thenearshore | [closed] things that can't possibly backfire #42

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[closed] things that can't possibly backfire #42

Who: Shun and Ginia
When: March 4th or 5th, probably.
Where: Various cultists' houses and eventually Sensei's. It's basically Cribs but with cultists.
What: Custom mission, in which an attempt is made at tracking down Sensei.

[It's been a few months since the scouring of the surveillance footage from around Votelli's forest, and finally, they've got something out of it. A few of the names are ones Shun recognises - Saburo and Shinnosuke he remembers from the department store incident, so that's a decent sign they're on the right track here - but he doubts they're going to end up at the same place he'd previously investigated in connection to that. These, finally, are some actual details they can work from, instead of just temporary addresses and hastily-fled hideouts.

He knows Ginia is one of the people who's been investigating the cultists fairly extensively, and they've done this sort of thing before - he wants someone he knows is experienced with this sort of thing here, and he also wants as few people as possible actually investigating. Lacking backup isn't really an option when Sensei poses the kind of threat he does, but at the same time, more than two people is bound to draw far too much attention.

As it is now, they're perched on a rooftop just near one of the addresses, Shun eying the street below them.] I'm hoping Sensei keeping them all at arm's length is going to work to our advantage here. Last time I scoured a place these cultists were using, there wasn't any sign of them contacting Sensei, only that someone was contacting them.

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[Shun picks through the closet to see if he can find anything else that's being stored with the robe, but it seems to be clean. Once he sees Ginia shaking her head in his peripherals, though, he turns his head so he can see what she's come up with.

It's not too surprising that there wouldn't be anything hidden here, so he nods slightly.] I'm not finding anything here either. It'd be useful if we could set a tracker on this or something-- [He taps at the black robe.] --but I don't know that anyone in the Heavens is that experienced in electronic tracking. They're probably expecting magic, even if there seem to be more people around for that.

I could maybe do it with the right equipment, though anything small enough to hide on clothes is police or military grade. Off-the-shelf tracking devices would work better on a car or the apartment.

[And she's not opposed against raiding a police station or military base for equipment, or finding some other means of acquisition, but that's a side trip and time they don't have in the moment. Even buying off-the-shelf items is a bit more time than they have to spare today. But with some research on products and how they work, it's a viable thing to come back to.]

We still have three others plus Sensei to look into. Finish here and go to our next target?

Edited 2018-12-14 18:32 (UTC)

Some of the places they've been doing rituals are pretty out of the way, so I figured the cloak would be a more reliable location pointer than a car sometimes, but it's a question for later, anyway.

[They definitely don't have time to go through all that business today, and it seems like they've pretty much canvassed anything in this apartment that's likely to be useful, with Shun picking through a few more drawers and nooks and crannies as he speaks.]

Might as well. It doesn't look like there's much else to this place, and we'll definitely need time to scope out Sensei's house.

[Ginia pulls up a map on her phone, checking the locations of the other three cultists. Saburo's apartment is the closest one to hit, with Shinnosuke and Ryou equally far apart after.]

Oota Saburo is the closest, though Aymeric says he has a family, two young kids. Could be a problem if they're home. Should we try one of the others instead? I know Ryou is single.

((ooc: Canceling the immediate clue request based on IC knowledge about Saburo Aymeric would have passed onto Ginia in a prior month.))

Edited 2018-12-17 03:28 (UTC)

We'll have to do it at some point anyway. At the very least, we can check and then if they're home, double back later.

[Saburo is one of the ones Shun would like to look into in particular, being one of the names he's familiar with, but if there's a chance they're going to be encountering kids, he figures they might as well give themselves ample chance to check and duck in when they might not be around.]

[A plan as good as any. Ginia gives the apartment a look over again, snapping off a few more pictures to ensure she has good footage, rifles through the trash can again to make sure she got every piece in there. Once Shun is ready to go, they slip back out, cotton shoe covers going back into Ginia's bag until they reach the next place.

With a mix of athleticism and teleportation, it doesn't take long to reach Saburo's apartment. Perching on a building across the street, Ginia pulls out her binoculars again and pinpoints the building. There's laundry hanging out to dry and futons clipped to the balcony. There's a scattering of toys in the living room, but it doesn't seem like there's any movement. Afternoon naptime or maybe the kids are out? It is Saturday, after all.]

What do you think? Should we go for it?

[Shun eyes the windows himself, not picking up any signs of obvious movement, and he nods slightly at the question.] If we wait too long, we might miss our chance. Let's be careful about it so we don't end up storming in with the wrong idea, but sooner rather than later seems best.

[If they're out right now, then they can go through quickly before they return. If they're asleep or something similar, then they should be able to work quietly enough not to wake them up.]

[Worst case, they can always teleport back out. Or she can hide with Umbra and he can teleport out, they'll see what happens. They make their way to the balcony of the apartment, careful not to disturb the laundry hanging out. Ginia passes out the gloves and boot covers again before taking his arm so he can teleport them in Saburo's apartment.]

[ If they listen at the door, there are no sounds of the family being present inside.

Additionally, a small correction - there are actually no toys visible in the living room splayed on the ground. The toys have been cleared away into their boxes and drawers, replaced - out of sight presently - behind curtains and in plastic containers. They might be able to catch a glimpse of a family photo or one toy peeking out from a drawer, or Ginia may well have wondered if she was in the right place. The hanging laundry does in fact have children-sized clothing interspersed there.

As it stands, things look so pristine that the pair could safely enter the apartment without fear of landing on furniture or kid-caused tripping hazards. ]

[Once they get closer to the apartment, Shun looks through the window, frowning slightly at the space inside. He's not one to deride sparse living himself, but he doesn't usually see it in places with kids.] Surprised it's that clean with kids living there.

[It does make things easier in that they're probably not going to bump into anything, but on the other, they'll have to be more careful about putting things back where they belong. Nonetheless, he teleports them in as soon as they're prepared again, into the middle of the spartan living space.]

[Good thing they have the boot covers. With as clean as the place is, prints would be all the more apparent. Once they're inside, Ginia takes out her camera, but doesn't begin taking pictures right away.]

It's very orderly. Think that's a reflection of the parents or something else?

[Still listening for sounds of any inhabitants, Ginia slowly moves to get a sense of the layout. A wall separates the kitchen from the living area, and beyond that the entrance. Another hallway leads to presumably the bedrooms and bathrooms. Ginia moves toward the kitchen. It's the most reasonably high-traffic area in a family of four, there's probably calendars or schedules or something there if not by the entrance.]

((ooc: Info on the kitchen and any other rooms, though I don't imagine either will intrude much on the kids' bedrooms.))

[ Once inside, the pair will immediately notice the smell of cleaning solution and a distinct lack of dust, even in places that normally see so little use - near picture frames as they sit on floating shelves, inside of the kitchen pantry, and at the baseboards of the kitchen. This place has seen a thorough cleansing and recently.

That will bring the bag of dry-cleaned clothing in the apartment entryway to their attention. It's a very unstylish black hooded robe hanging amongst other clothes in there.

The children's room sees a bit more use and less cleaning smells, but nothing that would hint the children are aware of what their parent has been up to. ]

[Shun's listening out as well, but he can't hear anything as yet. It's not just orderly, though - he can smell the cleaner on the air, and notice the lack of settled dust.]

Something else. This isn't just orderly, they've deep cleaned it not that long ago. I can't see dust on anything. Though that makes me wonder what they wanted to obliterate traces of.

[Or one of them, at least. He doubts the children are in on it, and the partner might have just gone along with the cleaning if there was another excuse for it.]

[Ginia idly runs a finger over the kitchen counter and looks at it. Clean is one thing, this is practically sterile. That seems a little excessive in a way Ginia can't pinpoint. She takes a few pictures of the kitchen - pictures on the fridge, a calendar with a few notes penned in here and there - before moving toward the doorway.

As she opens the bag of dry cleaning, Ginia whistles to get Shun's attention, holding up the hooded robe.]

How much do you think it costs to get these dry-cleaned?

[Ginia takes a picture of the clothes inside before zipping it back up.]

This is really weird. It's too meticulous.

[Shun's sticking his head into the kids' bedroom when Ginia finds the dry cleaning bag, and he glances over, eyes narrowing at the sight of the cloak.]

I'm probably not the best person to ask about that, but if it's something big and heavy, I doubt it's cheap. [He withdraws his head from the room, nodding slightly towards it.] It looks less sterile in there, but I don't see signs of anything suspicious either. It's definitely weird that it's stayed this sterile. If they didn't have washing outside, I'd wonder if they were even still living here.

[The only thing they've dealt with that he could possibly imagine needing that much care is the bad luck charms - if the effects of them don't discriminate on targets, it's possible the cleansing of this place has been ritual as well as literal. But he'd still consider that a bit of a stretch.]

[Ginia hangs the dry cleaning bag up where it was and rejoins Shun. Unless there's an office, the big target room is probably the master bedroom. They definitely have proof the house belongs to a cultist, but something a little more substantial would be nice.]

I hope the kids are okay in all of this.

[Don't cults usually try to recruit within families too? Ginia glances at the door to the kids' room, mouth turning downward. She doesn't hold anything personally against Saburo, but putting his children at risk does earn some of her ire.]

Next room then. Let's keep an eye out for the materials they use to make the charms or the cursed spell tags. Or maybe something with that language they use.

[While Shun inclines his head at that, he also doesn't look much like he expects them to find anything.] If they've cleaned the place up this thoroughly and it was recent, I don't know that we're going to pick up much of anything else. Though depending on how recently the clean was and how they disposed of their things, I suppose checking their garbage is one option.

[Not an option he sounds terribly enthused about, but an option nonetheless. It'd be remiss to overlook something like that when the clean seems so recent, even if it turns out they took it elsewhere.]

The garbage schedule in the kitchen, I'm hoping it's not a day for combustibles or non-combustibles.

[Japan's garbage collection schedule is an enigma of its own, but with the chance the very precise scheduling might buy them an opportunity for clues, it's a possible blessing.

Ginia pauses outside what seems to be the master bedroom to listen for any sounds inside before slowly pushing open the door.]

((ooc: Clues for what's in the bedroom, but also if there are any hidden electronics and if they'll be able to look through the garbage, whether in the apartment or going down to where garbage is collected.))

[ The apartment has a pet horned beetle enclosure in the children's bedroom and, in the hallway, framed candid pictures of the family - Oota Saburo, his wife, their five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. His wife is a cheerful, round-faced woman a few years older than he is, who works nights at a bento factory; he's a sales representative for an import company, and is often away on business. It seems he's away at the moment. The city calendar tacked on the kitchen wall lists his business trips over the past several months, many of which are within the country but some of which have been overseas, to Australia and even as far away as the United Kingdom. ]

[In the meantime, Shun takes a look around the rest of the house, skimming over the photos in the hallway and taking note of the people in them on his way to the kitchen. While he is supposed to be looking for the garbage schedule, he does get sidetracked by the presence of a calendar and flips through it briefly, raising a brow at the contents.]

Looks like this guy's been on a lot of business trips recently. But I don't think we've got any gods that originated in Australia. [There's a brief pause as he flips further through.] United Kingdom would've gotten him in striking distance of the Celtic gods, though.

[Depends on where specifically he went, though it doesn't seem to say that much.]

[The bedroom is pretty typical for the apartment. It's clean as everything else; not a speck of dust on the window sill, clothes all put away, the surfaces of the bathroom pristine. Ginia carefully searches through the nightstands, dresser, under the bed, and closet, mindful of not disrupting things too much.

In one of the nightstands there are a few receipts and assorted loose change; Ginia takes pictures of them, noting the receipts are in English and the coinage isn't yen. Interesting. Without much of note in the bedroom, Ginia rejoins Shun.]

Found some receipts printed in English in a nightstand, I'll run the locations to see where they line up. [If any can point close to Ireland, it's something.] Have we had gods originating in Australia in the past if not the present?

[Shun nods slightly at the mention of checking up on the receipts, before turning his attention back to the fridge to try and find the garbage schedule. Despite the fact that he's not completely sure what to look for other than maybe something with dates on it since it's been so long since he's seen one himself.]

Not that I remember, but I don't know anything about the mythology there either. I usually read a little bit on the mythologies of gods I meet just so I have some idea of what they're talking about, so I at least haven't met anyone who was a god from there.

[Apparently he's going to have to look into some names there to make sure there's none that might be connected to these trips.]

Another possibility is that because we have no gods there, it's a place they're less likely to get caught.

[There's a troubling thought. Ginia scowls a little at the thought.]

That then means any country without a god there is a possible hiding place. I'll talk to Aymeric and see if he found anything pointing to travel to other countries.

[There's the hotel list he had, that'll be a good starting place. Checking over car rental records too. Chikusa might have some names and locations as well. Ginia takes photos of the calendar for better photos, looking for the garbage disposal schedule too.]

Bottles yesterday, burnables today. Damn.

[Shun takes a moment to recognise that name - he's only met Aymeric once or twice before.] It'd be useful to have others to exchange information with, so I might have to look him up again sometime. I don't see him that often.

[It's usually brief encounters during major events rather than any situation where they'd be able to comfortably talk about the kinds of things that have been going on lately, anyway.

Shun's attention turns back to the fridge when Ginia finds the schedule, and he hisses through his teeth at the remark.] Just our luck. We probably won't find much else of use here, then.

Forseti in the contact list. He was at the meeting in December and has the cup the demon was summoned with in his possession. Smart, reliable, level.

[Given how Ginia doesn't suffer fools and how cagey she is about sharing information, it's as good an endorsement as Aymeric will get.]

Scope out the remaining cultists or tackle Sensei's location? The approach won't be easy with that barrier around his place, but we don't necessarily have to cross it.

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Final clue for this apartment

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