Starring:
Jon, Nori (emitter)
Date: March 26, 2013
Summary:
A tricky new case opens up for Kumogakure's head detective.
"Nemesis - Falconed"
Kumogakure
Sometimes, as a detective, you could almost wish for some sort of big crime to investigate. Like a bomb threat, or an ongoing murder spree. Not really, of course, hence the 'almost', but those are the sort of things that can validly demand a detective's attention over…other tasks. For example, guard duty. Jon's current assignment, partly in lack of more pressing matters, is to oversee the security detail for an ambassador visiting Kumogakure. A bit more interesting than having to be one of the subordinate ninja doing actual patrols around the visiting premises, to be sure. And it is an important task, as somebody injuring or kidnapping the ambassador, or even getting ahold of his signet, could cause major troubles. Still, very few people like this sort of 'stand and wait for problems that probably won't show up' assignment. :P
Jon walks out to the front gate of the visiting quarters, having just completed a circuit of the premises to make sure everyone's at their posts and nothing suspicious is going on. Scruvo flutters down and lands on his shoulder. "All clear on th'roofs an' such, Jonny-boy. Say, d'ya think it'll get us brownie points wi' the 'igher-ups if we show that ambassador chappie th'night life around 'eah? I know this nice liddle joint that opened up recently, seems populah wi' th'cute fillies too." ;) Jon shakes his head. "They typically choose married men for ambassadors, cuts down on unfortunate incidents." "Oh. Rottahs." Jon catches himself almost wishing Scruvo would have reason to try his match-making antics with the ambassador. At least it would be something happening…
The ambassador is indeed married with children in fact. The children can be heard from within the gated compound from time to time shouting and shrieking with joy as they play. One child's attention is drawn towards a cute little chipmunk in the yard that was begging for food. The young girl, no more than 4 years of age, squeaks in delight as the chipmunk does little tricks for her, like standing on its hind-legs and chasing its tail. The girl turns to call to her other siblings about the chipmunk, but it darts off to the fence. In order not to lose sight of her new friend, the kid abandons the call for show-and-tell and gives chase. The chipmunk heads straight for the compound's fence and then stops to make sure the girl is still in toe…she is. Our first chase scene!
As soon as the little girl makes it to the fence, the chipmunk pauses and then scurries through the fence and out of sight. As quickly as the chipmunk is given up, the girl is ensnared. Her mind is pushed aside and the unknown Yamanaka thief's mind takes control. If any of the guards witnessed this feat, it looked like a young girl chasing an animal and getting confused as to why the animal would have run off. The girl turns and heads back to play with her siblings as if nothing happened.
Meanwhile, the Yamanaka just required line of sight to perform the trick, as well as skill. Using a ship captain's telescope, the thief is quite a way's away, but all he had to do was move his mind from the chipmunk to the girl, so distance and precision was really the limiting factor. Even if a flash of light or something shows his location off the telescope, he'll be moving again in no-time now that his target is acquired.
Jon doesn't have his mega-observant mind state active at the moment (it takes too much chakra to use casually), so it's not too surprising that he wouldn't notice any brief flashes of light from far away. A kid chasing after a chipmunk doesn't set off any alarms either, except maybe the fact that she winds up near the fence. Still, she runs right back pretty soon, so no cause for worry, right? And the few other guards in the vicinity think likewise. The other kids incorporate the girl back into their play as though she hadn't left. "Look out, Hana-chan! The swamp monster's gonna eat you!" The eldest boy lurches around the yard making monster-y noises and swiping at any of the others who get too close, which of course daring to do so is the whole point of the game.
With the first part of the plan successful, the young girl/thief now starts the second part of the plan…playing. She runs around the swamp monster, giggling as she does, but not speaking. Speaking would give it away, but giggling is an easy thing to fake. She is swiped at by the eldest boy but she isn't caught. She dips in and out with the game for the better part of ten minutes or so.
With time passing, the thief moves to the next step in his plan…distraction. The young girl makes a quick hand-sign for a drink, which in and of itself is slightly odd, but not that uncommon, and she runs inside. Once inside, she quickly heads for the kitchen. She bypasses the wooden cups that the children would normally use and grabs a glass sake glass, known as an ochoko. As she grabs for it, she squeezes the glass hard and it bursts in her hands. Blood starts to seep everywhere.
The eldest son usually catches one of his siblings and pretends to gorily devour them by the end of this game — what good is a game where nobody gets eaten, after all? ;) And of course the best target is usually the youngest, being the most likely to get caught up in the fiction and squeal with half-real terror. XD Plus she's the easiest to catch — *WHIFF* — in the long run anyway — *NFF* — well, if he really tries — *RRGH!* — when did Hana-chan get so good at dodging? o.O; Another small boy thinks to take advantage of the eldest's focus on Hana-chan, coming up from behind and actually touching the swamp monster. The monster whips around and grabs the boy, snarling in triumph. >D Yeah, lull the others into a false sense of security, that was his plan all along. c.c
In the kitchen, there's not a lot going on at the moment. Just a single guard keeping an eye on the vicinity, and there's nothing alarming about one of the ambassador's children coming in for a drink and — "Oh hey, those are the big people cups, you should — " *TINKLE* "Oh SHOOT! HEY, WE NEED A FIRST-AID KIT IN HERE, THERE'S BEEN AN ACCIDENT!" The guard tries to carefully take the broken glass remains out of the girl's hands and usher her toward the sink. o.o;
The little girl cries, making the unf-unf-unf sound of a hurt kid. She has big tearful eyes as the guard takes the broken glass out of the girl's hands. She is being surprisingly resistant though to letting him take the glass out of her hand. Every time he tries, she whimpers loudly and pulls her hand away. The guard would even have to carry her to get her to the sink in the first place. She mumbles something under the muffled cries that sort of sounds like 'Da', but it is really hard to tell. Also, and perhaps this is just the snot running down her nose from crying so hard, or perhaps the hyperventilation, but her voice sounds a little off too, maybe deeper than normal for a kid her age.
The ruckus naturally draws plenty of attention, including from a concerned parent. The ambassador comes bustling in after a ninja with a med-kit. "Accident?! What — oh, my poor Hana-chan! What happened?!" The ambassador squeezes in to take a closer look at Hana-chan's injury, despite not being the one who can do much about it. "I knew something like this might happen! I told those buffoons that our residence would need to be child-proof!" the ambassador fumes. >.< This even though he also told them it would need to be stocked for entertaining classy company. e.e
The little girl looks up as her 'Da' comes running in. She pushes away from the guard and throws herself onto her father. She lets him look at her hand, all the while clinging to him like an ape. Her feet swing freely as the Ambassador holds her in the air, but it is a ruse. The Thief is merely trying to see if the sigil is in pop's pockets.
Pockets? Yes, but not pants pockets. The ambassador isn't a total fool, and he's been trained in how best to keep important things safe. The sigil is kept in an inside vest pocket, complete with a zipper. Of course, the child!thief can probably discern this after a moment of clinging against him. "What are you waiting for?" the ambassador says to the ninja with the med-kit. "Go ahead and treat her!" The ninja grimaces slightly, then proceeds to try and bandage up the girl's hand as best he can from beside the ambassador as he continues to hold Hana-chan (and even sway her comfortingly a bit).
Hana-chan whimpers a little bit once she realizes where the sigil is. <Smart man,> thinks the Thief. Still, he has the element of surprise working for him. As the ninja moves to start taking the bits and pieces of glass out of her hand, Hana buries her nose into her father's chest. She wiggles as every little piece of glass is removed. As one large piece is just about out, she cries out and swings her hand away from the ninja. The hand goes out to her father's chest, as if she were trying to claw her way further into her father. That one piece of glass moves with precision for the outside of the vest with a slashing motion. The Thief is attempting to open up a small enough hole to allow the sigil to be pulled out. The fact that her hand is bloody could potentially help the Thief in concealing the small cut.
Whether or not the stunt works, the Thief would allow the hand to be returned to the ninja, albeit reluctantly, for bandaging.
The ambassador wobbles slightly as his daughter flings her arm around. o.o; "Easy, precious! It's all right, the pain will be over soon." The rip in his vest doesn't go totally unnoticed, but he doesn't think much of it. What's a little tear in his clothes when his daughter's crying? :P Besides, he's got more clothes than he knows what to do with. Every morning he spends half an hour changing in and out of outfits before his wife is satisfied that he's properly decked for the day's activities. He thinks she enjoys it a little too much. e.e
Plan moving along as anticipated then. Once the hand is completely bandaged, the little girl hops down, looks at the bandaged hand, smiles, and then grabs her father's hand. She pulls on it and uses the bandaged hand to gently dab her tears away. Just like a typical child, once the damage is done, it is time to play again…or at least that is the idea. She continues to pull on her father's hand and waves for him to follow her outside. Seeing as the Ambassador can't help but follow after a face as cute as hers, he'd follow…right? At least, that is what her look says.
If 'Da' puts up any bit of fight, she'd make a pouty face and hold up the bandage until he gave in. Once the two of them get outside though, she would tug on him to say something in his ear. This is when the confusing part happens. The little girl attempts to pick-pocket her father while whispering, "Falconed." Of course, he would probably wonder why her voice sounded so different. This is all part of the plan..distract and give up his position, steal the sigil…and finally, throw the sigil as high into the air as she can.
Meanwhile, a bird comes swooping out of the air at a speed upwards of 300kph (~200mph). The bird is a Falcon, and just like the predator would normally snag a bird out of the air mid-swoop, the Falcon aims to snag the ring out of the air.
Yes, of course, who could resist that cute little face? n.n He finds it a little concerning that she's communicating non-verbally so much, though. Usually she's such a little chatter-box. c.c Oh, but now she wants to say something? Good, let's hear what it is she — 'Falconed'? o.oa What the — "Hey!"
Jon's head whips around on hearing the exclamation in the grounds nearby. Ambassador, little girl, little girl's arm is raised, follow the line upwards — whoa, hawk! Birds of prey usually don't hang around in the city limits, and they don't dive-bomb at non-existent things for no reason. Something's going on here! "Scruvo, see if you can track where that hawk's headed!" Jon says, dashing towards the ambassador. "Oh crikey, chasin' aftah taloned menaces, me favorite pastime," Scruvo groans as he takes wing. "What just happened?!" Jon inquires briskly. The ambassador motions incoherently toward his oddly-behaving daughter. "I — she — strange voice — 'falconed' — and, sigil!" O.O;d
And the second chase is on! The falcon is quick to dive, but not so quick to necessarily get up to cruising altitude, especially carrying the sigil. The Thief wasn't expecting another bird though to take flight after his 'pet'. Meanwhile, the little girl is back to being Hana-chan. She was released and is crying again uncontrollably. There's something about not being in control, and watching, and puppets, and her hand really really hurting all mixed up in her mumbling as she cries and tries to get everything out.
The Falcon was chosen by the Thief for a reason, namely that they are aerial maneuver masters. The predator bird flies away from the compound, first headed south…and then after finding that it can't part ways with Scruvo, it heads west. After some flight time, performing dips and dives, gaining altitude and barrel rolls, the Falcon suddenly pulls a U-ey and makes its way to attack Scruvo. Just before the attack though, the sigil is dropped. Maybe the bird is just trying to get away from Scruvo by ditching the 'baggage' as it were, or maybe the sigil is being dropped off to someone. What does Scruvo do? Chase after the sigil and get mauled by the Falcon or fight off the Falcon and potentially lose the sigil. There's probably a third option in there somewhere too…
Funny thing about Scruvo: even though he hangs out with a ninja, and even helps Jon with his ninja duties, he's not a ninja animal himself. So option two really isn't feasible for him. x.x; Option one doesn't seem likely to succeed in any way either. While he's not a ninja animal, though, Scruvo is smart. So he does come up with a third option, though not an illustrious one: he evades by climbing higher, taking advantage of the falcon's aforementioned difficulty with gaining altitude. "Blinkin' blade-beak! Go pick on somebody your own size!" c.c; Scruvo circles overhead, trying to at least get a glimpse at what happens to the signet once it reaches the ground.
Jon, meanwhile, eventually manages to get a picture of what happened from the little girl and her father. The girl was manipulated somehow, and managed to get the ambassador's signet and throw it up to that hawk. Great. :P Jon calls his subordinates and orders them to put out a police bulletin, setting up a perimeter around the village. Nobody goes out without a thorough search for that signet. Of course, they can't keep up a policy like that forever…it only buys them time to search out the thief within the city. :/
