week 3 - investigation

[vicedirector]

seven vices case 3 - investigation ♫ friday On Friday morning, everyone will wake up with all of their (warranted or unwarranted, jesus how many of y'all had shitty lives before murdertown) grief fulfilled. Whatever it is they've lost--they've found it again. Anyone heading out into the lobby will notice that the statue is gone. And that can only mean one thing. >Investigate? cast setting

Comments

[fourleafcleaver]

[Success. She's just gonna gently lead him inside, then, slow and steady so she can make sure he isn't about to fall, and once they walk through the front doors into the hotel lobby she brings him right to the nearest chair.]

Here, just sit down a sec, it's warmer in here... Do you want some water or something?

[hopefragment]

[Ah, a chair. Okay, he can sit in this. And sit he does, just kind of clasping his hands uselessly in front of him as he stares into a blank space somewhere in front of him. It takes a couple seconds to realize she's spoken, and a couple seconds after that for him to figure out what those words mean, then he shakes his head.]

N-no. I... no.

[He feels like he'll throw up if he drinks anything.]

I've never... I've never seen anything like that. That's not... it's cruel, it's disgusting. It's... it's like someone was playing this... this stupid game, and enjoying it.

[fourleafcleaver]

[She nods a little; okay, no water, then. Instead she just hovers awkwardly by him, not wanting to go far enough away to drag her own chair over, and lets him talk.

What's she supposed to say, though? Something tells her that going "some people are just that fucked up" is just going to make things worse.] ...I'm sorry. [It's a start. Considering, she winds her hoodie string around her finger. She's seen and stepped through worse—or what she's presuming was worse, anyway; she'll have to go investigate later—but she can't expect everyone else to deal with it the same way, especially not when someone she cares about is such a wreck right in front of her.] We'll find out who did it. We will.

[hopefragment]

It's not your fault.

[...Probably, anyway. Clover, did you choose Betray.

He just presses both hands against his eyes and takes a deep breath, shaking his head again.]

I've... I've seen dead people before, but not... not like that. Nothing like that. Not even... Hanamura, Houraisan, Munechika... the executions can't even compare, I just...

[Wait, one of those names definitely doesn't feature in this particular game?? Weird. Maybe he just mispronounced Houraisan and quickly corrected himself.]

[fourleafcleaver]

[look, did you see an axe there.

But no that definitely was not a name she's heard before, and that might just be a little weird if he hadn't followed right up with "executions."]

...We've only had two executions. [For the past, like, five-ten minutes, she's been trying very very hard to be something resembling tactful, but this catches her off-guard enough that that's just gone.]

[hopefragment]

...Huh?

[That's enough to startle him out of his fog of self-pity, and for a moment, an unmistakable look of dread and apprehension crosses his face, like he realizes he's made a Terrible Mistake.]

O-oh... yeah. Sorry, I... misspoke.

[??? What the hell kind of excuse is that supposed to be.]

I was just... you know.

[fourleafcleaver]

[What the HELL kind of excuse indeed, and there is not even a little bit of believing in Clover's expression. Look at him. That isn't even a little bit the face of someone managing to cover their ass successfully.]

"Just...you know." [SQUINTS REAL HARD, ugh but she isn't going to push too hard when he's so. Well. Look at him.] Riiiiiight. [Always got a little extra sass in her, though.

But then her voice is quiet again:] Can I ask who it was? [There are a few people she hasn't seen yet today and a few people she needs to know are okay.]

[hopefragment]

[Ugh, please let it go, Clover. He's Upset. :c

While he can't quite latch onto a subject change like that gratefully, a small bit of tension in his shoulders eases. Not much, because it means he has to think about what he saw again, but better than whatever he was thinking about before.]

...Zelos. And Youko. I didn't... talk to either of them much, but no one deserves...

[fourleafcleaver]

[Sass is the only language she speaks, okay, but it is in fact being let go of. Even if she's not the most observant person, she notices how moving onto talking about the freshest set of corpses has him settle a tad, and kind of regrets latching onto that third name in the first place.

She'd hardly spoken to either of them, and eventually she'll be a little ashamed of her relief in not hearing a different name, but not now. Frowning, she nods.] Mm, of course not.

[That's all she has to know about it right this second; she won't push that any further, at least. But she's out of diversions, and there's no good way to distract from this, anyway, so she'll just let him be for a second, see if he has anything else he needs to babble about.]

[hopefragment]

...Yeah.

[That's apparently all he has to say to that, because he isn't sure what else he can say. Yeah, he feels like he's going to vomit after seeing two eviscerated corpses, and hey, add in a side helping of feeling absolutely useless to the investigation. Finish it off with an added serving of accidentally talking about the island, and he's in bad shape.]

...You should... help with the investigation. I'll... I'll be out there soon.

[fourleafcleaver]

You sure? [Not that she isn't raring to go check out some corpses, but...] They're not gonna miss me if I'm not there for another five minutes.