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

[revolutionfalcon]

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.

Comments

Clue 2/2

[godsoffortune]

They find many more accoutrements similar to the other apartments, of books about the Japanese origin myths, ancient spellcasters, calligraphy books and practice sheets of paper similar to those from the forest, and vestments in his closet that are recently cleaned. There is a packet of receipts about travel, but most of the names on the plane tickets are not his. There's a calendar nearby with color-coded dates that they can piece together is a combination of individual names as well as similar hues being an estimate of rank.

Then, after all of their hunting and rummaging, Ginia reaches for the laptop in his bedroom. Upon lifting it, there's a brief sound of paper fluttering, and a magical trap laced with electricity zaps the computer. It might have gotten Ginia too. Simultaneously, the closet with his cult vestments in it catches fire.

Around the time that the fire alarm goes off, the door slams open with a man matching the description of Sensei / Imai Takeru appears, expression going from angry to appalled at the sight of the duo.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia photographs the names of the books on myths and spellcasters, grabbing two of books on spellcasters that look older (or is the relatively smallest and easier to carry). She flips through the packet of receipts before throwing the whole bundle into into her backpack for later viewing. The calendar she begins to photograph like all the others before changing her mind and taking it. The color-coding needs a closer look and they're approach is lacking subtlety anyway.

The trap zaps the laptop and her hand in the process. She jerks back from it, laptop falling back to the table, shaking out her hand and grabbing it again as the fire starts. There's a hunch the laptop is fried, but better to make sure than to leave it behind.

It's a good time to leave as ever as smoke begins filling the room. As they head out, Ginia comes to a stop as Sensei enters. Her hand slashes out, a borderline springing up between him and them.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun swipes the receipts and practice papers, as well as any of the spellcaster books that Ginia didn't already take and one of the ones about the origin myths, if only to know what idea of the mythology they're working from. It might be useful, in a way. Once Ginia heads into the bedroom, though, Shun takes a moment to disguise his face in the manner he used to do back in Heartland - scarf pulled up to mask his lower face, and dark goggles disguising the top. It definitely doesn't do anything for his hair, but he's hoping not to give Sensei a direct line of sight of him before they can leave anyway.

And he's not really disappointed, either, because they're on the way out when he slams open the doorway. Shun glances back only slightly to see Ginia's borderline go up, and then signs quickly to her and offers her a hand.]

Let's go. [It'd probably be better to get somewhere slightly more out of direct line of sight to teleport, so if they can get somewhere like that quickly, even just around the side of the house, he's willing to wait a little longer.]

Wrap Clue

[godsoffortune]

Shun and Ginia would be able to get out of the hallway and into the bedroom, trapping him in his entryway. Startled, Imai stumbles backward and puts both hands up to somewhat protect himself in case another volley of attacks come... but none do. For now. In the span of a few seconds, he lowers his hands, whispering: "Useless! She's-"

He opens his front door and starts running back outside, screaming one word they'd easily recognize: "VOTELLI!"

---
Later, as Ginia is trying to get the IT Department of Ebisu's temple to find anything useful on Mitsui's laptop, they will find:

1. e-receipts of a small offsite physical storage location, enough space roughly the size of a large closet or an office. He has an incomprehensible abbreviation list of its contents.
   
2. A personal diary of research goal topics in wide ranges, from history to calligraphy to politics to morality and eventually spellcraft and religion. Eventually, they will discover a checklist to match the file structure, labeled: "Traits of Gods, Divine Rulers, and Onmyōji."
   
3. There's another folder with a single file in, a checklist that was started and seemingly never finished or left unsaved:
   [Hyperlink(s) to Twitter] Now that I can't trust her, I have to...
   - Change laptop password
   - Change front door lock
   - Avoid [certain Tokyo locations]
   - Choose what to keep or move out for awhile
   -
   -
   -
   [etc]
   - Tell them I might have screwed up bad?