Scene #8524: Mail Delivery Strike Force

Owner	Pose
Hiromi	Hiromi's official post office box, as easily discoverable from Concord elite directories -- and through other, less reputable means -- takes one to what is, geographically, part of the Great Ocean, though that's not obvious by looking around. The ocean being as vast as it is, it isn't strange that people still call it that despite the number of small continents it contains. This location is far enough from shore that the only water in sight are the rivers flowing from the mountains, falling down cliffs, and joining into wider and deeper body to head out to sea. Should one travel far enough to the east or west, one would find rivers flowing from the sea to the mountains, but that's not important right now, nor are the little sailboats the focus of today's excursion. Walk down the rocky foot trails, pass between a pair of red-painted wooden posts with two larger crossing beams -- a gate not attached to any walls, likely only of symbolic purpose -- and one will eventually find a walled compound of terraced, sloping roofs. The gate inside is open, and the walls aren't that high, besides. For that matter, there's no need to go inside. There's a drop box of some kind a little ways from the main entrance, with wooden slats to make it harder to get things out again, and a rain covering just high enough to stand under. The postal directions go straight here, and say to drop all letters in the 'offertory box,' whatever that means. By the box is a brass bell with an attached rope, such that pulling on the rope will swing it side-to-side. One would have to travel just a little farther to spot the people inside, wearing their monochromatic robes, all in earthy tones.
Angela	Cinder initially wrote and sent a letter to Hiromi! She never got a response so her initial instincts were along the lines of 'she's busy or isn't interested'. But then it seemed like she didn't actually GET the letter at all. From a Concord PO BOX?! Cinder assumes that there may be MEMBERS OF THE WATCH that are stealing the mail and just to make sure THIS letter arrives properly, she has enlisted Petra's aid in ensuring the letter reaches its destination. Between herself and Petra--she doubts that there will be any issues in catching the mail thieves! Or, at least, that's her initial instinct. Once she realizes that a sailing trip is involved in reaching the destination of what she's calling 'Hiromi's Mailbox', she's starting to suspect it's actually all too possible that the mail simply got lost. The long rocky foot trail they take once they actually reach the mountain island ...village? Monastery? Regardless, once they are on that route she admits, "Okay." softly. "Maybe it really did just get lost in the mail." She has a backpackers bag with her and has brought her full set of EGO Gear with her--in case she needs to fight mail thieves! The ashen suit she wears isn't the most comfortable to wear, especially since she has to deal with little whispers incouraging self immolation (particularly wihle she was on the boat made of wood), but she seems to also kind of... ...be treating this as one of the multiversal excursions to a nice place she and Petra have talked about before. "I had no idea she lived in such a beautiful place." Cinder says. What was she imagining? She's not sure, but nothing quite as epic as that. Her feet are starting to ache by the time they find the offertory box. Cinder looks at it blankly, then down to her letter (it's sealed with little matchstickers) and she says, "Is this it?" She walks around the box thoughtfully studying it before sliding the letter in and ringing the bell. "I guess we can follow whomever collects it?" She suggests. Her BACKUP letter is still in her jacket pocket.
Petra Soroka	Petra starts to worry that she's testing Angela's patience with her. First the date on Sunday, and now this today; Cinder is being given more allowances at L-Corp than any other agent, because of her association with Petra. Petra does sort of revel in the special treatment herself, but she's starting to worry a little that Angela will resent her for expecting it to be extended to Cinder. But, Petra offered to take Cinder's seemingly-stolen mail alone and Cinder wanted to come, and who was Petra to say no to a coworker-who-she-had-been-on-one-date-with? And if they were beseiged by mail thieves, then... well, fighting in front of Cinder did feel kind of good, a little bit. A sailing trip later, and Petra is at once extremely aware of how much easier the trip would be with the Kana, and incredibly grateful that she doesn't have it. Petra is enthralled by the wind and water, luxuriating in the open air the entire trip. "Have you ever even, like, seen the ocean before? I mean, Angela hadn't, and..." The City is technically coastal, but it's so enormous that Petra doesn't even know that, and it's dozens and dozens of miles from the L-Corp HQ to the coast. "I guess there was that one lake, with Ohma Zi-O. But the ocean is different." Hiking along the mountain trails with Cinder, Petra quietly nods in agreement, automatically respecting the solemn air of the island. "Yeah. I mean... she is, like, a god. I met one of her followers once." Petra could hike here for days before getting bored or tired, but the signs of exhaustion on Cinder are noticeable by the time they find the box, so she's about as equally grateful as she is disappointed. "Well, if you followed them, we'd end up seeing her in person, right? Wouldn't the letter be... redundant?" Petra thinks for a moment, realizing that she's completely unsure of what the point of the letter or its delivery is. The Archwolf probably doesn't need fan mail. "Well, I guess I'd... I mean, she talked about... fighting again, so.... I actually fought her before, a long time ago. Along with others, obviously. She beat the shit out of me and still would." This line of reasoning is enough for Petra to silently support Cinder's decision, lingering around the box. Until someone comes, Petra waits near the structure, looking around a little dreamily, closing her eyes for stretches of time to absorb the atmosphere.
Hiromi	This place certainly isn't The City. The air is clean and the weather's downright pleasant. Most of the water nearby is swiftly flowing over stone, and likely potable. Further down, the greater presence of nature might become more choking, but that's not much of a concern on a mountain trail, even if pollen season hadn't come and gone. Whether one could recognize the man who comes out of the monastery as 'a monk' depends on one's preconceptions as to what a monk should look like. He's certainly not Gregorian, and he lacks the shaven head of a Buddhist. Instead, he has roughly cut black beard and head of hair. The simplistic garment looks easy to move around in, and though there's a delay before he shows up -- long enough for anyone who's rung the bell to get well out of sight, whether around a corner on the twisting mountain path or behind one of the trees that stubbornly grows out of what soil is up here -- when he does show, it's at a brisk jog. He stops when he spots Petra and Cinder loitering, slowly turning his head, but doesn't say anything, eventually deciding to continue on without paying them further mind. The box turns out to not have been locked. It was a wooden peg holding that lid down, rather than anything made of iron. With that quickly removed, the monk(?) reaches in and pulls out a mess of letters in all sorts of stationery, clearly multiversal in origin. Flipping through them, he frowns several times at glossy, photo-printed material for pre-approved credit cards and ambiguous 'return service requested' notes, but neatens it all up to shove inside a cloth bag. Rather than going down the trail, toward some distant and barely visible village and, presumably, further civilization beyond it, he replaces the wooden peg to (not really) lock the drop box, turns right back around, and heads through the open gateway from where he'd arrived.
Angela	Cinder is basically delivering fanmail lets be real. She doesn't SEE it like that. She sees it as thanking someone for helping her get out of trouble. She doesn't really know Hiromi too well at all, though, and it is basically indistinguishable from fanmail if you really think about it. Cinder did not think about it because she doesn't realize...Hiromi might get this kind of mail with some frequency? The fact that they had to take a boatride to deliver the letter makes her skeptical but she may very well be underestimating the dedication of HiromiFanxuwux She has been outside of the city before but she admits, "Not the ocean, no." Cinder says. "We have the Great Lake though and I've seen that. It's pretty dangerous to go too far out though... I guess it kind of IS the ocean, but we call it the Great Lake." She DID live in a Nest for a time even if it wasn't really HER kind of place. But even Cinder couldn't resist seeing what all the fuss of the Great Lake Beaches were all about when given the opportunity. Cinder isn't bored at least. It's been a fun trip. And it being a fun trip with PETRA only makes it a more fun trip for her. It's probably the most romantic mail delivery she's ever participated in. ''Wouldn' the letter be...redundant?'' Cinder wipes her forehead free of sweat. "Well...wait, she's a god?" Cinder's eyes widen. "I... I know she said she was the Archwolf but I thought it was more like a Big Boss sort of thing? Or a Wing Head?" A Wing Head...of Wolves?" "I guess maybe it is... But we could just wait to make sure she gets it and then go--" Petra fought her before??? "Oh! I had no idea!" Cinder's eyes are wide with curiousity. "Ah...Is it... okay for me to be sending a letter of gratitude to someone wo beat you up?" She pauses. ".......And still would?" Her body tenses up. Is this another old enemy of Petra's? Is she going to have to fight the person she was looking forward to thank?? Maybe if she thanks Hiromi properly, Hiromi will punch Petra less often. That'd be nice. Petra deserves friends who can juggle people. A monk appears. She waves a hand to the monk and-- The monk takes the letters. Cinder quirks her head. "Oh--are you the...mailman?" She glances down at the credit cards. "Wow... They're really dedicated."
Petra Soroka	"Well... wait, she's a god?" Did that not come up before? Petra had assumed it was just default knowledge when interacting with Hiromi, either because of that consciousness imprinting thing or just from looking up pictures of Hiromi online. Petra didn't even consider that Cinder wouldn't know that. "Ah... Is it... okay for me to be sending a letter of gratitude to someone who beat you up?" Oh no. Cinder really doesn't know anything about Hiromi. Petra barely knows anything herself, of course, but... "Oh. Um. No, that's like, her thing. She's like, the goddess of strength, I think. Also the earth. Probably, I guess, also wolves." Petra bites on her knuckle, feeling increasingly out of place outside the monastery. "It's like, a good thing to fight her. Weren't you there when she said that she'd, I think, 'test my mettle' again? Or..." Petra thinks back to Cinder clinging onto Hiromi's arm, "Maybe you were distracted." "I fought her back when... like a year ago. Really early on. She was making a bunch of paramilitary companies destroy the city they were hired by, I think. Then she came in and started fighting us too. Lilian was almost matching her one on one, so that really shows how strong she is." Chattering is nice, and fills the empty space that started to feel awkwardly unwelcome when Petra realized how weird this trip was, so she starts to relax again. "It was really cool." "But yeah. 'Archwolf' isn't like, a title, like some shit like... 'alpha wolf' would be. It's like, her identity as a god. It's wild." Petra turns to Cinder, enthusiastically just telling stories about Hiromi at this point, having entirely lost the thread of what they were doing. "You'll get it. She kind of makes you get it, when she does this thing when introducing herself. It's like," Petra holds her fists up and then opens them dramatically for emphasis, adding in her own little verbal sound effect to portray the impact of Hiromi's introduction. "The Archwolf, (bwwwwooooooooo)--" This is exactly when the monk appears, with Petra's hands up and her cheeks puffed out to make the bass noise. "--ooooo... ooommmm.... Hi." She trails off awkwardly and looks at the ground, cheeks flushed dark grey. Quietly, after the monk already left eyesight and hopefully earshot, Petra mumbles to Cinder, "W-well, we wanted to follow him, right?"
Hiromi	The man misses the conversation up until he's addressed. Despite it being a perfectly predictable result, given the two strangely dressed women hanging around the mailbox, it doesn't look like he was expecting it. Fortunately, with everything safely stashed, he isn't at risk of dropping anything when he stops. "No," he says, with that kind of immediacy lacking thought, "I am a monk." That neatly resolves what wasn't really in question. He seems about to say something else, stops, and says, "Are you waiting for someone...? I must be going." It's plausible that he's getting a bad vibe, and would rather head back to wherever it is he's going than deal with a couple of geared up, out-of-place L-Corp agents. And so, he does. There are several ways one could go about following him. 'Waiting until someone comes back out, carrying a mail sack' is one of them, but would require patience. Walking right behind him is another, though very likely to be noticed. Watching from outside and guessing which building he went into is another. Sneaking around the walls would also work, though there are a few other monks around outside who would need to be likewise avoided; one is sweeping, and another's doing something very close to tai chi, exercising with slow, controlled movements.
Angela	The Dame Commander has a bit of a reputation amongst L-Corp Agents so when it's revealed the Archwolf was someone Lilian was ''almost'' matched, Cinder's face shifts a shade paler. Even if she considers herself one of the tougher L-Corp Agents, she doesn't feel she holds a candle to The Red Mist. And The Red Mist sees Lilian as a peer--just from a look, just from listening. And she says, "The Goddess of Strength?" Cinder says, it coming across as a whisper. Gods have visited L-Corp before--specifically Tamamo--but she hadn't actually interacted with her much except for when... Her face reddens faintly at the thought and she frowns. "Gosh." Was she distracted? "I didn't--I mean, I guess I didn't...really connect two and two together there. Testing your mettle--I figure that's like--it sounded like it was a bit more involved than a test." Indeed as Petra explains it sounds more like just a fight. Maybe, she thinks, she's the type of person who considers a test of mettle to count beyond just sparring. Truth is, she's kind of sucked into this. "If she can fight against both you and Lilian--I guess she'd HAVE to be a goddess of strength." Cinder ultimately settles on. That blush of frustration turns into just a normal blush when Petra (bwoooooooos). (Un)fortunately the monk arrives then and she is stunned enough by the monk saying no--and her mind trying to grapple with the feelings Petra bwooooing has ignited within her that it takes her a moment to remember their objective. "Oh! Yeah!" Cinder says. "We need to make sure the mail gets to her and--I mean--we gotta be badass about it right? Like, that's the ... respectful thing to do?" She's just going to confidently stride after the poor monk, puffing out her chest.
Petra Soroka	Petra is, to be entirely clear, giving off the vibes that almost any young American tourist at a sacred east-Asian temple does, which are absolutely terrible. She's being goofy and awkward and hesitant in equal measure, all at uncomfortable times, and despite knowing more than Cinder, still isn't entirely clear on what's going on. Her only saving grace is that she knows it, is visibly embarrassed by herself, and at least wants to be respectful of the area. Is it respectful to be badass? Should it even occur to Petra to suggest sneaking around? Are they even allowed to be here? Petra bites her finger hard enough to dent the knuckle, scuffing her boots against the dirt while she watches the monk leave. Cinder's confidence-- isn't infectious at all, given that Petra has just learned how little she knows about what's going on, but it at least convinces Petra that she has to stick alongside her. After all, the worst that could happen is that the monks tell them they shouldn't be here and act like they're stupid (which is extremely bad, but better in pairs). "You're really..." Petra exhales, catching up to walk shoulder to shoulder with Cinder, smiling a little at Cinder's strutting despite herself. "Well, it's definitely more respectful than any other option is. You goof."
Hiromi	The monk is definitely, absolutely, aware that he's being followed. The chances of either Petra or Cinder knowing the appropriate protocols for this situation are basically nil. Even if they were to lean on forgiveness of social niceties some cultures grant to foreign barbarians, the fact that they're doing it openly but without explanation would likely remove that grace. He was also moving at a brisk jog on the way out, and does so again on the way in, stepping up a few stairs, going into some interior too relatively dim to easily make out from outside, and slides shut the door behind him. It's a simple sliding panel, and it didn't lock, so it would be easy enough to continue following him. At least, it would if no one had been alerted to the situation. Of course, that's not the case. A young voice calls out from the opposite direction, "Hey!" It's not Hisako. For one thing, she's even shorter. For another, her hair and tail are both a silvery-white. But that's the clearest comparison that can be given, as she's certainly a wolf-eared shrine maiden in red and white. She's standing on top of the wall, without which she'd likely not to be able to look down on anyone. "What are you doing? Just hanging around and following people? Are you after the post? That's not for you! How about you kneel down and explain yourselves?" The door opens again. The monk from earlier isn't there. Instead, it's the first miko's opposite. Long, black hair, a bushy black tail, and bells below her tall ears that resemble those of the Archwolf, if smaller. Rather than imperious, she looks sleepy. "Mm-hmm... you're surrounded, so, you'd better just do that?" She sounds sleepy, too, but not at all nervous. There's wooden rod under her arm, taller than she is, its butt to the floor.
Angela	Cinder is blustering in here like any other sort of dumbass who knows like maybe 2 percent of the story and is trying to act like they know what they're doing. She is, as Lilian had mentioned, maybe a bit of an idiot. "I... I mean, if we snuck around we'd probably seem like cowards and if we just left we wouldn't know what happened...?" Why is there a question mark at the end of that Cinder? Nevertheless, she doesn't jog after the monk, she's still just walking--but she does see him step inside and close the door behind him. "Wait... Is that where she lives? DID he just steal the mail? He said he was a monk not the mail..." She frowns before-- ''Hey!'' A wolf lady shrine maiden appears. Cinder thinks... are they supposed to kneel here? She looks to Petra to see if she knows. Ultimately she just raises her hands (the EGO weapon is at her side, she's not THAT dumb). "Oh uh--I was just...trying to make sure the letter arrived?" She says. "Since it didn't seem like--she got the first one?" Then a sleepy miko comes out and seconds it. She's going to follow Petra's lead on the kneeling part since she now thinks Petra's the expert.
Petra Soroka	It is only after a minute of silently following this man that Petra realizes that they could have introduced themselves and asked him what to do. Jesus christ. Why is my brain working so slowly today? What the fuck are we doing here? Obviously it is now far too late to say anything. Petra has no choice except to trudge behind the monk in increasingly despairing silence, the pit of anxiety growing in her stomach. To Cinder, of course, this looks like Petra being set with determination at potentially coming face to face with the goddess of Strength again-- in reality, she's becoming so distraught that she feels queasy. Petra is so, so deeply not the expert. When the first miko calls out to them, Petra flinches and makes a little groaning noise at the Worst Possible Outcome. "No! No. We're not stealing the Archwolf's mail, we--" Petra momentarily hesitates, considering switching to 'she'-- it is just Cinder's letter, after all. "We came to deliver a letter. That's--" Petra doesn't want to kneel. Maybe she would, if Cinder wasn't here, or if Hiromi herself was, or if she wasn't so stiffly despairing at this turn of events that she feels like she can't move naturally. Accordingly, her arms are crossed in front of her chest, squeezing herself tightly. "Look. Sorry for barging in. We did what we came for, so we can just leave now." Petra glances over at Cinder to gauge her reaction to that, and to make sure she isn't about to follow it up with something stupid.
Hiromi	'I was just...trying to make sure the letter arrived?' 'No! No. We're not stealing the Archwolf's mail, we--' "What's that got to do with following people all quietly?" the one atop the walls says. "They weren't really that quiet... or sneaky, though," the one at the door says. "But what else would they be doing, without even offering a greeting? Maybe they're just really--" The wind suddenly leaves her sails, as the white-haired miko struggles to imagine what she's suggesting, "--really bad at following people?" The end even comes with an audible question mark. "They could be..." Regaining some energy, "And at making excuses!" Messy black hair bounces at a nod. "Mm." The pair seem unconvinced, but there's a clear struggle to match the facts against something other than 'awkward tourists.' At least they're not insisting further on the kneeling part.
Petra Soroka	"What's that got to do with following people all quietly?" "... I think we might just be stupid..." The words slip out of Petra's mouth, but she can't muster up the energy to take them back. Her arms slip out of their crossed position, and she shoves her hands in her jacket pockets. She sighs, head drooping a bit, realizing that she's the only one of the two of them who can talk them out of this. "You're-- you're miko? Like Hisako is? I'm..." Petra falters, realizing that if she says her name, the miko will will be able to retell the story of how that dumbass Petra wandered into the monastery. "I'm Petra. This is Cinder. I've met Hisako and Hiromi a few times. I guess we were hoping she'd be here, but she isn't, so we just delivered the mail."
Angela	Cinder is starting to realize that maybe she overthought the situation and ended up doing someting kind of stupid. "Oh." She says. "...Shoot, I ''am'' a goof." Why did she think this was a good idea? Why did she insist on going with Petra? Why did she INSIST on Petra going in the first place? She barely knows this person. ''...I think we might just be stupid...'' "Oh..." Cinder says, like a new world has opened up before her. She shoves her hands in her jacket pockets, sheepishly. "...Yeah maybe I am kinda a dumbass. I... thought someone ''else'' might be ...stealing the mail?" "...It's very pretty here? The boat ride was nice." "But uh. I mean. She's obviously getting the mail okay so..." "...Um," She bows her head. "Sorry--It's nice to meet you. Haha...Um. I guess...since we know you've got the mail we should...go?"
Hiromi	"Eh? Ehhh? You've met -- Hisako... and the Archwolf?" the white wolf-girl (wolf-women surely exist, though fewer in apparent number) says, finally hopping down off the wall to approach. 'I'm Petra. This is Cinder.' "Nobu," says sleepy-head, "is me. And Shino..." "That's me. So, you're..." Shino says. "...just a little dumb?" Nobu finishes. "That..." "...makes sense. The Archwolf has talked of worlds full of people so dumb it's hard to believe they exist." "But they have to, because they keep sending mail. With those little money-cards." "Aren't those made by artificial spirits?" That sounds like maybe it didn't translate properly. "Maybe." Both miko nod. Their prejudice regarding foreigners has been given confirmation. "Okay, fine, you can go! But you should write a letter of apology!" Shino may or may not remember demanding this, later on. "And remember to greet people properly!" She's louder up close, but some of the effect is lost by reason of having to look up. Her geta are the simple wooden sandal sort, without even appreciable heels. "We'll tell the others you came." Nobu's tone doesn't make it clear whether this is reassuring or threatening. In either case, Petra and Cinder are now free to be shooed.
Petra Soroka	Petra is unusally quick to fall in stride with the pair's sentence-splitting speech pattern, nodding along when the pair introduces themselves. "I don't know Hisako that well, but we've fought together a few times." Petra's intentionally phrasing it that way to maybe buy back some respect, by being a combatant on a level they'd understand. "So it's good to meet some of her... sisters." Wolves almost certainly do the family pack thing, Petra assumes. Sister is probably the right term for them. "But they have to, because they keep sending mail. With those little money-cards." "People are sending Hiromi gift cards...?" Petra murmurs to herself, not loud enough to be directly asking the question. She imagines Hiromi ordering at a Starbucks, and the cashier awkwardly asking if she means a 'venti' cup while she stares down at them, and she giggles quietly. Petra didn't notice the credit card offers in the mail, having averted her eyes politely from looking at it, so she just assumes that people are sending them as offerings. There was literally no reason for us to make this weird. Once we introduced ourselves it was completely fine. Petra heaves another sigh, tension flooding out to be replaced with regret and embarrassment. It's really a shame that it's so pretty here, when she feels too utterly mortified to keep looking around and admiring it. "We'll tell the others you came." Petra winces. "Yeah, that makes sense." Oh my god. I'm going to become the laughingstock of a commune of pretty women with animal ears. Just like all those nightmares I had in high school. "Sorry about the intrusion, we'll make it up to you." Just as she turns to start trudging back to the gate, she brushes her shoulder up against Cinder and regains a tiny spark of confidence. "Well, it's a shame we didn't get to see Hiromi today. She said she wanted to take my measure a second time someday, so if she tells me to come back here, you all might see me again."