2477/The issue of the Oni

The issue of the Oni
Date of Scene:	16 July 2020
Location:	Triskelion - Director Palamas Office
Synopsis:	Lara Croft deep dives back in to the lore of Wa
Cast of Characters:	Bobbi Morse, Lara Croft

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Bobbi Morse has posed:
Entering Director Palamas' office was a bit like entering a curated library. There's a Victorian era glove in one corner, dark woods everywhere, books on shelves, books in piles on the floor, books on the windowsill, books all over her desk, books on the lectern. They are all related to mythology, both fact and fiction and some blurring the lines in between. The blonde agent has reading glasses on and has her tablet sitting on top of another open book when she gets the buzz on the intercom.

"Your appointment with Agent Croft has arrive," says her secretary. A young male agent sits at his desk, straight backed, dusty brown hair, always trying to make a good impression. Everything is utterly neat and tidy and put away, not a book in sight in the waiting room.

The door clicks open and Director Palamas stands up with offered hands to Lara, "Agent Croft, always a pleasure. Please come take a seat, I have a really interesting case for you. This one is right up your alley." She returns to sitting and opens up a draw, then another draw until she finds what she's looking for. It's a printout of a recent-ish report as well as research from an agent on the topic.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was one of the few agents that didn't have a background in the military, the police, or some kind of training that resembled that. She did have an extensive amount of survival training, a fair look into small arms weaponry, and of course her college education in archaeology and Asian history. But it was the experienced she gained after the infamous shipwreck last fall--and everything that followed it--that got her on to SHIELD's radar, and lead her to being here today.

Lara steps in to the office with a dark blue SHIELD jacket on, unzipped, over a black button-down dress shirt that is untucked over a pair of duty pants and leather boots. She has a casual air about her dress style, and generally always does. Her hair is tied back into a ponytail behind her shoulder, and she offers a smile to Kara when she enters.

"It's good to see you." Lara tells the senior Agent. She moves in to take a seat, placing her drink down atop her lap. "Up my alley?" She asks then. "That is good to hear. Far better than some of the ones that aren't, which require so much more research." She grins lightly then, almost tiredly.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Kara looks up over the rim of her glasses to Lara. She has had her fair share of field experience over the years, fought against and along side gods who used to be myth but now are fact. The facts never quite match the myths, so Lara found out when she discovered the tomb of Queen Himiko.

"Yes I should think so." The smile returns and she says, "Now that you're a Field Agent, you're going to have to take on more responsibility, which means running operations. So I'm going to give you your first official case as a Field Agent."

She sits back in her chair a bit and glances over to her antique globe. "A month ago there was a gang war between the Yakuza and some unidentified asian gangs at JFK Airport. You may have heard about it on the news. What you didn't hear is that they were fighting over a rare bronze jar containing part of the soul of an Oni. Well, that's the mythical part perhaps, or perhaps not."

Lara Croft has posed:
While Kara speaks, the Briton raises her cup up for a sip before lowering it again to wrap her hand around its base again. She nods once to the Field Agent summary, as that promotion had come as quite the surprise to her to be honest, but it was a welcome surprise too.

"I did hear a little about that." She says of the Yakuza at JFK, but leaves it at that. When Kara goes on further, Lara's eyes brighten a bit at the Oni subject. She processes it quickly, then shows a soft grin. "The Jar might be the most impressive part." She comments, always a /bit/ of a disbeliever in the wild myths, even if she's seen enough to know there's more truth in mystery in this world than one might normally think. She believes it to be prudent to stay questioning on most matters.

"You're right, I'd like to see it. But items like that rarely stay 'visible' for very long. They generally get bought up on the black market and end up in private collections, becoming nearly impossible to track reliably then."

Lara tilts her head ever so slightly. "Do we have any leads on its location now?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
There is another shuffle of drawers and Kara lifts up an ancient Japanese bronze jar. Its lid is sealed with some kind of resin. The jar itself has a crack down its side. She places it down in front of Lara and says, "One supposed Oni jar. It dates to before Queen Himiko's rule, the time of war and myth and magic."

She smiles and watches Lara's reaction, pleased by the enthusiasm. "This one came in to JFK Airport via a man named Yukioni Ai, an American citizen. Second generation. Strong family ties back to Japan and the corporation Yukioni Corp. A bit on the nose, Snow Demons clan. Mr. Yukioni died at the airport, assassinated by who we believe to be a Hand operative, or perhaps a Yakuza operative. It's unclear who was on whose side."

"During the altercation the jar was damaged and the parties seemed to lose interest in it at that point."

She shuts the drawers and says, "Would you like to hear the legend behind it?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Since Yamatai, Lara was court ordered to attend therapy sessions to try to cope with the after-effects of what she mentally went through during all of that. Those started shortly after she arrived in the United States... she's not a fan of doing them, by any means, but the Therapist is a good man who seems to have her best intentions at heart. Once a month, for a whole year. She's eager for them to end.

But, she can't argue that she doesn't entirely manage the stress and burden of what she went through. She doesn't sleep well, some nights she doesn't sleep at all. Hearing Himiko's name, does ... displease her, but she's not so unhinged that she can't handle it. It's just, an annoyance.

When the Jar is presented though, Lara leans forward to inspect it visually before she sets her drink aside and reaches out to take it up within her hands. "My word, look at you." She says to the jar itself. "You've come a long way to only just now end up a very unfortunate crack..." She scans said crack, and runs the tips of her right hand's fingers down it's length. "I suppose they believe that the crack allowed the spirit within to be let loose, so now it's little more than a useless jar to them." She speaks on why they'd lose interest in it.

Lara looks up then across the distance to Kara, and with regard to hearing more she shows a very soft smile. "I'm all ears."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Kara folds her hands, fingers entwined, upon her lap as she smiles. "The legend goes that a snow demon came down from the mountains on the wedding day of a man and a woman. The demon, jealous of their love, stole away the bride up in to the mountains where he kept her prisoner. The villagers banded together and climb the mountain where they fought and killed the demon, separating his spirit in to four jars. When they brought the bride back to the village so that she could marry her beloved, everyone fell ill and died except her and she lived the rest of her life alone in an empty village."

She leans forward in her chair, "Now, immediately, something a little odd struck me in that story. In that period of time the shinto belief was in the Hun and po combined together to make the human spirit - one was tethered to the earth, the other roams the spirit realm. Two spirits making a whole... so why would they need four jars?"

"It gets better though. In 1983 a Japanese archeologist claims to have found this village and its mass grave. It is one of the oldest finds in Japanese archeology. At the base of Naeba on the Niigata side. It's a very large mountain range though, ...but." There's a small twinkle in her eye, "One particular section of the mountain had an onsen, Nozawa Onsen. It got overrun by Macaque monkeys one winter when tourists supposedly ventured off and disturbed the spirits.. as the locals claim. In Japanese mythology, the Macaque protect secret pathways."

Lara Croft has posed:
As Kara speaks, Lara sits on the edge of her seat holding the jar yet still between her hands and occasionally looking down at it, then back up to the other across from her. "Perhaps there were more than one demon involved?" Lara asks of the four jar mystery. "Or perhaps they carried more than one set, as an auxiliary, if things went... poorly."

Truth is it's hard to say, she knows that. For now she falls silent again and does sit back a bit in her chair.

"I've heard of similar stories to this, though not this particular one." She admits then. The bit at the end about the Monkeys causes her to show a soft smile. "I've dealt with them before. They're a pesky lot. My guide at the time said that he and his were raised on their meat, he ... he didn't have very many teeth, but sure loved to smile." She shows a hint of a grin then before focusing once more.

"You're right though, I could fall in to all of this, for some time. I'm already wanting to look in to the names you've given."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Director Palamas sits up and smiles, "Excellent. It's settled then. The case is yours. We believe one of the jars must still be on that mountain, somewhere. Yukioni-clan had one jar.. but there was mention of a war over a jar that didn't involve this Yukioni-clan in the 500s some time. That.. is three jars. One we have, one in a mountain, one we are still trying to track. The fourth, who knows. Perhaps the demon has it." She lifts a curious eyebrow and then picks up her tablet. She touches it a few times to assign the information over to Lara. "There is a civilian, Kaminari, who has been involved in all of this somehow. You should interview her. If you want to go to Japan and hunt for this second jar, don't go alone."

She sets the tablet down and adds, "Oh and Lara, please be careful. Don't try and do it all yourself, you have WAND at your side and SHIELD at your back."

Lara Croft has posed:
When all of this is relayed, and the mission is transfered over to her, Lara feels her phone beep inside of her jacket's pocket. She shows a slight smile over to the Director and nods softly once toward her. She moves to stand up then. "Excellent. And... you're right." She says, of not forgetting that she's not alone. One thing about Lara, is somewhere in her file it probably says she has a high likelihood of trying to do everything herself, with a bit of a loner angle to her since she was never trained as a team-player.

"I'll do my best to reach out to others, to see them along on this." Lara reaches for her drink, but retains the Jar in her hand, assuming it comes with her since it's part of all of this and she'll need to study it further back in the WAND offices.

"I'll reach out to this Kaminari as well, I assume her contact info is in the files sent to me." Standing now, Lara steps to the side of her seat, both her hands full, she nods to Kara. "Thank you, you'll hear back from me as soon as I have something to share."

She'll smile again then and move to make for the exit once more.