Description: Captured in the aftermath of the tank battle on the beach, Naerose finds herself being questioned by two wouldbe interrogators.
In one of the caves close to a small port town in Thailand is the group of fighters that infiltrated the country. It was chosen for it being within close enough proximity that they could pick up supplies but wouldn't endanger the town just by being there. The choice was quite logical when thought about it but it carried the disadvantage that it didn't allow for quite a restful
Here sits an extremely fatigued soccer player keeping watch over the witch in red. It was his turn to keep watch and it was had been awhile since he last slept. His eyes were getting drowsy as he waited for the next person to take their shift or the witch to wake up so he could interrogate her.
So desperate is Roberto to remain awake, he's been pricking his forearm on one of the sharper points of his shrapnel 'soccer ball.'
Step one, get to Thailand. Step two, figure out what she and her plucky gang of a Kyokugen master, a fellow student, and a monk could do to help. Maybe help find some of those who have gone missing, perhaps get the chance to help defend innocents in need, or maybe lend a little aid to the resistence movement.
It seemed something that would be easy enough to execute in her head when Hotaru planned it out, and but for the ballistic welcoming party that was there to greet the ferry bringing them to shore, it might have actually worked out like that. Instead, the ferry, their only means of getting back out of the country, is destroyed, practically all of their supplies lost, and Hotaru ended up getting injured enough in the afternoon battle that she's spent the entire night sleeping in the back of the cave where she was put down eventually.
Just now coming to, the girl sits up, rubbing rubbing her face, looking all together miserable. Considering she's had all of one campout in her life, roughing it with a long night's rest on a rocky cave floor isn't really her sorta thing. Her clothing dirty and torn from the fight, her hair a disheveled mess, she breaths in deeply then sighs. Even one of the ice-cold showers at the Kyokugen dojo seems inviting at this point. Lowering her hands, the girl glances toward Roberto, forcing a tired smile, "Is the war over yet?"
There was one person resting comfortably here, snoring peacefully and occasionally talking in her sleep about food and especially pie. You would almost think she were looking at Hotaru, directly, in the soul, whenever Pie was mentioned, but it was hard to tell, she did have a pair of shades after all. Did they try to take the shades from the witch ? That would be a mistake, who would dare? Anyway eventually it would come to pass that she would wake up. Right?
*BIIIIIIG yawn*
"I'm hungry."
Is she awake? Finally? Head droops to one side. Nope. Not yet.
"Do you seriously think we'd be here now if it were that easy Hotaru?" Those are the words of a realist however he returns the smile with slightly more if not equal fatigue written on his face. He looks over to the red witch for a moment as he slowly stretches and yawns loudly.
After he's finished, he says in a soft voice which should be inaudible to those still sleeping, "What are you doing up? It's not your turn to keep watch, Hotaru." The sounds of his fingers popping though as he pulls on each one to loosen them. That's significantly louder. "I'm hoping though that she wakes up soon... My shift is almost over and I want to find out some things."
At Roberto's answer, Hotaru shakes her head, grinning a little as she pushes herself to her feet. "Watch?" She scans the cave for the rest of the group, only to find everyone else asleep. Lowering her voice to a more quiet hush, Hotaru mumbles, "Oh, I see." Eyes coming to rest on Naerose, her brow furrows slightly. "Was she their leader?" She remembers Naerose road in on top of a tank, but upon closer inspecting, she doesn't strike the girl as being a senior war officer.
She stretches, feeling the cramps of a poor place to sleep catching up with her. "I guess we won in the end, huh? Maybe you could wake her up yourself. I mean, if you can't wake her up, then maybe she needs medical help."
/ / /
".... Pie.. " she murmurs, still well in her dream state, or at least appearing to be. It's hard to tell if she'ss faking, that is if you havn't taken her hat and her shades away from her. She could be listening in to your conversation to better get to know her captors while all they get to know about her is that she dreams of pie. If that's the case. IF that's the case. . Well then that's the case? She rolls over, the rocks looking so uncomfortable to sleep on. It would be rather miraculous to be asleep this whole time, but you never know.. Maybe she is asleep.
Roberto can't pretend to speak for the others, but there's a good reason Roberto was extremely careful about what he said around Naerose. Plus there's that whole Naerose is a fraud of a reporter belief he has. "She keeps on talking about pie so I think there's nothing wrong with her physically. Mentally is a whole different matter but I don't think that has anything to do with her sleeping or her obsession with pie."
"On the other hand, it could all be an act." And this is where Roberto does something that could be considered not very wise. Roberto does have basis for doing this. He reaches out to touch the sunglasses with a finger, not to take them off but to lower them just enough that he could see her eyelids if they're shut. If she freaks out, it would probably be a bonus for him. How much danger can she be if they have the witch tied up... Then again Roberto wasn't a boy scout and never got a knot tying badge.
Clasping her hands behind her back, Hotaru moves closer, ducking down to avoid a dangling stalactite. Watching Roberto try to get Naerose's attention for a moment, it isn't long before she looks away, taking a few cautious steps closer to the entrance of the cave to look outside and get her bearings. She isn't one for interrogations, but she understands why it would be good for them to get some information about things. And if that means Roberto needs to try and pry something out of the captured red witch, then so be it. "Just make sure she's okay," the girl asks of her fellow student, keeping her back to them while she looks outside. "I left something on the beach... I should go get it. It has some maps and..." And, well, other things she'd like to retrieve. Like another set of clothing.
As it turns out, Naerose doesn't seem to want Hotaru to leave, so she decides to make a move. She gives a little yelp, though it's clear from over her shades that her eyes are opened, almost with a feline sort of coyness to them. Okay, so she was faking. She yawns.
"Oh hello.. umm, You're Roberto Mauro the soccer star right? So did you change your mind about that exclusive interview, lets see. Why are you here in Thailand, are you in a cave for a reason? Have you joined forces with terrorists? How does your school feel about the time you are taking off to be here? Your parents? Miss? Hotaru D.. T.. Okay, I don't remember your last name, what's your story? Who will look after your home while you are gone? Have you finished your matches for that strange tournament you joined?" She fixes them both a smile and sits up.
"Uh uh... Unless you forgotten the situation you're in... In this exclusive interview, I'm the one asking the questions." He steps back away from the witch letting his voice take on a somewhat sterile tone, "We don't have any pie. We do have some fish, though. Cooperate, and I might find it in my heart to share." He was probably going to share the fish anyway but he's hoping that the witch won't call his bluff.
"I want to know more about those things we fought. What are they?" He begins to pace back and forth in front of Naerose. Quietly waiting for the answer.
Turning around at the sound of Naerose's yelp, Hotaru blinks, about to ask Roberto what he did so she can scold him about how he treats their 'forced guest.' But when Naerose starts to speak up, she ends up saying nothing at all.
At the sudden fount of questions, she leans her head to the side. Who is supposed to be interrogate /who/ here? "M-my home is fine," she replies, ducking down to step back into the concealment of the cave. She squints a little at the question about a tournament, "Well, I've tried to..." she murmurs. She was doing great until she hit the Wall that is Shinobu, anyway! "I don't see what that has to do with anything though." Shaking her head, she looks back toward Roberto with a bit of a shrug and faint smile. He and the red-clad woman seem to have some history, and he probably seems a lot more intimidating than she does anyway.
"Ora? What are they teaching you in school? Those things, umm I think they're called tanks!" The witch says, looking incredulously at Roberto.
"Oh, Shinobu? huh, she was on my team once opun a time and looks after my scooter, So miss Hotaru, you keep a lot of pets right? Whose feeding them while you're away." She looks over at Roberto.
"Anyway, I dunno why you think I'd know anything, I'm just a freelance reporter trying to get the scoop. . And you know who has the press passes? The guys with the tanks, unlike you kids, I know what I'm doing here and how to go about doing it. You guys just tried to storm the beach Normandy style! It's a good thing they didn't have more tanks or that blonde bombshell Cammy or you'd of been in real trouble. So anyway, why are you here?" She asks both Roberto and Hotaru.
"Considering you were fighting alongside them, I think the assumption that you do know something makes a bit more sense than you going to Taiyo High and asking what I know about the Pacific/Gedo Rivalry. Or the expectation that I wouldn't be a hostile interviewee after getting rocks chucked at my head. Oh and that really bad image manipulation of my picture? Reeeeeeeeeal classy... True proof of your 'journalistic integrity'," he says drawing out the word to make the sarcasm readily apparent.
"Did you come here with a specific group of people?" All of a sudden, that constant movement stops. He turns to stare at the witch in a way that if he could, he'd bore a hole right through her sunglasses.
"Pets? Well... no, not really. Just lots of animals that are my friend, I guess." she replies, expression brightening now. "But Itokatsu will be fine. I left him everything he needs for a little while. I won't be here for long." She /hopes/.
"We weren't really trying to storm the beach," the girl continues, resting her hand behind her head sheepishly, "I'm just looking for a friend that has gone missing here. Sakura Kasugano. Do you know anything about where to find her? A lot of people are worried about her."
Well okay, this was interesting, Naerose needed to address one of them at a time, she looks at Roberto first.
"Oh you silly kid, listen umm, there is no such thing as journalistic integrity. Journalists are only looking for soundbites and to get you to say something incriminating, like whenever a reporter tells you something is off the record? They're lying, there is no off the record. Seriously Kid, if you think I'm bad then that just means you havn't encountered many journalists."
She gives a thoughtful mmm, and then continues, "Anyway, there is a group of mercenaries who provided my press stuff, if you wanna get answers to your questions, you really ought to ask them, except they're kind of .. eh. . Mean, so you might need to think of a way in." Then she looks back at Hotaru.
"Sakura? Oh hey, yeah, I know her, great kid, helps me with my swing. So she's here too.. Mm, no
"I haven't heard anything about her. " A thoughtful look, then she turns her attention to Roberto,
"Okay, I have an idea. You know how you score a goal in soccer? Well you probably do, but I'll tell you anyway. You flop, sell a foul and get a penalty kick. The point is, you kids got no chance here, you're not soldiers, you're not super stars, you're a bunch of kids who managed to just scrape by probably the weakest defenses you're likely to see here.. So here is what I suggest, you need to get to question someone who knows, but those people will probably just try to kill you if you approach, or just run away. So if you refuse to leave this country to be safe and must find your friend, lemme help. I may just know a way to get you in." She givse a winning smile now.
The soccer goalie brings a gloved hand to his chin as he pulled the visor off of his forehead. He takes a moment to wipe the sweat off of his forehead before replacing it on the usual spot it occupies. While he's doing this, his mind is going over possibilities in his head. Each of those possibilities lead up to a couple questions. "How do I know you're being honest with us?" There's one... It's probably a question that has something to do with his trust issues with women.
After a few moments of pause as he tries to anticipate her answer before he speaks again to ask the second question, "And what do you have to gain from this?"
Stowed away in a cave for the moment, Hotaru stands by as Roberto interrogates the captured Naerose. Ryo and Frei, who had also come along with Hotaru, are no where to be seen. Probably off gathering supplies at the moment, considering everything they brought with them got lost in an untimely boat explosion (Which probably had to do with the tanks shooting them out of the water).
As Naerose educates Roberto on the nature of journalists, Hotaru is quiet. She can't figure out the history between them, but it feels fairly irrelevant to her compared to what really matters. And that's why when Naerose finally gets back to her question about where she might go looking for Sakura, Hotaru is paying a lot more attention all the sudden.
Awh. So she doesn't know where Sakura is. But she knows who to ask? And is willing to help talk to them somehow? Leaning forward, Hotaru listens intently now. "We could really use the help! What would you want in return?" she asks. She may be eager to trust the young woman, but she has to imagine she'll want something in exchange for her help too.
"Well, Sakura is kind of like my teacher.. See. . So.. I actually would like to see her helped if she's in trouble, but that's not all. What I want from you is the exclusive story. What I want from the Elle person is cash and therein lies why you can trust me. You can only trust someone who is getting something for themselves, everyone is self motivated even if it is just feeling good for doing something good. You dig? I'm getting what I want and that's why you can trust me."
She turns her attention to Hotaru and gives her a wink over her shades.
"So here is the plan I'm proposing. You had that goth girl with you, the one in the tight leather? Well Elle, who leads this mercenary group said to that leathery goth girl to bring her something if she wanted answers. So Cross and I bring you and your rag tag group to Elle as if you were prisoners, and then you get Elle to answer questions without having to worry about her sounding the alarm or just running away, you'd have her totally cornered and the beauty is she'd think she had YOU cornered.. Better yet, if Sakura was captured, this would be the surest way to get right in through the defenses. It's the only way cause lets face it, you don't have any leads or any clues."
"Elle is part of this as well?" His voice seems somewhat shaky as if barely maintaining his calm. His head lowers in a way that causes his visor to cover his eyes while his lips twist into a frown. His fist tightens for a moment before it's released. He's not quite happy about this at all.
"There's one problem with that. Elle doesn't seem to be the type to believe that just you and Cross took Ryo, Frei, Hotaru and myself down by yourselves." He touches his nose for a moment and speaks again. "Taking two of us down might be a possibility."
As Elle's name comes up, Hotaru pales slightly. She remains quiet as Roberto speaks first, having to digest the proposal in her head. It sounds pretty insane, to her. "So... you and Cross take two of us to Elle, so that you get paid and Cross gets her answers... And we get a chance to try and get information out of Elle." She frowns a little, hands clasping behind her back as she bows her head in thought.
"I've talked to Elle before. She doesn't really seem like the type to give up the answers I'm looking for. And... besides, this plan basically entails us getting captured to find someone else who's captured. While that might work really good for the finding part, I'm a little concerned about the rescuing and escaping part."
"Yeah, so the escaping part might be a little hard, so far as how I captured you all.. Well okay.. Lets see, if you bring all of your friends with you, you probably would have enough muscle to make a break out from the inside. So.. If you had all those mentioned people and got to Sakura.. Do you think you could break out? Ryo included? Cause I think I got a way I can convince Elle I managed to capture all of you. . And anyone else you wanna bring and this way we could sneak in whatever tools you might need to escape with, right right?" Naerose asks with a bright smile,
"Come on, this plan is fool proof. Here is what I do, I tell Elle I conned you into being prisoners so you could get in and liberate Thailand from the inside. She'll think you're some punk kids who have it in your mind to liberate an entire country yourselves, she probably won't find it at all far fetched and since it's a silly idea to think you could ever hope to succeed, she won't think twice."
"She's seen me with a soccer ball. She's not gonna let me have anything that's remotely kickable near me. She sees a lump from a deflated soccer ball it's all over for that." He thinks about it for a moment and is formulating a plan of his own. "Hmmmm... What about her searching us? After that fight with her, she doesn't strike me as stupid either."
"But even if we were searched I think I could come up with something that might work inspite of that." His lips curl into a smile. "Let me talk with the others and see what they think."
Hotaru listens to Naerose's ideas, then glances toward Roberto. It sounds like a /possible/ plan, anyway, but she's only just got here. Naerose paints a compelling argument as to the hopelessness of other avenues, but Hotaru isn't quite convinced that her only next choice is to just turn themselves in.
"Well, I'll have to think about it. I can't speak for the others," she states quietly. "I want to take a look around for a while before I can commit to something like that. Maybe scout around for a bit... see who else is fighting against the invasion. Things like that. I imagine as a journalist, you can understand the need to get the full story," Hotaru offers with a hint of a smile. She turns around and steps back to the mouth of the cave. "I need to go get my stuff from the beach, before someone else walks off with it. I can't imagine that we'll keep you here indefinitly. But I'm sure we'll see each other again. Maybe I can give you a definite answer next time." The girl bows her head toward Naerose, then glances toward Roberto with a 'don't rough her up too much, okay?' pleading expression, and then slips out of the cave to do a little recon of her own.
"So. . . The witch says and then asks, "Fish?" She wasn't picky, fish was fine, whatever food is better thn no food perhaps, but the fish in question might not be that tasty, unfortunate for the Witch. She can't be that picky can she? She can but not right now.
"Of course I'll need my hands for fish eating."
Log created on 14:03:40 06/12/2007 by Hotaru, and last modified on 17:22:52 06/13/2007.