[Closed] We could spend our whole lives waiting for justice to be done

[unlucky7]

Who: Ginia and Shun
When: Some time around November 18th-19th
Where: Around the Near Shore
What: Ginia and Shun pick up and old lead and decide to pay a vice-principal responsible for draining the life out of children a visit... if they can find him.
Warnings: Violence, murder.



It's not that Ginia wants to personally punch the vice-principal. It's entirely possible the creep is long dead from the hands of someone else - Far Shore justice, Near Shore justice, who knows - or has long fled the area. But maybe, maybe he's still around and they can find out whether he was the first sign of bigger problems. And just maybe he'll say the wrong thing and Ginia can put her fist in his face.

It's not that she wants to punch him, but dammit, he was attacking children. There aren't enough punches in the world for that creep.

The thought carries Ginia from the run from Caster's temple to Shun's. Her backpack is a prepared for survelliance; two note pads, several pens and pencils, laptop, camera gear, battery pack, roll of duct tape. As always, her knife is in the sheath at her back, but it's more out of habit than out of a feeling of necessity.

She slows as she approaches his temple, keeping an eye on the vultures in the trees as she sends a message to Shun.

Just outside.

Comments

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun hadn't heard about that part.] Did the "weirdos" mention their names? [It could be useful to know who kicked the guy around, just to see what information they might have.

He has to give the man an extremely unimpressed look at that accusation, though. This definitely isn't helping his likelihood of getting out of this meeting unscathed, as far as Shun's concerned.]

Did you consider you did it to yourself, messing with things like summoning demons? [It does beg one question, though:] Don't you usually have to know something's name to summon it? Or was it just calling for any demon?

[godsoffortune]

[The man sniffs, glancing away not quite in time to hide a small malicious smile.]

One of them went by Tsuzuki, and another one by Kiryu. Don't ask me about the other guys, though a couple of them looked like high school kids themselves.

They asked me the same question. The ritual I got didn't include a name.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun silently curses their luck - that must've been before Tsuzuki became a shinki, considering the timing, so he wouldn't remember any of the details regardless. While he keeps an eye on the man's shifts in expression, he's confident enough that between himself and Ginia on standby, he's not going to offer any real trouble.]

Then where did you get the ritual from? [Lose one lead, follow another. It seems like they're not getting a name, so the source of the spell itself is probably the better follow-up.]

[godsoffortune]

An old book. I'd been searching for years for that kind of thing. Mostly a hobby, 'til this thing showed up at my door.

And no, I don't have it anymore.

[He's frowning again; his cigarette is burned almost to the filter, and he flicks it out into the street, where a passing car smashes it flat in a shower of sparks.]

It vanished the day the spell went wrong.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Well, that's one way to come across it. Shun's eyes narrow again, only briefly following the movement of the cigarette before they return to the man's face.]

Were there any signs of where it came from, or who put it there? [He'd guess it "disappeared" courtesy of them as well, but he's thinking it's not going to be nearly that easy.]

Someone must have noticed what you were doing.

[godsoffortune]

It came in the post. Unmarked package, no return address.

[He leans back against the back of the bench.]

You want the guy who sent it to me? I'd sic you on him in a heartbeat if I knew who he was, but I don't.

[revolutionfalcon]

You sound pretty certain it's a "he". [Long shot, but maybe there's something the guy's overlooked that might give them a lead. Or he might be presumptuous about who sent it. It's hard to tell.]

Why'd you quit and hide out, then? You're clearly not guilty about what you did.

[godsoffortune]

You think a woman would do that? [Setting up an occult researcher, ruthlessly, based on superior knowledge? The man sounds surprised at the suggestion.]

I couldn't keep going. With those monsters everywhere? I had to find a way to get myself out of this deal.

Besides, there was backlash from the spell, and then that last lot of weirdos tracked me down... I needed a fresh start.

[revolutionfalcon]

I think it's an oversight to assume one wouldn't. [Shun's met plenty of nasty women in his time on the battlefield, including the ones who wiped out his entire division of the Resistance, so he's definitely not predisposed to think this couldn't be one.

The man's attempt seems woefully lacking in light of all that, though, and Shun eyes him at length.] How long did you think that was going to last, with what you got yourself mixed up in? Someone was going to track you down again. Whether it was the monsters, or the demon, or us.

[godsoffortune]

[The look he gives Shun is flat and a little hostile.]

I didn't think quitting my job would get me out of the deal. It gave me time to put in the research towards getting out of it.

And at least I didn't have to listen to those whining brats anymore.

[revolutionfalcon]

At this rate, getting yourself out of that deal is going to be the least of your worries. [Shun's tone is unmistakably cold and unforgiving, and the timing of the remark is rather pointedly after yet another of the man's remarks on how little he regrets using children for his own ends.]

But I'll take any other information you have about the spell, book or demon if you want to put that off for a little longer.

[godsoffortune]

I was wondering when you were going to start threatening me.

[The man looks over at Shun, eyes narrowed.]

I could give you the ritual.

[revolutionfalcon]

You've been inviting it for long enough. [Shun doesn't sound remotely abashed at the fact, though he does tilt his head slightly in answer to the offer.]

I'm listening. You memorised it enough to know it without the book?

[unlucky7]

[There are times when violence is deserved. Though Ginia is only getting the broadest strokes of the conversation from watching across the street, the vice-principal is not making himself any more liked with his blatant disregard for the children he hurt.

But ritual first, possible violence after.

It's not hard leaping from her side of the street to their side in a graceful arc. Ginia lands alongside Shun, giving him a slight nod before fixing her attention on the man. Right. Ritual?]

[godsoffortune]

[The man starts violently when Ginia leaps across the street to land next to the two of them, but tries to cover it up, rubbing a hand across his mouth before he looks between them.]

This your friend?

-- Of course I memorized it. I performed it.

[revolutionfalcon]

Something like that. [Shun didn't do much more than glance over when Ginia leapt across the road, considering he half expected her to intercede before this. The guy's been asking for it for half the conversation.]

Then it's information we'll take. [Shun makes a vague prompting motion with his hand to indicate for him to continue.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia offers a thin smile at the man's reaction. Her hands link casually behind her back in convenient reach of her knife as she waits for him to continue.]

[godsoffortune]

Give me a pen.

[He pulls out a battered notebook, snapping his fingers in imperious demand at Shun.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun voids the temptation of breaking the man's fingers by reminding himself they can just do that in a minute or two when he runs out of useful information.]

You carry a notebook, but not a pen. [Shun puts that rather dryly, pickpocketing a pen from a passing office worker and offering it out with the air of someone dealing with a poisonous creature. He's got plenty of weapons concealed under his coat, but he doesn't typically carry writing implements.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia could have pulled a pen from her backpack, but since he asked Shun at not her, so here they are. She steps a bit closer to crowd onto his space, playing the part of tall, silent, and vaguely threatening. Her fingers twitch behind her back; there's no enjoyment in violence, but never has someone deserved to be slugged so much as the ex-vice-principal.]

[godsoffortune]

[The man doesn't bother answering Shun's comment. It wasn't a question, after all. Instead, he bends to write, spidery characters swiftly filling a few pages, and draws out a summoning circle on the page after that, labeled with notes like 'candles' and 'salt' and 'fresh blood.'

It takes him at least ten minutes. When he finishes, he rips the pages out, and holds them and the pencil out towards Shun.]

There.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun doesn't bother to rush him or remark on the time taken. If that's what it takes for an accurate rendition of the ritual - and considering the spellwork he's been exposed to in this world, he doesn't doubt it is - then he'll wait.

He doesn't hesitate to take the pages when the man holds them out, though, looking them over before folding them neatly away for later perusal.]

Is that all you have to tell us? [He doesn't imagine the man is exactly going to be eager to offer unprompted information, but if he has none left he wants to give, then the question becomes what to do with him. Shun would like to search the apartment, which means leaving him unconscious at minimum, but he deserves worse as far as he's concerned.]

[unlucky7]

[After waiting all day for him to appear, what's a few more minutes of waiting? Ginia doesn't move from her spot, but she doesn't rush him either as she peers at the writing and draws on the paper. She tenses slightly at the handover, but as nothing happens, she relaxes. There's time to look at their findings later.

Ginia pulls out her cellphone and types up a message, letting her phone read it out loud for her.]

Any regrets toward hurting those kids?

[godsoffortune]

So this is the part where you want me to beg you not to hurt me, because I'm really, really sorry, and I'll tell you everything?

[He looks from Shun to Ginia, then back to Shun, before tapping another cigarette out of his fresh pack and lighting it. He doesn't say anything further.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That's enough of an answer of itself, and Shun gives a faintly dismissive noise through his teeth.]

I've heard more than enough people beg me for mercy when they didn't really mean it. But if you have nothing more to say and no remorse for what you've done, then it's like I said earlier. No great loss.

[Shun's tone isn't malicious, or expressing any sense of enjoyment. It is, however, cold and vindictive, and undeniably the voice of experience in having done this sort of thing before.

He takes no enjoyment in it. But people who endanger others with no care and show no remorse will receive none in kind from him. Only what it takes to stop them hurting anyone else.]