synopsychic | [Second day of the storm]

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[Second day of the storm]

I'd better not be the only one gettin' slammed with memories in time with the lightning. Anybody wanna maybe share what they're gettin'? I think we might be able to piece more of this together if it ain't just me tryin' to make sense of this shit.

[And there's a pause before he gives his own, for him to overcome the force of his secrecy habit. He's still learning this openness thing, guys.]

I know for sure I was fightin' Remy, on that airship. The Seventh Sky. Its name used to be the Zeitgeist, but nobody wants to talk about the fucking thing. Got somethin' earlier about that same ship dumpin' bodies off, maybe that's why.

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This isn't a puzzle I have pieces to, but I can help try to make sense of everyone else's. It sounds like... there was some kind of attack, last time?

As for other things, those wanted posters. I find it interesting that Blitzkopf is represented by a proxy even on something where they'd want to show his face. And did that list of offenses sound... awfully benign, to anyone else? There were a few sketchy ones, to be sure, but overall it didn't sound anywhere near as serious as Phoenix's.

I don't know how the hell we're supposed to figure out who he even is, with that little to go on. But maybe we're supposed to let him get away.

I think so too.

What makes you say so?

[It's curiosity, not an attempt to judge her. Also, he can't remember her voice from the initial headcount, and they got interesting information from people who died while infiltrating on the Grid, so he doesn't want to rule out that fresh perspective.]

Because compared to some of the shit people here have pulled, that shit's positively benign. Wake me when he creates a brainwashed, unstoppable cyborg of inexplicably insect-themed death.

...Okay, I'll give you that one.

At least I'm not the only one who thinks they're really reaching just to make an impressive list. I mean, really, if all they have is 'impersonating a bishop' and they put that up next to someone who's actually caused serious damage...

They do not sound remotely benign. He may be less prone to explosive theatrics than Phoenix, but that does not make him any less sinister.

Blitzkopf's just a mad scientist, right? Everything on that list is just shit that happens when you mad science.

Maybe not harmless, I'll grant you that. It still felt like they were trying to fluff up the list so it looked just as impressive as Phoenix's. [And he says that knowing, now, that Phoenix is someone he usually calls a friend... but right now, he'd gladly help Minako-san bring her in.]

He's also been so far under the radar I have to wonder if he's even here. We have no leads at all on this guy.

Mad science isn't exactly the healthiest of career choices, no. [See also: reasons he's glad the local flavor of alchemy is different from his stuff, for all it's giving him a headache.]

In any case, I think Phoenix is the bigger problem here, and I'm not convinced Blitzkopf's actually in town at all. You'd think he'd have attracted attention by now.

It seems to me that whoever Blitzkopf is, he'd do well to play at being some unassuming recent arrival. We can probably eliminate anyone with a long history in Nova Venezia, but anyone who's arrived in the last year or so is probably fair game for suspicion.

... I think it bears commenting that Tatsumi's--or rather Tachibana's--master is both new to Nova Venezia and capable of intricate feats of engineering.

That said, I think that our priority ought to be Phoenix, the more dangerous of the two.

I was under the impression Kanji's from completely the wrong geographical area for that. [He's not... necessarily dismissing the idea. But it's hard to get Naoki to think ill of Kanji, even though, if there happened to be something to this theory, it'd hardly be his fault.] If we're pursuing that theory, though, has anyone met the master? Does anyone recognise him? Blitzkopf's most likely either one of our own or one of the people the Trumps drop into things sometimes. If no one can put another name to the face, it's probably not him.

Phoenix is definitely the bigger threat, though. How many explosions are we up to?

Don't write off the quiet ones, kid. Half the people on this city I think are some kinda spy or thief, especially the ones who're also Travelers. Don't think we oughta ignore the one that ain't being obvious.

[Says one of the most obvious people around, lately. Sigh.]

Not that I got much to help with. Nobody I got for a contact cares about this guy.

It's not writing off so much as trying to figure out what we're even supposed to be doing. If we have to pick one, the one blowing things up is the obvious choice, especially since everything's held up by flammable gas.

You'd think if that guy wanted to make a mess, he could. But he's only been blowin' up shit that don't really cause too much of a problem, isn't he?

[Or she, but he's going masculine here, since more bad guys tend to be male, in his prison experience.]

I don't think that's the case. Some of the charges appear minor when shorn of cultural context, certainly, but I do not doubt that some of the things we may look upon as grave offenses would appear just as minor to those who do not come from our worlds.

Anyone whose resume includes chemical warfare and illegal medical experimentation should not be underestimated - or presumed to be obvious. Manhunts such as these can take years.

...Point taken. [If he's going to get upset about the Name, he can't brush this off that easily. It's an easy double standard to fall into.]

Still, how are we supposed to do anything about him if we don't even know who he is?

According to Minako-san, she sent the last person dispatched to round her up home with horrific burns. I wouldn't rule anything out.

I'd kill somebody dispatched to round me up. That don't mean I'm gonna blow up a whole city. I'm not discounting this Phoenix kid, but I'm not discounting this Blitzkopf guy, either.

... Which one's Minako?

[He's picked up what "san" means, by now, after all the Japanese kids' network chatter.]

[Yeah, well. That'll just have to be a difference of opinion, but he's got a good point.]

She's with the Caliphate this jaunt, and I think it's the first time she's infiltrated. Brown hair, reddish-brown eyes, usually has a moth thing with her but he's stuck in Liminal right now.

Huh. You got any kinda in with her? Think I got dragged her way a few days ago.

Investigating his identity head on may be the wrong tactic to take. Instead of who, perhaps we should look for what. If we can determine his focus, we may be able to find him, or draw hime out.

Probably not enough to trade on, sorry. I've only talked to her the once, and that didn't even get as far as trading names - and 'Minako' isn't the kind of thing someone who grew up in the Caliphate would be going by.

Tell me about it. This is, like, the second time I've died thanks to mad science related causes.

Maybe. I'm not sure where to start with that, either.

Please don't make a habit of it. Can't be good for you.

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[Second day of the storm]

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handwaving she's back as an investigator by now, because she died pre-storm

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