Lana nodded -- not random, or at least this is a likely outcome. There was another pad glowing on the other side of the security checkpoint. What, precisely, would happen if they went through carrying metal was unclear; there were no trigger-happy security guards flanking the metal detector, but the note had said shocked, and since everything else (except the spelling) had been accurate, she had no reason to doubt it. She took off her coat and folded it, then divested herself of anything else stashed away, topping the pile with her shoes.

This was one security measure the courthouse had managed to avoid implementing, despite it being standard elsewhere in the country. Possibly it was just that no one wanted to listen to the Payne brothers competitive complaining. Perhaps she'd suggest it again, though; there had been too many tragedies in that building, and the Chief Prosecutor's word still meant something. At least it would for a little while.

Here, in the dark, though, she didn't feel safer. Naked, almost, and she poured the nervous energy into making her stack of possessions perfectly neat.

Then she waited, an expectant half-smile on her face, until Ryuuzaki made it through without incident. She set her items on the belt, stepped through equally undisturbed, and swung her coat over her shoulders.

[to here]