Mission Request said:
It was a trailer-like structure made of thin sheet metal that was 20x20 in size. It was windowless and a dull olive green color although Shiori would not know this. There was a single wooden chair and a small round end table of a similar grain. On the table was a small box about the size of the average glasses case. The box was an ornate thing with beautiful carvings of an ancient, runic language they had long forgotten. There was also a lamp, the lamp was turned off but Shiori also did not notice this as she sat down in the dark with her belongings. The door shut and locked quietly behind her with a series of thuds and clicks. A muffled voice from the other side of the door yelled "Be careful ye ear! Tat artifact you got tere is worth a pretty yen and tere may be more tan a few people after it by morning," he warned as he departed. "Don't worry mister, I've got it covered!" Shiori yelled back as she settled in.
This was not the venue she was expecting. Least of all, the location where she would be expected to guard a "priceless artifact." She was in the most destitute region of Sietch Zensunna, the furthest reaches of the Grand Palais. Although the lights of the business district that is the Grand Palais make even darkness appear as day, it was dreary in this impoverished and crime torn segment of the village. Whatever it was, it was apparently important enough to pay her the absorbent amount an A-Rank mission demands although she had to question why would someone bother to pay so much for an old pair of glasses. In any case, she was only supposed to stay there overnight to ensure their safety so that they could be delivered to the coast in the morning. She brought a bag of snacks, a bouncy ball and a loop of string. She was going to learn the Cat's Cradle by morning if the evening goes as planned -- super boring.
--- One Hour Passes---
Shiori felt as if she was going to die. This was so gosh-darn boring. She had exhausted her snack supply in the first 15 minutes. Bounced her ball hard enough to lose it in the next 10 and she broke her string whilst attempting to master the Cat's Cradle. The rest of the time was spent in mind-numbing boredom. The mission statement did not mention anything about not looking at, using or playing with said ancient spectacles. She opened the box, a velvet lined thing with a pair of tarnished and bent glasses. Amazingly the lenses were still in place and un-cracked despite the years of wear. "Makes no sense..." Shiori muttered as she picked up the glasses and handled them briefly as if she was judging their weight. They were heavier than she had expected, being only wire and glass she expected them to be feather-light. She placed the glasses on the bridge of her nose and made a thoughtful, studious face and laughed to herself at how ridiculous she must have looked only to realize that although the room was dark, the room had the semblance of form unassociated with her sonar.She gasped as she pulled the glasses from her face and tried to "look" around the room. There was nothing but what she heard. She placed the glasses back on and again, the space had form. Not exceptionally interesting form, but there was shape all the same. "I CAN SEE!" Shiori exclaimed to herself. She flicked on the light switch and the dull, olive space was bathed in the warm light. She gasped at the beauty of the spartan space as she waved her hand across her field of vision, almost mesmerized by the movements of her hands.
While distracted, there was movement outside. She might have noticed this if she was not distracted. With a bang and a snap someone had broken the lock that had sealed her in. Shiori noticed that sound, but not the rustling movements that had preceded this or the rare whispered voice. "We ave arrived" a voice she recognized announced, that voice being the same man who had called out a warning to her as he locked the door behind her.
"What do you think you are doing!" Shiori accused with a hiss. She pushed the glasses towards the bridge of her nose as she glared at the still closed door as if she would be able to see through it if she concentrated hard enough.
"Just following orders," the man answered matter of factly. "Your job is to ensure the safety of the glasses from all of the miscreants of Sietch Zensunna and MY job is to bring a sightless person to our benefactor's residence to demonstrate the abilities of these glasses." He dropped his accent just then.
"Well, why didn't he order me to come to his home in the first place," Shiori complained. The drama involved in this transition was unnecessary.
"You see, that was one of the problems... the glasses were not in the possession of my employer, they belonged to the archaeologists who discovered them during the dig. They would have ended up in a museum someplace rather than in the hands of someone... proficient." He announced with a genteel smile as he opened to door to the metal room. He was a casually dressed man wearing a pair of tan slacks and a pale blue collared shirt that was tucked into his waist. His unruly ebony hair and sunglasses seemed to contrast the otherwise professional-seeming attire. Shiori was still wearing the glasses that most recently granted her sight, she studied him intently despite being in this situation. She had no recollection of sight so he was the first man she had ever seen.
How was carting a room however far it was brought more discreet than any other method of theft. He could have easily switched out the glasses for a fake pair. Why were these glasses in this blank room in the first place rather than among the articles that would soon be on display in a museum someplace. How did the Sunan officials not notice the fact that someone was not in possession of such a rare and apparently expensive artifact yet they requested a guard for it. "I would have felt movement." Shiori debated, the glasses still on the bridge of her nose.
"You were distracted," he answered simply. It was true, from the moment Shiori placed the glasses on her face she was immersed in this new sense she had been neglected of for so long.
"There are no windows and a sealed door... how would you know that." She looked around the room again to be sure of this and then nodded as if physically granting herself affirmation that what she said was true.
"But I could see YOU," he revealed as he pulled down his shades and revealed pearly white eyes. He was a member of the Hyuuga clan and the thin walls were apparently thin enough for him to see through.
"Liar," Shiori snapped, her hands on her waist. "We did not do anywhere."
"Then come with me..." he gestured for her to follow him. "I insist because I could make you vacate this space..."
That she believed. Although hesitant she walked through the door and out of the box. Outside, the ground was covered in lush grass and there was a beautiful bright blue sky overhead. There was a big white house with black shutters and window boxes filled with bright flowers of every conceivable shade. There were dragon flies flitting and butterflies dancing. There was even the faint sounds of music, a harp perhaps. There was a child playing with a large red ball that reminded her of the ball she had lost not long ago, it filled her with a pang of jealousy. That might BE her ball. "The master is just inside," he added as he started to follow a grey brick path towards the mansion.
"No, you're a liar," she accused him again. She had a look of shock on her face as she said it and covered her mouth with both of her hands.
"Really?" He asked, his expression changed with Shiori's most recent accusation.
"We did not go anywhere, what you are saying is a lie," Shiori muttered.
"What do you SEE," he asked as he waved his hand in the air as if to insinuate to her that she should describe the location.
"There is stringy stuff on the ground. There is no dirt above us. There are non-bitey bugs and a really big rich-person house." Shiori answered, unable to describe color or what she saw with the acuity any sighted person likely could.
"What do you HEAR," he then asked. Shiori's ear twitched as she listened. She heard the faint chatter of a woman, the laughter of a child enjoying their bouncing ball, and the distant tune of someone plucking the strings of an instrument.
"I hear music... it is a stringed instrument. I hear the pounding of a rubber ball on pavement. I hear the child laughing a squealing laugh that makes my ears hurt. I hear some women gossiping about pies being store-bought. I hear the reverberations of all of these sounds plus the beatings of their hearts, the buzz of insects and the movements of hundreds of creatures. From them I hear the appearance of the rooms and the spaces the sounds occupy." Her heart was pounding in her chest, she was scared because she was not a capable fighter, something the mission dealer was well-aware of when she was granted this mission. If this moment came down to blows she would lose.
"But you said we have not moved... this is not Sietch Zensunna?"
"We never moved," she answered stubbornly but she did not understand why.
"So despite your EYES and your EARS and being TOLD otherwise, you chose to believe what you believe on what grounds?"
"Because it is a lie," she repeated.
"Do you see anything? Does something tell you otherwise?"
"No" She answered. She did not understand why she believed what she did or why she was so stubborn in regards to his lies. His lies were the least of her concerns if she was just kidnapped or if she had somehow assisted him in the theft of a priceless artifact.
"So be it... we never moved. I am simply using an illusion to make you see this," he admitted. We never moved from the space we were. I am here to steal the artifact from you and will do so by force." He announced as he shifted his body into a Hyuuga stance.
She did not move although she did not understand why. "No you won't" She uttered. She wanted to step back. She wanted to run her hands through a series of seals in hopes that she could manifest something until help arrived. "You would have done so already... or better yet you would have done this before I ever arrived to avoid conflict." Shiori's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. She could not believe what she just said. Was she suicidal?
"What makes you think that? You know nothing of me." He answered, his pose still the threatening stance of a Hyuuga about to go on the offensive.
"You don't like conflict... and because you are a liar. You are a professional liar." She concluded. "Great... I am dead," she thought to herself. Why were all of these words coming out of her mouth?
His face and his stance relaxed as he let off a laugh and a relieved shrug. "It works sir," he announced to an unseen person. "Can't believe it... but it does."
"Then leave her be," the unseen man announced.
"Good, I hate killing people so they don't peg me in crimes I never actually committed... only made them think I did." He let out a laugh and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt as if he wanted to let some air in.
"WHAT!" Shiori yelled, both her actual self and the verbal self actually wanted to say the same thing for the first time in an hour. "You just spent all this time messing with my head and now we are done because 'it works'... this is just insanity."
"Sight is not something we SEE with our eyes always. Sight is just an interpretation of images, those images can be lies. Sounds can be lies. Stories can be lies. Everything we know can be a lie and yet there is always an unseen truth. Glasses that help you SEE with your eyes are a dime a dozen. These eyes help you see the truth." He explained in a rather informative monologue. "Feel free to play with the glasses until morning since they do help your SIGHT better than any glasses you can purchase so you can earn your compensation. I will be standing out here in case you decide to keep them for yourself. I expect those glasses to be returned to their case by morning unharmed and wholly intact, otherwise I will end your life," he warned.
Shiori knew that statement to be true. She nodded as the illusion melted away to reveal the slums of the city. To the always sightless woman this was just as beautiful a sight. "Could I see...?" Shiori started to ask.
He did not say a word, he only shook his head to say 'no.'
Although morning was still several hours away, time flew for those last few as she looked at everything from a speck of dirt to her fingernails. She could not leave the area she was directed to guard although the site was also being guarded by another, more capable person. By morning, the glasses were back in their case and Shiori would likely never see them again.
WC: 2299