Framed in Fortune (Arc/Lani, Painters)(NSFW)

He was fairly glad that she did turn to face him, as it allowed him to scooch a little closer and get a little more comfortable for the duration of the kiss. When he did finally part, he didn't exactly pull away; instead, he decided to gently rest his forehead against her's, smiling gently while trying to power through his seemingly perpetual blush and bashfulness.

Rin nuzzled against his touch, smiling a bit to herself, though her eyes remained closed. She didn't say a word.

Takumi went back to silently tracing patterns on her back with his fingers, the fact that she had turned around making it a little easier while keeping close as possible.

Rin curled into his embrace, relaxing against him, the pillow, and the bed. Indecent as their embrace might be considered, she gave little care. She was months shy of adulthood, regardless.

It didn't even occur to Takumi that something might be wrong with what they were doing. As far as he was concerned, as long as both of them were comfortable with something, everything was fine.

Left to her own devices, Rin very well might just fall asleep here; if nothing else, she certainly didn't appear to have any intentions of leaving the room any time soon.

After a while, with not much else going on, Takumi had started to think that they probably should go on and do something about their mission. Not that he wanted to, but he thought they should, since their idleness could mean more victims... Very reluctantly, he let go of Rin and sat up. "Aaah... I don't want to go anywhere, but I also feel like we should do something about that mission. People's lives are kinda at stake and all that..."

She pouted as she moved to sit up, but gave a solemn nod nonetheless. Of course, he was right. As much as they would very much like to, they couldn't actually just stay in bed cuddling all day. They'd already rested after their trip, and there was only about an hour difference, at best, from their usual time zone. They could manage it, as little as they'd like to. "You're right..." She conceded, sliding from the bed and smoothing out her clothing. Thank god she picked an outfit that actually covered her fully.

He stood up and went back to looking at the map. He got straight to the point, because he was afraid that if he didn't then they wouldn't get anything done after all. "If we need to catch one of them to interrogate... Point out where you think the most likely spot is. We should wait around there. If we get a bit of distance and hide ourselves well enough then we can use our resonance to catch just one."

She nodded, joining him at the table. Comparing her notes to the places she'd marked, Rin eventually pointed out one of the middle-of-nowhere gas stations along their most active trade route. Part of her suspected that the truck stop's owner might have some sort of involvement, if only in such a way as to be fearfully turning a blind eye to the situation. The meister really could only blame him so much if that particular possibility was the case. Fear was a powerful motivator, however poor of a choice it may or not be to make. With how extensive the ring was suspected of being, though, he probably had the best idea... unless he directly had a hand in the crimes. "A look at the traffic in this area suggests it would be the best place to check. There's very little traffic of any kind in the area, so I don't think it's somewhere that they specifically visit often, more of a convenience location that they snatch and grab from when there's the option." She shifted her posture and position a bit, standing upright with her arms folded, fingers tapping on the opposite arm as she studied it. "Since they're unlikely to have crowds going through the area if we find anyone it would likely be a small sect... one or two people, at best. The convoy might pass by at some point, but I doubt the likelihood unless they have a big operation or trade they're working towards. The chances are slim, basically..." Still, she suspected that someone, be it them or some innocent bystander that they'd be trying to pick up normally, would end up acting as some sort of bait. She could try to convince herself that it would be more of a rescue than a bait mission at that point all she wanted, but there was no getting the idea out of her head.

"Slim or not, if they're the best chances we have then that is where we should go." Takumi said, moving away from the map. He didn't question Rin's judgement, mostly because he didn't know much about how one might predict where these sorts of people might strike. Nor did he have all of the data. Still, if the chances were low... "If we don't get lucky we might spend a while here looking for one of them," he said, "At least you can see souls. It'd seriously be like finding needles in a haystack without something like that..."

She nodded; the thought of it concerned her. After all, how did more... "mundane" police forces handle such things without at least the slightest bit of wavelength sensitivity? True, nothing turned up as Kishin Egg red without them eating a soul first, but the corruption of a tainted heart still gave off its own distortions. Maybe it was a job some meisters took on after leaving the Academies. Rin really couldn't say.

"Are you... ready to go?" She asked him, curious. Finding a way to get there would be fun. She might have to pull some strings on getting a rental, or they could take a taxi and then "camp out" there.

He nodded his head and made a sound which meant agreement, moving towards and then opening the door, standing just outside holding it and waiting for Rin to follow after him.

Rin did as expected, after ensuring that everything was completely secured in their room. On the way out, she scheduled transport for them both, arranging it where the driver spoke English, since she'd not bothered to learn the native tongue. Her own mistake, one that she didn't plan to repeat any time soon.

At some point during their walk out of the hotel and towards wherever the transportation would arrive, Takumi all by himself took hold of Rin's hand. Not worrying certainly was nice.

Rin smirked a little bit to herself when she made the realization, drifting a bit closer to him after he'd done so. She didn't say a word, merely smiling, squeezing his hand a little bit to acknowledge that she noticed.

Takumi would giggle happily at both the gesture of her squeezing his hand and moving closer, partially because it seemed to him like she didn't realise straight away. He didn't feel like he needed to say anything, either, however.

Their ride arrived shortly, with the directions already having been passed forward to them. Rin slid into the back of the vehicle with ease, double checking once inside that her phone was secured to her arm, her bandages to her hip. When she was adequately satisfied, the taxi already underway, she reached for his hand once more, almost as absentmindedly as normal.

As soon as he was strapped into the vehicle, Takumi had already been looking to take her hand again. Soon as she reached out he wove his fingers through her own, smiling at her.

She returned the smile with a soft one of her own, though said nothing during the trip. Their driver seemed incredibly confused as to why they were being dropped off at a gas station, and that one specifically at that, but Rin just gave him a little more money than he was due and left it at that. Since they weren't directly in front of the store, she figured they hadn't been noticed yet and squeezed Takumi's hand, waiting for him to transform.

Now that they were on location he did just as he was hoping, Takumi would transform soon enough even if she hadn't signed for it, though he did it as soon as she did. Soon, he was a paintbrush and set in the palm of her hand.

She looked around for a moment, contemplating how she wanted to go about things. A grappling hook was one option, but it would require aiming. She'd rather not risk such an attempt. Otherwise, she could draw handles on the supports or the side of the building and climb up that way. That was a more viable option, though she still wasn't positive of the effectiveness. Or, she could just use her bandages to do as she wished. They obeyed what she needed far better than her eyes. As such, she moved close enough that her bandages could reach and flung them outwards, using them to pull herself up over the car coverage above the pumps.

Almost as soon as she climbed up onto the covering, Takumi started looking out from his weapon form, watching each side of the road for any cars that were passing. He couldn't really see if anyone was actually a Kishin Egg, but maybe he'd notice something... He also thought of what might help them stay hidden. Considering that it was unusual to see a person up where they were, they'd stick out if anyone saw them for even a moment. "You should write yourself camouflage."

Rin nodded, immediately setting about doing so as she wrapped the bandages around herself, overtop of her clothing. She waited for it to settle in as she looked out at the road. They'd probably be there for a while, though she very much hoped not to.

Since they were going to be up there for a while, Takumi thought that maybe something to entertain them might have been a good idea to get beforehand. Well, since they didn't have anything, the next best thing was thinking of something that required only your head. "Would you like to play some kind of game?"