Re: Investigating Eausin - 119 4A

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Nov 10, 2015 11:06 pm

At length, Uruloki told them they were close, and Kyrie motioned for them to gather close.

"It would be wise to set up a perimeter," she told them all in a low tone, and it was clear that she had been thinking about it for their past hour of travel. "Once we have the tent set up, we should spread out around the fortification. Perhaps Uruloki can move between us to relay messages and make reports. There's a catch, though."

Jassin looked grim, as if he had already seen the catch, and he voiced his own thoughts on the matter. "Killing someone from a hiding place is one thing," he said quietly, "but capturing them alive and without alerting the others is another. No one should be on their own, and we don't have enough people to watch all the way around."

"Perhaps if we scout it out, we can find one or two places where they would be the most likely to leave their camp," Shoneah suggested. "If it's a fortification, it has walls, and they can't go through walls, right?" She looked around at the others. "I'll go scout it out. I can stick to the trees easily enough, they're close together. And I blend into the jungle better than anyone else here, with the exception of Jassin."

It was true; her brown skin and clothes made her camouflage quite well in the jungle greenery.

by **Kara Winters** Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:13 pm

"That is a sound idea," Lin agreed.

It was a pity they probably didn't have any sleeping drugs, that could knock a person out quickly enough to drag them off. That was one way of catching someone without alerting another person.

by **Nara-pyon** Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:46 pm

Kyrie nodded at Shoneah. "Go ahead. We'll get the tent set up while you're gone."

"Let Andarien know I'm all right," Shoneah requested. She looked around and found a tree that suited her, an in a matter of seconds she was up in its branches and moving towards the fortification.

Earendil glanced at Lin. While they'd been traveling, he had kept quiet, but now that they seemed to be allowed to talk again, he had news for Lin.

"I had a chat with Andarien yesterday while you were all gone," he told her softly, moving aside so that Daeron and Mailon could set up the tent again.

by **Kara Winters** Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:19 pm

"Oh?" Lin inquired leaning in to make the conversation a bit more private.

She knew a talk was coming ever seen they heard that Andarien and Shoneah were potentially a couple. She just didn't know what would come of it.

by **Nara-pyon** Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:23 pm

"It was very ... revealing," Earendil mused. "He was asking ... well, about relationships, and what is marriage, and what is the point of marriage ... which of course led to the talk about physical relationships."

Ever the gentleman, he stuck to polite terms while they were near others.

"I think he was a bit overwhelmed, at least at first," he added, "but ... he really is absolutely head over heels in love."

by **Kara Winters** Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:49 pm

Lin chuckled, she could only imagine how awkward that conversation was.

"At least he knows now," Lin replied with a smile, "I was worried he might not realize it...."

Like herself, she could see a bit of herself in Andarien in that regard.

by **Nara-pyon** Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:59 pm

"In his defense," Earendil chuckled softly, "he's only had seven years to learn what most people ... non-stage-growers, I mean, have easily double the time to learn. He's had a wide range of experiences for one so chronologically young, it's true, but ..." He shrugged, smiling.

Very quickly, the tent was set up, and some of the others began to move inside.

Earendil gestured towards the tent. "Shall we?"

by **Kara Winters** Fri Nov 13, 2015 10:09 pm

Lin had to chuckle at that because she was pretty sure she was a tad younger than Andarien is now when she got married to Earendil, that or the same age. It was kind of horrible, she wasn't even twenty yet and already losing track of time.

"Let's" Lin replied as she held the tent door open for Earendil.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Nov 13, 2015 10:38 pm

Andarien was on one of the chairs in the foyer, and as the others were heading into the tent, he sat forward on the edge of his seat, his fists clenched together anxiously. He watched as person after person came inside, his eyes flickering from one face to the next. When people stopped coming inside, he hurried over to his parents.

"Where's Shoneah?" he asked them anxiously. "Did something happen?"

by **Kara Winters** Fri Nov 13, 2015 11:23 pm

"She's fine, she went ahead to scout for a location where someone is most likely to leave the fortification," Lin assured her son, "She'll be back."

When, she wasn't sure, as Lin imagined it would take quite a bit of watching to figure out where people were entering and leaving the place.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Nov 13, 2015 11:33 pm

First relief and then worry flickered across Andarien's face, but he took a deep breath and nodded bravely. After a glance at Earendil, he murmured, "I'm going to go ... sit ..."

"I'm going to wait outside," Kyrie told the others. "I want to make sure I'm out there when Shoneah returns, and someone needs to keep watch since the runes are deactivated."

"I'll join you," Andarien decided almost immediately.

A look of surprise crossed Kyrie's face, but she nodded. "Have your weapons handy, just in case," she told him.

Obediently, Andarien went in search of his revolver and katana.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Nov 14, 2015 12:08 am

Lin wasn't overly surprised though, not when Shoneah was involved (and she could see Earendil doing the same if it was her).

Just as Andarien left, Miyuki entered.

"Welcome back," she greeted them all.

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Nov 14, 2015 12:12 am

"Thanks," Earendil smiled at Miyuki. "All is well in here?"

Not that they had been gone long - only a little over an hour; but anything could happen in that amount of time. He was moderately concerned about Wren as well - she had semed quite upset when she'd asked to stay inside for the last leg of the hunt.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Nov 14, 2015 4:10 pm

"Well... Wren hasn't come out of her room since she came back in," Miyuki started, "But otherwise everyone is fine."

The kitsune paused a bit before adding.

"Even though it hasn't been that long since Kyrie has asked for additional security runes in case anyone comes in, from just from the small time thinking about it, I think it's going to be difficult because anti-intention runes or even intention detecting runes aren't perfect...." she turned to Lin, "I had been meaning to ask mom, how did grandmother do it?"

Lin chuckled, "You're not going to like the answer, but intention and monitoring runes."

Which brought them back to the same problem, but clearly Kara had used them, but Lin continued.

"But, the manor and the grounds were designed specifically to take into account of any defects those runes have. You noticed that the portal room is all stone, it's like that on purpose. If it detects anyone with ill intent, or the intent to hurt, the room will just go into lock down, just both magic and the physical make up of the room to keep people locked in and then inform using a rune system your grandparents or your Uncle Yue or Yukito. This meant, that the room is somewhat more twitchy in theory in detecting intent, so if you're not family or anyone familiar to the family, and you came in angry, you'd get locked in most likely. It's not a perfect system but it allowed your grandparents to... what is best word for it... check a person before letting them through completely."

Miyuki looked thoughtful, because had remembered (vaguely) that the room was all stone, and thought that was just for looks, but stone was good had holding a lot of runes permanently and it was tough and hard to break through.

"How did they see the person without looking in? And what about people who were coming in with just a curious or wary intent rather than a harmful one?"

Lin hummed a bit, "Your grandfather installed small cameras into the portal room so people could see from the outside. You'll have to ask Shiro for the details on how that works, but pretty much you have something that can 'see' in the room and transmit that image to somewhere else so you can see it, kind of like the way Shiro takes pictures with his tablet. I don't know if there's a rune equal to that... as for the other problem... the runes continue to monitor intent, though by the time they leave the portal room, the only thing the runes can do is prevent a person from entering into certain parts of the manor, like where everyone sleeps and the like...." Lin added with a bit of a chuckle, "Your grandmother also likes to believe the best in people, and we always had the benefit of being careful where those portals are put."

"And the actual grounds are located near a city and that part of Gaia isn't prone to invasions," Miyuki finished, "Locking the foyer and putting up barrier runes based on blood though isn't a bad idea. Though, might have to add fire proofing runes because I'd imagine someone would try to set the tent on fire out of spite.... inside I mean... I think we already have fire proofing runes on the outside."

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Nov 14, 2015 4:24 pm

"What about mirrors?" Earendil suggested, following the conversation with a fair bit of understanding. "I mean, we can talk to people across the ocean with mirrors - why wouldn't we be able to see into the next room with them? Why not speak to Lancaeriel, Miyuki? I'm sure she could rig something together. Possibly even something to help with the security - intention and whatnot."

He thought that adding runes to prevent fire would be an excellent idea, because someone who didn't understand what the tent was just might try to burn their way out if they found themselves trapped.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Nov 14, 2015 4:40 pm

"That's a good idea," Miyuki agreed, "But we don't have a lot of... glass..."

The process to make glass and then coat it to be reflective was expensive, but with the glass that was in the tent they might be able to rig up something temporary until they can get proper glass. Probably also rune the glass to not break if someone figures out they're being spied on.

"If it's just for a while in this case, we can do something temporary," Lin murmured as she had the same train of thought, "I think Holly and Rose have mirror glass, as to Wren but she uses it to talk to her father..."

Lin never brought a mirror with her because she generally kept her hair short and didn't care to fashion it at all.

"I have a small mirror glass I brought a few towns back," Miyuki replied, "Because of... well my hair..."

While in proportion to Miyuki's body, her hair length hadn't changed too much with her last growth, considering she had grown taller, she had more hair to deal with these days.

"I think I can dig something up..."

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Nov 14, 2015 4:48 pm

Earendil nodded. "Then you should talk to Lancaeriel right away. The sooner this all gets set up, the better."

He turned to Lin. "If you don't mind, I'd like to check on Wren for a moment and make sure she's all right," he told her softly. "She didn't look well earlier."

by **Kara Winters** Sat Nov 14, 2015 7:53 pm

"Do you want me to come with?" Lin asked.

She had noticed Wren's demeanor as well, but she wasn't sure if this was to be a talk between cousins or not.

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Nov 14, 2015 7:57 pm

"If you'd like," Earendil nodded at her. "Unless you'd prefer to rest or something. I'm just going to make sure she's all right, I won't be long."

And then he thought he might see to his weapons again, just in case they became necessary.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Nov 14, 2015 9:21 pm

"I'll come," Lin replied, "I just wasn't sure if this was a private talk you wanted."

Taking his hand, she led the way to the rooms.

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Nov 14, 2015 9:36 pm

"For the record," Earendil smiled at Lin, as they went, "nothing is private from you."

He followed Lin to Wren's room and knocked. Almost immediately a quiet voice called out for them to enter, so Earendil slid back the door and waited for Lin to go in first.

Wren wasn't alone in her room. She and Khetal were both sitting on her futon. Khetal was leaning against the wall, and she was leaning against him, her head on his shoulder, his arms around her and holding her close. Wren was still a bit pale, though not nearly as pale as she had been; but the whiteness of her face really set off the redness of her eyes. There were tear-tracks down her cheeks, but at the moment she seemed calm enough.

"Hey," Earendil murmured, taking in her appearance. "You all right?"

For a moment, Wren just looked at him and Lin without reacting; but then she nodded slightly and cleared her throat. "I'll be all right," she said dully. "I just ... can't get over ... what we saw."

by **Kara Winters** Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:16 pm

Lin had to admit, she had never seen anything like it neither. She had been well sheltered even during the hunts the adults went on when child slavery was at its worse. Even the term 'hunt' was purposely benign sounding. She though, had a small idea of how awful people could be to other people. She played with the children rescued, heard the stories and even saw a child buried.

Still, she had to admit, nothing like this.

Lin nodded slowly, "Take your time. That finding was... brutal."

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:24 pm

"Do you need anything?" Earendil asked. He hadn't seen what Wren and Lin had, but he could understand how horrible it would have been.

Wren just closed her eyes and shook her head. "I just want to stay here for now," she told him quietly. "I feel ... a bit better. Khetal's very comforting." She managed a weak smile, but it faded in a matter of seconds, and she sighed. "Just ... don't ask me to be present for any interrogations. I don't know if I would be able to hold myself back."

"Understandable," Earendil agreed sympathetically.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Nov 14, 2015 11:01 pm

Lin nodded in agreement, she didn't want to be there neither. Not because she didn't think she couldn't hold herself back, but because no matter who it was, interrogation had the possibility of turning ugly.

"I think it'll be only a very few that will be at any interrogation," Lin murmured.

It wasn't a skill set that most of them hand anyways.

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Nov 14, 2015 11:06 pm

"I'm sure my sister will be one of them," Khetal murmured.

"Likely," Earendil agreed. "She would be the best one to be there, I think."

Wren didn't show any signs of responding, and Earendil turned to Lin and murmured, "Perhaps we should let her rest."

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