[indent][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/CY84i9T.png[/img]
[hider=Mood Music][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA5RqKBbJvU[/youtube][/hider][/center][right][h1][color=7B81B3]Kenshiro[/color][/h1][/right][right][sub][hr][color=7B81B3]Mentions: [color=ffffff]Emily G. Reed, Kari Wilson, Carol Doyle, His Dead Wife[/color] |[/color] [color=7B81B3]Direct Dialogue: [color=ffffff][b]Clancy Patrick/[@Zombiedude101],[/b][/color] [color=f4eb93]Britney Williams/[@Punished GN],[/color] [color=6b8e23]Luca Olivera/[@FernStone][/color] |[/color] [color=7B81B3]Location: [color=ffffff]Kari's House[/color][/color] [/sub][/right][hr]
[/indent] It was pretty difficult to get Ken to react. At best, for the first few minutes people started to disperse, he just wandered off into a particularly private corner and continued his (slightly muffled) sobbing fit. Of course everyone else wanted help; they wanted to act like they were going to take control and figure out where Kari's notes were. All Ken could feel like was a failure for a second time. Maybe Drake understood now, a little bit... In his own mind, he was taking this far better than the death of his Wife. He was only crying, there were no outbursts of Purple magic or feelings of the last possible resort. 
Kenshiro wasn't resigned to death; he was resigned to revenge. That he would spend the rest of his natural, and perhaps a future unnatural life, hunting and seeking and finding and killing. He wished a Fiend would bubble up from the floor and tell him that his Curse shall never end. He got satisfaction in chopping messengers like that in half, usually. 

Instead the strange child who had broken into Kari's home was the one to break his slump at first. He said something close to comforting, only to rip it away as Ken clammed up at the suggestion that Kari would get involved with this. The suggestion that it may have been Lionel did occur to him during the previous Recollection, especially with 8th Street's reputation. Ken knew better than most what Kari was dealing with as far as pressure was concerned, as her spellbook was one of the most sought after in the entire city. It paid to have the All-Seeing Eye embrace you...
[color=7B81B3]"The Paths are secure: Master Kai's Wardenry was perfected in The Viscous, and he had thousands of equivalent years to perfect their security... Noone outside the Palette Clans have knowledge of their workings. By my estimation, looking at her Coin Collection, there were no broken knots or undone ties, meaning they've remained bundled and nobody found them in the freezer."[/color] he said, doing his best to remain composed. 
[color=7B81B3]"If she had any sort of hand in this, she was either brainwashed, or forced! But if 8th Street was breathing down her neck, then Emily G. Reed is the first fucking person I'm interested in seeing. Because I already...-"[/color]

Ken choked up again, gripping his mouth and letting Clancy address Britney. 
[i][b]"I don't know what you did to people, to make them something they're not, but I know what it's like to be on the other side of that."[/b][/i] 
[color=7B81B3]"Oh, my friend... She's a Pactmaker! And the whole reason Emily G. Reed is a bitter, wretched fucking cunt today?-"[/color] Ken pointed at Britney. [color=7B81B3]"-Is because of you, Britney Williams. Because if it wasn't for you, and your dirty deeds? She'd be a stain on the pavement of St. Portwell. And we'd all be better off for it... Including [b]my fucking Kari![/b] Now what is my fucking [b]life[/b], Britney!? Empty! I have [b]you people![/b] You! And you know what the worst part is? I never would've known were it not for Kari telling me... The only other woman I thought I'd ever be able to truly open up to, and she's [b]gone![/b]"[/color]

But before he could make much more of a stink about things, another Recollection washed across the group. Ken wondered what the hell was going on and what the reason could be to receive two memories back to back, but his wonder quickly faded. Rage became him, watching Emily G. Reed and her cronies ransack his girlfriend's house while she lay cold and dead in a funeral home somewhere. He was so upset by it that he almost forced himself out of the Recollection to make a bad decision, but ultimately found something useful.
He only vaguely knew Carol, hearing about the different members second hand from Kari herself. He was distinctly aware of her ability, however, to repair. To fix what's broken somehow, it was described to him but he paid little attention at the time. But, they were excited about burned papers? Kari wouldn't have burned her papers, he thought. She'd have no reason to: They were always coded. And not coded like some methodical magic would be able to decipher it. She had serious ideas about the security of information, it's why she was so insistent on still putting everything down on paper and not using some digital medium.

He recognized Vashti stealing a blanket he'd gotten Kari from The Whisper. It was simple fabric, but it reacted to the body heat of the individual: It was perfect for someone whose blood was cold. He only hoped that if she still had it, she'd ruin it somehow and make it unusable... It wasn't hers to enjoy. As everything faded, Ken was filled with a strange confidence he couldn't describe to the others. Rather than return to his previous default, he immerged from the Recollection with faith in his heart and fury at his fingertips. If he was right, and the notes weren't Kari's? If they were just some red herring devised by the fleeing Kari in a last ditch effort to throw 8th off her scent? 
He'd be able to act with utter impunity. No fear of the risks. Only vengeance.

[color=7B81B3]"T-they're... They're not hers!"[/color] he said calmly, looking up toward Clancy and the girls further on. At once, he was frenetic again, and bounding up the basement stairs only to nearly trip over Luca. 
[color=6B8E23][i]”8th Street are coming.”[/i][/color]
It was never nice to see Luca in this state. He was nervous. More nervous than he should've been, and Ken was quick to lift him up by way of a magical hand.
[color=7B81B3]"Good, Brother... Good. Easy, now. Stand? And look at me!-"[/color] he said, speaking up again. He spoke loud enough that the whole house would've been able to hear him. [color=7B81B3]"-They think they're so powerful? So strong? For insulting the honor of a dead friend and ransacking her home? Don't let this stand, Sycamore Tree! War Cometh!"[/color]

He put both his arms around Luca, embracing him as the physically closest object of affection he could interact with. There was a familiar gentle bubbling feeling, not against Ken's flesh, but against Luca's. The same kind of hug Ken usually gave him, where contact was extended and made safe by a small telekinetic bubble that prevented the rot from climbing onto him. It always vibrated and popped as little air bubbles trapped within escaped the field. Pulling back, Ken's eyes were still filled with tears.
[color=7B81B3]"Come on... Tell the Rot. He can have his day today, when we turn their entire mansion into mushroom food."[/color]

Despite the tears, he smiled. But he only had a little time left now to prepare. He pulled a small bamboo stick full of clay from his vest and began to channel a spell. The metal on his headband began to glow gold, and he snapped the bamboo in half. Another Ken formed from the clay in his hands, building itself out of gold energy until he was holding his own hand. The Dummy Buddy smiled at him, and he nodded back to it. They didn't speak to one another, but the Buddy was happy to stand in for Ken as he made his way out the back door. 
Knees buckled, and all at once Kenshiro flung himself vertically into the air until he had a bird's eye view of the property. Meanwhile, the silent clone looked at those who were gathering about in the main floor as things ramped up. It simply smiled and waved, but in its own mind the Dummy knew its job: Be a distraction. If they thought he was there and not fighting back, there was a chance someone would make the mistake that he wasn't willing to fight, and it'd be a perfect surprise to get bombed from above by exploding tree frogs.

[color=7B81B3]"Mmmngymnmynmmmm"[/color] the Clone felt compelled to speak, but didn't possess the equipment to do so properly... But it stuck its thumb up, so... It had to be good and ready, right?