4301/PWTWM-An Acknowledged Threat-1

PWTWM-An Acknowledged Threat-1
Date of Scene:	08 July 2016
Location:	Alberichstadt <P:WTWM>
Synopsis:	Die Reisende takes their investigation for the missing student into the real world, after finding a list of possible names. But things don't go remotely as planned...
Cast of Characters:	August Kohler, 165, Janine Liberi, 513, 999, 385, Staren, 151, Kotone Yamakawa
Tinyplot:	Persona: Were the World Mine-1

---

August Kohler has posed:
It is the afternoon of a nice summer day in Alberichstadt, Germany, a small city inside the state of Baden-Wurttemburg bordering the Black Forest. People are moving about doing their daily routines, teenagers are hanging out at those few places you can hang out and still look cool, and adults are...well, doing boring adult stuff.

At Drachenblatt Academy, however, there's a bunch of teenagers up to no good, making trouble in their neighborhood. Or, well, trying to solve a mystery. At the front of the school is a help center, which is woefully understaffed with a single deskworker who is no older than 20, with a nametag reading 'HELGA' and a desk telephone being ignored in favor of a gossip magazine. Because it is the afternoon and people have better things to do, Helga is manning the desk in a (nearly, now that the gang is here) empty room, desperately wishing she had a break or that someone would pull the fire alarm and she could leave.

August Kohler waits by the door, flipping his fingers anxiously through his hair as he glances at her. He's waiting for the rest of the group, eying Helga carefully. When the group assembles, he speaks at a normal volume, hoping that she's distracted enough to not hear them. "Alright, so all my friends have been too busy playing football and getting drunk, so I have zero leads. Liberi, I heard you have something? Anyone else have anything?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    It's been a long time since Ren visited Alberichstadt. Well, no, that's not entirely true- if anything, he's visited the city almost a dozen times for sociality and entertainment and delicious baked things, but...

    Well, when you go somewhere on a mission, it's like a whole different place.

    Moreover, the traveller's been so busy in foreign places and timelines that he's entirely without any idea what nefariousness has been happening here recently.

    Or maybe he just didn't want to go in the mirror forest.

    Ren is currently wearing a blue denim jacket over a white hooded top, with leg-hugging black pants and ... the same boots he always wears, which kind of stand out.

    He's also looking at Janine.

    Sotto voice, "Incidentally, if anyone tells me what to look for I am remarkably good at sneaking into places. Ooh, or servers if you've got a thingie, I haven't done that in a while."

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Janine is here, looking every inch the moody teenager who doesn't take care of herself as well as she should. She looks to Helga behind the desk, frowning slightly. But frankly, she seems at that state where they could kill someone in here and she wouldn't look up. They'll be fine.

    "Yeah, I think I figured it out. Look." Out comes that top-of-the-line smartphone, a browser window already open, peeking into the school's student records. "It turns out, that here? If your grades are good and your family rich? Fuck actually going to school, you can just do online classes from home! They call it the 'Scholar's List.'" She seems a little steamed by all this, gnawing on her inner cheek.

    "Anyway, this place keeps all your dimensions up to date because they provide uniforms sometimes. So I went down the list of people on this List, found three names that would fit that sock we found." She holds her phone up for all to see, swiping between three open tabs.

    Klaus Bruckheim

    Craig Holden

    Taichi Yamamoto

    "We got names. Now we just need to find out if any of these three have gone missing and we'll have our man." A glance to Ren, and a snort. "Where were you 1000 Euros ago? I already paid someone to set this up for me."

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna's come as... herself, although she's seemingly decked herself out in local attire. The school uniform even, if it has one. Where she got it is anyone's guess... but she's come as herself. Oddly enough...

    Oddly enough, most members of this gang should have no trouble noticing that in her human form... she still has a very energetically-wagging fox tail and alert ears. There's NO SIGN of the elaborate Tattoos that normally wrap across her entire body in intricate patterns of Lunar narrative...

    ... But for whatever reason, ordinary students and staff, save for maybe one or two, won't notice the animal features. Attention slides away from them and minds deny them - only the sharpest, most supernaturally potent, those who've seen them before, or on the lookout for anything unusual might notice them.

    Finna's not worried about that.

    She skips right over to August, tail brushing his leg every so often... but when Janine explains her plan... she grins. "Good work! Hope our quarry didn't prefer extra tight shoes though."

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    "I have a rather simple solution that will probably work for at least one of those," Emily Branford declares. She produces from her pocket a small handkerchief that Janine almost certainly saw her purchase earlier in the week. When she purchased it, it didn't have the initials 'CH' embroidered into one corner in exceptionally elegant crimson lettering. "Mr. Holden dropped this some time back when Janine was speaking to him for some reason or other, and I'd very much like to return it to him. I'll simply ask around for people who might know how to get ahold of him." There is a little wink to the others, particularly Janine.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
The group is supposed to be blending in with the students today, which doesn't seem all that difficult to Yuna. She still has her actual high school uniform, for crying out loud - and if that wouldn't fit, she also has her kanmusu uniform, or the different uniform that matches the Sendai-class sisters.

But today she's wearing her Beacon Academy uniform. It doesn't match the official Drachenblatt Academy uniform much better than any of her other available outfits, but it does kind of mesh with the relatively formal look befitting a fairly posh boarding school.

She can claim to be a transfer student or something, right? And more to the point, this is her *actual* current school uniform, so she'd be telling the truth.

For now, though, her attention is on Janine. "They keep track of dimensions and uniforms right down to shoe size?" Yuna asks, shaking her head slightly in disbelief. "That's ... well, it's convenient." Maybe, she thinks, a little too convenient - but best not to question the occasional lucky break. "So what do we know about which classes and clubs they're in from the Scholar's List? I could probably go looking for Yamamoto without drawing *too* much attention."

... says the blonde Japanese idol singer. If Elner were visibly present and had hands, the robo-faerie would likely facepalm. But Elner is staying out of sight at this point, monitoring Yuna and her immediate surroundings from a distance.

Staren has posed:
    A black cat walks out of the forest, innocently prowling about and making its way through the campus. At some point, when noone's looking, it turns into Staren, and then a magic item masks his ears and tail, while his clothes reshape into a Drachenblatt Academy uniform before he makes it the rest of the way towards the help center. He waves and smiles hello to August, "Halloooo~!" He listens to Janine's explanation, looking at the phone. "What? Those classes should be offered to everyone! Isn't this already a kinda rich-person academy?"

    "...Really? They had his /sock dimensions/ on file? Well... I guess we see who's stopped updating their social media feed suddenly, right?"

    Is there campus wifi? He's trying to get in. Possibly by making his headware pretend to be Janine's smartphone or something.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley's here. She's in a weird outfit, though. It's a full body, dark getup with a mask with a pair of glowing blue lenses on it. It invokes an image of a modern plague doctor or some sort of futuristic wizard, but at the very least the black leather seems to cover any evidence that she may not be a human under all of that.

    She makes no noises. She just arrived and stood around like a short, ominous weirdo that the party brought along. She doesn't have much to say just yet.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Ah yes Germany, and Alberichstadt was a nice place to be honest but a school like this? It still had Kotone a bit flustered. These were honesly the children of very well off people who likely but she also knew she'd needed to disguse her selfand she's done a good job of it. Students would get noticed here easily they are the children of people who make more in a month than all of the cyberware in Kotone's shell /costs/ several times over so she's digused as a random intern, who pays attention to those right? Her Hair's been changed up as has the colour of her eyes as well, even her figure's been altered a bit. She's just another intern whose really going to be noticed? Thanks to August Kotone had the proper clothing to also help pass for one. She had considered hacking the local computers but August had talked her out of it.

August Kohler has posed:
August sighs at the mention of the Scholar's List. He had wanted a spot on it, but he's a poor scholarship student, and therefore cannot afford luxury. Hell, he's even wearing his uniform! "It's a good start. And it'd explain why there's no missing persons: these kids can basically hole up in their room all day and people'll think it's normal, because they're spoiled. I think...Holden's an engineering student, I'm not sure about the others. He's not in the club, though." He taps his chin thoughtfully, as he looks to Ren. "Well, we'll probably need to break into their rooms if they're missing, to at the least check the socks. I mean, if you have one pair, you probably have a matching pair." Or, he does, because he only buys one brand of socks.

August frowns at Finna's fox ears and says nothing, because she told him not to. Instead, he turns to Emily and nods, smiling at her plan. "Good work, it'll let us learn if anyone's seen him." And then, August turns to Staren. "Sadly, world isn't perfect. If you don't have money, or are me and have the best grades in school, you're worthless. They only have /me/ because I make their grade average go up." August proceeds to turn to Yuna, thinking. "If they even have any clubs. But then we'd probably know if someone wasn't showing up to club, right?"

And then August stares at Ainsley. Stares deeply. He then turns away, blinking slowly, to walk up to the help desk and tap on the desk. Several times. Until Helga finally realizes there is a world outside month old Eurovision scandals, and looks up. And stares at Ainsley. And then avoids staring at Ainsley. "Y-yes? Can I help you?"

August Kohler has posed:
There is campus wifi! Staren can get in, but searching social media's going to be a bit harder, mostly because of the three suspects, all of them either don't have accounts, or haven't posted in over a week anyways. What awful teenagers.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Janine has little tolerance for nonsense, so Emily's production of that handkerchief nets a stormy glare from the Italian. "Fine. But we follow my lead on that, okay?," she says in an icy tone.

    To Yuna and Staren, she clucks her tongue. "It's a gimmick to make the school seem more better than it is. Free tailored uniforms that are updated every six months to accommodate growing bodies. Uniforms that are not mandatory, and serve mostly to pinpoint the kids who can't afford the high-end fashion that is this school's real dress code," Oh boy, she's on a rolling start now, but she reins herself in.

    Ainsley just gets a long look, and a mouthed phrase that includes at least one obscenity. But she says nothing aloud either, and waits for everyone to interrogate poor Helga.

    Hey, she did the pre-emptive legwork on her side. They can handle this part.

Staren has posed:
    Staren frowns. "They all either don't have accounts I can find or don't post very often. We'll have to learn more about them. Maybe if we could talk to their friends, or another Scholar's List student, or a teacher, to see if they've checked in?"

    He nods to Janine. Her snark is 100% what he would probably be saying if he was a student here, so he's in full agreement about the big bad establishment. Demons are everywhere in the world, it seems...

Finna (513) has posed:
"Leave 'breaking in' to me if you want it done with nothing broken. This culture's far from what I know... sorry to say I don't know where to start here. But I'll lend you my nose, and anything else that comes to mind! Can easily track down people if I start from their rooms."

    Finna just grins at August's frown. "Nobody will notice. Trust me."

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    "Of course, Janine," Emily replies without batting an eye. She gives August a warm smile at the praise, but that's all she can spare for the moment, because they're getting down to business, sort of. People are going to start questioning the desk lady. For now, she falls in beside-and-behind Janine, arms folded behind her back.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"If nothing else," Yuna points out, "they need to be turning in their assignments, right? So if anyone is a week behind on classwork, then we've got a pretty good idea who went missing. That still gets us back to the questions of 'what grades are they in' and 'what classes are they taking,' though - we might need to chat with their teachers."

Finna offers to handle 'breaking into rooms' in the event that it becomes necessary ... which, thinks Yuna, it probably will. "The other thing that comes to mind ..." She trails off, looking at Staren, then tilts her head at him. "Sounds like the 'other thing' came to your mind first," she acknowledges.

As for Janine's disclosure on the value of the uniforms, Yuna has to stifle a mild smirk - so she'll fit in better than she looks, possibly. A student visiting from another school, or somebody who turned her nose up at the local uniforms and decided to wear something that looks like a much better school uniform?

... well, there are worse ideas for a disguise. It's also better than wearing big fluffy kigurumi stuffed animals for warmth to explore an arctic planet.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone is just kepeing to what you think an intern might be doing she's been here long enough to fetch things and the like for other staff and so far things have gone well enough. For her as she pressed on but she's never really got anywhere too much but she is looking about trying to keep an eye out for anything that might be out of place. She's still not sure about what she might find.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Now; let it not go unsaid that Ren doesn't particularly enjoy the pleasure of Janine's company. As such:

    "M'unno. Yesterday I was in a caldera... earlier I was in that bakery I like..."

    He glances at Staren, happy to let him handle the social media angle- Ren beckons Janine for her smartphone.

    He leans up against a wall, putting himself into the picture of casual ease- it's ok, passers-by, he's just tweeting on social media- he's really not-

    What Ren is actually doing is channelling essence into the phone.

    He has a few names- Klaus, Taichi and Craig. Speaking quietly to himself, Ren mumbles on-

    "You're a fascinating little thing, aren't you? A million and one worlds, and so many of them rolling towards an interconnected future. You are the modern man's eyes and voice, work of a bevy of servants, network of information, the whole world at my fingertips."

     Pressing the blank screen with the tips of one hand, like the pianist who plays no worse for losing one to an accident, playing the screen like an instrument. His words are an incantation, an appeal to a spirit that may or may not exist; but if god was not real, people would invent him. "Names have power, yes, that's a fact I know very well. I have three, and a skeleton key- that's you, little glass key to the modern world- and you help me like a retinue around a king. Well... not that I like to admit it, but sometimes there's bliss in accepting who you are..."

    He's crafting a program on the fly, crosshatching the names Janine found, slapdash hacking of search engines to make a loop, an intranet limited to Alberichstadt. Still he continues a quiet mumble, sotto voice, probably enough to drive Janine to irritation. "King for a day? King of Alberichstadt. Hasn't had a king for a long time. If I'm the king, then let's call these boys my subjects, and a king has a right to know their dealings... tell me, skeleton key, what locks can you open for me? In a big interconnected bright modern world, what's hidden in the shadows between pages? Where've these three names been written? Are you still in town? Did you head out into the world, with a tether on your belt nevertheless? Can this key unlock the door to a room where a snail trail's written in silver on the walls, can it, can it?"

    Are Klaus, Craig and Taichi anywhere in the city? Has their presence been recorded in any shop, any bank? Transactions made? Walked past a person taking a selfie? Can Ren, brute-force-with-one-hand search a whole city with a borrowed smartphone? Does the camera eye show him a hidden trail?

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley looks back at anyone that stares at her for very long. She just shrugs at August when he looks at her like that. 'Hey, you said for me to wear something,' she would want to say, but she doesn't want to blurt it out in front of people not 'in the know.'

    She keeps her eyes on the others during all of this, not yet finding a reason to speak up, at least not right there. Unbeknownest to the group, the glow in her goggles is because she's using her Arcane Sight to just scan the air for... well. Supernatural weirdness related to the Shadows and to the rumors and the Mirror Forest and the Queen. She's plumbing the air and the nearby radio waves and anyone that happens to amble by, which can prove to be extremely hazardous. At least she's refined her search enough to keep herself from popping like a balloon if some Sauron-level bad thing spots her. She's also looking for the three mentioned students. It's a wide search and it would take some time so others may get to information far before she does.

August Kohler has posed:
Nobody ends up actually talking to Helga, and August is super socially awkward, and has to be in the same room as her atleast once a week, so he doesn't either. She takes a minute to blink at them, before reading back into her magazine. None of her business, after all.

Ren's search, however, does give some good information. A Japanese website gets several hundred euros worth of purchases, figurines of a robotic idol being ordered to ship to Drachenblatt Academy. Credit card purchased. 'Yamamoto, Taichi'. Est. yesterday.

Craig Holden and Klaus Bruckheim do not show up. Last purchase for Klaus Bruckheim was 13 days ago. Craig Holden was 11. Neither have been caught in selfies in months, if ever. What makes this worse, is that Ren's Caste Mark begins showing up on his forehead, glowing brightly. Helga is currently embroiled in her magazine, but who knows how long that'll last?

At the least, Ren's crossed a name out (or Taichi's credit card got stolen, but probably not). That leaves only two candidates. Klaus Bruckheim. And Craig Holden.

August Kohler has posed:
Ainsley gets a feeling. It feels like a Shadow, but currently it's very faint. She can't pinpoint where, who, or anything about it except that it's getting stronger by the minute.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Janine just stares, long and hard at Ren as he mumbles at her phone, before giving Emily a look that screams 'Get a load of this guy.' But it seems like everyone is off in their own little world, and no one is asking the bored lady behind the counter. "Jesus Christ, do I have to do everything by myself?"

    She gets up and walks to the desk, slamming her good hand down on the surface to get Helga's attention. "Listen up! I'm looking for Klaus Bruckheim, Craig Holden, and Taichi Yamamoto. Club business, but they didn't give me phone numbers or addresses, the idiots. Help me out, would you?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is going to get moving now she's got her orders to so speak and she's going to now getmake for the offices at this point hopefully she cna find the records she's going to looking for the class records, such as what class the student's in, also to check up on what's been happening with ther work, attendance and otehrwise. She'll be acting like she's suposed to be there nd will be more htan happy to help out with anything in the office.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Well, you know, who wouldn't be worried, you don't have to be a person with authority, but, c'mon, it's sensible if you've got that kind of power to -"

    Ren's ceaseless nattering is interrupted by an itch on his forehead.

    Oh bother, said Pooh Bear.

    "Well," he grumbles.
    You're getting slack, traveller, he thinks. That's a little too much energy spent. You're out of habit, aren't you? Too much time spent around people to whom the Secret doesn't matter, too much time presuming that because you were a Justice Superhero you could forget to keep secrets. "That's annoying."

    He throws the phone and its tangle of data back to Janine, pulling the hood of his top fruitlessly over his hair (because the gold ring on his head'll shine through anyway).

    "Make the best of it," he says to Janine- and not much more, as he slips away to a place where nobody can notice how conspicuous he is.

    You're making mistakes, Tanaka. Just be glad this one wasn't in a place where someone could exploit it. You never used to make mistakes when you were on your own...

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    As always, Emily maintains her poker face. There is clearly nothing remarkable or noteworthy about Ren Tanaka reciting love poetry to a smartphone while his forehead starts to... glow? Alright, so she might have arched an eyebrow, very briefly. She waits to one side while Janine does the busywork of talking to Helga, and with a question having been asked she whips out a pad of paper and a pencil promptly. They at least know Yamamoto's not one of the candidates anymore, so having only two to investigate narrows things down. It's probably a good thing she made the faux monogrammed handkerchief for Holden.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna shrugs a little as Yamamoto is provisionally eliminated as 'missing'. There goes her most obvious choice to look into - but it's also something of a relief to know that out of three possible victims, one seems to be safe.

And there isn't a whole lot she's coming up with to help pursue leads as to the other two, but with Janine inquiring of Helga, Yuna gravitates over to the desk, smiling winningly at the receptionist/secretary/whatever she is. No pressure, just a warm, bright, friendly smile.

Staren has posed:
    Staren watches Ren work with interest. Exalted charms continue to amaze him. Buuut now Ren is shining brightly and needs to go hide. 'Thank you, that was cool!' his whispers to the departing Ren.

    Then he turns to August. "You said you know Holden is an engineering student, right? Do they have particular dorms or anything like that? If we could find the right building or floor, we could just say we're looking for him. Could give the excuse that we've been sent to deliver a homework project, if needed. He might be able to print assignments out, but you can't download robot parts or the like on this world. Yet."

August Kohler has posed:
Oh god, they're calling for her again. Helga looks up, squinting at Janine, as her eyes look from person to person. "Uh, you're looking for someone? Usually you'd need to sign a form..." Is what Helga would normally say. However: there's a bunch of weirdos, she's heard of this girl as being a massive bitch and also pretty rich (she can tell who she is because of the arm), and there's a weirdo in a mask standing over there, looming. She feels like Ainsley is staring into her soul, and she wants her as far away from her as possible.

Helga pulls out a book, checks the student registry, slowly, and then hurriedly scribbles their addresses on a piece of paper. She doesn't have their phone numbers. "Okay, here you go, please go find your clubmates /as soon as possible/. Have a nice day."

Kotone finds some documents. They're generic and have no teacher notes, but they give some info. Both Bruckheim and Holden have not turned in assignments for the last week, which isn't very helpful. However, if Kotone looks further back into the grades, she'll find that a few months ago, Holden's grades were slipping almost to the point that he'd be pulled off the Scholar's List. A few weeks later, they skyrocketed. Furthermore, if she compares them to Bruckheim's...

They match. Perfectly. Every grade is the exact same with no differentation. Something's up there.

August thinks in reply to Staren. "No, I think they have regular dorms. Though usually they have them to themselves, instead of sharing them. Now that we have the addresses, should we split into two groups? Or should we hit them in order?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "Oh don't worry about me," Ainsley assures Helga only after she's helped Janine, her voice sounding a little strange behind that mask, "I'm no threat to you at all." It probably isn't very comforting coming from someone in a creepy costume that looks like it might be from a convention or maybe owned by someone with a few too many psychological issues.

    Ainsley chooses to follow Janine. She carefully pulls a neatly wrapped cookie from her outfit somewhere and sets it on Helga's desk, and says, "Thank you~" before they leave, though. If Helga chooses to risk eating it, she'll find it's a perfectly fine chocolate chip cookie. And that it's pretty good.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna smiles even brighter, bowing politely to Helga. "Thank you so much!" she states, then meanders away to rejoin the others while sorting out how to investigate the two remaining 'suspects' they need to look in on. The way the two students' grades match up like that seems suspicious, and given that Holden's the one who was 'borrowing' Bruckheim's grades, it seems more likely that Holden would have gone missing than Bruckheim - particularly if one of them somehow willfully consigned the other one to the Mirror Forest. Holden wouldn't have wanted to dispose of Bruckheim, after all, if he was copying the other boy's work ...

Still, they do both need to be investigated. Yuna takes a look at the addresses, wondering if she should have Elner accompany the group that'll look in on Bruckheim's dorm room. Odds are, to her, that there should be *some*thing to find there as well.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Addresses get. "Thanks, you can go back to your paid leisure now." Janine is certainly no friend to the working class. Or anyone, for that matter. Discussions are made, and everyone decides to split up, with Janine heading off towards Bruckheim's room.

    By now, she has decided that she has to handle everything around here. So she pounds hard on the door they find and says, "Open up!" in a harsh way. Trying to sound more like an adult, to ensure compliance.

Staren has posed:
    All they had to do was ask?!

    Staren scratches his head. "Normally, splitting the party's a bad idea, but the school's pretty safe. Let's split up and check both rooms, we can meet up after."

    After a glance at the papers, he'll head off for Holden's dorm. Once he's outside, he also deploys some insect-size spy drones to go to the locations and check external windows.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    Well, her carefully-prepared dummy item won't be of much use, but they have Holden and Bruckheim's dorm addresses anyway, so that's not much of a concern. She walks briskly along behind Janine as they navigate the dorm, but once they arrive, she takes a step to one side; perhaps sensing something in Janine's demeanor that tells her she'd be better simply staying out of the way for now. Either way, she's got one hand slipping up into her coat, ready to pull out a certain toolkit should no one answer Janine's... rather forceful greeting.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is digign through the records now and finds some very interesting things she gets the records and files those away in file format that can be given to August and the rest. She also pause at the marks and tilts her head a bit she's got an idea that's forming in her head. She's got an idea they have been sharing work from the sounds of it. This seems to her that one student was helping the other.

She finishes up her business and moves to link back up with the others, she's fond some serious information here and she knows it.

Finna (513) has posed:
A split-up it is. Phooey, Finna might say. But she tags along after Janine, arms folded in a very tennager way. It doesn't look it, but she's been sniffing the air the entire way down, and now that they're at the door... she can focus on that.

    Would be way better if they can get the door open first.

    She also sharpens her HEARING, listening for any telltale sounds of someone inside reacting...

August Kohler has posed:
There is no reply from Bruckheim's room. There are no sounds inside. Luckily, if picked, the lock is opened rather easily. The door creeps open to a sizable room for a single teenager to live in, except that it's filthy. Only one spot in it is remotely clean, and that's the work desk in the corner. Everywhere else, there's clothes lying everywhere, the bed's just a pile of blankets and pillows, there's moldy drinks and half-eaten food in the kitchen nook. This has also been going on for longer than a week; Bruckheim does not take care of his room whatsoever, and probably doesn't even let the cleaner touch it. Inside, the bathroom door is cracked open, the kitchen doesn't have a door, and the closet's door seems to have fallen off months ago. On the work desk is a laptop and a large, messy stack of notes.

Meanwhile, Holden's door is unlocked. The room is remarkably cleaner, but not clean enough to be weird for a teenager. A laptop lies on the bed, there's clothing hanging out of a dresser drawer, the kitchen luckily does not have moldy food, and the bathroom door is open. There's a journal sitting in a cracked shoebox just under the bed. Zero signs of life, even from the spydrones.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    Once it's determined that Bruckheim isn't answering, Emily steps over with a smooth, "If I may," and finishes the process of taking her lockpicking kit out of her coat. She looks around quickly, then leans slightly against the door so that her body is mostly hiding her work. And then she sets about picking the lock, with swift, practiced ease. Once it opens, she shifts slightly against the door, opening just enough to peek in.

    When nobody is there, she steps in entirely, shifting in such a way that the door covers her anywhere she can't actually look. Very cautious, perhaps borderline paranoid, but it keeps her and Janine safe. Her eyes sweep the room; her first destination ends up being the kitchen, followed shortly by the bathroom. What she's looking for is evidence of /recent/ activity, mainly. She'll leave the laptop and notes to Janine, and handle the 'gruntwork' of investigating the room.

Staren has posed:
    Staren glances around. "Can't tell if Holden is gone gone, or just stepped out." he reports. To Finna, he radios, ""How long has he been gone? Can you tell by smell?"

    His clothes form gloves, and he checks the journal for when the last entry was. And if that's unhelpful, he'll try to determine when the laptop was last used.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley follows the others into the room, apparently waiting for the others to figure out that nobody is home. She first does her cursory scanning of the Shadow presence she felt before, but after a cursory examination, she slips over to the laptop and takes a look at it, checking for recent activity or any personal information relevant to the Mirror Forest or really... anything connected to the recent disappearance.

    "I'm glad I brought my mask," Ainsley says, in a chipper tone, just to reinforce the fact that she's wearing some sort of weirdo plague doctor gas mask thing.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    As the door swings open thanks to her butlet's def hands, and that smell hits Janine's nose, she gags and covers her mouth with her arm. "Oh Jesus that smell is evil," she mutters as he steps inside, peering about. "How do boys live like this?"

    Right, okay. Investigation. The mouldiness of the food is a pretty damning clue as to the possibility that no one has been here in a while, but it could just be a slob being a slob. She stars going through those notes on the desk carefully, while also running a single finger along the laptop to check for dust.

    "This part is tidy... which might mean he uses it often enough to keep it that way. So if he laptop is dusty, that means it hasn't been used in a while." She looks to the others, as if for affirmation. She's a fencer, not an investigator.

Finna (513) has posed:
Once the door's open... Finna rapidly shifts down to fox form and dives i under the cautious Emily. She pauses right at the door's edge only to sniff once and glance back and forth to make sure that nothing's MOVING or flying at them... and then trots her way into the AWFUL mess.

    The white-furred creature makes some disgusted coughy noises. "Gross. Never smelled this much rot, sweat, and worse things in a HOUSE before."

    "Gonna take a bit more than a glance to find out!" She irritably radios back. The small creature sets about following her nose through the room... and as much as she despises the reek....

    Finna briefly meditates on that nose of hers, letting her few years of Lunar experience guide her sniffing about. The disgusting aromas around her are now examined in great detail, for she does her best to separate, cataglogue, and identify themand build a mental map of the room drawn in the smells of decay and filth.

    It's a map that she'll be keen on ditching as soon as possible.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "There was a Shadow in this room," Ainsley points out, urgency growing in her voice. "They leave traces. I can tell it was here."

    Her head turns. She seems distracted away from the laptop for a second.

    "There's a Shadow in the building right now."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Well, they're investigating Holden's room - and Yuna isn't really sure what she can DO to lend to the investigation. There isn't anything jumping out at her as obvious. If anything, the lack of moldy food in the kitchen might just mean that Holden is particularly tidy about putting food away that isn't being used to cook, or to eat straight.

With that thought in mind, Yuna checks the refrigerator's contents to see if anything is in there that's expired by, oh, a week or more. That's the only thing she can really think of that the others aren't checking already.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa arrives in Holden's room and she's likely lucky she didn't go to the other from twhat's up on the radio. It seems to be a normal room that one might expect a teenager to liv in as people goes about? She'd going to go over to the lap top, thankfully she should be able to access it remotly while Staren also takes a look at it and she's getting well conerned now there's something really wrong here and she's not liking it.

August Kohler has posed:
August keeps a lookout while the others go through Holden's stuff. KYuna finds that some food is about to expire, but none expired a week ago. It looks pretty tidy in there, too.

Kotone's search into the laptop finds that it was last used five days ago. There's a document opened for a permission slip to leave, but it's unfinished. Additionally, poking through his files finds a 'receipts list'. Holden has apparently been paying thousands of dollars a month...to Klaus Bruckheim. It does not say what for.

Holden's journal gives some good information. First, he's frustrated at Bruckheim, dated /six/ days ago, which is off a day and means he was not the victim. Apparently, Holden went to Bruckheim to 'buy the sheets', but Bruckheim gave no answer, and he wasn't able to get a hold of him. He's particularly frustrated, because as of five days ago, he was heading to his family's house in Berlin for a get together. He mentions how he forgot to finish the permission slip to send to the school in time, but 'they won't care anyways, I'm Scholar's List'. Something suspicious is going on, but it seems that Bruckheim is missing, not Holden.

August Kohler has posed:
Bruckheim's room is indeed just a teenager who does not clean his room, or apparently allow anyone to clean it. Ainsley's search into the laptop finds some stuff. First, there's an entire folder titled 'work'. Digging into this folder finds...assignments. Question sheets, to be exact, as well as notes on what the likely answer is. These are all dated past the last week. Additionally, in another document is a list of 'customers'. Thousands of dollars, with little tags such as 'math test', 'history', 'english', 'german'. Not only is Craig Holden's name in there, but of the five names, if Janine was to take a look; they're all Scholar's List. Nothing on the computer has been touched in over a week. No files, no downloads, no uploads, even the internet history goes back farther. (Though he also uses incognito, so that's not very reliable.)

His notes were actually in the middle of being written! They seem to be more journals, and the latest page is about how there's a 'new asshole' working in administration, and it's going to be difficult to get the test answers he needs. He considers upping his rates for 'difficulty', but then the writing just stops, abruptly. The pencil is lying on the paper.

Finna is able to seperate the smells, though they're still off. What she can smell is: a Shadow, one that she has smelled before, and could likely figure out if she took some time to think on it. A human boy. And his tracks, leading into the bathroom, where they stop abruptly.

No one has been in the kitchen for a week, minimum. That is not the most important thing Emily finds, though. As she travels into the bathroom (which is super filthy), she'll notice that there's some trails of disturbed dust. They lead even onto the sink...all the way back to the large bathroom mirror, big enough to fit a person. Someone climbed this sink.

A minute after this information however, things change. Ainsley can sense the Shadow, but it's too late. It's outside the door, and it's coming their way. Finna can smell it, vaguely. It smells...both human and Shadow. Noises are made as it checks the lock, before fully opening the door. And then, someone peers in, blinking slowly as he cocks his head.

It's Klaus Bruckheim. German male, estimately 16. Short, height fits the missing person. But something's off. He pings as a Shadow. While he smells mostly human, Finna's nose is strong. Whatever she's smelling is /not human/. He looks perfectly like a human boy. But he looks...off. There's something unsettling about him.

Klaus walks into the room, looks around at the group, and heads for the kitchen, grabbing a moldy cup of drink and downing it, slowly. The drink moves slowly down his throat, as he loudly swallows it. And then, licking his lip briefly, he turns back to the others, smiling widely.

"May I help you?"

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    No sooner has Ainsley spoken than Emily is standing up straight, rigidly so. Her entire demeanor is suddenly tense, as if they had stepped into the Forest itself. She immediately turns to look around the room once again, this time appraising it for threats. That's when Klaus enters the room.

    No sooner has the freakish thing spoken than Emily Branford is just suddenly /there/, beside him. At least, to anyone with ordinary eyes. To those who can see more keenly, it's inhuman speed that brings her there. She doesn't allow for time to react from pretty much anyone; she's immediately moving with a textbook close-quarters move, attempting to get 'Klaus' to the ground with an arm pinned behind his back and her own around his neck. "We'll have none of that, ghastly thing."

Staren has posed:
    The moment Ainsley says there's a shadow in the building, Staren looks around in alarm. One hand goes to his belt-buckle... but, perhaps he doesn't need to transform his backup armor yet. Still, he allows his armored labcoat to form over his clothes as he peers out of the room.

    When Janine announces on the radio that 'someone's here', Staren starts running for their position.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    "Oh god, really?" Janine intones as the notes suddenly stop. "He got caught in the middle of writing notes? This is some horror movie bullshit. Anyway, yeah this guy was totally running a cheating ring. Apparently a new administrator was making it ha-"

    Someone turning the door handle.

    Janine starts to panic, putting those notes back in line, hissing "Turn the laptop off!" and trying her best to look as innocent as possible. Yeah, good luck there.

    As the supposedly taken boy strides right in, her mind goes blank. All those half-formed lies to explain their presence falls away. How is he here? Were they wrong?

    And now Emily is trying to take him down, faster than she can even blink. "Shit!"

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna's nose wrinkles several times as she patrols the room, tracking down the sources of various unusual scents... but then her ears perk, she lifts her snout to the air and sniffs...

    ... oh, he's here.

    Although a bit startled, she shows little of it and simply turns around while he enters the room. Why a white-furred fox is in here... he can likely only guess. But it's staring straight into his eyes.

    ... And suddenly...

    "Filth." Speaketh the white fox. This may or may not be such a strange thing though to 'Klaus' here, given what Finna's smelling. "Lixing in luxury some would KILL for... squandering it, spoiling it..."

    The fox snarls throatily and bounds up onto a perch - the bed, a couch, a desk - something to get closer to eye level, whatever's available.

    But just as she's about to condemn him more... well, there goes Emily.

    "Human and Shadow from one source... possession? A deal? Whatever you are, know this. The monsters that hunt men... are MY PREY. So talk. Or I'll start with a kidney."

    The fox grins. It's an eerie, awful grin, lips spread impossibly wildly and a jagged collection of razor teeth glistening - wait, no, that's just a trick of the light, right?

    ... had Emily not gone full out forceful, she'd have probably tried getting chummy or a a flattering approach. But, well, circumstances.

    And something about the stench of Shadows gets her heckles raised.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "He's the Shadow," Ainsley confirms, turning when Finna ends up pointing it out, staring right at Bruckheim with a great amount of wariness. She hadn't panicked the same way Janine had when the door was opening. She steps away enough so that she can get a good look at 'Bruckheim,' and she focuses on him entirely. She reaches deep to find emotions and his current state... is he really a Shadow?

    Ainsley isn't cool with being in a small room with something that has, in the past, been capable of seriously hurting her. Shadows are no joke! She has her own form of tension, the intensity of her speech very easy to read.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
And this, thinks Yuna, is why they split into two groups to check out the remaining 'suspects'. She closes the refrigerator, heads out of Holden's dorm room at a brisk walk, and makes her way to Bruckheim's room ... probably along with the rest of those who were checking out Holden's room, maybe not the fastest of them.

Normally she would already be transforming, but there's a piece of her that's going 'civilians may still be around, no reason to freak them out *yet*. And she's aware at the same moment that she could be wrong about 'no reason to freak out civilians' - it all depends on what the Shadow wants, or what it does in response to whatever the others are doing (read: Emily pulling a fast takedown, Finna getting all intimidate-y)

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is going to try to copy the data from the laptop here she'll save it and get ready to move. She's now making ready to get going their time is running out and she knows it's time to go, hoepefuklly once she gets the data. She's going to move to depart she doesn't wnat to stay here any longer and her comrdes might need some help.

August Kohler has posed:
Klaus is certainly a Shadow, but he is not possessed. He reads the exact same as the Herald: a Shadow born of a human, but as a seperate body. He looks slightly confused because people are in his room, but doesn't look like he's going to start anything because of it.

Until Emily charges at him with blinding speed.

As Emily charges at him, she'll notice something: not only can he see her, he's capable of tracking her movement despite her speed. And as soon as she starts moving with the intent to attack him...he screams. "Someone! Help! HELP! I'M BEING ATTAC-" belts out as loud as possible, stopped when Emily gets a chokehold on him (rather easily, too). He stares with fear at Finna's teeth, like he's almost going to shit himself. It's not clear if this is faked or not.

At this point, August has reached the room, rushing over as soon as the call of 'someone's at the door' was made. And as he passes by, he sees other doors moving, and people coming down the hall. The scream was loud enough to be heard in the entire dorm, as students and faculty alike peek out to see what's going on. With the amount of them there are, it'll be difficult to make up any stories, as August forces himself into the room, sweat dripping down his face as he panics.

"Guys, people are coming! They're gonna see us! We need to get out of here, now!" His eyes dart around the room for an exit, mostly because the hallway is not a good one. And then, they land on the bathroom...and the mirror inside. "We...need to get out of here, now, or we're going to be ID'd...the mirror...is the only way out, isn't it?"

August Kohler has posed:
As the group decides to take the Mirror, August runs for the bathroom, opening a portal to the Mirror, and sliding in. He can open it long enough for the others to split in.

The mirror is still dark. It's clearing up, though, slowly. Klaus might still be alive...but not for long.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa doesn't like it she doens't like having to go into the mirror but what choice doe she have. Sure she'd be fast enough they'd have a hard time spotting her if she lept out the window but then again that would be telling. There's no one native to this world known publicly that could move that fast. Though speaking of that fast? Kotone hauls her robotic rear for all it's worth and she's diving on into the mirror at least they can get to the safe house, right? Either way they got to find Klaus before it's too late.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Oh. Ainsley acts quickly, but not quickly enough. She reaches out with a spell to silence the Shadow, and then with a warping in the air around her, she dampens any sound coming out of the room as best her magic will allow. Her magic isn't necessarily about sound, though. Ainsley moves after that, scrambling to get through the mirror with everyone else, trusting someone else to handle grabbing Klaus and bringing him through the mirror.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    There were many things Emily Branford was expecting; 'the Shadow has human-enough intelligence to scream for help in a dorm full of people' is not one of them. Janine gets a rare look at her butler's expression in something akin to shock.

    But it passes quickly. August has a suggestion; Finna offered similar, but the Lunar's refuge will just dump them back out here. No good. So into the Forest without preparation they must go. With a careful shift of her weight, Emily attempts to get to her feet, still keeping Shadow Klaus as 'suppressed' as she can keep him. She's used to dealing with fairly strong creatures, enough so that she's got a pretty good grasp (ha) of keeping leverage and preventing him from using his strength.

    It's still possible that he could escape, though, or at least make it incredibly difficult to drag him, and if he does too much of that, she'll abandon him and just dive in. Otherwise, she means to haul him in with her.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
And there's the alarm getting raised, or close enough to it ... *BY* the Shadow-disguised-as-human. And Yuna is keenly aware that the whole group was likely seen in the main lounge, and talking to Helga about these two boys ...

No help for it now. There's a quick decision to head into the Mirror Forest; Elner teleports into the dorm room where August has opened the portal, and as soon as Yuna can get there and dive through, the little robo-faerie follows right behind her. As soon as Yuna sets foot in the Forest, Elner will initiate her transformation, leaving the blonde in her Light Suit - she'll at least be able to protect herself in the Mirror Forest, and she'll be able to do something to protect her allies if push comes to shove.

Finna (513) has posed:
Hearing the scampering and panic... Finna can only GLARE at the ShadowKlaus... before bounding for the mirror with the others on all fours. LEAP!

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Oh this son of a bitch.

    The moment he starts yelling, Janine starts sweating. They have no excuse. If they get caught, the weirder members of the party will be unmasked, everything will unravel... NO.

    "Mirror, go!" she barks, sprinting into the bathroom with more speed that her frail form should be capable of, to leap right through!

    And without her sword too. This is bad.

Staren has posed:
    Staren follows August into the room.

    But he's got a problem: Without his real armor, he's a squishy human (well, close enough). He doesn't have innate magic powers, or personas. He has WAY TOO MANY GUNS, it's true, but... thinking back to the giant they fought... If that thing landed a hit on him without his armor, he might well be dead.

    It's too risky.

    He hasn't survived ten years in the Multiverse by being careless!

    "I'll by you guys a little more time!" he hisses, pulling the door closed behind him and locking it. "Meet you at the cabin!" He goes to the dorm window, opens it, steps out of sight of the window, changes to a cat of some color other than black, nearly pukes at the smells assaulting his POOR KITTY NOSE, hops up onto the sill, takes a breath of fresh air, and leaps down. Only people looking right at him as he falls would see stylized energy wings appear for just a tiny fracrion of a second, slowing his fall slightly.

    Staren-kitty bounds across the grass, looking for someplace secluded to teleport from. He'll have to meet up with them again later!

August Kohler has posed:
The Mirror was the safest option for not getting caught. It was the least safe option for not getting injured. Mirrors do not all lead the same place, there is a network of entrances and exits, and no one (except the Shadows) have used this mirror before.

Klaus is easily grabbed. Even if he's a Shadow, he's not using the strength, not yet atleast. Emily is easily able to force him to come with her, especially if she threatens him and pulls tightly. He seems scared, but it's hard to tell what he really feels; he just keeps mumbling the name Adelle.

So the group tumbles out of a large log made of solid reflective glass, in the middle of the clearing. It is not a clearing they've seen before, either. The Pig is not here: he waits for the group near the shack clearing. They have no easy way to trace back.

The mirror is still dark, but slowly getting lighter. If they go by the past, Klaus may be alive. But he's also on his way to dying. If they want to save him, they'd have to act now; too much waiting and he'll surely die.

And then, as they all get their bearings and look around, they'll see it, not far in the distance. Close enough that they could walk the path themselves.

A massive castle, made of non-euclidean shapes and colored a moldy dark green. It is massive, it is brilliantly designed, and there seems to be, from here, no entrance.

It is also reeking with the scent of Shadow. And the trace scents of man. Klaus Bruckheim is inside this castle. And so is whoever took him.

Only time will tell if they can save him.