Night at the Museum! 🎃

[mermalaide]

"Hmm? Oh- Sure." When told to stay put Lloyd-san was preoccupied with taking care of his little friends, who had crowded around him and were showing bits of concern. They were all talking quiet and grumbling, which was quiet for the group of small banchos. The Youngblood kid got up and was leaning against the wall. He sure wanted a smoke and did not fill like he was paid nearly enough to deal with any of this.

The door was cracked and it creaked loudly when he pushed on it. The room was bathed in a ruby light. Humanoid shadows moved against the wall. There was a bunch of red light pouring out of an open crate sitting on a long, folding table. The sound of the whispers were like dry leaves. The spirits were weak but the sounded trapped. The sounds were faint and crunchy. If he peered over the crate, he would find another gem just like what was broken, only this was the size of a baseball, and not the size of a peach pit. 

The air was thick and hot. 

There was some kind of tag on the side of the crate, it read something in Spanish.

Peligro!
El contenido es frágil.
Origen: Andes
Mantenga la tapa cerrada!

On closer inspection, the baseball sized gem, looked like it was carved into face or skull.

[datmass]

Entering the room now, all the noise of the previous room seemed to stop...or at least that's how it was to Shiro, who now focused on this one thing in front of him, kind of like Indiana Jones over the idol in Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was despite all the unnecessary creaking of the door, which people probably should've looked after more. The room was red with an eerie light, though... It emanated from a box, and the boc cast a number of shadows that could be considered either living, haunted, or dark emanations. Take your pick. They looked like people, which could mean many things, including the presence of many souls, damned or otherwise. As hr began to hear the dry whispers, Shiro nodded to himself. Definitely trapped souls or spirits of some kind, possibly looking for a way out, and likely not caring how it was done. Inside the box was a similar gem to the one he'd just destroyed, but bigger and more skull-like. Thoughts of Doom or The Phantom sprang to mind, looking at this thing. The box bore a sign in Spanish, which read...

"'Warning', or maybe 'Danger'... 'The contents are fragile'... It's from the Andes...uhh...hold on."

Uhh, cellphone, por favor! Shiro dug out his phone to get a quick translate and...ah! The lid was meant to be kept closed. Well...someone had invalidated that one, hadn't they? Shiro realized that more curses were on the forefront if he didn't put a stop to this. He needed to get a handle on this, because just putting the lid back on the box wasn't gonna be an option, not without doing something about the awakened spirits of the gem. So, inputting something on his phone, he translated it to a rough spanish now and said to the skull...

"Umm... Hola, mi nombre es Shiro Kunekawa. Investigo sucesos espirituales...y cosas por el estilo. ¿Cuantos hay ahí? ¿Por qué estás aquí? ¿Y qué quieres?"

These weren't perfect, but as he checked them against the Japanese equivalent, it was good enough to convey meaning, at least.

[mermalaide]

Tanto.... There was a groan like a hiss of steam that escaped a pipe.

Tanto. Somos muchos. The words were like dry crunchy leaves. So much decay in each word.

Somos viejos. Ancient.


It wasn't evil, per se. But it was a swirling accumulation of gathered spirits and shadow. Something that sounded like it hadn't been allowed to sleep in a very long time. It was like the eyeless skull was looking at him. It's words had been from many, yet came from that one place. The red light seemed to be dim but still red. The room was warm and almost sticky with moisture. Images of jungle and of ritual sacrifice was burrowing itself into his mind. It had been so long since someone had spoken, not demanded. Not tried to inflict pain.


Estamos tan cansados...

There was a sadness there. It was almost a pleading. Shadows seemed to move with the room. It was really eerie, but at least things did not seem like they were too dangerous. As long as there was caution. It all depended on what he wished to do really. Would he help? Would he destroy? The voice was so layered. Just how many were in there? There were images of piles of bones, of a cave in the rainy mountains. It had been some sort of death pit. A shaman carved a delicate vessel into being and stained it with their blood. They had all had lives once, and their ends had all been similar, being cast into the space to be used for some sort of ritual to create this carved, gem.

His words did not have to be perfect, not to them anyway. No, it was his intention.

[datmass]

This was bad. Not as in hazardous-bad, although anyone trying to use of the gem somehow could be in trouble or making trouble, but rather that the sheer amount of souls that were sacrificed to make this, a soulstone of immense power... People would be lured to that power, others would be hurt. For their sake, and that of the souls inside, this artifact had to be depowered...or destroyed. Given that Spanish was the language and that this was a crimson gem from the Andes that enslaved these souls - not to mention the visions of the ritual itself that Shiro was shown - it had to be a form of blood magic that bound them this way. Their blood, their lives, and therefore their souls were put into a jar, and never given respite. The detective started making use of the translator again, just to be sure.

"Te liberaré, pero quiero estar seguro. ¿Será suficiente con romper la gema o necesito que alguien la purifique?"

Long story short, he didn't want any wandering lost souls up here in this place. He wanted them to move on to wherever it is they were suppose to go. So, he could solve this now if it was safe, but he also may need additional help. Either way, he was gonna have some 'splaining to do with the museum people, buuut they probably wouldn't want this on their hands...

[mermalaide]

Necesitamos descansar.

It was a weary sound. One that was too tired to know as the shadows bent and move. 


Llévanos a un lugar donde podamos descansar, donde ningún hombre vaya a despertarnos de nuevo.

The image of caves where people could not go, something purified and guarded by priests that would give them respect. If the gem was broken, it was likely they would become wandering souls, wraiths that could feed off of and possess the living. That might make it even worse, especially if people did not know what they were dealing with, Shiro seemed to have a leg up there. It was likely he would be the only person to fix this. 


Por favor...


Por favor..


Por favor, ayúdanos a descansar.

The shadows began to retreat back into the gem and the  red of the room began to dim and settle. It must have taken much for them to communicate like that. The became somewhat inert.

[datmass]

Okay, no destruction. No smashing? No smashing. Smashing would be bad, very very bad. With this, Shiro nodded with an "Alright." and put the lid back on the box. After that, he found some packing tape and any sort of writing utensil, so he could seal it up and write on the side 'DO NOT OPEN. AUTHORITY OF THE NAPI.'. From there, he put out a call to his people in the organization. At least this didn't require any violence.

"Hello? Yeah, it's Kunekawa. Initial situation with the museum reaching positive resolution, but we've got another problem. I need a pickup team to confiscate a heavily-inhabited artifact. It's a skull-like red gem that I've re-contained in its crate and marked accordingly. The inhabiting souls want to go home and meet their rest, so we'll need transport to the Andes and the right people for the ritual purification to send them on their way. It's vitally important that no one do anything other than those things to this gem. If it breaks, it's wandering souls and wild possessions for everyone."

He wanted to be sure that was understood, and that no one but NO ONE tried anything unwarranted against the thing. It could end very poorly. Hopefully, the gem could get back, the souls could be sent to their final rest, and he wouldn't have hell thrust upon him for setting the whole thing in motion.

[mermalaide]

"Hello? Yeah, it's Kunekawa. Initial situation with the museum reaching positive resolution, but we've got another problem. I need a pickup team to confiscate a heavily-inhabited artifact. It's a skull-like red gem that I've re-contained in its crate and marked accordingly. The inhabiting souls want to go home and meet their rest, so we'll need transport to the Andes and the right people for the ritual purification to send them on their way. It's vitally important that no one do anything other than those things to this gem. If it breaks, it's wandering souls and wild possessions for everyone."

The phone was answered by a sleepy fellow on the other end. It sounded like he started to pour himself coffee on the other end. "Hey, Kunekawa. Oh..?" He listened and the sound of something was scribbled. "I might have to get Moritaka to come and help ya. We have a containment out at the park right now. It's crazy!" He exhales and "Hey Mori-san! Yooohoo~!" He was not subtle in flagging her down. "I need ya to take a capture crate and help Kunekawa, he's at this address." There was some muffled conversation and he comes back to the line. "Deets are on the sheet there."

"Sorry about that!" He went back to Kunekawa. "Almost missed her. Give her a few. Have someone from security meet her out front maybe, so you have eyes on that, you know the deal. Moritaka should have everything you guys need and a paperwork packet on her for the item. I would come myself, but NAPI is thin tonight." He sounded a little exhausted, but it was fine. NAPI's front desk always had all-nighters. "Anything else I can help you with tonight?" Mori-san was likely on her way. If Kunekawa had heard of her, she was a small, frail woman that looked perpetually tired, but seemed to have a lot of rumors and information under her belt. NAPI's research department. Few had seen her though, so it was often speculated what she looked like, other than the occasional description of being short.

On Kunekawa's end, young-blood stuck his head in the door. "I got everyone back upstairs. It was a little hard 'cause some of them had injuries, but we are going to gather in the main room I think." He was waiting to help Kunekawa if he could. For now, the box seemed...quiet. But the things in it were listening and resting in that way that one does in transit.

[datmass]

If things were being stretched thin as they were, then Shiro was lucky to have Moritaka coming in. Shiro nodded, even though the man on the other end couldn 't possibly see it.

"Alright, I'll wait on her to show up and make sure the box remains secure. Oh, the actual situation was a colony of Yanari that've been living below the museum. They've had a slight human influence on their behavior-"

Right, sure. Slight.

"-and I've managed to reach an agreement with them in return for exterior surface access and some sort of tribute that'll be of minor impact to the museum in comparison to the damage they could cause. Good news, though: They like the veteran employee here, so I think things'll work out."

After finishing this report, Shiro would get off the call and step outside the room, leaving the door open to keep a line of sight on the box.

"Youngblood, there's going to be a containment specialist here soon for the box. I need you to be on hand at the entrance to let her in. Lloyd-san, Boss-san - I've told the home office what's up. I'm sure the curator can be convinced of an amicable situation here."

And hopefully, that would be the end of that, but let's wait and see how things go with Moritaka...