Requiem 02:Fitting In
[08:23] Dreams of darkness always give way to the sunrise, and this one is no exception. Thomas can't remember quite what the dream was about - there was running, and panicking, and similar, but he doesn't recall.
However, what he can quite easily make out is the incessant sound of Knock-Knock-Knock-Knock-Knock on his wooden door, and the unforgiving light of the sun is shining in at a most
[08:24] unpleasant angle. Knock, knock, knock, knock. Sunlight. Quite the way to start the morning.
[08:25] After such a horrible night, too. Yeah, that's one way to start a morning. He was definitely going to need some coffee. Once, twice he turns over in his bed.
[08:25] Before, finally submitting to the will of the planet's ever-oppressive day-star, throwing the covers off his chest and struggling out of bed.
[08:26] It is, after all, terribly difficult to sleep on one's side when you have a metal slab for an arm.
[08:27] Yawning, he'd attend to his door. Just a pair of pants and a white undershirt, this morning. He'd get the rest on as it progressed.
[08:28] "Hey," he says, the morning grogginess still sticky in his throat, "G'morning."
[08:30] "Go-od-mor-ning!" Yukari chirps as the door swings open. "Get dressed! We're going shopping today!"
[08:30] "Shopping? For what?"
[08:31] "Food, clothes, supplies...lucky you, huh!" She laughs and points down the hall. "Bathrooms are that way, by the way. You don't look like a morning person, after all."
[08:32] "Yeah, heh, just a few nightmares is all. Wasn't too restful last night," another yawn. Yeah, lots of coffee, "Give me a few minutes, I'll get ready."
[08:32] "Maybe a shower'll fix me up."
[08:33] "You have thirty minutes! I'm counting!" With that, she skips down stairs, still far too chipper for anyone to be in the morning.
[08:35] "Alright, alright!" he manages to grumble, pulling back into his room to collect the necessities. Clothes (not badly sweated on. Yey mechanical limbs and the chill of night!), toothbrush...
[08:36] He then pushes back out of the room, and sulks over toward the shower... It was a damn good thing these things (arms, legs) could handle shower water. He'd be in a real mess if they couldn't.
[08:37] It doesn't take him too long to finish showering and dressing, and Yukari is downstairs waiting for him - as is, surprisingly, Fuuka.
[08:38] The towel was draped over his shoulders- despite the fact that he was already dressed. It was to keep whatever water was left in his hair from staining the duds... At least he felt substantially more alive.
[08:39] Though he is surprised to see them both up and active, considering last night... "Oh, hey. You guys cleaned up well, I see."
[08:40] "We had help," Fuuka admits. Yukari nods vigorously, snatching a purse off the hatrack and slinging it around her arm. "This is great! Normally I have to do all the shopping myself...but now I have carriers!"
[08:40] With that, she's out the door. Fuuka gives a bit of a sigh. "I...probably shouldn't've volunteered..."
[08:44] "...Carriers? Please say she isn't going to max out today..." A long, drawn out sigh accompanies the end of his statement, "Well, at least you're not alone, huh?"
[08:44] "Actually..." She says after a moment, "I...I volunteered to help you....she was going to rope you in anyway..."
[08:44] "And that wasn't fair..."
[08:45] "Heh. Well, I appreciate it."
[08:45] "These arms can carry a lot of load, but I doubt even they could withstand the result of a zealous shopper given free reign over the cash."
[08:47] "Skull Man's pockets are really deep, and Yukari's happy to take advantage of them..." Fuuka agrees.
Said Yukari sticks her head in the door. "C'mon! We're wasting daylight!"
[08:48] "Alright, alright. We're coming," The cyborg locks his fingers behind his head. He should probably get the name of a local mechanic...
[08:49] "Heh, deep enough to not run dry with her around? That's pretty deep."
[08:49] "...Jeez. She reminds me a bit of my younger sister like that."
[08:49] "Your sister's like Yukari...?"
[08:50] "Similar in shopping habits, anyway."
[08:50] "Well, that's the vibe I get, anyway."
[08:50] "...Ugh. I must be tired. I said 'anyway' in two sentences in a row."
[08:50] "It's okay...I forgive you." She smiles and heads out the door.
[08:51] Ladies first, cyborg last.
[08:51] Thomas follows out the door, shutting it as he exits.
[08:51] At least this time he'd be able to keep an eye on them.
[08:52] The daytime's almost completely transmogrified this city. From creepy, eerie, dark, and shadowed, the city's come alive with people, and the streets are filled with pedestrians of all sorts. Here a young man and his
[08:53] loved one, there a cute little girl tugging her mother's arm to buy candy from a street vendor...a panoply of sights.
Made all the more disturbing by the thought that any one of them could become one of those...things...at
[08:53] any second.
Still, it doesn't seem to bother Yukari much, at least. How she got that chipper on what must only have been five or six hours of sleep is beyond Thomas, and apparently beyond Fuuka, as well.
Yukari
[08:54] leads them down the way, until finally, they round a corner into a lush open-air market. It's rather unusual to see such markets in a Britannian city, but
[08:55] then Vespertine City is an unusual Britannian city, too. Yukari immediately goes to work selecting foodstuffs, a critical eye cast upon all fruits and veggies daring to look succulent or delicious or appealing in any way. Fuuka
[08:55] sighs. "This...is going to take quite a while..."
[08:56] "Bargain shopper, way too active in the mornings, probably a haggler too, isn't she?" Another sigh. "Yeah, definitely way too familiar. But I don't mind the wait, gives me a chance to stretch my legs."
[08:58] "Enjoy it while you can," Shinjichiro's voice comments. When he appeared there, it's impossible to say, but then again, the crowds are pretty thick.
[08:59] *Shinjiro
[09:00] "I suppose you could say that, but I prefer 'enjoy it whenever I can,'" Thomas turned to the other man. Slouched, hands in the pockets, dark clothing... Trauma? "Don't believe we were formally introduced."
[09:01] "Shinjiro." He replies blankly.
[09:02] "Thomas. Good to meet you."
[09:03] "Mmm." He removes his hand from his jacket and taps the side of his head. "You're crazy."
[09:03] "It takes one to know one, right?"
[09:04] "After all, everyone's just a bit crazy, sometimes."
[09:04] He snorts. "Don't get killed." With that, he departs into the crowd.
[09:07] "Hm. Friendly chap, that one."
[09:07] "That's...pretty friendly for him..." Fuuka agrees.
[09:08] "Heh, I guess it's better than getting into a fist fight, right?"
[09:08] "Anyway, how's the intrepid shopper doing?"
[09:08] Yukari seems to be haggling over a melon.
[09:09] He chuckles, scratching at the base of his scalp, "At least she's being frugal..."
[09:10] "She's...good at this." Fuuka nods. "We should probably move along a bit...we're in the way of traffic..."
[09:12] "I guess so, huh?" Thomas steps back a bit, trying to pull away from the thoroughfare, "This place is really different in the daytime."
[09:13] "It's a nice day today, yes..."
[09:15] "Even the atmosphere in the streets. It's like night and day."
[09:16] She nods again.
[09:17] Yukari catches up to them shortly after, dropping the melon (as well as Assorted Other Goods) into Thomas's arms. "Here. Carry these!"
[09:24] Having Yukari's melons dropped into his arms felt slightly less amazing than he figured it would. But hey, the stuff wasn't TOO heavy...
[09:24] "Uhh... Alright then."
[09:26] "Yukariii! Who's your handsome friend?" One of the shopkeeps - an older lady, maybe in her early fourties, calls over at her. Yukari bounds over, dragging the hapless
[09:28] pair with her. "Ahhh, Miss Toriumi! This is Thomas. Thomas, this is Mana Toriumi...she's practically the head of this place!"
[09:30] Despite being 'dragged,' Thomas retained his composure. Though he probably couldn't be seen all to well behind those bags... "Hey. Nice to meet you."
[09:33] "Nice to meet you, too, Thomas. Are you in town for the festival?"
[09:41] "Huh? Oh no! I work here."
[09:41] "Well, I do now, anyway. With Yukari and Fuuka, actually."
[09:43] "Ooooh...well, that would explain how you know them," she considers. Her phone rings a moment later, and she swears. "Sorry...I need to take this. Excuse me!"
[09:43] With that, Miss Toriumi heads into the building behind her. Yukari shakes her head.
"She's always busy."
[09:43] "No problem! Take your time!" He was sure not to mention Minato, this time around. A touchy subject, that one, "She looks like the kind who could handle it, though."
[09:44] "She is," Yukari agrees. "Ack! What are we wasting time talking for? We've got work to do!" With that, she takes off back down the market.
[09:53] "Heh. She's a firecracker, isn't she?" He says, from behind the mound of produce, "Better not let her get too far, huh?"
[09:53] Fuuka takes some of the produce from Thomas's hands and nods. "Let's try to keep up..."
[09:54] A few hours later, and the three are sitting in the 'kitchen' of the Twilight Detective Agency building. Yukari is whistling cheerfully as she stacks cans and shelves and replaces [09:55] foodstuffs, and Fuuka is sitting quite politely with her legs crossed, hands in her lap, and a bit of bewilderment on her face. How Yukari can have so much energy after purchasing so much and running about is almost
[09:55] impossible to determine.
[09:55] ...While Tom is forced to carefully set down each of the many, many purchases she so vigorously fought tooth and nail for.
[09:55] Hell, he didn't even see what half the stuff was.
[09:55] Only that they were in bags.
[09:56] "Good run this week!" Yukari chirps.
[09:57] "Yeah..." Can. Can. Can. Something that probably shouldn't be mentioned. Can. Brocoli... "I'll definitely need the name of a local mechanic."
[09:58] "I think I felt a bolt pop on the way home," a joke, or perhaps a complaint? It was difficult to tell.
[09:59] "I can give you the number..." Fuuka offers.
[10:13] "Can you? I want to see if I can't get these things tuned up, too."
[10:13] "I mean, if there'll be more of those Requiems lurking about..."
[10:13] "Might need one."
[10:14] She nods and heads out of the room to find the phonebook.
"So what do you think of the place?" Yukari asks.
[10:24] "Hm? This place in general?" A hand rests on a hip, his work in organizing the groceries complete, "Well, it's not bad."
[10:24] "Certainly not the worst place in the world."
[10:26] "It's really different from last night- today, I mean. Everything seems so much more alive..."
[10:26] "Well, there's something to add to my notes."
[10:26] "Hmmm?"
[10:26] "Just the difference the time makes..."
[10:27] "Night and Day. It feels like it's more than just the light saturation that changes."
[10:31] "Does it?"
[10:37] "You really think it's that different, huh?" Yukari purses her lips.
[10:39] "Yeah..."
[10:39] "It's strange, isn't it?"
[10:39] "I'm sure you must have noticed as well."
[10:40] "The feeling of the place- it's different at night, right?"
[10:40] "Anyway, let's stop talking about that, hey? So what is there to do around here, besides work?"
[10:44] "Well...go drink at Akihiko's...and there's a festival coming up, like Miss Toriumi mentioned...although I'm surprised she's still thinking about it..."
Yukari stops for a moment.
"There's a park, there's..."
[10:44] "...actually quite a lot to do! I'm sure you can visit the civic center if you want some helpful guides."
[10:44] "But that's all tourist stuff! You're a resident now!" She beams at Tom as Fuuka returns, handing a piece of paper with a phone number and name on it over to Thomas.
[10:45] "Heh, I guess so, huh?" He returns the smile with one of his own. Perfect dental record- despite his history as a boxer. Who knows how many were fake?
[10:47] The cyborg's mechanical fingers wrapped carefully about the note, "Thanks Fuuka, I appreciate it. These arms need some work after carrying Yukari's bountiful baggage."
[10:47] Yukari giggles as she walks out of the room, slinging her feet back up onto her desk and leaning back. Fuuka sighs and shakes her head.
[10:53] "It's like Miss Toriumi...they're both so...energetic...after all that's..."
She cuts herself off quite abruptly.
[10:54] "Is... something wrong, Fuuka?"
[10:54] "It all comes back to Minato somehow," Fuuka answers sadly.
[10:55] He glanced for a moment at the contents of the note, consigning them to memory before shoving the paper into his coat pocket, "Yeah..."
[10:55] "I thought as much. You know Miss Toriumi for a while, too?"
[10:56] "She's...practically the heart of the city." She murmurs. "She's very kind....she taught at the school before it went wrong, and she's...she's very well-known around here."
[11:02] "...I see."
[11:03] "Well, if she's any indication, the city's doing pretty well. Though from what you describe, I can't help thinking that whatever happened in the past scarred her, too."
[11:03] "Probably..." She agrees.
[11:03] "I'm sorry...I keep bringing it up...and nobody wants to talk about it...even me..." She shakes her head vigorously.
[11:03] "I know it might be tough to talk about it, but if ever you become comfortable enough, I'd like to hear about it."
[11:04] She nods and breathes in a deep sigh. "..I...I'll keep that in mind..."
[11:12] "Hey...Thomas...do you have any ideas about your missing person from Mitsuru?"
[11:14] "Do you think it's a...it's a Requiem?"
[11:15] "I'm not sure, honestly."
[11:15] "He may be, he may not be. Without anything to look for..."
[11:15] "Well, I'll need to investigate more, let's just say that."
[11:17] She nods. "Will you be alright?"
[11:21] "Yeah, I'm sure I will."
[11:22] He smirks, hands shoved in the pockets of the coat, "After all, I've got people to take care of back here. How could I not make it back in one piece?"
[11:24] "Speaking of people to take care of, Thomas," Yukari calls in, "You have a phone call from Mitsuru...she's got a bit more information for you."
[11:27] "Huh? Oh! Her! Right, is there a phone that connects around here?"
[11:36] Fuuka lifts it off the wall and delicately hands it over to Thomas.
[11:41] Daintiness wasn't becoming of a man.
[11:41] However, plastic phones were never reinforced well.
[11:41] Carefully, he closes his fingers about the reciever and lifts the phone to his ear.
[11:45] "Thomas?"
[11:46] Her voice, even over the phone, manages to convey the utter sultriness of the air about her.
[11:51] Keep it together, Thomas... "Yes? How can I help you?"
[11:51] "I have some words about the vanished man. Would you meet me at the following address?"
[11:52] Hark, what voice, from yonder reciever calls? "Oh, of course. I'd be happy to."
[11:52] In many more ways than one.
[11:52] "Good. And be quick about it. I do not like to be kept waiting."
[11:52] She rattles off the address, and then 'click'.
[11:52] "You sound...eager..." Fuuka notes.
[11:53] "Well, there are some things best experienced first hand..."
[11:53] "Like...?"
[11:53] One of them being Mitsuru. "One of them is exactly what I'm getting into with this case!"
[11:53] "I don't understand..."
[11:54] "You know, back in university, they taught us that to catch a criminal, you need to know how they think."
[11:54] "Do you think he's a criminal...?"
[11:54] "Get into their heads, understand motivation and life. No, I don't. But the best way to know whether he is or not is to get to know more about him."
[11:55] "It's a great way of identifying suspects. Some people are mor cautious about certain subjects than others. From there the list of suspects can be narrowed down."
[11:55] She nods. A moment later, she heads downstairs, returning with what looks like a black-glass monocle. "Here."
[11:55] "Everyone lies sometimes, and the trick is to know when and what about. That's what they taught- me?"
[11:55] "What's this?"
[11:55] Spirit device number one!
[11:56] "It's a Composition Sheet. You should be able to use it to see if a Requiem caused the event...it's made out of the one we Removed from the guard."
[11:56] "You uh..."
[11:57] "Requiems leave tracks that aren't visible to the human eye. But this isn't a human eye, it's the film from the Requiem's."
[11:57] "Craft stuff from their Requiems?"
[11:57] Fuuka sounds quite confident about this. She nods. "It's my specialty..."
[11:57] "...Oh. I see."
[11:57] "Heh, you're quite good! I could never do things like that."
[11:57] "The best way to hunt it is to dissect it, after a-" She goes bright red and stares at the floor.
[11:58] "My hands weren't made for precision or art, so it's hard for me to make things in general, but even so, to be able to turn the body of a monster into something beautiful is a real talent."
[11:58] "Thanks, Fuuka," he carefully recieves the lens, being very, very sure not to crush it.
[11:59] It seems quite sturdy. Sturdy enough, surely, to stand up to his fingers, even.
[11:59] Perhaps the monster in the guard was tougher than the one that got loose.
[12:00] But then, that might almost make some sense, if one looks at it from his occupation. Maybe it was stronger, because it had a more powerful guard?
[12:00] Or perhaps Fuuka's simply a very skilled craftswoman.
[12:00] "Oh!" She stops. "Don't...um...don't look through it at night."
[12:06] "Huh?" He peers cautiously through the lense of the monocle, "So there is something special about night... Why do you say that, Fuuka?"
[12:07] "It's not about the night...it's about the monocle..." She frowns. "You don't see what you want to see at night."
[12:07] "You see like one of them."
[12:15] "Oh... I..."
[12:15] "I see."
[12:15] "It's very disturbing."
[12:16] The monocole is stored away into a secure pocket of his coat, "Some things are more disturbing in imagination than fact."
[12:16] "This, I'm pretty sure, is not one of those things."
[12:16] She shakes her head.
[12:17] "You should hurry...Mitsuru probably is waiting..."
[12:17] "Yeah... I guess so. You take care, alright?"
[12:17] "Stay safe. If I come home to a bloody mess again, I might just have a heart attack," was that a joke? Probably not.
[12:18] She nods.
[12:24] "Right. Well..."
[12:24] "Best be getting on the road. See you!"
[12:24] True to form, the sultry sex-goddess of a femme fatale is waiting at the address, just as she noted. She's still wearing the white pinstripe that still manages to flatter her curves, and her black dress-skirt somehow manages to hide
[12:24] just enough of her legs to make them look even sexier than they have any right to appear. She purses her lips as he arrives.
"You're here," she says needlessly.
[12:29] "Well you told me to come," but I was already there, "So..." He shifts in his shoes, moving weight from his left leg to the right, "What's up?"
[12:30] "This." She hands a business card to him.
It reads 'VitaTech.'
"I thought you'd like to do a bit more hands-on investigating."
[12:30] "This is..." Eye to eye. Keep it eye to eye. Don't go Deer in the Headlights on her- oh but how dear it would be to be in her headlights... "This is very familiar."
[12:31] "It's my uncle's company." She replies smoothly. "The man yesterday worked there as a guard - or so Fuuka told me earlier."
[12:31] "I think this was where the last vict- Yeah."
[12:31] "So I can get in with this?"
[12:31] "No."
[12:32] "Oh. Looks like I'll be doing some sneaking, then."
[12:32] "Not so fast, shiny." She says, licking her lips in a way that's oddly...predatorial...again. "There's a fundraiser ball coming up. You can do some investigating...and get in quite easily...if you come as my date."
[12:40] She could be my predator any da- wait, date? "Date? Oh, but of course- if you're willing to have, me, that is."
[12:41] "Consider my other options," she says dryly, "The janitor or the stone-cold recluse." Interesting. Does she not know about the Skull Man? "You're the only one I can count on for this."
[12:41] "Besides...it's your case..."
[12:47] "Heh, I guess I can see your point. So when is this ball?"
[12:48] He did make a mental note about 'Boss,' though. But perhaps there was another reason she did not mention him?
[12:48] "Tomorrow." She purses her lips again. "Can I count on you to have cleaned up and dressed up?"
[12:49] "I'm pretty sure Yukari covered most of my clothes, but if I can't find a suit amongst the mountains of fabric, then I'll get myself fitted right away."
[12:49] "Very good."
[08:23] Dreams of darkness always give way to the sunrise, and this one is no exception. Thomas can't remember quite what the dream was about - there was running, and panicking, and similar, but he doesn't recall.
However, what he can quite easily make out is the incessant sound of Knock-Knock-Knock-Knock-Knock on his wooden door, and the unforgiving light of the sun is shining in at a most
[08:24] unpleasant angle. Knock, knock, knock, knock. Sunlight. Quite the way to start the morning.
[08:25] After such a horrible night, too. Yeah, that's one way to start a morning. He was definitely going to need some coffee. Once, twice he turns over in his bed.
[08:25] Before, finally submitting to the will of the planet's ever-oppressive day-star, throwing the covers off his chest and struggling out of bed.
[08:26] It is, after all, terribly difficult to sleep on one's side when you have a metal slab for an arm.
[08:27] Yawning, he'd attend to his door. Just a pair of pants and a white undershirt, this morning. He'd get the rest on as it progressed.
[08:28] "Hey," he says, the morning grogginess still sticky in his throat, "G'morning."
[08:30] "Go-od-mor-ning!" Yukari chirps as the door swings open. "Get dressed! We're going shopping today!"
[08:30] "Shopping? For what?"
[08:31] "Food, clothes, supplies...lucky you, huh!" She laughs and points down the hall. "Bathrooms are that way, by the way. You don't look like a morning person, after all."
[08:32] "Yeah, heh, just a few nightmares is all. Wasn't too restful last night," another yawn. Yeah, lots of coffee, "Give me a few minutes, I'll get ready."
[08:32] "Maybe a shower'll fix me up."
[08:33] "You have thirty minutes! I'm counting!" With that, she skips down stairs, still far too chipper for anyone to be in the morning.
[08:35] "Alright, alright!" he manages to grumble, pulling back into his room to collect the necessities. Clothes (not badly sweated on. Yey mechanical limbs and the chill of night!), toothbrush...
[08:36] He then pushes back out of the room, and sulks over toward the shower... It was a damn good thing these things (arms, legs) could handle shower water. He'd be in a real mess if they couldn't.
[08:37] It doesn't take him too long to finish showering and dressing, and Yukari is downstairs waiting for him - as is, surprisingly, Fuuka.
[08:38] The towel was draped over his shoulders- despite the fact that he was already dressed. It was to keep whatever water was left in his hair from staining the duds... At least he felt substantially more alive.
[08:39] Though he is surprised to see them both up and active, considering last night... "Oh, hey. You guys cleaned up well, I see."
[08:40] "We had help," Fuuka admits. Yukari nods vigorously, snatching a purse off the hatrack and slinging it around her arm. "This is great! Normally I have to do all the shopping myself...but now I have carriers!"
[08:40] With that, she's out the door. Fuuka gives a bit of a sigh. "I...probably shouldn't've volunteered..."
[08:44] "...Carriers? Please say she isn't going to max out today..." A long, drawn out sigh accompanies the end of his statement, "Well, at least you're not alone, huh?"
[08:44] "Actually..." She says after a moment, "I...I volunteered to help you....she was going to rope you in anyway..."
[08:44] "And that wasn't fair..."
[08:45] "Heh. Well, I appreciate it."
[08:45] "These arms can carry a lot of load, but I doubt even they could withstand the result of a zealous shopper given free reign over the cash."
[08:47] "Skull Man's pockets are really deep, and Yukari's happy to take advantage of them..." Fuuka agrees.
Said Yukari sticks her head in the door. "C'mon! We're wasting daylight!"
[08:48] "Alright, alright. We're coming," The cyborg locks his fingers behind his head. He should probably get the name of a local mechanic...
[08:49] "Heh, deep enough to not run dry with her around? That's pretty deep."
[08:49] "...Jeez. She reminds me a bit of my younger sister like that."
[08:49] "Your sister's like Yukari...?"
[08:50] "Similar in shopping habits, anyway."
[08:50] "Well, that's the vibe I get, anyway."
[08:50] "...Ugh. I must be tired. I said 'anyway' in two sentences in a row."
[08:50] "It's okay...I forgive you." She smiles and heads out the door.
[08:51] Ladies first, cyborg last.
[08:51] Thomas follows out the door, shutting it as he exits.
[08:51] At least this time he'd be able to keep an eye on them.
[08:52] The daytime's almost completely transmogrified this city. From creepy, eerie, dark, and shadowed, the city's come alive with people, and the streets are filled with pedestrians of all sorts. Here a young man and his
[08:53] loved one, there a cute little girl tugging her mother's arm to buy candy from a street vendor...a panoply of sights.
Made all the more disturbing by the thought that any one of them could become one of those...things...at
[08:53] any second.
Still, it doesn't seem to bother Yukari much, at least. How she got that chipper on what must only have been five or six hours of sleep is beyond Thomas, and apparently beyond Fuuka, as well.
Yukari
[08:54] leads them down the way, until finally, they round a corner into a lush open-air market. It's rather unusual to see such markets in a Britannian city, but
[08:55] then Vespertine City is an unusual Britannian city, too. Yukari immediately goes to work selecting foodstuffs, a critical eye cast upon all fruits and veggies daring to look succulent or delicious or appealing in any way. Fuuka
[08:55] sighs. "This...is going to take quite a while..."
[08:56] "Bargain shopper, way too active in the mornings, probably a haggler too, isn't she?" Another sigh. "Yeah, definitely way too familiar. But I don't mind the wait, gives me a chance to stretch my legs."
[08:58] "Enjoy it while you can," Shinjichiro's voice comments. When he appeared there, it's impossible to say, but then again, the crowds are pretty thick.
[08:59] *Shinjiro
[09:00] "I suppose you could say that, but I prefer 'enjoy it whenever I can,'" Thomas turned to the other man. Slouched, hands in the pockets, dark clothing... Trauma? "Don't believe we were formally introduced."
[09:01] "Shinjiro." He replies blankly.
[09:02] "Thomas. Good to meet you."
[09:03] "Mmm." He removes his hand from his jacket and taps the side of his head. "You're crazy."
[09:03] "It takes one to know one, right?"
[09:04] "After all, everyone's just a bit crazy, sometimes."
[09:04] He snorts. "Don't get killed." With that, he departs into the crowd.
[09:07] "Hm. Friendly chap, that one."
[09:07] "That's...pretty friendly for him..." Fuuka agrees.
[09:08] "Heh, I guess it's better than getting into a fist fight, right?"
[09:08] "Anyway, how's the intrepid shopper doing?"
[09:08] Yukari seems to be haggling over a melon.
[09:09] He chuckles, scratching at the base of his scalp, "At least she's being frugal..."
[09:10] "She's...good at this." Fuuka nods. "We should probably move along a bit...we're in the way of traffic..."
[09:12] "I guess so, huh?" Thomas steps back a bit, trying to pull away from the thoroughfare, "This place is really different in the daytime."
[09:13] "It's a nice day today, yes..."
[09:15] "Even the atmosphere in the streets. It's like night and day."
[09:16] She nods again.
[09:17] Yukari catches up to them shortly after, dropping the melon (as well as Assorted Other Goods) into Thomas's arms. "Here. Carry these!"
[09:24] Having Yukari's melons dropped into his arms felt slightly less amazing than he figured it would. But hey, the stuff wasn't TOO heavy...
[09:24] "Uhh... Alright then."
[09:26] "Yukariii! Who's your handsome friend?" One of the shopkeeps - an older lady, maybe in her early fourties, calls over at her. Yukari bounds over, dragging the hapless
[09:28] pair with her. "Ahhh, Miss Toriumi! This is Thomas. Thomas, this is Mana Toriumi...she's practically the head of this place!"
[09:30] Despite being 'dragged,' Thomas retained his composure. Though he probably couldn't be seen all to well behind those bags... "Hey. Nice to meet you."
[09:33] "Nice to meet you, too, Thomas. Are you in town for the festival?"
[09:41] "Huh? Oh no! I work here."
[09:41] "Well, I do now, anyway. With Yukari and Fuuka, actually."
[09:43] "Ooooh...well, that would explain how you know them," she considers. Her phone rings a moment later, and she swears. "Sorry...I need to take this. Excuse me!"
[09:43] With that, Miss Toriumi heads into the building behind her. Yukari shakes her head.
"She's always busy."
[09:43] "No problem! Take your time!" He was sure not to mention Minato, this time around. A touchy subject, that one, "She looks like the kind who could handle it, though."
[09:44] "She is," Yukari agrees. "Ack! What are we wasting time talking for? We've got work to do!" With that, she takes off back down the market.
[09:53] "Heh. She's a firecracker, isn't she?" He says, from behind the mound of produce, "Better not let her get too far, huh?"
[09:53] Fuuka takes some of the produce from Thomas's hands and nods. "Let's try to keep up..."
[09:54] A few hours later, and the three are sitting in the 'kitchen' of the Twilight Detective Agency building. Yukari is whistling cheerfully as she stacks cans and shelves and replaces [09:55] foodstuffs, and Fuuka is sitting quite politely with her legs crossed, hands in her lap, and a bit of bewilderment on her face. How Yukari can have so much energy after purchasing so much and running about is almost
[09:55] impossible to determine.
[09:55] ...While Tom is forced to carefully set down each of the many, many purchases she so vigorously fought tooth and nail for.
[09:55] Hell, he didn't even see what half the stuff was.
[09:55] Only that they were in bags.
[09:56] "Good run this week!" Yukari chirps.
[09:57] "Yeah..." Can. Can. Can. Something that probably shouldn't be mentioned. Can. Brocoli... "I'll definitely need the name of a local mechanic."
[09:58] "I think I felt a bolt pop on the way home," a joke, or perhaps a complaint? It was difficult to tell.
[09:59] "I can give you the number..." Fuuka offers.
[10:13] "Can you? I want to see if I can't get these things tuned up, too."
[10:13] "I mean, if there'll be more of those Requiems lurking about..."
[10:13] "Might need one."
[10:14] She nods and heads out of the room to find the phonebook.
"So what do you think of the place?" Yukari asks.
[10:24] "Hm? This place in general?" A hand rests on a hip, his work in organizing the groceries complete, "Well, it's not bad."
[10:24] "Certainly not the worst place in the world."
[10:26] "It's really different from last night- today, I mean. Everything seems so much more alive..."
[10:26] "Well, there's something to add to my notes."
[10:26] "Hmmm?"
[10:26] "Just the difference the time makes..."
[10:27] "Night and Day. It feels like it's more than just the light saturation that changes."
[10:31] "Does it?"
[10:37] "You really think it's that different, huh?" Yukari purses her lips.
[10:39] "Yeah..."
[10:39] "It's strange, isn't it?"
[10:39] "I'm sure you must have noticed as well."
[10:40] "The feeling of the place- it's different at night, right?"
[10:40] "Anyway, let's stop talking about that, hey? So what is there to do around here, besides work?"
[10:44] "Well...go drink at Akihiko's...and there's a festival coming up, like Miss Toriumi mentioned...although I'm surprised she's still thinking about it..."
Yukari stops for a moment.
"There's a park, there's..."
[10:44] "...actually quite a lot to do! I'm sure you can visit the civic center if you want some helpful guides."
[10:44] "But that's all tourist stuff! You're a resident now!" She beams at Tom as Fuuka returns, handing a piece of paper with a phone number and name on it over to Thomas.
[10:45] "Heh, I guess so, huh?" He returns the smile with one of his own. Perfect dental record- despite his history as a boxer. Who knows how many were fake?
[10:47] The cyborg's mechanical fingers wrapped carefully about the note, "Thanks Fuuka, I appreciate it. These arms need some work after carrying Yukari's bountiful baggage."
[10:47] Yukari giggles as she walks out of the room, slinging her feet back up onto her desk and leaning back. Fuuka sighs and shakes her head.
[10:53] "It's like Miss Toriumi...they're both so...energetic...after all that's..."
She cuts herself off quite abruptly.
[10:54] "Is... something wrong, Fuuka?"
[10:54] "It all comes back to Minato somehow," Fuuka answers sadly.
[10:55] He glanced for a moment at the contents of the note, consigning them to memory before shoving the paper into his coat pocket, "Yeah..."
[10:55] "I thought as much. You know Miss Toriumi for a while, too?"
[10:56] "She's...practically the heart of the city." She murmurs. "She's very kind....she taught at the school before it went wrong, and she's...she's very well-known around here."
[11:02] "...I see."
[11:03] "Well, if she's any indication, the city's doing pretty well. Though from what you describe, I can't help thinking that whatever happened in the past scarred her, too."
[11:03] "Probably..." She agrees.
[11:03] "I'm sorry...I keep bringing it up...and nobody wants to talk about it...even me..." She shakes her head vigorously.
[11:03] "I know it might be tough to talk about it, but if ever you become comfortable enough, I'd like to hear about it."
[11:04] She nods and breathes in a deep sigh. "..I...I'll keep that in mind..."
[11:12] "Hey...Thomas...do you have any ideas about your missing person from Mitsuru?"
[11:14] "Do you think it's a...it's a Requiem?"
[11:15] "I'm not sure, honestly."
[11:15] "He may be, he may not be. Without anything to look for..."
[11:15] "Well, I'll need to investigate more, let's just say that."
[11:17] She nods. "Will you be alright?"
[11:21] "Yeah, I'm sure I will."
[11:22] He smirks, hands shoved in the pockets of the coat, "After all, I've got people to take care of back here. How could I not make it back in one piece?"
[11:24] "Speaking of people to take care of, Thomas," Yukari calls in, "You have a phone call from Mitsuru...she's got a bit more information for you."
[11:27] "Huh? Oh! Her! Right, is there a phone that connects around here?"
[11:36] Fuuka lifts it off the wall and delicately hands it over to Thomas.
[11:41] Daintiness wasn't becoming of a man.
[11:41] However, plastic phones were never reinforced well.
[11:41] Carefully, he closes his fingers about the reciever and lifts the phone to his ear.
[11:45] "Thomas?"
[11:46] Her voice, even over the phone, manages to convey the utter sultriness of the air about her.
[11:51] Keep it together, Thomas... "Yes? How can I help you?"
[11:51] "I have some words about the vanished man. Would you meet me at the following address?"
[11:52] Hark, what voice, from yonder reciever calls? "Oh, of course. I'd be happy to."
[11:52] In many more ways than one.
[11:52] "Good. And be quick about it. I do not like to be kept waiting."
[11:52] She rattles off the address, and then 'click'.
[11:52] "You sound...eager..." Fuuka notes.
[11:53] "Well, there are some things best experienced first hand..."
[11:53] "Like...?"
[11:53] One of them being Mitsuru. "One of them is exactly what I'm getting into with this case!"
[11:53] "I don't understand..."
[11:54] "You know, back in university, they taught us that to catch a criminal, you need to know how they think."
[11:54] "Do you think he's a criminal...?"
[11:54] "Get into their heads, understand motivation and life. No, I don't. But the best way to know whether he is or not is to get to know more about him."
[11:55] "It's a great way of identifying suspects. Some people are mor cautious about certain subjects than others. From there the list of suspects can be narrowed down."
[11:55] She nods. A moment later, she heads downstairs, returning with what looks like a black-glass monocle. "Here."
[11:55] "Everyone lies sometimes, and the trick is to know when and what about. That's what they taught- me?"
[11:55] "What's this?"
[11:55] Spirit device number one!
[11:56] "It's a Composition Sheet. You should be able to use it to see if a Requiem caused the event...it's made out of the one we Removed from the guard."
[11:56] "You uh..."
[11:57] "Requiems leave tracks that aren't visible to the human eye. But this isn't a human eye, it's the film from the Requiem's."
[11:57] "Craft stuff from their Requiems?"
[11:57] Fuuka sounds quite confident about this. She nods. "It's my specialty..."
[11:57] "...Oh. I see."
[11:57] "Heh, you're quite good! I could never do things like that."
[11:57] "The best way to hunt it is to dissect it, after a-" She goes bright red and stares at the floor.
[11:58] "My hands weren't made for precision or art, so it's hard for me to make things in general, but even so, to be able to turn the body of a monster into something beautiful is a real talent."
[11:58] "Thanks, Fuuka," he carefully recieves the lens, being very, very sure not to crush it.
[11:59] It seems quite sturdy. Sturdy enough, surely, to stand up to his fingers, even.
[11:59] Perhaps the monster in the guard was tougher than the one that got loose.
[12:00] But then, that might almost make some sense, if one looks at it from his occupation. Maybe it was stronger, because it had a more powerful guard?
[12:00] Or perhaps Fuuka's simply a very skilled craftswoman.
[12:00] "Oh!" She stops. "Don't...um...don't look through it at night."
[12:06] "Huh?" He peers cautiously through the lense of the monocle, "So there is something special about night... Why do you say that, Fuuka?"
[12:07] "It's not about the night...it's about the monocle..." She frowns. "You don't see what you want to see at night."
[12:07] "You see like one of them."
[12:15] "Oh... I..."
[12:15] "I see."
[12:15] "It's very disturbing."
[12:16] The monocole is stored away into a secure pocket of his coat, "Some things are more disturbing in imagination than fact."
[12:16] "This, I'm pretty sure, is not one of those things."
[12:16] She shakes her head.
[12:17] "You should hurry...Mitsuru probably is waiting..."
[12:17] "Yeah... I guess so. You take care, alright?"
[12:17] "Stay safe. If I come home to a bloody mess again, I might just have a heart attack," was that a joke? Probably not.
[12:18] She nods.
[12:24] "Right. Well..."
[12:24] "Best be getting on the road. See you!"
[12:24] True to form, the sultry sex-goddess of a femme fatale is waiting at the address, just as she noted. She's still wearing the white pinstripe that still manages to flatter her curves, and her black dress-skirt somehow manages to hide
[12:24] just enough of her legs to make them look even sexier than they have any right to appear. She purses her lips as he arrives.
"You're here," she says needlessly.
[12:29] "Well you told me to come," but I was already there, "So..." He shifts in his shoes, moving weight from his left leg to the right, "What's up?"
[12:30] "This." She hands a business card to him.
It reads 'VitaTech.'
"I thought you'd like to do a bit more hands-on investigating."
[12:30] "This is..." Eye to eye. Keep it eye to eye. Don't go Deer in the Headlights on her- oh but how dear it would be to be in her headlights... "This is very familiar."
[12:31] "It's my uncle's company." She replies smoothly. "The man yesterday worked there as a guard - or so Fuuka told me earlier."
[12:31] "I think this was where the last vict- Yeah."
[12:31] "So I can get in with this?"
[12:31] "No."
[12:32] "Oh. Looks like I'll be doing some sneaking, then."
[12:32] "Not so fast, shiny." She says, licking her lips in a way that's oddly...predatorial...again. "There's a fundraiser ball coming up. You can do some investigating...and get in quite easily...if you come as my date."
[12:40] She could be my predator any da- wait, date? "Date? Oh, but of course- if you're willing to have, me, that is."
[12:41] "Consider my other options," she says dryly, "The janitor or the stone-cold recluse." Interesting. Does she not know about the Skull Man? "You're the only one I can count on for this."
[12:41] "Besides...it's your case..."
[12:47] "Heh, I guess I can see your point. So when is this ball?"
[12:48] He did make a mental note about 'Boss,' though. But perhaps there was another reason she did not mention him?
[12:48] "Tomorrow." She purses her lips again. "Can I count on you to have cleaned up and dressed up?"
[12:49] "I'm pretty sure Yukari covered most of my clothes, but if I can't find a suit amongst the mountains of fabric, then I'll get myself fitted right away."
[12:49] "Very good."