Spain - Osozaki Hana & Takeshi Kurotsuki

Hana stared at the train. Wow, never been on one of these... She looked toward the man giving the orders, and then she gave a kurt nod, before stepping onto the train.

Wait. I thought we were only supposed to scout out areas with possibilities of containing Innocence. How are we supposed to actually retrieve it? Don't exorcists do the actual handling? She paused, mid-walk, then shrugged her shoulders and continued. Oh well. I'm sure everything will be fine. These guys know what they're doing...I hope.[/i] The last line was an afterthought, because she had seen their supervisor in his worst possible moment, and in that instant, he didn't seem very capable. He has to be to become a supervisor of the Order, right? Nothing to worry about...

Hana found the car she would be residing in and took a seat near the window while putting her head in her hands. It's so hard to sit with these big packs, but I don't think I should take it off under any circumstances, so I'll just bear it. She smiled. My first mission. I can't wait. She then slowly closed her eyes, taking in all the sounds around her to soothe her nerves.

((Bleh. Sorry if I'm not doing it right. This is really a first-time thing for me.))

((Really? O.o I thought you were a veteran...))

Takeshi followed Hana onto the train, lugging his metal radio box on his back. When she stopped on the train, he stopped at the door to the train. "The conductor gave us a first-class compartment," he said, leaning on the frame of the sliding door.

As he waited for the reply, he kept a weary eye on incoming passengers. The two's uniforms are quite stand-outs in comparison to the European suits and dresses. An akuma could easily recognize them.

After Hana had given Takeshi a signal that she understood his previous statement, she had made her way to the car; however, she also ended up making an unpleasant conclusion.

I hate trains... Hana had been sitting in the car, and when it began to move, she started feeling a little nauseous. She tried busying herself with the mission brief in the folder, but she had already read through it several times and was getting bored. Then, she wanted to distract herself by watching the scenery as they passed by, but she apparently got an annoyingly persistant case of motion sickness when on trains.

Great. I want to become a finder in order to assisst those who can truly make a difference in saving the world, yet here I am, on the verge of embarrassing myself by showing the world my lunch... As another wave blasted through her body, she groaned.

Forget it. I'm just going to have to keep my mind off of it until we reach our destination. She raised her head, which she hadn't even realized she lowered. I wonder if we're allowed to do a little exploring before reaching the village...

((I'm giving my character a lot of bad luck, and I don't know why...It just came out like that.-.- Also, is Takeshi your character's family name? I'm asking since I think my character should refer to him using his family name, not his first, since she isn't really familiar with him. *Not trying to offend, whatsoever.*))

((Kurotsuki is the family name.))

Takeshi turned his head to see Hana not looking good, judging from the expression on her face. "Need a hand?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

He paused in his course to the first-class carriage, a hand hooked around one of the pack's straps and the other at his side. Beneath the standard radio box, was the talisman given to every finder, and strapped to the left of the box is a rifle, unloaded due to customs requirements. The ammunition was confiscated for the duration of the journey on the train. The firearm is more for distraction than actual killing, to ward away akuma from the primary objective, in the case that the situation heads for the worst case scenario.


The male finder has some experience in wielding such a weapon, from training at the Black Order's headquarters, but it is a weapon that has little purpose in what it was designed to do to him.

((I would assume that people working for the Black Order without Innocence would be given finder equipment, regardless. That's why I included them.))

Hana heard the question and gave Kurotsuki a quick glance. "No, I'm fine," she said as she increased her pace. She was slightly fuming at the fact that she allowed her nausea to affect her to the point that passerbys could see it. She was about to try to avoid Kurotsuki for the rest of the way there after her previous embarrassment, but suddenly, she had a thought in her head that slowed her walking.

Quit acting like a child. I have to work with this guy, meaning we have to be able to get along to the extent of being able to accomplish our mission with the minimum amount of casualties. Well, at least until they secure the Innocence. Also, this is precious time that we should take advantage of.

She turned to him and gave a small smile, "I thank you for your concern, but it's merely a case of motion sickness. Now, I believe we'll have to begin discussing our plan of action." Not only was her stomach taking a hit in this trip, but her pride was also crumbling.

Well, it's not like pride will help in battle anyway. He said it's better to accomplish the mission and gain allies, than to hang onto your pride while everything else is snatched from you....I hate when he's right... She snapped out of her little self-lecture by shaking her head, then turned to Kurotsuki, looking for a response.

((Sorry. I know we're not Finders, but I thought we had the phone packs. So what do we have then? Just so I don't mess up again.))

Takeshi nods, and led the way to their luxurious compartment. Once the two were sitting within the small room, he made sure that the sliding door was closed all the way, to keep outsiders from peeking into the compartment. He unslung his equipment and laid it down on the seat next to him. Taking out the mission folder, he opened it and began reading its detailed contents, taking notes of important information.

((By the way, while I have been referring to Kurotsuki in narration, I don't think my character ever asked the name of yours, so sorry if the question seems random.))

Hana quietly waited for Kurotsuki to finish reading the mission brief, but she could only handle so much of this awkward silence until she had to break it.

She took a deep breath before finally deciding to ask, "So, I realized that we really haven't been properly introduced. My name is Osozaki Hana. And your name would be??---" She held out her hand, knowing it to be a western gesture of greeting which she picked up while in Europe.

((That is correct. Heheh. >.>))

"Kurotsuki Takeshi," answered Takeshi, lightly squeezing Hana's hand before retracting his dominant right hand. "Kurotsuki is the family name."

He is not one for European traditions, raised in Japan for the majority of his childhood before slowly making his way to Britain to join the Black Order, given guidance by exorcist Oliver Cornwallis. He is more used to bowing: the lower one bows, the greater respect the one gives to the person in question. For his parents, for example, he bows so low that his nose touches the floor. But they are dead now: the reason why he has left Japan to Great Britain.

((Cornwallis is an exorcist I made up. He could be considered Missing In Action for this role-play.))

Hana retracted her hand as well. "Hm. Takeshi..." She whispered to herself. Normally, that would be a hard name to fit into, but based on his powerful grip, she assumed that he had no trouble living up to it.

She decided to ask a question that had been burning in her mind for a while. She lifted up her folder and asked, "So, Kurotsuki-sama, how are we going to differentiate these animals as creatures carrying Innocence from Akuma without getting killed? I understand that we have our talismans in case they are Akuma, but if they are animals that happen to be hostile, there is a high risk that we will be attacked while preparing the talismans."

She looked expectantly at him, wanting to hear any ideas he may have before offering any of her own. She was raised to show respect to her elders, and she wasn't going to drop her moral code just because she happened to be away from home.

Sama? Takeshi never have been referred to as a "sama," before: just "kun" and the occasional "san." But he was quick to hide this fact.

He thought about it for a minute. "If they are akuma, they would reveal their true forms to quickly wipe us out in a hail of blood bullets, especially if they were hiding as a group. The element of surprise would be upon their side. Otherwise, an animal attacking us would pose a much less danger. Akuma are relatively easy to discern from that of a regular creature, regardless of species. In the case the worst case scenario comes, we arrive at the destination with talismans warmed up."

Takeshi waits for Hana to make her response.

She noticed a slight shift in his expression, but disregarded it as a trick of the eyes, considering it had gone away so quickly.

"Hm, that sounds reasonable; though there may be a possibility of a Level 2 appearing, in which case it would not be so dim-witted as to just reveal itself, especially if it happens to see our talismans. The only way it would reveal itself quickly is if it were extremely hungry for blood, which is highly doubtful. Also, how long would our talismans last against a Level 2, considering that they were mainly created for Level 1 Akuma?"

She tapped her chin with her finger, looking at her folder while giving it more thought. Then she added, "There is also a chance that there will be animals mixed in with Akuma, meaning we will have to sedate the animals while keeping the Akuma at bay. This would be no problem with a full unit, but with only two of us, this could prove troublesome..."

As if it wasn't already... She added as an afterthought, though she didn't verbally express it. She gave a sigh before looking back at Kurotsuki.

"Well, Kurotsuki-sama, it seems we have thought of nearly all negative scenarios that could appear in this mission, but it means nothing unless we have a means of securing the Innocence, no matter what the scenario. If it truly does become the worst case, I will volunteer to distract the Akuma as long as I can, while you try to retrieve the Innocence, assuming there is any. I may not be an exorcist, but as a finder-in-training, I definately have the physical abilities to do that much." She looked back to him, trying to read his facial expressions to decide whether or not he agreed with her plan, though she knew it was pointless, considering he wasn't one to wear his heart on his sleeve apparently.

"A level 2 would only wait until we felt sure that we had the Innocence in our hands before making a move. However, it would surely respond in a violent manner if we attempt to sedate it, instead," answered Takeshi, "as for durability of the talismans, two combined talismans would be enough to prevent a level 2 from breaking out long enough for us to get a head start on evacuating the premises."

"We have enough time to react if we sedate them with the use of a rifle, at a distance," he responds to Hana’s comment.

He merely nods to Hana’s finishing statement, looking out the window as the sun set over the horizon. A sort of sunset he saw many times during his childhood in Japan, infested with akuma.

Hana laid her head back and took in a deep breath while she closed her eyes.

Hana then responed, "Okay, so now we have both our means of attack and escape laid out. Just remember, no matter the circumstances, when you retrieve the Innocence, that becomes the main priority. Try to no longer consider me an ally, and leave any troublesome battles to me." She turned her head toward Kurotsuki.

"If there is any chance that the Innocence is in danger, you need to go on ahead. There are plenty of possible Finders in the world, but we have few Innocence left." She looked at the ceiling before mumbling, "Of course, this is still assuming there even is Innocence at this place..." She closed her eyes once again and tried to sleep before reaching the village.

At the sound of the train whistling, Takeshi gathered his things: they made it to their destination. Whether detected or not by the Earl's forces is unknown to them. Stepping off the train, Takeshi made his way to a customs officer, to retrieve the rifle ammunition. He was give two boxes, the larger holding basic bullets, and the other holding tranquilizer darts.

He returned to Hana with both boxes, being sure to leave them out where people, especially officials, could easily recognize them. There is no need to get arrested on the spot.

((Ordinary bullets. Finders apparently have rifles as part of standard equipment in dealing with akuma. In Allen's first mission, he tried to rescue a finder who became victim to the first level 2 that he encounters. The finder who was shot by the akuma used a semi-automatic rifle against it, with little to no effect. I would assume tranquilizers would be supplied if the finders were dealing with the capture of creatures that hold innocence.))

Hana jumped at the whistle and blinked a few times, trying to fully grasp the situation. The train had stopped and Kurotsuki had departed from the car, so she could only assume that they had arrived. She gave a small yawn and stretched her arms above her head. She wiped the small tears from her eyes and stood up to catch up with Kurotsuki, just as he stepped back into the car with the ammunition.

Her eyes widened as she exclaimed, "What are you doing!? Kurotsuki-sama, though I don't want to sound disrespectful, why would we need those? They don't work on Akuma, and you can't be planning on shooting the animals, can you?" Her eyes pleaded with him, hoping that he truly did not expect a situation in which the animals must be shot to occur. She hated hurting animals almost as much as she hated the Earl's sick idea of justice, and it was obviously not something she wanted to do, if prevention was possible.

((I've seen weapons like that used, too. It wasn't uncommon in the 19th century, especially since Hoshino's fictional 19th century seems more advanced than the actual one. And I just thought that they apparently had some form of sedation. I mean, what else would Komurin II use to apprehend Allen in Vol. 3? >.< Also, I forgot to mention this before: I'm sorry if 'sama' sounds weird, but that's the closest honorific I thought of that didn't sound too childish.))