Sarah, hair wrapped in a towel and dressed in her clothing from the night before freezes as she sees the stranger standing in the motel room. "Tabarnak!" she exclaims.

Jiro notices her hands making gestures that could well be the lead up to some form of spell. "Who the hell are you girl? What are you doing here?" Sarah does not sound pleased.

Jiro sighed. "Good morning, Sarah. I'm just Jiro, I did not invade this room and I do not threaten you." She gestures towards the couch where she'd slept. "The circumstances didn't exactly work towards mentioning this last night, but, well, I am subject to a curse. Cold water changes me into this form, hot changes me back." Another gesture, this one encompassing her current damp state. "Someone out front slipped with a hose or something."

A pause. "If you'll just let me past you, into the washroom, I can prove it." Assuming you didn't use up all the hot water. Kamis, this is not how I wanted to start my day...

Sarah stares hard at the girl, carefully taking in her appearance. "Stay where you are."

She takes a step back and gestures with her hand. Jiro hears the sound of running water as Sarah continues to stare at her.

A few moments later, assuming that she isn't interrupted, Sarah makes another move. A ball of water flies around the corner of the bathroom door and strikes Jiro square in the face. The water is quite hot, but not enough to burn.

Jiro resisted the urge to curse, blinking rapidly as the hot water stung his eyes. After taking a moment to compose himself, he straightened and said, with as much dignity as he could muster, "It doesn't have to be quite that hot, but you see the general idea."

Wiping his brow, then drying the hand on his pants, he added, by way of explanation, "I helped destroy a Triad drug lab a few years ago. They had a pet sorcerer. A pet sorcerer with a sick sense of humor and far, far too much power. The journey of discovery I told you I was on last night? Is to find a cure for it. I am sorry I did not inform you of this last night, Sarah-san, but as you might guess this is something of a sensitive topic."

And now, to see how she reacts.

Sarah's eyes look slightly unfocused as she takes this in. "Looks like him, probably telling the truth..." she mutters.

Her eyes snap back into focus as she relaxes slightly. "Sorry. I don't react well to surprises."

There is a clatter from behind Jiro. It sounds like cutlery falling to the table. A glance reveals that they are no longer as neat as last night.

Alex sits bolt upright at the noise, gasping. She looks around in confusion, fear write on her face. "What? Huh?"

[OOC: Back in play!]

"There is nothing for which you need apologize, Sarah-san. I know it is a strange thing, I meant to tell you in a less-"



"Alex-san!" Jiro turned, feeling a burst of elation. "How do you-" Split by a sudden spike of fear. In a low voice, he contiuned. "How do you feel, and which are you?"

"Alex! Oh god, Alex. Are you alright!" Sarah crys as she runs over to the bed.

Alex throws herself back with a scream, hitting the wall hard. She looks torn between fleeing through the window and fighting her way out.

Panic from Alexandria or genuine fear from Alexander? Either way... Jiro moved to put himself between the bed and the window, ready to intercept Alex should they run. "Alex-san, please, be calm. There is no need to panic." Unless you're Alexander, in which case Sarah is going to get annoyed.

Calm down, please... I want a closer look at you, make sure you're properly healthy and all there. The situation is more complex than Sarah thought...

"What did you do? What did you DO TO ME!" Alex practically screams. She breathing very fast and trembling. "It hurt. You were ripping me apart! How could anything hurt so much?"

Jiro took an open stance, tried to look non-confrontational. Not sure they'll even listen to me... or if 'they' is really the right term, given what Alex is saying... I hope I'm wrong... "We were trying to help, Alexandria-san. We were trying to remove your uninvited guest." And given my stance a couple nights ago it feels odd to talk like that, but, well, things change. "We did not intend to cause harm, and," he glanced at Sarah and tried to catch her eye as he continued, "We are going to figure out what went wrong, and what has happened, before we do anything else. We are not going to hurt you, not again."

A pause. "Please, Alex-san, please be calm. We will figure this out together."

"Alex. Please. I wasn't trying to hurt you. I was trying to save you!"

"WELL YOU WERE FUCKING WRONG!" Alex screams. "I DON'T NEED SAVING! I SAW *THINGS* AS YOU WERE PULLING MY FUCKING SOUL OUT OF MY FUCKING BODY AND YOU KNOW WHAT? THERE ISN'T ANYONE ELSE IN HERE BUT ME! I AM NOT ALEXANDRIA OR ALEXANDER! I AM ALEX AND I DON'T FUCKING NEED EITHER OF YOU! SO FUCK YOU BOTH!"

Alex had been climbing to her feet while she had been yelling, and as her rant comes to an end, she smashes through the thin motel wall and takes off across the rooftops at a dead run.

Jiro blinked as the gyprock dust started to come down, then sighed. "I was afraid something like this might happen." Moving quickly, he tossed all his clothes and kit together and shouldered his pack. "Sarah-san, I... did not detect any deception from her. Mostly anger, fear, and betrayal."

He looked the mage in the eye. "On my own, I can probably catch up to her. Beyond that... I do not know. Is there a way I could get in touch with you?" A glance around the room. "If nothing else, you'll need to get out of here, too. I suspect the police will not be happy to see this."

He waits for a response, then moves off in pursuit of Alex, roofhopping after her.

[OOC:
18:27, Today: Jiro Koji rolled 23 using 1d20+12. sense motive on Alex(ander?).

Array is in Ki Strike, gogo quickness 2 for packing fast(hopefully before someone investigates teh yelling and all the crashing and banging...)]
[GM Edit - missing colour tag]
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:04, Wed 20 July 2011.

Sarah just stares out the hole, tears leaking down her face. "What have I done?"

Jiro paused, looking back. "Sarah-san, all you did was prove to be as much a failable human as anyone else. You acted rashly in the defense of your friend. That is not something to condemn yourself for. No-one is perfect, no-one is always right." A pause, then his lips twisted into a self-depreciating smirk. "Overdone self condemnation is my thing."

A pause as he grew serious once more, and he lightly touches her shoulder. "Sarah-san. Alex is my friend, too, and whatever has happened, I will not allow her to come to harm. I should be able to track her, and I will protect her even if she does not desire my aid. Can you get yourself to safety? Once she is over being angry, Alex will be concerned about that. Is there a number we can use to call you? An address to check?"

Get it together... the longer I wait the harder it will be to find her/them... But I cannot just abandon you, either... Paralyzed by indecision, Jiro waits for a response.

Sarah nodded jerkily and snapped off an address. "It's a small apartment I've been using as a safe house. I'll wait there."

She turned to look Jiro dead in the eye. "This situation in screwed up beyond any recognition, but no matter what, Alex is like a sister to me. There are only two people in the world... worlds that are more important to me. One is here" she rests her hand on her belly "and the other is his father. I've hurt her, and hurt her badly. I don't know how, but I'll make it right. Just find her, and bring her back."

"I will do everything in my power to do so. Go. We will join you when we can." A pause. "Good luck."

He took to the rooftops. No sign of her. Of course. That would be to easy. Moving quickly, but making no effort to hide himself, Jiro began to roofhop around the city, eyes peeled as he went. He canvased the various places they'd investigated or spent any real time in - the alley, the coffee house, the park where they'd sparred as well as the one they'd met Sarah at, the chinese restaurant, Starbase coffee(where he took a moment to ask if anyone had seen her, while grabbing a snack to alleviate the hadn't-eaten-breakfast-yet issue)

He even gave the Ruthless Asian Gang's territory a quick canvassing, and looked over the building where they'd been ambushed the night before.

As Jiro is making his way around the city, he happens to walk past someone listening to the radio on the street. He hears a news story about some kind of fight going on, and a crazy woman smashing through walls and tossing around people that are bursting into flames.

It sounds like it's probably in the center of the original vampire groups territory.

Hearing the radio report, Jiro froze for a moment. Of course. Violent catharsis. The fact that going after that bunch, with their happy all-devouring oil slick of evil, is probably nigh-on suicidal even in daylight wouldn't even factor into her thinking. I probably wouldn't give it much of a thought either, were our positions reversed.

He sighed. None of which is going to make this any easier. He took a moment to get his bearings, then started roofhopping, making his best possible speed towards the vampire's lair.

I will do my level best to save you, Alex-san. I will keep my word.

Alex threw the last vampire through the wall of the house and watched calmly as it burst into flame. One more den down. she thought dispassionately. There can't be to many more left. I'll find their master soon, and then it ends.

Flashing lights caught her eye. Alex leapt through the hole she had made in the roof. Can't let the cops try to capture me. They don't deserve the pain. Her expression darkened Unlike some others I could name

Jiro finds the area in a disarray. Emergency vehicles are spread all over the place, responding to a dozen different locations. He has to be careful to avoid the notice of the police forces covering the area, including the SWAT team. Jiro doesn't see any concrete signs of any human casualties, although it is possible that some of the blackened corpses laying in the sunlight were not vampires.

After a few minutes of searching the area, Jiro spots someone leaping onto a roof in the distance. He sees the figure pause for a moment, then it starts roof hoping in a very direct fashion towards a small office building.

Moving quickly, but not trying too hard to avoid notice, Jiro followed, trying to close the distance. Though faster than Alex, her lead was too great to overcome and she reached the building before he could catch up. I've got a very bad feeling about this...

He followed her in.

Alex stopped on the roof and looked around. There. That building was her next target. She had no idea how she knew, but there was no doubt in her mind. Whatever had lead her to these previous dens was calling her towards that office building.

She landed on the roof fist first, smashing down into the building. She was going to work her way from the top down bringing the light into the darkness and when she was done, nothing not alive would still be moving.