Scene #8406: Corpse Recovery Service

Owner	Pose
Angela	Justin Rook (no relation) contacts Utsuho about a job just like Angela has promised. He asks Utsuho to meet him in Seoul--specifically, the Seoul of THE SECRET WORLD. Justin Rook, frankly, doesn't look particularly out of place in Seoul--he is smoking a cigarette outside of a Net Cafe and he seems to be by his lonesome while he waits the Hell Raven. In this particular case, Justin has indicated that the Corpse actually has to remain relatively intact and simply needs to be delivered to Lobotomy Corporation. Justin looks a little uneasy. Fixers usually work in groups rather than on their lonesome--even if it's not unheard of--he'd rather not get pulled into something too big for him but if he can rely on Utsuho, he will be a bit more relieved about the job. Right now though? He's still waiting for her. And he's anxious. He has a pad strapped to his right arm that presently is just showign the Lobotomy Corp logo.
Utsuho Reiuji	Utsuho Reiuji has mastered a lot of skills! Blending in is not one of them, and so Justin Rook (no relation) can easily see Utsuho arriving. She made an attempt, by wearing modern clothes, and even that didn't work. She has jeans, but she had to cut the right leg at about the knee, and while one pants leg cut short may be Fashion the lumpy concrete encasement she had to make room for isn't. Similarly, she got on a tank top but had to take scissors to the back to make room for the bases of her wings, which means it no longer hangs quite right and she had to throw her usual starfield cape overtop, which doesn't match anything else she's wearing. But, well, she tried. Honestly, she probably would have stood out less had she simply not made the attempt, and she'd be more comfortable; Utsuho almost never wears anything but a skirt and keeps trying to adjust the way the jeans fit on her. Utsuho is also pushing a cart, having wedged her rod-arm between the two grips so she still has a free hand. It's a Japanese-style two-wheeled wheelbarrow that was popular, say, a hundred years ago. It isn't Orin's because she wouldn't let Utsuho take it, but it's the same kind of cart. Right now it contains nothing but a cloth. She's in a good mood though. "Hi!" she calls, walking toward Justin - he's easy to spot, given he's in a suit, holding something with the Lobotomy Corp logo which she's seen before, and also a weird mace. "Sorry I'm late!" She's not actually late, she's just bad at units of time that are smaller than an hour or so. "I had to get the cart, I couldn't borrow the one I wanted."
Angela	Fortunately THE SECRET WORLD is a world where sometimes people run around wearing a horse head or dress up as zombies and just run around new york, seoul, london, and the world tree just like that. It's fine. And really, that mace is still pretty much a LOOK in most cases. "...Hey, we're both working folk here," Justin tells Utsuho. "You don't gotta say you're late when you're on time." He bobs his head to the adjacenet alleyway. "We just gotta go in there, pick up a body, and bring it back to Lobotomy Corp. So long as we bring the head back we're golden but the better the condition the better. I'm not sure why they want it but..." He shrugs both shoulders. "Retrieving a corpse is an easier job than making one usually." He tips his hat to Utsuho. "Good to see you again. You want payment in advance or after?" His eyes settle on the cart for a moment just to take it in. That sure is a thing.
Utsuho Reiuji	Utsuho mostly only stands out because not many people cover their lower leg in concrete, replace their lower arm with an octagonal rod, and have a third eye in their chest and wings. The number is not zero, of course. Just not many. "Oh, was I?" Utusho doesn't have a watch. "Well, all right then!" She catches Justin looking at the cart and slides it forward a little so he can get a better look at it. "I thought I'd bring it just in case it was hard to carry," she explains. "If I was just going to burn it there I wouldn't need it." It makes sense to Utsuho. After seeing about a zillion corpses brought in on carts just like this one, it made an impression. Her brows furrow. "Wait, just... in the alley here? That's pretty easy, isn't it?" Why would you need two people to do that? Maybe it's a very big corpse, she thinks. Does she need to bring a bigger cart? "Well, I'm sure we can get the whole thing! Do you want to go now? I've never been here before so I don't know if I should be waiting for something..." She looks around, craning her neck to get a better look at things on the street. "Oh, and after's fine." She knows the Corporation pays. They're Concord, after all. They'd better keep their debts, at least inside the organization.
Angela	"Of course, we can pay in energy or money. Enkephalin or liquid assets--" Maybe getting Utsuho a watch will be enough? He isn't sure. "I think they're just sending the two of us because--uh--I'm guessing they just want to see if you can do this job first rather than just--believing you can? I'm not trying to be rude about it or anything, but we don't really know you--so they probalby figured 'let's see if she can do this simple job' first. Least, that's my instinct as a Grade 2." So far it seems pretty empty. People don't make their way here that often though there are the occassional citizens moving around... And the occassional strangely dressed fellow here and there jumping around... Stepping into the alleyway, there's a slew of trashbags thrown about and amongst them is a man who seems to be sleeping, at first. A young man with grey hair wearing glasses but upon a closer look-- --he's clearly a corpse. From blood loss. Utsuho can likely see various lacerations all across the body. Justin grimaces and says, "Let's get him on the cart and hope nobody notices. You've done this a lot, right?"
Utsuho Reiuji	"I already have plenty of energy! But we can worry about the rest later. I don't even really know how you use Enkephalin yet." Utsuho doesn't seem particularly worried about payment. Justin offers a reasonable explanation. Utsuho doesn't like it - she likes being trusted - but it makes sense, so she can't argue too much about it. She slips into the alley just after him, coincidentally spreading her wings a little bit to break up their silhouettes, if anyone looks in from the road. Utsuho didn't really think about that. It just sort of happened. Seeing a corpse doesn't gross her out at all, blood or not. Utsuho doesn't even worry about what got him - it looks like it was messy, but it also doesn't look like it happened ten seconds ago, so she's not particularly worried about getting stabbed herself. "Actually, it's usually my best friend who gets the corpses," Utsuho says. "She's really good at it! Nobody ever notices her doing it either. She's a kasha." A different kind of youkai; a kind of monster cat, accompanied by flames, that steals corpses. "My job is usually to burn them. But she can burn corpses sometimes too, so I thought I could get them once in a while? People pay more for it, too..." Utsuho pulls the cloth off the cart so she can bundle the corpse in it, then get it on the cart, out of sight. She's certainly seen Rin often enough to know how to wrap a corpse (and unwrapped them, sometimes, on the receiving end).
Angela	Justin seems to trust Utsuho more or less--willing enough to admit all that to Utsuho anyway. Or maybe it's more that--he doesn't particularly care? Being suspicious of Utsuho isn't his job, at the very least. He's reasonably cautious as ever, but he doesn't really get the vibe from Utsuho that she's going to be anything but helpful--and if she does something unhelpful, it's likely to be unintentionally so rather than intentionally so. "Like the demon?" Justin asks, hanging back while Utsuho messes with the body. He keeps an eye out for anything that might interfere with the work... A woman wearing a form fitting yellow and black uniform with helmet steps into view, a shotgun in hand and takes a shot at Utsuho-- "Utsuho!" --only for Justin to step in the way and take the hit, stumbling back, grimacing. He isn't dead or dying, but that was a significant hit all the same. "Shit...Shit..." The woman in the strange uniform takes out a cellphone and types at it one handed while pointing the weapon at Justin.
Utsuho Reiuji	Utsuho takes a moment to run that past herself again. "Yes! The youkai," she agrees, because she is fundamentally still historically Japanese and that's the word she uses. "She's from the Underworld, the same as me! We both work in the same Hell." Well, that's pretty firmly 'yes, the demon'. Utsuho manages to bundle up the body and bring it toward the cart. She has only a bit of trouble when it would help a whole lot to have a second hand to stop it from unrolling; she manages to catch it, but it slows her down before she drops the body, unceremoniously, in the cart. She turns to Justin - - only for him to call her name, a gunshot sounding in the background. An instant of sheer confusion, but then Utsuho is reacting. She brings up her own rod-arm, bracing it with her other arm like it was a large gun of her own. Stepping forward, she moves in front of Justin, protecting him whether he likes it or not. "Who're you?" she demands. At the tip of the octagonal rod, little prongs flip out from each segment, standing straight out like the spokes of a wheel, and fire starts to build up in front of the flat end of the rod. "Why'd you shoot my friend?!" Yes, they're friends now, deal with it. At least he sounds more or less okay... well, 'okay' is overstating it, but 'not dead'.
Angela	"Neat," Justin had said. But then it is violence time and he's shot. The woman in the strange uniform doesn't answer Utsuho until she sees the devilwoman prepare a rod with flame erupting out of the end of it. "Bosses aren't too keen on you dragging your business out here." "We're just takin' the body," Justin grimaces. "Then we'll be outta your hair." He leans against his mace for the time being. "If you want to know why we're taking it, you're asking the wrong folks. We just work here." Did that strange demon just call him a friend? Yes! Justin resolves to buy Utsuho a drink or something if he gets out of this alive. "Lettin' my guard down like an amateur..." He mutters even though that's not what happened.
Utsuho Reiuji	Utsuho has decided to make friends easily. It's served her pretty well since she came to the surface and sees no reason to stop now. "Yeah! We're just taking the body. He's already dead, it's not like we did that. I don't even have a knife!" This is true, actually - Utsuho doesn't have anything that can cause lacerations like that, unless her arm rod has a switchblade (it doesn't) or she turns into a giant crow and pecks. "I'm a contractor, anyway." She knew what that word means! Utsuho considers for a moment. This is a little slow because she's actually thinking hard instead of answering off the cuff, because she wants to impress Justin (and by extension Lobotomy Corp). "So how about you get out and don't shoot anyone again, and I won't shoot anyone a first time. Because if you hurt him any worse I'm going to get really mad...!" Utsuho's rod still has a fireball perched on the end of it. It doesn't appear to be growing, but it doesn't appear to be going out either. Normally Utsuho would have shot by now, but she has a vague idea that her employers probably want her to NOT light everything on fire, or they would have asked for that. So she's at least trying to behave.
Angela	"We know who did it," The Bee says. "I was walkin' 'round in my astral form when I saw it happen. Machine rolled by, they said some things, then the guy stepped in the machine and died." The Bee brings a phone up to her ear. "They say to just let 'em go with the body. Think we can let it off with a warning this time? Think there's some kind of Hell Creature 'ere..." They wait a moment, listening to the other end before they flip the phone off. "Alright," The Bee says. "But you head right through the Warpgate. If you come by again, you'll have to deal with more than me." She doesn't 'get outta there' but she does gesture with the rifle towards the direction of the Warpgate. "Consider it a warning." Justin exhales. "Yeah... yeah sure. Thanks for the warning, lady." He nods once to Utsuho. "Once we get ... back to L Corp I'll be able to heal up."
Utsuho Reiuji	"I'm a hell raven!" Utsuho clarifies, loudly, so that the woman in the strange helmet can hear her even over the phone. She's very firm about that. She is really tired of being called a crow. Tengu are crows; she's not a tengu; therefore she's not a crow. Simple! Utsuho stares at the Bee while she's on the phone. "What's 'astral form', anyway?" She is trying to look intimidating, with reasonable success; sure, she sounds upbeat despite being on corpse thievery duty, but she's also waving a flaming rod around and her third eye is glittering. (Not moving, though. It's not awake enough.) "All right," she says, before lowering the rod. She picks up the corpse (what, is it going to complain?), sets it aside, and instead lets Justin ride on the cart instead. Utsuho is stronger than she looks; she can just throw the corpse over her shoulder. Why does she have the cart, then? Mostly tradition. "Are you sure? I know humans are sometimes a little..." Utsuho trails off. 'Fragile' is what she's thinking. Youkai are way more durable. "I'll just get you back then! Uh, you're not a corpse but it should be okay." She is indeed going to head toward the same warpgate she entered by. Admittedly, now she's doing it with someone wounded (whether he's walking or riding) and carrying a corpse, so she stands out even more than before...
Angela	"Okay it's a hell raven," The Bee says to the phone, sounding about as caring of this fact as anyone else who called Utsuho a crow but strangely determined to avoid making that her problem. The Bees don't really die when killed but they still feel the pain and everything that comes with it--so they're not exactly eager to aggro Utsuho even if they aren't about to flee in terror because the Bee has to deal with something more frightening than a Hell Raven on a daily basis. CAPITALISM, specifically her employers. The Bee ends up following along behind. Justin isn't going to argue with anyone, not even Utsuho--the wounds didn't kill him but could become fatal if he doesn't get there quick or over-exerts himself. And so Utsuho, carrying a corpse and a wounded employee makes her way through the warpgate. The Bee doesn't follow through it. Nor does the Bee answer her question about the Astral form (Bees generally don't want to give people hints as to how to make them suffer). "It'll be fine we got HP Bullets." Justin says. "Constant healing in the main sector too...So long as the brain's intact it can be fine but it'll be expensive if I get any more hurt than this." He frowns. "...Well if they care about savin' me, which they might not--so I'd rather just quit the risk and take it easy 'till we get there." Utsuho can arrive in Lobotomy Corp in short order through the warpgate. Parker and Ya-Boy collect Justin and carry him off to get proper treatment. Random waves a hand to Utsuho, "Thanks for bringing that back here. Don't know why Angela wanted 'im but it sounds like it's orders from A." They offer a datapad, "Transfer the credits?"
Utsuho Reiuji	While the Bee might not be afraid of her, really, Utsuho is getting the respect that a threat deserves. And in some sort of slightly twisted way that's enough for her. Plus, today, she's working for capitalism. Utsuho gives Justin a ride on the cart while carrying the corpse. The cart's a bit bumpy and tends to drift a bit, because it's meant to be gripped with two hands and Utsuho only has one, so she it has a persistent leftward tilt. But it's easier than walking. "Really?? Why wouldn't they help you?" This doesn't make any sense to Utsuho, who - despite being a literal hellbeast - appears to have a better relationship with her employer than Justin does. "That doesn't make any sense! I mean, you got hurt doing what they wanted you to. AND because you noticed before me..." Which Utsuho feels that she should have noticed first, and fired first. A pause. "I REALLY wanted to shoot her," Utsuho admits, by which she means the Bee. Maybe she should go back and do it later. Eventually, though, they get back to Lobotomy Corp. Parker and Ya-Boy take Justin, which is probably for the best (it's not like Utsuho can help him any more than she has) but she does say, "Make sure you heal him up right!" She wants to make sure, now. 'Don't know why Angela wanted him...' "Oh, the corpse! Well, it came back more or less okay. I don't think it got shot by mistake or anything..." Certainly it's in one* piece. *as many pieces as they found it in, at least "Who's A?" she asks, before: "While I'm here again, can I say hi to the bird?" While Utsuho speaks, she's digging through her pockets to find her own payment target. She's got a Concord credit account, but sometimes it takes her a few to find the right one for a given area.
Angela	Capitalism, Ho(rror)! "Well, costs, you know?" Justin had told Utsuho. "If it's more cost effective to just replace me--they might." Though he barely remembers a time when he wasn't working for Lobotomy Corp so... "A Fixer of my Grade isn't easy to replace, but it's not impossible. You never really know you know? Not ofr sure." Utsuho really wanted to shoot the Bee. Justin Rook isn't going to argue that. He cracks a small smile at Utsuho and offers her a fistbump. APPRECIATION OF THE WORKING CLASS... MISSION COMPLETE? "Sometimes it's better to avoid the fight. Her friends were probably closer--but I appreciate the thought." As Justin is carted off, Utsuho informs the crew to make sure they heal up. The Control Team will remember that. "Don't worry, we're not gonna let our Captain kick the bucket." Random says, smiling. They may not have the best backing from CORPORATE here but the Agents do try their best to look after each other. At least in this team. "A's the top dog here," Random says. "He's not very active in day to day shit so getting orders like this doesn't happen every day. We owe you one for bringing Justin back," Random says. "It's a good thing we sent two..." Random doesn't seem to care about the corpse's condition. That's not her problem at this point. If it's not in proper enough condition they should've been clear about the condition they wanted the body in. Payment is relatively generous for the City. Outside contractors get paid better than the Agents because Angela believes the outside multiverse is a lot kinder than her world so paying for someone from that kind multiverse to dig around in a place like this is worth extra payment. Also she realy doesn't give a shit about the company. "Yeah, sure." Random says. "Just remember the warnings from last time." Angela has not yet realized the possibilities in selling out Birb viewings thankfully.