The Mirror's Riddle (open)

[Takahashi Aki]

(Just putting together an all-ranks invesitgation adventure thread, which will hopefully span a few threads. Do feel free to pop in if you're up for some Sherlocking and other things)

Sometimes the Steward was surprised by things. This was one of them. The art gallery he was in was a ... questionable establishment. Word had it that it was home to some ancient artifacts. The important thing was that these artifacts were not of the cataclysmic sort. Well, that is what he had heard. Sousuke's instinct told him that if it was of a cataclysmic nature, then this facility would have been raided or robbed a long time ago, more so with the Cabal. Yet, it was in the aftermath that this object was stolen. This piece of art. Well... it belonged in an art gallery, therefore to some people, who held large unwieldy bank accounts, this was art. To Sousuke it was a coloured mirror that was broken. Word had it belonged to Mother Suna, and the day it broke was the day she decided to help mankind. That part Sousuke didn't believe. What it was thought was that be believed, that particular belief was what made this broken mirror so expensive.

Sousuke stood before where this piece of art should have been. His hand covering his eyes as he was thinking. The place had security. Some low grade plasma chakra crystal knock off company had created... it was inferior to something Sousuke would have created himself, he had the time to do so. He wasn't going to sue anyone over the patent use of chakra crystals. Sousuke had quirks and strange methods for his investigations. He had put in a few calls for some help. He worked better as part of a team. Hopefully someone had answered his request. He had yet to go over the video tape footage, but if it was that easy then he wouldn't have been called to investigate this item. Even so... with this object being of an 'artifact' in nature, it still would have called him. Sungakure and relics had a bad and long history it would seem. The destruction of the King's Throne. The theft of low-key ... minor artifacts during the hallow's eve. It was a very mentally exhausting procedure. First you planned, then second to fifth draft, then you carry it out... only to find out something has occurred that put the plan to ruins, then you had to put together a new plan.

 

[Kazumi]

She had finally been released from the hospital just a scant day ago, and she had already gotten word of the Steward himself requesting some sort of assistance. She recalled fondly back to the sight of the armored man crashing through the ground, covered in that weird gooey stuff. A small smile traced her lips and she gave off a silent chuckle of amusement. She wasn't a kid anymore though, perhaps in body and mind she was, but that incident had... it had threatened to grind her spirit down to nothing. Thankfully with the help of her friends from the academy and that man she didn't want to waste away to nothing... most days.

Even still, she knew why she had been summoned. It was a pity summon that was offered just to keep her busy and to keep her mind off her situation. That situation being the brutal murder of bother her parents and her own hospitalization, which she had no doubt the Steward knew about. He was the Steward after all, and he was the kind of person who cared about those sorts of things... at least that was what she believed.

Absently her left hand reached up and cradled the stump of her right arm, which had been severed an inch above her elbow by a rage fueled madman, which was hidden by a tied off white sleeve, as she paused in her steps a dozen steps to the exhibit to remember everything. That wasn't something she liked doing, and she found herself drifting off more then once per day, not even noticing it until someone had pointed it out to her. She didn't even remember walking into the art museum, not did she notice the man who had called her here as she stood there with a blank expression on her face, staring down towards the ground.

 

[Takahashi Matsu]

It had been a day to stretch his legs before he had been called out of his self imposed retirement. Please, come help me find this artifact. I work better in teams. You know art! While they were not the exact words likely used, they had been along the lines of what was received by Matsu. He was no steward nor anyone of importance. In fact, he was more likely to be a problem than a solution in most situations, but there were some truths to the question. He knew art and he knew it very well. He was a walking testament to art and veneration of said art. Of course, most of such displays were hidden beneath his clothes. He was wrapped in leathers and cloth from his ankles up to his wrists. His feet were covered further in boots with assumedly steel toes. About his hands were linens meant to offer some meager protection were he to actually strike something with them bare. Such things were unlikely given his nature of armament. Up further, there was a denser clothe wrapped about his neck and face with a hat having some kind of feathering upon his head. It was pointed and angular compared to most conventional hat wear. It was here, in the face, that one would see the tattoos scribbled about his visage, but their words would be illegible to those who did not speak a native tongue. Were they able, runic wards were etched under his flesh by his own hand. In his younger days he'd never dare to carry so many accouterments and accessories. Now, after only a short period of time from such younger delusions, Matsu had become armed beyond what would call teeth.

Upon his right hip was a sword of some kind wrapped in cloth as well, obviously intended to be used in his left hand. Whatever the nature, it was likely crafted by his family. Sousuke, he had heard, was a very competent smith. Matsu, however, was not at all in that line of ability. Probably. Beyond that, his left hip contained a much larger firearm than one would expect holstered into more leather and clothe but very ornate and baroque given the glimpses of its appearance as he approached in the unnatural light.

He approached the small gathering as it was now and looked about the space. Everything about him screamed to be stolen to make good money. He'd have considered it once. Crime was lucrative. It was especially so in their country where some had a lot and others had little. Lazily to others, he'd begun to look for points of ingress in addition to escape routes with the art. Given how shinobi were, someone likely just tucked it away into a storage scroll and just sauntered off. Likely his relative had other considerations. "So, uh, whaddya reckon happened? Common criminals or....higher caliber?"<i></i> His voice was smooth with a hint of some reluctance. He didn't necessarily want to do anything of this sort, but the prospect of someone bleeding was more than enough. With such thoughts, his grin grew wide as he noticed the girl and the pain she had obviously been through given her particular condition. Such a promising candidate. How exciting!

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke turned his head to the side. "Greetings Yumi. You have my absolute condolences in respect to your recent tragedies."<i></i> Yumi wasn't the only one to have lost things, or rather lost an arm that was. Sousuke wore a long sleeved grey shirt, but his left hand was metallic and skeletal like. It would seem that Yumi was going to go about this like his grandmother did but... "Should you desire it I can make you an arm. My grandmother prefers not to have one, but she's ... incredibly stubborn."<i></i> He offered. It was the very least he could do to help her with her the losses. "It may take a while to get used to, but in time a mechanical limb becomes second nature. I know because ... I made one for my ward many years ago, and ... well ..."<i></i> He turned his hand to reveal his own. "In service to the realm... and a sandworm decided to make a snack of my arm. Said creature was ... obliterated and part of its flesh was grafted into making an arm for myself. It's not exactly... the most pleasant looking."<i></i> He added. "Eyes open. Heads up. Focus. Work ... work helps people cope with loss."<i></i> He was speaking for experience. When he wasn't working, or when he wasn't in the company of others, Sousuke lamented his ward leaving him. Okibi returned once to him, but perhaps not a second time, after all, she left him with her son.

The two of them were then joined by the Steward's older cousin Matsu. An entirely different kettle of fish, so to speak, in terms of a Takahashi. Amusingly Matsu's hair style was that of Sousuke's father's ... being that it was bald. Whether or not Matsu went through extreme stress, or it was merely a life style choice was up for debate. Straight to business he was. Matsu was a man for that. The Steward stared at the place where the missing art peice should have been. "We're dealing with a mid level A at the very least, so something of a higher caliber. If we were dealing with common criminals they would have lifted several more objects."<i></i> He motioned to Yumi, "Matsu this is Yumi, Yumi this is my cousin Matsu."<i></i> He introduced the two of them. Sousuke and Matsu were as different as day and night. No tattoos for Sousuke, where as Matsu was covered in them. He looked up and looked at the plate glass that would have been lowered onto the mirror for the night. "We'll need to check the video footage. Honestly though I don't think that will be of much help, considering if they simply referred to it, then I wouldn't have been called... or would have I troubled you two so."<i></i> He walked off to a door frame and inspected the security grid. There were small holes in the frames in which plasma beams would have been fired out forming a grid series. "They got past several doors..."<i></i> He looked up and noticed the walls were not connected to the roofs. "They could have used several mirrors to do this. Reflect the beams with a mirror structure."<i></i> He observed. He turned to Matsu, "What do you figure the chances are he didn't use a mirrored structure and the criminal had himself or herself using reflective tattoo. I wouldn't have thought about it being an option, but you're certainly more acknowledgeable about the inks and metals than I would be."<i></i> Next he would turn to Yumi, "Word usually travels quickly amongst nobles and merchants. Any unusual sales or big sales you've heard of consisting of mirrors, or imported tech? We could be dealing with a private collector with a certain skill set ... or merely he has the right tools due to trade. Black market sales have been harder to track due to the Cabal incident. Still though rumors travel about very easily... which I ... usually don't have an ear for."<i></i>

(MFT)

 

[Kazumi]

As soon as Sousuke began to speak to her, the girl popped out of her daze and looked up to him with a small measure of startlement. He received a set of understanding and appreciative nods from the girl as he spoke, until he offered to help her with her arm. That seemed to cause her to pause a moment, but before she could formulate any sort of actual response the second member of the Justice Squad assembled. She looked back over towards him and gave the newcomer a respectful bow. She knew nothing of him, but if he was related to the Steward then he must deserve a good deal of respect.

She kept herself respectfully quiet as Sosuke reviewed the details of the situation, nodding faintly as appropriate. When he did turn to her and ask for what she knew it would take her a few moments to bring herself to hesitantly respond. "I... erm, don't know... I haven't heard anything. I never was supposed to... listen in on the business... stuff." It would be difficult to tell if she was more embarrassed or more ashamed about being of no help at all. "I could... ask around I guess. My dad did know some people in the Red Light District, but I don't really... know much more than that."

 

[Takahashi Matsu]

Matsu's hand gently rubbed at the cloth upon his face where one would expect a beard, were Matsu to be one to actually keep a beard over cutting it down. It would be quite the curious thing if there were to be reflective tattoos, but it wasn't out of the ordinary. Mirror jutsu were something people learned from time to time and if they used their tattoos as a medium, it could be a thing, albeit unlikely. He pondered such things as he listened to the other two talk about criminal activity. That was, unfortunately, well outside of his purview."Never supposed to..." Matsu continued to think and hum as he did so, pacing about the space with a clop of the heels of his boots. Tap, tap, tap upon whatever the floor was made out of. Cameras would most definitely be useful in this situation as Matsu's brain clicked in some regards.

"Never supposed to, but did anyway, didn't you?"<i></i> That smile on his face would only grow larger if it could. If that was the case, then this girl would turn into a fine instrument of war. For now, they needed to find whomever it was that was going to be fencing the item. That would be an important fact to have at hand for sure as was likely being suggested as he slipped into his own trains of thought. "Let's definitely get into that footage and pay your father's friend a visit. Perhaps we can find the item before it gets sold. If we can accomplish that then we aren't chasing around after who knows what."<i></i> He would wait for his cousin to make the moves. It was his investigation and as such, he should take the helm. He was simply stretching his legs and getting himself back out into the world as it were. Truly it was a perfect chance to practice his faith upon the degenerate individual or individuals who found it most appropriate to steal a work of art that belonged to a nation and not to any one collector.

[A short post, but I'm leaving it to you, Sousuke.]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"Your father was part of a social circle that I... am on the outside of, or at least the very cusp of it. He might have known some private art collectors ... who wished to expand their collection through ... illegal means."<i></i> He offered, "But of course if someone in that circle grew jealous, I'm sure they would let ... the metaphorical cat out of the bag."<i></i> Matsu suggested to go look at the footage. That they did. Sousuke led both parties to the security office. Sousuke knelt down and started handing tapes to Yumi, he would pause everyone once and a while to inspect something. "Seals. Standard procedure is to break the seal on the cassette in order to stop it from being recorded over... give them a second look to see if they've been tampered with. Footage runs about eight hours."<i></i> Three tapes. He awaited Yumi's inspection of the tapes, before he would begin to play them. If any of them were modded, it would still have value to watch them. Perhaps their cat burglar had left a calling card? People of this level of heist liked to leave these sorts of things. Ego was a very dangerous thing to be had. It was very telling of the individual as well.

Sousuke pulled open the drawer and pulled out the schedule of the art gallery. There were things of interest to be noted. Sousuke looked over the schedule. "Cleaning occurred in the morning and evening phases. Bad plasma security was to go on line at night... they allot for four minutes..."<i></i> His eyes narrowed. He didn't seem to like the thought of that. "Matsu after we watch the tapes, and should they not prove insightful we're going to pay the head of security a little visit. The timings are all off, it brings me back to the mirror theory from earlier."<i></i> Assuming by this time Yumi was done her observation of the tapes.

(Mft 325)

 

[Kazumi]

She looked down and away from the pair as Matsu implied she had been anything less than a perfectly obedient daughter. All this talk of her late father was visibly trying for the young girl, but she pushed those feelings aside for the time being, real shinobi wouldn't be bothered by such things... right? Her attention was jutted back to reality once Sousuke began to speak again, but all she managed was a hesitant nod to his speculations.

Before they had come to Sunagakure she had no interest in all with her parent's work, a behavior they had intentionally encouraged. However, once they had moved to Sunagakure and the plight of debt had gripped her parents she did began to notice things. Curiosity had taken her a time or two, and while she did not know the extend of her family's finances at the time, she did notice the less than savory individuals her mother or father would meet with from time to time.

Once they reached the security office, she took and hesitantly inspected them one at a time. She had to set them back down onto the desk one by one as Sousuke had handed them to her, not entirely sure what she was looking for. By the third tape she still had not seen anything that particularly stood out to her and she gave him a slightly defeated shrug, as if there was something she was supposed to have found but simply couldn't.

Once the tapes began to play Yumi carefully watched the individuals come and go at a rapid pace. She couldn't imagine having a job where you sat at a desk and looked at these in real time all day, even at an accelerated rate. As she watched the tapes, something felt... off to her. She absently began fiddling with her dangling empty shirt sleeve while the other two talked. Even by the time Sousuke had finished speaking she was only in the process of ejecting the first tape and replacing it with the second, having toyed around with rewinding and replaying a few parts at normal speed. She looked more interested than a girl her age should have been in getting the next tape in, although she did not speak up about why that might be.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

All the tapes checked out nothing was wrong with the seals. He was surprised. He was most expectant that this was an inside job. Perhaps it wasn't. "Okay. So the seals have not been tampered with. That is a good start."<i></i> He watched the second tape now. He watched with trained eyes. "So... what that means for us is that unless they've edited the actual film, then this has not been recorded over."<i></i> Sousuke's eyes narrowed as he hit the pause button. He pointed to it. "There. A black cat."<i></i> He pointed to the feline in the corner. "There's a bylaw that keeps pets outside of the facility. Canines are the exception. Seeing eye dogs."<i></i> He explained to his cousin and to the child. He had noticed that Yumi seemed to have something on her mind. "Cat Burglar of course."<i></i> He watched on as no one seemed to notice the cat, which was very strange. "You've been far too quiet Yumi, tell me what you think? Tell me what you've seen so far and what doesn't make sense?"<i></i> Sousuke paused the footage. Yumi had been through alot, and the best way to get past her current plight was to put her mind elsewhere. Even when people weren't talking about, it was on the outskirts of their mind.

"There's been a few known cat burglars in Suna."<i></i> He paused, "Some of them don't have a very blatant calling card. This is rather ... uncalled for. Vexxing almost. Usually one wants to keep themselves on the low down for this sort of thing."<i></i> He folded his fingers together. He was thinking of the long history of them. There was a history to criminals. Most of them start low, work up, and then become famous. Following that they would then become infamous, and would cause an individual of a particular skill set which would cancel things out and lead to a capture.

 

[Randamu Kyarakuta]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The rather quiet museum would become aflutter with screams of torment, happyness, sadness.

Isshin had arrived late, but he arrived in style, wearing a large coat and fancy hat with an overly large magnifying glass. By the time he stepped in the door they were already analyzing evidence. He wasn't even sure what was stolen, he just started investigating. He bent low to the ground and stuck his magnifying glass out, scooting along looking at a whole lot of nothing as he walked forward, stopping short of an exhibit. His magnifying glass traced up to the title of said exhibit.

Jar of Screams - DO NOT TOUCH

He squinted his eyes, as if he was having an issue reading the plaque.

"Oh a clue..."

He said, thrusting his mangifying glass out to look at the craftsmanship. What he ended up doing however, is punching the jar off the stand and sending it to the ground, the voices trapped inside all escaping at once, as if souls had been set free. The first burst of noise was the worst, literally knocking him backward and making his nose bleed, like a sound bomb. The sound would be overtly loud, and get lower over time. He laid there for a moment, rubbing his chin as his mask became a darker shade of red around his nose. Then, he'd simply stand up and dust off as the sound dissipated off into the ether.

"Hmmm...I won't know what that means until I get more clues!" he yelled, currently unable to hear. He pointed his finger to the sky as if in proclamation that he would continue to search. Magnifying glass back to the ground, he'd head forward. He took a few twists and turns around until he bumped into one of the other investigators literally, probably coming to see what the ruckus was. He bounded back, looking at the individual through a the glass, they looking warp through it, and vice versa.

"Another clue..." he said inquisitively.

 

[Kazumi]

Her gaze never left the screen as Sousuke spoke of the museum's policies and the cat, though it was doubtful that she didn't hear him. In fact there was no sign at all from her that she registered anything that he said. She pressed the pause button and a smile streaked her face as she say up. She turned her head to look back towards him and opened her mouth when the sudden sound of screams echoed throughout the building. How one trapped screams in a jar was a mystery, but hopefully it was replacable as its contents echoed throughout the building. Yumi's head jerked away from Sousuke and over towards the door to the room they were in.

She gave a momentary glance towards Sousuke and his cousin before she quickly hopped from the chair she had perched herself out of and rushed out of the door. Logic might have dictated to just use the cameras, but apparently that didn't bother to occur to her as she followed the quickly diminishing sound towards the lobby. Not waiting to see if Sousuke followed, though if he had he likely could bypased her with ease, she ran down the hallways as best she could. Her tied right sleeve fluttered in breeze from her dash, which abruptly stopped as she rounded a corner and crashed into the much larger man.

With a thud and a grunt of surprise and pain she landed her butt on the ground behind her. Momentarily stunned she looked up to see the man eyeing her though the obscenely large lens. Confused and slightly panicked by something that must have been an attack, she responded, "w-what's going on!?" She was young and small, and although her voice quavered slightly it was filled with pressing urgency as she stared up towards him from her butt perch.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

It delighted Sousuke to see Yumi smile. Though there was the possibility that it was forced. She opened her mouth and he waited to hear her speak. He was looking forward to this. What did youth and new experience bring to the table... and... no. Screams filled the air as Sousuke face palmed. Yes. That was the jar of screams. Someone had opened it and or worse. Sousuke's ears rang as his lost his hearing for a moment. Yes. Yes. This was worse. Shielding his ears did not help as the jar of screams contained the essence of a banshee, or so the story went. Some argued it was human souls. Still though Sousuke ended up shielding his ears as his body reacted not in accordance with his mind.

Yumi had taken off, and Sousuke went after her. No one would attempt a robbery in broad daylight would they? By the time Sousuke caught up, Yumi was on the ground and there he was... Isshin of the house Karasu... and... ... ... Sousuke was drawing a blank. This man had stumped Sousuke. Isshin. Karasu. Sousuke's mind palace was a run of trumpets and trombones. SECRET AGENT MAN. HE'S A SECRET AAAAGGEEEENT. BWAM BWOOOON. Sousuke pictured Isshin sailing through the air with sword in one hand, firearm in the other, and the firearm slowly firing away. Crime is the disease. Meet the Cure. Okay, not the cure, but more of a tropical ointment that reduces the swelling and itch. Hello Tom.<i></i> Sousuke blinked. Okay. That was weird. What was that about? The Steward stared hard at Isshin. "I guess another hand on board wouldn't hurt. He is dressed for the part ... but only like ... one hundred years ago."<i></i> Sousuke finally said. "Okay Isshin. What clue did you find?"<i></i> He inquired. He finally lowered his hands from his ears. His hearing was returning. This was going to be... well... educational. Right? Right? Good. Yes. Quite. "We were reviewing security footage until... the jar of screams unceremoniously went off... I wonder why..."<i></i> His eyes turning slightly sideways looking over to Yumi. It wasn't an accusative stare, it was a ... this hopefully did not go as I thought this was going sort of look.

 

[Randamu Kyarakuta]

"w-what's going on!?"

The girl acted rightfully distressed. He bent down, looking at her through the magnifying glass and followed her as she got up, making inquisitive noises like he was about to deduce something. Before he could speak, which would have most certainly been proper nonsense, Sousuke interrupted. He shot the magnifying glass out toward him and squinted, not that you could see under the mask.

"I guess another hand on board wouldn't hurt. He is dressed for the part ... but only like ... one hundred years ago. Okay Isshin. What clue did you find? We were reviewing security footage until... the jar of screams unceremoniously went off... I wonder why..."

"Ahem, screw your security footage! I have come up with lots of clues! First, this girl is flat chested, drink more milk for good chesties! Second, you have a cool looking armor, make me one. The Steel Karasu!" he said, flapping his arms as if he was in his own world at that moment. "Third and most important, this!" he pulled out a shard of the vase that lay on the floor in the other room. "While I was investigating, I noticed a....smudge. he said with unwarranted intensity. His hands were gloved so the evidence was in tact. "I find it odd that a vase that's been sitting there so long, most likely not even touched by the owner of this weird and out of the way place, to have what appears to be a fresh smudge on it. Fingerprint maybe?" he said, wiggling the piece in his fingers at Sousuke as if waiting for a plastic bag to drop it in or something. It could also just be nothing. "Also they totally knocked that vase over to, those feinds...or feind." he threw the blame on the thieves even though it was terribly obvious he did it.

"Also...what was stolen?" he knew something was stolen, it's why he was called here, anbu and what not. He however, looked for clues before even getting the story. That was typical him though, it's a surprise this place wasn't on fire yet.

[MFT WC - 353]

 

[Kazumi]

Awkwardly pushing herself up, she listened to Sousuke and then the strange newcomer as best she could. A sharp ringing in her ears made it difficult to understand what they were saying, exactly, but she did mange to catch a few things... Her mouth drooped open slightly at Isshin's comment about, "flat? I... I'm ten! You... you pervert" She fervently remarked, not quite sure how she should react to it. It certainly was inappropriate, and so she felt compelled to complain but that was as much as she knew.

Her cheeks flushed faintly and she looked away from him, settling on the intersection of ground and wall to the side of the trio. When the ogibberish that flowed from Isshin's mouth finally came to a stop she replied, "it was the mirror... thing." She only actually knew a little more than he did, not that she would associate herself with such a... perverse individual. "What would a smudge on a jar thing have to do with the mirror?"

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"Screw the video footage? You do realize recordings still have a place in this worl--"<i></i> Yumi then burst out about the observation she was flat. Yes. Children do take time to develop. Why did such an observation have to be made vocally public? That Sousuke did not wish to learn why. Thankfully the topic took a quick death. Then he was being told to make the man before him a suit of armour. Sousuke was left scratching his head. People sure did know how to leave a first impression. Sousuke would admit he was bad at doing it. This was ground shattering. Perhaps even cataclsymic. "Yes. I suppose my armour is cool... but I'm not sharing designs yet. Especially not with someone I just met for the first time--"<i></i> But! Wait! There was more to the interuptions. The now self proclaimed Steel Karasu spoke of a new find in his oh so very excellent and notable discoveries. Sousuke was compelled to have a plastic bag on hand. He opened the bag, he left the evidence fall into the bag. The bag was then sealed. An awkward expression of...? Annoyance? Grief? Some every strange feeling was present in Sousuke's face. Yes. The wiggling of the fingers in his face.

Yumi made the question of the smudge having and significance with the stolen mirror. "They don't. They're two completely different cases."<i></i> He answered. Sousuke looked both ways. Well. "An artifact mirror was stolen."<i></i> He explained to his now fellow detective. "While the mirror does belong here, I do not want to have it revealed that this is in fact a very powerful artifact and have it being stolen by someone Cabal-copycats. There are some artifacts of great power that ... I don't want appearing on the Black Market either."<i></i> Sousuke looked at Yumi and then Isshin. Not a good enough reason? The safety of the village? "Yumi this is Isshin. Isshin this is Yumi."<i></i> Well. Some sort of introductions were in order. "So... about the footage?"<i></i> He would pause for a moment and whisper into Yumi's ear about bopping Isshin with the training weapon known Steady or Trust if she wanted to.