RP Log: Rin, Tomiyama

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Date: night of Friday, July 13
Summary: Rin shows up at the Headmaster's apartment without an appointment, determined to get at least some information out of Tomiyama. Best part? He's successful. Plot stuff within!


Midnight was the only time of the day-- or rather night, Rin could dish out some time to go and visit his former sensei -- something he was planning on doing for some time now. The recent messages he got from Tomiyama were rather worrying, but also very vague. This last one might have put some light on the issue of the upcoming doom, but it was hardly something he liked to hear.

Obviously, the gates were closed at night, which didn't surprise Rin, really. But climbing it and jumping down at the other side wasn't really an issue, even if he was tired. On the other side, he brushed his clothes -- fancy, yet elegant, as that's what the job at the pub required -- off from imaginary dust and lazily made his way towards the offices, where he knew the headmaster had his apartment. It was close to the main gate, and he could easily see that the light was still on. Good, at least he wouldn't be waking the man up.

For a moment there he considered making a grand entrance through the window, but... after thinking a bit longer on it, the blonde mutant decided that he was too tired for that, or maybe too lazy. For once he could use the door, like every other normal person. It still meant going up the stairs, but it was less of a hassle for sure.

Once upstairs he took one more moment, to make himself a bit more presentable -- for whatever reason, it wasn't like Rin exactly cared what Tomiyama thought of him at this point -- and then rang the doorbell, before stepping back a bit, hands in the back pockets of his pants.

The chime of the doorbell came as a surprise to Tomiyama. He wasn't expecting any guests other than Taki, who had come over earlier that evening and wasn't likely to leave until well after midnight. "Stay there," Tomiyama instructed as he stood to answer the door. Taki might be a bit protective of his headmaster, but Tomiyama was fairly certain that if someone had enough decency to ring the bell instead of coming in through the window, they couldn't pose too much of a threat to his safety. Chances were it was a student; the gates were locked after dark.

Even so, he opened the door slowly, making sure that the person standing on the other side was a familiar one. The situation still merited caution, and he would call Taki over if absolutely necessary.

Fortunately, it wasn't necessary. Rin looked a little tired, but he was certainly no threat to Tomiyama's personal security. "Come in," Tomiyama invited, stepping aside. "I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time to meet with you, as I'm assisting a student at the moment, but I can spare a few moments since you've come all the way here ... and at such a strange hour. I hope nothing is wrong?"

Assisting a student? At midnight? Things sure changed over at the school since the last time he was here. Rin quirked an eyebrow, but didn't comment out loud -- there were things he'd rather not know. Especially if they concerned someone who used to be his sensei. His both eyebrows shot up though, when he entered and saw who said 'student' was.

Well now, if he remembered correctly, Taki could be hardly considered a student. Heck, the guy was even older than him, even though they were in the same training group. Even then-- but... perhaps it'd be better to just believe than. Safer, really. He didn't have to, or more importantly want to, know what Tomiyama did in his free time, and with who.

"Evening," he greeted Taki with a tilt of his head and the usual lazy grin, then he turned to the man he originally came to see, "Nothing's wrong, or everything's wrong, depends~," Rin shrugged, "There're questions I need answered though. Or maybe just one question, but a very important one~."

Tomiyama frowned slightly, but Rin's assessment was an accurate one. Most of his students didn't seem to believe him, and continued about their lives as though they didn't know that it might end very soon, but there were those few who stood by him in his claims -- and for them, everything was wrong. He debated letting Taki hear whatever Rin had to say, but decided against it for the moment. Taki had been a little distrought to begin with (hence his visit), and there was no point in aggravating the situation.

"I'll be right back," Tomiyama promised, with a smile, then turned back to Rin. "This way," he said, and guided him into the kitchen. It wasn't the ideal place for such a discussion, but there was a door that could be closed, and that was perhaps most important at the moment. "Ask what you will," Tomiyama said. "I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can."

With a nod, Rin leaned against the table, glad for the opportunity to talk privately, "Let's start from the very beginning -- you're not a precog, which leaves me with this particular question -- how do you know about this ah~, doom?" He paused for a brief moment, to gather his thoughts, "I'm less inclined to believe if I don't know the source." With the recent tremors (even if he didn't feel them himself, he did see what they did to Ryoga), though, he could, but that was left unsaid. "Then, in your last message, you implied that Ryoma might be the cause," and he didn't think why that mattered to him had to be explained. "Knowing his power, I guess I shouldn't be asking why, but I still wonder if you're not letting out any information regarding that kid and what could possibly trigger that kind of hm, reaction."

"I've said all that I can regarding Echizen," Tomiyama explained. "I'll freely admit that I don't know the exact cause of the catastrophe, but I do know that it is psionic, and I know that Echizen is the only functioning telepath in the country. When you look at those two facts together, the conclusion seems obvious, doesn't it?" Tomiyama smiled to himself, wry. "I don't want it to be the case, either. In fact, I'd prefer it if such a thing didn't happen at all.

"That's part of why I'm here," he continued. He shifted to lean against the countertop and face Rin directly. "I know it happens because I've been there." Tomiyama hadn't wanted to tell many people about his origins -- certainly they wouldn't believe his story -- but it must seem more odd to an outsider that he would know about the event in the first place. "And I'm here now to prevent it. I know this must sound very strange, doesn't it, for me to keep this to myself all these years?"

This wasn't an answer Rin was expecting. Not in the slightest. He stared, unblinking, at the older man, silent for a long while. At least he had the decency to close his mouth. There was a part of him willing to believe that, as crazy as it sounded, after all they were mutants -- things they could do were already considered to be impossible by many humans, so why time travel wouldn't be possible? But there was another part of him growing irritated that Tomiyama might just be making a fool out of him.

He pushed himself off the table again, taking those few steps which separated him from the other, the dull part of one claw, soundlessly unsheathed, resting right below the man's chin, nudging gently. "If you have a proof to that, then it'd be nice, if not, then that's a pity," they were the same height, which made it easy to look right into Tomiyama's eyes. He knew all the symptoms humans -- mutants as well -- had when they were lying, he didn't have to be a mind reader to know. "I'd like to believe, but if you're making this up then," the blonde smiled sweetly, "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes."

Tomiyama kept perfectly still. "I had proof," he stated evenly. "Newspaper clippings from September of this year. Follow-up articles from November and next January." He swallowed, but was careful not to move. "They were stolen from my office some time ago -- yes, I realize how this sounds, but please, Rin, put the claws away. If you'll let me check, I may have something yet in my bedroom."

Stolen? That again gave the blonde a pause, but not for long. As requested, he pulled the claw back, stepping away and out of Tomiyama's personal space. "Alright," the man wasn't showing any signs of lying, which was nice to know. Still, if he did have proof, then it'd be only better. Though, once he was back home, Rin took a mental note to ask Ryoga about that -- Ryoma's questions about some documents Ryoga supposedly stole came to his mind and putting the two and two together wasn't very hard from here on. It was not something he usually did, figuring that his ... roommate'd tell him, if it was important enough. Or if he thought Rin should know. "Go ahead, please."

"Thank you." Tomiyama smoothed his shirt down -- perhaps unnecessarily -- and stepped out of the kitchen. He regarded Taki just a moment, wordlessly, then crossed the apartment to his bedroom. He supposed Taki could follow if he wanted; the conversation hadn't touched on anything that he didn't already know, and Tomiyama didn't suspect that it would. Even after Rin followed him into the other room, he left the door open.

Tomiyama opened the drawer of his nightstand slowly, as he knew Rin was watching every move, and lifted a plastic zip-top bag containing the document in question: another newspaper clipping, but this one was smaller, just a few columns. He hadn't wanted to show this, since it was far more personal, but it was what he had at the moment, and it wouldn't ... really hurt anything just then. He handed the bag to Rin. "Here. Be careful with it -- it's old. You can read it through the plastic easily enough."

Looking at the article felt strange. September of this year, when it was only July -- and people he knew were all well and in the best of health were said to be... dead. Most of them, anyway. He skimmed over the text, before handing it back, "So you come here, to prevent this from happening, without any knowledge as to... what causes it?" Not a very smart move, Rin thought. Though perhaps there was no other choice, but it didn't change the fact that... it'd be a much better idea to know something prior to rushing out to become a hero.

"Any other information you're hiding?" Rin asked, head tilted, as the light coloured eyes focused on the older man again. While he was here, he wanted to get all possible information out of the other, before he were to leave. Because he'd hardly have time or will to make such a little trip any soon again.

There was one thing, Tomiyama thought, but it was inconsequential in comparison to information regarding the destruction of the city. Perhaps he'd divulge his true identity after they'd survived this ... but not before; knowing this crowd, they would get too hung up on that to focus on stopping the disaster. He bypassed it for now. "You know it's psionic," he explained instead, answering both questions at once. "We have until August 15th. We don't have a lot of time left."

And admittedly, Tomiyama was starting to panic. No one had taken any measures to investigate the cause, and no one had proposed any course of action. He had very little to work with, and if they couldn't stop it from happening ... "I don't have all the information. As I said months ago, I need help. Otherwise we die. Or worse."

"August 15th," very little time, considering where they were at the moment. There weren't many courses of action they could take in a situation like this, and most of them were only half-solutions. "Isolate him? Or put an inhibitor collar?" Those weren't the best, and Rin really wouldn't like to make Ryoma go through all that. But right now, it was all he could think of. "Or send him somewhere out of the city? If it's not him going off on his own, then the trigger might be a situation happening here." The blonde shrugged, "Not the best solution, but it might at least buy us some time."

Tomiyama shook his head. "Even if we send Echizen away, there's no guarantee that we can save everyone. If there are people around him when it happens, they will be affected. And I'm almost certain that it will kill him, at the very least." While it was true that he and Echizen had had ... differences ... in the past, it didn't mean that he ever wanted him dead. Not for the petty things he'd let come between them ... "If I have to do that, though, I will. Better just a few than an entire ward of the city..." Tomiyama sighed and sat on his bed. He didn't know how he'd come to feel so weary in such a short amount of time ... "For now, Taki is going to take him to the lab. They'll run some tests, but I don't know if they'll find anything ..."

"So you assume it's something about him and not an outside trigger?" If that was the case, then no, nothing would help, because Rin certainly didn't want that -- whatever it was supposed to be -- to kill Ryoma. He wasn't that close with the kid, but he was close with Ryoga and that was quite enough.

"An outside trigger?" Tomiyama echoed, looking up. He hadn't even considered that; he just assumed that since it had to be psionic, Echizen would be the cause more than he'd be a victim. "What sort of trigger?" If Rin knew something that he didn't, he wanted to hear about it.

Rin blinked, staring at the other in surprise, "As in, some person or some situation, will make him lose control?" He didn't know that much about different powers, how they worked, so he only based his suggestions and opinions on what he knew.

Well, that would certainly make things easier. "If it's that simple, then keeping an eye on him should ensure that nothing provokes him," Tomiyama replied slowly. "On the other hand, if it isn't so easy, then he'll destroy all of us anyway." He offered a small smile -- maybe it was hopeless, after all, and there was nothing they could do to change the future. Maybe they were all destined to die in a month.

"Changing the future might be tricky, I'd imagine, if it's not one thing, it might be another," and it made Rin wonder who, nowadays, believed in fate. The smile Tomiyama offered almost made him want to ruffle the man's hair and say that everything would be alright -- right now preventing this whole doom seemed hopeless. He felt that too, though perhaps his feelings were heavily influenced by the exhaustion. Rin almost forgot, during that long period of rest he took, just how much he used to work his ass off. His eyelids felt heavy, and there was still a long way home, a couple flights of stairs, and work he had to do for the university. "Prepare for any possibility, and pray it's the easy one."

"We've changed something," Tomiyama explained. "At least one thing. Taki-kun is alive. They didn't kill him when he was kidnapped." It was a very small relief, but a relief nonetheless, and a sign that maybe larger things could be changed if they all worked in concert. Additionally, it was nice to hear Rin trying to reassure him. Taki had done the same, and so he knew that he had at least two people on his side. Certainly Yamato and Shiiba could be counted among his supporters, too ... "Do me a favor," Tomiyama requested. "Can you spread the word? If we need to evacuate ... if anyone knows anything ... " He doubted anyone else did; after all, he was the one from the future.

"Keep an eye on him still," just in case. Rin wasn't that close with Taki, but he didn't wish anyone death. Except maybe those bastards who did this to him, even if he already couldn't feel the claws, and his body was long time over with fighting the metal inside (which never went well), it was still the only grudge he held for so long. "I will, to those I can," he ran a hand through the long strands of hair, closing his eyes for a moment there, letting them rest, "But please, next time you share information, share everything, I don't know if I'll have time for a visit again," golden eyes opened again, falling on the other man, waiting expectantly for an agreement. "Stop being so vague, and maybe things will go over better."

Tomiyama chuckled. "I'll be sure to," he said. It wasn't entirely true, but it was true enough. He shared what he had as far as the incident was concerned. "I'm sorry for keeping so much for so long," he continued. "I just hope it will be enough, now." He noticed Rin's eyes falling closed, and stood to walk him to the door. "I will keep in touch," he promised. "You probably need to get home, though, don't you?"

"Alright, and yeah, I hope it's still in one piece," Rin joked, smiling a bit, as he made his way to the door -- come in like a normal person and leave like a normal person. Inwardly he hoped Ryoga was ... home, as tonight the blonde felt like some company, even if said company would probably be asleep, was welcome.

"Thank you for your visit," Tomiyama said as Rin slipped his shoes back on. It was more of a formality, automatic, but at least part of it was sincere, this time. "And please do come back if you have any more information. Have a good evening, Rin-kun."

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The plot was very tasty. Thank you! :D