[IC] Fu Sonzai no Genso: An Urban Fantasy Mystery RP(Raineh Daze and VitaVitaAR)(Eventually open to two more players!)

[VitaVitaAR]

"We're not just maids, you know!" declared the black-haired girl with an air of pride in her voice. "Daidouji-sama picked us out for more then just cooking and cleaning."

"You can't do either of those things," the brunette interjected with another sigh.

"H-hey!"

"Anyway, this branch of the Daidouji family hired maids from a bit of an unusual source, I suppose," the brunette maid continued, folding her arms, "In Japan we're known as the Eighth House."

It wasn't a name that would be unfamiliar to anyone involved in organized crime, supernatural or otherwise. The Eighth House was an international organization of assassins, who could also be employed as guards or any other profession that potentially required the abrupt and violent death of others. A guarantee that came with the Eighth Houses's assassins was quality.

"The Daidouji are concerned other branches of their family may attack them," the smaller of the two maids continued, "So they take extra measures to ensure they aren't targeted."

"As for the nails, I'm the only one who uses them!" declared the black-haired maid.

[Raineh Daze]

Why, why, would you seek to employ assassins as a large component of your domestic help? Whilst it might guarantee a defence against unexpected assailants, it was a glorious avenue for someone inserting their own assassin into your midst. Without simply having more money than anyone that might ever want you dead or some other means of earning loyalty from an amoral business, you were doomed in the long term.

Wondering about this family branch's apparent desire to be eventually stabbed in the back aside, there was something strange about the black haired maid's insistence that it had to have been her because they were her nails and yet continuing to claim that she didn't remember setting them up. That left one thing to check: was she ill.

The heiress stepped into the maid's reach, one hand placing itself on the girl's forehead.

[VitaVitaAR]

"... Ah...?"

The black-haired maid stared in blank confusion as Ryuuko touched her forehead, before her cheeks colored slightly and she was left speechless for a few moments. Her head was not abnormally hot. Indeed, she seemed to be perfectly healthy, only... with Ryuuko's hand pushing the bangs out of the way, a rune was visible, in what was seemingly black ink, scrawled under her hair. Without deeper knowledge of runes it would be hard to decipher, but it could easily explain the maid's forgetfulness.

[Raineh Daze]

"... Miss, you are coming with me to your employer," Ryuuko stated, hand sliding down to take the maid's wrist. It was unlikely that she would resist too much but her other hand didn't stray from the handle or her blade, just in case, "I believe that she might be able to explain your memory problems."

Normally, the purple-haired girl would have turned around and gone to Toshiko instead but the redhead was conducting her own investigations. Moreover, there were still some questions that needed to be asked of Daidouji and they were closer to the library, if she recalled the way correctly. Maid in tow, Ryuuko continued on her initial path.

[VitaVitaAR]

"Ehhhh? What's going on?"

The black-haired maid stumbled along behind Ryuuko, confused. Why, exactly, was this happening? She really couldn't say that she understood. However, she didn't really resist. After all, there must have been some reason this was going on, right? And therefore it was time to follow the other girl, even if she didn't really understand what was happening.

The library wasn't too far away. Within, Daidouji Tomoko was continuing to repair the damaged barrier spell, remaining where she was as she carefully restored it to full function.

[Raineh Daze]

"I have come to report on the progress of our investigation," the purple-haired girl said, "It appears that the thief made their way past the defences by displacing the walls. Moreover, one of their displacements failed in a manner that brought the wall into contact with the library. We have also found indications that the infiltrator was an onmyouji, blonde, and most likely barefoot." So far, Ryuuko had simply stated everything that their investigation of the vase's defences had yielded.

"By tracing the bloodstains that our thief left, I came across this maid and her nails. She seems to have no recollection of having placed the nails but if you inspect her forehead..." the heiress continued, pushing the maid towards Tomoko.

[VitaVitaAR]

"Aoyama-san?" Tomoko asked, tilting her head slightly to the side as Ryuuko made her explanation, eyeing the maid. All of that made... far too much sense to her, and explained the white dust in the library if it had come from the wall, and just why the barrier had broken when the thieves had never actually entered the library. As for the maid, Tomoko was well aware of the maid's usage of trick nails for weaponry, traps and various other purposes. But if she didn't remember...

Tomoko reached towards the awkwardly-shifting maid, brushing her bangs back. There was the black rune, seemingly written in ink. For a few moments she stared, then narrowed her eyes.

"This rune is designed to suppress and eventually destroy specific memories," she commented, "Which means that the thief must have..."

She paused for a moment, while the maid fretted over the fact that her mind had been messed with.

"... But you said the thief was an onmyouji? Runecraft is a mage's work."

[Raineh Daze]

Ryuuko paused, not having considered that. To her limited knowledge, the arts seemed more or less the same: you drew specific symbols, imbued them with mana, and that had some effect. But from Tomoko's answer, it seemed that there was more of a separation than she had assumed? In that case, perhaps here assumption that the same person was behind both was misinformed... had someone been trying to surreptitiously sabotage the theft? Or maybe they had been wrong and there wasn't an onmyouji at all?

"Though the evidence found at the site was undoubtedly a fragment of ofuda, I cannot say for certain whether it was indeed a traditional design or whether some foreign rune was imprinted upon it," the purple-haired girl admitted, "Or it might be that a second magic user was at work here, though the thief's injury and your maid's lost memories hide whose side they were really on."

[VitaVitaAR]

"There's no way of knowing..." Tomoko replied with a sigh, trailing off... before she looked at her maid's forehead again. "Unless we can break the spell. I'm afraid I can't help due to my role in reestablishing this barrier, but if I'm not mistaken you could destroy it, possibly, by overloading the rune with mana to break it."

"Er... wh-what would you be doing to my head exactly?" asked the maid, nervously, taking a step back. It appeared that she really didn't like hearing that they would be shooting mana into her forehead.

"It's not a complicated process," Tomoko responded. This seemed to do little to soothe her maid's concern.

[Raineh Daze]

"A rune has been placed on your forehead and I am going to remove it," the apprentice mage stated, not waiting for the maid's consent. For all she knew, the girl would be obliged to try and stop her because of whatever else the rune was doing. One hand blurred into position under black hair and the other got ready to stop anything that she might choose to do.

Maybe a more experienced magic user could have done this with no mental preparation or elaborate symbolism. Ryuuko had no such shortcuts available and split the simple operation into two parts: first establish a link with the target. Her fingers formed the physical bridge and from there made a path for the mystical. Then visualise a void within the rune, drawing down mana through the link, consuming all until the fragile symbol would be unable to take any more and the gaping emptiness would devour it as well.

The inefficiency of such an operation was clear; a spiky corona of darkness--coloured mana--engulfed her hand and the top of the girl's head, but she was sure that some of it was going into its destination and--hopefully--would remove the rune to continue their investigation.

[VitaVitaAR]

For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen... and then the maid shut her eyes tightly and clapped her hands on her head.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow headaaaaache..." she whined, trembling with effort to stay on her feet. However, once the process was complete, the rune itself seemed to have grown... hazy. Moments later, it flaked away entirely from the black-haired maid's skin... and she fell to her knees, wincing. Obviously, the experience of having something pulled out of her mind had caused some level of discomfort. Still, she didn't seem as if she was in actual danger... yet, and the rune had been removed.

[Raineh Daze]

"Do you remember what happened last night? It seems that someone barefoot must have trod upon one of your nails," Ryuuko stated, not wanting to waste time waiting for the maid to get around to it herself. Her magic might have been successful for now but there was no guarantee that it would stay this way: she wanted to get the information out of the trap-laying black-haired girl and then let her go and try to recover from what had happened.

[VitaVitaAR]

For a few moments, the black-haired girl rubbed at her temples and winced, not finding the strength to do anything other then try and sooth the throbbing ache in her skull. However, as those moments passed, it seemed like the pain must have been lessening, and slowly she opened her eyes... and then they widened as memories came flooding to her.

"Blonde hair! One was little and she had blonde hair!" she cried, waving her hands in the air, "She looked kind of like... like a doll! She was like... a little doll? Not literally but she looked really fragile! She only had socks on too and she stepped on my nail when she was coming in and then I jumped out to stop them! But then the bigger one, she had black hair, and she got really mad and hit me in the face!"

[Raineh Daze]

"Do you have any more details?" she said. This was a small step forwards--there had been two thieves, one having left the bloodstain behind and presumably removed the stained sock (or used it as a bandage?), for certain. There was little useful new information, though. Their second intruder was able to hit you in the face and disable somehow, possibly through force or through the rune that she had just removed, "For instance, were they known to your group or your employers? Did they have other distinguishing features?"

[VitaVitaAR]

"Ummm.... I don't think we know them at all..." the maid looked thoughtful for a few moments, before glancing at Tomoko. The older woman shook her head, seeming just as surprised at the appearance of the two thieves as the maid was. Indeed, things seemed like they were really rather confusing in this circumstance, as far as the Daidouji household was concerned. There wasn't any recognition from either the family members or the maid. At least, not Tomoko and this specific maid.

"Er... Oh, I think the blonde one had... blue eyes?" she said, "I can't remember what color the black-haired ones' eyes were... even though she hit me in the face..."

The maid seemed rather sour about that last part.

[Raineh Daze]

It seemed that neither of the mansion's residents had any idea who the invaders could be--a pity, since Ryuuko had no more idea herself and pink eyes were more unusual than indicative of any further abilities. The most that could be achieved with this information was to possibly ask after anyone of a matching description fleeing the mansion the previous night.

"I shall go inform Ando-shishou of further discoveries. It would be beneficial if you could search the mansion for anybody matching those descriptions, as the thieves may not have left yet," the purple-haired girl stated, bowing perfunctorily and walking back towards the entrance. Provided that she didn't get lost, it should be easy to find the vase-storing room and her teacher within short order.

[VitaVitaAR]

While the vase-storing room was easy enough to return to, it seemed as if something had perhaps gone amiss. Neither Toshiko nor the daughter of the Daidouji family remained there. Just where had they gone, and what were they doing?

[Raineh Daze]

As if tracing her steps once wasn't enough, both her employer and their current guide had gone elsewhere in the mansion without warning. With a sigh, Ryuuko began to look around the room once again, this time for any trace of runework--on the case, nearby it, or even on the walls and ceiling. Though with the Daidouji's own brand of magic being western, it wouldn't be out of place at all... and Yuuno wasn't around to explain whether that should be there or not.

When she was done, if they hadn't already returned, the purple-haired girl rose up and turned to leave the room again. If she could find a maid, which shouldn't be hard at all, they ought to know where the hell the other two had gotten to... or anywhere that Yuuno might like to hang around, at least.

[VitaVitaAR]

Eventually, the maid directed Ryuuko to the dining hall, where she had seen both Toshiko and Yuuno heading to. She hadn't disturbed them, as it was likely they were busy with something relating to the case. Regardless of just what it was, Toshiko had seemed in quite a hurry. Perhaps there had been some sort of revelation regarding the case?

Either way, it was clear where they were.

Upon arriving there, Ryuuko would see Toshiko and Yuuno seated beside one another. Toshiko seemed rather pleased with herself, so there must have been some kind of development.

[Raineh Daze]

It was definitely strange that the pair of them had relocated into the dining hall but, given that her own sources of information had stemmed from accosting an unfortunate maid in the hallways, Ryuuko wasn't one to judge. She announced her arrival into the room and bowed perfunctorily--it was somewhat annoying to have found no more information on further examination of the room.

"Ando-san, Yuuno-chan, I have been able to learn more information about our thief. Firstly, calling them a thief is inaccurate, there were two partners in this crime. Secondly, we are dealing with both a western mage and an onmyouji."