001 - A Bad Day For Everyone

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Misaki Kirihara appears on the plane looking very, very pissed. Her Sig P230 is unholstered and leveled at…

…no one.]

Tch.

[She lowers the weapon, very slightly, taking in her surroundings. Or rather, the lack thereof.]

Contractor!

[She turns in a slow circle, tension wrapped around her like a creaking spring.]

Contractor! Show yourself. You’re being stupid. Using your power on a member of the NPA will get you killed. It isn’t worth the laugh.

[A pause. She’s starting to get angry again.]

Show yourself!

[She looks up, down, around at the stars, and a pained expression crosses her face. Barely audible, she mutters,]

You people… know how to be cruel.

Comments

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Bit of a sardonic smile.] How did you know about the stars? Li told you? And who is 'the Guv?'

[Her expression darkens, both at the thought of monsters nibbling on Tokyo and at the mention of the dangerous and cruel. How much she should say is still up in the air--as is how much he seems to know.]

How did you meet Li-san, exactly?

Ah-- good to meet you, as well.

[didorothy]

Li's said a bit about them. He has a telescope, actually, for stargazing here. 'Guv,' short for 'governor,' is how teams in Manchester refer to their DCI. Well, did up into the 70's, at least. They never used it when I was a DCI. So my Guv is DCI Gene Hunt.

I don't know if I remember. Was it through Fumie? I might've fed him - no, I know I fed him. I just don't remember if that's the first time I met him. Might've been when I was doing some research into reality changes. Probably that.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[She nods, thoughtful.] So, you aren't from the 1970s originally, then. How did you end up there? Someone was talking about reality switches--are they permanent, with some people?

[There's a fond flicker of a smile, but she shakes her head, as though to banish it.]

How well do you know him? Has he been here long?

[didorothy]

...You know, I have to be a bit more careful with my words. Back in 73, everyone just shrugs it off when I talk like that. But no, I ended up there by independant means. [a pause, and as an afterthought] Realities have been known to merge, though. It's possible that one reality could completely take over another one.

I know him well enough to know that he keeps secrets. He's been here two months or so. It's hard to tell, here.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[She does NOT like the sound of that. Darkly,] You make it sound as though it hasn't happened yet--a complete takeover--but you think that it's possible? How does a merging of realities work?


[She smiles dryly at his phrasing.] Are you fishing, Detective Inspector?

[didorothy]

All that Meredith Sault said on the matter was 'closeness.' That seems to mean honesty and shared time between two people. The individuals involved usually are friends, but given that the reality I share with the Guv's done some merging with someone we both happen to hate, I'd say affection isn't necessarily in the equation. It would not be unreasonable to assume someone could learn the system and use it to the purpose of takeover.

Are you trying to gauge how much I know so you don't have to reveal any more than that, Section-Chief?

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Bad, bad thoughts. If someone intelligent enough from this place were to get inside the Gate...] I see.

[She bursts out laughing.] Yes, Detective-Inspector, I suppose I am.

[didorothy]

As I said, it hasn't happened yet. I don't know if it can happen. But it's something to be careful of.

[grins] Then I have to admit that fishing is in my repertoire. Not that I was. It would be prety obvious as fishing.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

I will keep in mind that your skills are more subtle.

How did you end up here?

[didorothy]

Here? [waves a hand to indicate the Plane] Same way as everyone else, I'd reckon. Walked into the shop that'd never been there before, spoked to the strange woman in a hood, and woke up here.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Scratches her head.] So that's a constant then. What about them, the Twins and that woman? Do you know anything about them?

[didorothy]

I don't know much about Ms Sault. I work for Lapis and Lazuli. [frowns] I wouldn't suggest that you trust them entirely. To give you an example of their character: they like me, and thus tricked me into becoming their shop boy so I could pay off a debt for something they would've done anyway. They're about business when it comes down to it, so expect deals and trades and the like.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

Marvelous. They sound horribly entertaining.

What, if you don't mind my asking, was it that they tricked you into paying for?

[didorothy]

My DCI died because of one of the people here. I wanted him back.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

You wanted him back.

[She does not like where this is going. She does not want to believe where this is going. She is reconsidering the possibility of her own insanity.]

[didorothy]

[he folds his arms, though he doesn't mean to seem closed off, really]

'Course, we found out that the Twins don't like their test subjects dying off, so he would've been brough back even if I hadn't asked for it. Other people here've died and been brought back to life. Three that I know of, but I can't be sure there aren't more.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to press. [This is one thing to many.]

People here can be brought back from the dead. I'm sorry, I just. That's not.

[Right. Sane. Healthy.]

More importantly maybe... who killed him?

[didorothy]

It does take getting used to. All of it. You end up just accepting everything that comes your way.

The Master, the bearded one.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

I'm unfortunately used to such situations.

[Because she's curious, and this topic is obviously making both of them uncomfortable,]

What has Li-san told you about himself?

[didorothy]

I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you of what he's told me, as I don't know how much you know and I don't know how much he wants known. But it's honestly not much, what he has said.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Raises an eyebrow at his grammatical acrobatics.]

Yes. I suppose it's not really fair to either of us, or to him, to talk about what we know. Your Li-san and... the one from my world could be two completely different people.

Either way, it's his life. [There's a brutal sort of dismissal in the last sentence that she doesn't--quite--intend.]

[didorothy]

[raises an eyebrow at her tone]

It sounded like you and Li knew each other. That sounded like something's happened.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

We did, and things did. Unfortunately, my sharing those events with you would mean talking about Li-san--which we've already agreed not to do.

[didorothy]

[holds his hands up in the universal signal for "I'm not armed, really!"] All right, all right. We won't go there.

Do you mind if I ask you a bit about the structure of your police force? I've never had a chance much research into other countries' forces.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[She shrugs.] Certainly.

[She decides to give the guy a break--he is a cop, after all.]