[Last Time, on Battle High: There was a big argument, Karasu and Mariah walked out on it, and Hope and Ao-Lang had another short and brutal fight. Also, Kairi is mysteriously missing, and Isaac has a body... and is wearing Kairi's clothes.] [We open on the cafeteria, which is slowly filling up with students coming for breakfast. MOst of them thus far are bleary-eyed and oblivious, but that will likely change soon. Karasu and Mariah have already got breakfast and sat down.] [Ready... FIGHT!] * Mariah looks to be mostly done with her waffle. "So..." * Karasu finishes up his meal. "Library?" I was thinking about it. Should we wait for the others? * Karasu shakes his head. "They have more important things to worry about." * students continue to slowly filter in, mostly through the main doors -- oh, hey! Yoh's over there. * Yoh hears his name and turns slightly as he heads to the food line. He waves sleepily as he spots Mariah, not bothering to stifle a yawn. * Mariah waves at Yoh, rather more frantically. So he is. Perhaps we should inquire about Kairi's health? Once he gets through the line... * Ao-Lang comes walking in with Isaac right about now. She's dressed the same as before isn't faltering in her step, though... her clothing's ripped along her sleeve and one of her pants legs, and she has gravel and dirt in her hair. Not to mention it clings to her clothes. She doesn't look pleased, either. * Isaac is alongside Ao-Lang, idly checking the general feeling of people around. He's wearing some of Ao's more gender inspecific clothes. * Karasu glances at Ao, briefly. * Mariah glances at Isaac and Ao, sighs, and looks back to Yoh. * Isaac waves to Yoh. * Ao-Lang waves a little at Karasu and Mariah before turning to Isaac. "It looks like they found Yoh. Want to get breakfast?" ~Sure!~ * Isaac runs off to get some breakfast. * The line is still fairly short, so it's only a minute or two before Yoh is finished grabbing breakfast and looking around for a good place to sit. * Mariah waves again. "Yoh! Over here!" * Yoh smiles broadly and ambles over to sit down across from Mariah. "Morning. What's up?" We.. uh, kind of have a problem. * Karasu nods. * Yoh blinks. "Have you tried smiling at it?" * Ao-Lang breakfasts out. Breakfast! That's unlikely to solve it. Not yet, but it's not really that kind of problem. * It doesn't take long for Ao and Isaac to get breakfast, either. * Isaac comes over and sits at the table. ~Hi Yoh!~ ^^ * Ao-Lang walks over and has a seat next to Isaac. She picks up her fork, shifts her grip on it, shifts her grip on it again, and then finally gets it right. ... hey, Isaac. Can you explain to Yoh what happened? ~Uh... I suddenly was sleeping and alive?~ ~And wearing Kairi's clothes?~ Yeah, now he's wearing my clothes. * Ao-Lang has some "omelette" and makes a face. * Yoh blinks, then looks down at the tray, and blinks again. ~I'm good at wearing other people's clothing?~ You're solid. * Yoh blinks twice. * Ao-Lang looks at Yoh, then Isaac, then back. "Yeah, we figured that out." And, uh, Kairi's gone. Yeah. * Yoh blinks twice. Gone? ~Yeah! It feels kinda weird.~ ~I can't sense him anywhere.~ Gone. Can we get him back? Uh... I dunno. You should talk to Anna. * Isaac looks quizzingly at Yoh. ~Who's Anna?~ My fiancee. She a ghost? * Isaac blinkblinks. .. okay. She goes here? Hard for her to marry me if she's a ghost. And she's in Japan. ~How do we get there?~ * Ao-Lang chuckles, a bit bitterly. "Yeah, and we have money growing out of our ears, so we can afford to go to Japan whenever we want." And I know Japanese. You could fly, I suppose. But it's easier to just call her. * Ao-Lang looks down at her food, realizes she hasn't eaten any but that first bite of omelette, and gets up to throw the rest away. * Isaac chomps through his food while he's thinking. * Yoh holds up one finger for silence, then places his headphones over his ears and taps on one side. A small microphone extends out and down to his mouth. So she can help over the phone? I wasn't sure if this was a hands-on thi--ohh. * Ao-Lang does toss her food away and set her tray to the side. She sighs, then walks back to the table and reclaims her old spot. ~Uh... I dunno how I could talk to her over the phone.~ ^^; Doesn't matter anyway. If she's in Japan, she probably wouldn't understand you unless you spoke Japanese. Easy. You don't. Someone else will have to talk. * Yoh smiles brightly, then says "Ooooi, Anna!" ~Oh. Okay...~ * Yoh winces. You can hear screaming through the ear-covering headphones. * Isaac winces. ~Is she mad?~ Maybe she's screaming with joy. * Ao-Lang idly brushes dirt and rock out of her hair and off her clothes. Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, Anna. I'll call more often, Anna. I'll study more, too. Anna, some friends have a problem. It's a spirit sort of thing. Real strange. Could you- * Yoh cuts off as the screaming starts again. * Mariah watches Yoh nervously. ".. oh geez." * Yoh smiles deviously at Mariah, then reaches up and takes off the headphones. The screaming suddenly grows louder. He reaches across the table, holding them out to her. ... Does she speak English? Yeah, Anna's cool with languages. * Mariah takes them and puts them on. Gingerly. "... hello?" ~I'm suddenly glad I don't have to talk to her.~ Um... excuse me, ma'am? I'm really sorry about this... .. my name's Mariah. I know Yoh from school. He's calling about a problem that my team and I have, so, uh... * Ao-Lang looks at Yoh. "So. What's Anna like?" * Karasu folds his arms. She's really serious. * Yoh nods as if that explains everything. * Isaac grins. ~Compared to you or the rest of us?~ Compared to anybody. She's really adult. * Ao-Lang chuckles. * Ao-Lang looks around, catching who else is in the cafeteria. Well..we had a shaman on our team? But now... I'm sorry, i don't really know how to explain this, but... the spirit he was bonded with has possessed his body, and we can't find his spirit anywhere. * The cafeteria has been filling up this whole time, and nearly everybody must be here, by now. Though Ao can't spot Ryo. He must be sleeping in. * Mariah pauses. "He is -- it's not an emergency or anything, but we're.. concerned, you know?" * Ao-Lang frowns a little. .. uh, just a second... * Mariah looks Isaac over. * Isaac waves and smiles. I have to admit I don't see anything, ma'am. * Mariah ... goes very pale. "What?" ~Uh, what's wrong?~ ... so... somebody... oh Goddess. And I guess there's nothing we can do. ... What? * Ao-Lang looks at Mariah. * Mariah holds up a hand in the classic "one minute" gesture. "How can we figure out who did it, though?" * Karasu doesn't mention that she can't see that over the phone. Well, we have a shaman, and there might be other people around.. * Mariah nods. "I see. I.. guess we'll talk to people." * Isaac scratches his head. Of course. Thank you very much, ma'am. * Mariah slides the headphones off and hands them back to Yoh. .. he's dead. * Ao-Lang blinks. He's what? * Yoh pales. Dead? * Isaac ...s. Why? How? ~No, he can't be. Why?~ * Yoh absently turns off the phone in his shock, the microphone retracting back into the frame. She -- she said that what probably happened is that Kairi's spirit got killed while he was out of his body for whatever, and that left it open to possession. * Ao-Lang curses. "Any way to find out who did it?" * Mariah nods. "She mentioned that. I guess there are spirit detectives? I think it's time to go to the principal. This... this is really serious, guys. -- I mean, duh, but... uh, I'm rambling. Sorry, I just..." * Isaac nods slowly. * Ao-Lang gets up and turns, kicking her chair as hard as she possibly can into the table. ... I'm going right now. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not waiting. * Karasu nods and rises. * Isaac gets up and slides his chair in, nodding to Mariah. * Mariah stands up, leaving her tray. * Ao-Lang scowls when the chair doesn't break, and she kicks it again. "Yeah. Thanks, Yoh." She turns and walks out of the cafeteria. Thank you. * Mariah nods. "We'll make this up to you. Somehow. Once... everything." * Mariah turns to leave. No, no. Don't worry about it. Happy to help. Sad to hear the news. * Ao-Lang is so out of earshot at that point. * Isaac walks out, following Ao. * Karasu heads off. * Mariah walks quickly, the better to catch up with Ao. She still looks ashen, but her face is hard. * Ao-Lang is stalking down the hall towards where she figures the office is, not that she's sure. She looks pissed. Really and truly pissed. In fact, she might be crying tears of anger, she's so pissed. She's crying, at least. * Karasu heads in a different direction towards the upper class tower. * Isaac pokes Ao-Lang. ~Uh... Karasu's going that way.~ * Isaac points. * Ao-Lang looks, then blinks and self-consciously wipes at her eyes. "Oh." And she starts walking after him. Hey, Karasu! Where are you going? * Mariah turns on her heel and follows. "Is that the way?" Faculty area. Great. And you were gonna walk off without the rest of us. You're free to follow. * Ao-Lang tries to roll her eyes, but she just sighs. "Yeah, Karasu. Sure." And she walks after him, the anger leaving as she does. * The stairs up to the fourth floor of the class tower go by quickly, and before long you come out into a floor full of faculty offices. Do you know where it is precisely? * You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike. No. * Karasu searches. .. non-precisely? One would assume the teachers would know. * Isaac looks around warrily, staying VERY close to the rest of the group. Okay. Fair enough. * There are a number of open doors, indicating the presence of teachers inside. * Karasu checks them * Ao-Lang does, too. Dual checking action! * Luckily for you, this one proves to be Alan's office, and not somebody like Sallah. You got the good teacher. * Alan looks up and smiles. "Good morning. I understand you won't be coming to class today." * Mariah looks in. "Uh... hello, sir. That's right..." * Ao-Lang shrugs. "Yeah. Uh..." * Ao-Lang wipes at her eyes and gets out of the doorway so other people can talk to him. * Karasu nods. Is there something I can help with? ... there is. It's important. * Alan gets a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong?" Kairi was killed last night -- or his spirit was, anyway. * Alan pales. "Excuse me?" * Ao-Lang stands outside of the room, in the hallway. She takes deep breaths and closes her eyes, trying to collect herself. She's having limited success. One of our members is believed to be dead. * Mariah shrugs, rather helplessly. "It's complicated -- I don't know what to say, but... his spirit is gone. We think he's dead." Does the principal know? Not yet. No. We were going to go talk with him. Good. He should be in his office right now. Go down south down this hall, take the first left, then the first right, then the second left. * Mariah nods. "Okay..." * Isaac just kinda stays near the back, yeah. Thanks, sir. Guess we should get going. * Alan nods sadly. "I'll see you in class tomorrow, I hope." * Karasu nods and goes. I hope so. * Mariah turns to head out. * Isaac waves bye to Alan as they walk off. * Alan waves halfheartedly at Isaac. * Ao-Lang is outside of the office, hugging herself and looking down. She twitches when people walk out, glances up, and then walks after them. * It takes very little time to follow Alan's directions, and just as Karasu rounds the last corner, he sees the Principal Nagawa closing his office door as he steps out into the hallway. Just the man we're looking for. -- Principal Nagawa? * Quentin shoots a puzzled look at Karasu and mutters something, then opens his door again. "Come along, inside." * Mariah does so. * Karasu does so. * Quentin steps back inside his decidedly small and humble office. It has no windows, no trophies, no pictures... just paperwork and a single filing cabinent, and his desk. * Isaac follows. * Ao-Lang slips in, last of all, and softly closes the door behind them. She doesn't say anything. * The principal sits down behind his desk, calm as can be, and asks pleasantly, "What brings you to my office so early?" Uh, we have a problem. I'm just going to be blunt, sir: Kairi's dead. We think, anyway. What makes you think that? * Ao-Lang winces and looks away. ~I'm, um, in his body and he's not. Sir.~ * Karasu points to Isaac. When we woke up... Isaac had possessed his body, perfectly, and he couldn't sense Kairi anywhere. At breakfast we talked to Yoh and his fiancee, and they think that that means someone killed Kairi's spirit. I don't know anything about this, but I trust them. I see. That would appear to be an appropriate conclusion. We just don't know what to do about it, besides.. find whoever did it and make sure... justice is done. I see. Well then, it seems you already know your part. The faculty intends to do nothing? * Ao-Lang hugs herself and keeps looking away. The faculty does not interfere with student business. But, if you find the killer, I can, and will, see the justice is done. .. even now? But he's *dead.* * Ao-Lang winces again. So it's acceptable to kill our enemies in their sleep... No, it is most certainly not acceptable. ~Then do something about it.~ .. if you're not going to help, I guess there's nothing we can do but ask you where we might find a spirit detective. I cannot interfere in a matter between students. If you find and confirm a killer, it is no longer a student matter. * Ao-Lang says, quietly, "It shouldn't be a student matter the moment someone dies." Perhaps. But it isn't a matter of should and should not. It is a matter of what is, Miss Shen. You're the principal. Don't you run this school? You decide what is. * Calculus has left IRC * Quentin smiles a sad, twisted little smile. "Yes, I run this school. Now, there is nothing that says I must make it difficult for you. I will open the student records to you. But beyond that, you must fend for yourselves. You may enlist such help as you can, from other students or from outside. All you need do is find and confirm the killer. I will take care of the rest... if you do not do it yourselves." Do you know who might be a spirit detective who we could ask for help? Or is that up to us, too? * Ao-Lang turns to look at Quentin. Her eyes are bloodshot, and her cheeks are still wet, and she's still a mess from her fight with Hope. She opens her mouth to say something, then stops when Mariah jumps in. * Mariah looks... very stone-faced, like she's trying to keep it all together by sheer force of will. There is no spirit detective residing within easy distance of Battle High. If you can find one who is willing to come here, then you are free to hire them. Okay. * Isaac backs up away from Quinton, trying not to draw attention to himself. Do you know of one? ~I, uh, could maybe find one if we can get some internet in our room?~ All you need do is obtain your own computer. The peps will see to connecting you to the school's ethernet. I... all right. Is this more training for the outside world, sir? Sometimes, Miss Shen, you are the only one who can see justice done. We will. Believe me, we will. Whatever it takes. In other words, we must take the law into our own hands. * Ao-Lang smiles a grim little smile. "I understand." Good. I look forward to watching your fight later. I suggest you go and prepare for that. All right, sir. Thank you. We have been. Can we get records from you later? I will instruct the peps to bring you photocopies on request. ~I'm going to have a lot of work to do, aren't I?~ * Ao-Lang nods. "Okay." She looks to Isaac and sighs. "We all are." If they could be waiting when we get back, it'd be nice. And... we've got it cut out for us. But Kai de- he deserves it. What of the fight for this afternoon? We get through it. Isaac, are you okay to fight? We'll win. Perhaps we should eliminate some of the competition before we go to the arena? *No.* ~Yeah, I can fight. I just, um... I need some time alone after the fight.~ We're not fighting dirty just because someone else is. * Ao-Lang shakes her head as if to clear it. "Assuming Hope isn't an idiot. And no. Just because other people don't follow-" She stops, then looks to Mariah and blinks once, then rubs at her eyes. Dirty, is it? An assassination has stopped many a war. * Ao-Lang then looks to Karasu. You don't want to kill people before a fight, do you. My office is not the place to discuss ethics. If you will excuse me, I have rounds to make before classes begin. * Karasu shrugs. "I suppose not." He walks off. Uh. He's right. Let's take this outside. * Mariah heads out. * Isaac steps outside. * Ao-Lang blinks again, then looks to Quentin as everyone else leaves. She doesn't. "Hey, before you go?" Yes, Miss Shen? What happened to Hope's sword? She destroyed it. Why? You would have to ask her. * Ao-Lang shrugs. "She told me to ask you." She must not want you to know. Yeah. Big surprise. Thanks. * Ao-Lang walks out with a sigh. "She's an idiot." * Quentin closes the door behind him as he follows you out, and heads off in a different direction, presumably to make his "rounds * Ao-Lang keeps walking back to their rooms. She's thinking. * Mariah follows back to the room, still stonefaced, fists clenching and unclenching. * Karasu walks back, expressionless! [Session... END!]