Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): In the Shadows of the City - Chapter 2 Session 3 Introductions

[Josefina Reyes]

"Wow," Jo murmured, slightly awed at how quickly a simple discussion had grown so complicated. Should it really be this hard? she wondered.

"I don't really mind either way," she chirped, an unnervingly cheerful smile on her face. "Kazuo's pretty sugoi, and Kenobi needs the English practice."

She didn't mention, of course, the fact that being grouped with Kazuo would give her a chance to observe the renegade student in action and pick up a few more of the cool-sounding Japanese words he threw around so emphatically.

And killing more demons?

Saiko!

[SalmonMax]

Keiko gets quickly to her feet as Kaori glides out, but pauses at Jo's comments. She looks surprised, but pleasantly so, and positively beams at Jo with approval.

"Hai! It's better when we all work together," she says warmly. "We may not get everything perfect the first time, but as long as we keep doing our best and improving, we'll get there!"

She waves to Jo and the others who aren't leaving yet.

"We should all eat together more often!"

Then she hurries after Kaori, feeling much better.

[Rorx]

Jim just shakes his head at how long and how heated such a simple decision could take with this disparate group. Quickly finishing his lunch he waves to any left on the roof and heads off to his afternoon classes.

[Adrian Moss]

Ken looks to Shin and James.

"Were are we going to meet for tonight's patrol? The Shrine, or would some other place be closer?"

He was all for getting away from the divisions within the team and getting at the real enemy.

[Kenichi]

Kenichi answers offhandedly before leaving. "The shrine is good, closest thing we have to a base."

[ThatGuy]

Kage nods in agreement. "The Shrine is our fallback point if their numbers swell suddenly once again. Making sure we've got a clear path to it each night seems like common sense."

[Kaori Aoyama]

Calmly Kaori walked through the halls of the school as the setting sun washed everything over in its bright orange light. Keiko had seemed to of followed her while Skye and Kage were somewhere up on the roof still, probably debating, arguing, or whatever else seemed to be common among the children.

Her hakama swished softly with each casual step she took. She'd spend the night slaying demons, somehow get enough sleep to be at school in the morning, spend all day in school, then go back out to slay more demons. Quietly she pondered her fate while the bubbly religious girl followed along.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo grinned wryly at Jo and said, in a brutalized mixture of English and Japanese, "Arigatou, you're pretty 'sugoi' yerself, kimpatsu."

Upon hearing the others talk of the proposed meeting place, he turned back to the main group and reverted to Japanese. "The shrine? Again?! Dasai!" But he seemed to get over his irritation fairly quickly, because he added almost immediately, "Yeah, ok, fine. Whatever. Place is about as exciting as my ha-ha's place, though."

Seeing that the meeting was pretty much adjourned, Kazuo started to head back downstairs, waving casually at the others as he did and not really paying attention to whether or not anyone followed after. He figured he might as well get in a couple of actual classes today. Try something new for a change.

[Josefina Reyes]

"Thanks!" The lanky teen beamed at Kazuo, before unscrewing the top from a small bottle and downing its contents. The cheery grin quickly turned into a grimace, and Jo shook her head, shuddering bodily with revulsion as she shoved the empty can of some herbal-flavored energy drink into her lunch bag.

"Gack! How the heck do you guys drink this crap? Ugh!"

She continued to grumble and pull faces for a few moments, but paused suddenly and looked suspiciously in the direction of the door and the departing Kazuo.

Kimpatsu?

"Hey! What does that mean, anyway?!"

Hopping down from the ledge without any apparent concern for the amount of long, sun-browned leg displayed, she raced across the rooftop after the scarred hellion, and the rest of the group.

[Kazuo]

"Heh?", asked Kazuo after being accosted by the lanky foreign girl. "Which word, girl? Ya gotta be more specific than that!"

However, he didn't really look very irritated while he spoke, and he continued without making her answer. "'Arigatou' is 'thanks', if ya didn't already know. I figure ya already figured out what 'sugoi' means, an' if ya didn't then why're you using it? As for 'kimpatsu'..." Kazuo turned to face her while still walking and ruffled her hair lightly with one hand while smiling mischievously, "it means 'blondie'!"

Turning to face forward again, and falling back in step beside her, Kazuo finished up his explanation by saying, "'Dasai' means, like, 'lame' or 'boring' or something like that. I'm not sure how to say it in English... Anyway, it means I think we should be meeting at a hot club in Roppongi or somethin', 'stead of a boring ol' shrine. But whatever."

He looked at her and grinned sharply, and asked, "so, does that satisfy yer curiosity?"

[Justin OOC]

(Who is still on the rooftop at this point? By my tally Kaori, Kenichi, Keiko, and Jim are gone anyone else not there?)

[Adrian Moss]

Kenobi goes with James, hoping Shin will tag along.

[Kazuo]

(Justin: Myself and Jo March have clearly stated that our characters have left the roof and are on our way to classes. We've been discussing Japanese slang along the way.)

[Justin OOC]

(So it's Skye, Kage, and Shin...)

As Skye, Kage, and Shin remained on the roof, a quintet of new voices could be heard.

It was Alexander,Damien, Himeko, Henry, and Sayoko.

"I trust you all have had a good time today?"

Alexander spoke first. "Quite, Henry. This school is exactly as you told us all it was. The students a friendly, really making me feel at home, though Kaori seems preoccupied."

Himeko was next. "Indeed. From what I gather, Kaori and Skye are the two most beautiful girls on campus and I was lucky enough to draw Skye as my guide for today. She's a nice girl, a good head on her shoulders."

Sayoko went next. "Kenobi was very kind."

Damien laughed. "A Sayoko, the ice maiden, all you can say was your guide was very kind." His voice loses all Joviality. "I think I may have an issue. The young American woman, Jo, We both felt something when we shook hands."

Alexander laughs. "Well that's what you get for shaking hands moron."

At that Point Himeko, now clearly visible from around the corner of the exit smiles. "Hey Skye! So this is where you got off too."

She smiles, and Henry comes around. "Skye, and Kage, and Shin, Hey guys what's up."

The others, Alexander, Damien, and Sayoko, all emerge from the Exit and seem somewhat more guarded.

[ThatGuy]

Kage answers first with a shrug. "Warm day, don't you think? And did I hear that someone shared a special moment with the American girl?" he asks, gently teasing Damien.

[z-Skye]

Skye waited for everyone else to clear out. She didn't want to be seen walking down from the roof with them, no matter how much she wanted to get away back to Henry. So she was a little surprised to find him up here, and talking with the transfers, as if he knew them.

She took her lead from Kage: acting like nothing was wrong. "Henry," she murmured, slipping over to stand by him, even as she had a hundred questions. There was a voice telling her that something was wrong. She didn't want to hear it, but it was a very loud and logical voice.

"Himeko, I didn't mean to lose you," she said to her 'ward'. "I just like to have lunch away from the schoolyard, sometimes." She looked out over the edge of the roof. "Quite a view, eh?"

What had Henry told them about the school? Why did he know all of the new transfers?

[Justin OOC]

Damien started. "Nothing so much as special, just weird, Kage was it?"

Henry nods as Skye moves toward to him. Himeko smiles back. "Yes indeed, Henry told me alot about it, I think he said the view was one of the big selling points on this academy. The view, and the student body."

Sayoko blushed abit at Himeko's response and walked over to the edge. "Everyone seems so happy, despite the oceans of blood and sorrow surrounding this school."

Alexander smiled. "A Full Sentence Sayoko, I am impressed, you never talk this much. Perhaps coming here was a good idea."

Through it all the sense of something being wrong gets worse, and in her chest Skye can feele as though a cold hand is gripping her heart. Something isn't right.

[z-Skye]

Skye kept the smile on her face. The sense of deepening dread was making it hard to breathe, but she fought on. It felt like the new students were having a conversation she couldn't hear, as if their words were a code. And maybe that was true. All Sky knew was that the new students were wrong. Did that mean that something was wrong with Henry?

It couldn't be. He was wonderful. He was perfect. How could something be wrong with him? "Do you all know each other from another school?" she dared to ask.

[Justin OOC]

Alexander chuckles. No, nothing so boring. You see, we're all siblings of a kind. We all have the same Father, just different mothers." Spitfire looked at him with a shocked look, Sayoko just stared emotionlessly.

This is simply the first time any of us have gotten together with any of our half siblings. However we've always written each other over the years. As of Late with all the troubles plaguing Japan, Father called us all here, presumably to keep us close so he could watch over us all. When he disappeared, it was decided that there was more we could do as a group, thus why all of us currently are here. It's as simple as that."

[ThatGuy]

Kage nods, first to confirm Damien's question about his name, then going along with Alexander's explanation. "I don't know if I can imagine having family that way... Such strong ties for people who're meeting the first time, but I suppose that's proof that you're related, huh?"

[Justin OOC]

"Well to be fair there's not so much an attachment as curiosity. It is the first time we've all met after all."

[z-Skye]

Skye kept her smile, but it was becoming forced. This was completely unnatural, and she restrained the urge to grab her Tessen. For starters, she wasn't supposed to have them on school grounds and she wasn't sure what she'd do with them anyway, other than hold them for comfort. She was starting to feel naked without them, helpless.

That was probably because she was helpless without them.

She nodded slightly, affecting a casual pose as she added, "It's nice that you're getting along so well. I understand that doesn't always happen with siblings."

[Justin OOC]

"No it doesn't. We're lucky I guess. Anyway, it's almost time to get back to class, but I wanted to show everyone the view." They all looked around a minute and then began moving back towards the stairs down. Henry lingered around Skye, as did Himeko. "Take care of my sister for me, Skye, and I'll do something very nice for you."

Henry's voice oozed charm, in an almost irresistable way, and his smile was so open and friendly.

[z-Skye]

Something was very wrong. She could feel it. She could almost taste it.

But his promise was too good to ignore. "Ok," she said, smiling goofily at him. "I'll take very good care of her."

[Justin OOC]

With the lunch bell ringing, everyone returned to Class, Alexander inexplicably resuming his place by Kaori, and Damien going back to talking to Jo, eying the others who'd seen.

Sayoko returns to kenobi's charge and the day goes well enough. The teams assemble for the evening patrols and go through their sectors. After about 3 hours Each group Encounters something new.

[Justin OOC]

Teams are

Team 1 Skye, Shin, Kage, Ken, Jim

Team 2 Kaori , Kazuo, Keiko, Kenichi, Jo