[Day: Sunday, July 12th. Time: 10:00 a.m.] [Rei goes to see Asanjya! Minimalism at its best.] [Mini start!] * Rei goes to see Asanjya! Namely, she goes to her house and rings the doorbell. Her hair is total madness, and her clothes are at their insane best, but she's looking a bit more sober than usual. * Asanjya opens the door. She seems swathed in pure darkness, but really it's just a black bathrobe. Maybe a little darkness. Her hair is wet, and it looks sad as it flops feebly. "Good morning, Rei. Won't you come in." * Rei gives a pale imitation of her normal grin. "Sure I would." And so she does, tail trailing behind her. * Asanjya closes the door. "I was having my shower. I've been up all night with the books." She heads downstairs, not looking back to see if Rei is following. * Rei tags along, idly looking around. Not that she hasn't been in Asanjya's place before. "Yeah, we figured. We were up all night, too, saving Maria's butt." You liberated her, then? If her still breathing means "liberated", then yeah. She's still in jail, but she's not dead. * Asanjya pauses in front of her room. "I was unaware she was in danger. What happened?" * Rei sighs, trying to smooth her hair and failing horribly. "Uh, remember that serial killer?" * Asanjya frowns. "Killing Et'Ada? The memory is hazy. Too long over sulphur last night." She passes into her room. * Rei tags along. "Yeah, the one with the acid that the lizard and the burned bodies in the mall loading dock." * Asanjya snaps her fingers. "It returns. I trust you dealt with him?" She rummages in her drawers, pulling out clothes. Yeah. * Rei looks around, then has a seat on the end of Asanjya's bed. She picks at her tail. "He turned out to be a she, and a clone or something of Maria, 'cause of another project at Asahara, and she was on a righteous crusade to get rid of all the copies of her, and we stopped her before she got to Maria, and come to think of it, there could be another serial killer out there." I mean, it's unlikely, but it's possible. Many things are possible. (The room, if you're wondering, is pretty sparse. Most of her stuff is in the summoning room across the way.) Yeah, many things are. Anyway, uh... * Asanjya swirls off the bathrobe, her hair managing to hang it on a hook on the back of the door. She begins working her way into her clothes. "Yes?" * Rei looks around. "Anyway, Dimitri showed up and let us know that he's holding a trio of people hostage. Spikey and his group. You know Spikey? I don't think you've met him, but he's the one who tipped me off on the Blood Orb and later the whole killer thing." I don't believe I have had the pleasure, no. Oh. Well, we don't have any real *proof* proof, but supposedly they're being held by Asahara. Mmm hmm. * Rei takes a breath. "And they're gonna kill them today if we don't show up with the Blood Orb, the Moon Orb, and carbon copy Maria." * Asanjya pauses. Slightly. "It is a pity they'll have to die, then." Yeah. I thought you'd say something like that. Am I becoming predictable? * Rei grins. "A little." * Asanjya smiles, and buttons her white shirt. "Perhaps a bit hasty. But the sentiment stands - I was reluctant to loan the Orb to your mother, I am certainly not going to engage it in a greater risk of loss." Yeah, but the problem is we can't just let them die. *I* can't let them die. Have you considered subterfuge? A feint. Dimitri can't be that good at identifying artifacts. * Rei folds her arms and scuffs at the floor a little. She looks at her shoes. "The problem is I don't know who else they'll have there. For all I know, they'll have someone who can identify them on sight or magical quality. They've got the resources, and they'd be stupid not to." And once they get their hands on the Maria who is not Maria, they'll kill her. Dimitri's said as much. I can't let that happen, either. * Asanjya grabs the cloak from the door with her hair and swirls it on. She looks thoughtful. "We could just imbue a false orb with magical residue, use a homunculus or similar to fake the fake Maria, and hope Dimitri is as stupid as he often appears to be." He's not too bright, and I bet all that dying doesn't help. It's whoever else might be there that I'm worried about. It is, at least, a better option than going empty-handed. Which is your other option, I'm afraid. * Rei lets out a heavy sigh. "Yeah." She winces. "I hope they don't got another one of those rocks. Stupid rocks." Agreed. So, copies and stuff. What's the deal with that? * Asanjya shrugs. "A mostly simple process for the homunculus. I can do it here - magic and biology. The orb will take slightly more skill." Most notably, someone with some stonecrafting skill. The magic part I can handle on my own, but I'm not very good with making things. * Rei blinks, then thinks. "Well, *I* don't got any skill, but... Chie might! She makes jewelry." Then we have some hope. I wonder if she's at her place now. I bet she is. You can get some stuff ready, and I'll give her a call, and if she's about to go on a date with Chomei, I'll just tell her that the world is more important than some lame guy with blue hair." * Asanjya smirks. "Indeed it is." She ponders. "We will require a pound of horseflesh, six eyelashes of a grue... and pizza. We definitely require a pizza. Or two." I am quite famished. Oh! I can supply a pizza. I can make one! Excellent. Then we are set. I will be in the other room getting ready. Okay. Oh, can you take my stuff there? * Rei shrugs off her backpack and holds it out to Asanjya. * Asanjya grasps it with her hair and nods. * Asanjya walks out the door and into the other! Woo! * Rei goes off to make pizza and an important Japanese phone call! [Dun]