The House of Heron

[Carthrat]

"Anyway, we're starting up practice again in a sec," replies Mei. "Look, um, I won't ask what you're going to do, but be careful, alright? I'm not sure I could.. well, you know. If something happened to you."

Her voice takes a significant tone of worry, here.

[Corwin]

Raven smirks, and his voice is full of confidence when he responds, "I'll be okay, don't worry about that. Just concentrate on practice. I'll be back soon enough to listen to your new hit!"

[Carthrat]

"I promise, you love long time," replies Mei, putting on an exaggerated accent. "Later, Rave!"

[Corwin]

He chuckles, and with a, "Later!" of his own, Raven terminates the call. Putting the cell away, he turns towards Liron.

"Someone's been checking up on me back home," Raven says, his voice flat and drained of its earlier humor. "What do you say to getting the hell out of here? I've got a car, we can talk there."

[Brian]

While Raven was occupied, Liron had wandered into the room with the piano to examine the sheet music.  "What?" he calls, glancing back into the hall.  "Oh.  Probably it would be best."  Sighing, Liron checks that he has his things and prepares to follow Raven.

[Carthrat]

It's a mournful little ditty, a song that would translate into guitar easily enough. Then again, there's only so much you can tell from a page of notes- it needs to be played to be truly understood.

[Corwin]

Raven nods, and heads downstairs, calling over his shoulder, "I parked just outside the property."

[Brian]

After a moment of indecision, Liron gives into the temptation and takes the sheet music.  It's something he knows he shouldn't do ... even aside from the fact that he's stealing from a dead man (and one he respects), it could end up getting him into trouble if he's not careful.  And that's only assuming it's evidence removed from a crime scene, not a cleverly concealed rote or trigger.

Then again, he already took a piece of the mirror, with its strong resonance.

He grumbles to himself as he carefully tucks the music into a folder of other songs in his duffel, and then double-times it to catch up with Raven.  "Sorry," he says quietly.  "Wanted to look at that music a bit.  Maybe it's nothing ... but a memento is better than forgetting."

[Corwin]

Raven looks wistful at the mention of music, before nodding yet again. "Yeah. And maybe it's something after all."

Raven gets to his car and waits for Liron to enter, before starting the engine and heading for the interstate, looking for a motel where they could pour over the few clues they found while sufficiently distanced from the crime scene.

[Carthrat]

It's not hard to find a 24-hour motel joint near the edge of Roosevelt, near a gas station and a dingy-looking diner. The whole place looks dusty and ill-kept- a typical state around these parts.

Checking in isn't hard- the motel hasn't seen any real business in ages. It looks almost like a converted barracks, a single long building with several rooms built into it, along with the checkin booth that stands attached to what must be the owners house.

[Corwin]

"So," Raven speaks at length as he settles down on one of the beds without disturbing the items he picked up earlier at Heron's house and placed on it prior to sitting down. "I'm thinking, I just can't let this pass. I owed the old man, and I've gotta at least try and do something about... what happened." He snorts then, his gaze slowly going over the items laid out on the bed. "'Course, I'm prolly in it whether I want to or not, if people in suits are looking for me where I hang out."

Raven raises his head, as his eyes seek out Liron's. "Question is, what about you, my friend?"

[Brian]

"I am thinking that both of us are bound into it now," Liron says.  He produces the sheet music again and takes some paper from his duffel.  He works on converting the music from piano to guitar in his head, without plucking out the strains just yet.  While he works, he talks to Raven.

"Master Heron set me on the path I walk today.  He saved me when things were ... grim.  The least I could do is try and find out how and why this happened.  So much doesn't yet make sense...."  He glances at the box that Raven took from Heron's house, then asks, "How does that thing open?"

[Corwin]

"We could try random combinations, which would take us several lifetimes," Raven responds, sighing. "Heron never really told me stuff like his birthday or, hell, anything else that could be used as a number he might've picked to lock it." He pauses, frowning as he thinks. "Unfortunately, I couldn't look back enough to see what combination he used. I could crack the box itself open, but that's something I don't wanna do just yet."

Getting another idea, Raven picks the box up and holds his hand over the first wheel. "I wonder," he murmurs, as he begins turning it slowly, hoping for a lucky break to guide his hand.

(Entropy 2: Games of Luck; 3, 5, 1)

[Carthrat]

The lock is remarkably resistant to Raven's efforts to open it in the conventional manner.

[Corwin]

Cursing, Raven takes the box in both hands and holds it closer to his face, shifting it from side to side as he examines its surface. His mind flashes back to his lessons under Min-Li, as he tries to locate the right point to put pressure on the box to collapse the entire structure, or at the very least create a large enough hole in it without damaging its contents, taking his time.

(Entropy 1: Locate Disorder and Weakness; 2, 6, 9)