeply firewalled the log is, if he didn't delete it outright. Well, I was going to haul out the heavy artillery anyway. I'll get to that while you guys check the scene over. Just make sure that commlink there is on." She peers at its screen a moment and nods. "And if you've got sensors for EM or infrared, it'd be great to get some of that too. With the mention of astral, I'd like to see the traditional parapsychology angle here." With that, she slips into the bathroom and locks the door behind her.

"Ugh, have they ever cleaned in here?! Hikikomori are the worst!"

31b, the bathroom
Isako gingerly crouches near the edge of the tub.

[Command kernel: ./build.cmp CA7_5.1.4
Kernel: Compiling CA7_5.1.4 in progress... complete.]

[JavaLamp]

Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:20 hours

Apartment 31b

Aldan

Inventory and items pour into your head and the literal glut of 'trash bag, empty instant ramen bowl, empty instant pasta bowl, empty instant..." pops a vessel in your nose, a slow trickle of your own blood starts coming down.
Of interest in particular are the large numbers of optical chips all over the floor, about half of them smashed or damaged in some way... and with them, a few old style paper comic books, no doubt unsellable for being drenched in blood or shot through. Most of the rest doesn't seem that important, mostly merchandise from, what you would assume is, popular animated programs. But yeah... there's a lot of trash.

Kit

It's hard to see, but you've got an angle on the incendiary where you are, the unusually large, red-numbered display blinking slowly and clearly "21:00:00". The smashed stacks of optical chips, sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by a moat of blood, makes an image pretty similar to one you'd heard an old buddhist priest describe the lake of blood and mountains of needles there is in hell... You catch a glimpse of the corner of a paperback comic book under one of the bodies near to you, it's edges wrinkling with blood as if it were the tortured souls of the damned.


Isoro

As you stand there holding the commlink no one's taken an interest in quite yet... your own link starts reporting a little girl's voice coming from behind you. Nobody else reacts to it that you can see...

"Onii-san? Onii-san? Onii-chan (she glances sidelong to one of the bodies), he... he's not answering me.. I can't seem to call out, can you? I need to call the ambulance for him! It's cold in here and I'm scared-"

Taking a look... it's a young girl with bunny ears and a puff on her rear outside her maid-like clothing, very much not real, she has the appearance of a cell-shaded 2-dimensional animated character, she seems somewhat familiar... you think she's appeared on a lot of advertising in the last year or two. Ah, there it is.. you were perched on a billboard featuring her for one of your last jobs.

Isako

You enter VR amid the molding grout, the strong smell of stale urine giving way to the far more pleasant digital smells.. Someone was paying for this place to always smell like food... You get a nose full of roasting turkey as you enter your compiling process.

[deek]

Aldan
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:25hours

31b

Aldan looks at Isoro and Kit, "I've got nothing better to do tonight and I love a good mystery, so I'm in."

He takes a few steps into the apartment then says, "I'm Aldan, by the way. I'm still watching the astral, so if anything changes, I'll let you know. I'm also compiling a list of everything of interest here."

Through his trodes, Aldan access his commlink.

<Aldan> Adelia, please open a new file and start dictating these items.
<Adelia> As you wish.

[ Spoiler ]

Anything my Catalog spell picks up, I want to copy the list onto my comm. I'll do this as long as I'm sustaining the spell, so just let me know if anything of interest catches my attention.

[tarbrush]

Isoro
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:30 hours

31b

Isoro blinks rapidly, and turns around. He stares at the apparition for a few seconds before he places where it came from. Curious, he waves a hand slowly in front of it, trying to work out if it's talking to him.

"Who are you?" he subvocalises into his mike, feeling somewhat embarrassed at directing searching questions at a cartoon character.

[cndblank]

Kit
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:39:45 hours

31b


Kit finished his scan. He picked up a fast food sack and gave it a once over and then pulled out some unused napkins.

Then he stepped forwarded and leaned down by the body over the antique.
He slipped his endoscope under the body checking for any surprises.
He then pulled the comic book out from underneath the body with two fingers.
He was wearing gloves but didn't want to have to clean them. A quick glance at the cover.

Kit then carefully wiped the blood off the comic book and the scope.

[deek]

Aldan
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:39:46 hours

31b

Aldan watches as Kit picks up the comic book, "Yeah, odd isn't it? There's a few more lying around here." He tries to wipe the blood from his nose before anyone notices.

Comic books? What were they doing with comic books?

"There are a ton of optical chips, too. Not all of them are broken." Aldan bends over and picks one up. He waves it back and forth a bit, "Anyone care to run it?"

[TakayamaYuuko]

Isako
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, What is Time, Anyway?

31b, the bathroom / The Matrix

A revolving, cascading circle of lines and ideographs lights up the space before Isako. A form begins to coalesce within.

[Hey, Witch, smells pretty good huh?]

The form becomes a teenage girl, apparently a few years younger than Isako. A stream of liquid runs down her cheek from her left eye. One moment it looks like blood, the next like tears reflecting moonlight.

[Sayoku? I asked the kernel for Witch.]

[Consciously, yes. Subconsciously you needed my abilities. You think you'll need to hack, so I came in her place. Trust the kernel.]

[Hmm... alright, then. Here's what we need to do right now. Within a five-meter radius of us there are a number of devices belonging to deceased owners, primarily commlinks. We need to survey these devices, gain administrative privileges, and prepare their data for secure uploading. Alert me to any agents, avatar apparitions, or 'snapshots'. If you are able to perform these tasks and retain build stability, afterwards go on standby until I can stabilize you later this evening. Shall we begin?]

[JavaLamp]

Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:40 hours

Apartment 31b

Aldan

You also get a look at the book Kit has picked up. It doesn't look familiar to you, but whoever the girl on the cover is, she's drawn in a clearly erotic posture.

Kit

You can barely read the cover for how badly stained the book already is, but you can make out the title, 'Prism Knight - Day of Hawk' with a clear 'Under 18 prohibited' printed in the one clean corner. You think you remember the character from somewhere.. if it's what you're thinking of the source work was created in the 2020s. It was an unpopular comic with a cult following with a wild story about an 'exotic beauty' in shining armor defeating poverty and hunger with well planned strikes against tyrants.

Isoro

The character fidgets and bows.

[I'm M-- Maria Moeko. Please help! Onii-chan wasn't responding to me at all when I came back from sorting files.]

(Do you know anything about what happened here? Maybe something about the men who came and shot him?)

[SHOT!?] Maria seems to be frozen in shock, her eyes are wide, pupils and iris' narrowed and she has blue color filtering in from below her hair down to about her eye line. [Please! His life is in danger!]

Everyone in the apartment space
A moderately loud buzzing noise comes from the direction of the incendiary. Directing your attention to it reveals that it the numbers are no longer present, and the display reads "ER:RO:R!" It then flashes "00:00:07" "00:00:06"

Isako

Sayoku crosses her arms and stares at Isako flatly.

[Maybe I should draw you a hot bath, prepare your tea and put out some senbei for you? Honestly, you have so far to go. Go on, think about it, clear your head. Stop trying to think about how you want to do things and start thinking about how to do them.]

You hear a buzz faintly.

[cndblank]

Kit
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:41 hours

31b


Kit yelled "Six seconds left! Run!"

An incendiary would likely be fairly localized. If they exited the apartment they should be fairly safe for the initial fire bomb. More so if they could get the door shut. Likely be able to get everyone else living here out in time.

He watched the girl for a reaction trying to judging how long it would take him to get to her side and grab her wrist if she didn't start moving.

Is she doing something or just off in the matrix?

Muttering a prayer he called for the hearth Kami to protect those who dwell in the apartment complex and those seeking justice for the slain.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Isako
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, Somewhere between 18:41 and Eternity

Isako's forced to put her hands up and wear a sheepish grin. [You're right, of course. I've been flying solo too long lately. Here, just follow me and I'll lay out a more reasonable course. Stand by to support.]

She gets up and comes out of the bathroom to hear Kit yelling about the timer.

"What a pain in the ass." She moves for the exit.

[deek]

Aldan
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:41 hours

31b

Seeing that Isako is out of the bathroom and running for the exit, Aldan makes haste and follows. He tucks the optical chip into his pocket.

Not sure which one (Isako, Kit or Isoro) to follow, but right now, it doesn't matter!

[ Spoiler ]

Aldan will stop sustaining his Catalog spell and also return to viewing the physical world

[tarbrush]

Isoro
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:41 hours

31B

Isoro stares at the girl and yells "Which link are you on?" If she manages to indicate one and it's grabbable, he'll grab it, but either way, once the count reaches 3 he bolts for the door, pausing only to let the others out if they arrive at the door at the same time.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Isako
Wednesday, 11 February 2071, 18:41:41.985

"Sorry, I didn't even get a chance to start," she answers Isoro.