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'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.

[That does pique Shun's interest slightly, because while he did have some awareness that Aymeric was around for that long, he didn't know that he'd managed to get hold of the cup.] I'll keep that in mind. We're probably overdue for a proper discussion about the state of things here, anyway.

[If Aymeric was around for the demon thing and oriented enough to be grabbing clues, he's probably been around for longer than Shun, which is a woefully small list of people at this point.]

I'd say go for the other cultists before we try for Sensei. I'd prefer to leave the most dangerous until last so we can dedicate the attention it needs.

Let's try Ryou's then. I've been to his apartment a few times so I know my way around. If he hasn't changed his password on his laptop, I still have it.

[Such are the joys of fake-dating a cultist and copying the contents off his laptop. There's some pity and understanding for him. Who doesn't want recognition for ones work? Who doesn't want to feel like they're heard and appreciated? But also who tries to recruit someone into a "new age religion" after going on a few dates with them?

Ginia pulls up his address and maps out a route, showing it to Shun. Once they're ready to leave, between running and a few strategic teleports, it's not too much time to get there. The apartment is also as she remembers, simple for someone single, with the big indulgence the tank of saltwater fish. Ginia wiggles her fingers at the fish.]

I remember he had an altar and books in his room. I'm going to document this area and search around. Can you keep an eye out for a laptop?

[ As of after he's had his run-in with Ginia, he put all of his occult texts and experiments into storage. He still has a collection of worn, gilt-edged, leather- and cloth-bound books that appear, despite their potentially occult appearance, to all be fiction, mostly historical fantasy about the adventures of diviners and samurai hundreds of years ago.

He has a small altar in his bedroom, laid out on a side table with a pristine silk cloth embroidered with floral and leaf designs on which sit a well-cared-for bonsai tree, a porcelain cup filled with water and an incense burner with a few sticks of incense burned almost all the way down. His black robe is folded in a lower drawer, next to two other embroidered silk cloths; one has a motif of Mount Fuji erupting, with flames and ash, and another has the symbols for fortune, from "very good" to "very bad," embroidered up and down each edge.

The laptop is on the kitchen table, clearly serving in a temporary office sort of capacity due to the bits of innocuous, mundane mail to either side of the laptop. The mail is joined by sticky notes and pens. And yes, his password changed on his laptop. ]

I'm going to assume he's not that stupid, but there's always a chance. [If Ginia got caught in the act of trying to go through his things, Shun considers it deeply unlikely the guy would've left the security hole of the laptop open, but nonetheless, it's something they can test when they get there.

Shun's not familiar with the layout of the place like Ginia is, so when she settles on where she's going, he inclines his head slightly and turns for the kitchen and other more public rooms himself.]

If it's not in his room as well, I'll see if it's out here. It's the kind of thing someone would be more likely to leave somewhere noticeable than most of the rest of what we're looking for.

I don't think he would have suspected me for anything. I was his girlfriend for a bit.

[A fake, short-lived relationship all for the name of information. It's a pity; maybe she could have learned more if the ablution hadn't kept her away from things for awhile. She heads to his bedroom, looking around the space. The books she's seen before, but she still checks through to see if any of them are new or otherwise noteworthy.

She takes pictures of his altar and the belongings around it. It's probably nothing special, but she keeps an eye out for any other incense sticks with the intent of taking one. Looking through his wardrobe, she stops as she finds the robe and the clothes.

She takes pictures with her camera, then takes pictures of the silk cloths with her phone, immediately sending them to Shun. Yeah, that's concerning.]

[That gets a slight brow raise out of Shun, but he's not unfamiliar with that method of infiltration, so for now, he doesn't remark on it. It's not something he'd ever be the type to do himself, but he supposes it's useful in some ways.

The first room he ends up entering is the kitchen, and when he spots the laptop, he's just about to go tell Ginia when he gets her text with the silk cloths. Eyes narrowing slightly, he goes over them before texting back.]

The thing with Sotero, and the bad luck charms? Laptop's in the kitchen, too.

[That said, he starts going through the sticky notes to see if there's any sign of the dumb luck of the guy having written his password down, but it doesn't look like they're going to get lucky on that front.]

It's definitely a strong connection. Worrying.

See if "Chrysiptera!" works.

[Note to self: if there's a chance to talk to Sotero, ask him if he's met Mitsui. Votelli knew of others in passing but also only seemed to have a connection with Sensei. It might be the same with Sotero, but the silk cloths in question are still incredibly specific.

Where would you ever go to get something like that made?

Ginia carefully takes the cloths out of the drawer and unfolds them to take full pictures of the front and back and detail shots. Once she's done documenting them, she carefully folds them back and sets them back in the drawer.]

[Shun tries the password as described, but only gets a refusal from the login screen.]

Doesn't. He must have changed his password.

[Maybe he was suspicious of Ginia's motive...or maybe the cultists were aware people were zeroing in on them. Or maybe it was just an annoying coincidence. As it is, Shun starts looking through a few of the letters as well, to see if he can find much in the way of anything useful. Most of it just seems mundane, but he knows that the cult leaders have used normal mail to communicate before from that postcard he found a good while ago.]

[Figures.]

Try adding a 1 to the end.

Keep an eye out for paper that might be used in charms or tags.

[It's probably not that easy, but it's worth trying. It's more likely they'd have better luck copying the hard drive and trying to crack things off-site, but they don't have the time or equipment for that. If the password doesn't work, it doesn't work.

She continues to search the bedroom, looking for any hidden or false drawers and sweeping under the bed as she searches for materials for bad luck charms or spell tags.]

[ The password does not work. However, that wouldn't stop them from taking the whole laptop if they so chose.

Sandwiched between two of the occult books is a Franklin Clasp Catalog Envelope that appears at first to hold bookmarks. However, Ginia and Shun can eventually realize that there are 4 identical "bookmarks" in that envelope which are actually bad luck charms. Nestled along with them is a large, lined post-it note with three loose descriptions ("young woman with...") they can match to Zelda, Shun, and Hibiki. There's a checkbox for each description thanks to the Post-It's design, and there's a red X through all 3 of the checkboxes.

The herbs on his windowsills are clearly very well tended to, and have a few occult symbols on their containers, but they have no actual magical power at all. ]

[Shun tries the second suggestion and just gets another refusal, so maybe a minute later, Ginia gets another message.]

Still nothing. And all the paper around here just seems to be letters. Someone could probably get into the laptop if we had more time, but I doubt we can do it here.

Have you found anything in there yet?

[He's probably going to join her in there in short order, but he's doing one last sweep of the kitchen area first.]

[The bed and drawers prove fruitless, so back to the bookshelf. Ginia thumbs through the edges of the book, pausing as an envelope slips free. She gingerly opens it and thumbs through the four flips of paper, pulling out the post-it note.

Long blonde hair, pointy ears. Silver hair, green eyes. Spiky blue hair. It's hard not figuring out who the list is referring to, especially as she shadowed that hand-off.]

Get in here now

[Once Shun is in the room, she hands the envelope to him.]

He's going to realize something if we steal it outright, but we can't let him keep these either.

[Considering the obvious urgency of the message, Shun's sweeping through the doorway within moments of getting the message. He initially raises a brow at the envelope when Ginia hands it to him, but once he opens it and starts reading what's inside, his expression becomes steely.

His gaze flicks to the charms before going back up to Ginia.] I'm wondering if he was planning to curse us as humans or as gods. Surely if they'd figured out we were gods they would've used these by now.

[She has a point, though, and he closes the envelope again, eying it.] Unless you can think of a way we can get rid of these without making it obvious, we might as well just take both. Something like this, he's going to realise is gone before too long as well.

I wonder how much they believe in all you gods as real thing and something less philosophical or theological?

[Votelli exists, powered by belief as is the way of all gods, but it doesn't make her any more visible. Ginia doubts she's met all the members of the cult and vice versa. It also feels unlikely Mitsui would have pinpointed the three gods as gods.

Eccentric teenager cosplayers more likely.

As for how to handle the envelope...]

Studying them and having other people look over makes them too valuable to have you destroy outright. We could make copies of everything, but either we risk leaving the originals or he's eventually tipped off when he realizes his are fakes.

Taking it outright might set him off immediately to some further action, but might also mean he's trackable to other people or locations.

There's always making it look like a casual burglary attempt. It'll allow us to steal a few other things like his laptop and the cloths at the risk of putting him at high alert. It may delay him from doing anything if he's tied up trying to identify what was stolen with the police, but still, very risky.

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Clue request

Final clue for this apartment

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Clue request

Clues for Mitsui Ryou's apartment

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Clue request

Final clue for this apartment

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