[SEMI-CLOSED] i am my mother's savage daughter.

[killtime]

Who ⬤ The Bastard Andromache & her associates
What ⬤ Catch-all adventures for the Worst Cop Woman™
When ⬤ Late August through September
Where ⬤ The Department offices, Enma and Shuten Territories, etc.
Content Warnings ⬤ Profanity, violence, substance use, sex. To be updated as needed!

⬤ Permission's Post
⬤ @ whaler#7695 for starters!
⬤ Wildcards welcome from existing CR

Comments

[eyediot]

It isn't for lack of trying.

[He's more frustrated in himself. He told them that goofing off would be a bad idea. And of course this happened. He can't imagine how scared that woman must be; while he can only assume those people aren't monsters and avatars of Fear, it's still very frightful to be taken against your will and held somewhere with no contact.

He wants to help. As much and as quickly as he can. And the lack of information is really stalling their progress.]

Have you heard anything?

[killtime]

[ She doesn't show it much outwardly, but Andy is impatient too. Logically, she knows the importance of information and planning — all the countless wars she's fought, the people she's ruled, all of those moving parts taught her as much. But at her core, she's still a warrior before she's anything else, and she itches to know her enemy. To face them. Kill them. Definitive problem solving, that's her way. Not this. Sitting around in an office, surrounded by books and papers.

It's necessary. These are the resources they have. That doesn't mean she has to like it. And she doesn't make much effort to look like she does either. ]

No. Nothing. [ She exhales, leaning back in her chair wearily. ] The people I know in other factions don't sound like they've turned up much more than us so far. I'm two inches from just wandering into the Wastelands and trying my fucking luck.

[ She won't. She's reckless and stupid — but not that reckless and stupid. But the idea is more tempting than it should be. ]

[eyediot]

[Jon, in turn, leans back in his seat a bit. He's itching for a cigarette but will force himself to wait for now. At least another five minutes. (And then another five, and then another five, before long it'll have been an hour and he'll wait another five minutes after that. At least that's what he tells himself.) Instead he rubs ta his face and the stubble there.]

Honestly, at this point, that may be the most straightforward and easiest plan of all. It isn't as if the information's hidden or coded or anything, there's just... Nothing here.

[Normally with things like this, records have citations to other records, references to other files. But there's simply nothing here. A few scant mentions that he can find that don't tell them anything useful that they didn't already know.]

[killtime]

[ Andy sighs again. She's been doing that a lot. Then she leans forward again to pour more alcohol from her flask into her coffee. Feels like she's going to need it. ]

So we're about to hit a dead fucking end. Nobody knows shit, and that doesn't seem like we're going to change that anytime soon. Definitely not tonight. [ That's the gist of it all, isn't it? They'll be obligated to finish sifting through everything, of course — no stone unturned or some shit like that — but Andy isn't feeling particularly optimistic. ] We'll have to start thinking about alternatives.

[ Whatever the hell that even means. ]

[holeful]

[Fukuda has been quiet so far, mostly because Jon's been doing the bulk of the work and obviously this is like, his Job. Even if Fukuda had found something he wouldn't have shared it unless directly asked because that would be rude obviously? But with them frustrated and out of ideas, he finally deigns to speak;]

I don't know how much of a record there is here, but we could see if there's any analogues in the mythology from my version of Japan? Since this Jigoku is so similar to it. It could have some clues.

[eyediot]

[Fukuda had been quiet this whole time (enough time for Jon to forget the hole in his head, how had he missed that the first time they met besides not being able to see properly?) but the words cut through the fog of his own thoughts.]

...Do you think? Honestly, we might have to reach for anything that could work at this point. What do you have?

[killtime]

[ Andy glances at Fukuda over the rim of her mug, eyebrows arching ever so slightly in interest. It's not an approach she'd considered before, though it seems obvious now that someone's said it out loud. Maybe that hole in Fukuda's head is doing some good for the man after all. Keeps him open-minded. ]

Sure, why the fuck not? It's better than anything else we've come up with, and I was starting to get worried we might run out of things for the Archivist to do. [ Wryly: ] Maybe I can get you both some corkboard and push pins. Really make a project out of it.

I FORGOT TO HIT THE BELL

[holeful]

Well I don't have anything right now, otherwise I would have just said it now.
[Obviously, Jon!!!]

But I don't know how much literature there is here on the mythology of other worlds. I can only speak in broad strokes myself of the similarities, not about this situation in particular. But I could at least tell you that if you think it might help?