View source for 1860/Memoir of Melanite

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/08/23
|Location=Plot Room #1
|Synopsis=Noire Okana and Jiaying Maki explore an old house for ghosts. Find dark magic, old tomes, books and ramblings of someone who died. Also Red Leather Hot Pants. They do find plenty of those.
|Cast of Characters=160,171,120
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki wanted to go Ghost Hunting. Norie Okana seemed to recall that, when she was in Dance Club, that people were afraid of this old manor house that her group used to pass on thier way to the Dance Studio.<br /><br />They'd dare each other to try to go into it past the gate.<br /><br />No one ever went.<br /><br />Regardless, here Norie and Jiaying are to give it a shot. Well. Lacrima. Not Norie.~<br /><br />Lacrima touches her hand to the gate and-- just straight up uses some dark ichor to melt the old rusted lock that's there and push the gates open as she steps past them and look back to Jiaying. "No one lives here. I know that much." she says deadpan as she turns back around and starts walking up to the manor.<br /><br />"Old. Abandoned. Probably wasting our time. But..."<br /><br />"We did see curtains move a lot..." she says softly.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki is out of disguise, dressed up in a hoodie and cargo pants, boots and a cap, just in case. In her pockets are a couple of premade charms. Her two personal ghosts are trailing behind her in her shadow, though every once in a while her shadow seems to split and dart around her, growing angular, foxlike, then back into her shadow. Every time this happens, she asks a question in Chinese and listens for a response. Nudging the door open with her foot after the lock has been melted away, she asks Norie, "The curtains could move just from a draft in the house. A lot of these hauntings start out that way and it builds up... an ambiance that plays on your fears." She looks ahead and rubs her hands together, getting them warm and working some stiffness out of her shoulders. <br /> <br /> "How long has it been abandoned?" Then she stops, glances over at Norie and asks, "What's the story, the myth behind the house? Who died here?" Hey she knows her stuff and those are usually the kind of stories that end up being false. But, it's a start at least.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima frowns and shrugs. "Heck if I know..." she says softly. "It's been abandoned as far as I can remember." she says quietly. She walks up to the door and tries turning the knob. It doesn't turn. Not locked. It's rusted shut. She rolls her eyes and another application of that black ichor and she removes the doorknob whole sale and drops it next to her. She pushes the door open into whatever room the front door opens into.<br /><br />She frowns a bit and brushes a hand down her front as a soft flash of a henshin puts the rest of her 'outfit' on. Precuationary.<br /><br />"Hello. Is there anyone home, alive or dead?" she asks deadpan.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Floorboards creak softly underfoot as the pair ascend the front steps to the porch, and a briefly chill breeze stirs the leaves of the nearby trees. The paint is faded from long exposure to the sun, cracked and peeling in places. And the front door is ever so slightly off true. <br /><br />It opens easily enough, however, once the doorknob is removed. The entryway is a short hall, perhaps ten or fifteen feet long, the floor tiled in stone of some sort. Arched doorways lead into rooms to either side, some sort of sitting room to the left, and a small cloakroom to the right. Most likely, this is where the Master of the House entertained visitors who were not the most intimate of guests, a place for the family to interact with the public without welcoming them into their private spaces. <br /><br />No lights illuminate the rooms or the hall, although the windows do let in some sunlight, poorly filtered through the hazy glass.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki slaps her hands together and separates them slowly, exposing a green flame between her fingers, casting pale green light and probably casting both girls in a kind of creepy color as is. Jia doesn't at all worried though. Monsters, beasts, pirates with knives might worry her, ghosts? Not in the slightest. Meifeng slowly rises out of her shadow and looks around before darting off through nearby walls. There's still strange movement coming from Jia's shadow, but it's far more subdued now. "Meifeng's going to check for secret rooms, signs of hauntings, that sort of thing. She's keeping pace with us."

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima doesn't get an answer. That's... good? Bad? Maybe ghosts just don't answer with a 'boo' straight away. She just continues walking the small sitting room and the cloak room. She frowns a bit as she hrmphs.<br /><br />She doesn't need lights to see. She's not sure about Jiaying. Wait, she has that green light.<br /><br />She can see too. Good.<br /><br />"Stone floor. Old." she says.<br /><br />"Smells dusty." she says.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>A door in the sitting room leads deeper into the house, as does another at the end of the hall. The one leads to a formal dining room, the long table still set with crystal and fine china. As if awaiting a meal to be served. The flowers in the centerpiece are long shriveled and dead, however, and dust lies heavy on the dishes and chairs. One chair, near the back, is knocked over, as if someone had gotten up suddenly. <br /><br />There's a soft creak, perhaps the upper story under pressure of the breeze. Or the foundations settling. Yeah. That's it. <br /><br />The dining room connects back to the hall beyond the interrupting door that separates it from the entryway, and several more doorways are available here. The most interesting room is the study, or so it appears to be, with a large, imposing desk, and shelves full of old, leather-bound books. <br /><br />Ironically enough, there is no dust in this room. Perhaps whoever left the laptop sitting on the desk is responsible for keeping it clean....

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki steps through the door, taking point as the green flame darts behind her with a gesture. Keeps the glare out of her reflective eyes. Glancing around in the dining room, she notes all of the china laid out and the dust. She nudges one of the chairs with a foot as she walks past. The creak causes her fox ears to twitch and she looks towards the origin of the sound, as best as she can. She calls out to Meifeng and tells her to check towards that direction while she makes her way through, trailing her finger through the dust before reaching the next door. <br /> <br /> Looking back at Lacrima, she nods and says, "It smells of dust, mold, rot and age. Is your nose better than normal?" She rests her hand on the door knob, opening it suddenly and peeking in before coughing and closing it again, backing away and waving her hands about. "Pfah ugh- awful." Then, the next door. This one has a laptop. She frowns, holds a finger up to Lacrima and quietly closes the door and steps back towards that first door she had opened while whispering to Lacrima, "Someone's here."

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima explores with Jiaying and there's a room. With a... laptop?<br /><br />And old books. And less dusty. Like this room was used in the recent past. She frowns a bit and looks to Jiaying. "I'm not afraid of anyone." she says.<br /><br />She hears noises. And things and hrmphs. "Well whoeevers here isn't supposed to be here either. So!" she says as she walks toward's the laptop and either.. peeks at it's screen-- or opens it. To see if it has power and/or battery.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The laptop doesn't seem to be plugged in, but the moment it's touched, the screen flickers on. And shows a custom screen-saver, a rather eye-twisting bit of non-euclidean geometry that morphs and practically ''slithers'' across the screen as you watch. Indeed, it's so very hard to tear your eyes away from it, trying to trace its irrational, illogical, impossible movements...

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki says flatly, immitating Lacrima, "It's not about the fear, it's about finding them." but she shrugs and draws up her other ghost, a sharp, inkstyle outline of a demon fox appears before her and begins laughing, getting an annoyed gesture from Jia that silences the ghost for now. She points it to the entryway and Meifeng takes the other door she thinks is an entry. Walking over to the room, she spots the laptop and despite what she sees, doesn't find it hard to tear her eyes away from because she's seen the real thing and she's in no mood for more of that. "Friend of yours?"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima isn't affected by the irrational geometry-- she in fact, was admiting some with Jiaying in the Dusk Zone just the other day! She's used to this kind of awfulness. Jiaying seems affected though. She frowns and attempts to move the mouse or press the spacebar or anything she normally does to make a screensaver go away.<br /><br />"No." she says flatly. "But that's a weird screensaver." she says softly. She frowns and looks around.<br /><br />"Can you check out some of those books?" she asks.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Touching the mousepad on the laptop produces the familiar demand for a username and password. It looks like some variant of Windows, though the color scheme has been reset to reds and a soft off-white. The background seems to be animated, with a single crimson glyph of some sort orbiting about the password prompt. <br /><br />The books seem to mostly be older tomes, certainly nothing recognizeably recent. Most show significant signs of age, the bindings cracked in places, titles worn until they're half unreadable. A handful, scattered here and there, however, seem relatively new, titles in some unreadable language - though it at least uses the English alphabet, so perhaps there's hope there. <br /><br />As the two young visitors examine the room, there's another creek from upstairs, and a sound of scampering feet - a cat or dog or the like, by the sound of it. There was definitely a stairway off that inner hall, wasn't there?

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki takes the books and begins thumbing through them, though admittedly her english is terrible. She sets the books aside, planning to grab them after to stuff into her satchel. Looking through any further, hoping for maybe some in Chinese just so she feels useful, she asks dryly, "Is he password password?" Listening to Norie work rather than turning to watch, at least until the screensaver is goe.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima frowns and is about to dig her Eclipse tablet out when there's more noise She frowns a bit and looks up at the ceiling and frowns a bit. "Leave those here. That those books... here." she says. "Somethings off here." she says as she walks down the hall and looks up those stairs.<br /><br />She crosses her arms and begins to walk upwards.<br /><br />Someone or something.. is here.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The stairs creak underfoot as Lacrima climbs them, the staircase spiraling up to the floor above. There's no dust, here, at all - indeed, the floor is well-polished hardwood, and gleams like new. As if someone had recently cleaned. <br /><br />The hall here runs the length of the house, with four doors aside from the stairway. Two, standing open, lead into bedrooms, sumptuously furnished from what can be seen of the closer one. The other two stand closed. <br /><br />As the pair of Intrepid Explorers reach the top of the stair, however, there's a soft 'click' sound, familiar indeed - the second bedroom door has just been closed.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks towards the source of that sound and gestures Meifeng forward. The ghost floats forward, inches above the ground and assuming there are no wards, sticks her head through the door to take a look. Soemtimes being able to walk through walls helps! While she's doing that, Jia's watching behind them and checking the doors, trying to listen for more than one set of footsteps, or if it's just the one. <br /> <br /> "I thought you weren't worried about them?" Earlier, a bit teasing. "This is what I meant!"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima lets Meifing look through the door as she waits and looks at Jiaying with a frown. "Something is wrong here." she says. "A laptop that works in a place without power that's been on no doubt along time. Weird ruinic marks. Books in odd language..." she says.<br /><br />"Does she see anything?" she asks Jiaying.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The room beyond the door is, as expected, a bedroom, large and generously furnished. There's a small sitting area in front of the bed, with overstuffed chairs and a big footstool. The bed is covered in a crimson blanket, the color rich and vivid, not faded with age like so much else in the house. And curled up in the middle of it is a cat, its fur pure black.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki listens as Meifeng reports what she's seen. The poltergeist then reaches through the door again to check the lock. Unlocking it if possible so that they can head in if Lacrima decides. "It's a cat on a new blanket. I have no idea what to think about that-" there's a beat and says, "What are your cat demons called out here? They have two tails right?" she asks this while holding two fingers up. "Other than that, she didn't see anything. It wasn't warded either." <br /> <br /> She taps her foot on the ground and orders Meifeng to check the other doors in the house while she moves to check the adjacent doors.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima hrmphs. "A cat. On a new blanket." she says as she grabs the handle on the door and opens it slowly. Yeah. She'll confront a kitty cat.<br /><br />She'll open the door and step in as she frowns.<br /><br />"I do not know." she says to Jiaying flatly. "About cat demons." she says.<br /><br />"You need to understand that I was not a traditionlist before being a vampire and not even after." she says. "I don't know many myths or legends." she says.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The cat seems content to lay curled on the bed, for now, ignoring the ghost who poked its head intot he room. The other rooms include a bathroom, rather nicely furnished - and also just as clean and new-looking, even if the facilities are somewhat old-fashioned - and a small room that might once have been an office or other workroom, but now is given over to a ritual space. A pentagram is painted on the floor, surrounded by a circle of ornate Chinese-looking glyphs. <br /><br />As the bedroom door opens, however, the cat takes notice. It leaps to its feet, arching its back and baring its fangs at Lacrima, two tails spreading out behind it. The teeth do look pretty impressive at this angle.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki makes her way through the room behind Norie after a moment, watching the cat curiously. She opens up her book and asks Norie, "You don't know the glyphs that westerners use either, I'm guessing? How about your necklace memories?" She looks at the Chinese looking glyphs on the ground and takes a moment to take a picture of each one individually with her phone for examination later. Not recognizing the pictographs offhand, she thinks they're either poorly transcribed or a mishmash and she's curious to take them apart. She taps her foot near one and says, "This doesn't look right. It looks made up, like someone playing with magic." <br /> 

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima watches as the cat gets to it's feet and has two tails. "Ah. Two tails." she says flatly to Jiaying down the way. She frowns a bit and looks to the cat. "Kitty, who was here before." she asks, despite the posturing by the cat.<br /><br />"I really don't want to fight you. But I will." she says.<br /><br />"We're both monsters. After all." she says.<br /><br />Of course, the cat might not understand her. She's getting ready to fight anyways.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Two tails, indeed. The cat stretches out, flexing its claws and digging them into the blanket. It makes no audible reply to the question, seeming dismissive and aloof. <br /><br />As she continues talking, the cat ''glares'' at Lacrima, slitted green eyes burning. There's a half-heard sound, like a guitar riff, and then the cat leaps at her, claws extended and ready to rake as it goes for her face!

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks at the three symbols and pulls out a piece of chalk from her pack and says, "Keep an eye out Lacrima, if it has two ta-" she frowns, the cat suddenly attacking. Before she can say anything, the Poltergeist scoops up the edge of the blanket and flips it up, trying to catch the cat. The ghost fades away after this little trick and reappears holding anything heavy that it could find nearby. But at this point, Jia's less friendly ghost is also standing by Lacrima, back arched and making a sound closest to an echoed growl. <br /> <br /> She takes the chalk and begins making the symbols off to the side, isolating them. She begins picking through the lettering, the three ignored for now and instead looking for control hanzi radicals or anything else. "Watch for jiangshi or zombies Lacrima, they're supposed to be like me, but bodies rather than ghosts."

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima watches as the ghost intercepts the cat. She frowns a bit as her right arm explodes into dark energy from the elbow to her fingertips and she frowns a bit--- launching a bolt of dark energy hopefully through to the demonic cat that should either be trapped in the blanket... or still potentially coming for her through it!<br /><br />She frowns a bit more as she purses her lips.<br /><br />"Talk you stupid cat." she says with a frown.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The cat yowls as it leaps through the air, headed straight at Lacrima. Its claws dig into the intercepting ghost, as it climbs up and over the insubstantial obstacle to leap at the owner once again... only to be thrown across the room by a bolt of dark energy. <br /><br />Whateve the circle is drawn with, it's hard to affect, but eventually something that looks close to what is sought can be found...

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki frowns and says, "Norie, I can try breaking the circle, but I can't recognize most of these symbols- So. We can take a risk and I can start writing over the circle or we can just kick it until it stops trying to maul you." The second ghost that she's dubbed the librarian cackles and lashes out at the cat, trailing the same grey-green glow of her magic while starting to trail the telltale mist. <br /> <br /> She draws the green flame over and snuffs it out, maybe drawing the room back into darkness and instead reconjures a blue flame, working on building it up and seeming to require more focus. "Stay away from this Norie."

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima frowns. "Do it please. It's better than nothing." she says flatly.<br /><br />She frowns. Blue flame. Stay away from it. Positive magic. She ughs a bit as she throws another bolt of dark energy. Better than relying on her actual spells that draw more energy from her fighting a stupid cat.<br /><br />This is just energy manipulation. Drawing it out then forward. Not as costly. Not as strong. But good enough. Riventon-san's a good teacher.<br /><br />"I'm just going to keep hitting it." she says.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The blue flame sears easily through the paint that makes up the rune-circle, this time. It's easy enough to erase a glyph. There's a brief pulse of energy released when it's done... <br /><br />... and exactly nothing at all seems to happen. <br /><br />The cat continues to try to get at Lacrima, claws lashing out at the ghosts that just ''will not'' get out of its way! The second bolt of dark energy catches it at just the right time in its next leap, and it's hurled across the room again... to smash against the wall, and explode into a black mist that quickly flows into the wall itself and vanishes.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki clenches her fist through the blue flame as the cat disappears into the wall, disipating the flame. She looks down at the circle again and erases the other hanzi representing cats and draws sealing charms, the kind that Lacrima will likely recognize right away. She may even be unhappy to see them if she recognizes them. <br /> <br /> Her fox appearing ghost dashes after the cat, crashing through the wall, leaving behind green wisps of smoke as it attempts to chase the cat down.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima frowns. She can't chase it any more. She'll let the ghosts do it from this point onwards as she frowns. "Yeah. We have something here I think.." she says as she looks around the room.<br /><br />She sighs a bit and walks back into the hallway.<br /><br />"I.. hrm." she says.<br /><br />"Do you think it's gone?" she asks as she scratches the side of her head.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>There is no further sign of the cat, and no sign of energy - dark or light - from the broken circle. Whatever it was, its job seems to be done. <br /><br />There does, however, seem to be something odd about the wardrobe in that bedroom...

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki sniffs at the air, trying to test for... anything off? She walks around the room, her ghosts bounding in and out of walls and Jia checks over, under and around. When she doesn't find anything immediately, she starts checking drawers, closets, wardrobes. She even wonders if there's a lion in the latter!

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima frowns a bit as she walks back into the room and crosses her arms. She touches along the walls and finds herself drawn to that Wardrobe, herself-- so she of course. Opens it.<br /><br />Maybe there's pretty dresses in there.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>And indeed, there ''are'' some rather nice dresses to be seen. Mostly in red or black silk. And a couple of pairs of red leather trousers, as well, and some red-trimmed black boots. Someone certainly has a flair for fashion. All of it looks new, modern styles, no signs of age or dust. <br /><br />There's also a chest of drawers with more casual clothing, t-shirts, feminine undergarments, and the like. <br /><br />The real attraction, however, is the box at the bottom of the wardrobe. That's where most of the energy seems to be coming from... each seam is crossed by several runes, a totally different style from the Chinese-esque ones in the other room.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks over all of the clothes in the wardrobe, then looks over at Lacrima and says, "Are you sure this place is empty? Maybe we just came in through the wrong entrance. We-We should look for cameras I think." Hey she's just being cautious at this point. The cat was also questionable. <br /> <br /> She frowns, "We should go, I don't think there's a ghost here Lacrima."

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima hrmmms dresses. That's. Something. New ones. Most of this stuff is.. newish. It still doesn't feel like anyone's /lived/ here for a bit. She reaches down to the box though, as she attempts to pick it up. If she's successful-- she'll move it to the bed.<br /><br />"A box." she says. "Sealed." she says.<br /><br />"Hrm..."<br /><br />She looks up at Jiaying. "Mmphh." she says. "There was a cat." she says.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>There doesn't seem to be any sign of cameras. No traps go off when the box is lifted from the wardrobe.... no alarms, either. Indeed, the house is oddly quiet.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks at the box, looks at the dresses and various clothes, then back at Lacrima. "You're sure you didn't know who was here, right?" The quietness is bothering her more than anything else about this house. "Whatever we do with this, I'm going to recommend we not take them home right away. Maybe take them somewhere else safe. Books too. I'm- I think I'm going to do some research on the circle."

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima looks at the runes on the side of the box and frowns. She tries a few things. First, she'll touch one of them. If nothing happens, she'll touch them in succession right to left, then left to right. IF THAT does nothing, she'll just try channeling some dark energy into them.<br /><br />That's about all she can do. If that doesn't work, she frowns a bit hard.<br /><br />"No, no one's supposed to be living here." she says matter of factly.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Touching the runes brings about no result... channeling dark energy into them, however, sets them glowing. Touching them after that ... results in a little shock. And a soft sound, like a child giggling.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki watches Lacrima work. She checks the dresses for any details. She even checks the wardrobe doors and walls for additional runes and markings or any signs of more. Knocking for fall bottoms, things like that. That giggle, that immediate gets her to stop and look at the box again. "How long did you look this place over before suggesting we come here?"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima frowns. "I told you. I came by this place a lot. It was always abandoned." she says matter of factly.<br /><br />A pause, there's a giggle, and the rune shocks her with a frown. "I think I powered it." she says.<br /><br />She tries to open the box. If that doesn't work. She'll try touching the runes again. Maybe it's like a combination. She just has to keep trying. Obviously, a correct rune won't shock her...<br /><br />Right?<br /><br />It's a hunch.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Oddly enough, hidden behind the fancy dresses in the wardrobe, can be found a Seishou boy's uniform, although it looks somewhat oddly cut. There's no sign, so far, of other secrets to be found therein. <br /><br />The box itself continues to challenge Lacrima, giving more little shocks every few runes she touches, before they finally blink out - apparently having expended the energy she put into them.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki mutters mostly to herself, "I'm fishing around in someone's closet. This feels weird." Though the oddly cut uniform is given a curious once over, mostly hoping for a student ID, wallet, receipts or attached ghosts. Should that reveal anything or not, she glances to Norie while she's playing with the book. "If it's eating dark energy, do you really want to try opening it? Maybe it's a trap?"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima frowns. "Not opening." she says as she channels energy into the runes again. Back at it again. "Do you have any unsealing charms at all?" she asks as she frowns heavily. She's probably getting shocked and shocked repeatedly, but she'll keep trying.<br /><br />"I'm open to ideas." she says flatly.<br /><br />She looks to Jiaying. "Ugh is that a boy's uniform? That makes no sense. Everything else here belongs to a girl." she says flatly.<br /><br />She frowns a bit harder.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Continued search of the closet reveals little - a pair of fingerless leather gloves, a music book in English - a collection of Rudyard Kipling's poems set to music, in fact - and a couple of tin whistles in different keys. <br /><br />The runes slowly begin to make sense, when one connects together the sequences that don't result in shocks. It's Futhark for the most part, and apparently not English words or Japanese. Possibly German.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks at the various things mixed in the back. Looking over the stuff, she murmurs, "I don't recognize any of the language that isn't just English- which all looks weird to me anyway." She glances oer at Norie and asks, "What do you think, clothes been hanging her a while or are we going to expect someone to come banging in?"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Norie Okana softly frowns at each shock as she purses her lips and narrows her eyes a little bit. "Runes are... familar..." she says softly. "I've seen them before. I think. When I was researching my condition early on...." she says softly.<br /><br />"I think they're... letters? Parts of words?" she says softly.<br /><br />"Nrg.. upper.. europe. German or something." she says.<br /><br />She taps her chin. She digs out her tablet and taps a taps a bit until she pulls out a holographic projection of an alphabet and she tries to vaugely match letters to runes.<br /><br />"Hrmmm." she taps her chin.<br /><br />"O.... D.... I.... N...." she touches the runes again.<br /><br />"Um. I dunno Jiaying. Somethings not right here." she says.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The clothes do seem to be quite new, indeed, some are recognizeable as recent fashion releases. They're no more than a few months old. As for the box, Norie seems to be on the right track. It takes a few more shocks before the easily-remembered Norse god names are exhausted... but other terms also seem to work, and the word 'Ragnarok' finally unlocks it. <br /><br />The lid springs up, and inside... a rather large pile of stones. Most of them fancy, if not gem-quality.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks over at Norie and asks, "Why does it say Odin? That's the-" he tries to remember, she knows the name and not just from- "That's the Final Fantasy guy right?" <br /> <br /> A quick shake of hre head and she starts checking the top of the wardrobe, then around the room. "Define not right. Because so far, it's seemed pretty off- like we should maybe be doing something else elsewhere." <br /> <br /> Looking inside and the gems curiously, she pokes Norie's side and asks, "What's this kind of thing for? The stones I mean"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Norie Okana opens the box and-- stones. Fancy gem-like stones. Now /this/ is intresting. She picks up a few and examines. She holds them up to the faint light filtering through a nearby window as she purses her lips. "I don't know." she says.<br /><br />"But this is relevant to my current studies." she says matter of factly.<br /><br />"My best guess is 'they hold something'." she says.<br /><br />She purses her lips and places them back down into the box.<br /><br />"I have another hunch." she says softly as she places the box down on the bedroom bed. "Stay there." she says.<br /><br />She walks downstairs.<br /><br />And she comes back up with that laptop from the study- unless something of note happened on her way down there.<br /><br />She goes ahead and goes to that password prompt and tries that password.<br /><br />'Ragnarok'.<br /><br />"German spellings of Norse Gods." she says flatly.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Most of the stones seem to be faily small, unimpressive - semiprecious stones at best. There's a low aura of magic over the whole thing, as if it was left in a magic-heavy environment for a while. Several have a stronger aura, however. <br /><br />The stronger aura seems to be connected to the more precious stones, actual gems, as opposed to the semi-precious stones. <br /><br />Trying the password on the laptop produces an alarming result, however: there's a sudden siren-like sound, and the entire laptop starts to glow.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks at the glowing laptop and says, "What did you do!?" while backing away from the laptop, just in case. "Take it out into the hall or something- away from all of the clothes, the bedding and other things even more flammable than the wood!" <br /> <br /> What, it's gloing, the whole thing. She's assuming it's about to explode or spit out demons. Either way having that in the hallway is a good thing. <br /> <br /> She runs her fingers through her hair and asks, "What does Ragnarok even mean! Try the tree or something! That's the one with the funny name that makes pinyin look sane right?

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Norie Okana seems entirely more calm than Jiaying about this and sighs and she picks up the glowing laptop and walks into one of the other, probably more dilapadated bedrooms and sets it down as quick as she can and indeed- starts tapping names at the keyboard--- even if the screen and laptop are just glowing.<br /><br />"The big tree?"<br /><br />"Yggdrasil?" she asks.<br /><br />She touches her tablet to display the proper spelling for that and trys that. She also tries Norse God names again.<br /><br />She also just generally gets ready for it to explode into her face.<br /><br />She's not particularly worried about an exploding laptop killing her.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The laptop doesn't respond to further typing, it just repeats the siren sound. And then a circle appears on the screen, with a rune moving in circles around it, a loud beep accompanying each complete orbit. More than that, it leaves behind a different rune in the circle with each orbit.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki is currently trying to grab as many of the books as she can and stuff them into her bag. She's also checking for anything else that may or may not be worth grabbing. She may even grab a dress because they're pretty, even if they're too dark for her. <br /> <br /> Calling over to the next room, she asks, "What's happening now!?"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Norie Okana frowns and shakes her head. "I don't know these runes." she says with a frown.<br /><br />"Another password set?" she asks as she sits back.<br /><br />"Don't get too close." she says. "Unless you feel able."

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The screen fades from Windows blue to a deep, dried-blood red as the runes start to accumulate. It's rather disturbing when one realizes that 'ragnarok' is the Norse apocalypse: the world ends in fire. And the laptop is getting quite hot.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki checks around one last time, trying to find anything else that she can. She doesn't even want her ghosts near it since it's probably a magical explosion. Carrying whatever seemed important, she starts to head towards the stairwell so that she can gather things up further away from the probably exploding computer. <br /> <br /> After this, she hurries back upstairs to check on Norie.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Norie Okana frowns a bit and huffs! "HEY! THESE SYMBOLS." she spits out.<br /><br />She arugs and throws her hands up and begins trying to touch spinning runes in random successing.<br /><br />"I'm not worried about this exploding in my face you know. This thing isn't going to explode into light magic!"

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The laptop grows hotter and hotter as the circle approaches completion. And the same runes are now visible in each of the windows of the room. There's a yowl from the yard: the cat making its own escape, hurrying swiftly away from the house. <br /><br />Ragnarok is a world ending in fire. Which is exactly what happens when the rune-circle is complete: A massive explosion of pure Fire magic, splashing out over the entire room in a massive conflagration that will likely engulf the entire house in minutes.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki wasn't in that room, what with attempting to loot useful things because... books mostly. So she and her two ghosts have gotten as much as possible outside when the laptop explodes. Hurrying back inside one more time, she calls out, "Norie!?" trying to find out if she's okay. She's otherwise quickly generating actual mist for once, trying to smother flames around her, at least trying to buy time until she knows what happened to her friend

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The laptop.. explodes! Into fire and parts and things get lodged into Norie. Black ichor leaks out. There's a piece of LCD plastic lodged in her forehead. Also black ichor. Also. She's on fire. This is unpleasent. But she is undead. There is no flesh to burn. There is only that dark black ichor inside her.<br /><br />"I am okay." she insists through the fire.<br /><br />"The laptop exploded." she says. She stands up and walks out the door.<br /><br />"The manor is on fire." she says.<br /><br />She grimaces a bit. "This is uncomfortable." she says.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>With its source exploded all over the spare bedroom, the fire seems content to burn as fires normally do, without any additional supernatural enhancement. It's still quite hot and threatening to spread through the house.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki knows from experience that Norie is harder than most things to kill. However that doesn't change the fact that she's covered in shrapnel. "I've met a ghost like this- red instead of black though. You uh... should maybe get the plastic out of your head. That can't-" She frowns, "You bleed black and all, but you still have a brain right?" <br /> <br /> Jia does two things to distract herself. The first is stepping past Norie towards the fire. Holding her hands apart, the mist around her condenses into a globe of water. Holding it out before her, she pushes her arm into the room with a wince at the head, the water jetting from her hand towards the ceiling. It splashes and splits into two smaller colums and begins to create what seems like rain beneath it while spreading out further.

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Norie Okana frowns at Jiaying. "No, it's all ichor." she says politely. "No internal organs." she says. As the flames around her light and wave she reaches up and pulls the larger piece of shrapnel out of her head and let's it drop to the ground.<br /><br />She sighs a bit. Too much to get rid of. So she does what all vampires does.<br /><br />She turns into a tiny purple furred bat and all the shrapnel that was in her just falls into the ground in a pile.<br /><br />That happened.<br /><br />The bat is kind of small and adorable.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The fire continues to burn, though the rain of water seems to be making some progress towards extinguishing it. <br /><br />Being fire, it fails to appreciate the adorableness of the bat. Too bad for the fire.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki continues to feed power into the spell, continuing to spread thew ater puddle on the ceiling, coating the room in droplettes of water. The purple furred bat about interrupts her spell though, the globe and streams of water wobbling and swaying on the celing. She panic moves her hands and steps closer, trying to get it back under control. <br /> <br /> "Why did you do that?" she asks somewhat distracted, mostly focusing on the spell at hand!

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Norie Okana looks to Jiaying and gives her a glare, like she can't exactly talk in this form and then flaps forward a bit through the fire to the other side, as she reforms back into a girl. Will no shrapenl and no sign there had been shrapnel in her body.<br /><br />She summons up darkness into her arms and hands again as she bends it outwards--- shadowly-like swaths of just deep, dark consuing black trying to help Jia put the fire out, but from the other side of the corridor/house.

:'''{{#var:120|Kyra Nygaard| (120)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It takes some time and effort, but eventually the fire is out. The spare bedroom is effectively destroyed, however, and the adjoining wall in the 'ritual room' will need to be replaced, being badly scorched. That said, however, the fox-girl and the vampire have the house to themselves once more.

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki pats herself down as the fire seems to finally die out. She feels a bit singed, a bit annoyed and a bit dry. "Do you carry lotion Norie?" she asks flatly before stepping away from the room and sitting down heavily. <br /> <br /> Leaning forward, she avoids leaning back against the wall, what with her back and works on catching her breath and not feeling like she's both burnt and drained from the effort. Taking a few steady, deep breaths, she asks between huffs, "Next time I'm using wind magic and sucking the ai- no that would probably spread it if I didn't funnel it right." There's a beat and she asks, "I don't don't hear any sirens. Are you hearing any?"

:'''{{#var:160|Norie Okana| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Norie Okana frowns and looks around and purses her lips. "Ragnarok is the end of the world in fire and ice. Seems it was just the fire part though." she says matter of factly.<br /><br />"I don't think the ice part had been so damaging."<br /><br />"To answer your question, because It let me leave all the things that were stuck inside me down there on the ground instead of in me." she says.<br /><br />"I do not." she says.<br /><br />She walks back into the ritual room and frowns.<br /><br />"This place is strange. It's abandoned. Ragnarok is a scary word."<br /><br />She frowns a bit and taps her chin.<br /><br />"Who owned this place and liked red leather hot pants?"
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