15strangers | THE FIRST INVESTIGATION

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THE FIRST INVESTIGATION

THE FIRST INVESTIGATION

[Friday morning dawns. It's a surprisingly brisk day; the winds are cold outside, and the sky is dark with its lack of sky. Well, a normal sky that one would be used to, at least.

The rats can be heard scurrying to and forth, in the walls. All seems to be as normal as it can be, this morning.]

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[It is. And given how he is in moving, not responding, there's no doubt what this is, along with the who.

Proto Man, the Alphabet, is dead.]

[Eliza blinks, tears slowly forming in her eyes that narrow into a glare.]

If whoever did this thought he mattered less because he was a robot-shame on you! How dare you measure people's worth in that way! Go fuck yourself!

... Wait, that guy was a robot?

[Dumbass couldn't tell.]

It was in his profile...probably why he's wet, too. [Eliza slowly separates from Zack, looking determined.] I'm...I'm going to investigate. We can't just let whoever did this get away with it.

... You want me to tag along?

Sure. We sibs need to stick together, right?

Right.

[Zack has joined your party!]

H...ha...ow...of course. Someone fell to temptation.

[Beatrice shakes her hands out and steps back from the body, noticing the apparent fucking crowd in the dining car now.]

You all might want to get some rubber gloves if we're going to investigate.

[He freezes in place. That.... Just like the Vespertine. No.....no, no, no, no, no.

It takes a few long moments for him to do anything but stare.]

Is....he....

[Caleb just gently leads Minato away for a moment.]

Go sit down.

[Metal casing. Sparking wires. Minato sees white where there's red, god at the highlights. He sees a different robot entirely.

Collapsed to her knees on the bridge that night, eyes going dark as the last of her power supply gave out. Again. A battle ten years deferred, resumed, lost...and always the goddamn bridge.

Minato lets Caleb lead him away. He'll... He has to help, he just needs to clear the wrong scene from his eyes.]

[He's just going to steer Minato into the lounge, sit him down, and get him some water.]

Take your time.

Happening again. Just like--

[He looks up, meets Caleb's gaze. He hates what he's about to ask, hates that any tiny piece of him doubts Caleb.]

Wasn't you this time. Right?

[He doesn't want to see the man on the chopping block again.]

No. I was asleep.

... And I would not have left the body for everyone to see.

[He exhales deeply, relieved. He knows it's not sure. Knows they could still mess up, vote for the wrong person. Even the right person - it's not okay.

But Caleb wouldn't lie to him. He's....nothing like Ikutsuki. Nothing at all. Doesn't even crack puns often.]

Have to investigate...

You need to be able to think clearly, and I do not know if you can do that right now. So take... take ten minutes. Sit. Drink water. Use the restroom. You can join us when you are not so shaky.

[Ten minutes leaves fifty. One hour. It's always one hour, isn't it? And doesn't that tell him exactly what needs to be done?

He steels himself. Even his glass hands stop shaking. And there's something more hardened in his eyes. After all, in many ways, SEES has made a soldier of him.]

Five minutes. Don't have time for more.

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katzenpfote - 2019-07-26 17:36 (UTC) - Expand

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katzenpfote - 2019-07-27 03:32 (UTC) - Expand

[This is...not good...

King's gonna try to grab Minato's arm and pull him out of the room.]

Come on, kid. You...you shouldn't see this.

Not the first time... Will be fine. [Not fine enough, presently, to resist being pulled away, though.]

That doesn't mean you should have to see this.

[He's going to try to herd him into the lounge. He's surprised that this is working again.]

Have to-- help. Only so much time to investigate. Will be another trial. Someone else-- Someone else is going to die.

[He knows that and he's worried about it too, but seriously, this kid should be somewhere else for this.]

The rest of them can probably handle this. We'll figure it out later. Just...we'll work it out. I promise.

....someone else will...

[He doesn't care if they're the killer or not. He doesn't care. It's not okay, he doesn't care.

He cannot care.

Not when it gets in the way of helping.]

[He's not sure he understands, but Minato still isn't resisting, so King will continue to pull him into the lounge. Hopefully, he won't try to leave.]

[ Eventually, when he wakes up, he is ultimately the last person to arrive on the scene. ]

...What a pain.

[ Might as well get something to eat. Off he goes. ]

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