SRM: The Cold Hunt

[aleatory]

Moscow, Russia
15:36; 4 сентябрь
Outside the Bolshoi Theater

Ivy Sheppard sifted through the contents of her small manilla folder. She pursed her lips, skimming its contents for the vital information she needed. Ivy wasn't one for embellishment, her eyes zeroing in on the important points. "Staggering rise of deaths." "Evil human." "Kishin on the brink". That was all that mattered, in her opinion. Well, that, and the fact that she was halfway across the globe. Ivy shifter her papers, another one now at front. This paper contained the details of her partner. Ivy's face soured. Partner. She wasn't looking forward to put up with someone else's shit. It's not like I could really handle this myself, she thought in the back of her head. Shaking that thought away, she read over the student's information.

Tall. Athletic. Jin. Dark skin. Dark skin. That, Ivy thought, is how I'll find him in this giant crowd of Russians. Ivy wasn't very well learned on the Russian people, but she was quite sure that there weren't a lot of tall black guys walking around Russia. Ivy shut her folder and stuffed it back into her large, tan saddle bag. She crossed her arms and took a seat on one of the steps of the large theater she stood in front of. The place had an aged brass plaque on it that read, "Большой театр". Ivy didn't really know what it meant. Nor did she care. Instead she dedicated her time to braiding her loose locks into a fairy braid and half-heartedly searching the crowd.

She raised her eyebrows,"Jin?"

[Jin Johnson]

Jin Johnson emerged slowly from a taxi cab. He looked around and smiled, leaning back into the cab to pay the driver. Once he shut the door, the meister walked a few feet ahead, looking over the theater in front of him. He wasn't one to usually moon over architecture designs, but he couldn't help but make an exception this time. It was his first time out of the states, after all. He couldn't help but to admire the foreign buildings.

The meister was at this one for a more definite reason than to marvel, however. He was here to take care of business. While he was on his plane, Jin took the time to look over and memorize the key points to his briefing packet. The first step: rendezvous with a weapon teammate. It said that she barely stood over five feet and that she had purple hair and that she was a demon ring blade. It described her more, but those were the only two points that Jin took to heart.

Jin walked inside the theater, not wanting to be suspect for just standing in front of it. He wasn't inside long; he just looked around the lobby for a second and then walked back out. When he did, he noticed a girl sitting on the steps playing with her hair. He assumed that it would be her, but didn't risk the possibility of looking too crazy. Instead, he decided to get a bit closer before calling her name. As he got closer, he could hear her call his name. That told him all he needed to know.

"Call me J.J." The meister was standing one step above her before he decided to speak. He stood with his pants in his pockets and looked down at the girl. He flashed her a quick smile before looking straight ahead. He scanned the crowd, keeping only his eyes moving. He opened his mouth to speak, but a yawn emerged before his words could, "I wouldn't suppose that you've done some searching sitting out here... have you?"

Jin's mind suddenly pulled up something that he heard. He was speaking with Bran. "...but all of them don't know how to use a ringblade..." and "Also she's apparently quite... irritable."

[/color] The spear's words repeated themselves in Jin's thoughts as he glanced back at the girl. She doesn't look like the irritable type... we'll have to see. He looked back from her and took a deep breath before rolling his shoulders some. "Well we should start moving. I get the feeling I'm getting odd stares here."[/blockquote][/size]

[aleatory]

"It's because you're black." Ivy stated bluntly. Her pink eyes only briefly left her split ends to glance up and down her tall peer. He was everything the packet described. Tall. Athletic. Dark skin. The purple headed girl shrugged again, "Not lots of people like you around Russia." she told him, completely ignoring the fact that not many native Russians grew purple hair or had pink eyes, either. Ivy finally stood up, placing the folder of files into her large tote bag. She smoothed tugged on the sides of her skinny jeans, pulling them up. Jeans had a tendency to go all over the place, never fitting her lower half quite correctly.

Without comment the short girl strode off into the crowd going in no direction in particular. The vague information provided in the files didn't do much for Ivy and Jin. The files contained no description of appearance, manner of murder, autopsies, disappearance reports. They need to watch more CSI, they've got their shit together, thought Ivy as she weaved through the mass of traveling Russians and tourists and all those in between. Ivy's pale eyes flitted over every surface in her path. Interesting place, she thought.

"This place is sweet." she remarked. The ornate architecture of the old clashed with the ultra modern skyscrapers of the city. Looking around, Ivy couldn't quite figure out the main influences of architecture. Each building displayed it's own roots proudly with unique building style and color. The peculiarity of it all raised Ivy's eyebrows with interest, something that she couldn't say happened often. The city engulfed her thoughts.

Ivy blinked. She suddenly remembered the reasoning for her being so far, far away from home. The purple haired girl pursed her lips, slowing down so Jin could catch up if he needed to. Mission, she thought, I need to actually do something. Ivy dedicated precisely two seconds to thoroughly staring down the crowd before giving up. How are we gonna narrow this down, she wondered. Ivy never had experience with reading wavelengths and souls and all that jazz. She decided this might be more of a challenge than she desired.

[Jin Johnson]

"It's because you're black."

Jin turned his head slightly towards her again. He didn't expect a response from the girl. It shocked him a little. All the meister did in response was smile. Touche. He thought to himself. True, his skin did set him apart in the foreign country they were in. He also noticed that it set him apart within the walls of Shibusen as well. He had only run into another student of his race and two instructors. It didn't phase him much. He simply shrugged and nodded, "You've got a point. Well there goes the idea of being entirely discreet."

Before the meister could even finish his sentence, Ivy rose to her feet and started to walk off. Jin stood there however, watching her walk. He scoped her out for a few seconds and grinned. Someone's been gifted. Without a second more of standing, the meister started to walk after his partner for the mission. His eyes glued onto the back of her head, so he wouldn't lose her. He was a little surprised by the amount of people around. He figured that most of the people would be tourists. I probably should have paid moms more attention when she was talking about seeing soul wavelengths.

Before long, he found himself only a few steps behind the purple-tressed girl. Jin kept his hands in his pockets as he followed her, his eyes darting to the sides occasionally. "Man.. it would be awesome to be able to see soul wavelengths right about now. Where do you think we should start?"

[aleatory]

Ivy turned around. The much taller boy managed to keep a close tail on her. Ivy felt relieved at that, she wouldn't have to backtrack or sift through the crowd for him. He even took her mildly rude comment with calm stride and replied cooly. She raised an eyebrow as he mentioned his lack of aptitude for wavelength sensing and asked "...Where should we start?". Ivy pursed her lips. Though she didn't want to talk about it, she was probably even less talented in the soul wavelength area than Jin admitted to be. Ivy usually ignored individuals' "souls" and just went straight to dry sarcasm upon her first meeting with them.

Ivy shrugged. She tried referring to what she knew about mass murder. When she realized her knowledge of death all boiled down to crime shows she would watch on TV. She pursed her lips again.

"You're asking the wrong person." Ivy shrugged, "My knowledge of crime and death all stems from hours of daytime dramas. And Sherlock Holmes." Ivy legitimately attempted to think of some starting point for the investigation of the dense city of Moscow. Dense city. Foreign. How do things even work here, Ivy wondered.

In epiphany, Ivy turned to Jin swiftly, "We need to find someone who lives here. Who has lived here a long time. Like. Someone who knows... The underground.". Ivy's hands pawed through her hair as the gears in her mind set in motion. Unfortunately, she wasn't some jetsetting secret agent who had contacts in every nation. She wondered how her and Jin would pull this off.

[Jin Johnson]

The meister slowed his step as the girl turned around to face him. He blinked and burrowed his hands deeper into his pockets. Thinking over her idea, Jin pulled his right hand from his pocket and scratched his chin, looking back and forth from the crowd slowly. They did need to get some information... and fast. The last thing the Shibusen needed was another Kishin running around. The last thing the two needed was a bit of negative rep to their names: "The two who let a kishin be born." The idea made Jin's stomach curl.

"So you should start deducing things, Holmes." Jin looked to the purple haired girl with a grin and took a few more steps. He seemed to veer off to the side, approaching a small group of people. Of course, the meister wanted to be discreet at first, but they wouldn't get anywhere if he remained so. He spoke casually, telling them that he was a tourist and that he didn't really know much about the place. The people seemed closed off to him, but he didn't let up.

A few of the people from the group left, until it was a man who seemed about Jin's age remaining. The man spoke to Jin patiently and pointed out a few places that they should go to visit. With a firm hand shake, Jin smiled and walked back over towards Ivy. With a quick movement, the man pulled the hairband from his dreads and let the hang around his face freely. "Alright... So I didn't find anything underground like you wanted. BUT! There is a hotel close by. We should go check in there and get a bit of rest. If this thing is like any of those daytime dramas, we'll have better results at night. You know?"

The sun was still pretty high. They haven't been in the country long and he could already feel the fatigue from the flight setting in on him. The athlete rolled his shoulders slowly and sighed. I need a place to lay down for a while anyway. He thought to himself.

[aleatory]

Ivy pursed her lips in Jin's general direction. Holmes. Like hell was she some dead fictional British guy. Still, she had to give him credit. He knew who Sherlock Holmes was which granted him more intelligence than she had assumed him with to begin with. She took a moment to picture herself in the role of Holmes and quickly decided that though the hat would be a nice touch, the trench would make her look like a flasher. Ivy did not aspire to look like a flasher. Jin suddenly left, quickly upheaving Ivy's train of thought.

The tall boy ventured over to a small huddle of natives. He began speaking in their language, asking for directions or something of the sort. Ivy raised her eyebrows. He can speak Russian, well I'll be damned, she thought. She pursed her lips, watching as Jin scared away about ninety percent of the natives he spoke to. Fortunately, a single young Russian. Ivy tapped her foot, impatient. Jin sauntered back, the young Russian probably finally having run away. She raised her eyebrows, expectant.

"Alright... So I didn't find anything underground like you wanted. BUT! There is a hotel close by. We should go check in there and get a bit of rest. If this thing is like any of those daytime dramas, we'll have better results at night. You know?" he told her. Ivy pursed her lips. She figured drama wouldn't pan out, but a girl can dream, right? The purple haired girl threw her hands up.

"Yay. Let's go then. Where the hell is this hotel anyways?" she said, already walking off in no direction particular. Pale pink eyes scanned over Ivy's surroundings again. The architecture was incredibly variant, the people didn't look nearly as colorful as their buildings. Ivy shrugged. Maybe she'd prefer the people being colorful like their architecture.

"You comin', Jin?" Ivy asked, not turning around to see if he was following or leading.

[Jin Johnson]

The look on Ivy's face puzzled Jin for a moment. It was as if she expected more from him. It was his first attempt at gathering information, after all. Even though, it wasn't very helpful for the overall mission. It was more of a selfish bit. He wanted a place to lay down for a moment and finding out where the hotel was did just that. He was sure the name 'Shibusen' would carry some weight around here. It did every where else. So it should be able to get them a room for a few hours. Just long enough to catch their prey.

Before Jin could remember what the man told him about the directions to the hotel, Ivy was walking off. She asked where the hotel was, of course, but even if it was fresh on his mind he wouldn't have had time to tell her before she started walking. The meister chuckled a bit. Ivy had an attitude! It, so far, was enough to make Jin chuckle. As she walked, the boy just watched for a second. She was going the right way, but a guy is gonna be a guy and enjoy certain views. Before Ivy was too far from him, the meister spoke up: "Yeah I'm comin! It's not that far, actually."

A grin was all she would see if she decided to look at him. Jin caught up to her fairly quickly and walked at her side, only a step and a half behind her. Okay... two more blocks... then a left.. Third building on the right. As Jin thought to himself about the directions, he started thinking about his future as a meister. Before he knew it, he was talking and posing a question to Ivy. "So why haven't you picked a partner, Ivy?"

[aleatory]

Ivy pouted as JIn took his jolly good time catching up. Does he have some kind of mental disorder or something, Ivy wondered. Jin finally moseyed on up to Ivy, comfortable silence gracing the two for about five seconds. Unfortunately for Ivy, Jin decided he fancied a good conversation, and this good conversation happened to be on her least favorite topic.

"So, why haven't you picked a partner, Ivy?" the boy cooly lilted. Ivy's face warped into a comical scowl. It was the kind of scowl one would wear after having a run-in with Excalibur. The girl quickly shifted her face to a normal expression, brows furrowed in slight irritation. She sighed and glanced at him for a moment.

Finally she said, "All of the meisters at Shibusen are morons. I'd swim in a pool of acid than be wielded by one of those douchebags.", with that she gave a toss of her hair and trudged on. She glanced him up and down. He's bearable enough, she thought, and he looks like he's kinda strong.

Ivy pursed her lips, "Why's a catch like you still partnerless?" she asked, tone oozing with sarcasm.

[Jin Johnson]

The meister looked over at the girl when she responded. He sensed a bit of bitterness in her statement and tried not to chuckle a little. He just smiled a bit and held his hand up towards her a little in a 'whoa now' fashion. With a few more steps, the athlete turned back ahead to navigate through the crowd of people. He was still a bit shocked at how many people were out at the time. Especially since there had been the murders from the evil human they had been told about.

"Not ALL meisters are douchebags. Heh, someone sounds a bit bitter." Jin didn't look back towards her and kept walking. He noticed a building that resembled the one that the native described to him at first. It seemed to be more ornate than he was used to in a hotel. Of course they were in a different country after all. It was something that he would have to get used to and get over, like a big boy. The meister decided to try not to give Ivy much time to think of a snippy response to his earlier statement and began answering her question for him. "Well I'm glad you noticed I'm a catch! But I'm not what most weapons would consider 'meister material'. Especially since I can't sense soul wavelengths." Let alone muster up enough of mine to resonate..Even though he kept his thoughts to himself, Jin trailed off a bit at the end of his explanation.

The walk wasn't as long as Jin thought it was going to be. They were at the doors to the hotel in no time and Jin was opening the door, holding it until Ivy walked through. He followed her into the hotel and immediately headed towards the front counter. He smiled when he noticed that there was a young woman working the desk. Who knows, maybe he could talk her into taking a few bucks off of the room.

Needless to say, the woman instantly recognized them as foreigners and she called over an older gentleman to deal with them. As the man sauntered up to the counter and placed his glasses upon his face, J.J. felt a small bit of disappointment wash over him. Well there goes that idea... He thought to himself. Just then, the older man started to speak. His accent was strong, but he seemed to have a pretty firm grasp on the English language. "Welcome to Hotel Savoy! How may I help you two?"

Jin glanced back at Ivy for a second and then back to the man at the desk. "Could we get a room with two separate beds? We'd only need them for the next two nights." The mesiter smiled and pulled a credit card from his back pocket. The older man nodded and pressed a few keys on a computer they had behind the desk and then whispered to the girl who was there before. The girl walked off and the older man turned back to the two with a smile.

"Thank you very much," The girl came back and stood next to Ivy with a smile, "She will show you two to your room. Here is your key and enjoy your stay!" The older man handed two plastic key cards to J.J. and went back to the back.

Jin turned to the girl and Ivy and let her lead them to their room. Once at the room, the girl left the weapon and meister and went back to work her shift at the desk. J.J. wasted no time in stretching and going into the room and plopped down on the bed nearest the door. "This isn't too bad!"