[open] Discovery

[Ringo Shiro]

It's been about a week since Ringo found out that he couldn't call his parents in Japan. It was like the world was cut off. Yes the military said that they closed off the area to the city for their safety but he should be able to at least make calls right? He couldn't even go to many online sites. The more Ringo thought about it....the more strange it was. He tried asking around but all were just as confused as he was. Ringo looked at the clock. It was about an hour after he had eaten lunch. He assumed he was at his peak in terms of stamina. He was about to do something that would be considered crazy. Investigate the border.

They were many things in his head telling him this was a crazy idea. But he can't exactly allow everything to be unanswered. Ringo placed on a black t-shirt, a light blue long sleeve jacket, and jeans. He placed a bokken in his long back just in case he finds anything strange. Something was not right about this situation after all. Ringo decided to head toward the Super Hiroshige Terminal. It use to be the best way out of the circle before this mess started. The problem is the police supervision but that shouldn't be a problem once he gets past the guards...

...a worry maybe Ringo was worrying too much about. It was morbidly easy to get past the police. He was already within the tunnels. He took out a flashlight. It was time to start investigating. Ringo gave himself a personal timer of one hour. If he doesn't find anything within that time, he bolts back. He took a few steps...and heard movement....foot steps. He wasn't sure of what though. Was it the police? Did they catch him and Ringo was being overconfident? He gulped and slowly turned over to the source of the footsteps.

"H-hello?" Maybe he should've listened to the voice in his head that told him this was a terrible idea.

[Holly Mason]

This had been a productive afternoon.  Normally, Holly didn't enter the outside during the day, but she was particularly bored this morning, so she decided to see if the place looked any different during the day.  It didn't really, but now she knew!  Besides that, she managed to fill her bag with all kinds of random junk.  She was sure to get something from that damn woman at least, even if she couldn't figure out what any of this was used for.  The best part was, she managed to get out of this with barely any wounds, and she wasn't even that tired.  She managed to avoid most of the shadows, and the few that did catch her barely did any damage.  She was leaving here with nothing more than a ripped glove and a small cut on her chest for once!  Of course, she did have other wounds before she healed them, so there was still a bit of blood on her in-tact glove and a little in her hair still, but she could easily wash that off.  All in all, it was a pretty good run.

Then, she heard something further up the tunnel.

It didn't sound like a shadow, but she didn't see any reason there couldn't be human shaped shadows.  Did they normally go that far up?  Holly didn't recall seeing any, but maybe they were feeling particularly bold.  Well, she'd be more than happy to teach those bastards a les-- oh it talked.  Probably not a shadow then.  Probably just some newbie or normal nervous about exploring this place.  Well, she didn't have anything better to do, so if it was a newbie she supposed she could so them the ropes.  If it was a normal though she couldn't let it continue in good conscious.  Those shadow things rip normals apart.

Holly didn't respond and continued down the tunnel.  This person's response to that might give her some insight as to whether it was a normal or not.  She was just walking normally, there was no need to hurry after all.  When she finally got with in eyeshot of the dude, she set down her bag of junk and looked at him.  Just stared for a moment.  Not quite a judging stare, but she was definitely sizing him up.

"Hello."

Now was a good time to respond.

[Ringo Shiro]

"Hello." Ringo's flash light lit upon a girl. If he had to estimate the girl was very close to his age. He sighed in relief in seeing someone who wasn't the police. Getting tackled down and kicked out was not on his agenda. However he did notice something. The girl looked like she was in rough condition what with the ripped blood and the cut on her chest. Ringo took notice of that.

"H-hey, you should get first aid for that." Ringo said pointing at the wound. He right away started to dig around his pockets. Darn it all, why was it that the only thing he brought with him was a bokken? "...what exactly is down here?" Ringo found it highly unlikely she got that through an accident.  Ringo stopped searching through seeing as how he has no bandaging. It shouldn't be too bad...right...? Ringo's eyes wandered toward the bag the girl was carrying then back to her.

[Holly Mason]

Definitely a normal.   Too bad.  She picked up her bag again and shrugged.  Moving closer to the person, she spoke. 

"I took care of the worst of it.  I'll clean up the rest when I get home.  YOU," she lightly tapped his chest, "on the other hand shouldn't be here.  Didn't you see the police line?  Don't worry, they'll take care of everything," she lied.  "I'm just..special, so I can come down here."

She nodded.  There was no need to drag a poor, innocent normal into all this.  It's not like they could do anything anyway, the shadows would destroy them before they even knew what hit them.  It was better just to let them live a happy, normal life instead of dragging them into a situation where they'd be completely powerless.  They'd either go mad from fear or despair, or they'd get themselves killed trying to 'help' if you could call it that.  

"Come on, I'll help you out."

[Ringo Shiro]

"I took care of the worst of it. I'll clean up the rest when I get home. YOU," Ringo backed away a little as the girl tapped him on the chest. She wasn't one to care about personal space it seems. "On the other hand shouldn't be here. Didn't you see the police line? Don't worry, they'll take care of everything," Ringo was about to ask what does that make her then since he doesn't see a police or military uniform. Thankfully she would answer his unvoiced question. "I'm just..special, so I can come down here." That still doesn't answer in what way she is special. "Come on, I'll help you out."

"What, what do you mean by special...?" Ringo did not ask this in a malicious way, he just wanted to know why she thinks she can be down here when she just said for him to wait outside the line. "...what's down here?" The condition the girl was in showed that there was something dangerous down here. Not to mention it was already suspicious enough as it is that the police and military are giving no details. "You can't have gotten those cuts from out of nowhere...right?"

[Holly Mason]

"Well of course, that's exactly why you shouldn't go down there.  There's no need for you to get hurt too.  I'm better equipped to deal with this than I look.  So, just leave all this to the police and the military," she nodded.  "Though, I suppose if you have a complaint I can hear it.  There must be some reason you came down here right?  I hope you weren't just curious," she grinned.  It was kind of a scary grin.

Holly continued walking back towards the entrance of the tunnel hoping he'd follow.  It'd be bad if he was...too determined to see what was down there to listen to common sense.  It was situations like this that made Holly believe that honesty wasn't actually a virtue.  Nothing good could come from a normal person knowing about all this.

[Ringo Shiro]

"Well of course, that's exactly why you shouldn't go down there. There's no need for you to get hurt too. I'm better equipped to deal with this than I look. So, just leave all this to the police and the military," If that was the case then why is she down here? If she thought that, what made her cross over to here? "Though, I suppose if you have a complaint I can hear it. There must be some reason you came down here right? I hope you weren't just curious," The girl started walking over to the entrance but Ringo didn't move a step.

"If you thought that the police and military can handle things, why are you down here then?" Ringo then realized it was rather rude of him to ask that. "Actually, pardon my earlier statement...my reason for being down here is because I tried calling my family and couldn't connect and tried to do so for multiple days. I also tried going online but sites that didn't originate from here didn't work too. A cellphone signal and an internet connection is different from a physical blockade so I figured there would be something down here." Ringo then presented his flash light and the bag that contained his bokken.

"It wasn't like I came down here empty handed." Ringo moved the bag back over his shoulder and still kept his flash light on the girl. "Please, if you can explain what is down here, I'll leave with you." Ringo might as well give this a try. "I gave myself a small pocket of time to investigate what was here and then come back as quickly as possible. It's not like I plan on staying here for long. I just want to get some idea of what is going on."

[Holly Mason]

"My, my, you're quite nosy."

Not that she was one to talk.  Of course, her reason for coming down here in the first place was because people said she couldn't and it sounded dangerous, so she was probably stupider about the whole thing.  That said, she still didn't wish any of this on this guy.  If he made his own choice to go down there despite her warnings then fine.  No one can help people if they're not willing to help themselves after all.  

Regardless, her words were a small delay tactic.  She had a few seconds to come up with some convincing sounding bullshit that would satisfy this guy.  What was it the shadows told everyone...something about a radiation leak?  That was seriously the worst excuse ever.  As much as she wanted to believe that they had some amount of intelligence they were doing a lot of really stupid things.  So there's a radiation leak and it was caused by...uh...terrorists and they're stopping them from fixing it?  This was so much harder than it needed to be.

"You're going to get me in trouble asking me all these questions.  I'm not supposed to talk about it you know," she played it as smoothly as she could, but even she knew that there was no way this was going to work.  "That said, the broken phone and internet lines are a known issue.  I'm sure they'll be fixed as soon as possible."  

Holly continued to walk in an effort to seem completely natural, but she was starting to become increasingly convinced that this guy wasn't going to leave with her.  Oh well, at least he found someone that had super powers instead of making his way through alone like she did.  Maybe if he was lucky he'd awaken to the power too, not that she was willing to count on it.

[Ringo Shiro]

"My, my, you're quite nosy." Ringo arched an eyebrow at the girl's words. "You're going to get me in trouble asking me all these questions. I'm not supposed to talk about it you know," Now that was more suspicious. "That said, the broken phone and internet lines are a known issue. I'm sure they'll be fixed as soon as possible." No, it can't be that simple....can it? Ringo looked at the girl. She still didn't answer some question. He pointed his flash light deeper end. It hasn't even been close hour...

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to try my best to find out. I'll join you outside in an hour." Ringo lowered his bag and drew his bokken with his free hand and slung the bag back over his shoulder. "Good luck with your endeavors and be careful." He started to walk deeper into the tunnels.

[Holly Mason]

Holly stopped moving, creating somewhat of an eerie quietness now that her boots no longer thumped on the ground.  She paused a moment only adding to the atmosphere even though it was not her intention.  Without turning around, she sighed.

"What do you have to gain by going down there?  Do you have the ability to fix the telephone lines?  Do you have the ability to contain a radiation leak?  Do you have so little faith in your fellow humans?"

While she felt a little defeated it didn't show in her voice.  Her voice was firm, bordering on outright condescending.  At this point she knew the fight was futile, but something being impossible was never a good reason to give up in her mind.  

[Ringo Shiro]

"What do you have to gain by going down there?" Before Ringo could answer the girl started to fire out more for Ringo to ponder about. "Do you have the ability to fix the telephone lines? Do you have the ability to contain a radiation leak?" Ringo opened his mouth to say something but she has a point...it's not like Ringo is a magical repair man immune to nuclear radiation. "Do you have so little faith in your fellow humans?" Ringo crossed his arms and looked up in thought.

"Well..." He admitted that for a moment he was a little bit stumped on what he wanted to say. "Well I have no training in telephone line maintenance and I'm not immune to radiation in any way shape or form...and it is not that I don't have faith in others..." Ringo looked over at the girl, his arms no longer crossed and him smiling a little, a tiny bit more confident in his answer. "I guess I'm here to try to see if I can help?" Okay not that much more confident but still. "I just want to find out what is going on here and see how I can help." Ringo then pointed to Holly with the flash light. "I've seen enough evidence that something strange is going on to ignore it anyways..."

[Holly Mason]

"You can't," she said flatly.  "If anything you'd be more likely to get in the way, buuuuut...I'll tell you what.  Give me a list of your skills and I'll see if there's anything you can do just in case I'm wrong.  I mean, you have to admit, breaking into the place behind the backs of the people you'd be working with probably isn't the best idea right?"

Holly nodded slowly.  She still didn't turn to him or uncross her arms.  At least he was listening?  That's more than she expected.  Maybe she could still wiggle her way through this...

[Ringo Shiro]

"You can't," Ringo arched an eyebrow. "If anything you'd be more likely to get in the way, buuuuut..." Ringo titled his head over at the girl. Come to think of it, it was rude to not look at someone while they're talking. "I'll tell you what. Give me a list of your skills and I'll see if there's anything you can do just in case I'm wrong. I mean, you have to admit, breaking into the place behind the backs of the people you'd be working with probably isn't the best idea right?"

"Well...I'm a 2-dan in kendo?" Wasn't exactly a long list of skill and it doesn't exactly imply supreme mastery of combat. "Look...if you're really that desperate to get me to leave just tell me what's down here. What is this lock down about? I get the feeling it is a lot more than "radiation"...please..." RIngo wasn't sure if she was going to give a honest answer but it didn't hurt to try...right?

[Holly Mason]

She scratched her head.  "Is beating things up all you can do?  I don't think that'll help unfortunately."  She shook her head and sighed.  "I really can't talk about it.  What good would knowing do?  There's a reason it's being kept secret and I trust the people in charge enough to decide what should be released publicly."  She turned back to him.  "Do you at least agree that working behind the backs of the people you want to help will only do more damage in the long run?  If you really want to help don't you think you should talk to the people you want to help?  I know they'll probably just say the same thing I am, but if we really don't think you'll be able to help don't you think it'd be a good idea to believe us?"

[Ringo Shiro]

"Is beating things up all you can do? I don't think that'll help unfortunately." Ringo figured as much. "I really can't talk about it. What good would knowing do? There's a reason it's being kept secret and I trust the people in charge enough to decide what should be released publicly." Something about this part of the conversation feels familiar. "Do you at least agree that working behind the backs of the people you want to help will only do more damage in the long run? If you really want to help don't you think you should talk to the people you want to help? I know they'll probably just say the same thing I am, but if we really don't think you'll be able to help don't you think it'd be a good idea to believe us?" Yup, the conversation went full circle, Ringo isn't getting anywhere.

"Well..." Ringo sighed. "I guess..." Ringo's eyes slanted further into the hall. He started to walk backwards a bit...before turning off the flash light and heading further in. Looks like he was giving himself that one hour once again. He should apologize for making the girl think he'd go outside with her but he still needed to find the answer for himself.