Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Shotaro Hidari The Narumi Detective Office, from the outside, is a large building.  Above it is a sign that advertises it, with a pair of pool sticks and pool balls.  Inside, there is a hall that takes you to it, to a metal door when opened leads into a room that is a waiting room.  The walls here are lime green, with two windows on the right-hand side.  

There is a pair of red chairs at the back of the wall that holds the door, and a small table with dining room chairs opposite the chairs.  Near the chairs is a dresser, with various nick nacks on it.  There is a light with a fan in the middle of the room, with two smaller lights over reach table that hang from the ceiling.  

Across from this room, farther back into the building.  This room is white, with various dressers and bookshelves on one side, with a table that is higher up, with stools next to it.  More nick-knacks sit on the dressers and bookshelves.  On one side of the room is a black desk with an office chair behind it.  Above that is a series of boxes with files in them, with a ladder for easy reaching.  

Separating each side of the back room is a clock that looks like a windmill.  Behind the desk is also a checkboard wall, giving a bit more of a 'this is the office' part of the office.  In the chair is Shotaro, a hat on his head as he's reading over something.  His body is still bandaged up quite a bit.  Philip is sitting at the raised table, legs curled up so he can focus on his book.  The book is some sort of history of rice book, apparently still absorbed in his quest.  

Akiko greets people at the door, inviting them into the first room, and Shotaro will get up with some effort to sit down in the greeting room once people start to arrive.  He tilts his hat to people who show up, observing and waiting for the guest to arrive.  Akiko is more active, asking if anyone wants anything to drink, chatting, perhaps being OVERLY chatty.

Philip only moves to turn the page and is not likely going to move.  
Forte Juno.EXE (just Juno for short) arrives at the appointed time. Actually, he arrives fifteen minutes before, inconspicuously studying the building, the passers by, and a minute observing the pattern of the weather (as if making sure that it's real weather and not a hologram or a Truman Show-esque dome).

When he does actually make his way in properly, he asks for a water, and then hangs his trenchcoat up beside the door - underneath, he still looks mostly human, but the fat that he doesn't have any shoulders is a dead giveaway that he's not quite stock standard. Akiko gets acknowledged, as does Shotaro, and he assumes that Philip is some sort of animatronic of a person reading and doesn't acknowledge him.

"The distress signal," he says, once seated. "Is not coming from 'your' Forte. I have managed to go back and figure that out by triangulating the signal, but it's coming from my world so I have to assume it is 'my' Forte."

"Which... puts me in an awkward position. Of having assaulted your base for inaccurate reasons... and being back at square one of my investigation."
Gareth Gareth's arrival is heralded by the rustling of plastic bags and the stomping of fuzzy boots as she knocks on the door to the detective agency. Akiko's greeting is met with enthusiasm from the young-ish knight, and she's quick to reveal the gifts she's brought today: FOOD STAND ITEMS. She's unfamiliar with the region, after all, so opting to just buy a bit of everything seemed like a good plan aside from the part where she needs to actually find space for all this food.

At least nobody (that eats human food) will have to worry about going hungry tonight.

"Good eve, friends and all! I hope you're all doing better than in our last encounter." She asks of each person present, notably checking on Shotaro like some kind of worried younger sister despite the high-ish likelihood of her being older than him.

"Ah, so it really is from another Forte that's not our Forte! Who..." She raises a hand briefly, then strokes her chin. "I don't believe I've met him yet. Still." She strokes her chin a few more times as she considers Juno's revelations and his admissions, laughing after a moment. "Don't worry! It's all water under the bridge, Sir Juno. Now, if we're going to find your Forte, though..."

"Where did this distress call come from? Was there a message with it, or... Maybe a map or a picture that might reveal his whereabouts at the time?"
Shotaro Hidari Shotaro waves to both, though he doesn't get up.  He'll be better in a bit more time, but he tries to at least keep an air of 'not as bad as it looks when it is exactly as bad as it looks.  Gareth fusses over him, and he gently tries to wave her off, though likely is to lose this battle.  "It's fine, and I've had more time to heal.  They haven't opened up since the...encounter." he indicates Juno.  

"It's alright," Shotaro says to Juno.  Juno will likely notice Philip's eyes look over the top of the book for a moment but then are buried back in his book a bit later.  It's not shifty, he just lost focus on his book for a moment, then regained it once he saw who was here.  

Akiko, helps Gareth with the snacks, setting them out on the table with a smile.  Why is she so happy?  It's a client.  A client means money.  Money means the place stays open another day.  Also, she's just good at customer service.  "So where are you from?" Akiko says, not entirely up on the details.  

"That is a question I want to build on, what lead you to believe it was our Forte, despite the fact that yours had sent a distress signal for you to triangulate?" he shifts in his chair to lean in slightly.  "And what can you tell us about the distress signal, and where it might lead?" he asks, curious as to what was going on.  

And why this Forte was captured, when their's is beyond strong enough to hold his own.  
Forte To Gareth: "It was short. The header information indicated distress, the metadata was cryptographically accurate, but the body-"

Juno pauses, and adjusts down for a non-technical audience. "The... form of the message was a distress signal, but the contents were scrambled."

"I'll get to where precisely it's coming from in a minute - it's part of why I'm here and didn't go to the source myself."

To Akiko: "The internet. Or alternatively: Cossak Active Security."

"I'd known of your Forte for some time, through various news reports about his actions. And triangulating the source of the signal took some time, effort, and risk - I had assumed it was safe to assume that your Forte, the only one I knew of throughout the mutliverse at the time, was the source of the signal."

"The message itself, you can verify if you'd like," says Juno, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a pair of disks, which he reaches over wirelessly to place in front of Shotaro. "One has the distress signal, the other has Forte's public key - the, ah, explanation for why the latter proves the former is genuine is complicated and it gets into asymetric cryptography principles, but if you take those two disks to any expert they'll tell you that what I'm saying is true."
Gareth "Good! I'd have to... Well, I'm not your keeper, but I'm sure you'd make your friends worry a lot if you did!" Gareth reiterates to Shotaro while gesturing broadly at Philip and Akiko, eventually setting her mind back on the task at hand as more questions are set forth regarding the distress signal.

Juno, thankfully, dumbs things down enough for even Gareth to actually understand. "A coded message, then! Or perhaps some kind of cipher?" She suggests, peering at those disks when they're brought out. "But even finding out it was from Forte and-rather, a Forte, must've been a difficult task the begin with. And tracing it all the way to such a location... Hm. But I can't imagine him sending out such a call without either..."

Gareth trails off, grabbing a drink for herself before taking a seat. "Either..." She's clearly been trying to come up with something through that whole process. "Um... Oh! Without either being in truly dire straits, or someone knowing that you or his other friends would come searching."

She narrows her eyes, trying to look vaguely cooler and more inquisitive. "Do you have any enemies, Sir Juno? Those that might want to trick you into coming to blows with us over such a misunderstanding?"
Shotaro Hidari Shotaro leans back, hearing the information and processing it the best that he can.  He does take the disk from Juno when offered, putting it in his breast pocket for later.  So far, this checks out, but when he mentions the where and needs a moment to explain Shotaro nods.  

"I imagine it's dangerous, or at least dangerous to you, correct?" Shotaro asks.  Meanwhile, Akiko looks bewildered, "You're from /the internet/!" she says, which isn't a joke, because that hasn't been made here yet.  Probably...

"Well, unless someone faked the key.." Shotaro starts, but Philip speaks up to interrupt Shotaro, "Not likely, something that complicated, something to be used as ID would have to be done in such a way to not easily be replicable, and a digital one would have to be next to impossible if not practically impossible to replicate."

Shotaro nods, "So simply put, it is definitely real.  So where is this place that you decided you needed allies to handle?  Also, when did Forte disappear in your world, and what circumstances surrounded that?"
Forte "It's possible it was a setup." says Juno. "And please, just Juno, I haven't been knighted, and we do have knights and nobility among our client list."

"... The... well, I was going to lead up to this, but the source location of the distress signal is SciLab's headquarters, in my world. They are the..."

Juno thinks of a good way to phrase this. "Government R&D combined with the Internet Police. The sort that the Watch would not get along with, I would say, but I suppose that is up to you to determine."

He sits back. "The reason I cannot go investigate myself, is because several of their personnel and subsidiaries are on our client list. I'd be putting the company's livelihood in danger - and also it is significantly dangerous, yes. So along with an offer to hire you to investigate it, I have a few things to offer to blunt the danger a little bit..."

"... And the circumstances are... a long story."

"Forte - he went by another name, I am not sure if 'my' Forte is using that name still or if he also changed it. Bass.EXE. There was an incident, years before my birth, that lead to Bass leaving our father and never once making an attempt at contact. How he got, presumably, captured by Scilab is... unknown."
Gareth "Very well! Juno it is." Nodding once, Gareth sips her fizzy drink while taking in more of Juno's answers to so many of their questions at once. The danger is clarified rather quickly, and Juno's connection to the very place that his Forte might be held has the knight grimacing visibly.

"That does make things a lot more complicated.... Ech. Someone like yourself wouldn't be able to just head inside and raise hell without bringing it back to your employers." She furrows her brow for a moment, then snaps her fingers. "Oh! But if your employers and this SciLab are working together, then surely they'd be able to let you in to see if he is really in there, right? I mean, they wouldn't want someone they're working with to have mixed thoughts about a kidnapping situation, right?"

She looks hopeful at that, at least, even if the slight slump afterwards suggests she's expecting that not to work.

"Forte, Bass... Hmm. And a bad relationship with his father... Oh! That would explain the reaction he had to your last message." A beat. "Our Forte, I mean. So that much might be the same, even if that doesn't really help us narrow things down at all..."

Another snap of her fingers. "Would your father have any information, you think? Even if they're not on good terms, I can't imagine anyone turning a blind eye if their family is in danger liek this."
Shotaro Hidari Shotaro starts filing things away mentally.  The police of this world, or some of them, potentially have Forte of their world there...and he let a distress signal out.  Shotaro wonders about this, but right now he keeps his opinion to himself as his client shares what they can.  "So he left home, and the terms were obviously not good..." he nods to Gareth, "Yes, that does explain that."

"This Scilab and your father's company work together in some way, so it'd be bad if any of this splashed back on your father.  Does he know you are here persuing this?  Or that Forte released a distress signal from /inside/ Scilab?"

Shotaro eyes Philip, already a plan is forming, but right now they'd need more information.  Likely more investigation of the world, of what they could find of Forte there, and on Cossak.  "So is there anything else you can tell us?"
Forte "I have access to most of his files. And he..."

Juno hesitates. "Doesn't know that I'm here. The relationship is... complicated, in both directions. I hope I can resolve it, but... it'd be a lot easier to resolve with Bass free and, hopefully, in a grateful mood for being rescued?"

Juno looks down at his water, being held in a disconnected hand.

"But - no. I'm not sure we can count on our father's help, even if we did involve him. I'm approaching you as an individual - an individual who can pay, and who can provide equipment."

He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a bunch of bulky cell phones. "The primary mode of... combat and similar interaction in my world is via AI assistants called Network Navigators - netnavi, or just navi. I've configured these, along with a lightweight version of my father's 'Get Ability' program - if you carry these with you for about a week, they'll generate a navi for you that should be able to use your unique skills and abilities. I can't say how much use they'll be outside of my world, but in there you'll be able to blend in a bit better."

"Please don't let me dictate your approach or what strategies you employ, but - they're available if they'll be of use to you."
Gareth "Does it have to be? Complicated, I mean." Gareth asks with a more straightforward tone, scrunching up her face after a moment. "It's not as if you've disavowed your connection to him entirely, right? I mean, if you're still calling him your father rather than a stranger entirely..."

She sighs after a moment, looking somewhat saddened by the situation even with the mention of pay. "But.. Alright. IT is still a job, and there's still someone in trouble. It wouldn't be right to refuse." After finishing her drink, Gareth claps her hands on her knees before getting up to get a closer look at one of those phones.

"So they're like... Smaller versions of yourself that fight for you? I wonder if mine would be better at understanding all this internet stuff." She muses aloud, then looks over at Shotaro. "But would yours have the hat? Or would it have the mask?"

She looks oddly excited just thinking about it, and she turns back to Juno quickly afterwards. "Oh! And would they be able to come out here like you have? Even if they're not combat-capable, it might be..."

She trails off, just staring at Juno blankly as she struggles to comprehend anything further past that.
Forte "That's another weird thing, before the whole multiverse thing people like me were stuck inside computers, more or less," says Juno. "Then one day the warpgates appear, and that changes along with it. They still haven't figured that out, or... if they have, then whoever knows isn't telling."

"... The tabloids talk about ancient internet gods, but that's... just so far fetched and absurd that it's probably wrapped around to the truth."
Shotaro Hidari Shotaro takes two phones and tosses one towards Philip, who catches it without even tearing his eyes away from the book.  Philip does appear to be paying attention, despite looking like he's doing anything BUT that.  Though Shotaro does take a moment to eye his bulky cell phone.  "Huh...haven't seen one of these in a while.  Though we usually don't need a standard cell phone."  

A small robot that looks like a stag beetle steps into the table, and transforms into a slightly bulky flip phone, before transforming back.  "And he loves to show it off.." Philip says with a laugh.  Shotaro shrugs at Gareth, "Not sure...no actually I take that back, It'll have to have the hat."

"I understand, you are doing this without your father's knowledge, in case something goes wrong and you're implicated in anything...it will likely be easier for him to disavow you.." he muses, "...And also to do this without him saying no, correct?" Shotaro guesses, though the situation is complex, it's not something he's never experienced before, even considering the internet part.

"It is fine, I will avoid getting your father involved as a courtesy to my client," Shotaro says, tipping his hat.  He also listens to the details of the program, to which the book shuts and Philip has suddenly gained a new obsession for the moment.  He walks over and takes hold of the get ability program, and starts looking it over as if trying to divine its secrets.

"Not everything is black and white, Ser Gareth," Shotaro says, "Not every relationship is easy, especially if someone was hurt.  Hearts are...complicated things, even for those who are the most straightforward."

"Well...a week huh?  Good, we'll need it now.." Shotaro says with a bit of a sigh, "Oh the other hand he'll be very knowledgeable with this in that time.."  Confusing Philip with a living computer is absolutely not hard at this point.  "If you can, though...and you don't have to do it right now, just giving me the information in a document is good...but tell me what you can about your Forte."

Shotaro leans back, "If they are the police, I would imagine if it's something he has done it'd be public and you'd know based on what you told us of your program.  So I'm concerned that this is something not above board, and if they're with the local government, it might become more complicated very fast...so anything I can know will help me with how to approach this."
Forte "The short version..."

"... Dr. Cossak was one of the scientists working on the early version of the internet. He was also developing three side projects... while others had developed the Network Navigator system, which needs a human Network Operator partner - navi and operator, for short - he had created a sort of... plugin for a navi, to remove the need for a human operator. The 'Autonavi' system."

"Along with that he made the Get Ability system - which you may have seen in action already, so I won't go over it. And finally he made Bass.EXE, his own personal navi - and loaded him up with both of his other projects, and bid him to help with the creation of the new internet."

"Bass's function was the same as mine is now - a penetration tester. Someone who... well, it is basically like hiring a thief to break into your own building, so that you know what parts of it to strengthen in order to keep real thieves from breaking in and taking things. Except Bass was... very good at what he did, and he was zealous about it, and he tended to... break more things than he needed to."
Shotaro Hidari Everyone single one of the detective agency at once gives Juno a single nod the moment he mentions that Bass was zealous, and that he broke more things that he needed to. All of them at once.
Gareth "Don't fret, Juno. This has been a strange situation for myself and countless others, I imagine." Gareth grins as she says that, puffing up her chest just a bit. "Why, I shouldn't even be here, but here I am, alive and well! And... Not fighting over the Holy Grail, even. Maybe we're just really lucky!"

Finding her unwarranted cheer again, she gawks at the stag beetle that comes out and jumps a bit when it transforms into a phone, then compares hers with it. "Oh, wow... Maybe you'll be able to get two, if you bring your beetle phone and one of these! And then maybe you'll have one with a mask and a hat."

The topic goes back to Juno's father, and Gareth once again seems as willful as ever. "It's complicated, for sure, but does it really have to be? I mean..." She scratches her cheek lightly while grabbing another drink. "One of my brothers killed me back when we were together in England, but I don't hold it against him."

Juno explains Bass.EXE's creation, and that has Gareth simmering down considerably. "That sounds sort of like... Hm. Yeah, no, that... Yeah." She joins the detective agency in nodding, as though it's suddenly making perfect sense to her as well. "No wonder they're... Complicated."
Forte "... I see that hasn't changed."

"All of that... possibly could have been smoothed over, overlooked, but Bass was rather vocal as well, and rubbed certain people the wrong way, and ultimately Dr. Cossak was forced to put him in isolation and place a power limiter on him for a time."

"... And then something else went wrong. I don't know what it was that happened, the matter is classified, but the internet suffered some sort of... natural disaster. As inaccurate as that term is for an artificial construct, that's the most descriptive things I've heard about whatever it was that happened."

"Bass got blamed for it. They said it must have been something he did, something he broke, or his Autonavi or Get Ability programs must have done something - and so they went to execute him. They were scared of what was happening, but... well, there was no excuse for it. It was mob justice, aimed at someone innocent."

Juno's free hand clenches, and he sets his water down.

"... I saw the security footage. That much isn't classified. The security navis come into his cell. They speak some angry words. Taunting words. They say that Cossak's set Bass up in this cell, with the power limiters on, to die. Bass, I think, assumes... that they mean that dad sent them."

The other fist clenches.

"... And then Bass, even with the power limiter on, manages to break free, kill them all, and carve his way out of SciLab. Not before taking what looked like lethal wounds."
Shotaro Hidari 'My brother killed me and I don't hold it against him!' To which Shotaro and Akiko both stare at her like she grew a third head.  Shotaro coughs, "Well, not many people can say that, honestly.  You must have a lot of love for everyone to be able to forgive your own murder." Akiko looks like she's going to burst into tears, giving Gareth a hug.  

Shotaro listens, slightly horrified at the story.  While it might be considered reasonable that Bass needed to have restraint placed on him like this made it seem like he was unwanted.  Worse, he was designed to do something, and he did it...but with an intensity that wasn't expected.  That...

Well, it's too early to make judgments, Forte IS rather...Forte about things, but rather that is more a cause of or just a continued form of his personality...

"Strange, that the trail heads back into Scilab, if he escaped.  If they wanted him dead, then they'd have just terminated him where they caught him, right?  There is something not right here, rather with our assumptions, or because we don't know something critical."

"Well, give me time to prepare, and I'll start the investigation.  I think looking into a few things might shed more light...and perhaps we should ask a bit loudly, to see if anyone comes to try and Squash it, once we have what information we need."
Gareth "Major glitches! Oh, I remember reading about this Y2J thing that scared people a while back, so maybe it was something like that?"

It sounds sensible to Gareth, at least. She opens her mouth to think aloud about something else, but is thankfully interrupted by Akiko going right for her. "Ah! L-Lady Akiko, it's okay! I'm alright now!" She laughs, and she settles into the hug moments later, clearly enjoying that attention. "Besides, it was a... It was a rough patch for everyone involved."

That, at least, sounds a little awkward even for her. Definitely hiding something there.

"But... it does sound like what happened between the doctor and Bass really might have been a case of miscommunication. Or intentionally trying to rile him up, if they taunted him like that." Gareth clenches her fist briefly, then relaxes it just as quickly afterwards.

"That does make things a lot trickier, then. But... Ah, one thing at a time!" Gareth claps her hands together, jumping a bit upon remembering that she had a drink in her other hand and nearly smashing it all over herself. "We'll recover your brother, and then we'll sort out the family situation when the coast is clear!