[h3]Nazca Whitehall[/h3][i]Clockwork Autumn[/i]

It seemed the rag-tag luncheon group dissipated as quickly as it had formed, though no small part of it had been due to Jeanne’s desire to return to the dorms for a bath. That put a dampener on some plans, but Nazca didn’t have any particular problem with it. She still had film to develop, and despite the day’s commotion, she still had to fully unpack and set up her clockwork laboratory. Together with Jeanne and Ryuuko, they left for the dorms, but not before exchanging contact information with the Vietnamese, the Russian, and the Incan. The Korean girl, Hana lived in the same dorms as her, so there was no need to personally probe the girl for such information, though she was sure the others would be more interested.

Once at the dorms, she bid the Frenchwoman and the rather friendly Japanese girl a temporary farewell. [b]“Thank you. Hopefully I will find something useful,”[/b] she responded, dipping her head slightly in acknowledgement. “[b]If you need anything, just knock on my door,”[/b] she offered, before disappearing behind said wooden panel. 

To her surprise, one of her birds was at the window, waiting patiently with a sealed telegram tied to its realistic mechanical claws. Frowning lightly, she strode over and claimed the letter, not expecting another communique so soon.

My, it seemed there were some very interesting individuals on this island. 

The paper was soon burned away at an oil lamp by her desk, removing any traces of its existence. 

Nazca then got to work unpacking. Splitting boxes and unclasping leather suitcases, she began to arrange equipment and sundry all about her suite. Despite the magnificent size of these dorm rooms, the sheer mass of equipment and materials that she required made the entire effort difficult to keep organized. She had heard of students that set up workshops in buildings independent of their dorms and living spaces, and decided that perhaps she should look into a similar arrangement.  

For now, she continued at her efforts, stopping only when she fully unpacked her film developing equipment. Without a dedicated room in the suite, the bathroom would unfortunately have to do, but it wasn’t long before she had her reel-to-reel film projector rigged up to read the roll of tape her spying hawk had captured. Projecting onto the bare wall, she sat down to run through the footage.

Most of it was rather mundane and boring, as had been expected. As the sun descended, most of the footage simply contained the simple movements of students finding their dorms and exploring the island. It was good aerial reconnaissance, though, and would do well to provide her with a rather accurate map of the city once she developed a frame as a still, but this was useless for her current purposes. She wound the reel forward.

Things got more interesting once curfew hit. The fog rolled in as quickly as she had remembered. Problematic for the camera, though, was the sheer luminescence the fully lit streets provided, making for a high contrast image. Nonetheless, she could see that the fog rose about twenty meters in height, covering most of the buildings in the city. 

Then, she saw something that made her pause. In a brief frame, a strange black shape jutted out of the fog before disappearing once again. She quickly rewound, pausing the film there, studying it closely. If she was right, it was between Ryuuko’s ryokan and the inner circle of the city. Perhaps right in Jeanne’s ‘action’ zone that night? It was certainly a strange shape, one of a diamond, and larger than a human.

What was it? And where did it go? Was it truly so fast as to only appear in a single frame, or was there something else afoot? 
She continued on. She would develop that frame and share it with Jeanne and the others later. Soon after, she could see the distinct miasma of smoke rising from the inner circle, where the library was. She made a mental note of the time—about 11PM. 

The tape ran for a while longer, but aside from the burning building, there was not much else until the film ran out. 

Well then, she thought. 

It was time to share this with the others.