Description: Locked in a cell with Naerose. Some would consider this a fate worse than death. However, the witch and the detective manage to come to an agreement that wins Naerose her freedom and Soma a new direction for his inquiries into Jinchuu...
Shawshank prison. In a single cell, now occupied by only one person you can see how the walls slowly close in and institutionalize their prisoners. In this case one Naerose Delphine sits surrounded by posters and newspaper clippings, some rocks she apparently attempted to shape. . and just turned into smaller rocks, a bible which has been clearly carved out to house a rock hammer, and a rock hammer, made out of spoons bent and twisted together. The witch, in red, has her numbers on an index card crayoned on, the number '001' Because she's number one. Currently resting with her hat over her shades and a harmonica, seriously where did she get all this stuff? Playing what can only be considered the worst attempt at harmonica ever. Enough to make anyone's ears bleed, except, apparently, hers.
"What am I doing here?" appears to be the theme of Soma's day this afternoon.
The entire day on Sunday was spent staring face-up at the ceiling in his cabin, on his bed, recovering from the somewhat serious injuries Nikolai inflicted on him during their little meeting, in which Soma barely learned anything useful at all but at least put the Russian off pursuit for the time being. Still, it took an entire day's worth of planning out of his goal of sneaking into the very heart of the Suiryuu, which is annoying in and of itself.
He woke up this morning considerably later than he'd planned, only to find the table in the center of the cabin to have a covered silver platter on it, smelling quite deliciously of a scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon breakfast. However, next to the food was a card reading "DO NOT EAT" in four languages... and on the back, precise instructions on where the food was to be delivered, complete with a little map marked 'brig'.
The only thing that's actually keeping him walking is a curiosity at who, of all people, the Ryouhara might actually be keeping in the brig rather than just gutting them and chucking them over the side. However, the black-clad undercover agent's step falters when he hits the edge of the area, hears the harmonica... and then sees the figure of Naerose sitting there.
There is a great silence on his part, before he simply says: "I brought your breakfast."
Harmonica forgotten, witch bolt up right. Soma might be one of the only people on the entire boat who would actually bring Naerose said breakfast instead of just eating it for himself. Naerose certainly would of just eaten it. Then again who can trust food on this boat? Apparently, she can.
"Gimme!" she exclaims and rushes toward Soma with the sort of zombie like eagerness that can only come from an insatiable appetite for brains. Which might explain something.
She has been in here only a few days, but to read the wall there were enough marks to indicate she was here a very very long time. The little lines scratched into the wall - no wait, is that crayon? Sorry, drawn on the wall in grey crayon would indicate she had been here over a year if she were marking off days like most people might assume.
The rushing brings Naerose about two feet from where she was sitting before she crashes onto the ground and makes a pathetic whimpering sound of 'd.. doctor..'
"Please, they torchered me," (mispelled on purpose) "I can't get up.. I. . I can't move!"
That actually causes Soma to step back a bit from the cell door in surprise, though his reflexes are too good to drop the food. He raises an eyebrow, taking in the scene, detective's instincts already working to analyze the situation. Tortured her? Possibility... the ninja here almost certainly have methods that wouldn't leave a physical mark. And she seems a little on the weak side...
Then he sees the marks on the walls. If those are days, Naerose has been here for approximately 11 months and two weeks longer than the boat's even existed in public.
Aha.
The ICPO officer glances at the lone ninja guard, who walks over to open the cell so Soma can finish his job, perhaps even talk to this girl. Stepping inside, the ICPO agent puts the serving plate down between himself and Naerose. "Why are you in here, anywa--"
That's when he hears the *CLANG* of the cell door slamming shut behind him... and when Soma whirls to say something to the guard, he's gone... and all the security cameras suddenly swivel in his direction.
"...oh, that's just lovely."
COMBATSYS: Naerose has started a fight here.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Soma has joined the fight here.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
Big dark looming red shadow. Glinting shades.
"Err. So.. hey umm." The witch begins, "Are you gonna eat that? Miss umm Naerose ?"
She doesn't have her broom? Actually she does, what the hell? They left her with her weapon of choice?!
"Wham!" She says and tries to hit Soma clear on the back of the head, you know all Ninja style. She's watched enough Tenchu to know how Ninja kills work... The problem is, this is a small ish cell. Not like the size of a closet, but not huge either, in other words, large sweeping strikes of her broom are out, baseball style swings just weren't gonna happen. Realizing that, but that she still needed to hit this fella, Naerose goes instead with the pool style attack, like Venom uses!! She totally saw this once on guilty gear and she's pretty sure she can do it.. So she aims it right at Soma, without much warning, I mean, unless you could the sound of her getting up. Oh, and having a loud mouth,
"So totally eight ball, corner pocket!" The cue? Soma's head, the eight ball? Soma's head, the corner pocket? The cell wall.
It isn't that the witch was expecting this to happen, but she wasn't going to let a chance go to waste. She isn't at all surprised either, she'd been around this boat long enough to know how these people operated. The attack on the ship, that was to her mind even according to their plans. You didn't notice any ninja trying to stop them.
COMBATSYS: Naerose successfully hits Soma with Medium Strike.
Glancing Blow
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
...what the hell.
A fight was not what Soma was expecting of this at all, really. He'd thought he'd have a nice chat with whoever was in the cells, maybe get some information on why the Ryouhara were holding him/her. If he was really nice he might get a slice of that bacon, since he himself has been eating somewhat lighter than normal lately. Instead he gets a crazed woman in red with a broom who just tried to poke him in the face with it.
He actually is able to avoid the poke by tipping his head back... but the problem with this scenario is that said evasion is awful fast, and in the process he cracks the back of his head on the cell bars behind him, the entire door making a metallic ringing sound as Soma exhales sharply through his teeth, bringing his head back up and rubbing the back of it. He doesn't attack, instead giving Naerose a confused look. "I was going to ask why you're in here but I think I might know, now..."
COMBATSYS: Soma focuses on his next action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
"Huh?" Asks the witch and seems somewhat taken aback by the question, she was pretty sure she was supposed to clobber this guy, but then again, why follow the tourney holder's rules. She adjusts her shades and looks all suspicious, but then decides to be like, the first one to offer a flag of truth. Or maybe what she really means to do is play to perceived nativity.
"Well actually, lessee.. I dunno yet, cause I was told I'd have an agent of this ninja clan talk to me, but like.. After breakfast? So maybe you should ask them when they come.. You know , it was supposed to be secret, actually I think this whole me in a cell is according to their plan.." She lowers her voice and looks all shifty shaded around (instead of shifty eyed) and adjusts her hat down in what she seems to think is mysterious.
Then instead of attacking, the witch leans over on her broom. Yes, violence was the point of this encounter. But who says everything needs to be solved by violence? Some of the most successful kunoichi dressed as geisha and didn't do any of that slick ninja stuff. Wouldn't make a very good tenchu game though.
COMBATSYS: Naerose takes no action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
Well, she's not swinging the broom at him again. That's a positive sign. The fact that he MEANT she's probably here for being the type of person who'd swing said broom at someone immediately he decides to let go by for the time being. "All I got was the food and a note not to eat it," he says carefully. He doesn't leap at Naerose or attack her, but there's a tension in his movements that suggests while he's not out to get her, he's not 100% convinced she's not going to take another swing at him either.
The Indian turns his head to the right, glancing at the brig... empty except for the occupants of this cell, and the security cameras that are, interestingly enough, following the movements of both occupants as if this were a reality TV show. "My name is Soma, by the way. Why *are* you in here, anyway?"
COMBATSYS: Soma takes no action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
"Oh this? Well it's really just so I can break out really.. Or try, it probably won't matter anyway, I expect they'll send someone else with every meal every day until I succeed or they get what they want with this tournament and the whole boat is destroyed anyway.." Naerose shrugs a little and brushes down her red dress and stifles a yawn, then reaches down to the food, picks up a piece of toast and starts to crunch it.
"So like I was taking a break and I went to sleep in this truck that got driven into the side of the boat and then I got into this fight and umm, lemme see, everything went blank and then I woke up here? But see I've been studying this whole tournament thing for a while cause the ninja clan throwing it brainwashed my sister and won't give her back, so I entered all under cover like to save her, see?" The witch gives a little smile. Lying through her teeth.
"Anyway, since I figure the organizers are gonna keep tossing random tournament agents, like you, at me, then I might as well go through one sooner than later, right right?"
COMBATSYS: Naerose takes no action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
A truck.
He'd felt the impact, of course, but had been too busy with problems of his own to check... and for that matter, wasn't really interested in seeing just what sort of large object might have hit the Suiryuu considering the people who were running it. The line about Naerose's sister he dismisses as humor; if the smile weren't enough, the sense of barely-contained mischief that radiates from her is. But his dark face suddenly moves into an expression of intense concentration, even as he babbles on. "Well, I expect neither of us is getting out of here until we give them what we want, so we'll probably have to duke it out eventua--"
Wait a minute.
Soma suddenly whirls on Naerose, his purple eyes narrowed and his demeanor entirely changed from casual interest to piercing dedication. "What do you mean, 'destroyed'?"
"Huuuuuhhh...?" Asks Naerose, looking shocked and confused for a moment at Soma.
"Oh, I guess you don't know then. I thought everyone knew by now.." She shrugs a little and reaches down to pick up a piece of scrambled egg and eats it. It doesn't seem like she's going to go in to it anymore but then suddenly, she does,
"So you wanna know more right??"
The witch straightens, lets her shades slide down her nose enough to wink at Soma over the tops of the rims,
"Tell you what, you do something for me and I'll tell you what I know about this tournament.." She doesn't wait for him to agree, "What you gotta do is umm, gimme some of your clothes, er nothing you know, gross, just like enough for me to get out of here looking like you for anyone who doesn't care to look closer, which by the way is everyone." She gestures to the bed,
"You go under those covers and wait for the interrogators, you can confront them if you wanna know more, they won't come until this is over anyway. We can destroy the cameras, they'll assume there was a fight."
That actually causes Soma to shut his eyes and hang his head for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. Why does it always come down to this. His fight with Nikolai has drained all the reason out of him, as well as a large quantity of his own damn blood. As it is, the ICPO officer has hit the end of his patience with bargain-making and wheedling and dealing. His inner Dirty Harry is suddenly flashing a fin in the dark sea of his thought processes.
"That's absolutely never going to happen," he simply says, eyes tracking Naerose. While he can understand not wanting to fight -- he's not thrilled at the idea of beating up some strange lady in red -- he's not about to switch clothes with her either. "Because I can tell you, a plan that lets you walk out of here in my pants -- which are too big for you, by the way -- and leaves me here in my boxers waiting on the mercy of the Ryouhara ninja clan isn't going to win my approval. Though I admit, it's inspired, if pointless."
COMBATSYS: Soma takes no action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
"I see." The witch says and then hums a little,
"It really is a pity though, cause I mean, the whole point of this ship is well.. fighting. I mean, you already know this isn't just a tournament and who wins is really irrelevant, just that fighting takes place. So if we fight, we're really just aiding evil, but if we had a way to work together, now that would be a different story of course.. one of us has to leave this cell and the other, not so much. Unless you can think of something really clever?" The witch asks with a big hopeful look on her face. She's still leaning on the broom, but her motions are looking suddenly more fixed and focused. Now she's adjusting her shades, higher on her nose, making sure their lenses really do fix on her opponent well.
COMBATSYS: Naerose focuses on her next action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
Naerose's comment earns a raised eyebrow from Soma. Everything she says is true, of course, but his read on the woman doesn't suggest that it's something she'd have taken notice of. A cynical part of the ICPO agent wonders if it's not just ideas she's been handed by someone else, but perhaps because he's one of the 'good guys' he's willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. "You're right on the fighting part. I don't think us fighting is necessarily a good thing, and I wouldn't be here if the Ryouhara didn't think they had something to gain from me being here." The clicking of the security cameras moving on their mounts behind him reminds the man of who's listening to this conversation.
Straightening, Soma too seems to get more thoughtful and reflective... or perhaps he can tell the subtle shift in Naerose's mien. "I'm not necessarily stuck here anyway. Old-style ship brig locks are easy to pick. Of course, the ninja knew that too. So I'm wondering just what their purpose was, throwing me in here with you."
COMBATSYS: Soma focuses on his next action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
"Pick it then," The witch says with a gesture toward the door,
"Pick the lock and I'll tell you what I know." She gives a winning smile and leans back on her broom again, apparently giving him the choice of action without being in immediate danger. She could hit him in the back, or try, again, sure, but at least in this stance it wouldn't be as well aimed as it would of likely been a moment ago.
"See I don't pick locks, I'm totally not a criminal or anything," she insists.
"But.." she continues, "I mean usually a chi blast of sufficient strength would do for most normal doors, even jail cells need to be specially made to hold in people with like, er.. Power? You know? This one is different. The organizers would love it if I just blasted away to my heart's content. You know? they might even open the door for me eventually if I did."
COMBATSYS: Naerose takes no action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
"Oh really? Then why are you still here?" It's a good question, isn't it? Plus it gives a nice, convincing front that Soma knows nothing about the seals on the doors. Never mind that Naerose's babbling is actually giving him plenty of information about her and the situation in and of itself. For starters, he knows she can manipulate chi, and specifically calls it 'chi'. Considering Soma himself can't use chi in any, shape, or form, it's handy information if this goes sour. Still, letting *her* say it out loud rather than him is handy.
The ICPO agent doesn't turn his back to Naerose, but he does reach inside his jacket pocket and withdraw a tiny black object about the size of a pencil... a throwing spike. Not exactly the type of weapon most people carry on them, for example. But it is a small, reasonably tough metal device that will fit into the standard key slot of a metal cage door of even a modern jail. Leaning against the door, he slips his arm through a bar and inserts the spike into the lock. After all, a good lockpick doesn't even need to see... he can just feel the tumblers fall into place, sense the movement of the mechanisms. Of course, this is a Ryouhara lock... it may take some time. "How about we comrpomise and you tell me what you know *while* I'm picking the lock."
COMBATSYS: Soma takes no action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
"Oooookay" The witch says with a bright smile and a thumbs up, then she makes the universal diver okay sign, because she doesn' know if Soma knows the thumbs up signs, she apparently assumes not.
"So lesse, why I don't do it, first cause I'm a witch, so I use magic, we call them charms, instead of chi. . unfortunately the ship seems to treat my magic the same way it treats your chi. " Take that assumptions that Naerose actually knows that she uses chi.
"Second, because this ship.. You better be picking that lock! - " She'll wait for him to start at this point,
"So anyway, if I use something on this door, actually if I use anything anywhere on this ship. . it helps them the ship, it's like a company that takes fees from all of your transactions. Ever notice in some of your fights how the walls start to get all electrical? Shocking and stuff? That's actually your own chi." The witch says in a sagely sort of manner. She could be guessing, making this up, passing it along from something someone else told her, or maybe she actually knows. It's... probably hard to tell.
COMBATSYS: Naerose takes no action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
It's not new new information, but it's a second confirmation of old information, which is just as good. And while Soma himself has only trace amounts of chi, the ship reacts to Psycho Power just as much. But while Hotaru seemed to think of the ship as a battery -- which, in the hands of the Ryouhara, is ominous enough -- Naerose's unease points to something bigger. One more little charge in the battery doesn't seem like such a price to pay to get out of a jail cell, after all. And the brig on this ship seems to be as much for formality's sake as anything else. So clearly, her freedom is worth less than that little battery charge.
But she kept in good faith so far, so Soma takes a step to his left, keeping his right arm outstretched. It's fairly obvious he's doing *something* to the lock from the jostling sounds and the movement of his wrist, though the metal block housing the lock makes it impossible to see what he's actually doing. "Alright, fine. But what about the ship being destroyed?" Perhaps Soma himself is the interrogator the Ryouhara sent, for all Naerose knows.
COMBATSYS: Soma takes no action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Soma
"Oh that's not the question, " The witch says while eating the breakfast now, seeming perfectly trustworthy, at least ,not interested in attacking the guy from the back.
"See the ship isn't just a battery, it's really three things, a chi battery, a chi er.. magnet so to speak and then well, you never ask what it wants to do with that chi.. I mean a weapon would be useless right? A few ninjas even with a super powerful death ray wouldn't stand a chance against the entire world. See, there was this baker, well a ninja, but we'll call him a baker and he did something once and it made this powerful thing really angry.. Er.. nah, you probably don't wanna hear this , it sounds corny now that I think about it.. Sometimes the truth is kind of corny." The witch states.
Well, that won't do at all, and though it pains him to do so, the ICPO agent's hand stops moving in the lock. It's actually a symbolic gesture; the throwing spike he's using to trip the tumblers is wedged between two right now, holding one open and working on moving the second. But the *message* is clear, at least: keep talking or we can sit in here all day for all I care. The truth is, Soma can afford to waste a day's worth of sitting there, after all. He's got to move under cover of night anyway.
The black and silver-haired head leans back against the cold metal of the bars, and he regards the eating witch lazily. "You'd be surprised what I find believable. After all, I'm trapped on an energy-sucking ninja boat with a self-described witch, aren't I?" He pauses, feeling restless, and decides to prompt Naerose along. "So it's a battery, and it's a magnet, but it's not a James Bond superweapon. Makes sense to me." Which is true. He'd considered the 'giant bomb' possibility when Hotaru mentioned the chi thing in the first place but decided against it as a little too obvious. "Keep going."
"Okay, well you'll have to suspend disbelief," The witch states and sighs, "The boat has a mind of it's own, it's.. well.. It thinks, it acts, it is part of what is behind this whole damned thing and when it has enough power.. It will summon it's true form, whatever that is. I dunno what will happen to the boat and it's inhabitants when that happens, but I'd wager they don't wanna be here. I think the ninja people don't have a choice about this.. They have to help, they are sort of a tit for tat relationship, call it a demon if you will, but we'll all get a chance to see for sure when this is over, because there isn't going to be any stopping the fighting, only delaying, and that's why I'm trying not to help this thing.. Delay it as long as we can." The witch says with a shifty look. There is no telling where she is getting this from, but she at least presents it with a sagely sort of knowledge.
Right on cue, the second Naerose starts talking, Soma's hand starts moving in the lock again. Part of him is listening to the woman babble on, and another is wondering if doing this in front of the cameras is a good idea. A third part is even questioning the lock he's picking, coming to the sudden realization that it shouldn't even be *possible* on this ship, yet he's pulling it off. Slowly, of course, but it's working. It's all a test, everything is always a test, and the ninja knew the outcome from the beginning...
The witch's final comment makes his hand lock up again, but this time in surprise, not encouragement, and for the first time in a very long time Soma spits out a curse in his native Hindi rather than his American-accented English, before turning and renewing his efforts.
"It's no demon. Oh, damnit... why didn't I see it before. The power in the seals, why they wouldn't invite really experienced fighters..." He looks at Naerose and finds himself unable to stop talking, for some reason. "They're not going to awaken some demon. They're going to infuse the winner with the power they've been collecting. The 'legendary recompense'... it's an immediate, all-in-one-go trip to power. Hotaru called chi the 'breath of life'... powering a mechanical object with it probably doesn't work. But a living being..."
There's a few loud clicking sounds as Soma picks up the pace.
"Right.." Naerose says as Soma just manages to fill in the part she was herself missing,
"That would explain why they didn't just use Riko for it.. They didn't want to sacrifice her.. So the person they do this to is history, that's for sure" She says and nods her head, adjusting her shades and grinning inwardly to herself. This would all be very good information. She's pass it along of course, after she got out of this cell and she'd refuse to do what someone wanted her to who wasn't going to at least give her free food. . Come to think of it, there was free food on the ground. She shrugs, Whatever.
The job she was tasked with was spreading chaos on the boat and giving Soma this 'information' was doing just that, she wasn't feeling like she made a mistake, if anything she was pretty sure of herself just then and now.
"Well there you have it, " She finally says,
"So you gonna let me out and gimme your jacket at least?"
Sacrifice nothing... though the person would need to be controlled. And of course, anyone too powerful would be able to resist, but someone weak they felt they could control... and now he knows why Nikolai is here too. Ha... if he'd only had that information 36 hours ago Soma could have been spared some serious injury. "That's right. Koganei uses electricity..." he murmurs, flashing back to his meeting with her in Thailand. And the little tricks she used. No, he doesn't think chi can power technology, but the two can certainly interact.
There's a click in the lock and, with an almost dazed expression, Soma withdraws his hand and pushes the cell door open.
What happens next might interest Naerose, because it all seems to happen very quickly. The spike he was using clatters to the floor with a metallic *tink* noise. Soma, on the other hand, spins and reaches inside his jacket... drawing his Beretta service handgun and shooting out both security cameras with two quick, accurate taps of the trigger.
There's a pause, before he turns around and unbuttons the black jacket. He reaches into the sleeves, withdrawing a pair of silver daggers and another handful of throwing spikes, which he stuffs into a pocket. In one motion he whips the black midriff-high jacket off and tosses it at Naerose, leaving him with his grey shirt... and the gun in its shoulder holster.
Of course, if Naerose checks the jacket's pockets, they're entirely empty, even the very secret pockets you could find ripping the thing apart. Soma, for his part, is already heading toward the door. "Thanks. And if I were you? I'd start walking pretty quickly."
COMBATSYS: Soma has left the fight here.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|
"Hey! Cool!" cries the witch and quickly goes through the pockets, making a briefly disapointed sound when she finds nothing in any of them. Still she puts the jacket on and leaves, in part to shout after Soma.
"Remember who solved the mystery. It was ME!" she flashes a winning smile, gathering up her broom and tailing it the other way. She had just one more thing along with creating chaos on this boat she had to do, namely see what those bazooka crates are and if they're placement was somehow special. It was time for a night time firework show. <3
COMBATSYS: Naerose has ended the fight here.
Log created on 12:55:28 09/17/2007 by Soma, and last modified on 05:43:49 09/18/2007.