5616/The Crumbling Foothold

The Crumbling Foothold
Date of Scene:	28 December 2017
Location:	Ga-Rei Japan <GR>
Synopsis:	In which our heroes investigate a supernatural missing persons case and find that not all youkai are nasty
Cast of Characters:	Yomi Isayama, Rebecca Chambers, 1132, 342, Silica

---

Yomi Isayama has posed:
Once she found out just what was going on, Yomi put out a call to her friends, and any others she's worked with before. While she can fight youkai perfectly fine on her own, she also knows her own limitations, and missing persons searches was not her specialty.

When the others arrive, they will see Yomi chatting with Officer Yamamoto, the two of them standing at the entrance to an alleyway. As she sees familiar faces coming, the exorcist raises her hand and waves toward them.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Rebecca has worked with Yomi once, and she's been trying to improve her knowledge of spiritual things. Unfortunately, between tasks in the Multiverse and other things taking up her time, Rebecca hasn't had much time to focus on it. Nevertheless, she got the call and she's willing to do her best to help out in any way she can.

Rebecca arrives fairly quickly and, upon arriving, salutes Yomi and Officer Yamamoto. "Officer Rebecca Chambers reporting in," She says respectfully. "I came as quickly as I could."

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    Despite the unexpected danger she ran into last time she was here, Kyoko Takada (going by "Hibiki") has again arrived. An investigation mission is at least something she can reasonably help with, though she'll be trying harder to keep someone more superhuman in-between her and any monsters that show up. It's hard to justify any job that might result in being devoured by youkai otherwise.
    The season having gotten cold in at least her iteration of Japan, she arrives in a heavy coat, shiny with buttons, and a knit hat. She waves a black-gloved hand, walking up at a steady pace, greeting with a, "Hello again," and listening for what the news is.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    By now, the soft footfalls of Nozomi Houken are probably familiar to Yomi - almost as much so as the clunkita-clunk of a certain robotiger ambling across the rooftops overhead. "Ah, hey," she greets, in her usual, rather subdued way - but the fact she's greeting Yomi at all is probably something of an improvement! "I... I don't know how much we can help, unless the missing person is magical, but... well, we'll try.

    She turns to Yamamoto, and... well, /almost/ says something. But then falls short of it. The concerned look in her eyes probably says it anyway, though.

Silica has posed:
    Most people would wonder why a young twenty-something woman would be approaching the exorsist and police officer. But Yomi, even if she doesn't instantly recognize Keiko from her time in the System Tower or elsewhere, she would probably recognize the little white dragon looped around the brunette's shoulders. Beady little eyes peering at Yomi. "Hello! I got your call, how can we help?"

Yomi Isayama has posed:
Oh no. There's no shyness allowed. As soon as Nozomi is in range, Yomi pulls the girl into a hug and musses her hair. "Good to see you again, Nozomi!" Ruffleruffle, then a bit of a pat to smooth the hair out some. "And I think I've met you all before..." Rebecca last time, Hibiki with the Yamabiko, and that little girl with the dragon looks familiar from one of her times helping Lexicon. "So, I'll let Officer Yamamoto here explain what's going on."

The man looks a little overwhelmed, and more than a little uncomfortable with sending a few kids along with adults into danger, but... he was assured that Yomi was a professional, despite her age. So the others get the benefit of the doubt. "I think a few of you have seen me before, though I don't remember too much from that night..." He shrugs and shakes his head. "Wish I could forget what I did remember, but that's neither here nor there. This place..." He gestures to the alley. "We've gotten reports of people going into here and not coming out. Thing is, it's a dead end and only goes back about ten meters. You can see the end from the street. But the instant I stepped inside to check it out, my radio and cellphone both went completely offline, and it looked a lot longer than ten meters. So I called the Agency."

Yomi gives a nod. "That place is too narrow for Ranguren, and I'm no good at tracking, so I was hoping to get some help. We'll be cut off from outside communication in there, though."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "Hwa-?!" This is not the greeting Nozomi expected! She comes out of the sudden hug with a bright red face and a flustered stammer that approximately amounts to 'I have no idea what just happened'. Thus, it is rather fortunate that there is a sudden, loud WHUDCLUNK from next to Silica and her dragon. Because, sudden loud noise aside, it means that Taiga has descended to take the lead in 'doing that talking thing'.

    "Potential pocket space of some sort. Some form of naturally-occuring phenomenon or grudge, or potentially a trap laid by an outside force. Or possibly an ambush predator of some variety or other. There are numerous possibilities. I will attempt to analyze the space." And that's precisely what robocat does. His ears quirk forward, his head moves in subtle ways that almost suggest a nose scenting the air; but all of that is just his way of sweeping the sensors in his ears and nose, performing a complex and in-depth sweep of the space ahead. Granted, things like this are often much easier to scan from /in/side, but he wants to learn all he can from out here first.

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    Kyoko has at least worked with, and spoken with, most of those here. That's a little reassuring. To Nozomi, she says, "You can leave the inanimate analysis to me. That should cover most of it, shouldn't it? It sounds like a magical issue is likely."
    The communications block is less reassuring. "Not even a low-bandwidth connection? Without knowing what's in there to prepare for, that's going to make things difficult. What about leaving a hard line heading back out? I can more or less make one that'll stand up to a little pressure, but any line's easy to cut if you try."

Silica has posed:
    Keiko nods. "I'm not all that good at tracking myself, I never leveled up that skill too much, but if we need some extra firepower, I have Pina, Hibiki and Nana to call on." She touches a button on the little headset hooked around her head. Before she can say her 'activation phrase', Taiga thuds down beside her. "HAWAWAWAWA!" she cries out, hopping away from the robot. "Uwaaaa you scared me Taiga!"

    Collecting herself, she speaks her activation phrase. "Link Start!" becoming engulfed in a wireframe, that fills in with the texture skin of her Cait Sith form, including the tail and ears emerging.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Meanwhile, Rebecca simply nods and stands attentively as she listens to the briefing. Once it is finished, Rebecca salutes and says, "We'll take care of this, don't worry!" She doesn't have a spiritual link, but that would leave her able to take care of things in a more 'physical' sense. She readies her flashlight and begins to make her way into the alley. Her flashlight shines primarily on the ground, although the walls in the area as well get some light as well. "Even if I can't deal with spiritual things, I can still help!"

Yomi Isayama has posed:
Yamamoto holds his hands up. "Not sure. We didn't have any wired connections handy. But I'll be staying out here to make sure nobody else wanders in." Also because he'd like to avoid getting stabbed or shot this time.

Taiga gets a grin as he jumps down and startles Keiko. "Well... if it helps, I haven't really felt any killing intent coming from here. So... probably not a grudge-based youkai." When Silica transforms, Yomi reaches out... and musses her hair too. Even though Silica may be older, she still -looks- tiny and cute, and those ears must be petted. "I'm sure it's worth a shot, at least." She inclines her head toward 'Hibiki' and her idea. "At the very least, it will tell us if something did cut the line, right?" The flashlight doesn't seem to illuminate anything out of the ordinary, as the light shines onto the ground in the alley.

The sensor readings that come to Taiga are weird, in that it seems like there's nothing there. Not that there's nothing there, but -nothing- is there. Whatever is in that space, it stops abruptly at the edge of the alleyway.

"...Right. I'm going in." Yomi steps forward into the alleyway and... is just no longer there. Rebecca's flashlight doesn't cast her shadow, Taiga's sensors can't pick her up, and even her footsteps can't be heard anymore.

A few seconds later, she pokes her head back out of empty space. "Nothing waiting to jump us at the entrance. Also, if you get vertigo, might want to close your eyes on the way in." And then she vanishes again.

Silica has posed:
    Silica squeaks as she's ruffled like that. The cat ears splaying out to the sides. "Jeeze..." she grumbles softly, fixing her hair after Yomi finishes ruffling it up. She then gestures, summoning a winged serpent, and a boar-like creature with ice shards where tusks should be. "Guard Me." she commands imperiously, the two monsters making an affirmative sound, and sticking close as the Beast Master crosses the threshold after Yomi gives the all clear.

    Silica's hand gravitates to the dagger at the small of her back, hovering over the handle as she moves into the alley, and vanishes into the pocket dimension, along with her pets.

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    "...alright." This world just got weirder, but Kyoko can deal with that. She's too busy going through the contents of a small backpack to comment on surprise robot entrances, though Yomi's touchy-feeliness gets a glance from the suddenly old-feeling woman. "Here, this should do." She sets something down on the ground, "this" turning out to be a small, black box with some ordinary-looking plastic antennae on it. She begins drawing in the air, and lights spring into existence in a holograph-like display, configuring the construction of a glowing, ethereal bundle of cables that plug into the device's side and then disappear into her pocket. She steps away, stretching the line, and walking in after Yomi and the others do. Despite the virtual look, the line she's leading is purely magical, for whatever that will matter.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga rumbles. "I would urge caution. All my sensor readings abruptly terminate at-" Aaaaand they're all going in. "...the entrance." If a robot cat could sigh, he would. "Nozomi. Please seat yourself on my back and remain close." The girl nods, frowning faintly, and moves to obey. The cat moves swiftly once she's there; he fully intends to move his way up to the front of the group, where his sensors will be of best use. Kind of silly reporting readings if everyone's ahead of you, after all.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Is Rebecca surprised by Yomi disappearing then reappearing? Yes.

Is she surprised by her flashlight not casting a shadow? Maybe.

Is this whole overall thing suprising? No.

"Well, looks like we've found the entrance to the source of our problems." Reaching down into her holster, Rebecca draws her Beretta and loads a clip. "Just to be safe," She says, before putting it back in her holster. "All right, let's do this."

Taking a deep breath and counting to five, Rebecca closes her eyes and then follows Yomi's lead. She doesn't get vertigo that much, but she doesn't want to take a chance either.

Yomi Isayama has posed:
Stepping through the alleyway is a bit disorienting, mostly because what's on the other side is not an alley. Or, at least, not the -same- alley, which is immediately obvious as there's an opening on the other side. On top of that, the buildings look much older, the ground is dirt instead of asphalt, and the stars are all wrong. And it's at least ten degrees warmer.

"..huh." Yomi is still in her winter school uniform, so at least it doesn't feel too hot, but the sudden change is really weird. "So... everyone look around. See if you can see anything weird?"

Aside from the difference in temperature, the breeze feels all wrong. It's not the breeze one might normally find between two walls.

The wired connection Kyoko left works.... sort of. It seems like any signal loses a -lot- of power, but at least it's connected out there, if quiet and staticky. And Taiga's sensors, tuned to youkai, find all -sorts- of interesting things.

Silica has posed:
    Silica flicks a finger, making her pets spread out. The winged serpent spreads right, the ice boar goes left, and Pina, the little dragon, lifts off her shoulder and hovers above. Magenta eyes track around. She can feel that breeze, not normal, not what's supposed to be between two buildings anyway, the ground is different, the temperature... She draws her dagger, as much to reassure herself as to actually use it and heads a little further from the entrance, creeping forwards slowly, but not venturing too far from the group.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Once she's through and gotten a feel for where she is, Rebecca attaches her flashlight to her Beretta before searching the general area again. This time, she's not taking any chances. "I wonder what we'll turn up here? I suppose it'll be more interesting than the latest experiment I did in the Bio-Research Center."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga comes to a full, complete stop as soon as they enter the strange, otherworldly space. His ears twitch and shift, going this way and that. His head bobs, lifting his nose up into the air. There is a soft, almost-feline rumble from the robotiger, before he declares simply, "Isayama. This is the work of a Nurikabe." His cannons twitch on his shoulders, prompting a little start from Nozomi. "Those of you who are very vertical fighters, be aware, the sky past approximately 4.5 meters is false. I request that someone locate the lower left portion of each wall and knock on it. Unless that legend is inaccurate here," he adds, turning to look Yomi's way with a silent 'IS it inaccurate here?'

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    Kyoko pulls her phone out of her pocket, the line trailing to it, and checks her connection. She "hmms" and plays it with it for a few seconds, sliding fingers across the surface. "Workable. Inefficient, but workable." The workhorse of a cluster she has back home will do all the heavy lifting. Questions and answers don't take that much bandwidth, when you do it right.
    That accomplished, there's still the immediate environs to check, and she doesn't really need a connection back home just to see what responds. Without putting her phone down, Kyoko sends out a ping from her body, magical sonar that naturally increases ones own visibility, but is the only way to get the kind of fidelity she needs to work. Like she told Nozomi, though it's magic that powers it, it's better at picking up machinery or terrain than it is for analyzing other magic, and for living things it can't tell her much more than that they exist.
    She sticks behind Taiga in the meantime. Well behind, and closer to Silica, even. "Geez, I really don't want to have to take my coat off." Maybe just the gloves and hat.
    "Nurikabe?" Tap, tap. "Oh, right, the walls. I'll... let someone else do that, physically."

Yomi Isayama has posed:
Must resist urge to pet small adorable familiars. For her part, Yomi can't summon Ranguren in here... the nue is just way too big. She gives Silica a wistful look, then settles for patting Taiga on the head, since she's fairly certain it won't distract him. "Huh.. a Nurikabe. I guess that makes sense." She pauses and tilts her head slightly, then lifts her hand and wobbles it a bit. "Only works on the polite ones. Or the ones who aren't asleep. It's worth a try, but where does the wall end for there to be a lower left?" She tries tapping on the wall with the shealth of her sword, but nothing happens. "It looks like the alley ends up ahead, so let's check that out, I suppose."

Yomi steps ahead again, reaching the end of the alley. She glances to the side, out into the street, and makes it about three more steps before she just... stops. "....that would be an invisible wall." Sighing, she pushes back from the place the world ends and reaches out to both sides. "Hey, so... who here is really good at making maps when you can't see the walls?"

The magic sonar ping does, at least, show that the way branches left and right. "Aside fromt his being really confusing, I still don't sense any dangerous intent, though... Maybe it was asleep and someone wandered in by mistake."

Silica has posed:
    Silica follows Yomi, then frowns a bit. She reaches out along the wall beside her, then erks softly as her hand slips off and she nearly falls down a 'passage' to the right of Yomi. "It might be like a giant invisible maze, like those glass houses at the funfaire." she observes. "Maybe we need to find the end to break the spell?"

    She looks back to the others. "I can have my pets fan out and find the volume of the spaces, if someone can draw a map from the visual cues?"

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "My answer to that is... complicated," Taiga replies, seemingly unbothered by the pettings. "I am equipped with ultraviolet and infrared scopes, so 'invisibility' due to darkness is not an issue. I am also equipped for seeing through basic illusions, so I am often unbothered by magical invisibility. However, if it is something stronger or more complex, or non-illusionary, I am afraid I may not be able to help." He remains by Yomi's side for the time being, which means that by extension, Nozomi does as well.

    After Silica speaks, though, Nozomi develops an odd look. "...isn't there... isn't it an old trick for funhouse mazes, that you can find your way out eventually by just... keeping your hand on the wall and walking?"

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    "As long as 'something' can see them, we can work it out. I'm picking up a branch here... so I think I can work that out, but I'm not getting anything deeper in. I don't have a way to make the ping higher-power in here, either."
    At Silica's question, Kyoko gives a "sure, that much is easy." She puts her phone away, and resummons the holographic readout with a wave of her hands that probably isn't at all necessary. It flattens out, then begins raising at points, forming into a glowy, three-dimensional model, as well as an accurate representation of what her ping picked up on. There's a faint bit of sparking around her in the process.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Rebecca frowns a little at the question about making maps. "I'm afraid I'm not..." Still, she keeps her flashlight raised and at the ready. Even if she can't find anything just yet, she's not about to give up that easily.

Yomi Isayama has posed:
"They can't get lost or stuck, can they?" Yomi frowns, pressing her hand against the empty wall in front of her, then reaching it at the space to her side to help steady Silica. "Following one wall might help as long as the Nurikabe doesn't move on us... It would be a really bad idea to split up if that happened, especially if we got blocked off." She drums her fingers thoughtfully on the invisible wall in front of her. "Nurikabe are notoriously really tough, so I doubt we could break it anyway. Though with everyone here, I think we have some sort of chance to map it out as we go. We have your familiars and your sonar thing and Taiga's sensors..." She nods to Silica, Kyoko, and Taiga in turn.

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    "If you have anything that can broadcast a signal--and I know Taiga does--I can keep the map updated. But getting trapped behind things we can't bust through sounds pretty bad." Kyoko fiddles with the holograph, but it doesn't seem to change much. "All the walls read as... probably the youkai itself, but we knew that." She squints. "Some kind of vibration from the left. Something down that way?"

Silica has posed:
    Silica nods, "I can just recall them to my inventory if they get stuck in terrain." she comments. "I won't be able to use them again for a while until they regenerate though if I do that." she adds. She gestures to the group of pets, Pina lands back on her shoulder, but Hibiki, the serpent, flits up and starts to 'slither' along the walls and ceiling, giving an indication of the space. If it finds a turn, the serpent stops before going around the corner, and returns to the ceiling, carefully tracing the span of the gap.

    "For now, lets map out these two branches, then we can decide where we go from here, ne?"

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga cants his head slightly. "At my absolute maximum output, I believe the brute force option would be viable. However, there are a number of reasons which make that a very, very unwise option." Like 'severe damage to both equipment and user'. But he's not saying that out loud. "I will begin passing sensor data to Hibiki. It should be in readable format, but I apologize if there are any particular sensor readings you cannot use. Much of my equipment is proprietary hardware, so its compatibility is nonexistent."

Yomi Isayama has posed:
Yomi glances up as the serpent keeps along the walls and ceiling. "Oh, good thinking. Now we can tell where the corners are." She smiles and reaches out, petting Silica's head again. "Oh, look over there." Yomi points off to the left, where several cherry trees can be seen. "It must be March or April in here, instead of December. Or at least that's what the Nurikabe wants us to think." It explains the slightly warmer temperatures, anyway.

"Vibration? I guess it's as good a lead to follow as any. Left it is." And, as everyone takes the left turn, there is a sudden ~thunk~ from behind. Scans will show that the right branch is now completely blocked off, even if there's no visual cue of it.

"...I suppose we can knock out the possibility of it being asleep." She takes a few more steps and pauses. "...I think your vibrations might be voices. I can hear it too." Sure enough, there are faint echoed sounds of -someone- yelling way off in the distance.

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    "Progress, I think?" Kyoko hazards, as her scans update the map with the closed-off passage. She follows in, though not in front of the combatants in the party. "Living things are messy and uneven and generally hard to model, but I think it's more the closed walls and low power that's preventing me from just picking up the life signs." She shifts uncomfortably in her coat, stuffing her gloves into her pockets, her hat into her bag, and unbuttoning. "Deathly cold a few hours ago, and now 'mild' feels sweltering."
    She shakes her head. "Taiga's coming through just fine, at least. This should improve my range."

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
"I hope it's progress," Rebecca comments, feeling a bit on the frustrated side since she has no spiritual capabilities and feels like she's in the dark. Although she does hear the sound of someone yelling, and she tries to get a sense of where it's coming from...

Silica has posed:
    Silica is glad she called Hibiki back before the group head down the left fork. She nearly got caught in there! "Wow, that was close... Anyway, yeah, seems our host is awake... lets see where it's trying to lead us, then." she orders Hibiki back up to the ceiling, seeking out the corners but again not going very far from the group, returning before passing across the threshold of any branches she comes across.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Voices. Voices immediately cause Taiga to go perfectly still. "Nozomi." Understanding the unspoken request, she quietly nods, then slides off. "I will scout ahead," he adds for the rest of the group. And off he goes straight ahead, his movements swift - and surprisingly silent, given his usual clunking. When he wants to, he's got all the stealth of a jungle predator, stalking ahead exactly like the animal he resembles.

Yomi Isayama has posed:
"Just don't get too far ahead, Taiga!" Yomi continues to lightly tap along the wall with her sheathed sword as she walks, picking up her pace just a little bit. "I think this will work, but--look."

The path takes a sharp turn, and as soon as Taiga goes around it, communication with him is blocked again. Probably the body of the nurikabe in the way. Once line of sight is restored, communication is as well.

It's only a few more twists and turns before the path hits another fork. Again, completely invisible... but it can be felt, and of course the various radar senses can see it. Only this time, there's the sound of voices on -both- sides.

If everything is quiet and one listens carefully, it sounds like laughter on the right side, and angry yelling on the left.

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    Kyoko keeps spooling out her wire behind her, conveniently doubling for labyrinth-related purposes, so long as no whomp blocks falls onto the way back. "Okay, then... there's somewhere between five and nine of us, so we *could* split up here, and try to check what's going on in either direction. And I refuse to accept bad movies as a reason not to. Thoughts?" She looks toward the laughter side, herself. That seems somewhat safer than yelling, though not terribly. She's vaguely familiar with both old Japanese and old British myths about "spiriting away."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Oh, that's worrying. Even line of sight is enough to stop comms entirely. Taiga is careful to wait until the group catches up before darting on ahead again, and the next corner he comes to, he stops once more. "Both directions present equal possibility," he conclueds. "The angry voice could be someone displeased with their capture. The laughter could be someone who has been entranced, or lost their sanity. It is difficult to choose one or the other. However, I do not believe that we should separate while within a hostile magical space; my inclination is towards the one that sounds upset."

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    Kyoko says, "I'm not sure if I'd describe it as hostile... but the point is taken. I'd rather go the opposite way, but I'm not going to walk down first. Crazy people yell angrily more often than laugh, in my experience."

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
"From my experience," Rebecca comments to Kyoko, "It could be either or. We don't know what to expect." She narrows her eyes a little. "Although the yelling could very well be someone who is upset," Rebecca comments to Nozomi. "Still, I've got a bad feeling about this. It feels like no matter which way we choose, it'll be wrong..."

Yomi Isayama has posed:
"Whichever we choose... I think we should stick together. Here, feel.." She puts her hands forward against the wall and spreads them. "It's not a sharp turn. We go a little ways down here and we won't be able to see each other anymore. Neither of them sounds like someone in immediate danger, so..." Yomi glances left, glances right, then shrugs. "Let's pick one to try first. Maybe leave something on the floor here so we remember where the fork is."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga turns left, then right. "I stand by my recommendation. Though if I am overruled, I have no particular objections. Either is valid; the shouting voice is simply my personal preference." Nozomi looks at Taiga, then looks down each branch, then nods softly. 'I'm with Taiga' is pretty much her choice by default.

Silica has posed:
    "Anger usually means some level of personal danger... Humans react to dangerous situations with anger more often than laughter..." says Silica, even as she remembers Kirito in some instances laughing in the face of danger. "My vote it for the angry sounding voice... though this may be a test by the youkai, see how we react to situations."

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    Kyoko draws out a coin, flips and catches it. "Heads, I stubbornly disagree with the tiger. Tails, I flip-flop." But then Silica is giving another opinion, so she slides the coin off without looking at it. "Let's get a move on, then. If someone /is/ in trouble... which I somehow doubt it immediate, but if it is, we should get there quickly."

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Biting her lip but then shrugging, Rebecca says, "Well, we're not going to get anywhere if we don't move out." She reaches for her Beretta, just in case. "If we're going to leave something behind then..."

Rebecca reaches into a sheath on her belt and removes a knife. She drops it on the ground. "Not very useful really. I can leave it here... Assuming nobody touches it."

Yomi Isayama has posed:
"Hmm... left side it is." Yomi glances at Silica and shrugs. "Maybe, though I'm not sure if Nurikabe are that smart." And then she walks right into an invisible wall, which disappears again. "...look here, you!" Growling a bit, she points at the wall. Points!

Sighing, she shakes her head and walks with the others. As they go along, the yelling gets louder, and Yomi slowly reaches over to put her hands over Nozomi's ears. That's a -lot- of angry cursing. As they round another invisible corner, the voice seems to be coming from -below-, and Yomi stops walking. "...bet there's an invisible pit there."

Sure enough, once getting close enough to the edge of the pit - not that any of it is visible - there's a man down there trying to climb a wall he can't see, but occasionally just running into new invisible walls that pop up just long enough to stop him.

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    "No worries on finding our way back, at least," Kyoko says, somewhat belatedly. She still has her golden thread.
    Letting others take point, she isn't likely to be the first to get to test Yomi's claim. She does, however, keep up her scanning, regularly sending little bursts of magic to bounce off everything and give her its shape, insofar as her magic can understand the shapes of the surroundings. Some things can fool that, others can't, but if it's an open pit that just looks like open ground, it should at least feel substantially different when her scanning touches it. Her magic is a fair bit more sophisticated than mere RADAR.
    "Huh... are the walls moving around down there? It sure seems like it." Helping someone climb a wall is, unfortunately, not in her skill-set. The most she could do is tell them where the wall is. In fact, her holo-map is continuing to update, but having trouble with terrain that moves.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Nozomi looks vaguely confused. "...I... I work on a military base," she mumbles, cheeks heating up. This is almost certainly... well, okay, it's bad, but at least it's not the /first/ time she's heard language this foul. The hands covering her ears are kind of embarrassing!

    (Nozomi is very quickly realizing that Yomi is very good at that.)

    Taiga is quite happy to edge his way up to the edge of the pit. He rumbles once, and then calls out a simple, "Hello. Would you like to be helped out of this pit?"

Silica has posed:
    Silica giggles as Yomi walks into a suddenly appearing wall. "Don't upset it. I'm sure it's really smart." she says, reaching out to pat gently at one wall. "It does seem to be watching us though... so, we'll see." she chirps a trilling whistle, which brings Hibiki back to her side, wrapping loosely around her left bicep, head resting over her shoulder opposite Pina. "Lets go then."

    When they get closer, and the swearing can be heard, the Cait Sith's ears fold down flat to her skull, wincing a little. "He's definitely not happy..." she observes. "If I could fly, I might be able to go down and lift him out... but my Strength stat isn't really all that high, I focussed on Agility because of my build." and she's not talking about her body shape. "I don't think I can fly in here though, and wallrunning won't help if the walls keep shifting." she ponders. "Anyone have any rope or anything?"

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga lifts his head up. "I am strong enough to carry him on my back."

Yomi Isayama has posed:
When she sees what's going on down there, Yomi scratches her cheek. "...huh. But there's only one guy down there, and Yamamoto said there were multiple missing persons?"

Weirdly enough, the man below doesn't react to anyone calling out. "Not sure about going down there, Taiga... The way back might get sealed off. I think he's being kept there or something..."

"That's riiiight~" A soft, singsongy voice comes from the wall right next to Silica, and a grotesque face soon appears, looking lie a weird cross between a pig and a monkey. The laughing in the distance seems to be getting closer, and footsteps can be heard coming closer from behind... until three people walk into view, two boys and a girl of middle school age, one of them holding something small on the palm of his hand.

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    "Oh, good," Kyoko mutters under her breath, "they came to us." She quietly directs her magic the way of the newcomers, but doesn't expect to come up with a lot. She might get more from taking this opportunity to finally make use of the wired connection she's been carrying around, as she sends back some photos to be laboriously transmitted out to the facial recognition apps she keeps at home, hooked up search local Internet for matches and profile information.

Silica has posed:
    Silica blinks at the voice, turns towards it, then just goes deadpan. She's surprised, certainly, but she's had just enough shapeshifters and phase shifters appearing out of seemingly nowhere to jolt back like she normally does. "So you really were watching us all this time..." she says to the face, then flicks one ear toward the approaching footsteps. "Company!" she calls out, stepping back from the face, and looking to the approaching kids. "Could they be entranced?" she asks Yomi, her posture shifting to a defensive one, hand gravitating back to her dagger at the small of her back, while all her pets get into a defensive posture themselves, Hibiki hissing, Pina growling and Nana snorting and digging at the ground with a hoof.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga whips around at once, and immediately lunges to plant himself between the newcomers and Nozomi. Rather than respond to the creature whatsoever, he instead begins sweeping the people with his sensors. Especially the small object being held. He's suspicious of that. And his body language alone gives off a very clear warning. Nozomi, meanwhile, shifts a little so that both Taiga and Yomi are in a position to cover her.

Yomi Isayama has posed:
The face on the wall seems to laugh without moving, and Yomi turns to glare at it. She points to her eyes, then to the face, before returning her attention to the three approaching people.

Scans report a few things. First, they're definitely human. Second, there doesn't -seem- to be any influence on them. In fact, they look up once they see the group. "Oh, are you here to bring us home? We got lost in here running from someone." And Taiga's scans will pick up that the thing in their hands is... another Nurikabe. Probably a baby, considering it looks more like a piece of brick than anything else. "He's been keeping us company while we waited!"

Kyoko's device returns results fairly quickly, especially since all the faces involved are local. The three kids are the ones who went missing, and the cursing man seems to be wanted by the local police for robbery. "Oh!" The girl runs up to Silica and makes big sparkly eyes at her. "Your dragon is so cute!" It seems Pina has a fan, growling or not.

Silica has posed:
    Silica's ears fold down a bit as the girl runs up to her. She doesn't pick up any ill will, and neither do the pets, so they relax a little bit. Pina herself puffs up a little, feathers fluffing at the praise. "Oh... uh, th-thanks? Her name is Pina." she says, offering out a hand. "My name is Silica... were you, maybe, running from the man down in the pit back there?" she asks, pointing behind her, toward the sound of the cursing voice.

Kyoko Takada (1132) has posed:
    Kyoko doesn't take a defensive stance or anything, as little good as it would have done her. She just smiles that slightly awkward smile of an adult who doesn't remember how to deal with children. "Yeah, we were looking for you three." She gives a nod in the direction of the pit. "And that guy is... a wanted suspect. Did the officer mention one of those being nearby? I think I get something of what's going on here, now."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga relaxes a little. But only a little. "I strongly recommend against continuing to carry that small item in your hand. It is a miniature version of the creature which has trapped you here." The easy solution would be to yell 'drop that' or try to swat or shoot it out of his hand, but that would probably just upset them - it'd make this much more difficult in the end. "If you will please follow us, we will escort you out."

Yomi Isayama has posed:
"Small item? You mean Nurikko?" The boy holding it blinks at it, and it makes a happy squeak, which prompts him to laugh again. "She's been keeping us company. Or maybe he? We could never tell.. But we probably should leave it with its parent." The face on the wall makes an approving sound and slowly begins to fade away, as the small Nurikabe leaps off the boy's hand and just...vanishes. It's still visible in sensors, wandering off to merge with one of the nearby walls.

"If the guy down there is wanted, we probably shouldn't leave him there. Don't think the police would be able to find him here." Yomi turns back to glance at the man who... isn't there anymore. In fact, the entirety of the scenery is fading away slowly, leaving behind the drab gray walls of the alleyway. Everyone seems to be there, including the man, who is passed out on the ground. "...well. I guess we're back then. Can you double check for us, Taiga, Hibiki?"

There's not really any need, of course. Once he can see everyone again, Yamamoto carefully steps into the alley, then moves a bit more confidently once he realizes he hasn't disappeared. He sees the man on the floor and reaches to pull out his handcuffs. Seems he recognizes the suspect as well.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "Affirmative," Taiga replies. "We have returned." Nozomi is fairly quick to plant herself on his back again - if for no other reason than 'things are over, need some form of reassurance'.

Silica has posed:
    "I guess not all youkai are nasty." comments Silica as the Nurikabe releases them. "I mean, it protected those kids from something at least, even if it wasn't the guy." she gestures to the passed out robber.