Day Two - Heels and Wheels

[Bozwevial]

A storm rolls over Fuyuki City around 3 in the morning, and when morning comes it comes to the beat of splattering raindrops on the window. The cold grey light leaking through the curtains marks the start of the second proper day of the Fifth Holy Grail War, but although only twenty-four hours have passed, plenty has already happened.

Yesterday, Lancer managed to elude Berserker while Laoise fought off an Einzbern magus. Even though the victor of the skirmish was clear, however, Berserker still hasn't been defeated, and five more Servants wait in the wings. Far too many mysteries are floating around unsolved for Laoise's likings. Who poisoned her brother? Where did the blood on her Command Spell come from? If that was Assassin watching her, when will it attack? Who is the mysterious cowboy Servant at the knight's grave? Is Florianus the only Einzbern with a stake in this war?

Despite how much everyone might want to turn over and sleep until the rain goes away, it's time to get up and search for some answers. This war isn't over by a long shot.

[Agita]

For a change, Laoise is woken up by her alarm, but not because she's sleeping in. Rather, she's set the alarm to wake her up earlier than she usually does by herself. There is much to do today; first, she wants to be in the school building as early as possible. While still sleepy, she feels somewhat invigorated. Sleeping it over has given her some distance from the night's events and a small boost of confidence.

After a shower, Laoise sets about preparing breakfast: A set of baguettes filled with butter, a hash brown and a small fried egg each, and tomato sauce. While preparing them, she relays her thoughts to Lancer.
"Last night... Berserker was favoring his right foot. I only noticed when he carried his Master away. Also, the Master must've seen my school uniform if he was paying any attention at all. If he does some research, he'll know to look there... though he won't be moving around much soon."

[veekie]

"An old injury is it, I could use that when we next battle. As for the school, we already know there is at least one other Servant snooping around there. With luck they'd engage each other instead." Lancer materializes just long enough to steal one of the delicious looking baguettes.

"While everyone is in class, I'll materialize and set up an altar as well. It's not as good a place as the temple, but the building itself commands a good view of the surroundings."

[Agita]

...Okay. I'll get a school uniform in your size in case you get spotted. Just don't get into trouble or put it somewhere where it'll get found right away." After finishing the preparation of breakfast and lunch, Laoise picks up an umbrella and gets going, eating her breakfast rolls (minus the one Lancer took) on the way and picking up the newspaper. Her first destination is to find a disguise for Lancer, then to arrive at school ideally earlier than the bulk of club activities.

[Bozwevial]

The newspaper's headline story is about the destruction caused near the city park last night. So far, it looks like everyone believes a car explosion set off a chain reaction and that strong winds in the area carried the flames to the park. Between the fire department and the rain, the conflagration seems to have been stopped before it could do too much damage. The rest of the stories are fairly innocuous, apart from one article indicating the deaths of eight members of the same biker gang on the same night. Some of their deaths were caused by high-speed collisions, while the rest seem to have been killed by gunshots to the heart, although the police haven't found any bullets thus far.

Popping into the store early, Laoise buys a new school uniform without any trouble, apart from the assistant trying to sell her a bunch of clothes she doesn't need. Even with that detour, she has time to arrive at school before most club members are there, although the rain was likely to keep most of the sports clubs from practicing anyway.

The classroom is open when she arrives, although she's early enough that not even the teacher is in yet. The hallway is mostly empty too - apart from a few third-year students who arrived early to prepare for examinations in the library, it seems like Laoise is alone in the building.

[Agita]

Laoise notes the news of that biker gang grimly. It doesn't necessarily mean that they were a Servant's prey, but yesterday taught her that assuming a Servant's presence is safer than the opposite. While Lancer gets changed and starts his own preparations, she moves around the building and spreads her spores at every potted plant inside the building and at key locations outside. Laoise disguises this as going around to water plants, keeping part of her attention on the bounded field she and Lancer created all along. The same field acts now as a useful channel to connect the plants to her own magic.

Create advantage: Plants At My Beck
Lore (4d3-8+4=5)

[Bozwevial]

While Laoise is out laying spores in all the plants, her homeroom teacher walks in on Lancer. Fortunately, he's already changed, so all the teacher sees is an unfamiliar girl in a school uniform. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Lancer doesn't need at the moment.

"Oh? I don't think I recognize you...are you the new transfer student?" The teacher tips her head to one side curiously.

[Agita]

Well, damn. Before Lancer can respond, Laoise blurts out, "N- no, she's an underclassman. Um... she was asking me about a homework problem..."

Deceit (4d3-8+2=1)

[Bozwevial]

Empathy (4d3-8+1=1)

Laoise's teacher scrutinizes the pair for a moment before nodding. "...I see. Well, don't let me keep you two." She moves back to her desk and begins to sift through a large stack of papers, very slowly.

[veekie]

Seeing that the teacher is mollified for now, Lancer waits for an opportunity and excuses himself as quickly as possible, before heading to the roof. Hopefully it's empty.

[Agita]

Laoise releases a relieved breath and whispers to Lancer, "See? Stay in spirit form when you don't need to be material. If you get caught, it's easiest to just run away."

[Bozwevial]

Lancer makes his way to the roof without getting caught in any further entanglements and begins setting up his altar. The rain, perhaps in recognition of his need, slacks off and stops within an hour. Things are slow but otherwise uneventful until about midday, when a faint pricking on the back of his neck catches his attention. The sensation grows stronger little by little, and he finally realizes what it is: Someone's trying to invoke his help at a shrine somewhere in the nearby city. The ritual they're using is an all-purpose request for help, so there's no telling why he's being beckoned, but the compulsion to go investigate isn't getting any weaker...

Meanwhile, Laoise has just returned from a break in class during which she laced more school plants with spores. The teacher is absent from the room, and the students are all talking among themselves loudly. Some of them are gossiping about the biker gang and a third-year who claimed to have seen the whole thing happen, others about the explosions near the park, and still more about the upcoming exams when the classroom door opens and Laoise's teacher returns, with a girl she doesn't recognize in tow. Unlike all the other students, the strange girl isn't wearing a uniform, but a white and blue striped tank top, with matching shorts and socks poking out of her red boots. A sailor hat, of all things, is perched atop her reddish-brown hair, which is pulled into two bunches on either side. Though she's clearly not a local, she doesn't seem to be in any discomfort from the unfamiliar atmosphere, looking perfectly at ease being the odd one out.

(click to show/hide)

"Settle down, everyone," the teacher calls, and the uproar fades into curious whispering. "This is our new transfer student--"

"Lucía de Vega," the new girl cuts in smoothly.

"Yes, of course," the teacher continues. "I want you all to help her as much as you can. She speaks excellent Japanese, but she may not be familiar with all the things you take for granted, so make her feel welcome here."

[veekie]

Lancer had just finished, under cover of the rain, twisting the fence surrounding  the water tanks into a  crude altar area, isolating it from the rest of the roof and incidentally making it quite inaccessible for people of normal capabilities. Then before performing the sanctification, he is interrupted.

"I suppose Laoise is as safe as it gets for now." Shrugging, he dematerializes once more, to seek out the call for help. He could hardly leave something like that alone could he.

Take the compel, +1FP-> 2FP
Physique(set scene aspect) (4d3-8+5=5) Rooftop Isolation.

[Agita]

Lucía de Vega... that would be Spanish, or Portuguese, Laoise guesses. Her bounded field hasn't warned her of any magical activity not her own, so the girl, strange as she looks, must be mundane. She tries to catch a look at the newcomer's hands as subtly as she can, but otherwise quickly loses interest in favor of fretting about more pressing matters at hand. She'll have to investigate the building manually during lunch break.

Investigation? (4d3-8+3=4)

[Bozwevial]

Lancer's spirit form is able to move quickly through the city, orienting itself in the direction of the call. The mystical pull brings him through the more urban sections of the city, and eventually he rounds a corner to find an elderly woman standing at a rundown Taoist temple, looking around impatiently and clutching her purse tightly under one arm. She's the only one in sight, and the compulsion's relentless prickling confirms that she was the one to make the request.

Laoise can't spot anything out of the ordinary about Lucía. Her hands seem to be perfectly normal, although Laoise doesn't have a great view of them, as the transfer student is placed directly in front of her in the only empty seat in the classroom. Occasionally Lucía turns around and smiles warmly at Laoise. Maybe she's more comfortable around someone else who's clearly a transfer student? She could just be very friendly, of course.

When the lunch break finally arrives, Laoise finishes spreading the spores, ending with the plants on the rooftop garden. Though she can see the results of Lancer's handiwork in the form of the vandalized fence and water tanks, her Servant is nowhere to be seen, nor can she feel his presence anywhere on the school grounds.

[veekie]

Debating the approach, he moves closer in spirit form, attempting to discern what particularly troubled her.

[Bozwevial]

Apart from looking irritable and impatient, nothing appears to be immediately troubling the woman.

[Agita]

Laoise returns the smiles awkwardly, and otherwise goes about her business as she usually does, which means paying attention, staring out of the window, and making as little eye contact with anyone as possible.

After finishing her preprations of the school's plants, Laoise quietly eats her prepared sandwiches on the rooftop - one with grilled cheddar cheese and pears, one with a topping of ground almonds, lemon juice, sage, and molten parmesan.

She frowns at the absence of Lancer, worrying where he's gone off to. If there had been a fight, she'd have noticed (as would the rest of the school), but...
For now, she resolves to make the most of the rest of the lunch break, and the first period after if necessary, checking the places where she felt traces of magic yesterday for any clues.

[veekie]

Lancer briefly ducks into the temple, looking for an unnoticed corner, then manifests physically, then skipping outside in the uniform, 'accidentally' bumping into the woman, and falling over, "Ooof. Sorry!"

[Bozwevial]

The field finds traces of magic in three locations: The girls' bathroom on the ground floor, the school kitchens, and the bleachers by the track. Laoise finds nothing in the girls' bathroom but some makeup smudges in the sinks and a few starry-eyed girls asking whether her brother was feeling better. Evidently he made quite the impression on everyone here. The school kitchens would prove more of a challenge to visit, especially at lunch when they'd be busiest, so she heads to the bleachers with the little time she has left in the break. After searching for some time, Laoise has found only a faint musky smell vaguely reminiscent of dog urine when the bell sounds and she has to head back to class.

Lancer bumps into the elderly woman, who doesn't move so much as an inch from the collision. "Oh, finally, someone's here. Well, what are you on the ground for, little girl? Get up and come with me, I need someone to carry my groceries." A glint in her eye tells Lancer she's quite serious.