Traveling

Turing he checks to see if anyone else happened to see the exchange between the rather angry woman and her phone. One of the rather warmly dressed mothers happens to look at him at the same time that he looks back. Exchanging shrugs and faces that explain that they both don't fully understand what has just transpired they turn back to what they were doing before. Spinning about in his seat Gage leans against the window, pulling his phone out and checking his messages, one received from a friend that he made while he was traveling towards japan for the first time.

Hey Gage, I just got a notification that you were nearby. I live in Kuroruto about ten miles off the tracks. You should come by and check out my new house. It's great. Surrounded by a bit of a weird set of neighbors but the house itself is amazingly cheap. Kia was a unique friend, one he had made while traveling though the north side of Japan. Generally they had nothing in common, butting heads over the details behind a haunting in a small town that they happened to be passing through. This was all after they had finished getting through the 'I'm a fullbringer your a fullbringer' discussion.

By the end of the encounter however they discovered that there was a Hollow that can 'infect' other hollows making them behave in its favor. It was a rough one, filled with the dangers of facing several Hollow at the same time but nothing too bad came of it save for the sealing of a friendship between the two Fullbringers. Checking his location on his phone he see's it is the stop after next to get to Karuruto, the town so small it barely pops up as a town in his maps, more of a road intersection.

"Ehhh, yeah, thanks," Gage smiles and takes a seat near the door as the steward picks up the on board car phone and calls up to the conductor passing up the information. Looking out the window he see's that the mountains in the distance have gotten a significant amount closer, the base of the mountain most likely going to be where the train station is at. Up the mountain, everything is white, unlike down below where the snow was falling but everything was warm enough to melt the snow on contact. The mountain, tall and majestic, has a single road that pops into and out of view every few minuets as the wind their way closer to its base. In front of him the conductor calls out over the on board mic system," Calling all passengers for stop 'Kuroruto' train. We will be arriving in four minuets, please have your tickets available for checkout."

Gage stands up looking out the window to the small towns train stop as it approached, the small rickety building reaching the end of its life. Getting back to the steward he sets aside his phone to free up a hand to give the steward his ticket for the check out as the train rumbles ever so slowly to a stop. Stamping the ticket he hands Gage back his ticket and looks around, no other passengers getting up to get off the train. Grinning he thinks to himself Well this place is a tourist attraction. Descending down the stairs he steps out onto the wooden platform, everything covered in a thick layer of snow. The actual train stop itself had no building to purchase tickets, making it seem like you would have to either show up with tickets from somewhere else or print them out on the computer. Well I guess I'm going to have to find a printer or a library.

Two, three more times he tries the call, never getting through to Kia but still getting the most micro of signals. Pulling up her info page he at least manages to nab an address before the signal goes out all the way. It had to be the location, the mountains and trees all interfering with what ever signal he can get. Calling it good with the address he heads down the road, the snow and dirt mixing into a slushy mud that creeps into every crevice and nook from his knees down. While he was rather sturdy and had a good bit of stamina that would be able to challenge the most strenuous of athletes he still managed to exhaust himself on his travel up the mountainside.

"Figures, she could never have picked a house in a nice city, some neighborhood that has pretty streets and swept sidewalks," Grumbling Gage keeps it up, walking through the fatigue in his legs. After he reaches the first turn about three miles up the road he takes the right, a pavement road leading him the wrest of the way into the town. Perhaps Kia would have a change of clothes for him, the pants and shoes that he is wearing being too muddy for him to even bother trying to get clean by hand.

Getting closer to the town he starts to pass houses, rather spaced out with old iron gates that are too old to leave closed, the rust threatening to lock it shut. Walking he compares each of the houses addresses as he is moving, the best guess that he is going to be able to put together being that he will have to ask for direction's when he gets into town. Perhaps since this is such a small town the people would be friendly, happy to see a new face.

"What can I get you," Gage turns back to see a middle aged woman, yellow uniform with a blue waitress apron over it. On her name tag is several worn stickers covering a portion of the name 'Jenipher'. Her hair, brown at the roots, is dyed a bright blonde but still does not match her eyebrows. A mixed look of half joy for customers and half dislike of the new people wandering through her town stains her face.

"Can I get a coffee? I'm trying to find a friend of mine that says she bought a house out here a few weeks ago. I think the address is here," pulling out his phone he shows her the address on his small digital screen. I had to walk all the way out here because I couldn't get ahold of her, the signal in this area is so bad I couldn't get any outgoing calls to stick before they were dropped.

"Yeah that's a thing here, the center of the mountain is riddled with tunnels that we used for mining Iron back when the town was just started so the metal messes with any radio transmissions that try to go into the town or get out of here. If you want to make a call while anywhere within ten miles of here you have to use a land line, cells not going to work." Walking away she heads to get him his cup of coffee before talking to the man at the bar. Exchanging a few words something seems to upset him, the words getting slightly more intense until they notice that he is watching. Taking the argument behind the counter into the kitchen and out of site the continue, eventually stopping to get him his coffee and take an order for food, chicken strips and waffles.

Paying his tab Gage heads outside, happy that the warm AC of the restaurant has defrosted him to the bone. Taking the first left that he can he walks up the street, looking into the front windows of several stores on his way, a pawn store owner sitting by the front window. In his chair he has a rifle laid across his lap, his old tossed white hair frantic from what appears to be late nights and over stress. As soon as he spots Gage walking by however he picks up the rifle, holding it closer to his chest but not aiming it at anything in particular. Waving at the old man he does nothing, his greying eyes just watching in silence before he gives a single nod of acknowledgement.

Taking the right he walks for another four blocks, the stores and building slowly shifting to small houses with stores in the front to just houses that have nice white picket fences, all covered in snow and still lacking a good shoveling in the driveway. Eventually he finds the house, the driveway still hidden under the snow is obviously a dirt path as the snow molds in the shape of the ruts in the ground. From the front of the house there are six windows, the house style older colonial as the layout of the house is rectangular with a small front porch. Of the six windows three are on the first floor, one on each side to a pair of rooms and a single window to the main waiting room. Upstairs there is three windows, each window going to a separate room on the floor. Off to the side, on the dirt driveway and under a thinner layer of snow is Kia's small car, a compact that she bought some few years before their previous meeting.

Walking back up to the door he tries again, this time beating on the door hard enough to get the attention of everyone in the house and possibly of the other people on the street of they happened to be near their own front doors. Stepping back he watches the window above, trying to spot some kind of movement, anything showing that there is signs of life inside beside the light from one window. Watching for a moment he comes to the general conclusion that the house is empty and that he should try to find way in as with the sun going down the temperature in the area was starting to drop drastically.

Walking around the yard he trudges through the snow once more, the white fluff crunching under foot as he circles around the house to the side yard. Getting to the back yard it is a small yard, lined with trees and bushes as a pseudo fence line. Looking around the yard he sees nothing really of note, the majority of it bare and uninteresting. Walking up to the backdoor he knocks on it, listening for any possible signs of movement. Nothing, not even a smidgen of noise from a mouse was audible from outside of the snow covered house.

Testing the door it to like the front is locked, the handle turning freely but still not letting the door open. The deadbolt being set must be holding the door shut as with the front. Well we will just fix that then. Looking about Gage checks to see if any of the neighbors happened to be watching from the trees of if he had happened to be followed by a stay guest. Alone however he was free to break and enter as he pleased. Touching the key hole with one finger he feels it out, testing each of the springs with his own Soul Communication. With a quick jolt he sets all the tumbles in the lock and twists his hand unlocking the door and letting it swing in slowly, the new hinges being silent as a ghost.

Up the stairs he heads, only one of the stairs squeaking at the base from the age of the house. The hand rail, a carved wood that has been lacquered and polished is clean and has several bundles of clothing hanging from them on wire clothes hangers. At the top landing Gage spots her room, the nearest room to the top of the stairs, the door still slightly ajar with the light on. Walking into the room he wanders about, yes it was nosy but he didn't care. If she was still packing or unpacking then there was little chance that she would be upset that he wandered about the house.

Where could she have gone? Pulling out his phone he checks the signal to no avail, the bars still all gone. The whole town must be in some kind of dead zone, leaving all its residents deaf to the outside world. On the bed there is a small pile of clothes at the foot where she obviously stopped unpacking halfway though and fell asleep as it is all piled together leaving a perfect little portion for someone to sleep in. Her bed side desk, lamp still on, has an alarm clock on it but still unplugged, either from her not wanting to get up and unplugging it in the morning or she never got around to plugging it in.

About to head back out into the house and check the other rooms for her he stops when he sees a small black dot, thinking it is a cockroach he turns back and is about to step on it when he realizes its not any kind of bug. Just some kind of black ink that happened to drip onto the floor from what ever was near the bed.

Stopping dead in his tracks his eyes flare from a blinding white light flashing in front of him, shining straight into his eyes. Balling his fists instinctively he is about to strike out when the light spoke with a short and quick instruction. "Get on the ground, face down and hands on the back of your head." Covering his face with one hand Gage looks with one eye at the light making out the silhouette of a man, in one hand a bright LED flashlight and in the other a rather impressive revolver. "I said on the ground with your hands on your head. I know you heard me boy, don't make me say it again."

Gage slowly moves his hands to his head, getting to his knees, refusing to go face down to this supposed cop from nowhere. If a normal cop had snuck up on him then there was some definite training to be had, his skills needing refining. "My name is Gage. My friend lives here, she said that she wanted me to stop by but I cant find her. I found this-" Gage stops, realizing that there is a bloody knife in his hand," I found a knife in her room and was running to see if I could find her."

"Is that right? You find a bloody knife and run like a madman from the scene with the weapon in hand looking for the missing girl but don't even think to call the cops." Gage didn't know what to say. The cop was right in his reaction, the chance that he is not involved being slim to nothing. "Okay I know this looks bad but she is out there some where," It had to be true as nowhere in the house could he feel her Reiatsu.

Standing up and grabbing the cuffs off the cops belt he flips him over and drags his limp body over to the base of the stairs. Leaning him over he puts both his arms through the rails of the stairs and cuffs his hands behind his back to lock him in place so that he can keep moving. Heading into the kitchen he spots it, another drop on the floor, leading towards the backdoor that he originally came in from. Fuck, fuck, fuck... Throwing open the back door he looks out into the dark, frantically looking at the tree line for some sign that she was out here.

Stepping out into the snow though he see's nothing, the trees having been snowed on so much that they are all white and any foot prints underneath have been buried. Standing there outside the house in the dark Gage has no idea what to do, if Kia was grabbed and taken into the woods then she would be kicking and screaming the whole way, fighting for her life like a wild dog. The only thing out here that he is able to see is his own foot prints, the snow underneath each step crushed smooth. One foot print though was darker than all the others, the dim night light not enough to show what he was looking at.

Walking up to the print he snaps his fingers, amplifying the frictions heat until it pops into a flame to see with. Leaning in to the footprint Gage looks closer, digging up a bit of the base with one hand showing the blood stained snow underneath. She went through here but where too? Taking one knee he sits still, smelling the air to get a basis on the direction that she was taken in trying to follow her Reiatsu signature.